Coming Up For Air – My Second Sprint Triathlon

I just sat down at my computer to check how my times matched up against the results from my first sprint triathlon and I’m so happy to say I did better in each of the three events. Swimming, which was my weakest event in the first race, was improved a lot! This was because I wore a wet suit (the water temp was 68˚ in the Florida river spring) and I changed my breathing pattern. Something had to change after my disastrous swim the first time, so instead of breathing every 4th stroke, I took a breath every 2nd stroke.

The swim was so much less embarrassing, thank the Lord. The bike event went well and I *think* I’ve maxed out the potential in my 1970s commuter bike. The funny thing is that wherever I take it I get comments about how cool it is… even at the triathlons. As I rolled into the transition area to park the bike and begin the run, one of the officials said I had the #1 coolest bike of the day. That just makes me so happy, even if it is also the heaviest, oldest, slowest, smallest, most rusty, least likely to ever be in a triathlon bike.

The run… I improved my time on this leg of the race too, although it was the least improved of all three. There was this one section, even though they called it a pretty flat course, that had a big downhill and a big uphill, and we had to cover that part of the course twice! And I hate running in dirt. So I had a bit of a mental block because of that, even if my body was willing my mind was discouraged. If you want to see a video of me crossing the finish line, exhausted, click here.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever do another sprint triathlon after the first one but now that I’ve done two, I’m sure it’s fair to say I’ll be doing these for the rest of my life. OK, not really… but there will be a third, that’s for sure.

-Out of the Wilderness

Has this Publix commercial gone too far?

Hello there and thanks for checking out my thoughts today. I post every day at 1pm central so subscribe if you have a second, or just check back for posts about my dogs, my travels, dating in my 40s, or my writings about TV commercials as is the case today.

From all the Publix commercials going back decades, I can count on one hand the number of ads I don’t like. The grocery chain just seems to know exactly how to put together a moment that hits the mark almost every time, especially around the holidays. I mean, if you don’t get a little teary-eyed when you watch this commercial, you’re a heartless monster! Wow, sorry to accuse you of such a horrible thing. I’m sure you’re a great person. What I’m NOT sure of is if the latest Publix commercial might expose them as being guilty of an advertising mistake. Take a look at the summertime ad then scroll down for a couple of errors with the ad…

The commercial is really pretty, in that most of the shots are captured at golden hour featuring rich colors, happy people, good food. Where Publix might have missed the mark is in two areas: Music and saturation.

The Music. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not into theater, plays, Broadway, etc. As an example, last year I watched the first 25 minutes of Hamilton (streaming, not in a theater building) and have no intentions or desire to watch the rest of it. In fact, I purposely avoid any chance to finish the presentation. This Publix commercial uses a song from Peter Pan, which I know has been made into a movie numerous times. But this specific version has all the trademarks of a song from Broadway. You can almost see the actors overexaggerating on a stage in some dimly lit auditorium. The feedback I’m seeing is that some people love the song, some don’t. It seems to be the kind of commercial soundtrack that viewers either love or hate, kind of like pineapple on pizza (which is gross, by the way).

The Saturation. Online comments about the commercial echo over and over that it’s airing too often. That would make Publix victim to what I wrote about here. It’s the idea that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Even someone who loves steak, for instance, isn’t going to have it for dinner every night of the week. They’d end up detesting red meat altogether! That’s the vibe I’m getting from comments on my first post about the commercial. I’ve come across the phrase “every 20 minutes” more often than I should when it comes to how often a commercial airs on TV or streaming.

Final Thoughts. The team behind Publix commercials are very good at what they do. Certainly they are aware they might have pushed this ad a little too far, a little too much, and will reign in the spending on, and saturation of, their next ad. I’m curious to find out what that next ad will be, too. I still give this one high marks because how often it airs shouldn’t detract from what it is… a great reminder of the beauty of summertime, even if we’re adults who forget about the innocent fun associated with this season because we’re too busy thinking about mortgages, gas prices, politics, doctors visits, etc, etc, etc.

-Out of the Wilderness

What happened to ABC’s Big Sky?

If you’re not familiar with the TV series “Big Sky,” it came out with a bang in season one. It only lasted 3 seasons. What a shame for a show that had such a great first season! It “starred” Ryan Phillippe, which turned out to only mean he was in a few episodes very early in the beginning of the series. I won’t spoil the show for you at this moment, but let’s just say using his name was the big ticket seller, even if he barely appeared at all. Kind of lame, but I got over their trickery because the plot was good. I was all-in on the drama.

Now I might spoil the series for you but in season one there was the antagonist Ronald Pergman. He was a fantastic villain. He made it in to season two and if you were to ask me, the series should have kept his story line going but for whatever reason he went from a weak man, to a dark and mean monster, then back to a weak man and was killed off in season two. The show seemed to almost turn into one where each episode was a different crime to be solved instead of an ongoing search for the bad guys, over the course of the season or even the whole series.

Season two’s plot became one of a random family who had inner-family drama that I tried to care about but just couldn’t. Ronald Bergman was the gold of the show and when he was taken out, so was my interest. I kept watching as much of season two as I could but then found myself not caring if I missed an episode. I have no idea how season two ended and couldn’t care less what went on in season three.

I know they added Reba McEntire, who is awesome! But she was a villain, so I read, which is just not believable whatsoever. That’s like handing me an orange and telling me it’s a horse saddle. Makes no sense. So I’m not surprised the ratings were in a steady decline until the show was cancelled in 2023. Season one averaged 0.54, which is good in TV world, and season three dipped all the way down to the 0.2’s. Not good in TV world.

Like I said, it’s a shame they killed off the storyline that got them on the map– Ronald and the drama surrounding him.

Did you watch the series? What could they have done different to keep the show alive?

-Out of the Wilderness

Does your dog have anxiety?

Hello all you dog lovers out there! I am one of you, having loved dogs since the day I was born (I think? I don’t really remember that day exactly per se). But when I was 4-years-old we got a beagle pup named Belle and she was the best addition to the family (besides me, of course 🤓)! She was playful, sassy, sniffy (I said she was a beagle hound right?), opinionated, and so, so cute! I don’t remember her having anxiety except for a memory of when she tried to get under a hutch as my mom, brother, and I were lying in the hallway of a small house watching the walls bow in and out during Hurricane Andrew. That was quite a scary night for all of us!

Fast forward to that innocent, adorable middle schooler (me 😏) who’s now a grown man with two beagles of his (my) own. Piper and Asia. I could write many a’blog posts about the antics of Piper the beagle but she doesn’t have a lick of anxiety, at least when it comes to storms. When it thunders, she simply rolls her brown eyes as if to say, “That’s all ya got?”

Asia, on the other hand, even though she’s playful like a tomboy and pretty adventurous, gets really frightened by loud noises.

So you can imagine how it goes during 4th of July fireworks. Not good, that’s all I’ll say.

This past celebration she did pretty good, though. She panted a lot and walked around, unsettled but she didn’t seem to be completely freaked out. I felt like that was a win for her. However, the very next day she was left alone as we went out for a family reunion dinner and, because it’s Florida and this is what happens in Florida, a perfectly sunny day turned into a monsoon of rain, lightning, thunder, and wind as we were in the restaurant. Mostly all I could think about was, “Is the storm anywhere close enough for Asia to hear the thunder?” Well, clearly it was because when I got back to her, she had done a number on the door frame trim casing.

Poor little thing! All she can think of in those moments is getting out. Even if she were to somehow chew her way out of the room, which was closed off with a door, of course, she would just be wandering around the house and I’m not sure if she would move on to chewing up a door that leads to outside or not. One crazy part about this is that she hasn’t always had this anxiety. In fact, I used to work a job with typical working hours (9am to 6pm) and storms would come and go, no damage from any anxiety whatsoever. It’s only been in the last 5 to 7 years that she’s exhibited this type of behavior. I’ve heard a change like that can happen as a dog ages, I feel bad for her because in those moments she has no idea that she’s just as safe as when the loud noises aren’t happening.

Do you have experience with dog anxiety like this with any of your dogs? Have you tried anything that helped sooth them when they normally get worked up? Share in the comments and I’ll be sure to research any advice you have!

-Out of the Wilderness

Do you cuss like a sailor?

When did “cuss like a sailor” become a phrase people say? I’m 44-years-old and my first experience with a sailor was Popeye. If anything, I’d think a common phrase would be “eat spinach like a sailor,” because Popeye could put down some spinach! The next sailor that comes to mind is Jack Sparrow, who’s also a pirate, of course. If we’re going along with him as our example, the common phrase would be “drink like a sailor.” Actually, now that I type that out, I think that one actually is a thing people say.

I have no doubt that sailors (military, civilian, etc) probably cuss up a storm, especially in a storm and they’re trying to sail through it. But the same could be said about daily commuters. Getting stuck in rush hour traffic going to and coming from work will make anyone use profanity, even if it’s just under their breath. So why isn’t “cuss like a commuter” a popular phrase, with the same familiarity as the term “road rage”? Because I can almost guarantee you that where there is road rage, there is profanity.

If you have any insight into this piece of useless trivia, I’m all ears!

-Out of the Wilderness