Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Things I’m Doing: 15-Minute Bursts
I wasn’t kidding when I wrote yesterday’s blog post. I’m really going to try “15-minute bursts” of creativity and activity and see what that does for my accomplishments and to-do list. It worked great for one day. I didn’t get everything done on my to-do list, but I felt alot less overwhelmed and now, a day later, after accomplishing soooooooo much, I feel super optimistic and a little more realistic about the list.
Interestingly enough, one of my favorite bloggers (The Write Now! Coach) wrote something very similar, and I loved it. Must be something in the news that triggered a blog entry about time-management of all of us.
“You may be wondering, ‘How will I ever finish my book this way?”’Yeah, when you have a big goal like writing a book, taking baby steps does sound a bit counterintuitive. Think about it this way. If you wrote just 200 words a day—that’s less than a double-spaced page—you’d have a 73, 000-word book at the end of the year. Wow.” -Rochelle Melander, The Write Now! Coach
New philosophy …when planning a day full of activity and “bursts”, I think I need to be more realistic in defining those bursts. For instance, we can’t put “climb Mt. Everest” on our list and plan to spend 15-minutes doing it, with the assumption that, “hey, if I spend 15-minutes a day climbing toward the peak of Mt. Everest, and not a minute more, eventually I reach the summit.” While technically it’s true, it’s also not something that should be on my list for yesterday or today considering (a) I’m in Michigan, (b) I’ve never climbed anything and don’t have a plan, gear, or expertise, and (c) I have a job, family, and life to live.
The point is, long-term and “big goals” need a separate list.
(7.5 minutes)
If climbing Mt. Everest was my goal, maybe my list would include a bullet-item like, “check-out book on climbing Mt. Everest from my library.” That’s something I can easily do in a 15-minute burst and then I’m inching myself ever closer.
In reviewing my list, did I include a “Mt. Everest” item? Maybe. Maybe trimming the big bush in front of my house was a little over-reaching and was more than a 15-minute job. It took nearly 45-minutes. But ya know what …I couldn’t have stopped at 15-minutes. My front yard would’ve looked like crap. Heck. It took almost 10-minutes to get the ladder, hedge trimmer, saw, lawn/leaf bags, and my extension chord out.
In the end, I felt mega-accomplished and when I sat for a few minutes on my couch last night to watch a little TV, it was more relaxing because I knew I had a full day.
(10 minutes)
1. Write a blog entry on amazing actress friend for MSU Alumni blog
2. Write a blog entry on amazing reality-TV friend for MSU Alumni blog
3. Start writing TV-show pitch starring amazing friend in wheel-chair
4. Spray roof with mildew/mold remover
5. Clean out gutters
6. Clean crud off gutters
7. Finish Bachelorette recap for spunkybean and post.
8. Spend 2-hours writing for my writing/social media clients.
9. Embed Stephen Colbert’s eulogy into a new post for tomorrow.
10. Start planning coffee party.
11. Start planning bowling party.
(14 minutes)
I went back and proof-read this, just now.
(17 minutes).
And the fact I spent two extra minutes on this blog entry doesn’t bother me one bit.
Things I Will Do: Check-Off Everything on this List
One of these days I’m going to have a burst of inspiration and it’s going to stick. One of these days I’m going to change my life, take control of my life, stop letting life happen to me, and make life happen.
Is that cliche enough for ya?
Maybe today’s the day. Well, today is a day where I’m feeling shot-out-of-a-cannon and can’t wait for the day to get started. I’m going to sell. I’m going to write. I’m going to create. I’m going to tell a story. I’m going to call friends I haven’t called. I’m going to smile at everyone I meet. I’m going to set appointments. I’m going to close a sale. I’m going to have a great conversation with a good friend.
(4-minutes)
And I’m going to do it in 15-minute intervals.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m traveling quite a bit with this new job. I should’e marked on a calendar how many nights I’ve spent in hotels since March 1st. I’m guessing I’m pushing 40 nights away from home. Gulp. Well, for a while, I was using all the time traveling and driving around to listen to music until this last trip. Good friend Myndi suggested I start downloading some Podcasts and I had been ignoring that advice, and then I stopped ignoring that advice.
Podcasts are great. And there’s a podcast for just about any topic. I chose a few on writing and grammar (Grammar Girl, I Should be Writing, and Writing Excuses), a couple of funny and entertaining podcasts (Sklarbro Country and Comedy Bang Bang), and a few self-help and motivating choices (Get-it-Done Guy and Good Life Project).
These last two have been the most meaningful. Good Life Project podcasts are 30- to 45-minutes with an author or someone fascinating and it’s unfiltered insight into how their mind works. And what I like, is that I can take little bits of brilliance from each podcast and apply it. I can’t apply everything, but I can apply quite a bit. It’s like a reminder to step back and take a deep breath, and revisit your “plan” (if you had a plan) or make a plan.
(9-minutes)
Gotta quick finish this up …I only gave myself 15-minutes to write and post this blog entry …and that’s because something in Good Life Project said I should break tasks into 15-minute segments. When we spend hours and hours on something, we’re either intimidated by the thought of spending all those hours or it’s self-destructive.
For me …it’s true. Every day I say, “I need to write on my blog,” and then I don’t because I see the task as being something that will take me nearly an hour …even though I know it doesn’t have to.
(13-minutes)
So, I’ll conclude with this. I feel better for not entirely finishing my thoughts and this blog entry and I have something “to be continued” on tomorrow’s blog. I set a timer for 15-minutes and those 15-minutes are nearly finished and I’ll quickly start my to-do list and blog a little more atcha tomorrow. Do you have 15-minutes, right now, to do something you’ve been meaning to do? Get started – that’s the most important part.
1. Write a blog entry on amazing actress friend for MSU Alumni blog
2. Call J.S.
3. Call M.W.
4. Write a blog entry on amazing reality-TV friend for MSU Alumni blog
5. Start writing TV-show pitch starring amazing friend in wheel-chair
6. Spray roof with mildew/mold remover
7. Trim big bush in front of my house
8. Clean out gutters
9. Clean crud off gutters
10. Write quick Bachelor recap for spunkybean.
11. Stop worrying that I didn’t properly link all the references in this blog entry.
12. Revisit this blog-entry and insert hyperlinks to all my references. Check spelling, grammar.
13. Spend 15-minutes promoting this blog entry via Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and every place else I can think of sharing it in 15-minutes.
14. Read two blogs from people I hope read my blog.
15. Finish Bachelorette recap for spunkybean and post.
Phew. This felt great. And my coffee is still warm.
(17-minutes)
Things I’m Doing: Getting Better at Traveling
Traveling. Let’s talk about it. I know I’m not the only guy who’s ever had to travel, and I’m betting I’m not the only one who’s had to adjust. The first few trips made me feel isolated, incredibly guilty about leaving my family, and anxious. I couldn’t sleep more than two hours at a time. I stayed up too late (thinking that being “over tired” would help me sleep better) and woke up too early.
I’m on my way to remedying that, however. I’m taking control of my travel. If you travel, you have to “take control” or I think you’ll go insane. A few weeks ago, I met-up with my Uncle and Cousin while on a trip out east – had dinner with my Uncle two nights in a row, actually. And this week, while spending four days away, I met up with my old college roommate, Tim. I didn’t plan anything because, well, if you plan something to the minute, something will get screwed up. Instead I called him around lunch-time, said I’m in town, and he and his family happened to have a free evening.
It was great. We determined we hadn’t seen each other, and talked only minimally, in about 6 years …and, yet, we spent two hours together and it’s like we just saw each other a few weeks, ago. Laughed about our old antics (velociraptor attacks, Civilization in the MSU computer labs, and turning every life scenario into a scene from A Few Good Men), exchanged philosophies of life, and we even went shopping. Yes, seriously. We went shopping.
6 years is too long. On Monday, we only spent about 2 1/2 hours eating dinner and sharing a few beers, but I could’ve hung out with him for 6 hours or 6 days – which is why we said we MUST plan a big, group cruise at some point in the future.
To remedy my sleep situation, I also decided I need to exercise every night and then get to bed slightly earlier (rather than later) and limit my computer/TV/iPad time because that light is said to disrupt sleep patterns. I’m happy to report, I had two good nights of sleep. I still woke up, inexplicably, at 4 a.m. both nights, but I found it easier to get back to sleep.
I did exercise both nights. Did a very, very slow run-walk thing on Monday and had about a 13-minute pace. Tuesday I did some weights and then ran a mile. Check it out …I ran (well, jogged) a 12-minute mile at a 1.5 incline on the treadmill. Hey. Don’t laugh. It’s a start. And considering last week, out of the blue, I had a slight lung-blood flair up, this is a big step.
‘Tis a pretty boring blog entry, I know. And I could make it more boring by telling you about how I sorta have a crush on Holiday Inn, but I’ll save that for another entry.
Follow me on Twitter (@donkowalewski) or Instagram (don_kowalewski).
Things I Have: Bad Habits
I always liked this saying … “if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” Get it? Like, there are two kinds of “luck” …good luck and bad luck and …tell me you “get it?
For me, it’s more like, “if it weren’t for bad habits, I’d have no habits at all.” Now, I don’t smoke or drink excessively, I don’t bite my nails, I don’t hoard things in my house, pick at scabs, do heroine, play Angry Birds, or play Angry Birds on heroine or anything …but I still do little things to sabotage myself. Is it sabotage? Is it laziness? Is it fear?
Not sure. But I’ll call them bad habits.
ha-bit:
a dominant or regular disposition or tendency; prevailing character or quality
Case in point …sleep. I know I need it. I need 7-hours each night and I do amazing things when I get around 7 1/2 or 8-hours. I envy these people who build empires and small businesses, and write novels and travel the world and boast about how they manage it all on 5-hours of sleep each night (hmmmmm …maybe I need to revisit 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris …I think he has a chapter about how he makes this work through diet alone). When I try and manage my day on 6-hours or less …forget it. I may as well call in sick.
What happens is a spiral …I’m tired, I’ll clear my mind with some senseless work and then I’ll be ready to kick some butt. Problem is, that “butt kicking” moment never comes. And no matter how much coffee I consume, or how good that coffee is, I’m pretty much useless.
When I get 8-hours, I can pick up the phone and talk with anyone. I don’t get frustrated about anything. I dream bigger and I tell myself “yes you can” more than I say “no you can’t” or “no, take a nap, then you can.”
So, my bad habit? Staying up too late. Morning-Don really hates Nighttime-Don.
Staying up late isn’t really a badge of honor. Nobody I know has ever bragged about how late they stay up and I suspect, when they’re “bragging” about how little sleep they get, they’re not really bragging, but mostly they can’t think of anything else to say because their subconscious is continually screaming at them, “SLEEEEEEEP, you fool.”
Other bad habits I’m trying to break …not exercising and eating massive amounts of calories after 8 o’clock (which often times is simply an exercise of moving my hand from a bowl to my mouth because I can’t fall asleep when I’m actively doing something, like chewing). And finally …not writing. I want to write a book (more than a few, in fact). I want to write a blog and build a following. I want to help my friend write a book, and another friend and I want to collaborate on a book …and yet …I do nothing.
I need new habits.
“Early to bed. Early to rise. Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” -Too Tired to Look it Up, but I Think It’s Ben Franklin.
Habit #1: Exercise for 1/2-hour each day. Something as simple as a walk. Maybe mix in some P90x.
Habit #2: Write for 5-hours each week. Notice I didn’t say “daily” because that’s not realistic with three kids and a full time job (oh, and a wife I kinda-sorta like to talk to and hang-out with every now and then).
Habit #3: Get in bed by 10 o’clock. Screw TV. Why do I feel compelled that I must watch TV and always watch “my shows.” Culture tells us we should, I guess, and I’ve always enjoyed the escapism, and I even enjoy writing about it (remember spunkybean?). But I gotta stop being a slave to the boob-tube.
I’ll start with those. Sound good? It’s almost time for Mid-Year’s Resolutions, which I’ve always talked about as a “reset” button for your New Year’s Resolutions. And I figure, hey, why wait until July 1st …I’ll get started, now, with my Mid-Year’s Resolutions.
Thanks, in part, goes to Rochelle Melander (The Write Now Coach) for always writing great blog posts about writing, but truly, anything she says you can substitute the word “writing” with almost any verb, and the lesson still applies. Don’t believe me, check out her blog post this week …”The Writing Habit.” She suggests a sequence of “cue”, “practice”, and “reward” and tell me that couldn’t be applied to anything and everything. Go ahead. Tell me. In the comments below, or on Facebook, or Tweet at me (@donkowalewski).
Better yet, make it a habit of telling me what you’re doing habitually. Thanks for reading.
Follow me @donkowalewski.
Things I’m Doing: Traveling and Keeping a Journal
OK. I’m traveling and as I said in a previous post, I’m going to try and make the best of it. I get homesick, and I’m sure that’s normal, but I’ll only keep my sanity if I enjoy the adventure …notice I’m calling it an “adventure” and not a “job” or “sentence.” It’s all in positioning. Can you tell I used to work in advertising? Thing is …the job is very cool, the product I’m selling is amazing, and I really enjoy telling the story.
This blog is going to morph into a blog about traveling, selling, and motivation. It might be funny. It might interest you. But, my main hope, is that’ll it will be interesting to my kids. Like, hey …check it out? I was in Kansas City and drove right by the Royals’s stadium. And look …two nights ago I was in Joplin on the same day that horrific tornado hit Moore, OK and the storm system took the highway up to Joplin, MO and I spent a combined 90-minutes (7:00-7:45 and 10:45-11:30) in the shelter areas inside the hotel where I was staying. And there were dogs, cats, babies, and all sorts of random things in there with me …it wasn’t all hotel guests. I guess there’s some unwritten rule that if you’re a public place and have shelter, and the tornado sirens are going off, well, I guess you have to let people inside.
Here’s the TV we were watching while in the shelter area? For the record, Wings v. Blackhawks was also on, but nobody in Joplin, MO seemed very interested in flipping back and forth.
My travels this week took me from St. Louis, to Columbia, MO …to Kansas City, MO …then to Joplin, MO …then to Springfield, MO …and today I’ll wind my way back up to St. Louis and hop a flight back to Detroit.
Follow me at @donkowalewski for constant updates from the road, when I’m on the road, and random, pithy observations when I’m at home and, say, washing dishes and what not.
Things I’m Doing: Traveling (and Making the Best of It)
So, only two blog entries ago, I was lamenting about hard it is living a life of a traveling salesman. Which makes this blog entry a little hypocritical, but since it’s my blog, I’m going to completely contradict myself. I want to be clear – I miss my family like crazy and the cool and interesting moments are few and far between. Like tonight, I’m staying at a hotel in Flushing, NY and a roaring jet at LaGuardia takes off and lands every :72-seconds and my hotel room is smaller than the smallest bedroom in my house, and the A/C unit seems to have two settings …well, three settings. (1) Meat-locker cold. (2) Muggy-mildew damp air. (3) Let-me-outta-here heat.
I like to think of myself as one of those “when life hands you lemons” types. Granted, I handed myself these lemons when I accepted this new job barely 11 weeks ago, so don’t cry for me. I just didn’t realize traveling makes a man (or woman) feel so isolated. Luckily, on this particular trip, I ended up spending two nights in Providence, RI and that’s a stones throw from my Uncle Roger. This Uncle (I’m not sure why I’m explaining this since most of my readers are family) lived in Boston my entire life, and I never got to know him like my other Uncles. Why we never took a trip to Boston as a family, I’ll never know, because that would’ve been a cool trip. And his family didn’t make it back to Michigan all that often. He had two sons, my cousins Ben and Kyle, and similarly, they were distant.
Quick aside …reconnecting with family is a brilliant and beautiful benefit of Facebook and social media. I’m 39 and my cousin Kyle is 32(ish) and in the past 4 or 5 years as “Friends” on Facebook, we’ve interacted more than we did our first 30 years …and it’s great. We compare neck ties.
Anyway, an unexpected bonus on this trip was being able to have dinner with my cousin Kyle, once, and with my Uncle Roger, twice. And I gotta say, it was great. I was feeling particularly homesick, so to be able to drink a beer and share some stories with family was a welcome mid-week pick-me-up.
Downtown Providence is quaint and cool. We ate Italian the first night, and vegetarian the second night. We ate at The Grange and I had Fiddleheads as an appetizer. It’s a New England thang, I guess. They remind me of asparagus (both in taste and after-effects) but they were interesting looking (they look like the head of a fiddle) and they proved if you put garlic and butter on anything, it’ll taste great.
And on the final night, I spent the night in Flushing, NY, just 5 minutes from the airport, and the “concierge” (I use the term loosely) said I could grab some dinner up on “main street.” That sounded hunky dory …until I got to “main street” and realized, hey, this must be New York’s Chinatown. Or Koreatown. Or Japantown (if that’s even a thing that exists). It was definitely Asian-something. I was in search of a salad or a sandwich and the only English words that were catching my eye were “dumplings”, “lunch-dinner” (which seemed entirely too vague), and “spa” and I think we all know what that means. And then, like a desert Oasis, there across the street I saw a pizza place – a real, live genuine pizza place with only enough room for counters where customers could stand and eat, and a giant pizza oven. It was a perfectly New York moment for a sheltered midwestern guy like me …pizza served by a guy with a thick Italian New York accent in Chinatown with thousands of people walking by, a bus honking at a cab, and me, taking pictures of it like a total tourist.
(Note: I confirmed when back at my hotel that, indeed, it was Chinatown)
When all hope was lost, I got pizza and a big, ice-filled Coke.
So, the morale of the story is …traveling still sucks, but you gotta make the best of it. The same can be said about the 12 sales calls I made. Sure, I wanted all twelve to be stellar and amazing …but they weren’t. However, the “good” calls were so good, it more than cancels out the bad. Dinner with my Uncle and experiencing some authentic New York moments didn’t completely wipe away my heart ache and my missing my kids and wife, but it helped.
Tomorrow night? I hope to be eating some chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese and lovin’ every minute of it. Thanks again, Uncle Roger, my soon-to-be clients who I think it’ll be awesome to work with, and New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island …you were great.
Follow me @donkowalewski.
Things I Love: Being Nominated for a Liebster
So, I guess I’m pretty popular in “mommy blog” circles. Check that, I’m popular with one particular “mommy blog” and it’s because it’s written by my sister. In her first couple months of blogging, she’s putting me to shame. But, as her older brother, the very fact she’s doing something means I need to jump off my couch and try and one-up her. Well, not really anymore …that’s something I might’ve done when I was younger. Now, I’m just proud of her and it’s cool to see her doing awesome stuff, like blogging and running and the only “older brother” baggage I still have is that I have to tell myself she’s doing both of those things, in part, because of me. Hey … I have a big ego and I’ll invent ways to stroke it, if needed.
My sister, the blogger at MomRunsHalf (which I guess means she’s blogging about running at half-speed or something) nominated me for a Liebster and I’m hoping Tina Fey and Amy Peohler will be the hosts at this year’s Liebster Awards Show …oh, that’ll be a fab’ time. A Liebster, as my sis tells me, is a pass–along recognition for smaller blogs (under 200 followers) who deserve notice. Hey, I’ll take any recognition I can get and I’ll be framing my Liebster. To quote my sister, “The rules are simple. I’ve answered 11 questions from my nominator, posted 11 random facts about me, and give 11 new questions for my nominees. These are bloggers I read regularly so I’m happy to give a much–deserved shout out!”
Here’s my sisters 11 questions for me, then 11 facts about me, then 11 answers to the questions she was asked, and then, ahem, 11 questions for my nominees (but I don’t have any nominees).
11 QUESTIONS FROM MomRunsHalf:
- Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate.
- What is your favorite blog to read? Write Now Coach by Rochelle Melander
- What is your favorite season, winter, spring, summer, or fall and why? Winter. I dig it. I love how massive amounts of snow and debilitating coldness reminds you Mother Nature is totally in charge.
- What is your favorite blog post that you wrote? Geesh. 6 years into this, it’s tough. But I wrote one about my Mom and how losing her too soon reminds me what savoring life is all about.
- What is your favorite color and why? Green. Because it’s soothing and it’s Michigan State, and it reminds me of the perfect lawn I’m constantly trying to cultivate.
- How did you pick your blog name? For four years, my blog was “Don’s Ego” and “DonniEgo” because when I started blogging, I thought blogging was nothing more than someone showing off because of their over-inflated sense of self. And it is …in a way …but people love blogs and I love writing, and I love reading other blogs, and I’m just one of millions who blog. Now, I call my blog Kaleidoscopic Raygun because my blog isn’t very focused and is all random and all over the place but sometimes …bam …it focuses in like a laser.
- What is your favorite drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)? Coffee made with my Aeropress.
- How long have you been blogging? 6 years.
- Which do you like better Twitter or Facebook, why? I like them in different ways. Twitter is much more random and nobody cares, and it’s an incredible news source and the only thing that would make it better would be if all my family, friends, and co-workers were Tweeting. But, most people are on Facebook and it’s like a continuous family and high-school reunion and people on Facebook are like other people on Facebook and we love sharing and seeing what each other are up to. So …Twitter would be better if everyone I knew also Tweeted, but since they don’t, I’ll go with Facebook.
- Why did you start blogging? I read an article in Fast Company about blogging, and I kept journals for years and years, and I thought, hey, I’m gonna blog. Just like I tried Facebook, and MySpace, and Friendster …if it’s new and someone says it’s cool …I’ll try it. Blogging …I’ve managed to keep it up and I help other people blog.
- Favorite meal? For my entire life, it was a 2-cheeseburger meal-deal from McDonald’s. But now …if I had one last meal on death row, I’d go with a Red Coat Tavern burger and plate of fries and an icy cold Coke.
11 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME
- Despite being short, basketball is my favorite sport and I’m pretty good at it.
- My life would be great if I woke up with a fresh $20 bill under my pillow and nobody knew about it and I could spend it on stupid stuff every day (coffee, a cookie, a book, songs on iTunes, etc). Seriously, I could soooo easily spend $20 randomly every day.
- I stress out about my receding hairline (which isn’t actually receding).
- I love cheesy pop-music.
- I like to dance, and I think I’m pretty good at it, and I learned lots of dance moves from my sister, and took dance classes in my late teens. Because, well, I wish I could dance and sing and be on Broadway.
- Mowing my lawn isn’t a chore for me …it’s therapeutic.
- I greatly regret resisting my parents efforts to make me learn the piano.
- I hate Nikes.
- I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report every day.
- I share the same birthday as my Dad, my brother-in-law, two of my neighbors, and I think one or two other people. Nobody I know knows as many people with their same birth date.
- I wish I had lived in Manhattan at some point in my life, just so I could experience it.
11 QUESTIONS FROM DANA’S NOMINATOR WHICH I ACCIDENTALLY ANSWERED BEFORE I REALIZED SHE HAD HER OWN QUESTIONS:
- If you could be best friends with anyone, current or historical, who would it be? Steve Martin …I’d just like to see how he creates and manages to always be re-inventing and having fun.
- Coffee snob or tea–litist? Coffee. Period. I’m overly passionate about it …I don’t even own a drip percolator brewer and I don’t have a French Press …I use a vacuum siphon brewer called an Aeropress. I’ve paid over $5 for a single cup of Columbian at a local coffee shop that’s made using a pour-through technique and water kept at 201-degrees. I could talk for hours about coffee. Just sayin’
- Favorite workout? I used to love to run …3, 4, or 6+ miles was great and I loved the solitude. Nobody can call you when you’re running. Nobody can interrupt your thoughts. But a lung condition has limited how much I can run (like, not at all) so I’m looking forward to summertime and long, slow laps in the pool. I won’t be swimming like I used to when training for Triathlons, but seriously …there isn’t a better work-out than swimming and I’m going to be very disciplined this summer about it.
- Favorite recipe? My own, perfect salsa, known as Donnie Jalapeño Salsa. Seriously …it’s the best salsa you’ll ever have. I make it only with fresh ingredients and I don’t even make it in the winter time when I can’t get fresh supplies from Michigan and the midwest. So, I guess I’m a salsa snob, too.
- Coolest place you’ve every been. (Can be as extravagant as a tour of Europe or simple as the best hole–in–the–wall café ever). Maybe it’s because I just got back, but I’ve been three times in my life and it’s gotta be Maui.
- Why did you start blogging? Because I read an article in Fast Company about blogging and I just wanted to know what it was, so I started doing it just as journaling and for fun and it took off from there.
- One thing that automatically makes you smile. Steve Martin. I know I’m supposed to say my wife and kids, and they do make me smile and happier than anything in life, but …hey …it’s kids and it’s marriage …it ain’t all smiles and sunshine. But Steve Martin …we’ve never fought and he’s never told me to watch what I eat or ignored something I’ve said to him. Also on the list of things that make me smile? Great coffee. Showtunes. High school and college memories and all the inside jokes.
- Tell us one of your dreams or goals, why, and what you’re doing to pursue it. Write a screenplay. I truly have the most awesome idea for a story and I know Pixar would buy, or possibly Judd Apatow …it would be epic if done as “live action” but easier to pull of as a Pixar/animated movie. Crap. I really need to get that done.
- Which do you dislike most: emailing, texting or talking on the phone. I don’t know why …but talking on the phone. When did that happen? As a child of the 70s and 80s, the phone was it, man. I’d talk for hours on it if I could. And my Dad would talk with my Uncle and his Dad, forever. And when I was in college and after college, I could talk to my Mom for hours. I loved it. Now …I like texting and emailing better. Why? I need to really look into that.
- Would you describe yourself as a thinking, communicator or doer and why? Nobody else would call me this, but I’m a “thinker” …but you can’t see that I’m thinking about stuff before I ever staring “doing” or “talking about it.” I think alot …and lay awake at night “thinking” and if you gave me a week to myself, I would just think about stuff the whole time.
- Finish the sentence: If I could do anything with my life from this point forward, I would… Write a book about sales. Write a screenplay (I mentioned that above). Write for The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Basically …write, write, write. Maybe I should look into that.
Things I’m Doing: Traveling (and Suffering)
To think, 10-weeks ago, I had this small part of me that envied guys who travel on business. I know, I know, they all say, “it’s hell”, but then they share stories about things they’ve seen and airports they hate and I think, “well, it’s not all bad, right?” I thought there was a certain romanticism they must be missing. Turns out, I think the reason they tell the stories is because without a good story every now and then, they’d snap. I could see it happening.
But maybe you think, “aw, Don, it can’t be all bad. You had dinner with your Uncle and cousin, you’re seeing parts of the country you’ve never seen, and you’re out selling a totally awesome and exciting product.” Yes, that’s true. However …
Ask me about Monday night? Oh, no …wait, but not before you ask me about Sunday night. Well, let’s not talk about Sunday night and my 3 a.m. refrigerator repair moment, but we’ll mention it just to illustrate that a perfectly relaxing and wonderful weekend was kinda ruined by this hour spent fixing my fridge in the middle of the night and I went off to work very tired on Monday. No worries, I thought, I’ll catch a nap on the plane and then get to bed early once I land get into New York.
Everything was going according to plan until that time of day when, oh, you should actually be going to sleep. As I laid there ready to drift off to sleep, I suddenly noticed the toilet was running. Turns out, the flapper inside doesn’t quite create a seal, so every 20 minutes it would run for 30 seconds to refill the tank to the point the “float” turns off the valve (fooooooooossssshhhhhhh). 20 minutes later …it happens again. In between the running toilets, I then noticed the shower was dripping …a nice, audible drip from the shower head that “ting’d” as it hit the faucet. A charming chime sound except for when you’re trying to sleep.
I turned on the TV and pressed the “Sleep” button for 30-minutes …I knew that I could fall asleep with the TV on. And I did.
Fast forward to 3 a.m. and queue the loudest noise I’ve ever heard …the fire alarm blast jolted me from my slumber and for 45-seconds I scrambled around my room trying to decide if, yes, there was a fire and that was an alarm, or maybe I accidentally set the alarm on my iPhone and picked a really obnoxious ring tone. I finally found a light switch, pulled on my jeans and a t-shirt and as quickly as it started …it stopped. So I peaked my head out into the hallway and a dozen or so other people were also out there all sleepily seeming to ask, “WTF?!?!?” Someone came out of their room and said the front desk said there wasn’t a fire, false alarm, and we’re OK.
I went back to bed.
Drip, drip, drip. Fooooooooooosh. Drip, drip, drip. TV …sleep timer …almost asleep and …BOOOOWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
The loudest noiseI’ve ever heard was back. But only for 15-seconds …barely enough time to grab my jeans. Me …back in the hallway. Others …also in the hallway. Me …back in my room. Lights out. Drip, drip, drip, ting, ting, ting, foooooooosh (that’s the toilet running).
20-minutes later …the loudest noise I’ve ever heard …back again …for 30-seconds. Me …dialing zero. Front desk guy …”sorry, they’re working on the boiler and it’s setting off the fire alarm but the fire marshal is on his way to disable the alarm.”
Me …”I just wanted to make sure my life wasn’t in danger.”
I went back to bed. This happened three more times. The shower head never stopped dripping. The toilet never stopped running. And there were babies in the hotel …wanna know how I know that? Because they were crying from being woken up so many times. And, it obviously rattled some nerves because two guys decided to calm their nerves by smoking a joint just outside my window and the faint smell of marijuana filtered into my room and I was suddenly aware of their tell-tale pot-induced laughter.
Drip, drip, drip, ting. Fooooooooooosssshhhhh. Crying babies. Laughing dudes getting high. It was 4:15 a.m.
Yup …traveling is pretty exotic. The week got better. I’ll blog about that tomorrow.
Follow me at @donkowalewski.
Things I Do: Write
I’ve been talking alot (though in code) about my “new job”, but haven’t mentioned my lungs, my hobbies, or my side-jobs much lately. Rest assured, I’m still writing and have two, consistent, on-going clients, plus some requests for some side articles in various niches.
I really like writing. I miss writing about TV over at spunkybean, but writing is writing. Yes, I want to finish my book about hunting a great white whale in the 1800s, a novel I think is long overdue …but mainly, I like writing and doing it to delight my clients and their audience.
Mornings like this, a 50-degree morning in Michigan with the sun shining, are beautiful rewards for the other hours I spend in cell-like hotel rooms or at a cluttered desk in my bedroom at midnight. It’s gorgeous – and inspiring. And a hot cuppa coffee makes the words just flow from my Macbook.
I woke up at 6 a.m., read a couple articles about the Tigers’s 17-2 victory, and then spent 1 1/2 hours writing for Oakland-Macomb OBGYN about subjects as varied as a Medical Outreach Team in Africa, Infertility Awareness, Da Vinci Surgery, and more.
As I always say, there’s quite a bit of emphasis placed on SEO and making blog entries perfect so people discover them while searching, but I think it’s much more important to have content. Real …readable …interesting …content. I can never guarantee something will grow virally, but if you’re a business or a brand, my guess is you struggle at times coming up with articles, interesting quotes, or …well …something worth reading. That’s where I come in. I listen to you, I ask you for pictures, and articles, and I write your social media story and then when you go to parties or conventions, everyone says, “OMG, I love your blog and your Facebook.”
And that’s really why I write what I write for people. Do you know somebody who needs piping hot, fresh content? I’d love to talk to them.
Follow me @donkowalewski.
Things I Did: Got Ready for Spring
Some people see spring chores as “chores” and it bothers them. I see them as an annual rite of passage. So this weekend when I mowed for the second time, plucked every Dandelion from the lawn, edged, and then cleaned and seasoned my grill on a perfect 65-degree sunny day …I felt a great sense of peace. Like, ahhhhhh …spring has arrived.
Last summer, I parted with my high-school class ring at a “gold party” and bought myself a six-burner grill with cast-iron grates and ….wow …what a great summer of grilling (and fall and winter, for that matter). Now, the true testament to a man’s grilling prowess is how he takes care of his grill and I cleaned every little part, scrubbed the cast-iron grates, and now I’m seasoning them.
Tonight I’ll kick-off spring with some fancy chicken thingies my wife bought at the corner gourmet market.
How did I season the grates? Easy …
1. Brush them off with a plastic bristle brush.
2. Clean them with dish soap and water and a plastic bristle kitchen brush.
3. Rinse with clean water.
4. Dry with paper towel and then dry further in an oven set at, oh, 250-degrees.
5. Spread vegetable shortening all over them with a paper towel (I use original Crisco).
6. Bake the Crisco covered grates in your oven at 250-degrees for, oh, about 20-30 minutes.
I probably do this 2 or 3 times each summer, but doing it right before the big grilling season starts is key.
Happy grilling. Hock that class ring and get yo’ self a badass grill.
Follow me at @donkowalewski.
Don Kowalewski 