Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
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
Lent 2026 (Better Late Than Never)
It’s Lent 2026! Here! We! Go! Or … here … we … went.
I’m writing this 10-days into Lent 2026 and, ahem, I’m off to a slow start (slow start = haven’t started). I haven’t listed my ridiculous Lenten promises and give-up’s (called “Penances,” I think). I haven’t cross-referenced my New Year’s Resolutions against my past Lenten promises (successes and failures) and as of writing this … it’s been 10-days of Lent and I’m finally getting around to getting started.
“Write the Ending First.”
That’s from Tish Rabe and her interview on Tim Ferriss’s Podcast. She was a writer and contributer in the early days of Sesame Street and while her goal was to write music and sing professionally, she said “yes” when they asked her to write a book and since then, she’s written 300+. Something she said she learned early from other writers at the time was this . . .Â
“Write the story’s ending, first.” Read More
A Newer Morning Routine: 2026 Edition
I’ve obsessed over my wake-up and morning routine for my entire adult life. Stops and starts. Stops and starts. My problem is … I love my bed, love being warm and cozy, and when I’m laying their at 5:30 a.m. and I’m cozy and happy, I start to question, “what is the point of making myself angry and dragging myself outta bed?”
I know. I know. The daily grind. Focus. Chores. To-Do lists. Anxiety or lack of anxiety and worry. I know it’s all tied to sleep and routine and *gasp* some exercise. So, I’m gonna give this one a try.
2026 Resolutions (1st Month Update)
“Who’s this update for,” you ask? It’s for me. You know the old saying about goals … something, something … write them down … make them measurable. Something, something. Adjust, evaluate, and …something, something … don’t give up.
Smart guy Gary Vaynerchuk says it over and over again … “you have SO MUCH time.” I do (especially with football almost over). But I need to assess how I use my time and what better way than to look at the first 30-days of 2026 and see how I’m doing on my Resolutions.
I’ll do this monthly (there’s another Resolution). No way to know how I’m doing if I’m not tracking.
A Morning at WWJ Newsradio 950
I work in Radio. I capitalize the word “Radio” out of respect. I’ve worked in Radio for 28-years! Nowadays I guess I say I “work in Audio“, but between me and you … it’s Radio. Radio formats have come and gone. There’s no more Oldies, Jazz, or Classical radio stations. Classic Hits and Classic Rock are “oldies” now when you consider the music they play is from the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, which means the music is between 30- and 50-years-old. And I’m somewhere between 40- and 53-years-old. I guess us Gen Xrs just don’t want to think of our music as “Oldies” (even if it is).
I’m not here to list all the Radio formats (even though I could … because I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to Radio), but instead I want to talk about one, specific format . . . Newsradio.
And one specific station … WWJ Newsradio 950 AM in Detroit. Read More
2026 New Year’s Resolutions
For the entire month of December, I pondered and meditated about my 2026 Resolutions. Then…bam! It’s the “new year” and I’m off to a slow start. Or am I? Some resolutions only work if you start immediately on Day-1 (ie “Exercise Every Day”), but most resolutions are year-long quests. At least mine are.
Sure, you can say, “in 2026, I’m going to quit smoking,” or, “I’m going to run a 5K,” or, “I’m going to write a book.” Whatever you promise yourself, it’s about “becoming” something or “finishing” something.
Like some of mine…
- Finish writing two books
- Perform 10 times at The Moth
- 150 Minutes of Exercise Per Week
What I Got!
I spend too much on lots of little things and flights of fancy, but I’m actually notoriously cheap. Frugal? Fiscally conscious? Basically, if I had a genie lamp and three wishes, one wish would be that every day I wake up and there’s a $20 bill under my pillow. Maybe $50 adjusted for inflation since college when my friend Rick and I came up with this.
With a $20 bill every day, I could buy a newspaper. Buy a coffee. Run to Books-A-Million and buy a book. Or, I could bank a few days and buy myself new work gloves or a pair of headphones. Or bank a week and buy a nice dress shirt or knives for my kitchen. Things I don’t need, but just kinda want.
But Don, you ask? Couldn’t you do this if you won a lump some $10-Million? Amen I say to you, I would rather have a crisp $50 bill under my pillow every morning than $10-Million. Read More
Don Kowalewski 