Steve Holden's Blog

Bursting My Balloon - Reflecting On Today's Realties

Image Source: VoodooHammer on DEVIANTART

Here are some post-election podcasts that I've listened to recently. They offer intellectually stimulating perspectives on the 2024 Election.

I still need to re-listen to them and make some notes.

Podcast #1 --

Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next: After a dramatic election, Donald Trump has returned from exile. We hear what to expect at home and abroad — and what to do if you didn’t vote for Trump.

• Host Stephen Dubner (Wikipedia) @ Freakonomics
• Fareed Zakaria
• Age Of Revolutions (Amazon)

Podcast #2 --

Election Analysis From Down Under: Looking for a fresh point of view on the recent U.S. presidential election, Cal Fussman reaches out to his Australian friend, Holly Ransom, who gives leadership conferences around the world as the CEO of Emergent Global. Richard Branson nominated Holly for Wired Magazine’s Smart List of Future Game Changers to Watch in 2017. And you’ll hear why when you listen to this podcast. Bonus: A lot of leadership takeaways!

Podcast #3 --

Tania Israel: The Science of Political Unity on Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Podcast

• Tania Israel
• McConnell's Ice Cream
• AllSides.com
• Beyond Your Bubble

Podcast #4 --

David Farrier's Flightless Bird podcast Election Night

• It's OK to Feel Shitty
• Feedback: [email protected]

Podcast #5 --

Tangible's Never Let Issues Prevent Relationships – Dr. Chad Lakies and President Emeritus Dr. Dale A. Meyer

• "How the Light Shines Through: Resilient Witness in Dark Times" by Chad Lakies (Amazon)

If you have other resources, then please let me know.

Near Real-Time Tracking

You can find out what I'm up to in near real-time via Facebook (sholden) and Instagram (@sholden).

Maybe more on BlueSky (@sdholden.bsky.social).

Less on X/Twitter (@sholden).

While I am not currently as engaged as I have been in the past, these AztecMedia.net produced sites are still out there: Chvrches Fan Podcast (@chvrchespodcast), ThePodCraft Beer Show (@thepodcraft, @techguysteve, Untapped, @techguysteven); Tech News Radio (@technewsradio), Air Gapped Networks (@airgapnet), Jersey Boys Podcast, and Veteran Stories.

... Updated: November 16, 2024 ...

Thoughts & Tips For January 2021

This photo is part of my Nature Collection!

CURRENT HAPPENINGS

Over the past month we have been celebrating outdoors & socially distanced the Holidays, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Best of all is that we continue to be blessed with a hedge of protection with regards to COVID-19 and health in general.

Unfortunately I do have some bad news -- on Saturday morning (December 26) we found out our elderly black lab Kaley escaped our yard, and we have not been able to find her.  We are all very concerned and sad.  But we continue to hold out hope she will be found:

SUPER FUN ADVENT CRAFT BEER CALENDAR

Chris and Charlie -- the hosts of ThePodcraft Beer Show -- gave me this awesome customized Advent Calendar filled with twenty-four excellent craft beers:

You can see photos, descriptions, and top 3 list here!

HOLIDAY SCAVENGER HUNT

The NAVWAR Enterprise had a fun virtual scavenger hunt for employees and their families over the weekend of December 18-20, 2020.  The family had a good time working on it.  We didn't finish in the Fastest Top 30, but we got everything done!

TECHNOLOGY, TIPS, & SUGGESTIONS

If you are looking for a great coffee mug, tea kettle, desk/garden creatures, or unique stickers/t-shirts/etc. then check out Skeletal Dropkick!  I am enjoying my new Bear Mug, and custom D&D stickers!  I also got an original custom drawing on my box! FUN!

If you are doing "family" tech support for folks on multiple platforms, then check out the free Chrome Remote Desktop tool from Google.  It works cross platform, and also works on Chromebooks.  I personally use this nearly on a daily basis to get from my Chromebook to my Windows 10 PC for Windows-based activities.

This site puts some things in perspective on what has changed since you were born - https://neal.fun/life-stats/. It includes a lot of positive data, and not so much on data that might be controversial, but definitive worth trying out.

This great calendar visualization of 2021 continuous year from Kairos Cognition (a productivity consulting & consulting firm associated with David Allen's Getting Things Done) inspired me to create my own version in Google Docs which I published in PDF.  This is what mine looks like:

In discussing this continuous year calendar on the GTD Connect forms, a fellow member shared his own horizontal version.  I copied it (PDF) and here is what it looks like:

QUOTE I'M THINKING ABOUT

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” — George Carlin

2020 Christmas Advent Craft Beer Calendar

I got the following Christmas Advent Craft Beer Calendar from Chris & Charlie who host ThePodCraft Beer Show (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook):Craft Beer #1:

"Centre" (Imperial India Pale Ale (IPA)) [untapped] from Other Half 

Craft Beer #2:

"Motueka Daydream" (Oak Cream New England-style IPA) [untapped] from Other Half

Craft Beer #3:

"Tropic Of Thunder" (Lager) [untapped] from Stone Brewing

Craft Beer #4:

"Yodale" (Coconut Lager) [untapped] from Creative Creature

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

Craft Beer #5:

"Lilikoi Sour" (Sour Ale) [untapped] from Harland Brewing

Craft Beer #6:

"Dort" (Dortmunder-style Lager) [untapped] from Modern Times

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

Craft Beer #7:

"Circle Of Hops" (San Diego Pale Ale) [untapped] from Burning Beard

Craft Beer #8:

"BCN Fog" (Double Dry Hopped Bi-Coastal Double IPA) [untapped] from Humble Sea

Craft Beer #9:

"Pseudo Sue" (Pale Ale) [untapped] from Toppling Goliath

Craft Beer #10:

"Tree Hugger" (Tart Ale with tropical dragon fruit, passion fruit, and coconut) [untapped] from Great Notion with Pure Project

Craft Beer #11:

"The Pupil" (IPA) [untapped] from Societe Brewing Company

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

Craft Beer #12:

"Autumn Gold" (Murky IPA) [untapped] from Pure Project

Craft Beer #13:

"Smacker's Mango Passionfruit" (Fruited Sour Ale) [untapped] from Creative Creature

Craft Beer #14:

"Covington" (American Pilsner) [untapped] from North Park Brewing Co.

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

Craft Beer #15:

"H-C (Hecto-Cooler)" (Fruited Imperial Sour Ale) [untapped] from Creative Creature

Craft Beer #16:

"Fingers Of Gold" (Murky IPA) [untapped] from Pure Project

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

Craft Beer #17:

"Where Vultures Fare" (German-Style Pilsner) [untapped] from Burning Beard

Craft Beer #18:

"Blueberry vs. Lime" (Sour Smoothie Ale) [untapped] from Creative Creature

Craft Beer #19:

"Bluemeboshi" (Imperial Sour Ale with salted plum & blueberries) [untapped] from Pure Project

Craft Beer #20:

"SuperFun!" (Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale) [untapped] from Other Half

Craft Beer #21:

"Reality Maze" (Imperial Stout with Coconut & Vanilla) [untapped] from Modern Times

Craft Beer #22:

"Passion Pool" (Gose Style Ale with passionfruit & sea salt) [untapped] from MKSD (Mikkeller San Diego)

Craft Beer #23:

"Strata Rocket" (Wet Hopped West Coast IPA) [untapped] from North Park Beer Co.

Craft Beer #24:

"Larry's Latest" (Sour Ale) [untapped] from Bell's Brewery

Customized glass from Glass To Mouth

My favorite top three beers from this year's advent calendar:

1. "H-C (Hecto-Cooler)" (Fruited Imperial Sour Ale) [untapped] from Creative Creature
2. "BCN Fog" (Double Dry Hopped Bi-Coastal Double IPA) [untapped] from Humble Sea
3. "Motueka Daydream" (Oak Cream New England-style IPA) [untapped] from Other Half

Some Interest Craft Beer Links To Check Out From The Random Show

I was recently catching up on some podcasts, and this Random Show with Kevin Rose and Tim Ferris was very interesting.  I usually don't miss them when they happen.

This one got really interesting about half-way through when Kevin started talking about really good craft beers. In the area of COVID-19 he has been trying to drink more really good craft beers.  Over the last seven weeks my level of interest in craft beer in general as gone up because I've been helping Chris & Charlie with their The PodCraft Beer show.  In addition my palate has started to change from very IPA focused, to also enjoying a stout or a mild sour, and definitely fruit beers. Here are some of the links that Kevin mentioned that I studied after listening:

• Top Rated Beers on Beer Advocate
• Toppling Goliath Brewing Company's Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout
• My Beer Collectables (for 3rd-party craft beer sales)
• Russian River's Pliny The Elder (Double IPA)
• Toppling Goliath Brewing Company's SR-71 (very rare)
• Tree House Brewing's Julius IPA

If you are interesting in learning more about craft beers, then check out this guide that Chris from ThePodCraft recommends.

Thoughts & Tips For September 2020

Photo by Steve Holden. MORE LIKE THIS!

CURRENT EVENTS

No big change for us on the COVD-19 front.  We continue to be vigilant and focused: #wear_a_mask; #wash_your_hands, #social_distance, and #stay_home_if_sick.  The good news is that Christy's school as been able to go back to teaching kids in person with a host of safe guards which is a blessing and an answer to prayer.

Tour de France 2020. Who doesn't want to watch 4 to 5 hours nearly every day during September seeing some of the best athletes in the world do what most people would consider completely impossible? I am all in. I am watching via NBC Sports via YouTube TV.

My candidate for President of the United States in 2020 is Jo Jorgensen (#letherspeak, #letherdebate). While I don't agree with everything she is advocating, she is in my humble opinion the best option for a President Of The United States who believes in and will fight for:

• right to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness
• right to keep & bear arms
• right to live where you choose & how you chose
• right to privacy
• right to worship how, when, & where you choose
• right to be treated equally under the law

OTHER THINGS THAT ARE GOING WELL

• The PodCraft Beer Show just had episode 7 and next week is episode 8. I have had some super spectacular craft beers that have blown my palette away.  As a craft beer fan I have actually realized how much I've missed by not paying attention to the special releases that many breweries do and I had no clue how amazing they are.
• I am still playing D&D every week or so with friends from high school.  It is frankly one of the best unattended consequences of COVID-19 for me.
• I am still loving my water-proof MP3 player -- AfterShokz Black Diamond Xtrainerz.
• We were able to camp at San Elijo State Beach in August which was awesome ...

EXPERIMENTING WITH MEDITATION

The book "10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works"
By: Dan Harris (#meditation) got me to do a little experiment over the last month since finishing the book. I've been doing five minutes of unguided meditation using the Apple iOS app Oak from Kevin Rose before I stretch in the morning.  Nothing bad has happened (Ha Ha!) I actually now think a little "mind exercise" is a good thing. My monkey mind is strong! More updates as time goes on.

If you are interested in guided meditations, then the only examples I've had experience with are Mike Foster's Guided Meditations. The Oak app has them but I haven't used them before.

TECHNOLOGY, TIPS, & SUGGESTIONS

I have just started using this new Google Chrome browser feature for organizing tabs.  So far it is an awesome new feature.

This what I've been listening to on Audible (you can try Audible for free for 30-days and get two free books if you want). Over the last month:

• "The Lions of Lucerne" by Brad Thor [Book #1 of The Scot Harvath Series] #fun
• "Path of the Assassin" by Brad Thor [Book #2 of The Scot Harvath Series] #fun
• "State of the Union" by Brad Thor [Book #3 of The Scot Harvath Series] #fun
• "Accelerate: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations" by Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, & Gene Kim #work

I am currently doing all my Audible listening on my cell phone Samsung Galaxy S10+.

I also managed to finish a few Kindle books (I am currently using a Kindle Paperwhite for nearly all my reading):

• "The David Rivers Series: Books 1-3 -- Greatest Enemy, Offer of Revenge & Dark Redemption" by Jason Kasper
• "Scars: John Dempsey Novella" by Brian Andrews & Jeffery Wilson #fun
• "American Operator" by Brian Andrews & Jeffery Wilson [Tier One #4] #fun
• "Red Spector" by Brian Andrews & Jeffery Wilson [Tier One #5] #fun

One of my "newer" (I've heard in the past that this isn't a word, but I still use it all the time) favorite bands is Lo Moon.  They opened last year for several shows that the CHVRCHES did, and I'm super impressed with them.  I recently bought their album Lo Moon on Amazon so I could load the MP3s on my AfterShokz Black Diamond Xtrainerz  as I really wanted to listen to them while swimming.  Other specific albums I listen to frequently while swimming are: CHVRCHES (Bones of What You Believe, Every Open Eye, Love Is Dead) and Maggie Rogers (Heard It In A Past Life).  I will also drag a lot of 80s New Wave to a folder for 'random' mode listening.

Def Con (the yearly hacker conference I've been going to since #18) was completely virtual this year.  A ton of solid cybersecurity content is readily available if you are interested.

QUOTE I'M THINKING ABOUT

"We are what we repeatedly do, therefore, excellence is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

Thoughts & Tips for August 2020

Photo by Steve Holden. MORE LIKE THIS!

CURRENT EVENTS

We are still health on the COVD-19 front.  We continue to be vigilant and focused: #wear_a_mask; #wash_your_hands, #social_distance, and #stay_home_if_sick.

HELPING LAUNCH A NEW PODCAST

Two friends Chris & Charlie have started a new podcast about craft beer with my help. You may think I know a lot about beer, but they know a ton more than I do. I learn something new everytime we record a show. The PodCraft Beer Show is currently at episode two, and the third episode should be out on August 3, 2020. I am primarily focused on audio recording, production, editing, and digital distribution.  In addition, I am also helping in setting up some of the services for website development, social media, and other backend stuff. Lots of fun!

TECHNOLOGY AND TIPS

With over a month of almost daily hands-on testing, I am now a big fan of the AfterShokz Black Diamond Xtrainerz. The bone conducting technology does take a little bit of time to get use to, but once I did, I like not having the headphone part in my ear even with the great headphones I had before. The Xtrainerz is a pretty straight forward MP3 player, basically you load files into folders and you can play the folder in order or shuffle them.  At the top level you can also shuffle or play the folders in order.  All in all I recommend them if you are swimming a lot, and want to listen to music while you swim.

When I am not swimming, I have been listening to more Audible lately than podcasts.  My main focus is plowing through books that I bought in the past, but have never listened to. You can try Audible for free for 30-days and get two free books if you want. Over the last month:

• "The 3-Day Effect" by Florence Williams (#get_out_in_nature)
• "10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works"
  By: Dan Harris (#meditation)
• "How Music Works" by David Byrne (#facinating)
• "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg [2nd time] (#potentially_life_changing)
• "The Lions of Lucerne" by Brad Thor [in-progress](#fun)

D&D

My Halfling Fighter In 3D!

Dungeons & Dragons continues to be a great new hobby (my personal blessing from CV-19), and it is awesome to be playing with friends from high school on a regular basis. The main physical books that I bought were the: DM Guide, Player Guide, Monster Manual, and DM Screen.  The tools we are using to play online include: Zoom/Discord (for video collaboration), Beyond D&D, (for character sheets & DM resources), and Roll20 (for sharing maps, combat, etc).  Two of my favorite mapping tools are: Inkarnate (for world, geographic, city, and town mapping) and Dungeon Scrawl (for dungeons, buildings, combat level maps, etc).  If you want a demo, then let me know.

OTHER TOPICS

• My in-person David Allen Getting Things Done (GTD) classes at work for August and September are still technically on the calendar, but I'm not confident I'll be able teach them with us still being on maximum telework. I am starting to scope out a Virtual GTD Training Class using Adobe Connect. (Editorial Opinion: I hope Adobe got the memo that Flash (.swf) is dead.  Just get with the program please.)
• Related to GTD and the above mention of re-reading of "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, I recently took for work the Power Of Habit class from Vital Smarts.  I am still unpacking the training and will report more in the future.
• My music listening has been all over the board recently.  One band that continues to impress me is Lo Moon. I was introduced to them as the opening band for Chvrches in San Diego last fall.  I call them the Talk Talk of today. They are on heavy rotation. Music for the soul.

QUOTE I'M THINKING ABOUT

"The more control you have over your attention, the more control you have over your future." - James Clear

Thoughts & Tips for February 2020

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?

Christy and I had a great weekend trip to Yuma to see one of our favorite 80's cover bands - Checker'd Past.

I made some updates to the Europe 2019 Trip Blog over the Christmas Holidays.

Christmas was awesome. The time off from work was refreshing. I had some pretty good beers!

In early January, we had a great Australian foreign exchange student for a week or so.  We got to do a lot of fun stuff around San Diego while she was here, and eat at all our favorite places.

Our Vietnamese student for the last year has moved on to a place closer to SDSU. It is going to be weird not having a foreign exchange student in our house.

Our church is doing the RED LETTER CHALLENGE (#rlc).  Just finished day 19 of 40. Pretty good study.

I really enjoyed the last Star Wars movie "The Rise of Skywalker." Spencer and I saw it on opening weekend, and then we went back later so I could see it again.

TECHNOLOGY AND TIPS

If you read David Allen's Getting Things Done a while back and are looking for some podcast references to maybe jump start your system, then you might want to check out this blog post I did on the subject.

My home older Dell Windows 10 system has been having some BIOS boot issues so I decided to upgrade to a new system.  Some key tech specs that I was looking as key: boot drive on SSD; more than 8-GB of RAM; and latest generation Intel processor.   I ended up with an Intel i5 processor vs. Intel i7 processor because of a deal at Costco.  The first thing I did was remove the bundled 3rd party software and many of the Microsoft add-ons that I know I didn't want.  It took about 4 hours to get the system stabilized and ready to migrate data and services.

I recently picked up a "Ninety7 JOT Portable Battery Base for Google Home Mini" that enables the Mini to be portable so I can take it outside or into another room.  Very helpful for listening to music or podcasts while at home.

FUTURE STUFF THAT I AM EXCITED ABOUT

• There is a UCSD Triton Sprint Triathlon coming up that I am considering if the weather holds.
• We got more GTD Participant Kits from VitalSmarts at work, so I can go back to teaching a class every other month starting in February or March.  We also go our 2nd Certified Trainer trained so that is going to make my teaching schedule more manageable. 
• The Super Bowl is tomorrow (2/2/2020)!

QUOTE I'M THINKING ABOUT

"People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures." - F.M. Alexander

Recommended Refreshers On Getting Things Done (GTD)

Let's say you just read David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) book (Kindle, Paperback, or Audible) and you wanted a good summary of the overall methodology.

Or maybe you read the book a while back and you want a refresher.

Here is my #1 recommendation -- listen to the following podcasts (in English) from GTD Nordic in the following order:

(1) What is GTD and how will you benefit from it? (23m49s)

(2) Step 1 in GTD: Capture (23m00s)

(3) Step 2 in GTD: Clarify (27m43s)

(4) Step 3 in GTD: Organize (25m11s)

(5) Step 4 in GTD: Reflect (29m11s)

(6) Step 5 in GTD: Engage (24m32s)

For more information about these podcast click on this link!

My #2 recommendation is to consider the new workbook: "The Getting Things Done Workbook: 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity" (Paperback or Kindle) by David Allen & Brandon Hall. It is easy to read, has great exercises, and is well thought out.

You can also ping me via email if you want to discuss anything related to GTD, productivity, etc. Or check out all my posts tagged GTD.

Experiencing Paris, France

When we arrived in Paris (Saturday, June 15th) it was still late mid-day (trip summary). We ended up dropping off our stuff at our hotel (Hôtel de Roubaix) and then started walking toward the Seine . We ultimately made our way to the Eiffel Tower.  We took a ton of photos.

Here is our collection of photos from the Eiffel Tower.

We ended the day eating at Hall S Beer Tavern (pictures) for dinner. We were super hungry, the food was excellent, service was pretty good, and sitting down for an hour or so was much needed.

The next day we headed to the Louvre for a guided tour (highly recommended), and then we had time to walk and see what we wanted.  We did that for about 2 hours. Once we were done at the Louvre (most of the morning) we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe, and Norte Dame.

We had lunch at L'Etoile 1903 near Arc de Triomphe.  The only picture I took was of the beer (I think we were super hungry and just started digging in before a picture could be taken of our food):

The food was good at L'Etoile 1903 and I would recommend eating there again.

After we were finished for the day we ended up eating dinner at Cafe March (photos). We all liked our food and the atmosphere was good. I'd eat there again.

Just before dinner though, I was able to meet up with Rolf Potts (travel writer) for a quick picture. He was in Paris at the same time teaching a class on writing.  I've been listening to Rolf's podcast for some time -- Deviate.  Some of his podcasts actually inspired parts of this trip.

Other pictures from Paris can be found here.

Some other details and thoughts about Paris:

• The French people we met in the stores and restaurants were super helpful and accommodating of our lack of French.
• There are a lot of scooters in Paris.
• Taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower from the other side of the Seine was a great recommendation from our train companion from Brussels to Paris.
• He also recommending going to an "unofficial" memorial for Princes Diana which we did.
• The subway system while we were there was great.
• The train system worked well for us also.
• We probably could have done better on the hotel but we really weren't in the room all that much other than to sleep so any "better" setup would have been lost on us.
• Having Carson leave us early was a bummer but it all worked out in the end.

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