A legion of plastic cleats digs into turf. Pivoting. Planting. Stopping. Touching down for a moment, and then off, like a heated game of hot potato. All with one purpose. Come in contact with that elusive airborne sphere.

Moving up from the ground one can see the labored breathing of two teams vying for one shot at the goal on either side of their field of battle. Pennies vs. shirts. Every Saturday at 9 am. Here players leave their cultural and political differences at the gate and come together to share in what one can simply say as a heightened state of energy. There’s something to be said about the excitement surrounding the game.

Many of the members of the soccer club are Nigerian. They joke, laugh, and bring an emotion to the field that’s unlike any other (and man, most of them can wipe the floor with me). I just love being around those dudes.

When was the last time you felt wrapped up in a heightened state of energy?

*Thanks to Ben Smucker for help with descriptions!

Lately, I’ve started to do morning stretches and cold showers. Just because.

I’ll wake up, follow the 5-minute stretch routine below, and pop into an ice cold shower (after a few deep breaths accompanied by a quick mental note asking myself why I’m doing this).

It’s honestly been healing. I feel more energized throughout the day, and subjecting myself to extreme temperatures in the morning gives a much needed shot of adrenaline so I can get to work or play feeling sharp and ready to go.

Have you challenged yourself to add some new flavors to your morning routine lately? If not, hop on the bandwagon and make it a New Year’s resolution. Some have even called it “greasing the groove”. So, I challenge you to switch it up and grease the groove. Sucks in the moment sometimes, but you’ll thank yourself in the end.

Did you know that it’s technically impossible to capture a perfectly defined measurement of the perimeter of our coastlines?

As you know, coastlines across the world range from smooth beaches to rugged and rocky terrain. Imagine stopping time and taking an aerial picture of the coast nearest to you, with, say, a resolution of 5×5 km. Got the picture in your head? Whatever coastline you chose, the perimeter of that coastline will have jagged features with scales that range from kilometers to tiny micro-meters. How do you measure this?

Let’s start with, for example, a certain section of the Oregon coastline that we want to measure with a yardstick. Once we’re done (after probably months of work) let’s compare that measurement to a measurement of the same perimeter with the diameter of a penny (~19mm, and probably a lifetime or more of measuring). The total length of the measurements would be drastically different. The smaller your scale, the larger the total perimeter of your coastline… literally to infinity.

Benoit Mandelbrot, a famous mathematician, after discovering this phenomenon, said, “[The world’s] coastline length turns out to be an elusive notion that slips between the fingers of those who want to grasp it.”¹

Our world is so incredibly complex.

1. https://archive.org/details/fractalgeometryo00beno/page/25/mode/2up

I’ve recently gotten into the new Hulu show, “Only Murders in the Building”, featuring larger-than-life actors such as Steve Martin and Martin Short, whose eccentric personalities are kept in check by a quirky yet chic Selena Gomez.

My new roommates and I will occasionally pop on a half-hour episode, to find ourselves holding our stomachs laughing, like just poked Pillsbury Doughboys.

We need moments like that. Points in time to disengage from the worry that the ever-churning machine of our modern world will always need our attention. Let’s take some time out of our day today to relax and laugh!