Going for a Ride

This looks ominous, but hopefully is just precautionary. On my way home from work Friday evening, the van showed a high temperature warning and the radiator fans jumped up to a speed and sound that I have never heard before. All on a 10 minute drive.

The next morning, I decided to investigate further. No coolant leak, no radiator damage. Nothing I could see that looked broken. I took a very short drive - about 2 blocks - and the engine temperature immediately climbed up to “all the way hot” and the warning message appeared again. I quickly did a u-turn and parked it for the weekend.

So now I wait for the dealer to take a look on Tuesday. My guess is the thermostat is stuck closed. Feel free to guess, but remember…

Hammer Vs Finger

I’m looking for a 10 Step program to eliminate stupid things. Or maybe just a safety review. After smushing my index finger while installing laminated flooring, I’m sorta mad at who ever did this to me. Time for deep thoughts…

1. At least I wasn’t using a power saw!

2. All the first aid items needed I had in my big o’box of health stuff.

3. Ice is your friend.

4. Why is it always an index finger?

5. After 48 hours off, I finished the last part of the room. Using only 9 fingers. No more flooring projects since this was the 3rd and last bedroom.

Winter is Here

OK - A new year is off and running, so it is time to get a bit more active on my blog. The winter season will certainly allow for more time to write.

I think the sub-blogs I have are still the most relevant things going on here. The Healthy Life section is devoted to paying attention to health and wellness in your 60’s. The Van Life section tracks the progress of converting a cargo van into a camper van. Since my garage isn’t heated, the progress will be a little slower for January & February. Hopefully an early warm-up will occur and I’ll get back to construction soon. Aside from that, I add stories to the main feed whenever I feel the urge. Who knows, maybe I’ll bust out a whole new section this year - perhaps travel-related? We’ll see…

Make Yourself Healthy Again

As we ease towards 2025, it has been interesting to follow all of the news stories about making America healthy again, including quite a bit of data about the general slide from the 70s to today in the general health of people. Is the food really to blame? I tend to think it may be a combination of things: more fast food and highly processed foods + more time spent at computer screens/staring into a smartphone + a lack of accountability.

The last part, lack of accountability, is completely within the control of most people. The standard American diet (SAD) of food that is delicious but not really good for you is pretty easy to eat. And very hard to stop eating. Very few family doctors have much to say about it. but are super eager to offer a statin prescription. No thanks.

It would be awesome to go back in time about 20 years and leave myself some notes for healthy success. I never would have guessed how easy it could be. Three easy steps: Track what you eat & do, walk more, and adopt a Carnivore Diet for six months. A bonus fourth step is stop regular alcohol use. Crazy easy.

Each trip to the store can be as simple as beef, butter and eggs. Add just a few additional foods to find your boundaries (fish, a bit of poultry, an avocado, sugar free nut butter, etc). Prep meals in advance to avoid snacking. You’ll save money, too!

The Big Red Wave

In honor of what looks to be a big red sweep of the elections, I figured today was a good day to pop some champagne (of beers). I decided to make a big red Dutch oven full of chili. This protein dense recipe (to say it is heavy on the meat is an understatement) will last me a month or so, as some will head into the freezer. I didn’t have any beer in the house, so I picked up a single can (24 oz), which is why the photo looks odd. So now I’m day drinking after a long walk on a beautifully sunny late fall day.

DJ-LX - Searching for the 2000s

Hey, what’s new? In music. Certainly not 90 percent of my Spotify music choices. I’m man enough to realize that maybe the problem is me. Have I not tried to find new music as I’ve aged? Or am I just burdened by buying so many awesome cassette tapes in the 70s and 80s and CDs in the 90s that this whole new century (so far) can’t compare?

From a sheer number of years, 1976 - 1999 vs 2000 - 2024 is a fair fight. I can’t fight brain biology, so everything that was burned into my mind as a younger person is really burned in. On the other hand, access to music this century is easier and less expensive.

Since I had nothing to do this evening (I’m waiting for paint to dry), I made a list of musicians who rose to fame this century. I looked far and wide, to make sure I wasn’t excluding anyone. Heck, I even listened to a Radiohead album. I scoured my Liked songs and playlists in Spotify.

Here is my unedited/unordered list of bands/performers (this doesn’t include “One Hit Wonder” types. I’m looking for staying power.)
Shins/Broken Bells
Alt-J
My Morning Jacket
Death Cab For Cutie
John Mayer
Chris Stapleton
Alvvays
Pete Yorn
Ryan Adams
War on Drugs
Luke Combs
Khruangbin
Courtney Barnett
Mark Knopfler (post Dire Straits)
Brothers Osborne
Foo Fighters
Kings of Leon
Coldplay
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Green Day
White Stripes
U2
Pearl Jam

You may have noticed the Coldplay Parachutes image. That album was released in 2000. A Rush of Blood to the Head followed in 2002. Both of these albums are stacked with great songs. Nothing needs to be skipped. American Idiot by Green Day is similarly good. Mark Knopfler made an album with Emmylou Harris called All the Roadrunning in 2006. I listen to this all the time still. If I can’t sleep, I play An Awesome Wave by Alt-J. Puts me away every time.

I have lots of songs from John Mayer, Ryan Adams and Death Cab for Cutie in my playlists. Possibly just a side effect of being divorced (kidding/not kidding). I have entire playlists of country music now - most of it from this century.

Even after searching, I’m not finding the same quality of entire albums this century. I’m going to blame the iPod. We are in a “song at a time” era. Or maybe it is just me…

DJ-LX: The Voice of Harold

Putting together a perfect playlist of REM songs is a daunting task. The first issue I ran into is many of their albums are burnt into memory via side A/side B order. To grab a song here or there and dump them into a pile just feels wrong. Yet, Spotify makes wrong easy. It still takes some time to assemble. After piling all of my selections into the playlist, it adds up to exactly three hours. Over the last few days, I’ve been giving the list a test run on walks, drives, and garage puttering. I set the list to alphabetical order, which feels random enough.

How did I select the songs? Most of my favorites are based on places, road-trips, and the people who surrounded me at the time, especially during the 1980’s. Their music is a memory-jogging, timestamped imprint in my mind.  REM is/was the quintessential college rock band and rose to fame while I was in college (sooo long ago) - so it is interesting how fresh the memories are when I listen to this playlist.

Spotify Playlist Link

REM albums by release date:
Chronic Town (1981)
Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Dead Letter Office (1987)
Green (1988)
Out of Time (1991)
Automatic for the People (1992)
Monster (1994)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Up (1998)
Reveal (2001)
Around the Sun (2004)
Accelerate (2008)
Collapse into Now (2011)  - nothing from this album made the list