4 December 2024

This morning I woke up with some lower back pain, hopefully it was a result of sleeping wrong. My other theory is that I’m trying to exercise more and on Monday went for a couple minute long run. Seems unlikely that a short run would have this effect especially two days later, but you never know, the body can be a strange thing. I’ll lay down as much as I can today and go to physical therapy this afternoon. PT is for the little princess, not me, we’re working on strengthening her neck muscles and loosening up one muscle that pulls her head left. She’s been doing great lately though, we’ve got her a bed with a hole for her head because as the slogan goes, “flat beds make flat heads”, and she’s been sleeping on it without any problems. Joint pain like my back could be a result of all this could weather we’ve been having, I live in a location that can grow citrus and this morning it was 23 degrees. That cold at all is ridiculous, but even less expected in early December. This cold weather is likely a result of the big storm that went up to North Carolina this Fall. There was also some rain last week that shifted us to the cold, that sort of thing will give a couple days cold, not freezing temperatures for a week. Soon the cold should be gone, or at least back to Southern “cold” temperatures and I would love for it to stay that way for the rest of Winter. Less than a month ago is when I planted my grape vines, this cold can be bad for them if they woke up from hibernation. We’ll see what’s still kicking in the Spring.

2 December 2024

The holidays are a whirlwind and they’re already in full swing. On my drive this morning it was all Christmas music on the radio. Over the weekend we started putting up Christmas decorations, on Thanksgiving we went to a Christmas tree farm down the street to get our tree. The tree farm offers the realistic experience by having hand saws available, thankfully they also took care of the whole business with a chainsaw and trailer to bring the tree back, if asked. We got a nine feet tall tree and when I put all the string lights we had on the tree it still looked bare. My queen had ordered more decoration and over the weekend I’ve been adding them, we might need to keep the bottom empty because the elder princess keep pulling ornaments off. We technically had two Thanksgiving dinners since the queen worked Friday the plan was to have turkey on Saturday, but we had to do something the day of. I was happy with a burger and pie. For most of the weekend we’ve been staying inside due to some very cold weather, it’s worked out that I can decorate here and there through out the day. The podcast had a successful video, it’s still going with over a thousand views in a couple days, thankful for that. Today I have to prepare this weeks episode, I’m beat and will probably stay that way until we reach the new year, or until we get a couple warm days.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 41

In this Thanksgiving Day special, the hosts engage in a lively discussion about holiday shopping trends, nostalgic gaming experiences, and the traditional Thanksgiving feast. They debate the merits of various Thanksgiving foods, reflect on the importance of family and education, and delve into the science of boxing gloves and the implications of CTE. The conversation culminates in a humorous food showdown, ultimately leading to a light-hearted conclusion about gratitude and family.

25 November 2024

New week, what are we up to? First recap the weekend and get into this Thanksgiving week. Friday was the first normal double daughter day since the Friday before we were traveling. Things went well, no achievement feels better than being able to put one child down for a nap and then the other to give myself a couple minutes of quiet time. This week’s exercise has started strong already with push ups, pull ups, and jump rope, my plan is to stretch after writing this. Monday’s are always tough to get going again and I would have slacked off today if not for Thanksgiving. Daycare is closed Wednesday and Thursday, so today might be the only time I exercise all week and I know I’ll be eating extra. None of that is discouraging, the time spent now is getting a head start on the new year. It’s near impossible to flip a switch and start new habits, the current weeks of attempting are strengthening my ability to commit to new habits. The podcast went well, since reaching my goal in Youtube I’m turning my attention to Facebook to get 1,000 followers on my page there. Spotify is on my radar, but technologically speaking I don’t think their system is built for people to find new artist yet, they’re working on it though. When I do promote on Spotify is will likely be without a video, that’s got me thinking of how I would do it, that my words would need to be chosen more carefully and I’ll probably need music in the background. We’re late enough into the year now that I’ll also need to start closing on Christmas plans I have. I need to send mail soon for people to receive it before Christmas.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 40

In this lively podcast episode, the hosts celebrate reaching a milestone of 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, reflecting on their journey and the evolution of social media. They delve into various topics, including the nature of knowledge, the impact of technology, cultural references, and historical events. The conversation also touches on food preferences, conspiracy theories, and the intersection of philosophy and comedy, all while maintaining a humorous and engaging tone.

21 November 2024

Jumping rope is going well, in total I’ve done two minutes over two days of jumping, I’m proud of me. For awhile I’ve been struggling to find a good jump rope, the first one I got I believe is technically a speed rope that’s made of plastic and wasn’t long enough. The one I have now is a leather rope and is longer though I still would have liked it a little longer. The length will be fine as I can jump from a more squatted stance to produce a better work out. The push ups and pulls ups have been going well and today I began to implement stretching. Everyone needs more stretching in their life for mental and physical benefit. For now I’m only doing 10 minutes, starting with those four activities is plenty and will take some time to develop a habit since every time life gets a little tricky it’s easy to say I don’t need to exercise that day. In other news tonight is the podcast recording. Lately I’ve been going to bed around 8:30 pm and at earliest we record at 8, so I’m going to consider taking a nap before hand. I’ve been adding more polishing touches lately like a cold open, intro, and most recently an outro, since I’ve been working on the Patreon I want to do a trailer for that page and figured I should do a trailer for the Youtube page as well. Tomorrow will be a double daughter day and I’ll have to edit the podcast, so there will be no exercise or extracurriculars. This has been a productive week and I’m happy about that, commit to small changes now and they will grow into larger opportunities. Photo from the petting zoo.

19 November 2024

My parenting rhythm is coming back. For nearly three months we’ve been in survival mode, head down and take care of the baby. Life is stabilizing enough that I can begin to live again and the baby is developing enough routine that I can work on my own habits. Weightloss is at the forefront of my mind because my eating has been unregulated since early into pregnancy. My first plan is push up and pull ups. After putting the baby down for a nap I do a set of pull ups and after she wakes up a set of push ups. That’s enough to get my in an exercise mindset, cardio is my goal, but it will require stepping out of the house which is a hurdle push ups doesn’t have. The rowing machine is in the pole barn and I got a jump rope because I want to jump rope. With the jump rope I can step into my driveway, exercise for one minute and be tired, then increase from there. Running is my goal and I can run laps around my property, it’s difficulty makes it the hardest to mentally start. That’s a plan that will take about three months to get to where I want with running and then another three months of running to get where I’d like to be physically. That would bring me to Spring and I will have plenty to keep me busy then. Yesterday I reached 1,000 subscribers on my Youtube channel, which was my goal, my problem with goals is they don’t satisfy. I went to bed last night questioning what am I doing wrong and got to work on my new goals, exercise being one of them and professional goals being another side.

18 November 2024

The weekend was a success, we traveled for the first time since the little princess was born. We went to see a Christmas village, the elder princess was cute saying we were on our way to find Christmas and we did indeed. Surprisingly the only thing that upset the princess was the fake snow machine, of course it was a loud machine. This was the latest she’s been awake for a longtime and thankfully there were no meltdowns. Both girls were as good as we could ask for and slept through the night well. The day after the Christmas village we visited an indoor water park and a petting zoo. Last Friday was also my first day to have the two girls to myself, since my queen is back to work we took separate cars and I went up early. Caring for two kids is certainly different than one, the difficulty spike for two isn’t as big as one though there are new uniquenesses. At home we have doorknob covers to keep the elder from opening them, but obviously didn’t at the place we were staying. When I had to put the baby down for a nap, there was a danger the elder could walk out the front door. Thank goodness for baby shark though, she would sit down listening to that song again and again. As long as I could hear baby shark, things were safe. This is another example of why having kids is healthy for a person, I obsess over always improving and with kids that has to be the case. They keep me on my toes and constantly develop into something they weren’t the day before. The challenge is it’s exhausting since it doesn’t happen at my own pace, they always need more care.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 39

In this episode King Cooper flies solo to explore protagonist against antagonist to see which are better characters. Staying calm and dealing with unexpected surprises such as ants. How different industries are changed through time. How do we come to know things, through senses or reason?

13 November 2024

I’m re-entering baby mode and the baby is learning daddy time ain’t no joke, we got work to do. First thing this morning I had the little princess help with planting the new grape vines, she could hardly move a bag of soil and I got the small ones. Without much help I got the grapes in the ground. The real workout for baby has been some neck exercises, she’s got a tight muscle in her neck pulling her head to the left. We’re working to loosen the tightness and strengthen the rest of the neck, that means lots of old fashioned tummy time. The little princess is a champ though and hardly ever complains, she does cry more with dad than mom, I figured it’s because I’ll leave her alone for longer periods. Baby mode is different than other walks of life since she’s only awake for about an hour at a time. A lot has to happen in that hour, usually feeding and changing a diaper at minimum. Then the cycle repeats, that’s maddening part, doing the same routine five times in a day. When I have down time with her asleep I’m left disoriented, time is a mystery and the only hour that matters is when the next nap is. There is a high level of focus I feel when caring for a baby, my eyes get strained starring at the target intensely. For awhile I’ve been working on my theory that raising levels of anxiety and ADHD are a result of less people having kids or waiting until they’re older. It seems to me that caring for a baby regulates that stuff, if you’re taking the job seriously, I even take deep breaths whenever I get a smell of baby to satisfy any subconscious chemical reactions.