Category: Motivation

You Are The Weapon

Without a doubt, one of my biggest pet peeves in recent years is the growing trend where folks are trying to “debunk” martial arts and “prove” why traditional fighting arts don’t work. Considering the fact that I’ve been studying karate for about 32 years at this point, it stands to reason that it has become more than just a hobby or pastime, and is factually a big part of not only what I do, but who I am. So when I see a post or hear someone who claims “karate wouldn’t work in a real street fight,” it not only gets my blood boiling but I can personally attest to karate being quite effective in both my personal and professional life.

This is not to be mistaken with people who spend their time exposing fake martial artists, the ones who claim to be black belts but are not and who take people’s money in exchange for teaching them a watered down version of their favourite movie fight scene. And there are unfortunately a lot of those. You can search “exposing fake black belts” on YouTube for some pretty awkward examples. But once you start creeping into the realm of “why martial arts don’t work,” you’ve gone too far.

Rather than piss and moan about it like a snowflake, I thought I would take the time to compile a list of the most ignorant yet often repeated comments I’ve heard about the martial arts over the years. Here are my top 5:

  1. Karate doesn’t work: Starting strong, right out of the gate! I’ve heard this comment so many times in the past three decades that it often feels like it’s tattooed on my forehead. The irony is that the comment is usually made by someone who has never studied or trained in the martial arts and doesn’t know any better. But coming from someone who has studied and used it on more occasions than I can count, I can tell you that karate, and martial arts in general does work;
  2. Martial arts isn’t “real” fighting, like MMA: Yeah okay, Kyle! Calm the fuck down and have another Monster energy drink… I’m not a big fan of MMA. Not because it isn’t intensive and hard-hitting, but because of the fact that its called “mixed martial arts.” Although I’ve often written that variety is the spice of life, martial arts still requires you to adhere to only one style in order to develop some level of consistency. You can’t study “mixed” martial arts. There’s no such thing. You can be a proficient student in one discipline and choose to dabble and explore another. In fact, that’s highly recommended as limiting yourself also limits your abilities. But to claim that MMA is more effective or more “real” than traditional martial arts is not only laughable, its ignorant of the facts. I usually like to remind MMA fans that shows like the UFC has its roots in traditional martial arts. In fact, the first few UFC pay-per-view events pitted traditional martial arts styles against one another, before they all started wearing bike shorts and fingered boxing gloves. Furthermore, it’s well-known that most if not all MMA fighters have some background and/or training in some traditional combat art. George St.-Pierre, for example, holds black belts in karate and jiujitsu. Ronda Rousey, who happens to be one of my personal idols, holds a black belt in Judo. Those are just a couple of examples. Hey, I’m a fan of MMA as a sport and enjoy watching a good match. Just don’t go calling yourself “mixed martial arts”;
  3. Karate only works in class where it’s controlled: Hmm, this is an interesting one because I can’t even come CLOSE to denying that a dojo environment is a controlled one. But the whole idea is that class is structured and controlled in order for you to learn properly in the event you ever need to use martial arts as a weapon. Think about firearms training. If you dropped a gun into the hands of someone inexperienced who hasn’t been trained, the odds of misuse greatly increases. A safe firearms user only becomes so after extensive training, drills and target practice. The same can be said for karate. It’s only after extensive training, drills and practice that you learn to use martial arts for the protection of yourself and others. This can only be accomplished in a controlled classroom environment;
  4. In a real fight, you don’t have time to stretch and warm up like you do in karate: That’s right. You don’t. But here’s the thing: you stretch and warm up in class so that you can learn properly and develop your skills without injuring yourself. And the more you work out, the better the chance that a sudden exertive burst can be used without injury as you build and strengthen your body’s muscle tissue. This is the same concept as in any other physical activity or sport that a person trains in, so karate isn’t any different;
  5. Martial arts weapons have no modern day, real-world application: Wanna bet? Yes, I’ll admit that you don’t encounter many sword fights in this day and age. But if you look at the majority of the weapons that most schools train with (bo staff, batons, knives and swords), the skills are still transferable. If it means protecting yourself or others, a stick is a stick. And all those training drills you performed will suddenly become pertinent as muscle memory kicks in. A weapon is nothing but an extension of yourself, and should be used accordingly.

So, does martial arts work? Yes. Is it an all-encompassing skill that can defeat anyone and anything and where you can participate in long, drawn out fights, taking and delivering multiple strikes to the head and body like you see in the movies? No. And obviously, the movie depiction of one martial artist facing off against a dozen opponents and coming out on top is unlikely. I don’t care how much skill you have; if a dozen guys come at you at once, you’re getting your ass kicked. Plain and simple. The important thing one also needs to remember is that martial arts isn’t for everyone. And not every style will suit every person.

I’ve encountered people who trained for a few classes and quit, then claimed that it was a waste of time or that it seemed stupid and they didn’t think it would work. If you approach it with that attitude, obviously it won’t work for you. But maybe it isn’t for you. And that’s the difference. Martial arts IS effective and has saved my skin on a number of occasions. But like many things in life, it’s also all in the eye of the beholder. ☯

Life Isn’t A Spectator Sport

It can be pretty tough finding the motivation to get moving. Light knows, it takes me several minutes for the signal to go from my brain to getting a response from my body when it comes to waking up in the morning. And if I didn’t start my day with a pinch of caffeine, I believe that the world would be in genuine danger. Which is likely a problem, since being that dependent on coffee can’t be a good thing, but I’ll tackle that problem some other day.

My point is, it usually feels “easier” to sit still than to get going. This is a natural inclination, much like choosing to go through a tunnel as opposed to climbing over the hill. But all things in life require a balance, and sitting still can be as harmful on the body as pushing yourself too far. This is why frequent and even daily physical activity is an important part of daily life, whether you have Diabetes or not.

According to an article posted by the Mayo Clinic (one of my favourite websites), a person should aim to achieve 150 minutes of moderate exercise or at least 75 minutes of intense exercise, with about two workouts a week contributed to strength training. I like how the article describes mowing the lawn as a moderate aerobic exercise. I’ll definitely start adding those sessions to my training log.

But those are American sources and since I’m in Canada, it would be nice to lean on a source from my home turf. An exercise guideline chart posted by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology outlines pretty much the same basic requirement of at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week in adults, with at least two days contributed to some sort of strength training. Although the “minimum” should include 10 to 20 minutes of physical activity or more, you should aim at hitting that 30-minute mark in order to reap the greater benefits.

So what happens if you don’t get enough exercise? The reality is that with everyone working from home and even before the pandemic, the average person finds themselves sitting far too much for far too long. This can have a number of nasty side effects on your heart, your weight, your back and even your mental health. But with all of us cooped up in our homes, many are tempted to flop down on the couch and binge-watch their favourite streaming services for days on end. This doesn’t just lead to the above-mentioned complications, but will also undo any physical conditioning you may have been doing prior to that.

Balance, people! Find the happy medium. If you’re doing work, especially in front of a computer screen, it’s important to get up out of your seat, stretch and move around. You should be doing this a minimum of at least once every hour. Although I wasn’t able to find a source for that interval, this is what has always been suggested to me. And if you have a boss that gives you hell because you’re getting up from your seat too often, check with your HR department on what your organization’s health policies allow you to do.

Since this is related to your health, your boss may be required to provide certain little benefits like a stand-up desk, floor padding or an ergonomic office chair in order to help alleviate any complications of sitting all day. And moving away from your computer screen to allow your eyes to adjust and focus on something else can also be very important. But I’m getting off topic, here. We’re talking about physical fitness…

From a Diabetes standpoint, maintaining your physical fitness will have a number of measurable benefits, including but not limited to better blood sugar control, improved insulin resistance and better blood circulation. Combine that with a reasonably healthy diet and most of the “pain in the ass” symptoms become manageable instead of lethal.

I can attest to that one myself, since insulin resistance was the main issue threatening my life when I was a child. Increased physical activity is what got me through. This would have been right around the time I joined the martial arts. Granted, even though this worked for me doesn’t necessarily mean it would work for everyone. But maintaining some level of physical fitness can lend nothing but benefits, if done properly.

When it comes to fitness, the sky’s the limit and I can almost guarantee that everyone can find SOMETHING that they enjoy doing that constitutes exercise. And at only 10 to 30 minutes per session, there’s little reason or excuse to claim you can’t find the time. I know a lot of people at work who would take walks over lunch, hit the gym and even meditate! Anything you can do to, as they say, get the blood flowing is a good idea and will help to eliminate or lessen unnecessary complications down the road. ☯

It’s Hard To See The Green When You’re Busy Being Blue

Some say the grass is always greener on the other side. This saying is based on a quote by Ovid, who wrote a poem entitled “Art of Love,” which is believed to have been written sometime in the first century. The quote reads “The harvest is always richer in another man’s field.” The idea behind this quote is that as a people, we generally tend to want what we don’t have. Own a house? Probably wish it had more rooms or space like your neighbour’s home. Got a family vehicle? Probably wish you had that sports car the resident up the streets drives around with.

No matter where you find yourself in life, it’s human nature to want what others already have. I remember being almost destitute in my early 20’s, living in a cramped, moldy apartment that was substandard and eating canned peas and ramen noodles to survive. I remember wishing I had the kind of home that many of my friends had, including multi-room apartments or houses. Looking back now, I understand that I was in a position that warranted wanting more. But when I look at what I have now, a family home, reliable transportation and a family, I consider it enough. Always wanting more can be an unhealthy habit.

Part of the problem is the biological aspect that makes us believe that when someone has something greater or of better worth, it’s necessary to our survival. Another aspect is that the population tends to be inherently jealous of what others have. But it’s far more important to acknowledge and appreciate what we already have as opposed to yearning for what we don’t. It reminds me of a story that I heard, years ago when I was in college. There have been a number of iterations of this story, but this is the one I remember the best:

A professor stood in front of his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar slightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous YES.

The professor then produced two bottles of beer from under the table and poured their entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things such as family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions. And if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff. If you were to put the sand into the jar first, there would be no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.”

Life isn’t easy, and there will always be situations that are critical and need to be immediately dealt with. So I’m certainly not making light of anyone’s difficulties. But it is of the utmost importance to recognize the things we do have and appreciate them. Especially in light of the current world situation, the bright side of things can mean the difference between continuing to fight, or lying down to be trampled.

Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the professor’s students raiser her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, “I’m glad you asked that. The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beer with friends or family.” ☯

How Does A Blind Person Smile?

This may be a question you’ve never asked yourself before, but take a moment to think about it. To be clear, I’m not talking about someone who has lost their sight at some given point in life. I’m referring to someone who was born blind and has never actually set eyes on another human being. How does this person know how to smile? And how do they know and acknowledge that this is a sign of happiness and/or contentment?

There’s a lot to be said for human instinct and we often take it for granted. Smiling is just one of those instinctive forms of expression that humans know, and it’s universally recognized around the world as a sign of positive emotion, even if it’s not necessarily taught. This like explains why my 1-year old son smiles his biggest smile, right around the time he’s filled his diaper for me. Kids.

What this teaches us is that humans have the ability to use aspects of themselves that are instinctive. Or in simpler terms, sometimes you gotta go with your gut. It takes a lot of effort to trust yourself enough to make tough decisions and hope for a positive outcome. And the truth is that your outcome may not always be positive. Sometimes, you may fail more often than you succeed. But you need to trust yourself and be comfortable n your choices. This is truly the only way you WILL succeed.

We all doubt ourselves, sometimes. But self-doubt is what usually leads to failure. Trust your instincts. They’ll bring you farther than you may think. And even if they sometimes lead you astray, always remember that failure also helps you to learn and grow. ☯

There Are No Cookie-Cutters In This Dojo…

I remember the first week that I opened my karate school’s kid’s class as a junior instructor. Boys, was I nervous! I’m not really sure why; I was qualified, well-trained and they were kids. I was in my late 20’s and there was nobody in the class older than 13 years old. But there was something particular about teaching the first class in “my” school. It only took a couple of weeks to find a groove and begin feeling comfortable with classes. And only a couple of months AFTER that for me to realize that teaching karate is not all it’s cracked up to be…

There’s a certain prestige that comes with being able to teach something to someone else, especially in the martial arts. After all, if you’re teaching someone else it probably means that you’ve learn said skill to a sufficient level that it allows you to pass on that knowledge to someone else. I had been a been a black belt for a few years at this point, and already accustomed to leading the class whenever Sensei would request it. But this would be my first foray into being the focus of attention if/when students or parents would be displeased about something.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I can deal with complaints with the best of ’em. After all, I’ve got years of management experience in retail, food service and public sectors so dealing with customer complaints is no problem. But karate is particular, because it’s personal. It’s not a job, it’s a part of my lifestyle that I not only study but thoroughly enjoy. And I’m not well-known for my ability to put up with other people’s bullshit. Enter: the league of disgruntled parents…

By the time the kid’s class had been up and running for six months, a few of my students had graduated a yellow stripe or two. My particular system has a LOT of yellow stripes for kids prior to testing for yellow belt, which is a good way to keep them focused and motivated. One of the disadvantages of opening a school from scratch, is that everybody starts off as a white belt and there’s no established belt hierarchy in place. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. It’s good in the sense that you don’t have to worry about branching off your teaching to accommodate the different ranks. It’s bad in the sense that the first people to promote usually set off alarm bells in others.

Sensei and I had agreed from the very beginning that as a junior instructor, I would teach the class while he tested for stripes. I would assist him with belt tests, but until I developed my teaching legs, he would deal with pulling out the students who were progressing and issue the stripes as required. That was an easy agreement. But as a few of the students climbed in rank, the ones who didn’t began to question why they didn’t. This concern was obviously passed on to their parents who apparently felt this meant their kids were being ignored. Can you guess what happened next?

I began receiving phone calls and having parents confront me in the dojo, questioning my audacity in promoting other students but not their kid, especially when everyone had started at the same level. These were some of the same parents that would often bring food or drinks into my dojo, take phone calls or carry on conversations at the back while I’d be trying to teach. I believe in picking one’s battles, but these are issues I had to discuss with them on previous occasions.

I tried explaining to these parents that every child is different and that every child learns in a different way and at a different pace (a lesson the public schools should no doubt adopt) and that stripes would NOT be issued if a particular student had not reach the required skill and knowledge level associated with it. This was like throwing gasoline on a campfire and caused further indignation from parents. Although we were still a few years before the true advent of the snowflake and parents who believe their kids can do no wrong, these parents were clearly adamant that the promoted students were no better skilled than their kids and that it wasn’t fair of me to promote some and not others.

I closed out the argument by explaining to the parents that karate was not a generic skill and that there were things the students could do on their own time in order to improve and help ensure promotion when the time came, but that it wasn’t fair to the students or my school, in fact, for me to issue a promotion someone hadn’t earned. This led to all sorts of threats about pulling their students out and enrolling them elsewhere, to contacting the parents of students who had promoted and a score of other idle threats to ludicrous to repeat.

Between these issues, which unbelievably never really went away, and the fact that I moved to Ottawa about six months later led me to close the doors of my kid’s school. That’s one of the benefits of not doing it for a living; you can close your doors without destructive repercussions. It was unfortunate for the kids more than anyone else, but it was also a sad mix of behaviour on the parents’ behalf, who should have been supporting the growth instead of trying to influence it. Some of the kids transitioned into the regular class and continued to train, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Folks, karate is not a cookie-cutter art. What this means is that if ten people started karate at the white belt rank today, you will see ten different people at ten different skill levels and likely ten different ranks. This is because each and every person is different and every person learns and absorbs information in a different way. if you’re studying the martial arts, it’s important to remember that even if someone progresses to a higher rank than you, it doesn’t mean they’re “better” than you, it simply means that you need to grow in your way. Every person’s martial arts journey is their own. ☯

The CGM Do-Over…

For the most part, I’m a firm believer that most people and things deserve a second chance, even when things didn’t work out the first time around. Unless we’re talking about someone who has done something truly horrendous that’s damaged my life, of course. But today, we aren’t talking about anything quite so dramatic. I’ve been taking a second crack at CGM, or Continuous Glucose Monitoring.

For anyone who doesn’t remember, I wrote a post about five weeks ago entitled, CGM Is A No-Go where I described the various issues I had been dealing with in regards to the sensor set-up involved with CGM. Although I had decided it would be in my best interest to step away from CGM, a quick video chat with my Medtronic Representative was all it took for me to give it another go. Plus, Medtronic replaced the box of sensors that I had burned through at no cost.

My Guardian Sensor, tucked safely underneath my adhesive patch (yes, I know I look exhausted)

When a company is good enough to go above and beyond in that way (box of 5 sensors is $399.00 in Canada), I owe it to at least TRY and make the damn thing work. So I’ve been hammering through. The photo above is the fifth sensor I’ve been on since that last post, and it’s been going reasonably well. I had one sensor give out after five days instead of seven, but that’s an error margin I can live with.

One of the main recommendations that my rep provided was that if I was used to having my Freestyle Libre on the tricep and it was working for me, I should do the same with my CGM. And to be honest, it’s been WAY better. Because of the steps required to properly install the sensor and transmitter, I can’t get it all done one-handed. So I enlist the help of my wife to get everything set up and in place.

The large, black adhesive you see covering everything is an after-market adhesive called Patchabetes that my rep recommended. I ordered mine through Amazon, but you can click the link to go right to their site to have a look at the various products they carry. I ordered a pack of 20 patches for about $25 Canadian, which means they’re costing me about $1.25/week to use. That’s definitely a cost I can live with. I shell out more money on that in caffeine every DAY!

One of the big problems I was having with the adhesives that come with the sensor is that after a rigorous workout followed by a hot shower, the adhesive would dry out and start to lift. I was shoring it up with band-aids and pretty soon I looked as though I was a badly-designed mummy out of a B-movie. On top of that, the sensor tube would usually end up slipping out of my arm and I’d have to replace it within days as opposed to after a full week. I’m fortunate enough that my medical insurance covers my sensors, but it still feels horrible to be burning through expensive supplies that quickly.

Since switching over to Patchabetes, I can work out, shower and spend all afternoon in the hot sun and it still stays firmly in place. The size of the adhesive and the fact that it’s one piece, ensures that the area is waterproof and I’ve had no issues since starting back on the whole thing. And let’s be honest: it’s kind of nice to have an updated blood sugar reading every five minutes. It’s been making the overall daily control a little bit easier.

Technology can be wonderful and can be very helpful in making the life of a Diabetic much easier. As with most things in life, there’s a steep learning curve involved, especially when it involves your overall health and well-being. So the lesson here is that sometimes you have to push through and give things a second chance, once you’ve had the opportunity to learn the proper way. Even in a fast-paced world, not everything can happen quickly. Now I just need to get over my cowardice and activate the AutoMode again… ☯

Why Be Afraid Of Being Afraid?

Life certainly throws out a more-than-fair amount of challenges into one’s daily life. Even when you think you can fight your way through one obstacle, another one pops up to either take the first one’s place or make matters even worse. It certainly seems that way, over the past two years.

If anyone is keeping score, issues in my professional life have caused me difficulties and sent me home long before COVID-19 took hold. Despite this radical change of life and the reckless endangerment of my dream job by others, I kept on pushing and fighting. Then, job interview after job interview came and went. Most left me feeling pretty good and certain that I wold turn a corner. But I’ve been consistently passed up over and over.

Then at the beginning of the year, the world fell into chaos (more so than it usually is) and the pandemic struck. I’m sure that at this point, I don’t need to explain the problems and issues that having the world self-isolate and essentially lock itself down has caused. Even six months later, the world is still licking its wounds and trying to recover.

Then, we attempted to sell our home. We came to this decision as a result of my current job situation and the fact that we’re trying to eliminate debt. Despite many people who came to view our home, structural issues with our foundation caused most people to pass. We have come to the decision that we need to repair our foundation, which requires the demolishing of our finished basement. This sucks, because it also meant we had to take our house off the market as we can’t really show the house while we’re in mid-construction/renovating.

It almost feels as though everything is coming up bullshit and sometimes it certainly feels as though it would be easier to simply give up and let go. And no, I’m not being fatalistic or trying to send out red flags; I simply mean that the Buddhist side of me feels that life shouldn’t be such a struggle, that I shouldn’t have to force so hard in order for life to be good. The martial artist in me believes that I need to keep fighting and win, no matter what the struggle. If it comes down to me or them, it won’t be me! More often than not, the martial artist wins over the Buddhist. Such is life.

“Success Is Stumbling From Failure To Failure With No Loss Of Enthusiasm.”

– Winston S. Churchill

As a general rule, most people are afraid of failure. They see it as a weakness and they believe that it’s an embarrassment or shameful to fail at something. But the irony is that I can promise beyond any reasonable doubt that every living person has failed at something. It’s inevitable. You show me someone who claims they’ve never failed at something in life, I’ll show you a liar.

But failure is an important part of life. You see, life believes in showing you what you’re doing wrong. It sucks, can be painful and can even be disruptive to one’s life. But it sure shows you what path you should be taking. Failure isn’t a failure, it’s a learning tool. It helps you to grow and become the person you’re meant to be. I’ve been defeated and failed at a number of things in my life. But I keep on fighting. Because what’s the point of the lesson if you do nothing with it?

Don’t be afraid of failing at something. As long as you keep pushing, fighting and moving forward, you’ll eventually clear the storm and come out on top. And should you happen to fall and fail, the important part is to rise, dust yourself off and find a new and different path to pursue. ☯

One Man’s Weed Is Another Man’s Flower…

Since a lot of people are stuck at home until the world returns to normal, many have chosen to undertake some DIY projects within the home. I, myself, have decided that the patch of bare dirt in our backyard deserved to get some love and I started working the soil. Much to my surprise, the past few summers of weeding and spraying made the soil pretty easy to till and plant some grass seed.

I managed to make myself proud as a full half of our backyard now contains a full, lush green lawn that requires mowing twice as often as the front yard. The other half contains a quarter space where we plan on planting our own vegetables and a quarter space that I had left for Nathan to dig with. I have since seeded the digging quarter as Nathan has given up his mining ambitions in favour of his razor scooter. but I digress…

Our back yard has a circle of grey bricks that had apparently been arranged to ring a tree that had been in the backyard. When we moved in, the tree was cut down at its base and nothing remained but a slim stump. So I decided to till the soil within the ring and plant some flower seeds. I felt that the back yard could use a little color. Within a few weeks, the entire ring grew some greenage that was over half my height! I was tickled pink (not literally) and like an unaware idiot, kept watering daily and trying to get everything to grow as much as possible.

The decimated centre area, once my wife and I removed all the weeds

Turns out that the tall, green stalks I was watering and so proud of, were invasive weeds that were preventing the actual flowers from fully blooming. I have to admit that I had no clue and I thought the thick stalks were a species of flower that would bloom fully. Once we found out, my wife and I took an afternoon to remove as much of the weed as we could in an effort to let the flowers take hold.

The flowers that come in when they’re permitted to bloom

Flowers are starting to take over and some are already in full bloom. But as usual, it got me to thinking about perspective. Until I was told the tall stalks were weeds, I was happily and cluelessly watering the weeds like they were worth their weight in gold. Once I knew they were weeds, I got angry and became hell-bent on removing them from my garden. But I would have been oblivious, otherwise.

And this is something that applies to life, as a general rule. Something that may be unpleasant to one person could easily be a benefit to another. Sometimes, things may seem like they don’t belong but even things that are not preferred can be important to someone else. Dandelions are considered weeds, but it sure doesn’t stop my son from loving the yellow ones and blowing the fluff off the white ones. It’s all about one’s perspective. ☯

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

I’m usually really good at telling the people in my inner circle, “Don’t forget this” and “Remember to do that” when it comes to their medical requirements and/or Diabetic needs. A strong attention to detail is always something I’ve prided myself on, personally and professionally. But if there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught me, is that I have the potential to slip and get a little too comfortable in my routine. I learned exactly to what depth I had slipped into that comfort zone yesterday morning…

As is the case on most Monday mornings, my wife had the day off and since the pandemic has limited the number and type of excursions we can undertake, I usually use this time for a long-distance bicycle ride. Since my 70k from two weeks ago was such an unmitigated disaster, I thought that yesterday would be the perfect opportunity to make another attempt. I discussed it with my wife and she agreed that maybe it would be better to attempt an in-city 70k as opposed to the open highway.

This would at least prevent some of the issues I had faced on my last excursion. Alright, this made sense. After all, I had achieved my 70k (as far as distance goes) but my phone had died, I ran out of food and struggled with the Prairie wind so badly that I added more than an hour onto my total time. Not exactly the ideal situation. Despite the great workout, I got home feeling frustrated and disappointed that I had no documented proof to show of my achievement.

So yesterday morning was supposed to be different, and I hit the sack on Sunday night, confident that Monday would provide me with a screenshot of my Runkeeper app showing 70k or greater. I set an alarm for the early hours of the morning and let my head hit the pillow. Ironically, it turned out to be a night where Diabetes didn’t intervene in any way and I actually slept for a solid number of hours. But as I’ve often said in the past, life doesn’t care about our plan. And we usually can’t predict when a wrench will be dropped into our gears.

I awoke with the morning sun and as is often my custom (unless the baby wakes me first) I woke up before my alarm went off. The sun had been up for a while, and I went downstairs to my home office to prepare my gear. Nathan had fallen asleep on the spare bed in the office, so I made every attempt to be quiet as I prepared. The first item on my list: change up my pump’s infusion set. I went to bed with about 35 units left, and I already knew I’d have to change up my set before heading out on the bicycle.

I grab a reservoir and infusion set and realized I couldn’t find my bottle of Humalog. I searched everywhere and just couldn’t find a bottle of insulin anywhere. I still had enough insulin to last me the morning (as long as I didn’t consume carbs) and the pharmacy only opened at 9am. Well, there goes my plan to ride… I can’t remember the last time I ran out of insulin. As in, I can’t remember because it’s been YEARS! I’m usually on top of my supplies, especially since they keep me alive. I now found myself despondent and killing time until my pharmacy opened.

By the time I made my way to the pharmacy and dealt with some unnecessary and unexpected delays on their part, I was most of the way through the morning and the Prairie summer heat was already in full swing. As I’ve learned the hard way over recent weeks, this isn’t the ideal environment in which to cycle for long kilometres. I opted for some light yard work instead, mowing the back lawn and getting a bit of fresh air.

Despite my usual attention to detail, this proved to show me that I’m just as human as the rest. I’m at least grateful that I live in an area where getting a prescription the same day as I need it is pretty easy. But it has also proven that I apparently need to start paying closer attention as I crawl forward in my age, as I already seem to be letting details slip. ☯

Vanity Is A Weakness

I’m selling my “bachelor-mobile.” Yes, that’s right! I’m selling my little two-door sports coupe with the manual transmission that’s kept me feeling like I’m still in my twenties when I’d rip around the streets of Regina, Saskatchewan. The reason is pretty simple: my wife works from home now and we really only have need of one vehicle. It’s financially unreasonable to keep two vehicles when a household only needs one. Right? Am I right?

What’s blown my mind in recent months is exactly HOW difficult it is to sell a premium vehicle in excellent condition. It seems that people are ridiculously hung up on the little details and as opposed to what I’ve done in the past, people assume that the work and the research will be done for them. I realized after a couple of weeks of dealing with people who were inquiring about the car that I’ve never actually SOLD a second-hand vehicle before. I’ve mostly dealt with dealerships.

The Bachelor-Mobile

Selling a personal vehicle as a private seller is extremely taxing and time-consuming. We’ve had a ton of interest in this car, and for every person who has an interest, I’ve had to subject myself to a lengthy plethora of questions about the vehicle and multiple photos beyond the adequate ones included in the selling post. It’s tiring, because I’m generally of the opinion that these questions could most easily be answered by setting up a viewing to simply come SEE the vehicle. Wouldn’t that be so much better than trying to ask questions about it?

For some, I can kinda understand the impulse to want to see more and ask further questions through a digital frontier. I’ve had some people who live two, all the way to eight hours away from Regina who have shown interest. But for those who reside right here in the city, it’s pretty disappointing to see the reactions and requirements of some of the people who have come to view the vehicle.

Just so everyone doesn’t think that I’m some sort of megalomaniacal douche-canoe (Google that, if you don’t know what it means), let me give you some examples. Some of this may seem perfectly normal and expected, but it struck me as a touch odd and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I had a young guy, probably 16 or 17 years old, come see the vehicle with his father. They spent well over half an hour with me, pushing every button, trying every feature and then taking a lengthy test drive, which included city AND highway speeds. The boy was totally enamoured with the vehicle and I could tell that he was definitely interested. His father asked the rough questions, although I was able to answer them without issue.

He said he would get back to me and he left quite happy. So imagine my surprise when I got a text from him a day later saying that he wanted me to bring my vehicle in for a mechanical inspection before he would put a offer in. Now, this struck me as a bit odd, especially since he spent more than half an hour test-driving the car. It would be one thing if he had no idea how the vehicle ran, but we ran it in every condition it could face, except off-road!

He said he had no concerns but wanted the inspection done as a precaution. Although I was a touch resistant, I would have gone through with it if he had simply agreed to pay the necessary expenses! One thing I definitely won’t do is put out money in order to sell something. That’s just flat out ridiculous. Therefore, ambitious hot-rod-seeking teen boy didn’t buy my car.

Another potential buyer reached me through text message after getting my number through my wife’s FaceBook market page. She requested “additional photos”… That always throws me for a loop. I had a half dozen photos of the car, inside and out, which showed every perspective of the vehicle. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, so I asked. She specified she wanted a side shot of the vehicle. Okay, fair enough. I told her I’d get the photo as soon as possible.

Errands and parenthood got in the way and she texted aggressively, asking why I hadn’t gotten back to her yet. I told her that the time to take some photos would need to happen but that I would still get them as soon as I could. I asked her why she didn’t simply come over to take a look at the car herself, to which she replied that she lived in Saskatoon. This put her at just over two hours away from Regina. I kinda get it. But on the other side of the coin, why wouldn’t you just buy a car in Saskatoon? It’s a bigger city anyway!

I eventually got a free minute to take a full-on shot of all four sides of the car and sent them to her. Her exact words were, “Finally, those are MUCH better pictures… my son’s dad will texting you with questions.” Umm, what? There was nothing wrong with the advert’s photos, but “my son’s dad” sounds strange as compared to “my husband.” I let it go and moved on. The next day, a random dude called me, not texted but called, and identified himself as this buyer’s ex-husband. He asked a couple of cogent questions about the car, but ended up asking for specific photos of specific areas of the vehicle.

I’m definitely not lazy, but I explained to the gentleman that I had an adequate number of photos on the advert and that the extras I sent to his ex-wife were a courtesy. The next obvious step would be for one of them to come down to Regina for an in-person viewing and test drive. This would answer all the questions he had and would save the trouble of trying to work around my schedule to get added photos.

Apparently I had the “audacity” to suggest he come for a test drive and it was decided that he would pass on the vehicle. I understand that this is subjective since it’s my car and my blog, but am I being too sensitive? I find myself wondering what happened to the good ol’ days when you’d purchase a private vehicle by showing up in person and taking the damn thing for a test drive. Don’t even get me started on the folks that are either asking me if I’m willing to trade for another vehicle or are offering HALF MY ASKING PRICE…

It’s amazing how difficult it is to sell of a second vehicle in order to lower/eliminate some debt and try to get ahead. People are hung up on the small details, before they even see the damn vehicle. I have a guy who intends to buy the car without even test-driving, but won’t have the money for another week from this post going live. I’ll be curious to see if he comes through. Maybe I’ll get a chance to reduce more belongings in the long list of property I don’t want/need. ☯