Jinx

Wow it's almost December! I jinxed myself this year, planned too much and now the end of the year looks bleak.  My energy levels are low, body aches everywhere, could be arthritis/probably going part crazy. Winter hasn't really set in yet but it is around the corner so maybe that's contributing too. I may just be old and wise enough now to detect weather changes in my hip. Time to regroup though, being jinxed is never easy to recover from, especially when you jinx yourself. But this is the thing about being jinxed in general, some times it's about finding a way to detect it before it happens to not let it continue to happen, because it will.  

When I say jinx I mean I had a goal that was well within reach, but somehow still managed to fall short on. It's been slipping over several weeks and rather than dig in and catch up I chose the easy route and "went easy on myself". Sure I'm fat and happy most of the time, but life would have been so much easier if I did this, this, and this. There's also the side quests I call hobbies. I do believe in investing in hobbies, but have to be careful not to get too invested in several hobbies at once. Well at least that's the hope, but I'm a sucker for an interesting idea and also have the attention span of a mosquito sometimes. Home projects always take longer than expected but like the sucker I am, I always think I can get it done quicker this time. So take vitamins, try to exercise even a little every day, and prepare a bug out bag for when times are tough. That way if the death comes knocking the Grim Reaper will have to try harder to catch me first.

Keep warm and stay motivated people, I hope you get to work on a fun project. Life's got it's ups and downs but there are ways to make things better, sometimes we have to look in unexpected places. 

El Matto

Ideas

 

Ideas, sometimes you have them sometimes you have none. I fell into that category lately, this week was
busy, no time for planning we are shooting from the hip today.  All week I struggled for ideas for this post and it happens to be the letter 'I' week anyway... so it only makes sense this weeks topic is about ideas and how some of the best one form randomly.

Although it was busy, I did have a fantastic week.  I managed to get out in the woods last weekend with some good pals to cut up a big old fallen log.  I had to cobble together some old door parts to make a locking handle for our new house mate.  I also had an inspiring moment after looking at the giant log I brought home and decided it was perfect time to take apart an old electric lawnmower to use the base of it as a log hauling cart. It's been sitting in the garage for years collecting dust and it worked well so I'll probably end up modifying it for some off road hauling in the woods.  Been jamming lots lately too, trying to get myself ready to eventually perform some open mic sessions.  The hardest part is getting up onstage, it's mostly nerves, and even if you know how to play folks like me tend to blank out at first, just have to ease into it. I've been on stages in the past so probably will be more worry than actual problems so I'll keep at it because it's fun.  Still have some bathroom renos to work on but I chip away at things slowly.

Here's what 15 minutes of inspiration got me this week, I want to add larger wheels, some straps and maybe an electric motor assist to get up larger inclines. That's a longer range goal but I do have a motor from this lawnmower still kicking around.... Hope you all find some inspiring ideas too, until next week, keep it tidy!

Halloween Hacks

It was Halloween this week and the weather made it extra nice for trick or treaters. Why not setup some Wi-Fi monitoring to help keep watch for visitors.  It's not an exact science to me, but my thinking was open kismet and monitor for devices. Well that's what I expected, it's a bit more complicated than that in practice, and I'm trying to stick to having fun, so let's just talk about some mean tricks to play on trick or treaters.   

Trick #1: We had an abundance of candy this year so the kids got spoiled rotten, but what if next year we don't?  Well you can always leave a sign outside that says "Please take one, Happy Halloween!!!"  along with a big old empty bowl! Trick or treaters will be mad at whoever emptied the dish and more likely to intervene if they see someone taking more than one candy elsewhere. Win win for the parents out there I say.

Trick #2: We have this Halloween skull door knocker that plays an audio clip and lights up it's eyes when you pull the knocker, but more often than not it self activates when we opened the door.  Lot's of fun, much less evil than the last trick.

Trick #3: ... I'm out of tricks Halloween past now, this week has been busy. I got leftover candy for Halloween, maybe I should save it for next year? hehe that's too evil, I'd forget and eat it anyway

I'm already a day over my usual Monday deadline to post so lets end this mess of a post with some words of encouragement:

"Not every day will you be your best, but you can always try again tomorrow, for it's the ups and downs in life that make it all worthwhile."

I just made that up right now, but I think I owe a lot of it to stuff I've heard others say so it's not too random. Until next time, keep your chin up so you can always see what's ahead!