No Ordinary Tuesday

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). As it turns out, reading this blog has been clinically proven to improve your physical, mental, and spiritual wellness.

It feels like a good day to me. Does it feel like a good day to you? I don't know why, but I feel like something very positive for the Cosmos will happen today. We'll see, I guess.

I'll be manifesting my usual amount of Dark Magic today. After seeing a couple of marriage and family therapy clients this morning, I will pound out a DM-generating Peloton workout directed at the demise of the high priority DFUs. As usual, I'll be generating a baseline level of DFU-defeating DM by adhering to a whole food, plant based way of eating AND abstaining from toxic social and mainstream media (SMSM).

That's a good segue into reminding you that consumption of SMSM is incredibly toxic to your mind, body, and soul. The lethal dose is about 10 minutes of exposure per day. If you simply have to consume SMSM, please limit your use to less than that! Remember that the easiest way to keep DFUs out of your life is to abstain from SMSM entirely, since that is the only access point into your life for nearly 99% of all DFUs.

Fin.

Great News

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps for bringing about the demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). If not, then I hope you at least have a very good day.

I have some great news to share. I have received indications from the Cosmos that the DFUs are going to suffer a significant setback soon, probably within a week, and definitely within a fortnight. I just wanted you to know and perhaps this great news will float your proverbial boat today.

Take care!

Fin.

Earth Day is a Good Time to Disenfranchise the Diabolical Forces in the Universe

Hi Dear Readers!

Happy Earth Day! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action items for disenfranchising the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs) from your life.

Since it's Earth Day, perhaps you are thinking about ways to shrink your ecological footprint and protect the planet from climate change and global warming. Do you want to know what one of the best ways to protect the Earth is? I'll tell you. It's going to a plant based diet [SOURCE]!

You don't even need to go 100% plant based - just a little bit more plant based than you are currently.

Switching to a plant based diet is probably one of the most impactful AND easiest things you can do for the Earth. But you can also buy things locally from mom and pop shops, boycott large multinational corporations (polluters), drive a fuel efficient car, join a CSA farm, bike/walk/public transit to more places instead of driving, compost kitchen waste, and recycle. Also, try to use less plastic.

It's so easy to be more Earth friendly and a win-win. The main obstacle is ignorance about how to do it. But here's the thing - you have a giant library at your finger tips that you can use to figure it out. It's called the Internet and you should spend five minutes using it to identify ways you can be more Earth friendly.

Don't forget to fast from social and mainstream media (SMSM) regularly too. Those server farms that house and run SMSM use a ridiculous amount of energy.

Take care.

The End.

Mesmerized

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or an absence from your life of Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), the biggest of which are social and mainstream media (SMSM).

Last Saturday was the final day of the Church or Bike With Joe high holiday known as 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs. It's a period of reflection amplified by a complete abstinence from SMSM. I'm curious to hear how it went for Church adherents who read this blog. Leave a comment below the post.

One reflection I had during the holiday was just how potently mesmerizing SMSM is on the average human mind exposed to the toxic stuff. My almost fortnight of abstinence from SMSM illustrated this quite vividly. Fasting from SMSM is one of the best and easiest things you can do for your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. I don't know how the technicians behind the SMSM algorithms did it, but they have found a way to almost completely MESMERIZE users of SMSM. The definition of MESMERIZE I am using here is the complete neutralization of higher brain functions, like reason, critical thinking, and executive locus of control, allowing the emotional lizard brain to take over the mind.

I know there are a lot of skeptics out there who will read the above and think it's some kind of insane conspiracy theory. Maybe it is. But there is a very easy and conclusive way to prove that: try abstaining from SMSM for one week and see what happens to your own mind. One of three things will happen. 1. Your mind will be liberated from the SMSM algos and your higher brain functions will actively and observably resume (my hypothesis). 2. #1 won't happen and you will (rightly) mock and ridicule my claim above (your hypothesis). 3. You will be unable to abstain from SMSM for one week because you are - by definition - addicted to and dependent on it (Reality). #3 is the most likely outcome of engaging in my challenge, because the algos are designed to make SMSM more addictive than heroin. And that's the moral of this story - SMSM is highly addictive and enslaves eyeballs to it [SOURCE]. The algos can basically input whatever information they want to into your receptive and addicted mind.

So, if you are able to overcome your enslavement to SMSM and abstain from it for one week, let us know which of the other two outcomes (#1 or #2 above) you experience, by leaving a comment below.

Take care!

Fin!

0 Day

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you some joy, peace, insight, and/or action items for the defeat of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

This past Saturday (yesterday), many of us celebrated the final day of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs. The rituals of the holiday, when followed, are intended to usher in the destruction of the DFUs, via Karmic Justice. Much like the Easter holiday of a lesser known religion, which prophesies the resurrection of a mythical deity, the expectations are often not matched by Reality. And that's OK. We come together with common cause.

I had a fantastic closure to 12 Days. Deborah and I took the Madison BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) downtown and hit the Dane County Farmers Market opening day, securing some gourmet mushrooms and some lettuce seedlings for the garden, along with more sweet pastry treats than we had any business purchasing. Since it was by definition a FREE DAY (holiday feast day + farmers market pastries), we enjoyed it. We took my folks out for Chinese food at the Hong Kong Cafe in the evening. On Sunday (today), I rocked and rehearsed a bunch of tasty rock-n-roll songs for an upcoming jam with some buddies.

That's about it.

Fin.

1 Day

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). If not, then I hope it brings you an Oxford Comma or several.

Do you know what today is? It's THE DAY...when -  according to Church of Bike With Joe prophecy - the DFUs are disenfranchised from our lives by way of Karmic Justice. By tomorrow morning, a new era of peace and prosperity will be ushered in.

That being said, I'm ushering in my own peace and prosperity, and not waiting for the Cosmos to render it (although I am confident and hopeful that it will). To wit, Deborah and I kicked off the last day of the high holiday of 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs (April 1-12) by BRT-ing it down to the first Dane County Farmers Market (FM) on the Capitol Square of the year. We drove to the BRT terminal near us on Junction Road and parked. The A Line BRT bus to downtown was already there and waiting for us. We scanned our BRT bar codes on the scanner on the pretty much empty (except for us and the bus driver) bus and took seats. The bus ride was fun, smooth, and fairly quick, picking up a considerable number of people on the way downtown. We got off on State Street a couple blocks from the FM and walked the entire four sides of it, scoring some lettuce seedlings, gourmet mushrooms, and more caloric sweet vegan pastries than we had any right to (it's a day of celebration, after all). We ate an early lunch of vegan pizza at Ian's Pizza on State Street, then BRT-ed back to the Junction Road Park & Ride and our car. We grabbed bevvies at the MOKA Coffee Shoppe before heading home to unload the FM bounty and chillax a spell with the dogs.

I took advantage of the awesome spring weather to bike ride in the out of doors. The route took me past my folks's house, where I popped in, fixed some plumbing, and invited my folks to dinner before continuing my ride.

Deborah was coming out of a power nap when I got home. I took our dogs for a short walk to do their business and showered, at which time D was alert and ready to go. We picked up my folks at their house and took them - in D's sleek new car - to the Hong Kong Cafe for Chinese food. After dinner, we dropped my folks off back at their house and went home to celebrate the last hours of 12 Days with some dessert (FM pastries).

Hopefully by tomorrow, the DFUs will all be gone.

Fin.

2 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or immunity from the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

As the Church of Bike with Joe high holiday of 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs winds down (and ramps up to the final celebration on Saturday, when the DFUs suffer a significant setback, according to prophecy), I am reflecting on some positive insights I have had during the complete and total fast from social and mainstream media (SMSM) proscribed for the duration of the near fortnight period of the holiday.

The primary insight is a bit meta. It is that the absence of SMSM from my life has had no net negative impact on my life whatsoever. It's as if it were never there. In point of fact, its absence from my life has improved my quality of life (QOL) and productivity substantially. I have been a veritable rock star of accomplishment and self care since the start of the high holiday on April 1.

The second insight is that I have had almost zero interaction with any DFUs since the start of 12 Days, leading me to the epiphanic revelation that DFUs reside almost exclusively within the domain of SMSM, and nowhere else. As it happens, the real world is - for the most part - fairly DFU-free for most people in most places in the known Cosmos. Interaction with SMSM leads people to believe a false narrative that the DFUs are superfluous everywhere all the time. But that's simply an illusion - and one you can dispel through SMSM fasting. This is a powerful observation. It means most people have the power to liberate themselves from DFUs by simply boycotting SMSM. That may be easier said than done, given that SMSM is so ubiquitous and highly addictive. But the choice and the power to be free of DFUs resides within all of us (meaning most of us) and we do not have to be powerless against or enslaved by DFUs.

By random chance, today kicks off Deborah's and my 8th Anniversary Week, which will extend from today through Friday 4/18. I'm going to pound out an intentional Peloton workout today, before seeing a handful of marriage and family therapy clients. Deborah bought a new car and I will get to see that after she gets home from work, about 4:30 PM. Tomorrow, we plan to celebrate the final full day of 12 Days with a trip down to the first Dane County Farmer's Market of the year, by way of the BRT (bus rapid transit). I don't know what the rest of the weekend has in store, but I know it will be great.

Fin.

3 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, other positive feelings, or actionable goals. If not, I hope that it reduces negativity and suffering in your life, at a minimum. 

Because...it's Day 10 of the 12 Days! We are in double digits. Three days to go (counting today) until the big celebration on Saturday 4/12 - the day that we will be liberated from the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), according to Church Prophesy. It's also the first Dane County Farmer's Market on Saturday and the weather is prophesied (by Weather Bug) to be very nice that day. So Deborah and I will check it out! We might even take the BRT, which I have been wanting to do for some time now.

I am actually too busy focusing on Leisure Science today to post much. Suffice to say, I had a rocking morning and knocked off a ton of chores (recycling, compost, dishwasher, fruit salad, etc.). I have my Mindfulness Class here in a little bit. Then I'll meet my folks at Starbucks for a coffee and a chat over the noon hour. I think my dad is struggling with some things and I want to offer him some emotional safe space to work through it. I will see a handful of marriage and family therapy clients today too. So, I'll pause it there for today.

Leave a comment below and let us know how your 12 Days are going.

Ciao!

Fin.

4 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

Happy Wednesday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving in the midst of the chaos.

Here it is...Day 9 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 4 days to go...including today (thus the title of this post).

Saturday is the last day of the 12 Days. It's a magnificent day of celebration and, if the prophecies are true, it is the day when the DFUs will be karmically disenfranchised from the world. This may correlate with the prophesied rising of a lesser known mythical religious figure who will lead the world to salvation. So, we shall see...

In any case, the predicted demise of the DFUs notwithstanding, Saturday is the first day of the Dane County Farmers Market on the Capitol Square in Madison WI. Deborah and I plan to attend. This weekend is also the observed weekend of Deborah's and my wedding anniversary (8 years, if anyone is wondering). A reminder that Memorial Day weekend 2025 is the 10 year anniversary of our chance but fortuitous meeting.

Today comprises at least three action items. Per usual, I will see several of my marriage and family therapy clients throughout the course of the day. Around noon, I will pick up our grocery order at Festival Foods before taking my parents to see another senior living home. I'll see a couple more therapy clients in the evening to round out the day. I'm also going to try to make a batch of this awesome falafel, time permitting.

Leave a comment below about how your 12 Days are going. Any obstacles? Any successes?

Take care and remain hopeful and vigilant.

Fin.

5 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Tuesday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 8 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 5 days to go...including today.

Yesterday was a bit of a blur and I am still trying to organize in my mind just what went down. But I do know this...social and mainstream media (SMSM) did not intrude on my life. And that's a fantastic thing.

As I reflect on yesterday, I know I had a marriage and family client first thing in the morning and another one late in the afternoon. Between those two mental health therapy clients, I took the dogs for a walk and pounded out a 50 minute Peloton workout. I think I also did some administrative work for my therapy practice.

In the evening, we were slated to go over to Deborah's son Devon's house for some socializing and board gaming with him and his wife Gretchen. However, it was called off for some reason by Devon...not sure why. That ended up being OK with Deborah, since she was pretty tired out after her long day at work saving the world from DFUs.

Today is a busy day of seeing clients for me. I get a brief respite in the afternoon to squeeze in a Peloton workout before seeing more clients into the evening. Action packed would be an understatement.

Anyway, leave a comment and let us know how your 12 Days are going and what the DFUs are doing to foil your best efforts at SMSM fasting. Perhaps some other Church of BWJ adherents have some tips or tricks to share to help you out.

Fin.

6 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Monday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 7 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 6 days to go...including today. It just so happens to be a Monday, even though the holiday does not necessarily correspond to a day of the week or even care.

The social and mainstream media (SMSM) fast proscribed by the Church and the holiday are going well. I have been reading audio books and listening to fiction and radio drama podcasts. Truth be told, even when the 12 Days are over, I will probably continue to fast from SMSM, because it's good for the soul to do so. The holiday is really just a first order catalyst for second order change, if you follow my meaning. No? OK, well, it's not important.

Today is a lighter Monday than a typical Monday. But not by much. My Mondays are, by design, usually pretty light. But I am still going to see a couple of marriage and family therapy clients. That's about half as many as I saw last Monday. No one nows why. But we like it!

Shortly, I'll take the dogs out for a quick "walky walk" (as they call it...or at least as they respond to it when I call it that). Then a thorough Peloton workout in the mid-afternoon. Tonight, Deborah and I are slated to go to her son's house for board games. That typically always ends up being more of a s**t show than anyone anticipated, but we do our part and put in the effort.

Fin.

7 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Sunday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 6 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). So, we are about halfway through it. That could be a good thing or a bad thing or even a neutral thing, depending on your point of view and frame of reference. I'm quite enjoying it though, and so my point of view is that it is a good thing that it's still going. It will be a good thing when it ends too, provided the Cosmos sees fit to dish out some Karmic Justice in the DFUs. I have been quite enjoying the holiday's proscribed total fasting from social and Mainstream media (SMSM). While I have not idea what is happening in the greater world out there, the complete absence of the toxic SMSM from my life has significantly improved my mental, physical, and spiritual health and functioning. 

The plan for today is a simple one. I plan to exercise in the morning (ideally with Deborah), practice music all afternoon (honing songs for upcoming GUPPY EFFECT due gigs), and attend a film festival film with Deborah in the evening. Boom. Easy peasy.

Leave a comment and tell us how your nearly a fortnight of SMSM fasting is going. Or even if you have not been able to shake the SMSM addiction, let us know what are the obstacles. Maybe someone can help!

Fin.

8 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this post finds you and brings you joy, peace, or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

As the founder and leader of the Church of Bike With Joe, I am currently fasting from social and mainstream media (SMSM) for the church's high holiday of 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, which proscribes 12 days of fasting from SMSM from April 1 to April 12. As such, I have not been privvy to the goings on in the larger Cosmos. That being said, I hear tell from reliable sources that the DFUs are, predictably, suffering major losses and nearing their demise, as would be predicted by the Prophecies of the Church. April 12 will be a glorious day indeed.

I checked in with one of my non-SMSM sources about the state of the stock market. As predicted, all stocks are down...except beer. Beer does well in good times (celebration) or bad (drowning sorrows). It's a solid and stable stock. Buy shares in beer!

It's the weekend in Australia right now. I have to see a few marriage and family therapy clients on Saturday morning, and then Deborah and I will be perusing a big film festival going on in our area.

That's all I got. Take care!

Fin.

9 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this post finds you and brings you joy, peace, and/or action steps toward the demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

Speaking of that, we are now in the single digits of the countdown for the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, one of the high holidays of the Church of BWJ. Only 9 days (including today) remain. If you recall, the basic (but not easy) ritual of this holiday is to abstain from all social and mainstream media (SMSM) from April Fools Day until April 12 - almost a fortnight. This fasting from the poison of SMSM detoxifies the mind, body, and soul, resulting in disenfranchisement of the DFUs from your life (and - ideally - everyone's life!).

This festive holiday is loosely correlated with the Easter holiday observed by the other (arguably less cool) churches and religions of the world. And it serves roughly the same purpose - to restore and rejuvenate good moral values and ethical goals, by bringing back the First Principles of Wholesome Goodness (FPWGs). The DFUs despise the FPWGs and they work very hard to undermine them, using SMSM as the media for their diabolical agenda. So, by abstaining from SMSM dutifully for the proscribed 12 days, you are effectively immune to the toxicity of the DFUs, disempowering them and making them vulnerable to the karmic forces that will be their undoing (aka, demise). I won't lie, abstaining from SMSM is no easy task. The stuff is highly addictive and hard to quit, which is perhaps why most people continue living in a chronic state of suffering and toxic grievance (the main symptoms of chronic SMSM consumption).

Yesterday (Day 10 of the holiday) was a lighter marriage and family therapy counseling day for me. I had my Mindfulness for Therapists class in the morning, followed by a couple of client sessions in the early afternoon. Then I pounded out 40 solid minutes on the Peloton before whipping up a vegan pizza for dinner (I embellished a Salvatore's frozen vegan pie with diced yellow peppers, canned mushrooms, and a heavy helping of Miyokos liquid vegan mozzarella cheese...so good!). It fills me with no small measure of joy that the DFUs will never know the glory of a Salvatore's vegan pie thusly embellished. But they made their bed, so that's all I have to say about that. 

After dinner, Deborah and I drove across town to see if we could catch a Wisconsin Film Fest film at the Barrymore Theater. We could not, because the line was ridic long and - on principle - Deborah and I do not do ridic long lines. Instead, we popped into the nearby Bar Corallini for an overpriced vegan dessert, then went back home.

All of the above happened with ZERO consumption of SMSM. It feels pretty f**kin' good to be free of that s**t.

Fin.

10 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

It's Day 3 (April 3rd) of the 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), a high holiday of the Church of BWJ. Only 10 days (including today) remain and then we can all celebrate the absence of DFUs and live in harmony, contentment, and peace for the remainder of the year. This aligns with the dharmic concept of Radical Acceptance, leading to the alleviation of suffering. Ideally, this is a collective alleviation of suffering (if we all participate in the 12 days!). However, it may be an individual alleviation of suffering, and that's cool too. 

How is your fasting from all social and mainstream media (SMSM) going? Any intentions you have set around it? I mean...besides the demise of DFUs, of course.

I got a whopping 55 minutes in on the Peloton bike yesterday, in addition to some sit ups and dumbbells, by way of SMSM avoidance.

Yay!

Fin.

11 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

It's Day 2 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). That means 11 days remaining of the longest high holiday of the Church of BWJ. The holiday is celebrated with complete abstinence from social and mainstream media (SMSM) starting on April Fool's Day and going for almost a fortnight thereafter.

How are you celebrating it?

Fin.

12 Days

Hi Readers!

Today was the first day of the Church of BWJ's 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). Since it's a countdown to said Demise, we start on Day 12 and count down the consecutive days until April 12 (Day 1). And on Day 0, we feast in celebration of defeating the DFUs).

The 12 Days are celebrated with INTENTIONAL fasting from Social and Mainstream Media (SMSM). It's kind of like not eating meat for Lent or whatever. But Church of BWJ adherents don't eat meat anyway. So, instead we fast from toxicity. I was completely SMSM free today, and it was great. In Church Lore it is believed that this SMSM fasting deprives the DFUs of their life force, making them susceptible the the Dark Magic that ultimately destroys them.

Fin.