A little praise for our HelloFresh trial and now subscription

Posted By on April 5, 2022

IMG_3736_mWhen it comes to FRESH meals in a box, we’re relative newcomers to any of the meal plans … including the one we’re trying from HelloFresh. We have been pretty happy with ordering from Omaha Steaks over the years, but that’s not a “fresh” meal … just thaw and toss on the grill (my wheelhouse). So a couple month ago we ordered a trial on a whim and  figured since it is just the two of us nowadays, we would  try and then cancel if we didn’t like it. We haven’t been disappointed so far. IMG_3784

Our  first two meals were great (the early ones are discounted) and both of us realized just how much of our meal prep and cooking was in a rut.  We “know what we know” (a butchered Confucius saying) and “it’s hard to teach an old dog a new trick” (idiom). But surprise, the recipes and excellent instruction were easy to follow and it also “forced” us to try something new. After a couple of weeks, Brenda commented … “why don’t we continue the subscription?”

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Our meals don’t look quite as fancy as the photos in cookbooks, magazines or even the recipe cards, but the taste has been excellent. I don’t think we’ve wasted one bite. The  prices with shipping after the discounted period is a bit more than I would normally want to pay, but we don’t eat out much anymore, so fixing a new tasty meal has become a weekend “dinner and a movie” date!

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Music Monday: “Early Morning Rain” – Gordon Lightfoot (image) … Can you see it?

Posted By on April 4, 2022

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Archive: A couple granddaughter photos and a good laugh

Posted By on April 3, 2022

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Books: The Coddling of the American Mind and Roland Fryer

Posted By on April 2, 2022

The longer I live, the more I ask the question: “What is wrong with people?”

While reading “The Coddling of the American Mind” last week, just before chatting with my son Taylor, the synopsis of the book came to mind. We were discussing a variety of current issues and ties to history (behavior, greed, crime, war, etc), but TheCoddlingBookcoversomehow we drifted to the First Amendment as it relates to the United States compared to other democratic socialist and communist countries. My concern was that different points-of-view are not being debated in today in schools or our partisan media. Insidious or blatant censorship is the norm all too often nowadays (as well as purposeful misinforming). On college campuses and on social media, opposing thoughts and intellectual debate is silenced and the divide between progressives and conservatives political ideology grows wider and more hateful as flames are fanned and minds are brainwashed by propagandist and ideologues.

In this 2018 book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haldt, they discuss “what has been going wrong” when it comes to our society. Speaking openly or debating issues respectfully is getting rarer in colleges or forums where openminded discussions were once encouraged. It far more common that we’ll see the shouting down of speakers or the boiling into anger leading to physical assaults or even riots. The fact that college campuses are no longer places where students will hear, discuss or debate different views is concerning. We’re regularly seeing voices silenced and intellectual debate squelched no matter the issue. Check out the video from TheCoddling.com.

…new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures.  Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism — interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.

This book was on my mind when a couple new stories appeared this past week. First was the reaction by progressive Democrats to a Parental Rights in Education bill in Florida “prohibiting a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels“ and protecting the right of parents to have those discussions with their children. In today’s “woke” America, leftist progressives have learned from past success, the way to change society is to take over the education system and feed the next generation their ideology … and only their ideology … from pre-school through college.

AND because I just saw this video (below), progressive ideologues are making sure those who stray from teaching or presenting anything other than their views are purged.

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Friday Filler: An interesting eye-brain negative afterimage

Posted By on April 1, 2022

These illustrations make the rounds by email and social networking every so often and do so because they are interesting to naturally inquisitive humans … and in my case make for a blogworthy Friday Filler and “fool your mind” on April Fools’ Day post.

This is one that cognitive psychology refers to as the Negative Afterimage:

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What do you see? If you’ve followed the directions correctly, you should see an image of a woman in full-color. If you are having trouble seeing the effect, try staring at the negative image a bit longer or adjusting how far you are sitting from your computer monitor.

What you are experiencing is known as a negative afterimage. This happens when the photoreceptors, primarily the cone cells, in your eyes become overstimulated and fatigued causing them to lose sensitivity. In normal everyday life, you don’t notice this because tiny movements of your eyes keep the cone cells located at the back of your eyes from becoming overstimulated.

See VeryWellMind.com for further explanation.

Bundutec Rooftop Tent for traveling and camping #TBT

Posted By on March 31, 2022

bundutop-rooftop-camperBunduTec-BunduTop-van

If I were going to do a little traveling around the U.S. and Canada by vehicle, I’d like to look at something like the Bundutec “Electric Rooftop Tent” for our BMW X5 35D or maybe the minivan? Of course IF I were going to travel in the older 2002 Honda Odyssey, itMomDadC_73FordVanCamping might be a good idea to upgrade it with something newer (and knowing Brenda, I’d probably be traveling by myself – she prefers flying and NOT camping … or even glamping).

Nevertheless, I have fond #TBT memories of traveling with our kids and for 5 week and over 10,000 miles cross country (photo right)  with my parents, brother and pet in a van and tent … or trailer and mini motorhome.

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My son Taylor and Megan were over to show a new vehicle

Posted By on March 30, 2022

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A few weeks ago, Megan’s car was hit will parked on the street outside of Taylor’s apartment in East Walnut Hills (Cincinnati). The damage was shockingly substantial and totaled the older car she was driving. So the search for a new car began … something fun for Taylor, but others find it stressful IMG_0404(especially with the tight market and higher prices post pandemic).

Thankfully between Taylor, Megan and Megan’s dad, they found a beautiful 2014 Lexus RX 350 CUV that generated smiles immediately, so Monday night they drove it up for me to see and to have dinner together (Brenda was a work). From my walk around and comfortable ride, it is near perfect. Since it has 80,000 miles, there will be eventual be a few service items (brakes, batteries, tires) … but all in all … this would be a car that I would have bought. Very nice.

Just a couple woodshop table saw splitter and pushstick ideas

Posted By on March 29, 2022

ScrewTableSawSplitterI’ve been thinking a little bit more about workshop safety (although always do) and after posting about zero clearance throatplates the other day, I started contemplating  adding a splitter to my table saw or to the insert when reading the Instructables.com article.

Since my Delta Table Saw is pre-riving knife (below left), I either need to use the cumbersome blade guard splitter combo that came with the saw, add an expensive “spreader” type, the somewhat questionable screw into the throat plate (photo right) … or make a small add-to-behind the blade splitter like Art did from WordsnWood.com (below right).

RivingKnifeTableSawScrapSteelTableSawSpliter

FamilyHandymanPushsticksWhile I’m on the topic of “table saw ideas” … I damaged one of my narrow push sticks by running it over the blade and have been thinking about making another one with a different kind of knob-ish handle using the Family Handyman design, but thought the “push shoe” was an interesting shape and appropriately named.TableSaw_PushShoe

Music Monday: “Hold On” from 1990 by Wilson Phillips

Posted By on March 28, 2022

iPod220316Once again, in looking to get out of the 1970’s Music Monday rut, I pulled out a music memory from my trusty Apple iPod and Shuffle … mine is filled with Jack Johnson tunes (right – see Wikipedia list of iPods). The one I used most often was clipped to the back of a cap with wires underneath to my ears. Bluetooth audio was still a bit flaky back then and restricted to phone audio related headsets (see Jawbone from 2007 or smaller one from 2009).

Anyway, back to “Hold On by the group Wilson Phillips, a couple of sisters, Carnie and Wendy Wilson (of the Beach Boys Brian Wilson fame) andWilsonPhillip_thennow Chynna Phillips (daughter of The Mamas & the Papas band members John and Michelle Phillips).

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This 1990 hit won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the year and the music video was “later published to the group’s official YouTube channel.”

In 2020, Tony L. Smith from Cleveland.com wrote, "A decade or two ago, Wilson Phillips’ inspirational anthem ‘Hold On’ wasn’t regarded as anything more than a cheesy (maybe the cheesiest) pop song from the Nineties. But opinions change. For a generation big on nostalgia, it gets no bigger than ‘Hold On,’ a song that has good times written all over it."

Holy Toledo! It looks like a Rivian R1T EV being charged

Posted By on March 27, 2022

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog