Found On The Road To Yosemite!

My wife and I drove to Yosemite and stopped the night in Mammoth so we could have a shorter drive the next morning and enter the park from the north. She considers the “top” entrance a feast for the eyes. I’ll share more in a future post.

We both enjoyed a radio station from Mammoth that I would call a feast for the ears!

I hope you like it.

Here’s KMMT:

Listen To KMMT Now!

The New Phonebook’s Here!

In case you’re interested, the title of this post is a classic bizarre line from what is now a classic comedy movie.

Once upon a time in a life far, far away I saw that absurdly funny comedy, The Jerk, several times. So many times that I won’t say. In fact, I’m fairly sure that I have viewed The Jerk more than any other movie, including my favorites, Lawrence of Arabia, Groundhog Day & Lord of the Rings.

The new newsletter is here!

Issue #2 of Neighborly Suggestions – The World’s Smallest Newsletter has arrived!

I finally picked up my package at Aloha Printing late yesterday afternoon.

If you live in my neighborhood I’ll be knocking on your door soon. Literally. Take a look!

Neighborly Suggestions #2

Hit The Gym Before I’m Stranded

My wife and I just got back from a great workout at L.A. Fitness. We both had our new fat-burning bar before we left and I just had some electrolyte drink before I sat down to write. Later my wife and son will take both cars and I’ll be “stranded”.

So today I decided to do it right and I weighed myself before my 55 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Wow. 287.

We all have to start somewhere.

I got into a conversation with Bruce, a retired coach, who has been following the same regimen for 11 months. He looks to be in great shape and I wondered if he was in the military or retired from it. He definitely has short hair and is soft-spoken. I told him I thought maybe he was a colonel.

We’ll probably talk again as my guess is he’s a regular and I’ll be soon.

Yesterday I was reading about adenosine and the human body. It’s pretty amazing what some people have discovered. I think a lot of people can’t relate to what it takes to make these kinds of breakthroughs. I’m going to reread the material, but I think the professor who came up with this fat-burning bar spent 17 years developing it.

If you’re an average, non-academic person you probably haven’t heard of stuff like this or you’re skeptical.

But, how many of us have spent that long trying to figure something out? And I don’t mean marriage or parenthood or faith. I mean concentrated effort for a very long time to figure out how humans burn fat or create heat in certain conditions and whether or not we can alter that in a safe way.

That’s some serious science. This isn’t sociology (No offense, Kraig and others.)

How the human body works in specific areas has been something of a mystery to me. Probably to you, too.

Many of us have had biology and know about cells and getting Vitamin D from the sun (though I had to look it up to make sure I had the right vitamin – I didn’t) and information along those lines. When you get too specific I couldn’t tell you very much about vitamins and minerals except what others have told me. And then you have to stop and think, “Are they right?”

Look what I found in Wikipedia (Bear with me as I trust it in this case) – Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate.

I don’t know what a secosteroid is but I can look it up. I don’t think that’s the most important thing here, though.

I really enjoy when I found out what something DOES and HOW it works.

Vitamin D is responsible for intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate. (Yes. I will look it up somewhere else to be sure at some point.)

So what does this have to do with the bar my wife and I ate before we worked out today?

I’m still learning, but by consuming the fat-burning bar we started our body burning the calories in the bar and then we started burning fat earlier than our bodies would have otherwise.

Apparently, it also lessens the “burn” from the workout.

I know that this is just the first time and I’m sure some or a lot of it was water, but I weighed myself after my workout with the same stuff in my pockets on the same scale in the men’s locker room and I weighed 284. 55 minute workout. 3 pounds DOWN! I’m pretty sure the ingredients are pure stuff, too.

I even like the taste!

Hopefully, Bruce and I (and you?) will compare our progress as time goes by. It’s too soon to tell, but maybe, just maybe, we might develop some little bit of community or neighborhood.

I believe it’s ok for me to say, “I’m lovin’ it!” even though I have only rarely eaten at that iconic place for decades.

Oh, yeah.

Contact me if you want to burn more fat faster. My phone number is on my Facebook public figure page and there’s a huge link down the right side of this blog.

Creative Community In Las Vegas

I just found this article from the New York Times Magazine late last year. People are intentionally building better communities and neighborhoods all over the world. Creative change in a neighborhood, community, city or county make take many different forms.

Tony Hsieh (pronounced SHAY), CEO of Zappos, is the driving force behind changing a community in Las Vegas. Read about it here.

Organic Quinoa & Brown Rice With Garlic

Costco has a great deal. Today I tried their Seeds of Change brand Quinoa & Brown Rice and I loved it. I added some pistachios, but next time I’ll try it all by itself.

Six packages for $10.99 and it is yummy. Each package is 480 calories which is two servings. Or eat the whole thing because 480 calories is reasonable for one meal. So the price per package is $1.83. And it’s organic!

Quality at a great price. And, no, this isn’t an advertisement. I just want to let you know about some great deals every so often. Quinoa & Brown Rice from Costco is officially Charlie-approved!

Meeting Uncommon Katie Anderson

One of the neat things about blogging is that almost inevitably you come into contact with other bloggers because you notice their blog or vice-versa. People who like to write are usually people who enjoy conversation as well.

Because I like to meet people and converse face-to-face when possible, I called up a fellow blogger who noticed Nuts & Bolts Neighborhoods
[ that’s the name of this blog, if you’re counting ;-) ] and who “liked” a post or two. Katie Q. Anderson is a real estate agent and a mom in addition to being the blogger behind KatieQUncommonSense.com.

We met today at a Starbucks in Rancho Bernardo and got to know each other.

Besides simply talking with people, I enjoy networking. I’ve been pretty good at it since at least the late ’80s and I have learned highly effective and focused methods starting in 2000. So I’ve met a lot of people over the years in order to mutually benefit our respective business ventures, enterprises, projects or goals.

With all this networking experience under my belt I can honestly say that Katie is one of the most thoughtful and organized people I have met. I’m not going to go on and on with how pleasant she is to deal with or how I felt like she was really listening to me or being patient with my less than linear thought processes. She’s professional and gets so much done that if I stop to think about it I’ll feel like a slacker.

Let me just share the following:

If you have ever wondered if your real estate person didn’t have anyone to help them help you:

Call Katie Instead.

If you have ever wondered if your real estate person could really relate to you:

Call Katie Instead.

If you have ever wondered if your real estate person cared about your needs enough to go the extra mile like taking the time to create a more effective presentation of your house:

Call Katie Instead.

If you have ever wondered if your real estate person really cared about your goals or made you a priority, then next time you should:

Call Katie Instead.

If you have ever wondered if your real estate person who seemed like a really nice person was perhaps too overwhelmed to do their best for you:

Call Katie Instead.

You get the picture.

Katie is one of those nice, professional, highly skilled and highly effective people that Jim Rohn talked about when he was alive.

She has inspired me to share the following quote for the second time in a month.

—
Good people are found, not changed.
Recently, I read a headline that said,
“We don’t teach our people to be nice. We simply hire nice people.”

Wow! What a clever short cut.

Jim Rohn
—

Take a shortcut by calling Katie or check out her blog to meet the decidedly Uncommon Katie (Q.) Anderson today!

Walkable And Livable Communities Institute

The WALC Institute’s mission is to inspire, teach, connect and support communities in their efforts to improve health and well-being through better built environments.

I received what you see below in my email a few minutes ago – check out the website – MIDNIGHT is the deadline – WalkLive.org

Donate before midnight to have your contribution “stretched” by the Seattle Foundation and other sponsors!
Today’s the day! The Seattle Foundation’s nonprofit GiveBIG fundraiser lasts until midnight Pacific time.

We hope you’ll consider making a donation to support our Walkable Community Help Desk. We provide this service to communities for free and we rely on support from people like you to make the Help Desk possible!

Please tell your friends, share with your colleagues, and join us today for our largest fundraising effort to date. Any donation helps, whether large or small.

Visit our website for more information, and check our Facebook page today for fundraiser updates. Have a question of your own for the Walkable Community Help Desk? Email us any time.