Pedal.
An essay by a good friend, “How cycling has become therapy for me at age 75”.
And a short film.
How To Improve Your Mental Well Being
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Author Archives: Ron Byrnes
How To Drive Your Daughters Crazy
That void in your life. . . me not having done a “How To” post in ages. Let’s right that wrong.
Two sure-fire ways to drive your daughters crazy. First though, why drive your own flesh and blood crazy? In short, homeostasis. No doubt they’ve been driving you crazy for years, now it’s your turn to reciprocate in the interest of harmonic balance.
The key to the first strategy is to control the television remote like Raphael Nadal controlled today’s quarterfinal tiebreaker. Then, once you’ve queued up the show, skip the intro. Done and done. If your daughters are like mine, they may never fully recover.
The second related sure fire way to push them over the edge is instead of watching a series from the beginning, just watch repeated episode highlights on YouTube. I’m currently doing this with Curb Your Enthusiasm. At my age, I can’t commit to watching 110 episodes spread out over 11 seasons, not knowing if I’ll make it to the end. Much to my daughters’ dismay, YouTube has me covered.
If I knew it was so easy to make them apoplectic, I would’ve honed these skills years ago.
‘America Is In Denial’
So says Mitt Romney. I wholeheartedly agree until his final paragraph. I don’t believe any one person is likely to reverse our downward momentum regardless of how smart, tough, and inspiring he or she is.
I’m not completely without hope though. I’m cautiously optimistic that the yard will look a little better in a few hours.
Semi-Pro Sports Realign
From the Pac-12. . . Final Draft.
While we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the news coming out of UCLA and USC today, we have a long and storied history in athletics, academics, and leadership in supporting student-athletes that we’re confident will continue to thrive and grow into the future. The Pac-12 is home to many of the world’s best universities, athletic programs and alumni, representing one of the most dynamic regions in the United States. We’ve long been known as the Conference of Champions, and we’re unwavering in our commitment to extend that title. We will continue to develop new and innovative programs that directly benefit our member institutions, and we look forward to partnering with current and potential members to pioneer the future of college athletics together.
From the PAC-12. . . Initial Draft.
While we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the news coming out of UCLA and USC today, we have a long and storied history in athletics, academics, and leadership in supporting student-athletes that we’re confident will continue to thrive and grow into the future. Let’s keep it real though. UCLA never could tackle. On the other hand, we acknowledge we may never recover from the loss of USC’s cheerleaders. We’ve long been known as the Conference of Champions, and we’re confident that when we complete negotiations with Azusa Pacific and Biola, God will bless us with many, many more. Until then, remember Easterners, you can always find us playing at 1a.m. on Fox Sports.
Maybe I’m Buddhist
I’m listening to a personal finance podcast series geared towards the retirement set. It’s about how to think about your legacy or how others will remember your brief time on this planet.
I appreciate the fact that the host emphasizes positive, non-material contributions to people and places.
But in starting to think about my potential legacy, I get stuck on this question. Isn’t any consideration of legacy the byproduct of ego? Put differently, I suspect the better we manage our ego, the less concerned we’ll be with our legacy.
Again, I turn to my sissy who occasionally reminds me, “It’s not all about you.” But what if she’s only partially right. What if NONE of it is about me?
Odds are a few people will remember me for a little while. And then I’ll be forgotten. Probably like you.
It’s at this point that Dan, Dan The Transportation Man loses it and calls me a real downer. And I tell him I prefer the term “realist”.
Deciding I don’t know or care much about my legacy, I quit the podcast series midstream.
Consistently Inconsistent
With the exception of pregnant women, personal freedom is of paramount importance. Most especially when it comes to the right to arm oneself. Also, leave overtly religious people in the public square alone. And as of today, hands off the environment. ‘Live free or die’ and all.
Trump Broke Dishes, Splattered Wall With Ketchup
Granted, not even a ‘Top 100’ offense for the Former Guy; hell, not even a ‘Top 10’ offense from today’s testimony, but who among us hasn’t thrown their lunch against a wall when upset by something at work?
The Overturning of Roe v. Wade
Saudi Sportswashing
In an effort to improve its image on the global stage, Saudi Arabia is financing a new professional golf tour. Some PGA pros are signing on to the LIV Tour as a result of the Saudi’s bonuses and much higher tournament purses. Tuesday, Brooks Koepka received $100m to switch sides.
Professional golfers have never been on the forefront of progressive politics, but this is next-level selling out to the highest bidder regardless of their historic repression of their citizens; their ties to 9/11; their hacking of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi to death; and worst of all; despite no one writing about it, their brutal war against Yemen.
It’s worth noting the (dis)United States sells the weapons that Saudi Arabia uses against Yemen. And it’s worth pressing pause for a second and imagining what you and I would do if a competing employer offered to increase our pay by five or ten times?
Families of 9/11 victims brought moral clarity to the situation yesterday with a letter of appreciation for the PGA tour players who (so far) are refusing to aid and abet Saudi Arabia in its sportswashing campaign.
“To those many of you who chose to remain loyal to the PGA Tour — and did not defect to the Saudi Arabia-bankrolled LIV Golf Series — we thank you and the sponsors who support you. Thank you for standing up for decency. Thank you for standing up for the 9/11 Families. Thank you for resisting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to cleanse its reputation by buying off professional athletes. […]
“To those of you who have chosen what is right over blood money from a corrupt, destructive sports entity and its Saudi backers, please continue to stand strong. You inspire hope and conviction that our long journey to accountability and justice is in reach. We deeply value your integrity and your willingness to stand up for principle.”
This global showdown begs a question. “How much is enough?” Most of the LIV signees are multimillionaires many times over. For some, the answer appears to be, there’s never enough.
The Decline Of The (dis)United States
If we’re the greatest country in the world, why don’t we live as long as people in other developed countries and why is the gap between our life expectancy and theirs widening?
Pressing Pause 