Author: Buzz

I love coffee! I’m not sure about you but I drink all kinds, all flavors, all roasts, all mixes.  Plain espresso, americano’s, latte’s, and even black coffee.  I drink it in the morning’s, before workouts, after workouts, before work, after work, before bed.  I absolutely love coffee, and I know many of you do too.  However, have you ever thought about the side effects of caffeine?

Caffeine: A stimulant, a performance enhancer, a drug, a supplement, and a daily fix for many.

If you didn’t know caffeine was a drug, then your welcome because it is considered a stimulant.  The reason I talk about side effects is because of how it can impact your everyday life.  My favorite coffee time is pre-workout because of how it effects my body during a workout.  Caffeine is proven to lower rate of perceived exertion during workouts.

Squatting 315 pounds without caffeine might take 90% of your effort, but with… it may be closer to 75% or 80%.

Is that a bad thing?  Absolutely not, often it will actually benefit you in the long run because you can push your body farther than it normally can.  Yet, for those who rarely work out and simply pickup their daily Starbucks, caffeine is most likely the hidden enemy.  If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day for two weeks; chances are by the end of that period of time your body will be craving it, regardless of whether you truly want it or not.  This is what happens when you give your body stimulants (i.e. caffeine).  For those reading this that have a cup, or two, or three every single day take a day off and see how you feel. Chances are that foggy feeling that you feel every morning won’t go away, and that headache you nurse every night?  Yeah that’s going to be there for a while.

Version 1: I read.  I am an avid reader for a reason.  It is because I love to learn. However, one topic — cryptocurrency — and the blockchain it is built on (or at least I think that’s what it’s built on) are constantly changing and confusing to understand.  Anyone else with me?  Or can anyone drop a comment and explain to me who, what, when, where, and why?

– Buzz

P.S. Bitcoin sounds cool @parsec!

Edit: I bought a little Bitcoin last week when it was 3095…it’s up nearly a thousand dollars within a week.  Crazy! I bought a hardware wallet which is a cool piece of technology, and did my research on the “public ledger”.  I am interested in potentially investing in some alternative coins (i.e. Litecoin) or an entirely different technology such as Ethereum.  I will keep everyone updated!

Please drop a comment about your situation with cryptocurrencies and technologies.

– Buzz

In the United States of American, we use Fahrenheit.  The rest of world utilizes celcius.

I recently traveled to Canada (from the United States) and I learned something new.  Can you guess what it is?  I might give you a hint.  Ok I will because otherwise I am just a crazy person writing to myself.

0 degrees Celcius is freezing and 32 degrees Fahrenheit is freezing.  So how is -40 degrees Celcius equal to -40 degrees Fahrenheit??????

Enjoy your mind game!

– Buzz

If you came here looking for a tale of opposites then congratulations you found one.  In the world there are two types of people, those who take risks and those who don’t.  I believe that in general people fall into one of the two categories, but Old Souls fall between them.  You may ask “How?”.  You may say that I am contradicting yourself, but in reality there is more than just risk vs no risk.  There is making an educated decision vs randomly throwing all your cards into the basket.  In general, Old Souls tend to study situations more thoroughly than the average person based on feedback from other Old Souls like myself.  For this reason the chances of having a greater reward for a smaller risk can be seen quite often from our kind.

Preparation vs Execution?  School vs Job?  Waiting vs Doing? Poor vs Rich? Sad vs Happy?  Stalling vs Creating?

All of these in my head are complete opposites of each other.  Some of the examples are better than others.  I have a friend who is an Old Soul.  He is in a large dilemma where he seems to be caught on the left side of this issue.  He is waiting.  He is preparing.   The long route with less risk, but much safer for him.

Is this human nature, or an Old Soul feature?

What should he do, take a risk and walk on the right, or choose safety on the left?

EDIT: The Future

I moved out of the country for a bit to help fulfill one of my aspiring dreams while he stayed home and actually took a step backwards I think.  In my mind, I believe that the true Old Soul nature isn’t to sit back and take your time, it is to make educated decisions that are best for you even if others disagree.  My friend an I are almost complete opposites, yet in the end we share the trait of thinking our decisions through thoroughly before we make them.  Cheers too the educated decision!

– Buzz

An Old Soul needs to connect with others like himself.  It is simply in his nature, true or false @parsec?  In my opinion it is true, therefore we need to find our avid readers some more old souls with some fun stories, experiences, and viewpoints to share.  Comment for any topics you want us to target when we are searching for other old souls (Searching isn’t the proper term, we don’t need to.  We simply find others like us).

– Buzz

Hell yes!  I am an athlete, and even if I wasn’t I would still be physically active for at least an hour and a half each day by choice.  I love working out, eating healthy, and improving my health.

Yet, everybody, athlete or not, active or not, understands the aches and pains of everyday life.  A tight back, a painful shoulder, and a tweaker knee are all common inconveniences that many of us feel on the daily.

The majority of us — young or old — can wake up in the morning and feel something that hurts or is out of place.  We can stretch, ice, take Motrin, but at the end of the day it only gets worse.

The solution: A trained professional who makes a few adjustments and your feeling better.

I will be the first to admit, I was skeptical.  First visit…….. CRACK!!!!  I’m sure they could hear my back popping in the next town over.  (Disclaimer: This is not a joke).  5 hours later, I couldn’t bend over I was so sore.  He had cracked my neck, popped my back, and re-aligned my hips.  The next day I woke up and realized that my back wasn’t tight.

I will gladly take a few hours of soreness in return for an overall better feeling body and day of the week.  For anybody who is debating whether it’s worth the price, I am here to tip the scale.  Try it once or twice and see for yourself.

– Buzz

Why? Why? Why? and Why?  It doesn’t make any sense to me.  Yes, I am not a parent.  Yes, I am still going to rant.  Dinner time is the time of day where family gets to spend time together and reflect about the day.

I remember playing Tic-Tac-Toe with my grandmother with crayons on little scraps of paper as well chopsticks (the game) with my sister (I always won).  So why do kids need tablets just to get through a half hour dinner now?  Netflix, games, and ignoring everybody else in the new norm, someone please try and explain this to me.

Thank you for reading my random rant.

– Buzz

Written: May 29, 2017 (3 days after the impact)

I recently received a concussion.  It sucked.  A lot.  Memory loss, headaches, and nausea are a few of the symptoms I experienced.  The doctor told me that all concussion cases are unique to each individual. Someone in the same situation may experience a completely different set of symptoms.

Written: June 1, 2017 (6 days after the impact)

What is very similar in nearly 100% of concussion cases is the treatment.  A minor case requires the person with the injury to avoid physical activity for a minimum of a week.  The reason is because when a person does an activity that raises their heart rate; the rise in blood pressure is immediately felt in the brain.  A major case will most likely require the injuree to avoid nearly all activity, both mental and physical.  In addition, anybody with a concussion regardless of the intensity is told to avoid electronics for at least a week or more depending on the severity.

I was fortunate to only receive a minor concussion.  My symptoms included memory loss of around 15 minutes before the impact, and 50-60 minutes after the impact (at least that’s what I was told).  At the time of this writing, it has been about six days since the impact and I still have memory loss.  I’m also battling headaches and random nausea, however, it is getting better.  

Despite my injury, I was able to turn a horrible (and boring as hell situation if I am being totally honest) into a positive one.  I have gone without most technology for nearly a week now and it has been invigorating.   Netflix, programming (my hobby), social media, or reading on a tablet.  I have traded them all in.  I have been playing board games, completing a puzzle (Rue Francis), reading physical books (which I like better anyways), and even coloring (yes I get it-I’m acting like a little kid).  It’s funny though because doing these activities which are technology free, I have been far more relaxed and it has helped me escape the stress of being injured.  

Anybody who is reading this and relates to being worried or stressed about something that we cannot control should take a tip or two.  If you’re getting headaches, discomfort, or you’re bored then change-up what you are doing in your free time. Instead of bingeing on the latest episodes of “13 Reasons Why” or catching up on “Game of Thrones,” how about picking up the actual book?  Grab a puzzle (they are actually pretty cheap from Barnes and Noble), go for a walk, draw in a coloring book (my favorite).  I am confident that these will all have a positive influence on your overall well being.

If you need a book recommendation check out our other posts:

• Titles of the Souls: Parsec
• Titles of the Souls: Buzz

Or feel free to email us at oldsouls100@gmail.com.

I hope I’ve convinced you (yes I am trying to make you do something) to use a little less tech for an hour or two!  If you have anything to add, please drop a comment below.

– Buzz

In a particular order:

1) Meanwhile Back at Mama’s – Released in 2014 as part of the Sundown Heaventown album by Tim McGraw, Meanwhile Back at Mama’s is my favorite song of all time….period.  Listening to McGraw sing about a small town and how he wants change only to return years later is a situation that sits close to me.

2)  The Downeaster Alexa – Written and released by Billy Joel in 1989, as a track on the album Storm Front.  This song was released 10 years before I was born.  The song is named after his daughter Alexa, who he also named his downeaster — a type of boat — after.  This is the the third song of Billy Joel’s I had listened to (Piano Man and Big Shot came first).  However, this is the first song Billy Joel song I listened to with my father.  This is one of our greatest connections.

3) Californication – Written and released by Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1999, as the title track of his album of the same name.  Every time I listen to this song (which is daily) I can imagine every little piece of Hollywood mentioned throughout the song.

4) Into the Night– Chad Kroeger (Nickleback) teams up with Santana for a smooth collaboration of North American and Hispanic of music styles.  Released in 2007 the amazing guitar solos and simple lyrics are the reason that I can put this song on repeat for hours at a time.

5) Wait for You –  Elliot Yamin wrote a song that I have listened to quite possibly more than any song.  I say this because I can still remember my listening on my Mother’s second generation iPod that was bigger than my hand.  I listened to this song on repeat (along with Phantom Planet’s California) for hours at a time.

– Buzz

I listen to a lot of music and for me there are so many it’s hard to choose at times.  Here are a few more that nearly made it as spot number five:

• Vienna by Billy Joel
• Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down
• Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
• 7 Years by Lucas Grahm
• Viva La Vida by Coldplay
• Photograph by Nickleback
• Girl from Ipanema by Frank Sinatra
• Harder to Breathe by Maroon
• Toto by Africa
• Mockingbird by Rob Thomas

This is a highly debated topic and while my viewpoint is not groundbreaking, I hope that my thoughts will register with those choosing whether or not to attend college.

Father = Bachelor’s Degree
Mother = Bachelor’s Degree
Sister = Working toward Bachelor’s Degree
Friend = Working toward Associate Degree
Friend(s) = All planning on attending college.

The question I have for all of them is: Why?

A few facts taken from a recently published Forbes article:

– $1.3 Trillion in student debt
– Over 44 million borrowers
– An average student from the Class of 2016 has $37,172 in debt from student loans.

If you live in the US and you know anybody that has attended college then at some point you have probably heard the phrase “everybody goes to college.” Is this true? The answer is mostly, and it is supported by the NCES. Studies show that from 2000 to 2014 enrollment has increased by 31%…A huge increase!

Enough with the stats, here’s my take:

College is NOT necessarily the path for everyone.

You may say, “Buzz, how can this be true?” The answer is that for some people it is the right path, and for others it is not.  How do you know?  This list may help:

Reasons To Go

– You have your mind set on a career path that REQUIRES, not recommends, a college degree or certification. Yes, I am talking to all the doctors, lawyers, and aeronautical engineers out there. If you are going into a field that truly needs the education then that is a good reason to go to school.

– The school you are going to has an extremely high job placement in the field you are attempting to go into.

– The school you are going to attend is offering large scholarships that will cover the majority if not all of your debt.

Reasons NOT To Go

– There isn’t a guaranteed return, in fact you are almost guaranteed a negative return these days.  The chances of an individual incurring debt from college is greater than graduating a clean slate.

– You want to experience the “college-life” which often translates to the “party-life.”  As a teenager I have never been a part of the party-crowd.  For me to say that going to school to party is a waste isn’t necessarily fair, but I can say that I know many people who chose to go to “party” schools.  These people often didn’t graduate on time, incurred large debts throughout their education, and graduated with a degree that meant nothing to them.

– You don’t know what else to do. The default for young adults shouldn’t be to go to college. At any age — and especially the age of 18 — people in general need to search for what makes them happy, not just do what they think they should do.

– Your field might not require a degree to start in. A field like fashion design or marketing is something that most people believe that you must have a degree to break into.  My friend who works as a designer for a large corporation is living proof that no such education is needed (I’m sure many of you are wearing his designs right now).  No degree was required and this is the case for many fields.

If you are interested in reading more about how the facts utilized in this article were attained, please visit the sources below (or you could just take my word for it).

Again, college is NOT necessarily for everyone.  If you think it’s for you, great!  I wish you luck, however, if you seem to fit into the mold of Reasons NOT To Go, then I encourage you to consider another path than just attending college.

– Buzz

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#3ce207885dab (Forbes)

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/unemployment-rate-2-point-5-percent-for-college-grads-7-point-7-percent-for-high-school-dropouts-january-2017.htm (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

https://hbr.org/2016/05/two-thirds-of-college-grads-struggle-to-launch-their-careers (Harvard Business Review)

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp (National Center for Education Statistics)