Relaxation Time

Hi Dear Readers!

You know the usual opening greeting by now, so say it to yourself and let's get into it.

I had a fairly fruitful (literally) and productive morning. I got up a little before 8 AM and poured my usual cup of coffee before taking care of the dogs. I had vegan strawberry yogurt, a cosmic apple, some grapes, and toast with vegan butter and jam for breakfast. I cut up three sweet potatoes into cubes and put them in a baggy in the freezer, for later use in the African sweet potato peanut stew I will likely whip up tonight after GUPPY EFFECT band practice. Then I pre-practiced a few songs in anticipation of said practice, before changing into bicycling garb and tooling over to Pinnacle, where I met Deborah (who drove her car there), to relax by and in the outdoor pool there. That's actually where I am right now as I write this. We'll probably swim a few laps if some lanes open up in the pool. It's crowded here today, probably because it is a weekend and hot.

I'll tool home about 2 PM to meet Stefan at my house for band practice at 3 PM. GUPPY EFFECT has a show next Saturday 8/2 @ Bierock in Waunakee WI (actually, it's still Madison, I think). I'm geeked for the rocking, which will follow an intense week of seeing marriage and family therapy clients.

Fin.

Letting Go

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or Dark Magic (DM) powers for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). Some of you must be acquiring DM powers, because the DFUs are definitely suffering right now, and that's a very awesome thing.

I had to practice LETTING GO today. I had wanted to go see a really good band, BOILED IN LEAD, at the UW Memorial Union Terrace tonight. I had even put it on my calendar some weeks ago with full intent to attend. But somehow it dropped off my radar until this evening, when it popped up on my reminders and I was like, "Oh SHIT! That's tonight!" 

I asked Deborah if she wanted to go, but she was already psychologically winding down to chill for the evening and I didn't want to push her too hard to ramp back up her mojo energy and go. I reached out to Stefan to see if he wanted to go. He declined due to family stuff but later DID ramp up his mojo energy and decided to go. However, I did not see his follow up message until it was too late to go and so we didn't go. And I was kind of ruminating on that missed opportunity and beating myself up about it...until I got into a more Zen mindset and asked myself, "What would I advise my marriage and family therapy clients to do?"

I would likely advise them to practice LETTING GO...detachment from the rumination causing the suffering. Just let go of the attachment. It's not a life and death matter. It's just an unfortunate reality. Life is still very very good in the grand scheme of things.

So, in lieu of going to the show, I rage cooked in the kitchen and made a fuckin' awesome pasta dish, which I would not have had, had I gone to the concert instead. Although, I likely would have had a couple beers and an enjoyable time if I had gone to the show. But whatever, man!

Fin.

Another Week of Disinfection

Hi Dear Readers!

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

It was a fun weekend, which invariably leads to the Monday Blues. Not because Mondays are especially bad or anything. In fact, today is going to be a quite spectacular Monday, as I'll explain in a minute. It has more to do with the relative awesomeness of the weekend compared to the week. For example, I got to spend a good part of the weekend with my awesome wife Deborah. She's at work today, so by definition, today won't be AS awesome as the weekend. But it still might be pretty awesome, if awesomeness is NOT like pregnancy (either true or false; nothing in between).

In any case, finding a considerable gap in my marriage and family therapy schedule today, I threw together an impromptu BIKE WITH JOE event, which will take up a good chunk of the afternoon, until I return home to see some psychotherapy clients in the evening.

Take care!

Fin.

I Suppose

Well, Dear Readers, I suppose I should post.

The Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs) are not having their greatest week. And that's awesome. It means our collective intentional daily action steps to thwart them are working.

If you recall last weekend's random post, I set myself a wellness challenge for this past week to abstain from all social and mainstream media (SMSM). Since that's my default setting, it wasn't really that hard to do, but I was a little more assertive about it. For example, when Deborah asked, "Can we listen to the news?" I responded, "Nope." And she respected that. Were it not for the wellness challenge, I would have responded with a more passive, "I don't care." It's a mindset thing. You get what I'm saying?

Deborah and I had a wonderful mini-vacation to the pool yesterday evening. We didn't stay too long, because it was an atypically chilly day for mid-July. But we did 30 minutes of weight training beforehand, and we both agree that is paying off in terms of health and wellness.

I had to work a little bit today (Saturday). I was supposed to have two marriage and family Teletherapy clients, but one did not show up for the online session. So it was a light work day. I have a Systems Theory Consult Group meeting this afternoon, but I don't really identify that as work. It's more of a way to stay connected with some experts in my field. I plan to bike to the meeting by way of the Bloom Bakery, where I will score some vegan donuts for the group and a few additional vegan treats for Deborah and I.

I don't know what the rest of the day entails after that. Probably chilling at home. I might practice a bit of music ahead of the GUPPY EFFECT rock-n-roll gigs on 8/2 and 8/10.

Fin.

Poolside

Hi Dear Readers!

Get off the social media! It's poisoning your mind.

OK, PSA complete.

I started this blog post poolside at Pinnacle Athletic Club but had to save the draft and finish it later. Now it's later...

What can you buy for $4.20 these days? Probably a few things. But what it buys Deborah and me, respectively, is a few hours per day at the pool (by way of the gym). Our Pinnacle membership costs about $4.20 per day, each ($8.40 total) if we hit the gym/pool about 3x per week, on average, which we typically do. That's a pretty good deal given all the inflated hype about inflation that you see on social and mainstream media (SMSM). That's cheaper than the chai latte Deborah likes to get at the coffee shoppe.

SMSM has got it in its algorithmic head that there's a financial crisis going on and a bunch of inflation. I'm seeing that nowhere around me. Maybe it's happening somewhere else, and if you are somewhere else where it is happening, please leave a comment below. But if it is NOT happening to you personally, I kindly ask that you STFU and do not comment.

The pool was pleasant today. The sun was out, though it was unseasonably cool for July, due to the freak storms that came through yesterday. It was warm enough though, and after we did our requisite 30 minutes of weight training on the gym floor, we repaired to the pool for a few laps of swimming and a brief episode of lounging poolside.

You can say what you will about the so called Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), but they are remarkable absent from our lives. I'd say life is as good, if not better, than this time last year.

Work/life balance is...well...balanced. Cost of living is about the same as last year. As long as I adhere to the Church of Bike With Joe tenet of abstaining from SMSM, the DFUs really have no direct access to our lives. If they ever find an analog way to pollute our space, we will punch them in their faces. A good day to you.

Fin.

Addendum

Hi Dear Readers!

Brief addendum to today's earlier post...GUPPY EFFECT band practice is NOT happening this afternoon. Guitarist Stefan B has some family in town unexpectedly. At first, he wanted to just push practice back one hour, to 4 PM instead of the usual 3 PM. I was willing to do that, but also suggested it might be to the benefit of all to simply cancel practice for today.

This rehearsal cancellation is not as detrimental to the mission as one might, at first, presume. True...we do have a gig on 8/2, which is coming up fast, but we will have ample opportunities to rehearse before then, notwithstanding today's minor setback. Additionally, today is one of those fantastic summer days in Wisconsin - sunny, temps in the upper 70s, light breeze - when it is ideal to be in the out of doors vs in the basement rock cave rocking. Indeed, Deborah and are are currently poolside at the outdoor pool at Pinnacle Health Club (aka, the gym), soaking up the sunny vibes and swimming a bit. If GUPPY EFFECT were practicing today, I would be on a timetable to leave this poolside paradise around 2 PM, to get home in time to change and prep for practice at 3 PM. Not that I felt any pressure or urgency about that, considering we got to the gym around 11 AM, worked out, and repaired to the poolside about noon. In fact, we might still depart the pool for home around 2 PM anyway, because a plan is afoot to go check out the Fete de Marquette neighborhood music fest later this afternoon. The absence of GUPPY EFFECT band practice opens up a larger time window for festing. We may take our dogs Nyah and Ziggy to the fest as well.

Anyway, that was the long way of saying that plans change and it's best to just roll with that and find the silver linings, because if you are rigid and inflexible with change, it will bend you over and plow you from behind. And, as many of my readers know, arse rape is the domain of a different band I am a part of - HIATVS.

In unrelated, but important, news, I am doing a wellness challenge this week - abstaining from all social and mainstream media.

Fin.

Sunday Funday

Hi Dear Readers.

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps foe defeating Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

This is your weekly Sunday reminder that the single most important thing you can do for your mental, physical, and spiritual health is GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA. Boycott it completely.

It takes about three weeks of social media abstinence to overcome the addictive dependency most people have on it. But it is very possible to do, if you substitute other positive activities for social media use instead. The main reason people succumb to social media use is boredom. If you stay actively involved in non-boring things, you will do fine. There are a gazillion pretty easy and no/low cost positive activities you can choose from, if you give it a little thought (I recommend inventorying a list of five to ten of these). Get out into nature and walk around using your five senses. Read/listen to a book. Watch a movie or TV show series. Make a recipe and eat it. Ride a bike. Explore the public transit system in your city. 

The main reason people turn to social media to alleviate boredom is the EASE of doing so. It's really not all that rewarding (small dopamine bump) and sometimes it leaves you feeling drained and angry (very negative emotions). But social media use is SO EASY, by design, that people will usually just pull out their smart phones and succumb to it, sometimes for a much longer time than is healthy. Alternative positive activities may take a little more effort to get going on, but not that much more, and they are often significantly more rewarding and time limited. So don't let ease be the enemy of your optimized enjoyment. Someday you are going to die and when you are on your death bed, are you going to be happy about how much time you spent on social media?

What's in store today, you ask? If all goes to plan, there will be exercise and rocking. I'm not sure of the exact order yet, but it will likely go something like this: pre-practice GUPPY EFFECT songs this morning (while Deborah sleeps in), in anticipation of this afternoon's GUPPY EFFECT band practice; bike to the gym for a swim and some lounging by the pool (great weather today); have the aforementioned GUPPY EFFECT band practice; and unscheduled time in the evening. Of course, I'll intentionally observe the Tenets of the Church of Bike With Joe, eating only vegan food, exercising, and abstaining from toxic social and mainstream media (SMSM).

Fin.

Weekend Looming

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).

I wish this blog found more people. Because a lot of the insights here are pretty good, if I do say so myself. Today's insight is that social media (SM) is a toxic thing that causes mass psychosis in the population, unbeknownst to them. I am sure everyone reading this is like, "Oh, that's not me...I have free will and critical thinking capabilities." And that's the issue. Everyone reading this is wrong about that. Social media decides what you will see (and therefore prioritize) on it and it will give you opinions to hold on it that reinforce your preexisting notions about whatever it is. I think everyone knows this by now. Until you accept its power over your thoughts and feelings - and sometimes actions - you will be enslaved to it. AI has only made the problem exponentially worse.

It's Deborah's birthday this weekend and we are going to fill the time with FUN. We're getting dinner tonight at Luigi's Pizzeria, with some additional family joining (not gonna lie...I could do without the additional family and both Deborah and I would prefer a one on one outing with each other...but convention dictates we have to accommodate the family, who are probably going to stick us with the tab, totally against convention...sigh!). On Saturday, I think we are going to head downtown and hit the farmer's market followed by the Art Fair Off the Square. I'm hopeful that I can encourage Deborah to ride bikes downtown instead of driving, to avoid traffic and parking, or at least agree to take the BRT bus down there.

On Sunday, I might do a morning bike ride, and I definitely have GUPPY EFFECT band practice in the afternoon.

Fin.

Nobody Reads This

Hi Dear Readers!

How are you? I hope you are well. I know that you are if you are an adherent of the Church of Bike With Joe, because you have minimized or eliminated your exposure to toxic social and mainstream media (SMSM), and are aerobically exercising and eating healthy religiously (in the secular sense of the word).

I mowed the lawn this morning, intentionally directed at the expedited demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), and one in particular. How are you putting good into the world and bringing Karmic Justice to all the DFUs? Leave a comment letting us know.

I came to a realization today...that the SMSM AI Algorithm is relegating this blog to the proverbial sidelines of the Internet, preventing you from accessing its profound benefits for mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. The purveyors of SMSM need you to be addicted to it for purposes of mind control. I know that sounds like a conspiracy theory, and I am totally against conspiracy theories, but it is not. If you google "brain hacking 60 minutes," you'll find a 60 Minutes segment with Anderson Cooper that validates this narrative, with no conspiracy theory needed.

This blog is an existential threat to SMSM because this blog promotes avoiding SMSM, whose very existence depends on people not avoiding it but rather being addicted to and dependent on it.

I don't have a solution for this. But...if you do have the good fortune to stumble upon this blog, please share it with friends and family, if you care about their salvation.

If you care about the planet, consider that the server farms required to support social media and AI use ridiculous amounts of energy. So every time you use them you are killing the planet.

Fin.