Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
New Trimmer, who ‘dis?
How was I supposed to concentrate at work, on a Friday, a day known to be notoriously hard to stay focused, when I know there’s a brand new trimmer and leaf blower at home just waiting to be opened and used? Excitement. Adventure. Pride in my home and my lawn. Things to-be checked-off the checklist. So many “feels” (as the kids say) sitting right there in my garage … while I’m at work. All day.
Maybe I should’ve taken a vacation day.
But also … a little guilt.
See … here’s the thing. I had a loyal, hard-working, flawless Black & Decker trimmer for, oh, about 10 years. I didn’t even really take care of it like I should’ve. That Black & Decker? It trimmed and edged so … many … miles … it seemed like I should’ve exercised a little “brand loyalty” and replaced my Black & Decker with the same or similar Black & Decker. Plus, I have a 20V Black & Decker battery, already, and it works.
Part of being Catholic is the guilt … so I feel it over an inanimate object … I feel the guilt for the hard working marketing people who work at Black & Decker … the engineers who go home at night feeling like, “hey, I really designed a nice trimmer that’s as good as any other trimmer out there,” and now? Ol’ Don in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, just crapped all over all their hard work and years of engineering and re-engineering and I went with a Greenworks trimmer.
But, Greenworks got me. A couple years ago, I got myself (for my birthday from my wife) a battery-powered Greenworks chainsaw. I’m not felling forests … but have enough trees and limbs, I wanted a chainsaw (and I’m terrible with combustion engines). Then one day I needed a hedge trimmer to replace my electric (with a power cord) hedge trimmer and realized, hey, if I already own a Greenworks and have a 40V super battery, and those batteries are expensive … I learned both devices can use the same battery.
Which brought me to my weed trimmer. Again. I have a great battery. And I’m not a professional landscaper so I rarely (never) need to use my hedge trimmer, weed trimmer, and chainsaw all at the same time, so it made sense to get another Greenworks.
Again … huge apologies to all the hardworking people at Black & Decker.
Like with everything I purchase, I take a long time to decide. I research. I ask people on Facebook. I watch YouTube videos. Some people, if you can believe it, do this…
1. Need a thing
2. Go to the store and buy that thing
Is that lunacy, or what?
But I am who I am. It took me a good 10-days to determine which Greenworks trimmer has the right amount of power and figure out which price point I’m looking at. I settled on somewhere between $90 and $126 for the trimmer only (no battery) and … this time … my overthinking paid off becuase . . .
On my guilty-pleasure website, Edealinfo, a “deal” popped up … the EXACT Greenworks trimmer I wanted showed up as an “Edeal” and … get this … it was the trimmer, a leaf blower, a battery and charging stand, and 4 string spools.
For how much? You won’t believe this. $126.
So … BAM! Guess what I’m doing this weekend? Unboxing. Assembling. Using. And (hopefully) loving my new Greenworks Trimmer. Stay tuned for more updates and reviews.
Donnie Jalapeno 2026
Did you know? Donnie Jalapeno is still in business. You can order here anytime you want.
Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo (if you’re reading this on May 6th, that is) and I’ve been talking, at work, alot about “the best salsa in the history of the world,” and everyone’s been asking, “well …when are you going to bring some in?”
Today… I did. As I knew would happen, everyone loved it. And if I was still firing up the ol’ salsa-makin’ laboratory every week like in the pre-pandemic days, I would have a whole new slew of customers.
How many is a “slew”, anyway?
It’s officially springtime and it will soon be summertime. Grilling and cookout season is upon us. Memorial Day is near. The Fourth of July … the 250th year of our great land … it’ll be here, soon.
Lawn Mowing Bliss = A Honda Harmony Lawn Mower
I’m guessing I’m not the only guy whose feelings are hurt by this Progressive “Becoming Your Parents” commercial. Mostly, those are funny … but when Dr. Rick said, “lawn care is not a hobby.” I was a little offended. I got my best stationary and wrote a stern letter to Dr. Rick, I can tell you that.
However … laugh all you want because 2026 is gonna be an amazing year-of-the-lawn because I “stole” a new (used) Honda Harmony HRB 217 with Honda’s Quadra Cut and Xenox (plastic) deck. Oh, I know what yer gonna say … “really, Don? The HRB? Isn’t that like 20+ years old? You couldn’t find an HRX?” Yes! But trust me, before I bought it off Craigslist, I gave it a good exam in the seller’s driveway and let’s just say … he and his wife both came out to meet me, their garage was cleaner than my kitchen, and they had two immaculate large Honda touring motorcycles parked on a speckled garage floor and their landscaping looked like it belonged in a magazine. And, and, and … they had a brand new battery-powered Honda lawn mower sitting beside motorcycles.
Dude “get’s it.”
Me and My Long, Pointy Nose
Part of me is proud of my long, pointy nose. My nose isn’t too long. But it is pointy. And it looks like the pointy noses of many people in my family … generations of noses … and I think it’s very cool how noses have so many different shapes and sizes and that I can look at old photos from family members from many generations ago and point and say, “hey, that guy has my same nose.”
I dig noses. At least twice in my life, before my prefrontal cortex fully formed and gave me the gift of self-editing, tact, and discretion … I’ve told people, “I like your nose.” Or, “your nose has a really cool shape.”
At the time, it felt like a compliment. I haven’t complimented anyone’s nose in years … but believe me! I’m often thinking it.
There is, hoever, one drawback of a long pointy nose. Well … two drawbacks.
First, it’s difficult to look through a peephole in a hotel door. Luckily, the need to lean in close to a peephole and look at who’s on the other side of a hotel door is a very rare occurrence. Read More
Weezer Has a New Song, Tour, and Album (soon)
Today’s a good day. No. AÂ great day. Because Weezer has a new single … “Shine Again”, written by Weezer’s drummer, Patrick Wilson, and is the first song released off their yet-to-be-named and yet-to-be-color-coded new Album. All part of a new Weezer tour this Fall (September/October and the Detroit date is 9/23).
This Blog, my Blog, isn’t where Weezer fans come for breaking news, but if there’s some fans who just love more gushing, glowing things written about Weezer, you could do worse than DonKowalewski.com.
“Shine Again” feels like an anthem. Maybe not for you, but for me … a 52-year-old who loads and unloads the “dishwasher” with great precision and pride, and someone who knows a thing or two about a “dog walk.”
I quoted lyrics from the new song, if you’re wondering. Read More
A Lesson from Sourdough
Since the age of 17 (1990), my favorite kinda literature has been “self-help” and “self-improvement.” Always romanced by the idea that I’m one pithy quote or one piece of sage advice away from greatness, happiness, and self-fulfillment, and perfection.
Do you have, or did you write, a time-management book? I’m in. How about a book about health and longevity? Me, me, me! Do you have a book, and a Podcast, and did you produced a 2-hour documentary on food and how it can help (or hurt) me? As the kids say … I’m leaning (way) into that.
I’ve always kinda figured, well, I might as well fill my brain with “good stuff” and immerse myself in positivity and good habits and time-saving routines and pepper my psyche with little bits of wisdom and advice that make me just a tiny bit better than I was yesterday or a moment ago (Kaizen Methodology … see? How would I know that if I wasn’t an A+ student of self-improvement).
But why? Read More
The Top-10 Songs of All (My) Time, #2: “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper
I’m sappy. I can’t help it. Not all the time, but when I feel like being sappy and when I want the world to be more kind and beautiful, I can lay it on thick and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” is my #2 song of all time (because I’m sappy … does that make sense?).
“Time After Time” is a song I’ve listened to thousands of times and completely missed that it was a “break-up” song. But I’m not the only one because it’s among the most-played songs at wedding receptions and it’s very popular with graduating classes.
The song was written by Cyndi Lauper, inspired by her failed (failing?) relationship with her boyfriend and manager, David Wolff. She wrote it with Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) when her label told her that her album needed, “one more song.” They wrote it that same evening and deep into the morning and they swear what we hear and fell in love with was one take – we hear the “demo”.
Donlight Savings Time (the Solution to Daylight Savings Time)
Here’s something I never really thought about … Daylight Savings Time. When I was a kid, we did the “Fall Back” in the Fall and then “Spring Forward” in the Spring. Teachers told me it was invented by farmers, or created for farmers so they would have daylight when working outside.
That was good enough for me.
And I liked when one morning I would walk to school in the dark and the next morning … poof … I was walking to school in daylight.
For some reason, over the past decade, something I’d never thought about has become some sort of polarzing, Political football tossed around and how you feel about Daylight Savings somehow paints you a liberal or a conservative and “it’s dumb” or “other countries don’t have it” or “some states don’t have it” and “who is this for” and anger, anger, anger.
What the Heck is Tai Chi Walking and Why Is It’s Marketing So Effective?
If you’re like me, and by that I mean an overworked, overstressed, overeating, undersleeping, slightly overweight 50-something Male that spends a little too much time on Instagram and far too much time listening to Podcasts, then you’ve probably seen an advertisement for Tai Chi Walking.
It’s a miracle! It promises, in 30 days, to take me from Dad-Bod to ripped Middle-Aged Man.
It looks better than GLP-1 and “the shots.” But I’m skeptical.
The Reese’s Oreo and Perfect Advertising
Regular reader(s) of my Blog know (a) I work in advertising, (b) I love Oreo cookies, especially Double Stuffs and have claimed I would eat multiple boxes of them if ever on death row and asked what I want for my “last meal”, and (c) I can’t resist a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (in any form).
So? Look? At? This?
It’s a Reese’s Oreo Cup, combining a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and an Oreo cookie. Did you need that explanation? Maybe it’s obvious. Read More
Don Kowalewski 