Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
I Like Things. Things Like the iHeartRADIO App
Full disclosure, I work for iHeartMEDIA. But, I promise you as sure as my name B
ob Pittman, even if I didn’t work here, I’d love the iHeartRadio app (for the iPhone). Still kinda grumpy about the iPad version. Just sayin’.
Today iHeart announced they surpassed 70-million registered users. Pretty cool, right? Hey, don’t just take my word for it. Even TechCrunch found it worthy of an article.
And what’s so great about this app, you ask, right?
I’m going to tell you what I think is the best thing – the Shows (aka Podcasts). There’s like an infinite world of Podcasts and shows on any topic.
Just go to your iPhone (or Android, I guess) app and hit the Menu button in the upper left and then hit Podcasts.
Now search …anything. Search “Travel”. Bam.
Search “NBA” and all sorts of sports shows will show up. Like the Nerdist. It’s there. Do you read Men’s Health and want to listen to their weekly Podcast? Just search “Men’s Health” and listen to the current episode or past episodes.
My favorites are Jay Mohr’s sports hours and Sklarbro Country.
What I’m saying is you can listen to your favorite local station, or you can listen to custom stations based on an artist or genre (the Pandora design), or you can listen to pre-programmed stations like My ’80s Station,the ’80s Movie Heartbreak Station, or GenX Radio …stations that someone else curated and researched, or you can listen to a Podcast, or last night’s Jimmy Kimmel monologue, or some financial reports from ABC News Business.
iHeartRadio does it all.
Not sure if I’m a trendsetter, corporate shill, or a fanboy. But I like this better than Pandora or Spotify. There, world. Now you know.
Follow me at @donkowalewski.
A Thirty Day Self-Challenge
Knock knock. Who’s there. Gimme a second. Gimme a second, who? Gimme a second chance to make 2015 everything I’ve planned.
Worst. Joke. Ever.
But I’m not joking.
There are great things that happen when I listen to podcasts from Tim Ferriss, Jeffrey Gitomer, and Gary Vaynerchuck and watch all their videos and read all their blogs. The good? I get motivated. I imagine myself as a future guest on their shows sharing with them the secrets of how I balanced a great job in media and advertising sales, wrote a book, kept up a blog, built a business on social media, kept romance and passion in a 20-year-old marriage, raised three children, lost fat while adding muscle, trained myself and my lungs to handle running and that I ran a 10K, coached my kids’s soccer teams, kept in touch with old friends, read a book every month, figured out how to sleep 7-hours each night, managed my stress, saved for retirement and college, but had a little fun along the way and contributed to society and charity.
The bad?
The bad part about listening to all those podcasts from perfect people who made millions of dollars and seem to have it all figured out is that I sometimes get the feeling I’m not even close and I’ll never get there.
Positive, “I can do anything” thoughts mix with, “you’ll never do any of that” voices.
Did these perfect people ever have self-doubt? Sleepless nights? Stress? I notice they often don’t have kids. Excuse number one why I’m not doing all those things in the paragraph above. Or they are “consultants” and “authors” but don’t actually have “real jobs.” Excuse number two.
It’s like a sink or swim feeling. It’s like there are two options …figure it all out, make millions, and then start telling people they can do it, too. Or just keep beating your head against a wall.
Why this blog? It’s the even of June. June has 30 days. June will be my launching pad for the rest of 2015.
Join me?
A Man of Principle (I am Not)
Remember how I was all like, “I want black running shoes,” and made a big deal about it?
Let’s just say one man’s black shoe is another man’s grey-black-and-neon and blue-orange.
Both pairs were on clearance at DSW and the New Balance 850s will be for long walks and the Pumas might be the sleeper shoe of 2015. Light weight, like a Skecher GoWalk and crazy comfortable.
Black shoes are soooo last week.
My daughter tried to ruin my happiness because when she saw them she said, “no offense, but they look like ‘old man’ shoes,” and I told her to shut up, slammed my door, and cried. Not really. I kinda like that my 12-year-old has the confidence to rip on me, her Dad. I give her those little wins. For confidence. Maybe I’m wrong, but it feels like that’s a good thing.
Thought you’d all want updates on the shoes and a quick bit of parenting advice …fathers …let your daughters “win” some times.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about the new fishing boat.
Follow me @donkowalewski.
An Experiment. Subscribe to my #TheBachelorette Newsletter
At the urging of someone in a podcast (specifically Tim Ferriss’s podcast where he interviewed Noah Kagan), I’m conducting an experiment. Actually, it’s more than an experiment.
I’m starting a newsletter about #TheBachelorette. To subscribe, email me at donkowalewski@gmail.com, subject: Bachelorette or leave a comment below (where I can click and get your email) or just put your email in a comment. When I get an alert that someone commented, I’ll quickly grab your email address and then delete the comment (to protect your privacy).
Two reasons I’m doing this. (1) To see if Noah’s suggestion works about creating an email list …and yes I realize I could pick a better topic, but I have my reasons for going with The Bachelorette. (2) Because I want to write and self-publish a guide to dating, relationships, and marriage based on the wisdom collected from watching every single season of The Bachelor and Bachelorette.
Follow me at @donkowalewski.
Oh. And don’t forget to subscribe.
I Love Father’s Day
I’m famous for my birthday lists (detailed during the “Month-of-Don” and “I-Love-Don-Week”) and Christmas wish-lists. Today, I announce the creation of another gift-giving guide – my “Father’s Day Shopping Guide.”
It’s important to have lists, as a father, so some renegade child or wife doesn’t go off-the-grid and improvise about what I think I might need or want.
It’s going to be a quick list, as this list is in it’s infancy stages, but some stuff just needs to get out there into the public sphere so people can start budgeting, planning, and shopping. Oh, and even if I’m not your father or I’m not the father to your children, if you admire the job I’m doing as a father, feel free to get me something on Father’s Day.
Father’s Day Shopping Guide 1.0.15
- MyPillow
- The Blackman 2.0 White Dress Shirt from Mizzen+Main
- Running/athletic shoes (New Balance or Adidas), mostly black or mostly without neon colors
- Kettle bell(s) (and a book by Pavel Tsatsouline)
- Pair of Levi’s 559s (31W, 30L) – I’m putting the cart before the horse with that 31″ waist, my friends
OK. That’s enough to get you started. Happy shopping. If you think of another idea for me, just leave a comment and I’ll flush it out and see if that’s something I want added to my Father’s Day Shopping Guide.
Follow me at @donkowalewski on Twitter.
Time for New Shoes
If you know me, I’m an Adidas man. Always have been. Since I was in my late teens, all my running and athletic shoes have been Adidas, except for a pair of minimal Nike running shoe in the mid-2000s that mimicked barefoot running, and recently a pair of Merrell’s that also are a minimalist shoe given to me by a friend (K.C.) that works at Merrell. Both were great, but as I’m not a runner anymore, I need a new pair of kicks (people still use the word “kicks” in reference to shoes, right?).
Well, I’ve always had a pair of Adidas running shoes on stand-by, but there was an incident Thursday night. While out walking the dog, the dog had an “accident” (not really an “accident” because dogs are supposed to poop while out on a walk, but stick with me). What she did was, well, like poop, but not poop. Looked like some sort of cosmic goo. So I dutifully tried to grab it in the plastic garbage bag but it got away from me and before you know it, the bag was out of my hand and this “cosmic goo” had splattered all over my Adidas. In some J.F.K.-bullet-bending way, it managed to land on and ruin both shoes. It was so bad, and so disgusting, because it was the eve of trash day, I took off both shoes mid-walk and about 300 yards from home, and threw the shoes right in the nearest curbside can.
Am I that prissy that I couldn’t have cleaned these shoes? Let’s just say …the shoes were four years old and I’m not kidding …they weren’t going to be saved. Thank me for not taking a picture for Instagram.
That story leads to one major decision, now . . . a new pair of running shoes that won’t be used for running. Mostly for style and long walks, with the occasional bike ride and running around a park with the kids, thrown in. They need to look good with jeans (I am not ready to do the stark-white shoe with jeans Dad-Look), shorts and short black or white socks, or with athletic pants.
The issue is, most of today’s running shoes feature loud color schemes or at least one color that glows in the dark. I want grey on black or black on black – and that’s no easy task. I’m also considering changing brands – from Adidas to New Balance (collective gasps, I know).
So, for the next month, I’ll be debating between the following two shoes. The New Balance 1012s or the Adidas Powerblaze M Black Onix.
Decisions, decisions. Great blog entry, eh?
Q2 Goals
I’ve looked at my New Year’s Resolutions, looked at my Lenten Resolutions, and reviewed which goals and objectives I’ve hit and which I’ve missed. And, based on that, I’m course-correcting for Q2 and the rest of the year. NOW IS THE TIME TO RE-EVALUATE and set new goals or recommit to the goals set in January.
The goals are simple:
- Dominate the Evenings (8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.) – Realistically, I only have 2-hours to myself each night after soccer practices and other kid commitments. As I’ve previously declared, I dominate mornings (5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.) and I need to do the same with 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Things I need to fit into that 2-hours include chores, walk-the-dog, talk-to-wife, write, read for pleasure, relax. I’m thinking every night needs to be slightly different.
- Dominate My Eating – I’m giving up 4-Hour Body and going with a whole foods, good foods, well-rounded, well-supplemented, proper-caloric amount, and no eating or snacking after dinner.
Oh, and a final thing … I want my work space to look like the picture below. Simple. Efficient. Perfect. Sorry, kids …I’m going to get rid of picture frames in my work space at work.
Time to Fix This Year
My Life: Q1 came and went and it’s time to look back, take stock, and implement action items for Q2 and Q3. Like a business, I’m going to review my goals and objectives and re-calibrate.
The bad.
Sleeping – I’m getting about 6 restless hours a night 4 out of 7 nights. 1 night, I’m getting about 4 hours or less. And then for some reason, inexplicably, I’ll get a good 7-hours with vivid dreams and no waking on those other two nights. I’m starting to chalk this up as to what it’s just gonna be like …until it isn’t.
American Ninja Warrior – I’m no closer to auditioning for American Ninja Warrior that I was when I blogged about it back in December. This morning …I walked to the local park and did exactly three pull-ups. I suck. I was supposed to be up to 20 pull-ups by now. And …why aren’t I exercising and pushing my limits? Well …read that post. It’s because of my worry of failure.
Writing – If you count the blog entries written here over the first 13-weeks of the year, you’ll see what’s going on with that. Writing is at a stand still. I have someone begging me to write marketing material for him, another begging me to write his book (and more, future books), and yet … see “American Ninja Warrior” bullet item above.
The good.
Mornings – I’m dominating mornings. Like …total domination! I wake at 5:00 a.m. Sometimes I sleep until 5:30 a.m. I always walk the dog for 20-minutes minimum. Poor thing …any longer than that, and she feels the need to poop even when there’s nothing to poop. That crazy dog wasn’t bread for walking. She’s like a cat that happens to be a dog. It’s a good speed, most of the time, but I’d love a dog that could handle a three-mile walk.
Cold Showers – Another odd thing that I hear is good for me, so I’m doing it. Every shower is like a fight with an enemy, but I can notice the health differences.
Diet – I spent the first 13 weeks of the year on the 4-Hour Body diet. I give myself a B-. I didn’t gain any weight, but I didn’t really lose any, either, and I can’t see my abs …yet. But I’m revising the plan for Q2 and going with an Optimal Health and Energy diet that will be a calorie counting diet and will mix in the right amounts of all the food groups and will not include snacking.
Hmmm. Seems like I should be talking about more. Like success at work. Or how about my kids or my time management. Well, if I was proud of my time-management, I’d probably have a better report on the writing.
Have you reviewed your New Years Resolutions? Taken stock of your goals for 2015?
I still have some big goals for the year …I’ll lay those out tomorrow after I course correct from Q1.
Granite City Food and Brew in Northville GRAND OPENING!
Full disclosure …yes, this is a client but, hey, sometimes I’m lucky enough to work with really, really cool clients. Enter Granite City Food and Brewery opening this week in Northville, MI. Every time I’ve tried to get into the one in Troy, MI, it’s been packed and I regret I still haven’t eaten or drunken (or is it “dranken”) there.
Anyway, there’s a new location in Northville and tomorrow (Tuesday) is a V.I.P. event (which you can win entry into here) and then Wednesday is the big grand opening for the public. Um, I’ll be there both nights …but it doesn’t mean I have a problem. And I’m probably going to buy a growler-full o’ their beer. Which, for those scoring at home, will mean I’ll have three growlers in my possession, and that’s crazy because up until about a month-and-a-half ago, I was more of a Molson-in-a-bottle type guy. Now? Just call me Donnie-Growler or Donnie-Craft-Brew (just don’t ask me what I like in a craft brew, or which is my favorite brewery, and why I like what I like …I’m primarily in love with the idea of a growler).
Channel955 is going to be at the grand opening on Wednesday (6p8p). That’s always fun. Oh, and you can win a dinner-for-4 here or text ‘CITY’ to 9-5-5-0-0 and possibly win a $50 gift-card.
Maybe I’ll see you. Oh, and below is Spike talking about it. Enjoy.
Ice Shower? Yes. Seriously.
Every morning when I turn on my shower, I turn on only the cold-water. Nope. I don’t even turn on the hot at all. I’m not doing luke-warm. I’m doing ice cold.
I gave up “hot showers” for Lent.
Why? Because I’m crazy. And, as I’ve established previously, I do anything and everything Tim Ferriss says. He wrote 4-Hour Work Week and …well …um, I obviously didn’t do it quite right because I’m not sitting in a hammock on Gulf Shores managing four start-ups – but I did get something out of it.What? That there’s a faster, more efficient way to do everything and I’m always trying to “hack my life” to fit more stuff into the same amount of time.
So when Tim Ferriss wrote 4-Hour Body, I was first in line.
He says ice cold showers that bring on shivering are good in many ways. Accelerates fat loss. Increases alertness. Strengthens the body’s immune system.
I really had big intentions for Lent, and it seems the only thing I really did well was take ice cold showers.
Here’s a couple links about this cold shower thing.
Benefits of Taking a Cold Shower
That’s all I got. I told someone today, “hey, you’re a blogger …I’m a blogger,” and then when they asked, “oh, what’s your blog?” . . . well, I sheepishly gave her this blog’s URL and then felt ashamed all day that, um, no I’m really a semi-retired blogger.
But, like with everything, the journey of a million miles (or words in the case of a blogger) starts with a single keystroke.
Tomorrow I’ll analyze my “Best Lent Ever” and either (a) publicly lie about what a great job I did or (b) publicly admit I kinda bailed on Lent (except for the cold showers …of all things I’d stick to, it was cold showers).
Follow me at @donkowalewski
Don Kowalewski 