Don’s Ego

09/29/2009

Inspiration, Part 1- If at First You Don’t Succeed

Filed under: Inspiration, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , — donkowalewski @ 4:58 pm

I’m starting something today. It’s a 3-day challenge. I wrote about it over at that Mel Robbins blog. Pretty simple concept. Maybe some of you are like me (and Mel), and you’re feeling a bit uninspired and bogged down. Lord knows the weather doesn’t help. Well, regardless of the weather, the Tigers dwindling lead in the Central, or the piss poor start to MSU’s football season, no matter how you are feeling, its time. Do something. And do it for three days.

Here’s what I’m going to do:

  1. Write 5-things each day.
  2. Run a minimum 4 miles each evening
  3. Do 1 non-writing, non-work related thing off my to-do list each day

No doubt, that’ll be a pretty productive 3-days. Being that I’m a generally lazy kinda guy, it’s going to exhaust me. Don’t expect anything significant from me on Friday.

Oh, Friday. I”m going to see Norm MacDonald at the Royal Oak Music Theater. Totally awesome.

Here’s a random observation from my Ego’s journal: I always think I’m living in the very best moment of my life. I often think, “wow …could things get any better?” But when I look back at moments I truly thought were the very peak moments, the nostalgia added to them makes them seem even greater. So, this makes me sad, a bit, because the present moment I find myself living is actually better than I’m giving it credit for, but I won’t know that until a year or more down the road.

Something awesome …DVR penetration has more than quadrupled, according to a new study from Leichtman Research Group.  The company has found that 36% of U.S. TV homes now have one or more DVRs. Four years ago, only 8% of them owned one. Why do I like this statistic? I don’t know. It’s entirely nerdy of me.

Believe it or not, my inclusion of a video or song has really been popular. Reader feedback has ranged from “that song is cool” to “you have odd taste in music” to “that song sucks.” But the fact I’m getting any responses at all is awesome.

Here you go …I suggest this song be added to a mix you use prior to running, like during a stretch and warm-up. Tempo might actually be lacking for actual running music, but the message is perfect.

Breaking Benjamin’s “I Will Not Bow”. I bet teenagers really dig this song. So that makes me either (a) a creepy old man, (b) completely cool, or (c) and old man who should not be working so hard to be “cool” anymore.

09/25/2009

Passions, Part 5 – Darrin Wassom Photography

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — donkowalewski @ 2:39 pm

A friend of mine is about to “live the dream”, which is great. And someday I’ll be invited to his cabin in the woods of northern Michigan, and as the day winds to a close, and our wives are girl-talking inside, I’ll look at him over the flames of the camp fire and say, “Darrin? You really are livin’ the dream.” I’ll raise my Pilsner, and he’ll raise his lager, and he’ll point at me and say, “thanks, man.” We’ll drink too his great achievements and good fortune, and to a life lived to its fullest. We’ll sit quietly for a few minutes, staring at the flames, and just enjoying the cold, crisp night air fighting against the heat of the fire.

He will, graciously, say, “leaving the world of IT was the best decision I ever made. But friends like you make it all worth while. What good is a lakefront cottage and a wine cellar full of Napa Cabernet if I don’t have great friends to share it with me.”

I’ll say, “successful, gracious …and classy. You are truly a modern day renaissance man.”

I’ll probably be wearing a flannel lined corduroy shirt and well-worn chinos. Because, I’m guessing, he and I might’ve just come from chopping wood for the fire or something. Or maybe, on this chilly late-November evening, I helped him drag his dock around behind his garage for winter storage. I dunno …we did something rugged and manly, I know that.

Yes, Darrin of Darrin Wassom Photography is leaving the corporate world behind and will soon be pursuing his passion full-time. And I should say, “Wow, congrats! I believe you’ll soar to heights you never dreamed possible now that you can devote yourself to your passion full-time.”

But what I’ll say instead, because I tend to be angry when friends find success, is, “Pictures? Lemme get this straight. People? Will pay you? To take pictures? Whhhhhhaaatever. I have an idea for those people …it’s called ‘buy a camera.’ No offense, but if I want a picture of something, I’ll take it myself, thank you very much. And, anyway, pictures are dying out. Stone and bronze sculptures are a huge trend right now and with technology making it easier than ever to have your image sculpted in stone, I have no idea why people would want a 2-D image in a frame hanging on their walls when they can have a 3-D likeness of themselves spitting water out the nose or penis head, instead. But …whatever …its your life. Snappy, snappy. Say cheese. All that stuff. And Traverse City? Good luck hanging with the Michigan Militia and that hippy Michael Moore. Wouldn’t catch me dead up there. Thanks. I have all the colored leaves I can handle down here in southeast Michigan. And, call me old fashioned, but I love a good 10 lane divided highway and Traverse City is severely lacking for divided highways. That place makes me sick. People sit around all day doing nothing, eatin’ cherry donuts and havin’ festivals and shit …you can have that hell hole. And while you’re at it …take a picture.”

When I knock a person down a peg, even if only in my mind, I move up a peg. It’s unhealthy. I know that.

I joke. I wish nothing but success for Darrin, and I hope to have a similar tale to tell someday myself.

Are you getting out running anytime soon? Try this song on for size? Guaranteed to take a few seconds off your mile time. “Prehistoric Dog” by Red Fang.

09/23/2009

Running, Part 1

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — donkowalewski @ 10:02 pm

Finally, after two long weeks of complete slothiness, I finally got back out and hit the pavement. 6 long miles might’ve been biting off more than I could chew. But I made it. Right about the 3 mile mark I was really regretting the decision to go running, versus the easier decision of sitting at home and watching the Tigers whip the Cleveland Indians, and enjoying some ice cream or some cake.

But I’m glad I ran. Two weeks without enjoying the result of setting a route, having a goal, going for that goal, and completing it, I think has weighed on my psyche. While the physical act of running on lazy legs wasn’t easy, the time alone with my thoughts and a chance to reflect on things, while my lungs expanded and more oxygen filled my veins and brains, was just what I needed. Not saying I was Harry Bailey having just run his car into the oldest tree in Bedford Falls …I’m just saying …lethargy breeds lethargy.

And speaking of running, a guy named Randy Step (always wondered if he changed his last name based on his love for running) runs a store called Running Fit. Each week he writes a quick email to motivate all us fellow runners and this week I loved this quote about having just returned from Atlanta and having had to run in the rain.

Each days run was in the rain … and I loved it! Pounding into a hard rain adds adventure and a sense of combat with the elements. Once finished, a run in the rain gives back a sense of satisfaction much bigger than the sum of its parts. Yes, only a run in the rain but a run that requires you to open the door and go for it while the rest of the world looks through sadly through the glass.

It’s why I look forward to the winter and my quiet, cold-weather, snowy runs.  When I bundle up in long underwear, sweats, layers on top of layers, and a North Face cap and the quiet, dark run when nobody …and I mean nobody …is out when it’s 4 degrees and there’s 4 inches of snow on the ground and a white out. Like running in the rain, it’s me against nature …and I can’t wait for it to get here.

Now, my choice running song of the day…

09/22/2009

Random, Part 4 – Healthcare Debate

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — donkowalewski @ 3:58 pm

I think all apples should be Honeycrisps. Outlaw Ida Reds and Red Delicious, I say. Their time has come and gone. All hail the Honeycrisp era. The old saying was, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” That’s all well and good. Nobody likes the doctor. But ya know what a Honeycrisp apple-a-day does? Keeps the doctor away, wards of depression, chases away rain clouds, brings loved ones back from the dead, and makes that girl you had the hots for in h.s. “friend” you on Facebook.

But, let’s say all that an apple-a-day did would keep the Dr. away. The added benefits of a Honeycrisp could only help, right? Maybe Honeycrisp apples could actually prevent Swine Flu and make Obama’s Healthcare plan a moot point. The real victim would be the insurance companies, I guess.

Click for the video (I’m soooo mad I can’t embed from html …someone help!)

Also, including Healthcare in the subject line and as a loose tie-in is a blatant attempt to get page hits.  Seems every time anyone blogs about that, readerss and comments follow. Here’s another blatant attempt to rabble rouse …rich people should pay for my healthcare.  Bam. I await venomous comments in the comment section.

Oh, and the video had John Hamm and Will Ferrell, so …ya know.

09/15/2009

Passions, Part 4 – Production Years

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — donkowalewski @ 9:09 am

Happy Zune HD Day, everyone! Today is the day my music organizing and listening patterns change forever, and I’m a little scared, I’ll admit. Don’t worry …with nothing much to say, I’m sure there’ll be future entries with reports on the Zune and how awesome it is and how awesome it’s made me.

Here’s a thing I did – I joined a writer’s club. I keep reading in my writer’s magazines that a writer should have a group of fellow writers who he meets with regularly to throw around ideas, proof read things, and get unfiltered, blunt feedback. So, that’s what I did.  It works like this …everyone in the club brings a few thousand words worth of their short stories or manuscripts, then we read them aloud, and then everyone in the group gets a minute or two to offer critique, advice, or ask questions. The author cannot comment until it goes around the whole room. Then there’s an open forum and everyone talks openly and honestly. The author can take the critique, or not, take some, leave some – its very cool.

So, if I’m going to stay involved, I had better actually be moving my manuscript forward, right? As soon as this blog entry is finished, and after I buy the Zune HD – and then of course after I organize my entire music collection and spend a few days getting-to-know my Zune HD – I’m totally going to start writing Chapter 2.

At the writer’s club, I did have a Don-moment during my introduction. I said something like, “I kinda went about this whole thing backwards where I got myself a corporate job, buried myself in debt, got married, had kids, and pretty much filled up my datebook …and then I decided I’d like to be a writer for a living. I guess I’m just stupid for having waited until I was 36 years-old to get started.” And as the words came out of my mouth, it occurred to me, everyone else in the room was in their 40s, 50s, and one gentleman might have been in his 60s.

But that reminded me of another one of my self-invented life philosophies. Production Years. It goes like this …I’m 36. If I live until I’m 72, one might say my life is half-over. Right? A person might look back and reflect on their first 36 years and try and list all their accomplishments and feel like they’ve been under achieving. BUT, in reality, they are only 18-years-old in Production Years, and they have twice as many Production Years in front of them.  I maintain that the first 18 years of anyone’s life don’t really count, anymore. Your agenda for those 18 years is set for you. You can’t open a flower shop, nobody would read anything you’d write (because you are still learning how to write), and there’s simply no jobs for a 15-year-old doing anything meaningful. So, in essence, you are handcuffed from becoming awesome until at least 18. Now, take it one step further, and if your life path includes college, then your Production Years don’t begin until you are 24. Given that I went to college, I’m actually only 12-years-old in Production Years.

The whole point here is, I think it’s easy for someone to turn 40-years-old and say, “ah, heck. I’ve always wanted to do that, or this thing, or that other thing, but …yeesh. I’m 40. It’s too late.” And that person might stop dreaming. But a 40-year-old dude with a college degree and a life expectancy of 70 has more Production Years ahead of him than are behind him.

I bring this up because there’s a living embodiment of Production Years and holding onto one’s dreams and she’s Grandma Lee from America’s Got Talent. Until the age of 61, she could probably be classified as a great mother and wife who worked a few odd jobs to bring in a little extra cash. Born in 1934, it was not until her husband died of cancer in 1995 that this 61-year-old attended a comedy workshop and finally hit that open-mic night at her local comedy club. And not until this year, 2009, at the ripe age of 75, has she burst onto the scene as one of the most inspiring and talked-about finalists on America’s Got Talent.

So, there you go. Look at your age. Subtract 18 or 24 years. That number is your Production Age. Now, stop whining, stop lamenting missed opportunities, and get crackin’ on whatever you aspire to do.

After you get your Zune, of course.  Good luck.

09/14/2009

Random, Part 3 KANYE WEST KANYE WEST KANYE WEST

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — donkowalewski @ 6:41 am

OK, that was shameful KANYE WEST. We all know Beyonce BEYONCE KNOWLES writes the best blog ever, and I’m kinda a douche for using Kanye’s name so many times in order to randomly generate hits. KANYE WEST VMA NUDE WOMEN.

Enough with the writing of words to generate hits. I mainly wanted to tell you I’ve been a loaf in just about every single way. Writing. Running. Triathlonning. House projects. Self-love. Weeding. But I think that’s about to change.

Zune HD. I think I may have jump-started my personal motivation because I digitized and sold my entire CD collection and raised just enough money to buy the new Zune HD (pictured in the byline in its glorious glory). And you know the old saying …”If you can digitize your entire CD collection, you can do anything.” In a nutshell, my completely randomly (sequential prepositions are great) organized CD collection has been bogging me down. At least, I’ll use my CD collection as one of those excuses a person uses to justify all the other failings in their life. “I was going to call you, but I got a new planner, and I spent, like, 3 whole weeks transferring the names and numbers and now I’m really going to start connecting with people.” Or maybe other people don’t actually make up lame excuses unrelated to the things they’d like to do to explain why they don’t do the things they want to do. No, I know that’s not that case.

In one of my sales jobs, I remember a woman who spent every Monday avoiding making phone calls (the life blood of a cold-calling, retail advertising sales person) with some new stupid project. “Getting organized,” is what she called it. One Monday, she bought two boxes of folders and spent the entire day – nay, half the week – labeling them and going through old pitches and files. The result? Two awesome looking drawers with folders, a two drawer system so neat and tidy, and organized, I have yet to see another as brilliantly organized. The next Monday? She bought a new Rolodex and spent the entire day taking staples out of old business cards that were stapled to cards in her old Rolodex and then glue-sticking those business cards to cards in her new Rolodex (“staples make everything a disaster.”). But that wasn’t good enough, no. She then spent days making all kinds of notes on the back of the Rolodex cards as sales tools …i.e. “2 daughters: Sally, Betty (7, 6) 4/13″. Very awesome to know so much about your clients and friends for sure. The next week – she bought a Palm Pilot (this was the mid 90s …people used Palm Pilots). And you know how she spent the next two weeks – transferring data from the aforementioned Rolodex cards to the Palm Pilot and chatting with Palm customer support at least once a day when she crashed the Palm OS …we were so young.

Moral of the story – she was asked politely to resign 3 months later because she didn’t sell anything …ever.

So, I know at least one other person in the world will often busy themselves with something (anything) and keep it as an ongoing project that prevents them from doing the things they should actually be doing. Mine? It was my CD collection and mp3 player. You’d think that wouldn’t have much affect on my day to day, right? No, sir. Pretty much everything I haven’t done the past 6 years is a direct result of a poorly organized music collection. That’s about to change. Tuesday!

Just don’t expect much from me Tuesday-Saturday, as I’ll be transferring my music to the Zune HD and learning how to use it. But once I learn to use the Zune …oh, doggie. Look out world!

I bumped into that woman with the most beautifully organized set of manila folders not long after she was asked to resign, and you know what? She hadn’t found a job? And you know why? Because she was, “taking this time without the demands of a job and all those hours to really get organized and clean the house.” She told me she felt a huge weight lifted off her just by deep cleaning everything and throwing a bunch of stuff out. I said to keep in touch, she insisted she would and that she had my info in her Palm Pilot.

We never spoke again.

09/12/2009

Weezer, Part 1

Filed under: Uncategorized — donkowalewski @ 9:01 am

I love Weezer so much, they get their own category.

For anyone who thinks Twitter is stupid, well …you’re stupid. No, you are. Shut up. No ,you shut up. OK. Back to Twitter. Thanks to Twitter and the fact I follow @weezer, I am proud to blog that I know what the new Weezer CD cover art will look like. Maybe I’ll post the new single later. Or not.


09/02/2009

Random, Part 2

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — donkowalewski @ 2:09 pm

Here’s my current Facebook status message:

“Don Kowalewski is at work and not checking Facebook or updating his status message because, um, I’m working. Such behavior would be irresponsible. His To-Do list takes priority.”

Quite a few schools of thought (or is it school of thoughts? which word gets pluralized?) on Facebook status message updates.  Some think Bible versus cross the line, while others think open ended, leading status updates (i.e. “is very worried”) are stupid. I think we can all agree alerts as to the yumminess of your food aren’t necessary.  So how should you update your status and what should you and shouldn’t you say?

It’s simple – be entertaining. And interesting.

Occassionally you can let everyone know about the results of a medical test, the health of a loved one, etc, because I won’t deny the importance of knowing that and, well, it’s relevant to your status. If Grandma is “doing better”, then I’m happy to know it. Just write it as, “Don is happy his Grandmother is doing better. Don’s Grandmother is going home tomorrow.” I “friended” you, after all, so I care about your Grandmother.

But if you “need coffee?” Join the club. And if, indeed, the quest for coffee is all consuming, give me more.  Try “Don needs to invent a faster way for water to percolate coffee grounds. Hurry dripping water!” Or “Don is dreaming of a day when technology allows water to more quickly pass through his coffee grounds. Can NASA look into this?”

See? It’s better. It alerts me you “need coffee” but it also gives me some insight into your brain’s thought process. Maybe you brew your own. Maybe you “need coffee and coffee only – black. So would these Moca Latte w/ whip’ please get out of her way.”

“Her” you ask? My final critique is that Facebook status updates are meant to be written in third-person. It’s difficult to keep it straight, but if you refer to yourself in the third person, we’ll all be happier. Facebook status messages are like a story starter, or ad-lib book. “Your Name” and then fill in the blank. It used to be “Name is” and we had a blank to complete. Point is, don’t let me catch you using “I” in your status message. Refer to yourself by name, or by “he” “she” “her” “him” and “his”.

And there you go. When you check my Facebook, soon, it will say “Don is proofreading his donsego.com blog entry on how-to update Facebook status messages.”

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