brent evans

I ran, but it was back on the treadmill. Mountain was fun. My legs still ache, but it was fun. Later this week – I easily see some outside runs happening. Nice weather coming!

Felt good being in my own bed again after a shower in my own shower. Isn’t that true of anywhere you go though? Okay – maybe almost anywhere. Today, I’m certainly feeling refreshed and ready for whatever again.

Ahhhh, but ready enough for the 3 Day Fast? I have to be. It’s a big month because allergy season begins to roll in. After dinner tonight, I start up my monthly 3 day fast. Hopefully, I eat a little early so the Thursday dinner can come earlier as well.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius

First weekend obstacle of the year has been hurdled! 5k & Vlog streak continues on!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, since it’s my vlog and I like music, that’s what I want to talk about again. Yesterday, I bought two records:

Trick of the Tail – From 1976, this is the first album that Mr. Phil Collins moved out from behind the drum kit and took over on lead vocals for the band, Genesis. Former lead singer, Peter Gabriel, had just left to do his solo thing. This particular record was introduced to me by my brother-in-law, Barry. His daughter Melissa fell asleep to this album every night as a baby. In turn, I did the same thing with my son, Elliott. When we walked into the record store yesterday, this album was smack dab up front and Elliott actually saw it first and said “Whoa!” I had to get it.

Are You Experienced? – Got this one because of my daughter. She appears to truly enjoy the rock. When we played the Jimi Hendrix song “Fire” in the car, she locked in and loved the song especially the part about “move over rover, and let Jimi take over.” This album was up front within the aisle – so, it was screaming to be purchased as well.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Everything worthwhile takes a long time” – Milton Glaser

Outside 5k run is done, so the streak continues. As I say in the video, I had other things planned out to say, but that just went out the window. I enjoyed being outside – felt good. That first half of the run though – whew, straight up. I hit my “flight” goal for the day within the first 2 minutes of the run. At the halfway point, I had quadrupled my goal! Now, of course, the way back was all downhill, but it was scary. If I did one slip . . . I would have set some records with the sled ride home that I would have had.

Quick random music notes that I didn’t get to yesterday:

1. Bruno Mars has a new single out with Anderson. Paak – “Leave The Door Open”
2. AND – Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, redid Cream’s “White Room” with Apocalyptica.

That’s it – short scribble day. I’m off to a record store!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Ideas are cheap. Ideas are easy. Ideas are common. Everybody has ideas. Ideas are highly, highly overvalued. Execution is all that matters.”  – Casey Neistat

Happy Friday! Happy Birthday to my wife – she is . . . not my age. I’m smarter than that.

Big day – I talked about this before and as always, I’ll include it within the scribble on the website. But, today is the 4x4x48 Challenge courtesy of Mr. David Goggins. Let me review what this is. Starting tonight at 8pm (West Cost Time aka PST) – the challenge is to run 4 miles every 4 hours for the next 48 hours. That fascinates me. Maybe next year – but if it’s around my wife’s birthday . . . that probably wouldn’t be a good idea, but we’ll see. Very intriguing to me. Oh – and yes, I’m still listening to his book Can’t Hurt Me. Not done yet, but getting there. So far – you should go listen to it, too.

New Music Friday:

• Drake’s got new music out! It’s not the whole sha-bang that he promised back in January. That album is called Certified Lover Boy – no release date there. This 3 song EP is called Scary Hours 2 . . . because he already had a Scary Hours EP before. That “What’s next” song was a whole lotta him bragging about getting lucky on Valentine’s Day.

• St. Vincent has officially announced her new album Daddy’s Home and shared its first single, “Pay Your Way in Pain.” The album is out May 14

• The Kings of Leon album drops today – When You See Yourself – 11 songs

• “Coming 2 America” is out today – yes, the movie with Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Tracy Morgan, James Earl Jones, Leslie Jones . . . the list goes on. But – Def Jam is releasing not one but two soundtracks to go along with it. I last week that there was the release of the on song – “I’m King” with Bobby Sessions and Megan Thee Stallion. But, I’m not seeing the whole soundtrack yet today. Movie is through Amazon Prime.

• GRAMMYs are coming. The show hosted by Trevor Noah is March 14. But – on SiriusXM, you can hear all the nominees and contenders for a Grammy can be found on Ch. 104. You get Beyoncé, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, and more, plus virtual backstage interviews and other “shtuff.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If you’re early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late.” Chris Rock’s dad

This scribble needs to be worked on still . . . I’ll do that soon. OFF TO WORK!

Today is going to be a good day. I would even venture to say – a Great Day! I know it’s – Friday Eve, but today, my parents are getting their 1st vaccine shot. I am so excited for them. My dad is 81 and mom is 78. They needed it. Thank you to my little sister for finding out about a website and instructing my mom to go there. As of today, if you qualify for a shot, you do have to play that game. But – keep playing it. It’s important. I miss hugging my parents . . . and I’ve missed out on a lot of those hugs this past year.

5 Year Memory Book

Tomorrow – I leave. Well, I will be here in the morning.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“There is more freedom to be gained from practicing poverty than chasing wealth. Suffer a little regularly and you often cease to suffer.” – Tim Ferriss

Coffee – I like the pour over. Remember – me and Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach. I found it – I talked about that before here. Anyway, I like the dark roast. BUT – I have found an odd thing about dark roast coffees and not all of them are the same – I know, obviously. However, I have noticed that the oily, slick looking coffee beans that are “dark roast”, I like them best. After “googling” it, I learned that if the dark roast bean has the “wet look”, then it was roasted correctly. Here’s the link.

Speaking of coffee, someone saw me at Dunkin and he thought I was cheating on my fast. Three things: (1) 3 day fast begins next Monday (3/8) after dinner, (2) Black coffee is fine for the 3 day fast, and (3) Dunkin’s Snackin Bacon is not available on the fast though and that is what I was having. If they ever have a 2 for 1 – I’m in trouble.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemy” – Alexander the Great

So, my Thunderstruck song went off yesterday and I didn’t stop working. I kept pushing. AND – I became grumpy Brent. It’s sort of a special week though. I just can’t really get behind because of the upcoming weekend away.

I’m big with trigger songs:

Back in high school with baseball, I’d hum “Guns in the Sky” to myself at the plate. Yeah, by INXS. Don’t laugh Michael Hutchence can be tough. Alright, sexy tough?

Anyway – for running, I have my “Angry Run” Playlist. These include Linkin Park, Godsmack, but the one song that gets me every time – “Legend Has It” by Run the Jewels

Now, it’s not all angry or getting psyched up moments that I need. At night in our house library, I love playing certain vinyl – the whole ritual of putting the record onto the turntable – almost like the ritual of brewing a cup of coffee. Currently, my favorite go to chill album has been the latest one from The Raconteurs with Help Us Stranger. Sometimes though, I turn to Beck’s Morning Phase

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Comparison is the thief of joy” – Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

Hello March – do you believe that “In like a lion, out like a lamb?” I’m cheering it on because I’m so ready to get outside. Hoping by the end of this long month

Stay home day and I have so much planned in getting done today – paperwork wise. This is where I can get myself in trouble. I set some lofty goals and then come the end of the day when I haven’t hit them all. I get bummed. A little downward spiral. I think it’s important to set these high goals, because I want to push myself to get it all done. BUT – it’s not worth it if I just become grumpy Brent at the end of it all. To help shift me out of this work, work, work mode, I actually have an alarm set on my phone to go off around 3:15pm to begin wrapping it up. It’s AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. It sort of clicks me from the work to the “have to” work and I begin wrapping it up for the day in order to get to my family!

Oh – yesterday, I talked about Tim Ferriss and all of his books. BUT – I failed to mention his podcast, which – yes, I do know about and listen to religiously. He just did his 500th episode with Kevin Rose – so congrats to him on that accomplishment. He plans on keeping it going which I’m happy to hear. Also today on the treadmill, I began listening to #501 with his guest, Steven Pressfield. I’ve talked about him before with his book, The War of Art.

I ran! 31 + today + 28 = 60 in a row! Also means 60 videos. Thanks for putting up with me!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“When one teaches, two learn” – Robert Heinlein

Enjoying some morning beverage out of my Batman mug today. BUT – I have to admit something – it’s not coffee. It’s called MUD\WTR. I used to drink way too much coffee – like some people would ask me “how many cups did you have?” I would answer: “Cups? how about pots?” Anyway, it was bad and MUD\WTR has been an incredible replacement for some of my daily java intake.

Got my the newest Ronin issue from Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark on Friday. It’s the final one – Issue 5 of 5. I still have to read #4 . . . so, I’m looking forward to digging into that today . . . hopefully. Need some “fun” reading!

More Book talk and, in particular, Tim Ferriss books. He has been an incredible influence on me and I have added him as a G.O.A.T to the Morning Babble Top 5. He joins David Chang and Ryan Holiday. I know, here we are wrapping up February and only 2 months into the year and we already have 3 of the top 5. BUT – I kind of knew that those 3 were on the list. I really don’t have any idea what other ones will be added . . . so, you are all along for the ride. In the meantime, go get some of these Tim Ferriss books:

• The 4-Hour Body
• Tools of Titans
• Tribe of Mentors
• The 4-Hour Chef
• The 4-Hour Workweek

Goodbye February! Bring on March!!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“”Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.” – Tim Ferriss

Happy Saturday Morning – no work today . . . at least on the road. I’m home. Enjoyed another episode of WandaVision last night – awesome stuff. And then, my wife and I followed that up with Brian Regan’s Netflix special. If I slip into any Brian Regan-isms . . . I apologize but he’s simply the best and CLEAN! I like some naughty comedy but it is incredible how funny that guy can be while being profanity free.

Answers to 3 questions:

1. When’s your next 3 day fast? Well, March is Monday and it doesn’t begin then. I will be doing it the follow Monday (3/8) begins after dinner that night.
2. How many miles have you run so far? Almost 200 miles. I do expect to be running some more once I get outside some more this Spring, Summer, and Fall. Some runners have picked on me for not going outside more. I have no fear of the cold or the rain. BUT – I’m not running outside at 4:30am in the woods. Treadmill is awesome at 4:30am.
3. Have you used your Mad Libs yet? No, but they will be packed for next weekend. Our family is going away for the weekend. Going to be interesting how the run and vlog happens, but it will. The streak must continue!

James Clear wrote Atomic Habits – haven’t read that yet . . . my wife is still working on it. But, I do receive his weekly email. Go sign up for it here – it’s free! Anyway, what’s written below is taken directly from one of his recent emails. Gave me something to think about:

“For a few weeks, I started each morning by writing “What do I actually want?” at the top of a blank page. It’s surprising how useful it is to keep asking the same question. Each time, my answer became more precise. Once I knew what I wanted, I turned it into action steps.”

So, I haven’t tried it yet, but I am considering, because I could use some more focus and precision on what I’m doing!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“It’s so much better to promote what you love than to bash what you hate”– Jessica Alba