Alexandersmap

    Category: Lifestyle

    • Chin Up

      Rowing is a great exercise, and as I’ve mentioned I’ve gotten reacquainted with it the last couple of weeks as I work to re-establish my morning exercise habit.  When you row alone in a basement there are a few ways to pass the time on long rows; play music, listen to a podcast or some other audio program, or watch something on television.  More often than not I opt out of all of these and just row in silence.  Or more appropriately, I listen to myself.

      During a million meter rowing campaign I did a few years ago as a fundraiser for a friend of mine, I injured myself somewhat early on in my attempt by overextending.  In rowing that means coming up to the catch position and lunging forward for a bit more.  The only way to do this is to drop your head, kick your seat back and extend your hands forward.  When I was younger I thought this gave me an extra 2-3 inches of drive.  But the cost isn’t worth the benefit.  Over-extension on the erg enforces bad habits on the water where balance and swing are critical, and they expose you to potential injury.

      So as I row since then, I remind myself to keep my chin up.  Sometimes physically looking up at the ceiling to emphasize it.  There’s an obvious metaphor about keeping one’s chin up in the sense of being positive.  But in this case I think of “chin up” as reinforcing good habits; not reaching for things that aren’t worthwhile and focusing on things that will bring you benefit in the long run.  I know my weaknesses at this point in my life, but I also know my strengths, and I work to emphasize those instead.  Sometimes I just need to remind myself to make adjustments and stop lunging for things that don’t matter in the long run.

    • Car Stickers

      Today I was driving through Connecticut when I passed a car with seven or eight stickers on various rear and side windows.  The one that caught my attention was a profile of a backpacker with a dog on a leash.  Another one that interested me was an Ithaca College sticker.  I didn’t know the driver of this car, but I’m confident that I’d have an interesting conversation with them if the opportunity ever presented itself.  Stickers say a lot about the driver.

      The vast majority of drivers – myself included – have no bumper stickers or their magnetic cousins on their cars.  Maybe a parking sticker for work or school, but nothing that announces who they are or what they believe in.  Contrast that with the in-your-face nature of the overtly political advocate’s car.  Pro-Trump and anti-Hilary.  Anti-Trump and pro-Hilary.  Either way I see the stickers on their car and I definitely don’t want to have a beer with them.

      Stickers announce affiliation with a school, a sports team, a community, military branch, or a favorite vacation spot.  I have no problem with this.  Embrace your tribe and be proud.  You want to show how many kids and pets you have with stickers?  Have at it.

      I do have a problem with antagonists and posers.  You want to put an extra-large bumper sticker on your car telling the world what you believe?  You’ll be noticed, but you’ll be thought poorly of by the majority of people you’re sharing the road with.  You’re probably blocked or muted by your Facebook friends too.  The world is seemingly full of antagonists lately.  Sorry, I have no time for your agenda.

      Posers are another troubling lot.  Your kids got into four of the best colleges in the northeast?  Good for you.  I’m not having a beer with you, but good for you.  Stickers are innocent enough on their own.  It’s the driver’s approach to this rolling art that makes me shake my head.  Such are the roadways of 2019 America.

       

    • Yes… and especially, No

      I’ve been very deliberately cleansing my news feed.  I Believe that I need to be informed, see both sides of issues and get my news from multiple sources.  But there’s so much insidious outrage porn out there that I’ve become an aggressive editor to what comes at me.  This is not analogous to putting my head in the sand, I’m still aware of what matters.  No, this is self-preservation.

      It started with the obvious.  Don’t watch the local bleed it leads news.  Don’t listen to politic outrage radio.  Don’t listen to sports radio that only seeks less to infor, highlight and discuss as it does to mock, rage and complain.

      But digging deeper, it meant muting friends and family who post clickbate outrage.  Sifting out the people I follow on Twitter based on not just what they post, but what they like.  These likes end up in my feed whether I want them or not.  Thanks a bunch Twitter.

      This falls into the know what to say no to philosophy.  I’m getting better at saying no.  But also yes.  I’m following more long-form bloggers like Farnom Street and Brain Pickings.  I’ve been following Seth Godin for years.  Instead of being a slave to the radio I listen to podcasts.  And after talking to a friend I’ve decided to give Audible another go.  Other yeses are Instagram feeds from places I want to go, or go back to.

      Ultimately we become what we focus on.  In this world where everything demands your focus, saying no more seems to be the only way to move ahead.  No gives you more elbow room for yes.

    • Faraway Birds

      Up before the dawn, I grabbed my phone and walked down to the water.  These are my favorite moments of the day; to look out at the gray stillness and watch the coming of the light.  Sunsets are grand things that garner the most attention because their more accessible.  And I love a good sunset as much as anyone.   But sunrise is my time.

      This morning brought a pink and salmon sky and a chorus of thousands of unseen migratory birds saying “It’s time!  It’s time!” as they discuss their own plans for the day amongst themselves.  Today is March 30th, and the bay is still.  No boats, no planes dragging insurance company banners behind them, no social media buzz, no landscapers blowing grass clippings, no noise save for those birds.

      I didn’t stay for the sun to pop up over the horizon.  This time of year it’s hidden behind a spit of land jutting out from the Pocasset River.  The best show is well before that anyway.  But the full day is ahead of me, and soon us as the human world wakes up and drowns out the chorus of faraway birds.

    • Nails, Screws and Broken Glass (Oh My!)

      When you pick up a penny that’s heads up it’s supposed to give you good luck.  I tend to leave pennies for others to pick up – my way of passing the luck along to someone who might need it more.  I’m already plenty lucky to have the life I’ve got.

      What I do pick up are nails and screws that I come across on the road or in a parking lot.  I picked a nail up just today as I was returning an item to Home Depot.  It was destined to be stuck in someone’s tire, which would inevitably cause a flat, making someone else’s day a little darker than it might be otherwise.  There’s some cosmic cycle there that I can’t control, but looked at differently, me being in that parking lot at that moment, looking down at that particular spot and seeing a nail poised to be run over is an incredibly random event (even at a Home Depot).  I was clearly meant to pick it up and remove the hazard from the future of someone else’s life.  Or leave it and let the gods of fate determine the outcome.

      I pick up glass when I see it on a beach for the same reason.  Just because I was lucky enough to not step on it doesn’t mean someone else will be as lucky.  Best to eliminate the hazard for future bare footers.

      I choose good karma.  Picking up the nail, leaving the penny for someone else, picking up the broken glass…  and being a positive contributor to this crazy society that we live in.  Perhaps the karma will continue to bless me with a good life, perhaps not, but in any case I’ve done my part.

    • Working Around the Edges

      It occurred to me that many of my bucket list places to visit skirt the outer edges of populated areas.  I’ve written about a few places that are literally the edges – like the precipitous cliffs of Portugal and the easternmost point of the North American Continent in Cape St. Vincent, Newfoundland.  I love being in places like that, and I’ll continue to seek them out as long as I’m able to.

      I’m as eager to see Torngat Mountains National Park deep in Labrador as I am to see Paris.  I’m looking forward to visiting London later this year, but anticipate the Northern Highlands of Scotland just as much.  I want to see New Zealand as much or more than I want to see Hawaii.  And while I love the energy in New York City, I adore the stillness of a forest or the beach in winter.

      Perhaps I’m a loner at heart.  That doesn’t mean I don’t thrive around people, but I don’t need people to be content.  I appreciate solitude.  Which is a good thing since the bulk of my job puts me alone in a car or a hotel room.  I’ve become self-sufficient in travel, and in many parts of daily life.  Stick me by myself in a garden weeding and I’m just as happy as I am when I’m at a family party.  I think that level of contentment within your own mind is a good thing.  I don’t need noise to drown out my own thoughts.

      Maybe I should have been a lighthouse keeper.  Or a meteorologist on the summit of Mount Washington.  Or a solo through hiker on the Appalachian Trail.  But then again, I’m a traveling salesperson, a gardener, a solo walker, a rower.  Isolation isn’t the aim – I greatly enjoy those I’ve built my life around and banter with those I’ve just met – but when I need it it’s a welcome partner in my journey deep into the soul.

    • Super Worm Equinox Moon

      There’s a super worm equinox moon tonight.  Besides being a crazy pick-up line, it’s marking the beginning of spring in stunning fashion as it rose.  And the only way to have seen it was to be outside.  Too many people hole themselves up in their houses or offices, never being one with nature. That’s not me.  I prefer to be outside.  And I’ve felt the impact of Bodhi getting older as I don’t walk outside as much as I used to.

      I’m using the equinox as an occasion for change.  I’m getting outside more.  I’m rowing again – 5000 meters earlier this evening – more consistency with it going forward.  Fitness for me is strongly tied to the amount of outdoor time I carve out for myself.

      I thought about America’s Stonehenge when I saw the moon rising about the hills of New Hampshire tonight.  I imagine it was a hell of a show watching the super moon rising through the channel cut through the trees for just such an occasion.  I also thought if I’d planned better perhaps a picture of the moon rising out of the ocean would have been spectacular.  Alas, I didn’t plan, but I did have the opportunity to watch it rise.  That will have to be enough.

    • Scol!

      There’s a several scenes from my favorite movie Local Hero that I replay in my head.  This scene is on the beach, while Mac and the locals wait for Ben and Happer to finish their long meeting in the beach hut.  They all pour brandy into styrofoam cups and Mac offers a toast:

      Mac: “Well, sláinte, everybody.”
      Locals: “Eh? What?”  
      Mac: “Sláinte?”
      Russian: “skål!”
      Local Scot:  “Skol!”
      All:  “Cheers!”

      I’m familiar with sláinte.  And in fact I just wrote about it on St. Patrick’s Day.  But Scol was something I wondered about…  So I had to look it up of course.  According to the online Dictionary of Scots Language:

      Scol(l, Skoll, n. Also: scole, skole, scoall, scoill, skoill.
      [Only Sc. till the 19th c. Norw., Dan. skall, ON skál, whence also Scale n.1
      Perhaps, OED conjectures, ‘introduced through the visit of James VI to Denmark in 1589’.]

      A drink taken as evidence of the drinker’s good wishes for the welfare of another person or other persons; (a person’s) ‘health’; a toast; also, the cup or glass from which the health is drunk. Also, scoll of drink.

      As an American saying sláinte! in St. Patrick’s Day toasts it’s easy to feel a bit like you’re hijacking a phrase that doesn’t belong to you.  And maybe that’s why Mac’s toast and the local’s confused reaction resonates for me.  We’re all just posers borrowing clever phrases.  But since we’re all just raising a glass to the good health of those we’re with, I don’t think they’d mind all that much.

      A darker origin of the toast may come from the Vikings, who would drink from the skull of the tribal leader they just killed after battle.  This was a tribute to those who fought well but lost, and helped ensure that they would enter Valhalla.  They apparently would chant skol!  Skol!  Skol! as they went into battle, and then enjoy a toast to the fruits of their labor in the skull of the vanquished leader.  I think I’d prefer the styrofoam cup, thank you.

    • Networking Events

      Tonight I found myself at an industry event networking with a mix of people I’ve never met before and others I’ve known for years.  Normally I hold my own in events like this, but tonight I didn’t want to play the game.  But I try to be a professional, and professionalism dictated that I needed to participate in the event.

      “If you want to do anything in this world, it’s all about creating a vision for others to join.”

      Sell the vision.  Gain some measure of traction and engagement.  Repeat.  It’s the life in sales.  They say you can tell when a sales person’s heart isn’t into it.  Tomorrow is another day, and I plan on being dynamic and compelling in making my case for that vision.  But tonight I rest.

    • Sláinte

      Cheers.  Or to your good health.  Whatever.  “Sláinte” is your typical Gaelic toast when you clink glasses and have a drink with your best friends or your best friends for the moment.  So on this St. Patrick’s Day, let me take this moment to say sláinte to you!