Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Japanese Organizing Techniques
A couple weeks ago I watched Shogun, a miniseries set in Japan in the early 1600s. Something about British v. Portuguese trying to control the trade routes and colonize Japan, I think, while also navigating the thousand years of Japanese fighting and politics. The story isn’t important …what’s important is how clean, neat, and serene Japanese homes and meals are – at least as depicted by this 10-part TV series.
You all know I like to learn all my history from TV and movies.
The show stirred something inside me. No. Not that I need to read more and learn about ancient Japanese history. No. Not that I should plan a trip to visit Japan. Instead, I learned, I would like my home to be neat and tidy and I want to focus on form, function, and simplicity. Read More
Dunbar’s Number and Angel Whispers
I think about my friends a lot. I think about former co-workers a lot. I think about family members a lot. And when I think about these people, my mind races with thoughts of, “I should text so-and-so,” or, “I wonder how the heck what’s-his-name is doing?” Sometimes I text right then and there. Sometimes I call and if I get a voicemail, I always leave a message and usually I say, “hey, old friend …nothing important and no need to call me back, but I was just thinking about you and wanted to call and say ‘hi’ . . . ”
And then I’ll tell them about some memory I have with them or say something I admire about them or just tell them why I thought of them, at all.
Years ago, I started to think of these random thoughts of random people as “whispers from Angels” …meaning, “random thoughts” aren’t random, at all. I theorize, if you have a “random thought” it’s because an Angel snuck up behind you and whispered into your ear a thought or a name, and the Angel expects you to do something.
Because I use my iPhone’s voice technology feature, my kids call me crazy. Actually, I think my daughter says I’m “psycho” every time I suggest, hey, give that person a (phone)call.
Am I crazy? Not for using the phone as a phone, but for calling (or texting) in the first place?
For a few months, I’ve called a former co-worker twice and texted once. I haven’t heard back. It makes me wonder one of two things … (a) is this person OK or (b) did this person never think of me as a friend nor someone worthy of keeping-in-touch with? Read More
The Top-10 Songs of All (My) Time, #6: Losing My Religion by R.E.M.
In the ’80s, teenagers were faced with a musical fork-in-the-road. Before the ’80s, it was a Top-40 dominated world and most artists tried to make songs that landed them in the American Top-40. For most people, if a song was on the radio and the artist was at The Grammy’s, that was good enough. Country music couldn’t get onto the top-40 charts (save for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, maybe). R&B couldn’t get there (save for Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston types). Album rock and heavy metal couldn’t get onto the Top-40 charts either. Then came MTV and it was all visual. It upset the status quo. Suddenly, if a band made a video, any band, MTV would show it, and genres were born. Bands like Flock of Seagulls, Erasure, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths (and Morrisey solo), and dozens of other bands previously considered “college rock” were in midwest living rooms and me and my friends, the MTV Generation, were “discovering” bands and music we never would’ve known existed.
The “musical fork-in-the-road” was the moment most kids felt like they had to choose. Were you a rock and heavy metal kid? Then you can watch and enjoy Headbangers Ball. If you liked rap? I did. So I liked Yo! MTV Raps. And what about the emo kids? They had 120 Minutes (debuted in 1986). Of course it’s silly to think a kid couldn’t enjoy it all, but the way I remember it, ya just couldn’t. Read More
I’m Going to Lose Weight and Be In Great Shape
I’m going to lose weight. I’m going to lose so much weight and be in such great shape, you won’t believe it. My stomach will be flat. I’ll start running 5Ks and sprint triathlons, again. I’ll work up to 100 push-ups at a time. I’m going to be amazing. I’ve been telling everyone for months and months that, when I start exercising and eating right …whoa! Look out! I’m going to be my best-self and have the best-life-ever.
Lazy, fat, unmotivated people are what’s bringing me down and just you wait.
But …first. I’m going to eat like a pig. I’m going to sit around and eat some more. I’m going to drink beer and booze. Like, five or six days a week. I’ll have Five Guys for lunch every day for a month. Sugary candy and cookies? Yes, please. Read More
Take “greens” on an Empty Stomach
Over the years, I’m sure I didn’t void all the benefits of daily greens by taking them “with food.” But that’s what I was doing.
I’m a multivitamin-guy and I come from a multivitamin-family. My Mom swore by multivitamins and before it was cool and before the Internet, she was very into the multivitamin thing. Back in Grand Rapids, MI, in the ’90s, before every specialty market had supplement and apothecary sections, my Mom “did the research.” The world had Centrum, and maybe GNC had some stuff for Men, but multivitamins were an emerging scam …er … trend. Nowadays, you can spend hours reading about every multivitamin and manufacturer and learn their background and how the inventor grew up on a farm and has my best interest in mind and all ingredients are sourced by fairies and trolls and grown in an area of the Brazilian rainforest that has the least amount of air pollution anywhere in the world. Read More
The Top-10 Songs of All (My) Time, #7: Somebody That I Used to Know
I was lucky. My parents had a wonderful, normal, healthy relationship. I met my soulmate when I was 15 and started dating her when I was 18 (going on 19) and we’ve been together ever since. She’s normal. SHw as normal then. And is normal now. She’s nice, honest, funny, wicked smart, and makes me better, and my life better, because she’s in it. My wife’s parents are normal and had a great marriage.
But ya know what fascinated me all through college and after? How different other relationships are. How dysfunctional some relationships are because of the bizarre world-view of one, or both, of the people in that relationship.
Some dudes in college were a source of endless entertainment. Guys just couldn’t figure out the whole girlfriend thing. Things like “buying a girl a dozen red roses on a first date.” No. No. No. Or saying “I love you” on a second date. Record. Scratch. They’d come to me for advice, as if I actually knew what I was doing …I was figuring it out, too, but just had a better head-start (see first paragraph). The questions they’d ask would be things like, “when should she meet my parents?” I’d have to convince them to let it happen naturally and “you’ll know”, but definitely not after one month and 3 “sorta dates.” Read More
2025 Goals Check-In, Month-1
I’m totally stealing this from author, speaker, storyteller, teacher, all-around-great-guy and guru, Matthew Dicks. I envy him and idolize him. For years, he publicly lists all his goals and then, equally publicly, updates his progress. Good and bad. Successes and failures. It’s what makes him unique compared to so many other gurus and coaches that offer advice …he ain’t perfect and he’s not too proud to admit it.
But …he’s pretty incredible and good at stuff and great and getting stuff done. So that’s kind of annoying.
Below (and here) are my 2025 Goals and my 30-day progress and update.
MAKE MY WEBSITE AND BLOG A REAL THING
- Categories Finite and Sensible <- I’ll say A+ on this. I feel very good that if some rando goes to my website, they’ll be able to figure out what I’m about and if you know me and are looking for something specific, you can find it.
- Build it for 2 Specific Audiences In Mind, and those audiences are… <- B+ … it’s a slow process to take all my old Blog posts and Pages and organize it so I can proudly tell, say, my co-worker, “hey, if you want to order salsa, just go to my website.”
Super Bowl Halftime Should Have a Pop-Up Video or Manning Cast Option
I’m old. Not really, but when it comes to modern hip-hop, I’m as old as my uncles were in 1985 when they would “beat box” at family gatherings and say, “that’s all rap is,” …and they’d make puh, puh, huff, huff sounds.
Kendrick Lamar is performing at halftime and I’m so out of the loop. I’m writing this on a Friday. I’m going to binge Kendrick Lamar all weekend in an attempt to appreciate his artistry and maybe I’ll recognize something on Sunday. I’ll watch a YouTube video or two that comes up when I search “why is Kendrick Lamar great” and “history of Kendrick Lamar.” Then I’ll ask AI to “give me a brief history of Kendrick Lamar and his career, summarize the story behind his top-5 streaming songs, and do it in less than 500 words.”
But what I really need is an alternative half-time viewing experience and, ideally, it would be a pop-up video. When he riffs a lyric and his fans go crazy, I’d like a quick pop-up that says, “this is in reference to his longtime girlfriend, (name-the-girlfriend) and her affair with (name-the-other-guy).” Or “this song is off his second album, released in YEAR, and it’s an anthem to famed SOMEONE who Kendrick credits for giving him his big break.” Read More
Signature Brands, Part 1: Shave Cream
My shaving life has been torture on my face and neck. When I started shaving, I think I used Barbasol. And for my teens and 20s, and into my 30s, my post-shave life was filled with acne, sensitive skin, razor burn and rashes. I tried the fancy stuff from the cologne brands. I tried bar soap. I tried just a basic lotion. I tried hot water soaked washcloths pre-shave, cold water post-shave, and electric razors. I was convinced my shaving-life was cursed to pain and suffering (well, discomfort more than “suffering”) and it was time to give up.
Then came Trader Joe’s and everything at Trader Joe’s is just a little friendlier – especially their shave lotion. Finally, I’d found a brand that didn’t immediately burn or irritate my skin and so, for about the past decade, I’ve been happily shaving with their stuff. I guess it wasn’t a money-maker or big seller, because late last year, Trader Joe’s discontinued it. Read More
The Top-10 Songs of all (My) Time, Part 3
It’s important to the world-at-large that I finish this project where I tell you my favorite ten songs of all time. Remember, these are my all-time favorite songs and was born of Rolling Stones‘s attempt to define the 100 Greatest Songs and 100 Greatest Albums of all time, which I believe is impossible. My full rationale is here. Impossible because your opinion, and my opinion, and my barber’s opinion …it’s all about “where you were when” and so no list can ever be right (or wrong).
If you were an 18-year-old college freshman in 1967 smoking your first doobie in your dorm room with a girl who you’ll eventually marry and raise a family with, and Bob Dylan was on the record player, well, chances are, Bob Dylan songs and albums will be in your top-10. If you were the future George and Lorraine McFly at the Under the Sea Dance in 1955 and you just punched your bully, Biff, and have your first kiss on the dance floor, then “Earth Angel”, The Penguin’s version of “Earth Angel”, is going to be in your top-10 and you’ll never appreciate Dylan. Read More
Don Kowalewski 