brent evans

morning babble / Wednesday 07-28-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

#209 – 5K Every Day – got my new blue card. The other item that I ordered isn’t coming until August 16th. Which isn’t good. I needed it on August 15th when I try 10 Hot Sauces with my brother-in-law, Nick. It’s called the HiccAway : A Natural Remedy Proven to Stop Hiccups Instantly.

Hot Ones – host Sean Evans (not related) interviews celebrities while tasting 10 hot sauces – Will Ferrell / Paul Rudd / Bill Burr / Shaq

I cold-showered, too. 4 more days until the heat returns to the bathing routine.

Ashley & Anthony – CONGRATS as we all welcome baby Isabelle Florence!

My Elliott has his MRI tonight. Nothing will really be known until Friday though with the doctor visit. Chiari malformation – which basically means the brain is too big for the skull. 

Left my laptop at the workshop . . . turned out to make the best part of my day.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The scholar who thinks but does not create is like the cloud which does not give rain.” – by Eastern Wisdom (Page 121 of A Calendar of Wisdom – Tolstoy)

morning babble / Tuesday 07-27-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

Happy Tuesday – tank move was completed yesterday. I don’t talk about my work too much but that aquarium yesterday was a beast. 265 gallons. It took 7 of us to move that thing. But – it’s done AND I got all my fingers, which is no small matter. My business is called Clean-A-Tank, not Move-A-Tank.

Since I am talking about cleaning aquariums, I get a lot of odd emails. I think before I talked about some pig email that I was on. Well, I also get cattle emails. (Watch the video below!)

I did NOT do my 50/50/50s today, nor the pull-ups. Tomorrow.

I ran – 208 5k runs / the new blue cards arrive today – I’ll have that 5k run every day.

I also cold-showered. 5 more days to go!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“A person becomes happy to the same extent which he or she gives happiness to other people” – by Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher

morning babble / Monday 07-26-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

Happy Monday! Today’s the day that I have the big tank move in Reading, PA. If you hear any screams – well, it could be pain / it could be joy.

I ran. #207. FYI – I run a 5k every day! It’s not just a minute and then I call it quits for the day. Again, just an FYI. 🙂

I cold-showered, but my daughter didn’t doodle in the calendar box. She was already snuggled down in her bed with her warmed up corn bag when she said that she was sorry for not doing it. Made me smile . . . I then grounded her for a week. Just kidding.

Tried using my Moka pot yesterday afternoon – actually, that part worked. It’s the Cafe Cubano that I’m still struggling with. The sugar whipping is not going so well. The whipped sugar rises to the top to form a thick, foamy layer that resembles crema. This layer, called “espuma”, is made of whipped sugar. That is so not happening right now.

But then – something happened to me that hasn’t happened in ages. I really reacted to all the caffeine and sugar. My heart went racing and I had to sit down in our house library just to get it together and calmly breathe through it all.

A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Not to accept your mistakes is to increase them.” – by Leo Tolstoy

morning babble / Sunday 07-25-21

I cannot believe that next Sunday is August – just want to state that loud & clear. I’ve already seen the candy corn in stores – probably leftover from last year, but it’s there. You can almost smell the Pumpkin Spice in the air.

I haven’t run yet. #206 will be on the trails. I did cold-shower last night. 7 more cold showers to go and the 31 Days of July Cold Showers has been accomplished!

So, last night I was having a wonderful talk with my son, Elliott. Lots of laughing and that’s good. You see, recently he was part of a study that was done at Nemours Hospital. My wife has been a part of these different studies but this particular one was for kids our son’s age. He got paid money to answer a ton of questions but also had to have an MRI. He was excited about the money, while my wife and I were excited to have all these results to simply see what’s going on in our little boy’s body. He’s 12. Not too little anymore. Anyway, the study occurs again next year, but they reached out to us afterwards and notified us that the MRI showed that our little E-man has a Chiari malformation – which basically means the brain is too big for the skull. We had to get him to his doctor. And we did. Elliott is going to need another MRI (that’s Wednesday) and then there’s a discussion about surgery (takes place on Friday). It’s all still very scary. Back to last night’s talk, I’m so happy that my son and I could laugh about it. I know it’s not funny, but we are enjoying the now – there’s no point to worrying and ruining what you have right now His smile was awesome last night. Anyway – it made me joke with him about the Pulp Fiction scene about the “Big Brain on Brad” and yes, I showed it to him. Watch the video below!

Check out the big brain on Elliott. We’re all smiling here at the Evans household and know that are little man is going to take on whatever he has to with a positive outlook.

Books!

• Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Great book so far. Currently in a chapter about Teddy Roosevelt. Received a telegram about his daughter being born. Then, a 2nd one came through about his wife not doing well. He got home and then learned that both his wife and mother were dying. At 3am (the day after his daughter was born), he was by his mother’s side as she passed. Less than 12 hours later, his wife died, too. His famous quote at this moment was ” The light has gone out in my life.” This was all prior to him being president, so many more stories are to be told, but this one . . . I don’t ever want to imagine needing to overcome that.

• Eat A Peach – A Memoir by David Chang

• The Boys – Omnibus Volume 4 by Garth Ennis

• The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson (listening to this one). Heard him on podcasts talking about this book. It’s the story about 2020 Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna (dowd-na), who developed the gene editing technology CRISPR. One of the stories he told on the podcasts as well as within the book is when Jennifer went to her guidance counselor for advice about her future and what she wanted to do. The counselor’s advice, “Girls don’t become scientists.” Reminded me of my daughter and her “Hold my Doll” moment.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If you act like you can do something, then it will work.” – by Walter Isaacson

morning babble / Saturday 07-24-21

I’m aching some. I did those pull-ups on Thursday. Skipped them yesterday. While running today, my sides hurt. Pausing those until after Monday, which is when I have a huge fish aquarium move to do. I can’t be hurting for that. It’s a huge tank. So, basically I’m wishing it was already Tuesday. Sorry – let’s get off that topic.

I ran on the mill – #205. 5k run every day keeps going!

Also, I cold-showered last night. It’s the cleanest month ever! Come on . . . you don’t shower every day, right? I mean, it was Friday, I didn’t really do anything to truly deserve soapy freshness; the bed sheets were being changed today, so who cares? Off to bed! Nope – I still cold-showered. ONE MORE WEEK!

AMA Saturday:

• Question #1 – Glitter still everywhere? Yes. Even during today’s 5k run on the treadmill, I looked down and saw glitter. It’s worse than tinsel. This house is marked.

• Question #2 – Did you purchase any records last Saturday during Record Store Day? No, but I have been listening to Beck’s record Guero an awful lot. So many good songs. Track 2 in particular is my favorite “Que Onda Guero” – click here for a direct link to the song on Spotify. With shouts of Michael Bolton, the new Yanni cassette, your popsicle’s melting – it’s a great sounding song with all kinds of fun throughout it. As for what “guero” means, well – it used to be a slur, but apparently isn’t anymore. From what I can see, it means “What’s up, White Boy!”

• Question #3 – Are you ever going to tape your mouth at night? Yes, but in the Fall.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz” – by Beck Hansen (via his song “Loser”)

morning babble / Friday 07-23-21

I ran 204 / I cold-showered – 22 down / I wrote last night! I didn’t attack the shorts, but actually worked on what is currently labeled “Chapter 2 – Tiny Town” of my book.

Press Release from Third Man Records announced The Blue Room Bar Grand Opening. Beginning this Thursday-Friday-Saturday 6pm to 11pm and recurring weekly, enjoy signature cocktails, beer, wine, and stuffed FatBelly Pretzels at The Blue Room Bar! The problem – Nashville, TN.

New Music Friday:

• Kanye West’s 10th studio album, Donda is supposed to be out today. In a tribute, the album was named after his late mother, Donda West, who passed in 2007.

• 2Cellos – Today, we got the Ed Sheeran / Justin Bieber song, “I Don’t Care”. Appears to be the 3rd song off of their upcoming album, Dedicate -out September 21st. We already got “Living on the Prayer” and Imagine Dragons “Demons” – watch the video here.

• British rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor – Dave – new album drop today. His sophomore album called We’re All Alone in This Together

• Marian Hill released the song “omg”. No word on an entire album. But we did get this fun song with lyrice like “I’m wearing nothing but my lingerie / It’s all I’ve got til I do laundry.” Hide the Tide more often. There’s a video – I checked.

• Leon Bridges just released his third album, Gold-Diggers Sound – named after the Los Angeles studio where the album was made. We already got “Sweeter,” “Motorbike,” and “Why Don’t You Touch Me.” Now, we get all 11.

• Sub Pop has released the remastered 30th anniversary deluxe edition of Mudhoney’s Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, the Seattle group’s classic second full-length album. This expanded release will include the original album in its entirety as well as a 15-track bonus LP and CD of additional material, with 7 previously unreleased songs.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Recognize and embrace your flaws so you can learn from them. Sometimes it takes a little polishing to truly shine.” – by Kanye West

morning babble / Thursday 07-22-21

blah, blah, blah – lots of scribble / watch that video

So, I didn’t read last night, but I didn’t write either. It was the swim team banquet and we did not get home until late. I barely cold-showered.

Glitter follow up . . . still everywhere. Even some clients’ homes now too. I picked up my computer bag and there it was.

203 days of running!

Murph Challenge / Nick Urban’s website describes it and breaks it all down.

For Time
1 mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Air Squats
1 mile Run
All with a Weight Vest (20/14 lb)

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Appreciate your time – every minute of it” – by someone

morning babble / Wednesday 07-21-21

The scribble about the babble – blah, blah, blah. Sometimes, it’s not so tidy. That’s when – you should watch the video below.

Glitter everywhere, because of my 5 year old daughter. / Making our home like Club Evans

I ran – 202 days of 5k runs. Also, cold-showered.

Moka pot was tried and I created a cafe cubano – twice. This video sounded awesome, but I think this one helped me more with the making of the drink.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” – by Stephen King

morning babble / Tuesday 07-20-21

The scribble about the babble – blah, blah, blah. Sometimes it gets tidied up.

I ran my 5k. #201 of the year.

I also cold-showered 19 done / 12 more to go. I’m coming for you Matt D’Avella. Check out his 30 days of cold showers here.

I’m amazed at how every inch of you needs to have the cold water hit it. Oh, and I keep babbling about benefits. Here’s a quick hit list:

Lowering body fat
Increasing hormone levels
Improving sexual performance and fertility
Lowering blood sugar
Cutting food cravings
Improving adrenal function
Fixing thyroid issues
Enhancing immune function
Improving deep sleep quality
Increasing pain tolerance
Reducing inflammation

Every paperwork days on Monday & Friday, I have “Thunder” by AC/DC play at 3pm to remind me to wrap it up, because I want to dig into other projects. I really want to make that happen. But – it’s tough. I did talk with my friend, Cecil, last night about making time. Couple years ago, I would write on every Monday and Wednesday – it was on my calendar. I think I’m going to get back to that. Mondays shouldn’t be an issue, but the 2nd day should be Wednesday or Thursday.

Pulled my Stephen King On Writing book, but it was done during a time when I didn’t do the tab thing to my books nor highlighted them. It’s pristine. Tempted to read it again some time soon, but not on writing nights.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly you’ll learn to do it better” – by Twyla Tharp. Her book, The Creative Habit, is a must read!

morning babble / Monday 07-19-21

#200 day of the year means I’ve done an awful lot of 5k runs. 200 to be exact. Without the balloons and clowns, I thought I would simply update on everything. The goal remains – 366 days of 5K runs and needs to be completed through January 1st.

After watching the first morning babble this morning (which I haven’t done), I enjoyed the first quote of the day ” Win the morning, Win the Day” – Tim Ferriss. I also was asking to be helped, but was hoping to inspire too. I realize that there isn’t too much suspense or tension here, but I’m hoping that every time some one clicks it . . . a little inspiration is sent their way.

Day #2 video was watched as well – this is the day that I talked about how Jerry Seinfeld pushes himself with daily writing. Every day you need to mark the calendar with an “X” and this builds a chain which you don’t want to break. On January 2nd, I only had 2 links to the chain. Fast forward to today and I’m still not breaking it!

Last night, I cold-showered. Not fun still. 18 down.

I’m still writing . . . couple shorts are being worked on now. I still need bigger gaps of time to dig into the book that I’m working on. I’m trying!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“No Plan B, No Plan A – just The Plan.” – by someone