The Next Sprint Triathlon – Alligators, Goals, and the Hills

I’m sitting here in my camper awaiting another sprint triathlon. This one fits in with one of my new favorite things: a race that’s near (or even within) a state park or campground! A sprint triathlon that’s only about 3 hours from home base and I can camp on the same lake where I’ll be swimming? Sign me up! Driving up with the camper was a cinch and the process of setting up camp then getting over to the packet pick-up went as smoothly as I could’ve ever hoped. Who cares that I saw an alligator in the lake where we’re swimming 400 yards, right?

I haven’t been too much in my head about this race which is a nice change from the last race where I had been anxious about it for at least 3 or 4 days beforehand. It was only on the way here from Florida that the nerves increased as I went through race morning in my mind. Arrive… find a spot for my bike on the rack… set up transition… goggles on… swim as if it’s any other day… cycling shoes… helmet… water…. run out with the bike and hop on… hill… repeats… conserve… aerodynamic… push… transition… shoes… go… this is it… push… speed… finish.

Friends also competing in the race, but I forgot to ask if I can post their picture 🤭

I have goals for this race, just like the others I’ve competed in. I’d love to finish in the top 10 and have the best time in my age group. But no matter where I measure up to other triathletes, I’d like to finish in under 1 hr, 5 min. I think I can do that if I swim in the right direction, keep my heart rate down and just let my legs float behind me. Cycling. I am *loving* uphills and this course has quite a few. I’m going to try to not climb hard on every one of them so I can conserve some energy for the run. But I want to thrive on the hills, if I’m being honest. Might be to my own detriment if I go too hard, though. By the time I start the run I’d love to feel like I have gas in the tank and run like my dad is riding his bike with me in the neighborhood. We’re chatting, he’s ahead of me drawing out the best speed I can handle.

I feel good about this.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Apple MacBook Library Commercial – You’re A Hot Dog in A Hurricane

I caught this Apple MacBook commercial during the NHL Stanley Cup Finals (go Florida) and pretty much loved it from the very beginning. It sets the scene with a stern librarian and a hip guy working on his computer.

Take a look at the ad called “Powered” then scroll down for more…

Weiner Dog. It’s so absurd…. I love the line from the librarian: “You’re a hot dog in a hurricane.” If you don’t hear me saying this over the next few days and weeks, it’ll be a cryin’ shame. It’s a line that needs to go viral, right? Right.

How can you come back from being called a hot dog in a hurricane? Answer: You can’t. Pack up your MacBook and go home. But the student in the ad is a different generation. His entitled behind stays put and boasts about his fancy laptop. I still give him an L for the dose of slap delivered by the librarian. She’ll be back, young man, she’ll be back.

I’m not an Apple guy, save for one of their devices. I prefer Android phones, Garmin navigation, earbuds from Amazon, but one thing I love a whole lot is my MacBook Pro. It’s so easy to use that all I really need to focus on is the work I’m doing. Rarely is there ever a technical issue that bogs me down and I love that.

How do you feel about the MacBook ad? Have you ever been hounded by a bitter librarian? Was she hot?

Apple has two more ads in this series of entitled brats sticking it to the old folks. This one in the series is called “Charged, and the following ad is called “Found.”

-Out of the Wilderness

The iPhone Apple Watch Ad – Big Fish, Big Mistake

Apple’s released an ad showing a relatively new feature on the Apple Watch when it’s synced to the users iPhone. There are various hand gestures that can complete tasks, like taking a picture, without having the phone in your hand.

“I have a hand gesture for you.” -Android Phone Users, 2024

The commercial highlights that certain iPhone users who also have certain Apple watches can do a thumb to pointer finger double tap to accomplish things on the phone, in the case of the guy in the commercial… he holds up a giant fish and takes a picture with the phone out of reach.

Oh, oh, oh, It’s Magic. Not to point out the obvious but how exactly is he still holding the massive fish (that’s clearly requiring 2 strong arms) when he lifts up the watch to double tap? Watch out, David Blaine!

Splish Splash. And propping your phone up against a tumbler is a fragile situation to say the least. And this guy does it on a boat?? IN THE WATER???? How many times does that end well?

*Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 users have entered the chat*

Captain Obvious would also ask how the fisherman set up such a perfectly framed shot while fishing and the phone didn’t move at all as he presumable battled the fish with rod and reel?

The Music. I never doubt that Apple commercial creators will find a fun obscure song to use as a soundtrack. This time they went way back to the 1970s to unearth a peculiar song from Pakistani Nahid Akhtar. Here’s her full track called “Kariye pyar.”

As one who’s embarrassingly missed a great video recording of a big fish (just ask my brother-in-law who brought to the ocean surface a huge nurse shark and I thought I was recording but when I hit the button to start recording was actually when I stopped recording), take as many pictures and videos as you can of such momentous occasions… otherwise did it really happen?

-Out of the Wilderness

Is Ryan Gosling My Favorite Actor?

My first experience with Ryan Gosling was in the film adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks book, “The Notebook.” Ryan was great in that movie, not to mention it’s one of my favorite movies anyway. All the rest of the Nicholas Sparks book/movies don’t seem to quite be as awesome as The Notebook. I do have hope, however, that “Dreamland” will become a movie (I predict it will) and maybe, just maybe, it’ll be one of the best Nicholas Sparks movies… because the story is not quite as predictable as you’d think.

But back to Ryan. I watched The Fall Guy a few days ago and I won’t spoil it for you. It was just OK. You’ll probably think it was a waste of time but you should watch it. There, have I set the bar low enough so that when you watch it, your expectations won’t be too high? Because now I’ll be honest: IT’S A GREAT MOVIE! It reminded me how much I like movies that are just meant to entertain, nothing political, nothing demonic or evil, just a good old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy action comedy romance.

I’ll go ahead and put it in writing: My top two favorite male actors are Ryan Gosling and Gerard Butler and speaking of Gerard Butler, if you like tense thriller action military movies, Hunter Killer is a must-watch.

The Fall Guy is a must-see, too. It had a fun plot along with something I look for in almost every movie: a little bit of everything… humor, action, mystery, and romance. Ryan Gosling is one of the top Hollywood actors and you might already know why from his performance in Barbie. But if you need more proof, watch The Fall Guy.

Have you seen any recent movies you’d recommend? Comment below!

-Out of the Wilderness

Stiff Biden, Awkward Doug, and More

Biden is making the news again but not for anything he said. Conservatives are pointing a handful of moments where Biden looked lost and/or confused, uncomfortable and/or confused, and creepy and/or confused.

One thing is almost certain: Most people must be able to see that Biden is probably all of the above and add brittle to that list, too. Here are some videos making the rounds in the last few days. The first one shows Biden at an outdoor church service. Sure he looks out of place due to his stiffness, but how about Kamala’s husband pointing to her on the lyric “love nobody but you” and she doesn’t point back. Yikes, that’s awkward and Dougy knows it. He dies inside afterwards, as you can see.

There was this mysterious moment when Biden was asked about Trump’s trial. A slimy grin goes from ear to ear but at least he was coherent enough to not try using words.

When asked if he thinks Netanyahu is playing politics with the war…

The upcoming debate should help us have more clarity on who we’re voting for whether it’s Biden, Trump, or anyone else on the ballot.

-Out of the Wilderness