ainslies.org

I am overwhelmed. Despite my attempts to minimize my interactions with internet trolls, avoid most news and modulate my exposure to Trump and his cohorts, whenever I’m online or listening to podcasts, I am barraged with bad news, doom predictions, and dystopian forecasts. I’d blame Trump & team for at least 75% of it. The…

My neighbor was going out of town for a few days and asked if I could keep an eye out for a package that might be delivered while she was away. Of course, I said yes. When it arrived a few days later, I sent her a text to let her know I had it…

I’ve noticed that there are reviews for nearly everything online: restaurants, retail stores, cars, food, services and anything else you could imagine spending money on. I also notice on Reddit, that more the half the posts are requests for opinions of restaurants, best pizza, hair dressers, doctors, contractors, gyms, daycares, etc. it’s a bit much….

Temperatures dropped his week into the 40s in the wee hours of the morning when I walk the dogs. Despite putting on my cold weather gear, I was still shivering both inside the house and outside. After being here for 6 years, you’d think I’d be used to it. Apparently I’m not. Instead, I rationalize…

I had several ideas for posts swirling around in my head recently that were on my list to write. They covered: long term “illegal” residents of the US who were detained, lifestyle/financial coach hucksters, and a couple of deeply personal subjects about marriage and family. As I started writing, I realized that I have already…

As I’ve noted before, I wake up in the early hours of the morning and take the dogs for their first walk several hours before the sun rises. It’s on one my favorite times of the day. It is dark. It’s quiet. There’s very few other people outside other than my 4:30 AM girlfriend, an…

Yesterday after I gave in to a craving for chocolate and nuts. I picked up sugar-free Lily’s chocolate, a jar of dry roasted peanuts, a bag of roasted almonds and 2 bananas from the grocery store for a gorge fest. It was delicious – except for the almonds which were somewhat meh. An hour later,…

When I was younger I had friends who would righteously step out in front of moving cars at intersections while proclaiming “The law says drivers must yield to pedestrians.” I knew others who would brake check people who were tailgating them saying, “They’re legally responsible if they hit me.” It seemed to so obvious to…

Last February, I made a decision to eat less so I could lose the weight I had gained over the previous 2 years. It worked, as I detailed here. Since then, I continued to eat a little less and measure my volume of food vs. eating mindlessly while watching Netflix. I sleep better now because…

Sometime during my late 40s, after 22 years, I stopped lifting weights. During the previous 5 years, I had transitioned from a typical bodybuilding routine to a routine based on functional exercises including TRX, kettlebells, sled dragging, bodyweight, medicine balls, rings, plyometrics, climbing, sprinting, etc. THis type of training was a lot of fun for…