Category: Personal

The power of the bagged lunch

In the early 1800’s, almost 70% of all American families lived on farms. Most of these were subsistence farms — a few cows, pigs, chickens on some land where corn, wheat and potatoes were planted — and these farms were the family’s main source of food and clothing. So, the farmer would rise early and feed his livestock, repair fences, outbuildings, fix machinery, gather eggs and in the middle of the day, when he would need some food and a short break, he would walk back to his house to visit with his wife and children and eat a small meal. And for hundreds of years the term lunch would simply mean that; to take a break from your work and go home to eat.

As the effect of The Industrial Revolution spread, factories and mills needed more and more workers. Now the small farmer had the opportunity to not only care for his land but to travel to town for day work in order to bring additional income into the household. And because it would not be practical for the farmer to return home for lunch — and because he would need to leave early in the morning and not return until late that night — he would have to take food with him.

So the farmer would put hard-boiled eggs, biscuits, vegetables and meat into a container —often a small basket with a handles — and head out in the morning. He would often meet up with other men who were carrying similar baskets as well as those with meals wrapped in handkerchiefs or placed in metal tins. In fact, workers in more extreme environments — such as coal mines and steel mills — needed something to transport their lunch in that would protect it, so they often used small covered milk pails.

By the 1850’s manufacturers saw this growing consumer need and began to mass produce fitted metal buckets and boxes specifically designed to carry lunches in. They were called lunch pails even though the trend was leaning more towards the box style. They sold well and the need increased.

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In 1904 The Thermos, was introduced as an option to the commercial lunch pail and now a worker could have a cold lunch with a hot drink. And when schools began to regionalize — and the one room school migrating to the larger multi grade school — children were now unable to come home for lunch and also needed to take food with them. And many children who wanted to mimic their fathers, sought out metal pails or buckets to take their lunches in.

In 1935, the first children’s lunch box with a licensed character was produced and the image of Mickey Mouse was lithographed over an oval tin with a handle. And in 1950 the first TV character made the cut, with Hopalong Cassidy being the choice, which was a lunchbox that cost two dollars and sold half a million units in the first year alone.

For decades the metal lunchbox was the symbol of the workforce and the character lunchbox was the symbol of childhood — with millions of men carrying their lunches to work and millions of school children carrying theirs in boxes decorated with their favorite TV shows, bands and sports figures.

But when a child moved from Elementary School to High School the lunch box was often abandoned. In that socially sensitive environment, the need to quickly distance ourselves from childish things became powerful and the brown paper bag became a safer containment choice — as well as the ability to now purchase a hot lunch from a school cafeteria.

Today, the average American purchases his lunch rather than brings it. He spends an average of ten dollars on each trip and the majority of those meals are bought at fast food restaurants. We eat in our car. We eat on the run. And we eat whatever is quickly made and cheaply provided and whether it’s the memories of soggy bologna sandwiches or the still need to distance ourselves from childish things, few of us bring a lunch to work — or if we do it’s a quickly prepared sandwich that we eat at our desk.

But the bagged lunch as an entity, as a creative endeavor, is an amazing thing. It is healthier, far less expensive (we spend almost $1,000 a year on fast food lunches ) and give us this versatile control over our day. It’s a very neat thing.

So the first step is to get yourself a lunch box — and I mean one that fits your needs as well as your lifestyle. A brown paper bag is only temporary but choosing a container to bring your lunch in shows a commitment to seeing it through.

So here are some quick options for lunch ideas.

1. Leftovers. This is an easy and simple. Simply take some of that lasagna from last night or some of that leftover casserole and bring it to work in a Tupperware container. Provided you have access to a microwave, this works well.

2. Soup. There is nothing like a cup of hot soup with a biscuit or some bread in the middle of the day. And the great thing here is you can be working in the middle of the woods and still bring hot soup in a thermos. The only requirement here is, make a pot of homemade soup — very easy to make, tastes better, healthier and much less expensive than canned soup — http://543skills.com/skill-194-how-to-make-homemade-soup/

3. Wraps. Only because sandwiches are so overplayed — and because most store bought bread is pretty tasteless — wraps are a good alternative. You can make a wrap with cold cuts, or a with beans and cheese for a tortilla. They are smaller, can be made quicker and are easier to eat on the run.

And the last option is this amazingly simple thing called a Mason Jar Salad. This is so incredibly simplistic that it’s absolutely brilliant.

So, what you do is take a Mason Jar and in the bottom you put in your wet ingredients; your salad dressing. Then you add in the solid vegetables — anything that won’t get soggy if they touch the dressing — tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, celery, peppers, etc. Then you add your softer items; your pasta, mushrooms, avocado. On top of that you put your protein; your chicken, turkey, beans and then the lettuce and on top goes your cheese and any nuts.

So what you have is this self-contained salad that is separated, fresh and can remain that way for days. In fact many people make these up a week at a time and use them days later. It remains in the jar until you need it then you pour it into a bowl where all the ingredients mix. Genius.

So get creative, get a lunch box and get to work.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2014/07/mason-jar-salad-inspiration.html

July 27, 2016
The New Year’s resolution hack
It’s a pretty well known fact in the health club and fitness Industry that the best time of year — their season — is January. No doubt about it. This is when health clubs, gyms, personal trainers; diet supplement companies and home gym equipment manufacturers, all see the bulk of their business for the entire year. It’s their market. It’s New Year’s resolution time.

And these same health club and fitness professionals will also tell you that the busiest time of that month is the second week of January; when they will see the largest single week of the year. And after that — things begin to taper down. Each week. Until the second week of February when the season is officially over.

Now at the end of that four week period, 80% of the people who have bought their Super Stepper 9,000 or joined a gym, have stopped. Over the next two months — until the second week of April — an additional 12% will stop as well. Leaving 8%. Which is the average percentage rate of people who reach their New Year’s resolutions.

8%.

Now as far as health clubs and gyms go, they love this trend — they will never tell you this, but their accountants will. Because what is a better customer than one who pays for an entire year and then doesn’t use up valuable is resources or equipment. And — here is the best part — those same people will be back again next January convinced that this year things are going to be different. And they’ll sign up again.

Now fitness is only one of the goals we set at the beginning of the year — financial is another big area, career, artistic goals of music or of finally sitting down and writing that book, there are many.

So why do New Year’s resolutions fail? Well, there are many reasons. Here are a few …
1. Because they are fueled by motivation only — motivation is short lived and usually lasts only about a month by itself.
2. Because we set unrealistic goals.
3. Because we need the goal to fix something in our life; to make it all better.
4. Because we don’t have a plan, we just have an end result.
5. Because we are now in panic time. It’s not important that it took us 3 years to put on that extra 60 pounds, it must be off by summer!
Yup. All of these are true. But there are two other reasons — the two real reasons — why most New Year’s resolutions fail. And if you address these two other areas, your odds go up substantially. In fact, you will double your chance of success if you only focus on these two areas.

Ready? Here they are.

The real two real reasons why 92% of all New Year’s resolutions fails — are this.
1. Because we get something out of where we are now. If we are overeating, overspending, drinking too much, out of work or have our finances way overextended, we get something out of that. Either a pleasure or an escape and until we identify what that is — really spend time with it — then it will continue to run silently in the background; quietly and under the surface, and will derail any minor motivation fueled trend we are running on the top.
Because if we never turn the program off. Identify it and replace it with something else. Then that beacon — that we ourselves put into motion — is enough to make us one of the 80%. If we don’t turn it off an replace it, motivation alone will not break through it. We are wishing to go north but we are steering south.

And the second reason is this …
1. Because we think we need to fight. That there is something inside of us that wants us to fail and we need to fight, it, Defeat it. Instead of realizing that it is a program that we put there, to protect and help us — http://543skills.com/skill-529-the-truth-about-self-discipline/
So here is the single thing you can do — the very best action — to drastically increase your chance of reaching your New Year’s resolution.

Ready?

Here it is.

The best way to achieve your New Year’s resolution is —-.

Don’t set one.

At least not right away. Instead, spend this month — four solid weeks — in getting to know yourself and getting to know how you got to where you are now.

Oh and cop-out answers don’t count here. Answers like, I took my eye off the ball or I wasn’t motivated enough to change — are bull. You get something out of overeating or avoiding those work projects. You told yourself to keep you safe or keep you protected. You get something from it otherwise you wouldn’t be doing it.

What do you get?

So, spend a solid month in getting to know what that is. Now, I now, but the gym, the office, the life you are going to organize, it will be there waiting for you. Consider this month basic training, getting you ready for it.

And here are the two best ways to do that. Here are two ways to get into that programming and see what that code really is.
1. Write. Just start writing, every day, in a journal of everything you think and feel. Start to write about why you want to change and how you got to where you are. Keep digging and digging for a solid month.
And …
1. Go into the silence. Now this one will take a little getting used to but it is amazing the results. What it is is take an hour — yeah, it seems like a long time but it’s worth it — where you are completely unplugged. Step into a a quiet room, your parked car, the woods, whatever. Turn your phone off and just sit — motionless, don’t move — for one hour.
The first twenty minutes of this will be hell. Then calm will come over you. And then — things will begin to click. Doors will open and you will begin to think pure thoughts. Pure code. You will see clearly.

Do this — do all of this. And when your four weeks are up, then set your goals. And you’ll not only be one of the 8% but you’ll get there easier and you’ll get more joy out of it because you’ll be in sync with what you really want.
July 26, 2016
9 older products that are better than their newer versions.

As the great Billy Joel said, the good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems.

In 1955, 38,000 people in the country had polio — now there are less than 300 cases in the entire world. In 1960, 30% of Americans lived under the poverty line and that number is now below 10%. And in 1950, almost half of all American homes didn’t have a telephone. Today there are roughly six internet connected devices per household.

So yes, we’ve come a long way. But still, there are some areas, some products and services, that have suffered from the modern march of advancement. Which means that there are a certain number of areas where the older versions are much better than the new ones.

9. FANS

The vintage fans of the 1940’s and 50’s were amazing. They had metal blades, huge motors, moved air around like a jet engines and lasted forever. Modern versions are basically disposable with tiny motors, plastic cages and thin plastic blades.

8. SILLY PUTTY

The old Silly Putty was this amazing stuff that bounced, floated, stretched and held any image that you put it to. It fit back in its egg shaped container and unless it got covered in gunk from the floor, could be used for months. The newer version is less pliable, doesn’t bounce and worse yet, does not pick up any image that you press against it. And is this strange purple color now.

7. FISHING REELS

In the 1980’s many spinning reel manufacturers went through a process to remove cost from their products. Metal housing and gears were replaced with plastic ones and mechanisms were simplified and redesigned. The result of this was a reel of far less quality. In fact, in 1994 I gave my brother-in-law my old Mitchell 300 reel when I got my new Mitchell. He still uses my old one and I’ve been through four replacement reels since.

6. CROCK POTS

About five years ago, the great crockpot cartel got together and decided — for whatever reason — to increase the low cooking temperature on new crockpots. I have no idea why, but the result is a crockpot that cooks higher. So now slow cookers, cook faster. And if you’re not careful it is so much easier to overcook meat in a new crockpot than it was in an old one.



5. LINCOLN LOGS

Lincoln logs are great. They were these logs that were etched out at the end so you could build cabins, forts and outbuildings. And of course because they were logs they were made of wood. New ones are not. They are made of — plastic. How can you have a plastic log cabin?

4. UMBRELLAS

And umbrella was once a well-crafted, solid, piece of adornment. It had a thick wooden handle, solid metal bracings and heavy canvas to protect you from the rain — in fact umbrellas were coveted by thieves because there was always a market for them. Modern equivalents are made to be replaceable and disposable and in fact you can buy umbrellas from The Dollar Tree.



3. PAPER ROLL CAPS

Cap guns came out in the 1950’s and were these guns that shot paper caps that exploded and smoked like real guns. The caps hid large dimples filled with black powder that created this exciting bang. Modern equivalents are completely flat and contain very little powder and make a soft pop — about as load as bubble wrap popping.

2. CRACKER JACK PRIZES

The prizes in Cracker Jacks used to be amazing — small pinball games, cars, charms, plastic guns, everything. In fact, that was part of the charm of Cracker Jack was getting to that prize. The prizes of today are not even worth mentioning — usually a piece of paper — and is the equivalent of getting socks for Christmas.



1. AIR TRAVEL

Even before 911 air travel had lost its glamour. Gone are the days of warm towels, full meals and a cheery attendant that is only a button push away. Air travel is now no frills, sit down, shut up and keep quiet.

July 25, 2016
The future

“Okay — how did — ?”

And then Debbie pointed.

After twenty-two years of marriage, I always look when Debbie points. Always. This has served as a solid rule-of-thumb when anyone points but when Debbie does it she is often pointing to something I did, or didn’t do. Or something that the kids did or didn’t do or worse yet, something that they did that I suggested that they do — which as soon as she points out to me I realize was a pretty dumb idea. Why do they listen to me? But sometimes, Debbie just points at something that she wants me to see.

I didn’t know which one this was. So Debbie pointed and I looked.

The broken fireplace screen was where my eye went to first. But since I had developed a process where the fireplace still worked — if you separated the first screen, got the fire going, then leaned the glass into the frame, it could still be used — so this project had been given a lower priority on the household punch list. Anytime a device or a system still operates by simply adding another step or two, it is automatically reduced to C status.

“Yeah, I —“.

“How did —? How did this happen?”

So it wasn’t the fireplace screen. My attention moved over to the television.

The TV offer that was playing was advertising a new mattress where no payment was due until — and then the fireworks and the spinning graphic occurred — until 2015. But since our mattress was fairly new — it had only been three years since the insurance replaced everything when I burned our house down — I’d guessed it wasn’t the mattress she was pointing at.

“What?”

“2015?” she asked. “How did —-? 2015?”

Well, yeah. It was the end of October, 2014 which meant that 2015 was only a few —-. But she did have a —. She did have a very good point.

If Debbie and I were married in 1992 and since we are both now are in our thirties — aren’t we still in our thirties? — and the kids are still small — wait, are they still small? — and I still have a 30 inch waistline then the date could only be somewhere in the —.

“2015?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, how did that happen?”

“I don’t —. I don’t know.”

A chill ran through the living room. I would have built a fire but the screen was broken.

How is this possible that it will soon be 2015?

2014 is one thing. Yeah, it’s a big number. Much bigger than 1985 or 1993, but 2015 is —. 2015 is the date when Marty McFly goes ahead in time in Back to the Future II; October 21, 2015. 2015 is futuristic.

A place where we can talk to people and see their faces on phones and watches and iPods and laptops just like George Jetson did — a cartoon character from the future.

So in a few months we will be in — the future.

So welcome everyone. We are almost there. The future. A place where Loverboy and REM are played in elevators and we can see Satellite Street photos of Zambia right on our phones. The future. Where The Shining is seen as quaint and we laugh at the special effects of the first Star Wars.

The future.

So what does this mean? What happens in the future?

Well, we know one thing. In the movies it’s the guy from the past that is always the hero in the future. It’s the one who comes from the 1980’s or 70’s or before in a time travelling Delorean, or steps into a time portal. It’s the one who can break the rules and see things differently. The character who thinks and acts by his own rules. Bravely. Creatively — which is so different from those people of the future and that’s the reason he wins.

So we are in the future. Yes, this is true.

But we are all from the past. Where the hero comes from. And we can only win if we keep what we have from the past and use it. If we stand out. If we remember.

July 25, 2016
How to pitch horseshoes

Back in the days of the Roman Empire, the horseshoe — the one we think of now with the U shape — hadn’t been invented yet. So instead, they used round iron rings that were nailed to the horse’s hoofs to protect them. Now, when the soldiers had some down time — you know, when they weren’t busy sacking and pillaging — they were always on the lookout for ways to keep busy, so they would pitch these round iron rings towards stakes in the ground. And from this the game of quoits — which would later evolve to the game of horseshoes — was born.

The game grew and continued to be played for thousands of years, but not always by full-time soldiers or farmers or other “hardworking” laborers of the time — they would never have had the free time needed to play such a game. It was truly more of a volunteer soldier’s sport because the trained soldiers would have tasks to complete during every minute of the day. In fact, after the Revolutionary War, a beaten and bitter Duke of Wellington could not believe that his great English army was brought down by “pitchers of horse hardware.”

After the wars came peace, and as soldiers returned home they brought the game of quoits with them. Soon it was not uncommon for every village and farming community to have their own pitching court.

In 1869, eager to organize the game, England set up rules to govern it. It was determined that the distance between stakes would be 19 yards. The player would pitch his quoit with one step, the ground around the stake would be filled with sand, etc. Even with these rules in place, it wasn’t until 1910 in the city of Bronson, Kansas, that the first World Horseshoe Pitching tournament was held.

Today, the game of horseshoes remains the ultimate backyard game. It’s a perfect blend of skill, risk, and tactics. And although Corn Hole is a portable game that works well while tailgating and waiting in line for concert tickets, the game of horseshoes will always remain as the ultimate gentlemen’s recreational activity.

HOW TO PLAY HORSESHOES

The game of horseshoes includes four shoes — two of each color — and two stakes. Regulation horseshoes require that the two stakes be 40 feet apart, with each stake in the center of a sand-filled pit.

If you have some space in your yard, the horseshoe pit is very easy to be made permanent by framing the two stakes with some scrap lumber and filling with playground sand. If you’re going to do this, toss a little cement in the hole with the stake so that it doesn’t move when the horseshoe hits it. Or, you can keep your game portable and bring them with you to every picnic and family reunion.

Horseshoes can be played by two individuals or two teams of two players. The most common version of the game involves “innings.” During each inning, each player pitches two shoes. The goal is to get the horseshoe around the stake. This is a “ringer” and it is determined by the ends of the horseshoe being hooked on the stake and both ends of the shoe clearing the stake. When pitching, you must stay behind the foul line, which is 3 feet in front of each stake.

Scoring:

1. A ringer — the stake is completely encircled by the shoe — 3 points.

2. A leaner — the horseshoe is leaning against the stake — 1 point.

3. Closest — if there are no ringers or leaners, the person with the shoe closest to the stake gets 1 point. In addition, if your two shoes are closer than both of your opponent’s shoes, you get 2 points. If you get a ringer, and you have the closest shoe, it’s 4 points.

4. Cover — if a shoe is thrown on top of your shoe as a ringer, your ringer is cancelled.

The goal is to be the first to score 15. In another version of the game, you can determine that you’ll both have a set number of pitches, and whoever has the most points at the end wins.

Remember the goal is to not only get more points, but to stop your opponent from scoring. Sometimes the best tactic is not to pitch for the point but to cover or knock over the opponent’s leaning shoe.

A backyard set of horseshoes will run you about twenty bucks. If you look around, I bet you’ll find some public horseshoe pits near you and probably a league looking for members.

July 23, 2016
The Sitting Disease

In the late 1980’s there was an incredible innovation that came into the business mainstream — like a bull — and it was called voicemail and — it— changed — everything. I mean everything. Oh there had been some other recent technological advances before this; yeah, fax machines were pretty cool — you could send a document from New York to California in seconds, what’s not to love about that? But voicemail altered the very fabric of our everyday jobs. It changed how we moved around, how we reacted to new information. It meant freedom.

But in order to appreciate voicemail you need to understand what work-life was like before this amazing breakthrough.

For example, the challenge with being an outside salesperson back then was that it was very difficult to actually get outside. At all. You had a desk and you had customers — that called you at your desk. They called with issues, corrections, questions, change orders, to input new orders, expedite and sometimes just to talk. It was necessary to take these calls, to react to these needs, but it was also necessary to meet with customers as well as cultivate new business. But this meant leaving your desk. And your phone.

Now we had answering machines at this time — they had been around for ten years or so and yeah, that changed things a bit. They were these big clunky tape recorders that sat on a secretary’s desk and recorded any general phone messages that came in after hours. So even if you called in late — even at midnight — you could leave a message. But voicemail was so much better.

Because the thing with voicemail was that you didn’t have to be physically at the tape recorder to get your message. You could be — anywhere.

If a customer called the office and you weren’t there, or if they called your voicemail directly, they left a message. Then at any payphone, at any phone at all — anywhere in the world — you could call the voicemail number, push a code and get all your messages. You could be down the street or across the country and still get your messages.

Just — like — that!

And as if a lock had been picked, as if a door was swung open, we were no longer chained to our desks. We could be on the road all the time. If we had a phone nearby we could gather our messages and take care of them from anywhere.

We had become —- mobile.

And that was just the beginning. After that came mobile phones and emails and smart phones and Bluetooth and a bunch of other things that followed. All mobile. All giving us freedom. Freedom to move — in fact a new smart phone commercial shows a a surfer sending an email — inside of a wave.

And the mobile revolution had begun.

And now —. Thirty years into this mobile movement. After we are free to be as mobile as we want to — we are the most sedentary that we have ever been. Ever. In history.

Since the beginning of time, today, at this point in our history — Americans spend more of the day sitting then ever before. Ever.

Thirty years after all of this mobility started, we now sit for most of the day. Sometimes for fifteen hours a day.

In fact, we’re mobile, we’re on the go, but we’re still sitting. We sit in the car, we sit on the plane, we sit in the airport waiting to get on the plane. We sit in the waiting room, we sit at home and of course — we sit at work.

So why is this a big deal?

Well, we were not built to sit. We were built to move. And with sitting we increase our risk of heart disease to 65% — which means that we have just given away seven years of our life by sitting. Add to that the risks of certain types of cancer.

Immediately after you sit down, the electrical activity in your muscles slows down dramatically along with your ability to burn calories. If you sit for a full 24-hour period, you experience a 40 percent reduction in glucose uptake in insulin. All of which has caused many health experts to call sitting; the new smoking.

To break that down, The American Cancer Society recently published an article stating that men who sit 6 hours a day are 48% more likely to die before their standing counterparts and women that sit this long are 94% more likely to die.

http://www.juststand.org/tabid/674/language/en-us/default.aspx

The only good news about this is that the effects are reversible.

– Stand up once an hour.

– If your driving, pull over every hour or so and stretch for a few minutes

– Walk during breaks.

– Look into standing-desks and working more while standing.

– Walk a message to a co-worker instead of sending an email.

– Park as far away as possible and walk to where you’re going.

– Exercise three times a week.

And get moving.

July 22, 2016
The 10 greatest guy inventions of all time

There are inventions and then there are guy-inventions — these are the gadgets, tools and innovations that are so deeply embedded in our man-lives that the idea of going without them is completely unthinkable.

Here are the top 10 guy inventions of all time.

10. Ramen Noodles

Whether you buy them now or not, at some point of your life you have consumed many bowls of Ramen noodles, cup o soups, or similar products. Why? Because it’s completely a guy thing; cheap, simple and portable. We lived on this stuff in college and we still buy them when no one is looking.

9. Dish sponge and soap dispenser

If you are not familiar with this one yet, stop what you are doing and run to the store right now. I’m not sure who to thank for this dish washing miracle but it is a clear handle filled with dish soap and a sponge at the end. That’s it. But now you don’t need to fill a sink with water — which men hate — instead you can wash a cup, a bowl, a dish with just the dispenser. Run some water, soap up the dish with it and rinse. Done.

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8. Digital Video Recorder.

This innovation still amazes me. The ability to pause and rewind live TV should be a candidate for The Nobel Prize. Now, we can pause anything we’re watching, get a drink, take a call and come back and not miss anything — as well as skip through the commercials. Also it’s great for those ‘what did he say?’ moments when you can rewind and settle a TV bet.

7. Energy drinks

Sure women buy energy drinks — in fact the largest demographic of energy drink consumers are young mothers trying to get through the day with as much steam as possible. But the idea of energy drinks is completely a guy thing. It’s fast, cold, comes in a can and gets the motor going.

6. Microwave Oven

Microwaves are everywhere men are; construction sites, break rooms, garages. They are these inexpensive little boxes that you plug in, press a buton and within a minute or so your food is hot. What’s not to love?

5. Global Positioning System

The GPS system was the freedom rally-cry for all men. Never again, do we need to hear the words, just stop and ask someone for directions — which in the guy world is equivalent of wearing a dress. And if we keep the volume down and just look at the pretty directions, we actually feel like we’re getting there by ourselves.

4. Safety razor

When is the last time you walked into work and saw a fellow co-worker with those little pieces of toilet paper stuck to his face to stop the bleeding from shaving? For some of you, probably never. That’s because it rarely happens anymore but it used to happen all the time. New razors are so well developed that it’s almost impossible to cut yourself shaving any longer and the shave is close and fast.

3. Cordless drill

When the cordless drills first came on the scene in the 1980’s they were very expensive and the only group that could afford them were professional contractors — while the rest of us looked on with lust. Now, the technology has been so well developed and the price point has dropped so much, that everyone has one. And the new 20 volt models keep their charge forever — months without a recharge.

2. Duct tape

Duct tape is a pressure sensitive tape coated with polyethylene. It was first developed in World War II to seal ammunition cases and make small repairs because of its water resistance. Now, we use duct tape for everything because it’s fast, easy and it works.

1. Television Remote Control

Yes, it’s a cliché, but the truth is the remote control is the greatest guy-invention of all time. It puts the world in our hands, caters to our short attention span and lets us bounce all around the TV universe increasing our programming productivity. In fact, for most of us, if we can’t find the remote — what’s the point of turning the TV on?

July 22, 2016
REVIEW: Film: Snowpiercer.

One of the simplest questions we all get asked is one that I have difficulty answering. It’s one of those in the icebreaker category — you know, not a; where are you from? what do you do? where did you go to school? but the personal tastes and interest question of — what’s your favorite film?

That’s tough. And is absolutely impossible to answer.

See, when I find a film that I like — one that is so good that I just can’t get it out of my head — I will watch it about — well, ten gazillion times. I’ll just keep watching and watching it, over and over; experiencing each scene from the beginning in one continuous loop. I’ll look up deleted scenes. I’ll delve into the life of the actors. I’ll download the actual script and look at how it was first written compared to how it was shot. And when I have reached the ten gazillion mark — when every last bit of emotion and beauty has been wrung out of it and all that’s left is the husk — I’ll discard it. I’ll never watch it again. Ever.

When it comes on TV, I’ll flip past it. When it becomes a topic of conversation, I’ll wait for it to pass. Because I’ve taken too much of it I’ve overdosed. It’s over.

This is the first reason why we’ve not done a film review on 543skills so far. The second reason is that I can be kind of a jerk when it comes to movies — I admit this. But hey, when you give someone 100 million dollars to do something — which is the average price tag right now to make a feature film — you expect a quality product. A better than quality product. With 100 million dollars you should be able to make something unforgettable, that changes lives. Every time.

But there are very, very few absolutely amazing films made. And the even worse part is that we seem to be okay with that.

Which brings us to Snowpiercer.

Now, I first heard of the film when Tim Ferriss recommended it (and I am allowing a few seconds to build up so you think that Tim and I discussed the movie during a racquetball game; that this is the type of movers and shakers I associate with, but actually I read it in his newsletter.) In fact, Tim Ferriss raved about the film. So did a lot of people and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 95%. So, I watched it.

Now the premise of Snowpiercer is this. The world tries to stop Global Warming by introducing this super chemical into the environment. This chemical is a really bad idea and the entire planet freezes over but not before a genius named Wilford builds a mega train where the last of humanity can be saved and travel around the world at breakneck speeds while the frozen planet lies around them.

There are two classes in this train. There is the first class who spread out among the majority of cars and live a life of luxury and extravagance. And then there are the lower class who in the back and are kept in a crowded windowless car and fed only protein blocks that look like black Jello. But one brave soul from the back named Curtis, has finally had enough of this poor treatment and organizes a rebellion to get his lower class brethren further up in the train where all the food and good stuff is kept.

Now besides the ridiculous plot holes of Snowpiercer — instead of building a train that travels at 90 around the world with no stops and no real purpose to travel, why not take that technology and build a bigger structure that’s stationary — it’s is not a bad film. Not really.

It’s not a good film. But it’s not a bad one. Actually, I’m not really sure what it is.

The end of the film doesn’t leave you with any more answers than you had in the beginning. In fact, the answers that you are given are disappointing at best. You don’t really care about the characters or what happens to them and the few, oh my gosh you’ve got to be kidding, plot twists, don’t work.

What you do have is some visually appealing scenes and some fairly good acting — but with a flat script it really doesn’t matter.

Snowpiercer is worth seeing for the imagery. I guess. But that would be it. There are too many plot speed bumps to count and the end of the ride is — well, just plain silly.

But hey, Tim Ferris said it’s good.

July 21, 2016
The 10 best animated male characters of all time

In the 1960’s, television executives from ABC were looking for a creative way to diversify their advertising customer base and sell the American consumers more stuff. Oh sure, they were getting their fare share of cigarette, car and dish soap ads — yup, got that covered — but the lucrative toy market was slipping by.

Now, at this time Saturday mornings were a soft slot in TV programming and were filled with 1950’s filler — The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Tarzan and some animated shorts used in feature films such as Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry. So, since kids were already watching at this time it became the ideal time to create some original animated content — something that had never been tried before.

What came to be known as Saturday Morning Cartoons was such a huge success and such a big deal in the kid world, that the idea of being sick on a Saturday morning or just plain oversleeping and waking up near noon — when the shows were over —- was the weekly equivalent of missing Christmas. And add to that, now being a social pariah because you would be the only one in fifth grade who didn’t know what mischief Speed Buggy got into — it was enough to ruin your whole week.

As cable television grew the 24 hour cartoon networks grew with it and The Saturday Morning Line Up faded away, replaced by the round-the-clock access to cartoons. But this did not change the impact of cartoons on our lives, in fact it actually expanded it.

THE TEN BEST ANIMATED MALE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME.

10. UNDERDOG

1964

Yes, he’s a dog, but he’s also a man dog and that counts.

Underdog is that perfect combination of strength and sensitivity. His ability to fight crime, have an active dating life with Sweet Polly Purebred and balance his stressful career as a shoe shine boy — makes him a character to admire.

9. PATRICK STAR

1999

No, SpongeBob didn’t make the list — a little over-performing tipped the scale a bit — but his buddy Patrick definitely did.

Patrick is that perfect combination of a best friend that we all want; strong, funny, willing to do anything we ask and not too bright. Patrick is the guy we all want around and miss when he’s not there.

8. POPEYE

1932

Popeye the comic strip existed long before the animation did — along with Olive Oyl, Sweet Pee and Wimpy — but the very first Popeye animation sets the stage. Here, he and Brutus come across a bevy of bathing beauties near a pool. We see them scanning all the voluptuous women – a little bored — until they came across the skinny, clumsy, Olive Oyle in her clod hoppers and 1920’s bathing dress. They are smitten and the rivalry begins.

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7. SPIDERMAN

1967

The Spiderman animated series began in the late sixties and is responsible for that classic Spiderman theme: Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can …

Although Spiderman was well known before the animated series it was here that the American public got their first inside look at the character of Peter Parker and was able to relate to his vulnerability and strength — plus you just cannot get that stinkin’ song out of your head.

6. BENDER

1999

Bender is a cigar smoking, beer drinking robot with kleptomaniacal tendencies. What’s not to love? He is the best friend of Phillip Fry and an employee of Planet Express in the animated series Futurama. Bender became so popular and made the transition from rogue to hero so many times, that his anti-social activities became largely unnoticed. And out of the six Futurama episodes that were determined to be the most heartwarming, four revolved around Bender.

5. HANK HILL

1997

It’s difficult to think of Hank Hill as a great animated character because we don’t really think of him as animated at all. He is so real that he comes across as more of a painted reality-series character — or that uncle we all have. King of the Hill was so different than any animated series before it, we responded to it as a live action show and found Hank so incredibly straight-laced that he actually became cool.

4. PINKY AND THE BRAIN

1993

You can’t think of Pinky without The Brain so you need to consider them together. Pinky and The Brain are two lab rats that each night, as the lab is closed, begin to launch their master plan to take over the world — well, The Brain’s plan and Pinky just comes along to mess everything up. It’s funny, creative and one of the best animated buddy teams ever.

3. BULLWINKLE

1959

Bullwinkle J. Moose is the big, dim witted, half of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. He lives with his friend Rocky The Flying Squirrel in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. Each week he and Rocky are thrown in an adventure that usually involves defeating the evil Boris and Natasha. But it’s the subtle innuendos and creative puns of Bullwinkle that make him one of the great animated characters of all time.

2. BUGS BUNNY

1940

Bugs Bunny has been around so long and is so deeply entrenched in our culture that he is all things to all people. His flippant and relaxed attitude — along with that New York accent — makes him strong, curious and cocky. Plus, since he was developed for World War II fundraising and training films, he’s as American as they come.

1. HOMER SIMPSON

1987

Homer is a fat, lazy, simple minded father that at the same time is caring, thoughtful and brave. After over twenty five years of Homer he still amazes us with his diversity and depth. Homer is the guy we don’t mind loaning money to even though we know we’ll never get it back.

July 21, 2016
Fame

Since the beginning of time, man has been coming up with wise things to say to each other. Pearls of wisdom. Proverbs and sage advice. The best of these insightful phrases are remembered and passed on.

     Two wrongs don’t make a right.

     Necessity is the mother of invention.

     Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

King Solomon — often touted as the wisest man in the world and the author of The Book of Proverbs, in The Bible, penned over a thousand ‘songs’ or wise sayings about God and life. Great stuff such as: A soft answer turns away wrath. Don’t run too far from your problems, you’ll only have that same distance to return. And; A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Accurate statements. All of King Solomon’s writings are sound and solid but there is big difference in The Bible between the word of God — I will never leave you or forsake you — and the words of wise men like Solomon — train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will return to it.

Because King Solomon’s words are only wise guidelines and God’s words are where the pure truth of The Bible lies.

We often forget this and therefore the phrases themselves — those motivational words of encouragement that dot our Facebook walls — become our perceived truth. But these phrases can only contain the refection of the truth, not the truth itself.

An example is the phrase is: Do what you love and the money will come.

Cute. But wrong.

If taken literally, this means that if you do only the things that you love and enjoy, you will become wealthy doing it — or at least be able to support yourself doing it. That by going after those areas that we have done before and know that we love, we will be successful and content — so all you need to do is to focus on those things you get pleasure out of and leave the things that you don’t, alone.

I love eating Oreo’s but not only would it be difficult to find someone to pay me to eat them, I guarantee that after a few weeks I would stop loving them.

So the phrase is limited. It doesn’t allow for growth and hard work. A more accurate edit might be: Love what you do and the money will come. Yeah, that’s closer. But, if you drill down deeper into what is around the proverb, what supports it, you will see additional flaws.

So what do we enjoy? — and not only what do we get pleasure out of but why do we get pleasure out of. Because the world is divided between pleasure and pain — we either turn towards something or run from it — yes, that’s true. But there is also the gap factor.

Pleasure is great, but sometimes pleasure can be pulled from one area into another when needed, which is where gaps occur. The obese woman with immaculate hair and makeup has gaps. The short man in the Hummer has them too; pleasure in one area being syphoned to decrease pain in another.

This occurs a lot in The Performing Arts where people become hooked on the adoration, the attention, the notoriety, and not the work.

Here is an example. Think of how many people you know whose dream it is to become one of these three things: a writer, an actor or a musician. Start counting in your head of all the people you know, or have ever known, who have dreamed of becoming well known in one of those categories — to catch their big break, land that perfect roll or simply be discovered.

Got a rough number?

Good. Now, do the same thing and think of people you know whose dreams, who’s very passion, is to break into three completely different career paths. A puppeteer, a juggler or a camera operator.

Got that second number?

Okay, so why is the first number so much higher than the second? According to logic it shouldn’t be. If artistic talent and passion is the true driver, then those numbers should be the same because it takes just as much creativity in making a marionette come to life as it does to pretend to be someone on stage. It requires as much skill to work a TV camera as it does to sing. So why do we not know a single kid who wants to be a juggler when he grows up? Why don’t we have a few dozen friends who after a few too many Budweiser longnecks, pine over the life they should have had with puppets?

Tom Hanks was interviewed once and was asked when he first knew that he was a success. He laughed at this and said that he was a success when he first got out of college and was performing Shakespeare in the Park. He was doing what he loved to do, was happy and probably would have been content performing in that way for the remainder of his career. It wasn’t the fame that drew him, it was the craft.

Kevin Spacy has turned down several film rolls because he doesn’t really like making films. But he loves the theatre and spends as much time performing in theatrical productions as he can.

If your dream is in one that fits in that first category, then here’s the question. How will you know if you are successful?

If the answer is — if the true answer, the one you only tell yourself — is when I’m famous, or when I’m rich, then you are heading towards the shadow of this dream rather than the dream itself. It’s a lie, a trick and a gap.

The Ancient Greeks had a phrase called The Golden Meen. Nothing to excess. Finding the balance. A life with balance is great life. It is strong and solid and cannot be tumbled. But a pursuit where there are only two levels; fame and failure, can never be aligned.

Breaking in. Catching a break. Being discovered. What does that even mean?

If you want to write, to perform or to make music, then do it. Get good at it. Hone your craft. Write plays for your church Christmas play, make music at a retirement home and do standup for Veterans. Use your gift and your passion and give it away. Get good at it.

And find the balance.

July 20, 2016
Clara

About nine years ago — this would have been when my son Alex was about ten years old — we saw Clara for the first time. We were in the car, we had just turned off of Fiddlers Green and onto Governors Avenue and there she was, over to the left side of the road coming towards us.

It was cold outside and Clara was pushing her grocery cart against traffic, the way that bicyclists do, and the wheels of the cart were biting into the grey slush of the road. Alex saw her and he stopped talking. We drove another hundred yards or so before he spoke again.

“We’ve got to go back,” he said.

Now, I know I saw Clara — not really acknowledging her but seeing her the same way I saw the Burger King sign and I saw the Michelin store behind her. But Alex had locked in on her. He really saw her.

“We’ve got to go back,” he repeated.

“Why?”

Alex told me what he’d seen. That there was an old woman in the street. Everything she owned was in one grocery cart and it was cold outside. We had to go back. To help.

“Great idea,” I said magnanimously, as I mentally scanned what cash I had on me — hoping that I had something smaller than a twenty.

“No,” he corrected me. “We need to take her — home. To our house. To live.”

We kept driving and I told Alex how proud I was of him. I praised the great heart he had and told him of what a great kid he was. And then I gently explained how we could help. With a little bit of money.

“No. We need to take her home with us.”

And I explained all the reasons why we couldn’t do that. That the lady was a stranger. We couldn’t bring a stranger into our house, it wasn’t safe. We could help, sure, a little, but we —.

But Alex looked at me with focused eyes. “But Dad, she’s old. And it’s cold and we have that big guest room that no one is using and she can —. “

He kept talking and we kept driving. When we got to Walmart he was still talking — well, I was still talking. Alex was anxiously trying to hurry us up. To get us back in the car and get rolling towards Governors Avenue.

“How about we get her some food while we’re here, huh? How about that?’

“No,” he said.

But I did it anyway. I picked out a few prepackaged sub sandwiches, some chips and some bottled water and I listened to Alex plead. And as I did, I understood that he didn’t want to bring this woman home the way you do a kitten, or a lost dog. She needed to come home with us to be part of us. To be a member of our family.

Why? It was simple. We had the space. We had a house that was warm and dry and there was plenty of food there. There was no reason to discuss it any further. We had resources that someone else didn’t. It was only fair.

We drove back to Governors. To the place we had seen her and she was gone. We drove further down, through the side streets. Nothing. We looked inside of Burger King and the bus stop and then circled the entire loop again but could not find her.

“Okay,” I said. “I have an idea.”

Alex looked up at me as if there was nothing I could have done to disappoint him more. We pulled into the homeless shelter that was on Governors Avenue and I parked the car. We walked inside and told the lady at the desk who we were and who we had had seen and that we wanted to get this food to her.

The woman knew exactly who I was referring to and told us her name was Clara. Clara had been in and out of the shelter many times. She had been offered job opportunities and even an apartment but something always happened. The woman at the desk told Alex how proud she was of him wanting to take Clara home. But that we had to be safe and that there were other ways to help.

And Alex, silent, looked up at the both of us with frustrated eyes. We could show him statistics, photographs, evidence, all day long and it didn’t matter. Here were the only facts that did. There was a woman that needed help. We can help. Done.

We left the food at the shelter — she didn’t know if Clara would be in but she would see it went to good use — and we walked back out to the car.

“Feel better?”

“No.” And he didn’t.

We saw Clara a few more times after that. And then we didn’t see her again.

That was nine years ago. And Alex? Well, he’s nineteen now. And he still has a gentle heart and is a sensitive, caring kid. But he has that filter now about things such as this. The ones we all have.

Now, there was no way that Clara could have come home with us. Absolutely not. I wouldn’t jeopardize the safety of my family, I know that. Everyone knows that. It would never have happened.

But still —. There’s something so —. So absolutely pure about putting what we should do — ahead of what we can do. And instead of finding a way to nurture that better in Alex, I somewhat yanked it out of him.

And I feel bad about that.

July 20, 2016
The bar

On Sunday February 4^th of 2007 — the day of Superbowl 41 — our house in Vestal, New York, was empty.

The wooden floors — that had been protected by rugs and furniture for over a decade — were now shiny and bare. The walls — including the ones that Debbie had made me paint twice when she changed her mind on the color — were now only decorated with outlines of where picture frames had blocked the sun. And rooms that we once knew every noise and bump of, now bounced strange sounds through empty spaces.

The new job I had accepted, came with a complete relocation package, which included a team of packers and movers that marched in and took our entire life — beds, bicycles, furniture, the kids toys, clothes and ten years of living — and squeezed it all into one single truck; into 208 square feet of moving space. Or 52 square feet per person. Or 19 square feet, for every year we had lived there. And all that life, all that stuff, was now parked in a storage lot for a week, until we could close on our new house, two states away.

But we would need to move out now, in order for the new owners to move in. So we would leave the town where Debbie and I had first met — at Energetics Health Club, just three blocks from our house — and where our wedding reception was — The Vestal Steak House on The Vestal Parkway — and we would leave the area that we had known for years, leave the neighborhood, the family, and the familiar.

But first, we would go to the Superbowl and going-away-party at Jennifer and Dave’s next door. The entire neighborhood would be there and we would say our goodbyes and then we would come home for one last time. We would climb into our sleeping bags that were spread out on top of air mattresses and we would sleep. And then in the morning, we would leave.

And the house at 317 Frey Avenue in Vestal — the place that had been home for eleven years — would belong to someone else.

Now, when we first bought the house — this was back in 1996 — that move was so much simpler than this one. Going from our small apartment to that big house was incredibly easy and only took my cousin Brad and I a few hours. Plus, we were only a family of three then — Nick was a toddler and Alex hadn’t been born yet and we actually wondered how we would ever fill that big house.

That first night that we spent in our new Vestal home, back in 1996, Debbie and I had sat in the living room together. We had put Nick to bed and were watching Aladdin — the cable wouldn’t get turned on until the following week and we only owned kid’s video tapes — and it was then that Debbie made the announcement.

“Go get us wings.”

Now in Endicott, where our old apartment was — clear across the river — there were plenty of places to get chicken wings and Debbie and I had become complete Endicott wing snobs over the years. But we were in Vestal now.

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Go find a place.”

Now finding a place for good chicken wings in upstate New York is not as difficult as you think. It’s like trying to find a good show in Vegas, or a great fishing spot in Maine. The corner bar-and-grill always had the best food and there were hundreds of them around. So I got in the car and drove.

And that’s when I found The Terrace.

It was packed inside when I walked in but I made my way up to the bartender.

“You look lost,” Lynn spoke over the noise of the jukebox and the crowd, but she was smiling.

“Yeah, I might be. How are your wings?”

She gave me a look that was a combination of — what, are you stupid? Mixed with — don’t insult me by asking. So I ordered two dozen wings to go, and sat at the bar and nursed a beer.

I would stay there for the next eleven years.

At least once a week we got wings, or sandwiches or some other food from The Terrace — and of course you have to go there to order it. And I became a regular. The Terrace became my bar and I became a part of it. Now I never stayed late, I was always home by six o-clock, plenty of time for dinner with Debbie and the kids, or I brought dinner with me from there — and I was rarely there on weekends. Just once or twice a week for a few hours; the minimum amount of time required to hold my place in the pack. Just enough to keep the bar a part of me and me a part of it.

Now, everyone has a roll to play at a bar. You have your experts on everything — Mike. You have your big shots — Chris the lawyer and Jimmy the broker. You have the pack leaders — big Frank and Remmy. You had borderline criminals — Newt and the haircut guy, and you had a potpourri of assorted bar characters.

And at The Terrace, I got to play the part of the writer; a fun roll that required very little work and absolutely no writing. You just needed to talk about writing once in a while and as long as there wasn’t another writer that was already accepted as part of the group — which happens a lot — then you get to be it.

And then you can cool phrases used about you, like — you should tell Everett that story, he’s the writer.

I cried at The Terrace. But I laughed there too. And I always left before I really wanted to. And I did this for eleven years; from 1996 to 2007, and during that time I belonged to The Terrace and it belonged to me.

And then 2007 came and we moved away.

And although I thought about the bar — a lot — I had never been back. Not even when I’d be passing through that area — I guess I was afraid of not wanting to see something spoiled or ruined. So I never went back.

Until last month.

I was in town heading to Syracuse for a meeting and didn’t want to drive any further, so I checked into The Hampton Inn in The Vestal Parkway and then headed for The Terrace for wings.

It’s humbling to go back to places that were once important to you. Just because you left, you expect them to wind down and stop but they continue. And there are all new faces. With all new groups, that come with a different pecking order and a new gauge of respect and esteem. And you want to grab these people and tell them that you were part of this once too. That you sat where they sat and you passed the same tests they did. And that there was a time when your group — not there’s — were important to this place.

It’s sad when time moves on without you.

But it’s even sadder when it doesn’t.

I had just walked through the door of The Terrace and was working my way towards one of the many empty barstools, when I heard my name. Then I heard it again. Then again.

After nine years — they were all still there. Mike. Sam. Big Frank. Remmy. Lynn. All of them.

They were all still there.

And I sat at the bar and ordered my wings. And the back-slaps and the handshakes started. And then those little blue plastic chips began to build up around my beer glass — this one is from Mike. This is from big Frank. And I took my position back.

The great crowds are now gone from The Terrace. The once strong blue collar area has dwindled, with most of the coveted high paying factory and manufacturing jobs all but vanished. And many buildings are empty, some with broken windows and grass growing through employee parking lots that once held hundreds of cars and trucks. So the large crowds had moved on, but the people at The Terrace who held court over them, have remained at their post.

Since I moved, I found the time to finally finish that book I was always talking about and it had been out for a year. And although they all knew about it, they teased and congratulated me, those accolades didn’t give back the emotional dividend I always dreamed it would.

Because it wasn’t that I moved on from The Terrace. I didn’t. I just — moved. I cheated. I didn’t graduate or wake up one day and no longer need it. I just took the bar out of the equation. And if we hadn’t moved, if I hadn’t evaded that decision, would I still be there too?

I never found a bar in Dover — where we live now. I remember looking for one when we first arrived, but I didn’t look very hard. And I don’t regret my time at The Terrace, but I don’t yearn for it either. That might be maturity, but I doubt it.

It’s just that — over time you begin to see the beauty in the unassuming parts; work, writing, the house. Because older men crave all of those things — we thrive on it. We hunt it. Older men need results.

Younger men don’t.

They need bars. Where all you need to do is dream it. Brag about it. And promise to one day — claim it.

And if your do that — then it’s real.

May 16, 2016