Brain Training!


Español!

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery -651- “Star Shine”

Be your best self, because you are AWESOME, baby! Just click on the title and GROOVE!

Uploaded to server.

Link on Facebook.

Recorded “Me, Myself, and PIE” and put it on my Mac. I’m now over two months ahead of my two episodes a week schedule.

Biked 10.41 miles. With this new technology and programs I also pushed myself a lot harder today.


Listened to Spanish radio during my drive times to the mission.

Checked on mail at FBC Doraville.

Helped the kids with their homework, then played with bubbles.

Grandgirls love it!

And chalk art!


Admin duties now.
Helped Jesse draft a letter to his tax accountant.

Had a good night’s sleep.

Brain Training! It’s been very interesting to see what happens when I use the Wim Hof breathing method.

I was looking forward to this! But, alas, too cloudy.

Español!

Some of the sentence structure really takes memorizing. Doesn’t follow English syntax.

Progress and longevity!

Watered my plants.

Went to Al Madina to have lunch with my buddy Bennett Ekandem.

Got my new sleep mask in. Looking forward to trying it out this evening.

I trapped and transported squirrel #50 today!

Took it to Chamblee and released it at the mission. The kids get a kick out of seeing it scramble away at full speed.

Got mail at FBC Doraville.

My buddy Alan was transplanting some bushes to a new area near the parking lot. Lot of work! Looks great!

Helped the kids with homework.

I thought Penelope’s hair looked fantastic.

After homework, we did chalk art.

Kids wanted everyone to know we were back from Spring Break!

Chalk hands.

I liked this one. Hashtag heart.

GREAT to see the grandgirls!

Just to clarify.

Set up the next meeting with my buddy Jon. Time is actually for lunch.

Penelope had fun walking around in my flip-flops.

Got gas on the way home.

Listened to radio from Madrid. Most of the ride I quote poetry and was memorizing a section from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

I moved the rest of my bromeliads outside. I think they made the plastic flowers look more natural. It’s nice to add some color!

Admin duties now.

Doing some research on the benefits of cold showers. It’s another part of the Wim Hof methodology.

I’m practicing a different type of breathing strategy based on the “Ice Man” Wim Hoff’s ideas. I immediately did way better in my brain training.

It was Rock Bridge’s 10th anniversary today! Had fun there with Kathy and Ashley!

Came home and studied Español!

I had a shortened Brain Training time this morning. Practiced again this afternoon. Did my best ever.


I got a new app on my iPhone that serves as a heart rate meter AND a oxygen saturation device. Very good is 97.

Pulse Oximeter also “talks” with Apple Health.

Went for a 21.53 mile bike ride today.

Great weather and absolutely gorgeous outside! We had over 1″ of rain last night. The Yellow River was really running and muddy.

The Wisteria is especially splendid.

This reminded me of Jacaranda trees in Kenya.

I enjoy all the science of getting healthier. I primarily get “moderate” exercise. The irony is that the fitter I am, the slower my heart beat is. For me, 110 is actually my goal!

Spent time listening to Spanish radio from Madrid.

Went to Walmart to get the groceries.

Beautiful sky.

Admin duties now.

Woke up! Yeah, baby! I’m doing well at remembering my dreams now that I have a small handheld recorder that I can talk into rather than writing stuff down. I’m averaging three dreams a night. Most of the time, I can’t remember what I talked about when I wake up!

Four entries this morning.

Brain training.

Español!


Got about .5″ of rain yesterday. I cleaned this out this morning so I can read it better.

I got my new fitness tracker on line. So far the only thing I don’t like about it is that it interferes with the other bluetooth devices that I may have running. I’ve read about this problem in reviews for other devices. Apparently, it’s a common problem.

I’m still learning how to use it properly. I tried to check it just now. Apparently, it didn’t track what I wanted it to do. I just realized it’s better to set that up with the app on my iPhone that to do it with the tracker.

Recorded “Greener Grass” this morning for Verbal Surgery.

Sweet Penelope got her first real haircut today. She loves it!

Went to the bank to deposit checks for Whirlwind. AMEN!

Always puts a smile on my face!

I worked on my Wisteria project today. Started planting the cuttings that I got yesterday. Planted nearly fifty! Not sure how many will survive. It’s definitely a learning experience for me. I think the plants that already had roots will do the best.

This was just tracking the planting project. Later, I also did some pruning.

Here are baby plants. Like I said, I’m really not sure how many will survive.

These larger specimens all had root structures that I pulled up out of the ground. I’m more optimistic about these.

My new pruning shears worked great. I got a cheaper pair from Walmart day Thursday. They were useless.

One of my goals for today was also to bring all the plants that I had inside back outside. I used to keep a LOT more outside. Over time, I realized that just wasn’t workable for most plants. They just died. I always thought outside was better. Not anymore! But some do well.

English Ivy is really bad for trees. I got a mitre saw and chop all these runners away.

I found the solid blade and handle works pretty well.
The other thing I’m always on the lookout for is my nemesis: Poison Ivy. Every year I go after it! And every year there is less than less in my yard. So far I have found ZERO! But it’s early. . .

The key is to try and pull out as much of the vine as possible. Just cutting it off at ground level does jack.
Also swept off my outside carpet area. Keeps me from tracking stuff inside.

Went for a 12.07 mile bike ride. I didn’t intend to do that much, but it really was delightful outside.

Gorgeous!

Admin duties now.

Every morning I look at the Sleep Cycle program to see how I slept.

I pretty much always feel fantastic, but it’s still interesting to see. This evening I got my new fitness tracker/watch in. It will also measure my sleep patterns and my heart rate, which is the primary reason I got it.

I’ve increased my Brain Training time to 8 minutes sections from 5 minutes. I’m doing three in the morning, but my goal is 15 when I wake up and 15 before I go to sleep. If I stick to what I’m doing now, I’ll be doing 48 minutes rather than 30. It’s definitely added more focus to my prayer time.

Spanish!

Progress!

Language, like growing trees, is a long-term project.
I released Verbal Surgery -650- “No Ledge!”

What we know can make us happy OR sad! Concentrate on what makes you feel better! Click on the title and GROOVE!

Uploaded to server.

Link on Facebook.

My last episode, “Who am I?” has been downloaded nearly 3,000 times. That really is astonishing to me. It’s one of my very best, for sure!

I got my new calendar in today. I made a schedule to release material to three separate groups: Our supporters from the teams that have worked with us, the group of Youth Directors from the Research List (the seven states around us that have yet to work with us) and the group of Youth Directors that HAVE worked with us.

Today was the Supporter Group.

I sent our supporters a link to “Who am I?” I’ll release my favorite episode of Verbal Surgery once a month.

I’m still learning how to use Mail Chimp. It’s definitely a work in progress.

Went by FBC Doraville to check on the mail.

The dogwoods are looking fantastic! They are supposed to flower around Easter.

The flowers are supposed to represent the four wounds of Jesus. Traditionally, the cross was made of dogwood.

Great to see the support come in!

Always fun to spend time with the grandgirls! We ate at Taco Veloz. It’s my favorite. I always imagine Anthony Bourdain being there.

Since it was kind of rainy, we did inside fun today: Hippo Hop!

We stayed about two hours. Wore them both out!

Eventually, Everly wakes up, I take her out of her chair and she sleeps beside me in the bed with Penelope.

They really are such a blessing to me! It’s like having daughters all over again. Everly is really picking up a TON of new worlds. Super cool!

I read Leaves of Grass while they snoozed.

I posted that picture to my buddy Anthony. He said, “That will lower your heart rate!” He was right!

I continue to make progress on the Wisteria project! This afternoon I read some more information about how to grow these vines. They said that the best of all possible worlds was to find where the vines and rooted and were sprouting new growth. I managed to pull these up. I’ll plant them tomorrow in pots and eventually put them in the ground. It was nearly dark by the time I got home.

Depending how these do, I may go back with a shovel and dig some more up. I got quite a lot today.
These have probably been growing here for decades.

The spot I was going to get them from near my house was even more prolific than this. I went by it on my bike recently and everything had been completely cut down! Saddened me. I saw this spot today. It’s near where Ashley lives.

These little sprouts can each grow new vines.

My original strategy was to just use cuttings. Then I realized that there were small
plants that were already established that I could use. I think that will be a lot better, but we’ll see. . .

The mother plant was absolutely gorgeous!

It was a huge area of Wisteria.

I wet the wash rag down to keep the tender shoots and roots wet. I’ll plant everything tomorrow. I may need to get more soil! This is typical for me. I pretty much overdo everything I set my mind to.

I got my calendar in so I can keep track of what releases when. Pray that all this effort will result in financial support and more teams coming!

I’m charging my new fitness tracker now. I’ll set it up tomorrow.
I used my new recorder last night. I actually talked about five separate dreams in one night. It’s a WAY better strategy than trying to write it down. In a moment, I’ll connect it to my Mac and start a filing system to keep track of it.
Admin duties now.

Still collecting data about sleeping. I find it fascinating.

Starting my day off with Brain Training has also been a good investment.

Then into Spanish!

Started out pretty cool. Turned out to be a beautiful day!

Got me some new shoes! I used my last pair almost exactly on year to the day! My old ones now become my work shoes.

This is my coffee making area. The tiki cup I’ve had since I was a boy. It’s from my grandparents who lived in Laredo, Texas. Makes me think of them every morning.

I normally record Verbal Surgery in the morning, but I didn’t have quite enough time to do that, so I had a fun chat with my buddy Bob Burns in Scotland! He’s always a blessing and super funny.

Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming? It’s when you become aware that you’re dreaming while you’re in a dream. Bob is quite a source of knowledge about that. We had an interesting conversation about how to develop that skill. Jesse is also good at it and has a few books in his library that I will also be looking at.

Had a fun lunch with my good friend Jon Paul. I’ve been working with his wife, Linda about some pain issues. Sadly, she had a big fall and got kind of beat up. I didn’t get to pray with her today, she’s on pain meds and was sleeping.

Went to Walmart to pick up some groceries and supplies for another plant project. I’m interested in growing Wisteria vines. I’ve been doing some research on it and have done a recon on areas that have plants that I could take cuttings from. Today, I got potting soil, some dowels and some growth hormone for root stimulation. I have about eight small pots that I’ll start the shoots from.

I’m also thinking about using the blue plastic tubs for growing bedding plants in. I think that will be better than trying to put soil in such a large area.
I also bought some plastic flowers that I thought might be fun to also “plant” in my front area near my door.

As I was trimming bushes yesterday, I noticed this fungus growing on some of my shrubs.

I already had fungicide in my arsenal of plant stuff, from when the Pink Magnolias had a fungus. After spraying them a few times they are completely healthy. I gave the shrubs the same treatment.

I was super careful with the fungicide. I wore glasses and a bandana around my nose and mouth plus used rubber gloves.
After that mission was accomplished, I got the lawn mower out. But before I fired that up I put in my hearing protection. It’s a special type of wax that is normally used for swimming. It’s kind of dirty now, but still works fine.

I’d done almost all the front yard, but had the side piece to finish up.

I raked a lot of the mulched up leaves and put it in my back recycle area.

Everything looks SO much better!

Then I got the weed whacker out.

Unloaded all the materials for my Wisteria project.

Final piece is to blow the area off.

I track everything with Runkeeper.

Helped Jesse get his taxes done. Took about an hour and a half to do his personal taxes.

Started my morning with Brain Training.

Espanol!

Progress!

I’m enjoying and memorizing sections from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. All the highlighted area!

The clouds have been really interesting this week.

I recorded another episode of Verbal Surgery called “The Unsearched for Answer.” It’s a good one! On Tuesday, I released, “Who am I?” it’s on course to be the most downloaded episode EVER! Had nearly 1,500 downloads in two days.

I had a problem with my new fitness tracker/watch. Sent it back to Amazon for a replacement.
I get to do that for free if I drop it off at the UPS store. No problem there!

You may remember that I hurt my left hip yesterday when I was doing yard work. I stepped into a hole and jarred myself pretty badly. Today, I went to Evergreen hotel at Stone Mountain to soak in the hot tub. The hot water felt good on the injury. It’s such a beautiful place. I always feel like a Kardashian when I’m there.

Poppin’ pansies!

The lake and Stone Mountain looked lovely.

My favorite bird.

I saw the Waste Pro truck today. Asked them about recycling some old lawnmowers.

While I was biking, I memorized a part of Leaves of Grass. With really long pieces, I break it down with individual words and a letter. Memorize the list of letters, THEN memorize the section for each letter. If you have a little trigger it’s WAY easier to remember what comes next.

This is one of my favorite dogwoods. Both of mine I had in my yard died. They are kind of a fragile tree from what I understand. That’s why I went with Pink Magnolias and Cherry Blossom. But it’s still a beauty! I had pink ones.This is red.

Rode my bike 12.50 miles. I had planned on farther, but when I got to mile five, my hip started hurting. I turned back and after a while, it stopped hurting so I did my two mile loop a few times to get the miles in. I really work on time, rather than distance. I did over 1.5 hours.

I was hoping to have my new fitness tracker on to check my heart rate today. The new one will be here in a couple of days.

Whenever I’m stressed out, I record. I am now a whopping 18 episodes “in the can” ready to be released! NEVER been that far ahead! Says something about what I’ve been going through lately. That and I love to hear myself talk! Verbal Surgery really is my best work.

Admin duties now.

Part of my new life system is to track how well I’m sleeping.

I have an app called Sleep Cycle which generates lots of interesting data.


Even snoring!

Started the morning with Brain Training.

Studied Spanish.

Does them seem a lot without missing? I’m approaching my record which I set studying Portuguese of 282 days in a row.

Finished reading the Atomic Habits book. I found it very practical and interesting.



I recorded an episode of Verbal Surgery based on this concept called “Feeling Logical.”

With the end of the habits book marks the beginning of Leaves of Grass. I’m enjoying it.




My buddy, Anthony, said that this reminded him of me.

Met up with Ashley and the girls! Took them to our favorite Vietnamese place: Pho 24. It was excellent. I liked this poster on the door.



Love my grand girls!
Ashley got new tires on her truck. Amen!

Said, “Goodbye” with plenty of hugs, then went to the church to check on the mail.

Did some organizing in our closet. More work still needs to be done!

After picking up some checks, I went to the bank to deposit them.

Then headed home. Traffic seemed to be a bit lighter than usual, probably due to Spring Break.

Listened to some Spanish radio.

Mainly went through all my Bible verses and poetry.
Got home, dressed out and started working on my yard. It’s a mammoth project. I live on nearly 1/2 acre! I set a goal of around three hours.

Started with mowing. Just focused on the front yard today.

The hardest part was probably mulching the leaves. It’s heavy work that has to be repeated over and over again to get them mulched properly.

I turned all this to what looks like almost soil!

Then I raked all the fragments and mowed again.

A lot of it comes down to getting on my knees and removing the leaves with my hands.

Then I worked on the bushes in my front yard.

They haven’t been properly trimmed for probably ten years.

I pretty much finished the left half, the right half still had to be done when I took this picture.

I finished it all today, although I’ll get the mower near the bushes to take the remnants of stems close to the ground.

I created a massive pile of yard waste.

Jammed it into a garbage bin roller. Took about six trips to get it all. When I was dumping it, I stepped in a hole and kind of jacked up my left hip. Still kind of tender.

Also hauled off a bunch of heavy limbs in my Gorilla Cart.

I love that cart!
I put a lot of yard waste into my recycle area. I never burn. And it always disappears. Even logs!

After cleaning up, I took the garbage/recycle to the street. We just started a new pick up day: Wednesday.

I track everything with Runkeeper. I thought Rowing was probably the closest to what I was doing.

Worked on updating my social media feed. This is my Twitter account. I have over 70,000 followers.

I actually threw away an old map jacket today! I’ve never done that before. Usually I save them and either give them to people as gifts or I use them to work out in. After today’s yard work, this one was in tatters. It’s made of Tyvek, which is basically a type of paper.

I released an episode of Verbal Surgery last night called, “Who am I?”

It’s one of my best! Just click on the title and GROOVE!
It was downloaded over 1,000 times today. Wow.

Admin duties now.

Practiced Brain Training!

Espanol! Progress!

I had the grand girls put their handprints on my car. When the pollen hits it, it sticks and leaves cute little marks. Unless the pollen is over. Which I doubt.

We went to lunch at Taco Veloz. The girls usually eat really well there.

The girls look super cool in their shades.

Almost finished reading the book Atomic Habits. It’s been really good.

I read this quote and thought about the stretching I’ve started doing regularly.

Got gas at the QT near Chamblee. Cheapest I’ve seen in the ATL!

We went to Goodwill near Perimeter Mall. It’s the best! I love going there because I get the best musical instruments for our teams at rock bottom prices! Found a super cool maracas today in the shape of a fish. Fun!

Pupdawg!

After I took the girls back home, I went to Walmart o get them some treats and groceries and a few things that I needed. Tried to make a key for Kathy, but no-one there to make it for me. Typical.

Added oil to my engine.

The clouds were gorgeous today! Art by God!


I got a voicemail from a friend of my Mom’s who is in town. I hope to take her around and show her the International Village. She’s visiting her daughter and granddaughters. Not sure if I’m equal to THAT! I’m encouraging them all to come!

Went for a 3.95 mile bike ride. I normally ride a lot longer, but I was too cold. No sun makes a big difference.

Still got my heart rate up. I’m expecting my new smart watch to come in soon. It was only $30 so I’m not expecting too much! The main reason I got it is to measure HR. It’s pretty highly rated for that. I have another app on my phone that works pretty well, but I have to get off the bike, do it and I only do that a few times. That’s a long way from a constant tracking.

Just after I finished.

Admin duties now.
Wrote the final “Thank You” letter to our team from this weekend. Also spent time tweaking that letter before I sent it as well as adding some donation links.

I’ll be working on adding some material to some of my social media feeds this evening. All of it adds interest in what we’re doing!