Blowing It

February 3, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #16-Flu Season, A Failure To Defend Ourselves Against The Virus.

Flu Season Has Been Busy This Year.

I have luckily enough been one of the fortunate ones this year and I haven’t been sick. But if you are one of the thousands who failed to avoid the illness, you know it’s been a rough season. However, silver lining, it has been a great year for the virus itself. I should mention I’m no doctor, so I’m also in no position to be shelling out advice. And I imagine if I was a doctor, I would probably have my hands full right now. But let’s discuss the flu and our many failures to defend against it.

First off the flu vaccine. I get the concept of microdosing to build up your body’s immune system to better defend itself against virus. But you are literally giving yourself a small dose of the flu. At least that’s how it’s been explained to me. On top of that their are many different strains of a virus. How are you to be certain your defending yourself against the correct flu bug? I’ve taken it once in my life and it was the one year I actually got very sick. It may work for a majority of the people that use it, but I choose to let my body build it’s defenses the natural way. If you stay healthy and clean you just might be giving yourself a fighting chance.

Second line of defense towards prevention is cleanliness. An area I think we vastly fail in. I want to talk about the common handshake for a minute. I know its a personal touch toward connecting with another person and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. But why can’t eye contact and a head nod work just the same? Listen folks, I’m a man, and let me tell you men are disgusting creatures. I can’t tell you how many countless times I’ve been in the men’s room and I’ll hear crickets from the faucets as the fading steps grow fainter and the door echoes the cringe worthy sound that another one of our revolting species just failed to wash their hands. Now I’m expected to go shake hands with this individual? Maybe women do it too but we need to be able to avoid the handshake with out coming across as a horrible person when we do.

Next, if your sick, stay home don’t be a hero. I know that is incredibly difficult to do and society doesn’t make it any easier. Employers don’t always have the most sympathy. If your child is sick, finding someone to watch them is difficult and so and on. What I’m talking about is the manageable tasks. The stuff you can get to another day. The post office visit, the dining out, maybe cutting out your cycle class or chest day at the gym. Another major cesspool of germs. I’m an advocate for getting in shape, but their isn’t a much better place then a gym, for those happy viruses to grow and get strong along with you. That nice warm and damp gym, where hundreds of people share the same equipment. That’s not the best breeding ground, if their ever was one.

It may sound like I’m being a bit of a germaphob at this point. I assure you it’s quite the opposite. Bacteria is everywhere there is no avoiding it. Bacteria cells in the human body, some say, actually outnumber our own cells. It’s simply part of us. So we should surround ourselves with the good natural bacteria nature provides. Only use antibiotics as a last resort. Because if you have enough good bacteria it will defend itself and you against the bad. Nature abhors a vacuum so when your body and immune system is deficient, something will come to fill its place. It’s prime ground for illness to take shape. I believe if we keep ourselves healthy by getting the proper bacteria into and around our bodies. Which you can get from eating organic fruits and vegetables along with drinking fermented beverages or eating fermented foods. Also, we can stay cognizant of others and keep our space, quarantine ourselves when sick. If we need to be out, lets at the very least cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze. Just try not to use your hands when you do, but if must, be sure to wash up frequently and keep them clean, you may just have to shake with those things later.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

February 2, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #15-Punxsutawney Phil Blew It With His 6 More Weeks Of Winter Prediction

It’s Goundhog Day.

If you are anything like me you are already over this winter. Cold and wet would be the best two terms to describe the weather where I’m from. We get wet most of the year but the additional cold really makes for a dreary couple months. Now we have this over confident, overzealous groundhog over in some small town on the east coast named Punxsutawney, telling us we have 6 more weeks of this nonsense winter. Well I for one am ready for spring. It couldn’t come any sooner. I even took a tropical vacation in December to break this drab winter. It certainly helped but now Phil is raining on my parade.

I do love Groundhog Day. What a wonderful tradition that now receives national attention. About a rodent that can predict the weather in a town I had never heard of before fun little holiday. It is also a day that has sparked the creation of one of the greatest movies of all time and also one of my all time favorites. Groundhog Day. A movie where Bill Murray plays the protagonist. A self righteous self absorbed character at the beginning of the film who is cursed to live the same day, February 2nd, Groundhog Day over and over. And through a never ending series of failures in which he continues to blow it each day. After he finally hits rock bottom, quite literally in the film. He begins to learn from his mistakes, he lets go of his selfish behaviors, and begins to take action towards making the lives of everyone around him better. Only when, he at last improves all the lives around him including his own. He finally wakes the next day, a better man with a happier fuller life.

This movie is not just a brilliant comedy, it is filled with life lessons. One of the most important lessons and my favorite is that you can often feel like you’re on this never ending carousel of the same awful day. Making the mistakes. Blowing it all the way to the next repeated failure. However that’s not how the story ends. We can take actions towards making our lives and those around us all that much better. It doesn’t happen over night, it may feel thankless at times. You may have to live through what might feel like like a never ending journey just to get to the next day. But it will come if we stay steadfast in our commitment to ourselves and others. We will see the light of a new much brighter day.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

February 1, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #14-Impatience, The Failure Of Exercising Patience

Good Things Come To Those That Wait.

Or at least that’s how the saying goes. I think it should be good things come to those who are proactive but exercise the patience to see things through to the end. Also their are many things that may seem impatient but are simply elevated pro-activity. An early deadline on a project for instance. Is just a chance to get more creative with your time. To prioritize your days for the most efficiency. It’s productivity without compromising patience. What I’m talking about is that hastened feeling. That urge to push when everyone one else is pulling. The need to get ahead of everyone else, at the expense of everyone else.

Think back on the many arguments you may have had, or the accidents you may have gotten into, or the flat out fights you’ve provoked with friends, coworkers, or spouses. Think of how many were caused by a lack of patience. That red light we just have to make. The line we feel we need to cut in front of. That child we yelled at. The friend you chastise for always being late. How many impatient incidents, that inevitably lead to animosity, or at worse, personal harm, could have been avoided? What if we just took a step back, took a deep breath and exercised a little patience? I understand it’s often hard to do in the heat of the moment but if we keep in mind how easy situations can escalate and get out of hand. No hasty time saving measure is ever worth the loss.

Patience necessitates growth, both physically and mentally. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We must understand that when we’re trying to build something new, or get in shape and heal our bodies, or build that new business we have been dreaming of building. None of it will reach the full potential in a day. The Acorn doesn’t become the oak over night. Neither will your goals and dreams, or your body, or your business. We must exercise patience, continue to be proactive and see things through. Good things will come to those that put in the effort.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 31, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #13-Watching The State Of The Union Speech

Why Even Watch? There’s Two Sides To This Coin, Neither All That Positive.

Hogwash, far be it from me to believe that their isn’t much conviction in the words spoken in these addresses. And when their is, it’s not usually shining the most positive light. So what do I do, I attempt to avoid it. But when all the major news outlets are report on one thing, you tend to take notice. Politics have always a been very sensitive subject. You can find fault in nearly every argument and at the same time find ways to support that very same argument. It’s exactly what divides us and at the same time it’s the same thing that brings others together. It’s a complete contradiction. And if your the lucky few to find value in both ways of thinking then you ahead of the rest.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald once stated, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” As many see voters that hold opposing views from their own, as having less intelligence. I would argue most of us do not display this first rate of intelligence at all, especially in this field. So we allow the conflict within us to take hold. We hear the, “he wants to build a wall,” and anger, anxiety grow in some. Others hear that and say, “he wants to protect American jobs.” Some may see positives, some may see negatives, some may just lose the ability to function altogether. It’s stressful and hopeless, and it’s hopeful and empowering. The contradictions cease to end there.

So instead of battling this inner turmoil. Turn off the television. Take a step back. Don’t let it effect you. Take that would be wasted time and put in into something of a higher value. Enjoy time with the family, find ways to make others around you lives a little better. Everyone has there own plight. Help others find hope and empowerment and you’ll be so much more happier when you do.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 30, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #12-I am Blowing It

Me, The Author, I Am Consistently Blowing It.

That’s what life and growth is all about, an endless run in with failures, that you learn and grow from. With each new post I’m blowing it. Some of my writing may be profound, but most will be perfunctory. Many articles will come off sounding pretentious. How can they not? I’m sitting here on my metaphorical high horse passing judgement in all forms. I’ll have punctuation errors, grammar errors, typos, run on sentences, etc. Many will disagree with my views and that’s great too. If you disagree with my views or just want to correct my writing please log on and write comments. Or better yet tell us your stories in the forum section of this website. Right now I’m blowing it with marketing. But I’ll continue to learn new methods and continue to get better. Before I was blowing it trying to make this website. I think it’s good but it could be substantially better.

I’ve failed at every single relationship I ever had. But I learned from each and everyone of them, and I grew in the process. I’m so very thankful for all of those failures because without them I probably wouldn’t have met my wonderful, amazing wife. Another relationship that I fail at from time to time but I work to get better, so I can blow it less and less as we grow together. I’ve failed throughout school, I’ve blown it on many sports teams. I’m sure if you talk to some of my past employers, they could vouch for many more blunders along my journey. I have left a beautiful trail of failures all of over this magnificent globe of ours. And I’m so very proud of that.

For the longest time I thought it was something to avoid. Failure was a bad word. Some how we all just magically become successful and there is no hurdles or stumbling along the way. No one ever could possibly just fall flat out on their face. That line of thinking is just simply wrong. We’re going to have mishaps and misfortunes. So I began to embrace my errors and my follies. I built this website as my homage to failure. Because somewhere on your journey you’ll hit a keystone failure and the trajectory of your life will be changed forever. What you choose to do with that failure could make or break you. Don’t let it be the latter.

Here is the best part, we get to learn from our mistakes to become better then we were. Or better yet we can take the fast track and learn from others mistakes. That’s what the blowing it forum is for. I will continue to fail, and I will continue to learn and try new things. Through all my failures, I’ll just keep pushing on. Until one day it may click, and my failures become less prevalent and I actually become proficient in a new skill. Or finally master an old one. That’s just how it works. And here’s the beauty of mastery, a master still gets to fail from time to time. Their is no such thing as perfection. Which means we will always be left with room to grow. So embrace the failures because the only true failure is never trying.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 29, 2018April 25, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #11-Cambodia Blowing It By Arresting Travelers For Dancing

5 Brits Arrested For Inappropriate Dancing.

I’m not much of a dancer myself so if I were to ever visit Cambodia, I don’t think I’d be much at risk of imprisonment. Maybe this is a marketing ploy to reduce tourism to the country. That’s the best answer I can come up with. I understand everyone has their own cultures and rules they abide by. But many forms of dancing are close and intimate by nature. Cambodia should just have an all out ban on dancing and make travelers very aware of this rule. With signs everywhere. This seems as if it could be a poor sequel to the classic 80’s hit Footloose.

Now these kids are facing up to a year in a Cambodian jail. A jail with all kinds of convicts. And British kids who will be completely lost in translation. This could ruin these kids lives and at worst, end it. Who knows what could happen in a Cambodian jail cell. All because a couple of kids wanted to travel the world and have a little fun while doing it. I get it, if you’re fully in the act of coitus on the middle of a dance floor. That could be deserving of a punishment but I still don’t believe one as harsh as a year in prison. Maybe give them a fine and a boot from the country but not imprisonment. I just feel it’s an extreme measure for a very common act. The punishment just doesn’t fit the “crime.

However, I don’t make the rules and that’s always a risk you take when you travel to other countries. I think the lesson here is before you travel. Learn as much as you possibly can about the culture and customs and the country you’re visiting. And be completely respectful of their rules and way of life. We may not always agree with their ways but if you can’t respect them, you may not want to travel.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 28, 2018April 24, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #10-Aging, Trying Not To Blow It While We Age.

We All Do It, Others Do It Better Than Some.

It was recently announced that the founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kompard passed away at the ripe old age of 91. This was a very successful man right up until his passing. Few see that kind of success in life, yet it’s some thing we should all strive for. To leave our mark on the world or leave those closest to us better off for just knowing us. All to often we slog our way through life doing just enough to get us to the end of the day or the weekend, where we can relax or play for a few hours. Then go back to grind it out again. And we do this day in and day out for most of our lives.

When you’re young aging is so much of an afterthought you never really notice that anyone around you is doing it. Especially yourself, you never take into account your own mortality. In fact you think quite the opposite. That you just might be immortal. However the end comes for us all. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich and famous or poor and destitute. The average life expectancy in America right now is 78 years old. That means most of us will hit our half way point in our 30’s. How crazy is that? 30’s being midlife? That is if you live to the average. On top of that there are so many ways we tend to speed up this process. With poor diets, sedentary lifestyles, drinking and drug use, living without purpose or meaning, etc. All these things can contribute to a shorter less fulfilling life.

What can we do to stem the tide? Well we can start by taking daily action towards a better tomorrow. First within ourselves. We can exercise, start eating right, love ourselves, take care of the one mortal body we were given. As we take care of ourselves, we can than start to look outward for ways to make the lives of those around us better, and to take action to make it happen. And when we do that, deliberately, consciously, and consistently enough. We build a positive and lasting legacy around us. One that created a better world in it’s wake. And here my friend is the secret to immortality, legacies never die.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 27, 2018April 24, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #9-How High End Smart Phones Are Blowing It.

High End Smartphone Makers Alike Have Failed Us In Many Ways.

Smart phones have changed nearly every facet of life for almost of us, over the past decade. In some ways for the better, but in many more for the worse. Never before have we willing carried devices that can track our every moves. It constantly collects data of when you eat, when you sleep, when you workout, your heart rate, what movie genres you prefer, personal private photos you take. The list goes on and on.

We now have a device that allows absolutely anyone to get a hold of us anytime of day. So we’re never truly off the clock as long as our email can prompt us 24/7. And with each new shiny app we download, we invite a new wolf into the hen house. We are required to give up all of our personal data in order to post selfies of ourselves on this social media platform or check if our coworker had their baby on that social platform. We go on telling ourselves lies, that these corporations we tell our deepest darkest secrets too, have only our best interest in mind. So we pull up our search engines on our phones and we type in our inadequacies or our health concerns. And it just becomes more data about us collected for future reference.

So what do we pay for such a service? In the U.S. we have two major phone makers. With such limited competition in the market. Our duopoly gets to dictate the price. And the price they have set is over $1,000 for a phone. Maybe if the phone came out in 1989 but this is 2018. Not to mention you no longer get to own your phone, you now must lease it from your carrier. which is a massive failure in my eyes, but a conversation for another day.

There is a well know law in the technology field called Moore’s Law. It observes that processing power of computers will double every two years while continually driving down the price. So in theory our phones should be getting cheaper. I will mention their is a antithesis to this law, called Rocks Law. It observes that the technology would reach a saturation point. Maybe we have reached that saturation point in the smart phone market. What other reason could their be that would require us to pay such exorbitant prices for a new phone. Nearly triple of what we paid for past phone models with only a handful of new features. My solution for the short term might just be an inexpensive unlocked smartphone. In the long term, I think it might be high time to upend this market. It seems ripe for disruption.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 26, 2018April 24, 2018

Blowing it Scenario #8-World Economic Forum

It’s A Failure To Have A Few Wealthy Individuals Wax Intellectual About Economics Without Hearing The Plight Of The Common Man.

Every year the top business people and those in banking and government get together in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the economics of the day. I do believe in some form or another that it is very necessary to discuss such issues. Cooperation between world powers is essential for peace. One of the crucial elements I do believe they often miss, is the will of the people. I could be wrong. How am I to know exactly what is discussed. I have yet to be invited to such events.

However when the media discusses the world economic forum. They discuss the future plans, and it usually involves ideas to throw more money at this issue or that issue. The major failure of this increased money supply that the wealthy most likely understand but do it anyway. More money complicates matters for those with less of it, but it enriches when you hold all the cards. In Pareto’s Law it describes this economic principle, that 80% of the wealth will be in the hands of only 20% of the masses. Sometimes the numbers are skewed heavier in one favor then the other but they theory holds up across all industries. So when an abundance of money flows to a particular area of the economy. By law 80% of that money will flow to 20% of that particular industry. And when you have those 20% dictating where that money will be spent, it creates a self serving world economy where the wealthy will never part with any of there share. And the less fortunate receive less and less, if anything at all. It seems the outsider looking in that the goal of this event is to gain more for those few.

In order to keep up those 20% individuals and businesses, who have 80% of the wealth (it’s probably now closer to 90/10 now). The everyday working class citizen must borrow more and more just to keep up with the rising sea of money that flows in to every area of life. Rent increases, gas price increases, food cost increases, mortgage increases and on and on. And speaking of mortgage increases, the wealthy beyond there wildest dream banks, who almost collapsed the economy with their risky bets. Banks now make you pay their insurance bill, on the money they risked to loan you, for your house mortgage. They literally make you pay there insurance bill. Which insurance is just another investment arm, so they take that money and pump it back into industries they want to grow. And the cycle continues, enriching a few and perpetually increasing the cost of goods and living expenses. Mind you when you pay your banks insurance bill, that doesn’t go to paying down the principle on the house you “own” or raising your station in life. That is just money you willing give to the bank to because you have to foot the bill for there risky past failures. So I guess the lesson here again is, either get rich or hope that elite class starts letting you into the party. I believe the former will be far easier then the latter.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.

January 25, 2018April 24, 2018

Blowing It Scenario #7-Cryptocurrency Investors

Or Should I Say Cryptocurrency Gamblers. Are They Blowing It?

I’m no Oracle Of Omaha nor do I carry the Principles of a Ray Dalio. However many can see the underlying failures of the cryptocurrency market. I believe it was Joesph Kennedy who once quipped in the years follow the great depression, “when the paper boy starts giving you stock tips, you know it’s time to get out of the market.” Now a days, I think, “when your mom starts asking you about cryptocurrency, you know change is coming.”

I do believe in the concept and I think it’s wonderful we’re challenging the status quo. However history is riddled with currency failures. Prior to centralized banking, fraud in the money markets was rampant. Not that that is a perfect system by any means but it has survived the test of time and as long as governments stick to central banks there will never be official competition. Even if the competition continues to grow market share. The markets will just do what they have always done. They’ll inundate it with more competition, and if that doesn’t work they’ll water it down with paper claims to your cryptocurrency “data.”

Let’s be honest, that is what this is. Just some data on a ledger on a computer server created out of nothing. Sure you can you use it to trade goods and it has created a new market but if your not using it in that subterranean market and you own some Bitcoins, Lite coins,Ripple, Etherum, Cardano, Stellar, Etc. There now are over a thousand crytocurrencies available for purchase (as you can see the market it already saturated). Cryptocurrencies in which you usually purchase with those pesky centralized fiat currency dollars. And if you own any one of the thousands and are not using them to buy your tax free goods, then you are just gambling. Which is fun to do from time to time, just remember the house always wins. You may experiences gains one day and horrific falls the next. If you enjoy that, have fun, ride the wave. If you’re only in it to try to make money, I recommend you invest in an appreciating asset. One that creates quality products that adds value to the world. Again, I’m no great investor like Warren Buffett. But when a man as successful as he has been, derides your cryptocurrency invest plan, you just may want to heed his advice.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here.