SWTLO(micro)

When I am looking for a place to eat, Panera doesn’t come up high on my list. It isn’t that the food is bad. It’s not. In fact, some of the items on their menu are really good. It’s just that my mind doesn’t think “Oh, Panera! Yeah, let’s go there!” Panera falls into the middle on my scale of go to restaurants.

What i do like about Panera? The mltitude of ordering options. You can order “traditionally” at the counter with a person (cashier). You can order through a kiosk (touch screen) located throughout the restaurants. You can immediately sit at a table and order form there using an app or through their website (my favorite method). You can also pre-order for easy pickup.

All restaurants should look to do this. Not only does it give patrons ordering options, it allows for different levels of human interaction which is also a plus. I love having options.

[caption id=“attachment_3735” align=“alignnone” width=“4032”] I hate waiting for my windhshield to clear on Winter mornings[/caption]

I read about Noisli in some article while I was procrastinating actually having to do some work. In fact, you know when I am most productive? It’s when I am avoiding having to do something that I do not want to do. So, to avoid doing that thing I do not want to do, I end up doing a lot of other things that I had been procrasinating on.

In fact, I am writing this post when I should be submitting an assignment for school (deadline is in 90 minutes).

So, yeah… Noisli. I scoffed at the idea of listening to white noise to improve my focus. Sure, I had read a lot about how the right background noise can improve focus for different tasks but, nah… not for me.

Until I tried it. And I tried it again. And again. And again. And almost a year later, when I want to focus, I tune into my favorite Noisli mix (coffeeshop and rain, with the coffeeshop volume turned up a smidge over the rain volume) and plug away. There’s something to this “white noise focus” thing.

[caption id=“attachment_3731” align=“alignnone” width=“4032”] Today was a good day[/caption]

Remembered we had pork chops. Served with roasted red potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts.

youtu.be/Yam5uK6e-…

I have a few music podcasts that I regularly subscribe to to help me discover new music. Today was a good music day meaning, every new episode and recommendation was a good one. Here’s the list:

Sidney Gish, “Presumably Dead Arm” Lissie, “Blood and Muscle” deM atlaS, “Grbge Trsh” Nabihah Iqbal, “Saw U Twice” Haley Heynderickx, “Oom Sha La La” Air Credits, “Safe Room” Liz Brasher, “Body of Mine” Bedouine, “Solitary Daughter” Lawrence Rotham, “Wolves Still Cry” Knox Fortune, “Lil Thing”

!&$@ Winter.

I woke on New Years Day with a head cold. It wasn’t debilitating but it was enough to give me pause. “I can’t believe I’m beginning the year this way,” I remember thinking.

I was fine, the night before. My wife and I had our usual quiet evening. We stayed in and prepared our traditional NY steak rosemary roasted potatoes, and roasted broccoli dinner (pictured above). Complete with some good red wine and champagne, of course. We did the countdown and celebrated when the clocks hit midnight. We then fell asleep.

A little over six hours later and I was sick enough to not get out of bed for a couple more hours past waking. And then, after getting up and getting some breakfast, my day was spent on the couch doing nothing. Some of the nothing was on purpose, some just because my body simply was not willing.

And that set the tone for my week. The head cold lasted through Thursday. I (fortunately) was able to work from home on Tuesday, but went into the office for the remainder of the week. It wasn’t until Friday when I felt like I was actually getting better. And now, on Sunday, I finally feel that I am at the tail end of this.

My 2018 started off track, without me being able to start some of the things that I really wanted to start. I wanted to write a blog post each day. I wanted to start reading a couple books. I wanted to change my morning routine to incorporate more exercise and a better, bigger, breakfast. But, no. Perhaps I will be able to begin this next week.

That is one of the things I promised myself for 2018: to not be too hard on myself when things don’t happen the way I wanted them to. To give myself some slack. So I was sick. So I needed to recover. 2018 moves on.

Happy New Year!