The Power of the Checklist

I keep a detailed and thorough to-do list. I use Google Keep for the maximum level of organization. I used to keep my list in a little flip note-pad that i kept in my backpack. Since I've switched, I've been able to digitize my system and enhance it, track it, and record it. This past Friday, i checked one hundred and twenty four things off my list. I think that's a personal best, but i haven't put it in the chart yet. We'll see what the future holds. I'm up to 72 so far today...

Music Everywhere

I can't imagine any chapter of my life without a soundtrack.

Productivity In Spite of the World

Today, i focused on my home. I went down my chore list. I got a ton of stuff done, and I'm still ramping through. I even took a break to have a McDonald's picnic with my kiddos. Every day is an adventure.

The Impact of Small Things

Back in the late 1960s, Star Trek was a fledging science fiction show featuring a diverse cast and portraying an optimistic view of the future.

One of those cast members, Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Nyoto Uhura, wanted to quit the show, saying her character, a black woman in a short skirt, was little more than eye candy on the mostly white, male command center. Her communications officer position was rarely part of the action.

Before quitting, legend has it that civil rights icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself called Nichelle Nichols on the telephone, spoke to her of the importance of her role, for little black girls all over the world to see a future where they're part of the command crew, too. He implored her to stay with her role.

Fast forward almost sixty years. Another civil rights icon, Stacey Abrams, was featured in the latest Star Trek Iteration: Discovery. Miss Abrams herself played a character, and not just a background bridge officer. Stacey Abrams played the President of Earth.

We've come a long way.

The Rise of Freckle Face

Today i sit here at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds in a big, empty concrete floor gymnasium. The occasion is roller derby practice. The competitor whose corner I'm representing is for Freckle Face. She's a fierce second grader who likes mini golf and LOL Surprise dolls. She's loud, opinionated, and is small enough to sneak in between your lame jammers. 

Dogs in the Sun

As long as I can remember, I've been around big dogs. For some reason, coincidentally, most of them have been big, black dogs. My parents had black lab/retriever mixes, and we have a mutt shepherd and a pit bull, all black. One thing they all had in common, and other dogs that i can recall, is they all love laying on the floor by a window where the sun is shining in. That's their favorite. I admire the simplicity...

Who Knows

I'm trying to post more regularly in hopes that my mindless rambling may form some sort of discernable pattern. I have yet to come to any such determination. I can read the news and see that I'm not alone, however, and that provides me some slight comfort.

Prepping Progress

I had the day off today, so i took the time to go through my camping trailer and organize the hell out of it. I secured everything large, stowed fuel and cooking gear, and organized what sleeping geari could find. In a pinch, we will require minimal packing. I'm hoping to optimize that in the coming days/weeks.

Reassessing "Duty"

There's a lot of crazy things going on in the world right now, and lots of it, globally, nationally, locally, personally... it has me thinking about what my job is now.

I'm a cook, a father, and a house-husband, but I'm also a citizen, a neighbor, and part of a community. Whether i enjoy those things or not is moot. I am in these situations by consequence of my own actions and inactions. Now I have a commitment to honor those in my way, and i need to figure out what that means. All of this in the context of another potential shift in lifestyle with a looming third global war (thanks for the warmup Covid).

So what is the best course of action? Talk to neighbors? Participate in local government? Jon a political party? Protest with the kids? Enlist? Volunteer? Object? It's a crazy time to be alive, but whatever happens, don't forget where you came from and how you got where you are.