5 Beyond Solid-Good Things Done this Week, Check! Art Stuff Too

#BoomerwithAttitude is still on tap, no great sympathy for those creating chaos with external meddling AND, even though nobody asked, willing to quantify what’s on my overall plate.

Getting in three full 10.5 mile rides on X-Charlotte Trail over 8 days is legitimate #1 on Count it! physicality. Haven’t done over thirty mile week in a year, stubby tires mountain bike is a challenge. Riding as reward factor for writing Monday ‘Resumes’ piece that included Gene Hackman and me, I’m positive about pursuing the right opportunity.

Getting a *great* haircut from Desirous was a clutch decision about feeling shaggy for an important presentation. No kidding, Looking Good and Old School tactics like ‘Being there’ are still difference makers.

Bike riding is my very quantifiable, long-term asset for physical confidence, and counting positives physically at sixty-eight is a legitimate good habit. Staying on fun and firmness brings lots of people out to share the well-maintained pavement with. Ride in 74 degrees and sunshiney NC afternoon, then Food and NCAA hoops watching was overall Saturday Reality. There’s plenty of tense going around, I’ll be for more tennis – not ignorance, choice.

Yes, I admit loving how the Canadians, calm and clear Trudeau, excellent hand-off of a small crisis to New Guy, still stuffing trump every shift (hockey term) of news cycle, making it clear its not about hating US, but Tariffs- Elbows up, damn straight! (AND PAY YOUR ELECTRIC BILL, EY! notice is coming from Ontario soon…)

Four more with Good Reasons, ey?

A physical release in optimal weather is a deserved time-out reward, so take credit for doing something necessary, important, or Special. Including ‘Me’ in the company of Hackman and NFL QBs in Monday morning LinkedIn article was being seriously happy about a ‘specific and terrific’ cover letter I’d sent about a challenging EA administrative role.

Adding in the killer haircut and not-worn-often-enough-lately charcoal suit and sweet, coral-colored with ducks tie, presenting myself at their local HQ with additional quality examples of my written communications expertise, was a solid, Old School doubling down Tuesday. Since the HR person is now a LinkedIn connection, I’ll point out that ‘Resume’ piece shortly. Call the total effort #2,3 on good things accomplished.

#4 Mint Museum, Wednesday for Freebie Night

I decided on visiting the Mint late last week, and arriving 6:20, strolled three floors and multiple galleries for 90 minutes. Perhaps not demonstrative proof of culture, but I defend those exceptional aspects like the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (which played for Pavoratti), does four wonderful June concerts behind SouthPark Mall and Christmas events downtown; regular Broadway tours at The Blumenthal, and culture *does* includes TWO Mint Museums and a Bechtler.

I only gave away two CDTalententerprises cards, one to Brittny ‘without an A’, a favorite kind of memory hook clarifier, me being a two N Glenn. She said she was a newbie to Charlotte, we walked and talked, plenty of other participants to share opinions with too. I came back for her when I found something unique-r, and I’d be pleased if Brittny uses the good information that’s found on my good-looking card.

I have a tux & I know how to use it.

Clothes make The Man? If not now, When? Compared to mid-week usual, Styling a black felt hat that keeps getting noticed, Dad’s brownish-green hounds-tooth jacket, green shirt, antique-unique tie, tuxedo pants, I thought I might even drop in someplace afterwards. Wound up 100% satisfied as imagined with a self-guided event.

As I conveyed to an LI connection afterwards, networking has always been a strength, I have plenty of confidence in talking to others. Sports writing background and sales, Q&A has always been my standard, and after two full years WFH, I’ve missed that aspect. If not Great Expectations, engaging on Art is do-able.

I’ll get around to describing a microeconomic situation at Nordstrom’s in my ‘Don’t Give Up Your Day Job’ non-fiction book, but having a bit of artsy background, and being historically gregarious, Wednesday counted as a terrific reboot, new Social Goodness as an easy to achieve priority.

#5 – Opportunity to be of Service – Good Thought, it worked out

While I declined a nomination for Club Secretary in February, somebody else stepped forward during actual elections Friday for our community Mens Club meeting, so while I rethought taking the post (4x previous) because certain long-term organizational knowledge might be a clutch difference in success, guess we’ll see. More actual good PR for solid, long-time organization continues with Fridays annual Fish Fry. As a #BoomerwithAttitude, I’ll keep that communications/leadership club in my bag, use my five wood more in the Spring Captain’s Choice.

OKAY – Create a 700-900 word blog on a regular schedule – 1st of three on Monday, check on new habit, Week Two. Quantified, specific. Just me.

4 Perfect Carolina Lifestyle Days, 4 Days of ‘Madness’ Default, NC Legal Betting Worked Well

Unfortunately, the Queens Cup Steeplechases, a favorite Social Goodness event, won’t happen this year. Its one of the best non-betting race days around. https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/north-carolina/union-county/queens-cup-steeplechase-canceling-its-2024-horse-racing-event/

Thanks to a short, white Dukie guard who got final point (148) in a blowout so I won a 3-leg parlay of Overs my first online weekend. Two terrific 12 mile rides to Pineville and back on long time steel-steed (Miyata), and my case of Nakedwines arrived. Yep, #BoomerwithAttitude.

Cycling under brilliant blue sky, working smooth and quiet through gears, and pacing along the scenic course after watching beaucoup hoops, I appreciated finally caving to the constant barrage of online gambling sites in a financially positive way. It was easy to see, use, account credited wins fast, tracked bet history.

Creighton won by more than 4.5 in DOUBLE OVERTIME! and as noted, James Madison-Duke also paid off. Question was whether JMU would keep Duke motivated with a forty point lead to hit 147.5, and fan-wise, I was happy it all worked out like it did. Young Dukies dusted somebody when they needed to, thanks to dude dropping ten-treys – plus a FT, yay!

Yes, betting is linked to my sportswriting in current-factual mode. Watching Big East action all year came through – ANYone can pick UConn – and the Bluejays are for real, riding 7’1″ center Ryan Kalkbrenner, a well-balanced team at both ends of floor. Just sayin.’ Marquette (also Big East) with Tyler Kolek back after six games (oblique) is incredibly productive and mentally tough.

It wasn’t really a laziest weekend, because TV watching centered around a profitable time-task, but NCAA watching AND getting out for dribble-shoot session at favorite glass backboard between games, that’s Carolina Lifestyle too. Yes, I cooked a pizza – a Screamin’ Sicilian Supreme that is 25 ounces, loaded with everything, plenty cheesy. Two-for $7.99, a no brainer.

Anyway…I got ancient Miyata – Owned 32 yrs., 12 spd. levers on the down column, a working antique! – looked at regarding a bent fork, smiled at expert saying, “You fit on this bike? Its a frame for someone like 6’5!” Being five-ten on a good day, imagine my surprise. 32 years!

Bike guy said, hey, bike and fork are steel, its not carbon fiber or aluminum stuff that might just shear off. You rode it couple years already, no problem, but since other guy pointed it out, you’ve gotten your warning.” Great! I bought/he changed rear tire, oiled chain, bang zoom! $34, I got my gear on and rolled on an optimal, 74 degree sunny day.

What WFH and lifestyle are elementally about

Great weather is a profound temptation for WFH, remote, freelancers of all stripes. Those who plan fitness-physical sessions into schedules or life processes (early rides or runs, ProFlex, tennis, social-business golf, pilates) gain benefits with regular doing, nothing radical about getting away from keyboard.

Quality of life issues go beyond elder care considerations though, and issues of aloneness have become workplace issues post-pandemic. WFH was a mandatory restructuring, and how work got accomplished – collaboration – became the focus.

Best practices now includes Quality of Life/lifestyle considerations, and for those who aren’t missing loooong, tension-producing commuter trips compared to tea time with two daughters, bunnies – and perhaps a wife who has professional concerns herself – who all leave you alone in home office, great! If you only need another hour to realign some elements of that leadership thought piece…how about Now as best practice?

Holding yourself accountable is, well, mandatory. When the light goes on in office area, time on task, right? It’s cool to put laundry in or out while WFH, call it an alternative smoke break. What I’m doing in geek-speak, is letting things run in the background. Nobody is holding my feet to fire about including a bathroom break (or tea time), yet ideas are still percolating, we’ll see if they fit or not when back in the saddle.

This lifestyle has become #New Normal for many. Four day work weeks, for whom? asks a freelancer, arranger of self-schedule.

Put the carrot out there is a consistent work rule

Knowing yourself and work habits either becomes positive and factual, or you are kidding yourself about what constitutes JOB PRODUCTION.

There’s a three-mile course four blocks away. Everyone watches out for riders on that route. Right, two laps, after a working lunch. How close to 800 word target? We’ll go after smoothing out the XYZs, then let it simmer 35-40 minutes while working some upstrokes for quads. I’ll read it again, trying to hit person with interest of a novice, but also a voice of shared expertise. Cool.

Is that the plan? Freelancers might confuse themselves with the choice of ride or finish assignment, might not care for Zoom sessions, but you’ll recognize when priorities get messed up, lack legitimate resolution. If you DON’T recognize it, Challenge #2 will be a bad lesson soon. Going into an expected frenetic period like this weekend, not setting yourself back through total procrastination should be a point of professional pride. (Honestly, I should have finished this Monday.)

Working for yourself means the work represents who we are, and product is creative writing worthy of someone agreeing to pay us for. Creatives call it production, and collaboration is communication and technology. Was Zooming a constant, less gratifying experience for many? most? split? I haven’t needed to be in many meetings the last few years, I’m more point of spear application, with previous expertise, online gigs, showing research and creative writing skills as a resource.

I still consider AI some version of the enemy, and as always, the chimps haven’t produced any Shakespeare. I’m still your best writer option. Just sayin’. https://cdtalententerprises.com/2019/12/03/real-writers-best-option-for-creative-work-ai-or-1m-chimps-computers/

— 3/25/24 #gshorkonsharonroadseam – Location matters less with online work, but living four blocks from The Booty Loop, cool.

If you asked about Alone, you probably know the answer

Am I walling myself off and not meeting enough professional others in a post-pandemic world? I liked the people I worked with, but am I, as a remote-WFH person, missing out on things being away from office?

Its a recognized situation, and while collective drinking (and analysis) with others during March Madness is a fact, pushing yourself to attend outside of bubble activities definitely takes practice and personal effort. Queens University is less than a mile away, and I’ve participated in several outreach programs held there over years I’ve lived in Charlotte. Its never been easier walking to an event and mixing with those of similar mind, a classic way to meet.

Fourth of July, I spoke a while with both a political candidate and one of the grande dames (informally) of a strong community group, while dismounted from my bike ride. I admit to having a great neighborhood to walk around in, and after passing someone with their dog, “Is that a Golden Doodle, or… ?” is the easiest 25 feet away ice breaker ever.

Even as an umpire for Little League, where I’m a bit of a yakker-willing to chat with almost everyone guy, point is to take advantage of low personal risk, easy reasons to speak to someone. Like between inning grounders, practice easy conversation. “So that’s how to read that X rule, Blue?” Perfect. You’re off the hook, just nod while expert talks is a best practice. Next guy by will ask another question.

You aren’t expected to be brilliant, 90% of life is being there, right? It’s a new microeconomy, adjust.

Pressing the flesh again at Chamber of Commerce or industry events, especially if you weren’t comfortable with that part of networking before the pandemic, will take discipline.

You can read dozens of opinions on LI, even respond there, but face-to-face is still my happy place. I call it Social Goodness, and feel free to not immediately shake hands all around. Let others know your boundary on that, “I’m still getting used to doing it,” is adequate, bring your Purell if you have to.

Pick a question or three you’d honestly like to get answered before showing up. Write it down on an index card, it shows you’re serious about it. A vast majority of time, a person you tap will take you to others, and ask *them* to answer your legitimate query. THAT’S the nub of difference,

Others can and will help you, at least talk to you about it. Best practice is like that $865 million Powerball lottery, you have to be in it to win it.

Lastly, I’m getting 250- 19×13 puzzles (16 pcs.) in my hands shortly, so I’m an entrepreneur again!

Knee replacement turns two, and ‘Obamacare’ is still law of the land

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Still proud of myself for ‘re-purposing’ the bicycle seat that served me for 28 years as a wedding gift.

Having started with Affordable Care Act coverage when legally mandated in 2015, I’m proud to announce that the replacement knee that made me physically whole again after a dozen years as ‘a gimp’ and restored my personal confidence levels, turned two yesterday.

A physical game changer at 60, replacement was the most anticipated gift I’d ever received.

After asking my doctor if I could possibly get the surgery in December, 2017, the scheduling person said, “You’re in luck. Two cancellations means one spot has opened up. The doctor is booked on the 18th, Christmas is the 25th, and after that its a new program year. You can have surgery this Monday, but you have to tell me,” and she literally looked at her watch, “now.”

After a difficult economic 2016 as a new real estate broker, getting a knee that was totally shot at the end of 2017  fixed as a long-term negative was far from a given. In the final accounting, the numbers turned out super-doable: “Obamacare” meant my maximum out of pocket – on an insurance breakdown with a $28,700 top line was $600.  The $20 a session for physical therapy – seven weeks, twice a week – was money extremely well spent.

Thankfulness has abounded since, and I have no reason to listen to anyone knock the ACA. This past weekend I popped off an 18 mile ride without any protest or strain from “Lefty,” and while a second day of Christmas tree selling brought a minor ache, two beers watching the LSU game took care of that.

I’m a happy camper about the knee, and have said so in every survey they sent me.

Rehabbing is definitely a challenge, nothing fun

When you catch a major break like the timing and cost factors I had, you owe the Universe your very best effort in return. Whatever other exercises Amanda and Becka came up with, knowing how important a factor an ERMI was in my progress, I worked the hell out of it.

ermimachinie

A significant extra from having Dr. Robert McBride (OrthoCarolina) as my surgeon was getting that ERMI (Extended Range of Motion Improvement) machine as a 30 day ‘loaner.’ It’s not kidding to say, with your heel in a foot-scoop, “You pull the pneumatic lever until the bend is uncomfortable, then give it another little tug, and keep that position for ten minutes.”

After taking a break, the system calls for coming back for ten more minutes and doing that twice a day. In physical therapy for knees, they quantify your progress in range of degrees, and at least for me, clicking that lever another line or three while in the ERMI saddle and channel-surfing hit an “I got this” machismo.

I believe that *every*little*bit*more*I*do* goes directly to helping the strength and functions of my knee-quad-whatever. (What I told my PT person, Amanda, often, and strangers in grocery stores even more frequently)

Its a process, and goals help

My initial, somewhat whimsical goal for being “better” involved planting my left foot without pain and being able to hit a tree with a snowball. The last time I’d tried on a trip to NY, I literally couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Charlotte doesn’t get snow that often, so it was a touch of luck that a decent skim appeared in late February to help fulfill that “leveling up” affirmation.

By the end of May, with the help of regular, mostly flatter 8-10 mile bicycle rides for training, I could handle my favorite urban route, one that features a three-mile stretch with several long rises about the mid-point. Thumping a forehand up the alley in tennis as an opponent flails at its passage still hasn’t been put on the official scoreboard, but I’ve killed a nearby wall.

In a captain’s choice golf event before Memorial Day 2018, I played amazingly well off the tees, STRAIGHT drives that located well and allowed better players to shoot for higher risk options. For years that knee clicked and wobbled at exactly the point I settled into an optimal swing position, which was more than just distracting. When my balance was restored, wow! Without that constant niggling, my swing came through smoothly.

That old joke about, “Will I be able to play the piano after surgery, I never could before,” that’s what solid drives felt like.

My bike ride is a working antique, a 12-speed Miyata with gears on the up-angle from my pedals instead of in the middle of the handlebars. I bought ‘Clyde’ for $125 in 1990, refurbished it for $185 many years ago, and finally bought a more ergonomically friendly seat vs. the slab of leather (see photo at top) that lasted 28 years. Riding Clyde was a saving grace, what allowed my staying in shape because it was really the only physical thing that *didn’t* abuse the knee, and biking is an almost year-round possibility in Charlotte.

Post-replacement and therapy, I honestly never expected to become the long-distance shooting threat in hoops I sort of recall being a dozen years before, when I started needing a bracier brace. Having stopped playing even 4-on-4 games six years ago – I sure didn’t want to be the guy *anybody* can drive on and they want to guard – I just wanted to move naturally. I continued catch and shoot hoops by myself over the years, but having to WALK after misses, that didn’t really square with the inner athlete.

Not having to skip across the street so I didn’t get run over made having that knee replacement a simple decision.

This October, after declining to play the previous week, I tried “going easy” for a short game to seven, shooting 4-5 with three long shots, and an assist. I’ve been back four times since, even though my doctor says, “You’re playing basketball?” with concern in his voice. (No sweat doc, I’m playing with old, broken down guys…) I resisted for over a year, I swear I know my limitations, but running after misses because I can, is another reason for thanks.

When doing a content copy writing gig for a CBD manufacturer early last year, I did several articles about how CBD’s effect on the endocannaboid system (ECS) can help with anxiety and depression.  Other research, regarding physical activity as a good overall tool on those fronts, echoed a personal mantra, and that Forever Young Boomer inside me does seem to respond well to CBD’s “focus factor,” having both going for me is terrific.

In my humble opinion, when your moment comes to pull the trigger, do it. The physical therapy is going to hurt, but do it – and then do a little bit more. Happy second birthdays depend on it.