Jogger Blogger

Went for a 5 km jog this morning, up to the gym and back.

It's been an incredible feeling, getting more into an exercising rhythm this year. The weather's been so unseasonably WARM lately it's silly not to take advantage of it. True, tomorrow's a little chilly at -1 degrees Celsius, but Tuesday is looking positively hot at +7!

About a month ago, I joined "the largest running club in the world", or so Nike boasts. Haven't regretted it -- I even made an online running buddy because we were trash talking each other... Now I HAVE to go out regularly so I don't fall too far behind! It makes me want to catch up and keep it up.

Friends can be such great motivators.

Getting on the Wagon

Tonight I'm finishing up the draft of my second eBook, a work of selected poems I wrote several years ago. My task now is to search for the right title... Maybe a look through my photos will help trigger a memory of something relevant. It's tougher than you think, getting the right name.

So why this sudden movement to write? I wouldn't say it's sudden so much as "surfacing". (OH-HO! Great title!?!) I was reading "101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers" recently and it got me thinking: how can I become more effective at my job? Then I read "Outliers: The Story of Success" (Gladwell) and tried to think smarter: how can I become effective efficiently so that I can get on with all those other projects that I want to finish before I turn 60...?

I was astounded by the examples Gladwell provides in "Outliers", essentially that all these phenomenal people have simply turned out to be regular people living through extraordinary circumstances.

Are we not in extraordinary times now? I can be that regular person -- I can search for those extraordinary circumstances. That's part of what life's all about!

I think everybody has at least one good book inside, waiting to be written. I'm starting to think that I'm getting closer to writing mine...

Musical Motivation

This morning I watched an amazing documentary about the culture of art in media. You can watch it here: PressPausePlay

It's inspiring and cautionary all at once. That is, I want to produce MORE (books and music and inventions and more), but there are more talented people that are doing exactly that and not getting noticed because of the grey goo of everybody else, so I actually also want to produce LESS.

So of course I had a good idea while watching the end: What if I composed music that WAS the training program for getting off the couch and out jogging?


There are plenty of Couch-to-5K programs out there, but you choose your own music. And there are plenty of music playlists out there available for different BPM training -- that's along the same lines of what I'm talking about. RunningMusicMix.com is a good example of that. Running to music according to BPM makes sense to me, it's motivational and gets results.

But what about actually creating a varying musical rhythm that is in itself a song? A song for running? A song created specifically for your training program?

Run2Rhythm is more like what I'm talking about but not exactly -- they just produce fun beats and drums and instruments to jog to -- it's quite repetitive and boring. I want dynamic music. When I'm jogging, I want variation in my music but I don't have time sort it out myself. I want a package I can download quickly and know that it is the right program for my level of exercise.

I wonder what I should call it? Jog Pulse? Musical Motivation? Rhythm Racing? Any other ideas?

Happeeee New Year!

This week I published my first eBook!

You may have noticed a lot of people posting recently about getting in on the next big thing: eBooks. Within 24 hours of reading one of these articles, I found myself uploading the files and designing the cover of my first eBook.

"Unsolicited Advice" is exactly that: just a simple, concise collection of advice on 'correcting' a variety of poor habits, as well as suggesting several good habits to start. Not a great literary work but I think it's a good start.

If you're evenly mildly interested, please consider reading the content preview. Maybe you're thinking of gifting it to someone whose poor habits are currently driving you crazy. Be bold: give it to your neighbour or coworker or friend. The book is ultimately a great resolution-maker for everyone.

In fact, my goal was to encourage everyone to strive to become better people -- including myself.

So of course now I'm already planning another book... The next one will be about beer and craftbrewing, I think. I'll keep you posted.