Tag: Nothing to do with food

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Papa, Why Don’t You Celebrate Your Half-Birthday?

Today is my half-birthday on The Road to 70. The question came from my 6.5 year old granddaughter on her 6.5 half-birthday. My initial response was totally adult, something about not celebrating half-birthdays the older you get. But the more I pondered the question the more the real answer should have been why not? So for the first time in a very long time I am celebrating my half-birthday today. No party, no cake, no presents. I’m simply basking in having created the life I wanted and still being around to write about it.

I don’t feel old. I know I’m old. I felt old a few years back when this happened:

And unlike some of my relatives, I grew up.

I knew I grew up when I stopped buying/collecting guitars. I finally cured myself of the proper number of guitars equation.

(I think this one is still in a guitar bag somewhere in the house, forgotten until I saw this picture.)

Two I released into the wild that somehow ended up in Owasso Oklahoma.

After a four year hiatus due to The Great Pandemic I rejoined the Y and got back to some serious resistance training. It didn’t take long to discover various muscle groups of mine that had stopped working. Absolutely no surprises here since I sit on my butt for hours on end, working, writing, reading. So to commemorate my half-birthday and to prevent other muscle groups from withering away I started a new age-friendly exercise. Rucking.

There’s no denying rucking is an efficient workout. The added weight on your back strengthens your legs and trunk, while simultaneously giving you a low-impact cardio session. These benefits increase when you add hills to the mix. Heading uphill with a pack pushes your VO2 max, while going downhill challenges your stability and eccentric muscle control, according to longevity expert Peter Attita.

I Rucked Every Day for a Month—Here’s What I Learned — https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/30-days-of-rucking/

It was a short ruck, with maybe 15 pounds in my backpack and my calves are telling me I need to do this more often.

My half-birthday happened to fall on the last day of the NBA regular season. Although I wrote “no presents” it would be awfully wonderful if the Thunder finished the season with the number one seed going into the playoffs.

If any of my relatives in Oklahoma happen to read this post you can tell Tiny Human #1 I celebrated my half-birthday this year. And for the curious who would like to see a current snap of the 6.5 year old, here you go.

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History Lesson for Today – Happy New Year!

When the Year of the Dragon arrives, birth rates in China tend to boom. Many parents believe that a child born during this year, a lucky dragon baby, will be destined for success. Though this perception is often a self-fulfilling prophecy, with parents investing greater resources in their dragon child, the extraordinary expectations surrounding the zodiac creature speak to its deep associations with intelligence, authority and good fortune. This year, the dragon will take the helm from the rabbit on February 10, ushering in a long-anticipated period of prosperity unique to the mythical being.

Why Is the Year of the Dragon Considered So Lucky? — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-is-the-year-of-the-dragon-considered-so-lucky-180983764/
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Year in Review – 2023

But make it again and The Tiny Human may change her mind. ”I don’t like that!” which no parent has ever heard from their child.

Another year, another championship.

Our grand-donkey got painted for the 4th of July.

These people were aggressive and called my cell phone. I told them I’d be very happy to sell them a property I don’t own.

RIP.

Ski Chile ! (mountains all look the same to this Flatlander)

Future artist.

If you live in the US or Canada quit complaining.

YouTube put this suggestion at the top of my For You list of must watch videos.

AND I also get this in my feed:

But at least I’m not Cody.

I didn’t go to Maine.

A quiet anniversary dinner at home on New Year’s Eve.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

In with the new and out with the old.

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Lifestyle Habits and One Not So Scary Chart

Suicide by lifestyle takes ages.

Bill Bryson

Yesterday was haircut day and Kevin the Barber being typically Kevin asked again how old I was. When you run a busy shop with lots of customers I’m sure the personal details of all of us just sort of run together. When I confessed my age Kevin complimented me by saying I was the youngest looking almost 69 year old he’s ever seen. Of course a comment like that sends me straight into overthinking mode.

Having spent nearly a half century researching and understanding what kills people I’ve come to the conclusion (like Bill Bryson) that the majority of us tend not to do the simple small things that make a big difference. Since this blog started as a food blog here’s a simple observation about my dietary habits. I had pizza last night for dinner. This morning I was two pounds heavier than I was yesterday morning. This variation in weight for me is eerily predictable. Can you imagine how much I’d weigh if I ate pizza 2-3 times a week? I can, so I don’t.

One of the upsides of my blog writing is connecting with my readers. Ol Red Hair sent me a link to an interesting article on lifestyle habits. I already had a version of the article saved for future reference and unlike my usual spur of the moment let’s blog this link I started to overthink (again). But Kevin’s compliment made me think more about overall lifestyle and despite the observational construct of the study I’ll claim causality exists. I’m 8/8, batting 1000% on this list.

A new study involving over 700,000 U.S. veterans reports that people who adopt eight healthy lifestyle habits by middle age can expect to live substantially longer than those with few or none of these habits. The eight habits are: being physically active, being free from opioid addiction, not smoking, managing stress, having a good diet, not regularly binge drinking, having good sleep hygiene, and having positive social relationships.

For the study, scientists used data from medical records and questionnaires collected between 2011-2019 from 719,147 people enrolled in the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program, a large, nationally representative study of U.S. veterans. The analysis included data from adults age 40-99 and included 33,375 deaths during follow-up.

These eight habits could lengthen your life by decades – https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/995553
The estimated impact of adopting different numbers of healthy lifestyle factors on additional years of life expectancy among men as compared to men with none of these habits. While adopting more healthy lifestyle factors at a younger age is associated with the greatest gains in life expectancy, adopting even a few of these factors or adopting them at an older age can still bring significant gains. Image Credit VA Million Veteran Program

“Habits can be changed, if we understand how they work.”

“This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.”

“To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.”

Charles Duhigg from The Power of Habit

All of this overthinking has reminded me I need to write the Changing Habits chapter in my future Best Seller. But first I need to work on my procrastination habit.

Tomorrow.

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New Security System!

The other day a salesperson was doing door to door in the neighborhood selling wifi enabled security systems. He was unsuccessful with me but per his list of neighbors who recently signed up I could tell he was a very good salesperson.

This young man managed to scare the crap out of me with his stories of break-ins, theft, and medical emergencies. I started thinking, do I need a new security system? After some serious thought weighing the pros and cons I decided it would be good to have a better security system.

Meet my new security system.

They will rip your face off if you try to steal my guitars.

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Drink More Water (another reminder)

Extreme heat is the number-one weather-related cause of death in the U.S., and it kills more people most years than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined. Yet research shows that compared with their thinking about dramatic events such as storm surges and wildfires, people tend to feel more uncertain about what to do under the threat of extreme heat and don’t perceive as much personal risk. This mismatch between the reality of the danger and the actions people take to protect themselves extends beyond individual perception to the policy level. Heat risks to human health are not often prioritized in climate mitigation and adaptation plans—if they are factored in at all.

Extreme Heat Is Deadlier Than Hurricanes, Floods and Tornadoes Combined — https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/extreme-heat-is-deadlier-than-hurricanes-floods-and-tornadoes-combined/

Remember The Death of Common Sense?

A 71-year-old Los Angeles man died in California’s Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, likely due to heat, as the afternoon high recorded in the park was 121 degrees, officials said.

Man featured in LA Times story dies in Death Valley amid 121-degree heat — https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/man-collapses-dies-in-death-valley-18211076.php

“It’s a dry heat.”

Steven Curry (the dead guy)
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