Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
This was back in December 2019 and I don’t know what took me so long to put this to music but nonetheless, here are the world’s best parents (they read this blog, you know :)) along with the rest of the family celebrating in St. Augustine, Florida, where my parents went on their honeymoon 50 years earlier. Look closely and you’ll notice a picture where they are standing in the parking lot of the very hotel they went to on their honeymoon! This was such a special weekend full of laughs, stories, music, beachyness, and making great memories.
I was going to take notes about the goings-on of the Democratic National Convention. Something I enjoy is keeping statistics like how many times a certain word, name, or phrase is spoken, who appears in the show/presentation, etc– for instance, I’ve done it in the past for the State of the Union— and that was my plan all the way up until the DNCC started on that first night, Monday. There was only one word I could keep track of during the 2 hour virtual convention on that first night and that word was: boredom. So I knew right away I wasn’t going to be taking notes as I originally intended.
I’m sure you can check out plenty of other sites if you want a recap of what went on, anyway. As I went to sleep, all I could come up with is somewhat of a joke, but also very serious and concerning for this country. To set it up a bit, Kamala Harris (the Democrats nominee for Vice President) said in her first appearance after being nominated:
I’ve had a lot of titles over my career, and certainly vice president will be great, but Mamala will always be the one that means the most.
She’s referencing the name her stepkids call her, a combination of Mama and Kamala.
So my serious yet playful joke is this:
If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected in November, we will have fallen for the biggest “Joe Mama” joke in American History.
Get it? Because Joe… and Mama…. and the well-known “Yo Mama” or “Joe Mama” jokes?? OK, if I have to explain it then maybe my clever thought isn’t so good! 🙂
There is a lot of controversy over Cardi B’s new song, opinions which I will not get into now… except to say sometimes leaving something to the imagination is the way to go, you know? Cardi B doesn’t really leave any room for that and I hope to God my young nieces and nephew can decipher why this song and video are just nasty and unhealthy (because let’s face it, every kid everywhere has seen or heard the song, sadly).
I hesitate with extreme effort to call this song art. I’m of the opinion that Cardi B and this song specifically will be more like a shooting star. It’s here only for a moment. Better yet, as to not associate Cardi B’s song with anything as beautiful as a shooting star, how about a pesky mosquito that needs to be squashed? Yes, that’s better.
Then I think about another band that has been burning brightly for over a decade. Yesterday I rediscovered why I love the band Muse. I had totally forgotten about 2 albums they put out around 2010 and gosh, listening again was a boost of encouragement. Art in music still exists. Lyrical depth still exists. Musicianship still exists. Imagination still exists.
Cardi B is a great reminder that Muse makes great music.
So for any of you who have risked listening to Cardi B’s “WAP” just to know what kids might be exposed to these days– first take a shower to get that nastiness off you, then check out a few of the links below to feel hopeful again. Good music is still out there, don’t let Cardi B make you believe otherwise!
It’s been over 10 years since I’ve had a mouse problem in my home. In fact, here’s a video of the decade-old visit.
Now it’s 10 years later and maybe someone came back to defend the honor of their dead ancestor! Because yes, I had to mousetrap the little guy in 2010.
Just a few days ago, there I was laying on the couch. From this spot I have a partial view of the kitchen including the dishwasher. The dishwasher plays an important role in this story so just sit tight and we’ll come back to that. While I was watching YouTube (probably Trey Kennedy’s hilarious videos), the pup vacationing at my house (aka I was dog-sitting for a friend) was lying on the floor nearby. He was facing towards the kitchen.
As if we were all buddies, a mouse quietly and rather calmly walked into my field of vision through the middle of the kitchen and climbed into a little gap between the dishwasher and the floor. I thought to myself, “Did I just see what I think I saw?” It was surely confirmed when the dog got up, curiously walked over to the dishwasher, and sniffed around the base. He and I both saw exactly the same thing. I tiny mouse acting like he owns the place!
Then I thought about all the places the mouse’s diseased little feet touched and was immediately grossed out. Where did he come from? How long has he been visiting my kitchen in broad daylight? The little rascal!
Well, circling back to the title of this post, and I won’t dwell on this because I’m always an animal lover, I found an old mouse trap leftover from 10 years ago, applied peanut butter to the trigger side of it… and a day later *boom*snap* we had a dead mouse in the house. I dug around and found another mouse trap and just a few hours after Juliet went to mouse Heaven *boom*snap* we had a second dead mouse in the house. I guess RoMOUSEo came out to check on his lover, to his own demise.
The silver lining is that at least these two critters don’t have to encounter an assassin fly like I did the other day. This scary-looking insect might have given them a heart attack!
I only use overused cliches to be redundantly funny but after going out for my first inaugural run with this watch a few days ago, I must say it’s a real game changer!
The image above is NOT the Garmin Forerunner 245, in fact it’s not even me. It’s the only free image I could find that I liked. So back to my first inaugural debut of a run, for all 3 miles I was… bzzzzz bzzzzzz… just as gleeful as a honey bee! I’m known for overthinking everything so it took me a while to actually go through with purchasing the smart watch (you can take a look at it on Amazon here) but even after just one run I’m so glad I did. What sets it apart is the music function. Now I’ll admit it takes a few minutes to download a Spotify playlist, and sucks down the battery while doing so but this music option is the #1 reason I was looking at getting a new watch. There are a few different Garmin models that support music playback (I have the Forerunner 245) but my experience with Garmin has been so good that I didn’t want to stray to any other brand. Plus, I’ve got fitness goals this year so I wanted to make sure data from a new watch would still sync with the system storing all my statistics.
Before the first-ever inaugural run, I was able to sync my wireless earphones that don’t have wires (also purchased on Amazon here). The phone paired with the earphones quickly and without any issues. Once outside, I activated the run option then waited for the GPS to lock in. This also was quick which is really nice! The other watch I have, Vivoactive HR, is a great watch as well but lately has been taking a loooooong time to acquire the GPS signal.
So let’s talk about the music part of the watch. For the past forever, when I run with music I have a watch on one hand, and I’m holding a phone in the other– playing Spotify through the phone speakers. I actually like this because it’s loud enough for me to hear, but not overbearing for anyone in the neighborhood or on the greenways. But when I’m sweaty, I don’t like it dripping all over my phone. Plus, I just got a new phone so I definitely don’t want that getting all nasty from sweat, or possibly malfunctioning if it gets wet where it’s not supposed to. This run with the Forerunner 245 felt weird because I wasn’t holding a phone. Seriously, it was weird but I loved it! Just a watch and headphones and I was good to go. Well, I was wearing clothes and shoes, too, but I don’t need to say that, right? It should be assumed. OK, yes, I HAVE streaked before but I would never track it with a GPS watch or anything. We don’t need any proof or record of that happening 🙂
I know it’s only been a few days and one successful run, but so far I’m very happy with this watch. The fact that I can play music through it amazes me. Also, while I was running the watch would chime in with the split time for each mile, telling me through the earphones what my time was. Really cool! I’m excited to find out what else this watch can do and I’m sure to post more in the future!
Out of the Wilderness 