I have a strange confession to make. It’s about something I do on a regular basis and I don’t know if anyone else does this.

My strange confession is that I tend to carry toilet paper (my go-to is the Charmin Ultra Soft) with me whenever I go someplace (Anyone else do this?!?). I do this because the toilet paper placed in the restrooms at restaurants, retail stores, and other places typically is low quality.

They use 1-ply or toilet paper that feels like sandpaper. I can’t stand it. Thus, I bring my own.

But I’ve discovered a problem. I don’t always remove the unused toilet paper from my pockets before they go into the wash. This causes a huge issue.

The toilet paper disintegrates in the wash. It then seeps out of the pocket and gets stuck on everything in the washing machine.  Read more...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I made a promise to myself to add weight training to my exercise routine. I already had a steady schedule of cardiovascular exercises with my running. My strength game suffered.

I had been pouring all of my time and energy for exercise into running. I knew I needed to add something else.

There was that old weight bench in the basement that I’d purchased 20ish years ago. The weight bench sat dormant for many of those years. Well, except for us using it to hold the clothes we planned on donating to Goodwill.

The pandemic gave me the time to pull out the weight bench, clean it up, and bring it to our garage. The garage has now become the weight room. It has worked out well.  Read more...

I recently read a story about long-distance runners Abel Mutai and Ivan Fernandez. It is heart-warming and a great reminder that integrity still matters.

Here’s what the Facebook story shared:

In a race, athlete Abel Mutai representing Kenya was just a few feet from the finish line, but he was confused with the signage & stopped thinking he had completed the race. The Spanish athlete, Ivan Fernandez was right behind him & realizing what was happening, he started shouting at the Kenyan for him to continue running, but Mutai didn’t know Spanish didn’t understand. Then the Spanish pushed him to victory. A journalist asked Ivan, “Why did you do that?”  Read more...

Four years ago I installed a ceiling fan in my bedroom. I’d never tried anything like that before. I was scared and anxious.

When I was done installing the fan, I was beaming with pride. I’d installed a new fan and it worked! It’s always good when something like this works.

And then it happened.

One night while Pam and I were sleeping, we were woken up with a loud crack, pop, and flames! Yes, flames… They were shooting out of the ceiling fan I installed.

I hopped out of bed. I ran to the light switch. And I flipped the switch quicker than I thought was possible.

The light and sound show subsided. It was over. Yet it wasn’t over.

Talk about a scary event.  Read more...