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11901.  You are the buyer not the seller.  You’re not here to sell yourself for approval.  You’re here to choose who you want in your life.  Be willing to be disliked.  Because being liked by everyone means you’re being real with no one;

11902.  And rejection?  It doesn’t mean you’re broken.  It doesn’t mean you’re unworthy.  It doesn’t mean anything about you at all.  It’s just proof that you finally stopped auditioning for people who were never meant for you in the first place.  And that?  That’s freedom;

11903.  Medium Rare (MediumRareRestaurant.com) has a prix fixe steak dinner for $31.95.  It includes (artisan rustic) bread, a mixed green salad( with Dijon dressing), their (award-winning) culotte steak( with their secret sauce) and hand-cut French fries (i.e., pain de campagne, la salade verte, steak culotte, frites et sauce secréte);

11904.  3 questions to ask about money before moving forward in a commitment to dating: 1.  What was the conversation you had about money growing up?  What did your parents teach you about money? 2.  What’s your thoughts around ownership?  What’s your thoughts around debt? 3.  You have a $1,000,000.00 right now.  What are you doing with it?  Bonus question: What do you value most?

11905.  Love is: 1.  Liking someone’s personality; 2.  Respecting his/her values; and 3.  Commitment towards helping him/her get to his/her goals;

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11851.  Maybe wealth isn’t solely about more money, but more joy, more value, more fulfilment, more collaboration, more meaningful moments, more celebration of your life and those that support you.  The “mores” that matter;

11852.  Become more valuable.  Learn to delegate.  Hire those that truly enhance our lives.  We trade our money (energy) to access others energy (expertise) in order to free us up . . . so we can create the most value;

11853.  Not living your best life, not sharing how to do it with others, not being inspired and inspiring in the name of “playing it small and safe” is greedy.  The world loses your gifts;

11854.  Spending more than we make is a terrible choice leading to bankruptcy.  Yet by thinking life is something to reduce and money is something to “save” rather than earn and grow, we limit our potential and our production;

11855.  The hustle and grind would say save money by doing it yourself.  “If you want something done right, do it yourself” . . . and burn out.  And limit your best abilities.  And have less wealth;

11856.  Less wealth by doing what you hate.  Less wealth by limiting the depth of your relationships.  Less wealthy by draining energy by doing so much to save by having it be less convenient and losing time;

11857.  Those who buy into the budgeting mindset are willing to sacrifice life for growing a bank account;

11858.  By cutting back to build wealth, you can become the miserable millionaire.  Rich in your account, broke in life;

11859.  Wealth is how you live and enjoy your life.  And if money is the primary reason or excuse you do or don’t do something, you aren’t wealthy;

11860.  If your time isn’t your own, if you are doing things that you loathe, if you are obsessed with saving fiat money (that inflation decimates), if you wish the past were different or only focused on getting to a future date where your life will be better, you aren’t wealthy;

11861.  Money matters, but so do so many other things as well.  No money can lead to massive stress, debt, self-judgment, guilt, shame, embarrassment.  But no matter how much money you have, if you don’t have time to connect with people, cultivate relationships, be creative, have hobbies, have time for your health, fulfillment will be elusive;

11862.  What does wealth look like for you?  What matters most in your life?  What would you do if money were no longer a concern or worry, if you had an unlimited checking account?  What would you start doing?  How would your thinking change?  What would it take to create your richest life?  What can you do that matters most to you?  How could you experience a life that you love?  The key to wealth is within your answers to these questions.  Invest the time.  Only you get to decide.  If someone else chooses for you, you lose.  If you are unclear, you may be manipulated or have energy leaks.  This is the hard work worth doing.  The hard work that matters.  Not pushing through artificial deadlines or doing things you hate to make money.  But to know what you want, go for it and design a life you don’t want to retire from;

11863.  Pecans are harmful to dogs.  They contain a toxin called juglone, which can cause gastrointestinal upset, seizures and even death in dogs;

11864.  Sometimes when one door closes another one opens, but unfortunately many times we often focus on the door that has slammed in our face that we miss the window of opportunity just around the corner;

11865.  New beginnings often start with painful endings;

11866.  Be thankful for those closed doors and detours, they are guiding you to a better place;

11867.  I can say I was at Tom Wilson’s 800^th career game.  He’s the 9^th player in (Washington) Capitals history to play in 800 games;

11868.  Every experience, good or bad, carries a lesson.  What defines you isn’t what happens to you, but how you choose to grow from it;

11869.  The Power of Letting Go: The stories we tell ourselves about not being good enough are just that, stories.  Letting go isn’t about forgetting; it’s about freeing yourself from what holds you back;

11870.  Life has a funny way of forcing us to face the things we avoid.  Sometimes it feels unfair, overwhelming or even unbearable.  But when you pause, reflect and truly let go, you’ll see that every challenge carries a hidden gift, a chance to break free;

11871.  If they wanted to, they would, is a false statement.  We vastly overestimate people’s capacity for emotional regulation, conflict resolution and self-reflection.  Many want to they just don’t know how.  Stop taking other people’s limits personally;

11872.  According to Dr. Rhonda Patrick, one should take: 1.  Omega-3; 2.  Vitamin D; 3.  Sulforaphane; 4.  Magnesium; and 5.  A multivitamin;

11873.  According to Dr. Mark Hyman, a good level of vitamin D > 50 ng/ml;

11874.  If you don’t have enough vitamin D acutely, you get rickets and your bones bend;

11875.  You get vitamin D from the sun, wild fish and certain things like wild mushrooms.  You don’t need much (vitamin D) like 30 units;

11876.  If you don’t have optimal levels of vitamin D, say 50 ng/ml, you’re going to get osteoporosis, you’re going to be more prone to infections and you’re going to die from COVID-19;

11877.  To get 200 micrograms of selenium, you need to eat four Brazil nuts;

11878.  To get 30 milligrams of zinc, you need to eat 45 pumpkin seeds;

11879.  According to Dr. Mark Hyman, at minimum, one should take: 1.  A multivitamin; 2.  Vitamin D; 3.  Fish oil; 4.  (For most people,) magnesium; and 5.  (Probably) a probiotic;

11880.  In wanting to create something healthy, you have to make sure that you and whoever you’re going to build with want the same things.  That you’re willing to create your own definition of what love and marriage and partnership looks like.  And that, whatever that definition is, that you will commit to protecting your definition because it may not be the world’s definition.  It may not be your parents’ definition or the church’s definition or whatever, but you’ve got to be willing to protect your definition so that you can have a bond that lasts throughout time;

11881.  Three mandatory questions you should ask your partner before marriage to make sure that his/her answers are in alignment with yours.  And, if they’re not, then you should probably reconsider being in the relationship.  1.  Making sure that you have a shared expression of faith not even just a shared faith, but what does this expression look like for you?  How does it show up in your world?  Because everybody who believes in God isn’t trying to live a life of light, love, goodness, conviction and humility so making sure you have a shared expression.  It’s not just the same beliefs, it’s the same shared expression of the belief.  2.  What is the most traumatic experience you’ve had in your life and how does the residue of that experience show up in your presence?  3.  What brings you joy?  This world is tough.  And I want to know the secret to putting a smile on your face when the world’s trying to wipe it off;

11882.  Demerara sugar is a raw sugar extracted form sugarcane.  It is minimally processed so it has a golden-brown color and large grains that give a crunchy texture;

11883.  Demerara sugar originated from the British colony of Demerara now called Guyana;

11884.  Demerara sugar has flavors of molasses and toffee with hints of subtle caramel;

11885.  The term, “grog,” comes from the nickname, “Old Grog,” given to the 18^th-century English admiral Edward Vernon.  Vernon ordered that rum be diluted with water for the health of his sailors and the sailors nicknamed the mixture “grog.” . . . It’s also why you’re “groggy” when you’re hungover;

11886.  The British Navy’s “open vat” rum blending system involved pouring rum into large, interconnected vats allowing it to mature and blend for up to two years.  The vats were never completely emptied, but rather topped off with new rum, creating a solera-like system where decades-old rum was part of the blend.  This process continued for over 150 years until the rum ration was abolished in 1970;

11887.  Black Tot Rum (BlackTot.com) has the last of the British Navy’s blended rum in its spirits;

11888.  Apparently, without chill filtration, fatty acid esters will make liquor hazy if the alcohol content goes below 46.5 A(lcohol )B(y )V(olume). . . . You can get rid of the haze by (simply) shaking the bottle;

11889.  I can say I’ve drank British Navy rum;

11890.  The hamburgers at McDonald’s have gotten smaller;

11891.  (Italian) tomato pie is pizza without the cheese;

11892.  Red wine doesn’t go with (mini) cupcakes;

11893.  I can (now) say (that) someone has written me a poem;

11894.  “The Play That Goes Wrong” is pretty funny;

11895.  I can say I witnessed Alexander Ovechkin’s first hat trick (and the 32^nd of his career) against the (Edmonton) Oilers( live on Sunday, February 23, 2025);

11896.  Rachael Yamagata is from Arlington, Virginia;

11897.  Apparently, Rachael Yamagata is a tequila fan;

11898.  Taylor Swift might have stolen the (song) lyric, “And I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to,” in (2012’s) “All Too Well” from Matt Nathanson.  He wrote, “And I’ll forget about you long enough to forget why I need to” (in 2003) for (his song) “I Saw;”

11899.  People will always: 1.  Misinterpret you; 2.  Project their fears onto you; and 3.  Form opinions based on incomplete information.  And that’s not your problem.  In the end?  It doesn’t matter: 1.  Someone idolizes you?  Cool.  Doesn’t change who you are; and 2.  Someone despises you?  Also cool.  Still doesn’t change who you are.  Because at the end of the day, you’re just you.  And that’s all you ever need to be;

11900.  I never thought I’d see (much less like) a musical/play about corn, but “Shucked” is pretty funny;

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11801.  According to Owen( Cook), he sees happiness in my eyes . . . and that I should take a dance or improv class;

11802.  I can say I’ve gamed/gone out with Owen( Cook);

11803.  You can love a person wholly without having to love all of him/her;

11804.  The notion of unconditional love is a myth.  Adult love lives in the realm of ambivalence, which means that relational ambivalence is part and parcel of all our relationships.  We have it with our parents, our siblings, our friends, which means that we continuously have to integrate contradictory feelings and thoughts between love and hate, between excitement and fear, between envy and contempt, between boredom and aliveness.  It’s, you continuously negotiating these contradictions, that ambivalence and living with that ambivalence is actually a sign of maturity rather than continuously evaluating;

11805.  The idea that you will be accepted unconditionally is a dream we have for our parents when we are babies.  It’s not part of adult love;

11806.  How do we set ourselves up for the best relationship(s) upfront?  There is no “one and only,” there is one person that you choose at a certain moment in time.  And with that person, you try to create the most beautiful relationship you can, but you could have done it with others.  Timing is involved.  Lots of things are involved.  But there is no “one and only;”

11807.  There is no soulmate.  Soulmate is God.  You can think that you have a soulmate connection with someone, that you have a deep, deep meeting of the minds, of the souls, of the heart, of the bodies.  But it’s a metaphor.  It’s not a person.  It’s the quality of an experience that feels like soulmates.  There is no unconditional love.  We live with ambivalence in our deepest love relationships.  There are things we like and things we don’t and things they like about us and things they don’t.  And moments they can’t be without us.  And moments where they wish, on occasion, they could be away from us.  That’s normal;

11808.  Distance is very important in a relationship.  Every relationship straddles freedom and commitment.  Togetherness and separateness.  Connection and independence.  In every relationship, there is often one person who is more inclined to the connection and one person who is more inclined for the separateness.  One person is more afraid of losing the other and one person is more afraid of losing him/herself.  One person is more in touch with the fear of abandonment and one person is more in touch with the fear of suffocation.  We all have both.  But we organize our relationship in which one of us will take on the role of this duality.  So we need connection and we need distance.  We need the things that are joint and together and we need the things that are separate.  The separateness doesn’t mean that there is deadness in the relationship.  So when you ask how long can we be apart, it depends on what you do with the space in between.  If you keep the space in between alive when you are away;

11809.  The University of Virginia sits on plantation land that belonged to James Monroe;

11810.  James Monroe was one of the founding board members of the University of Virginia;

11811.  When his presidency ended, James Monroe lived/resided at Monroe Hill now included in the grounds of the University of Virginia;

11812.  James Madison was the second rector of the University of Virginia.  He was appointed in 1826 after the death of Thomas Jefferson;

11813.  The thing about people who mean everything they say; they thing everyone else does too;

11814.  I can say I’ve been to a reception at a Smithsonian museum(, specifically “An Evening with President Jim Ryan” at the National Museum of American History);

11815.  If you take a sip of coffee and have to sneeze, the coffee’s going straight out of your nose;

11816.  Life hack: Salad (especially with a protein) makes a good filler for a burrito, sandwich or wrap;

11817.  If you have a craving for prime rib, on Tuesdays from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, the Light Horse Restaurant & Bar (TheLightHorseRestaurant.com) in (Old Town) Alexandria has a $20.00, (16 oz.) prime rib special;

11818.  “Kirk” is “church” in Scottish/northern English;

11819.  If a restaurant does not have good bread don’t bother with the cake;

11820.  You need to make your own tartar sauce to be considered a high-end seafood restaurant;

11821.  Dogs can eat acai in small quantities; however, acai contains theobromine, the same ingredient in dark chocolate that causes chocolate poisoning;

11822.  If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it;

11823.  If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no;

11824.  If you don’t step forward, you’ll stay in the same place;

11825.  Apparently, dogs should not eat pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin pie is high in sugar and fat, which can upset a dog’s stomach, especially for small dogs.  Pumpkin pie contains seasonings like nutmeg, which can be toxic to dogs.  Pumpkin pie filling also contains condensed milk, which can upset a dog’s stomach;

11826.  Turbinado (sugar) is a type of sugar that still contains some of its natural molasses, giving it its brown-blond color and light caramel flavor;

11827.  Rotary engines do not have (any) pistons;

11828.  Gillian Welch says her heart soars when someone cheers for the banjo;

11829.  David Rawlings believes no one would ever steal a banjo;

11830.  Meghan (Wallen) really likes icing.  She said she’ll eat the icing off doughnuts and cakes and leave the rest;

11831.  Relationships matter.  Some have a shelf life and others grow through your entire life;

11832.  What we hold in, holds us back;

11833.  What we are afraid to face minimizes our future;

11834.  It takes work, but it doesn’t have to be a grind.  Work ethic is part of the equation, but leads to burnout without clarity and collaboration;

11835.  Don’t let one thing define you: how you look, the size of your house, your car, your awards or accolades.  Those things don’t bring sustained happiness especially if you are trying to prove something to someone else.  Trying to prove something to someone else may be motivating initially, but it leads to bitterness and anger, fed by a feeling of lack, of scarcity;

11836.  Stay open.  Listen to your intuition.  Ask for support.  Ask better questions, more questions.  Not learned, but learning.  Not educated, but educating.  Not arrived, but present . . . in the moment;

11837.  I can say I’ve made out in the backseat of a car( specifically a Jaguar F-Pace);

11838.  The wrong philosophy combined with hard work limits impact.  It is a grind.  There is a reward, but it is limited;

11839.  If you want to play an exponential game, focus on value.  Add more value.  Grow your value;

11840.  Who helps you to see your potential?  What is holding you back from living your potential and turning it into profit?  Is it a bad partnership?  Procrastination?  Lack of mentors?  Lack of a community?  Scarcity?

11841.  Labor does not equal wealth.  You can work hard and not get ahead at the rate of inflation.  Or you can scrimp to save money only to have it lost to inflation as well.  Value equals wealth.  How you create it, how you store it, and how you understand it.  Value is the key;

11842.  Wealth is in the in between.  In between our ears certainly.  But also in between the events, the busyness that robs wealth.  Wealth happens in the moments and space of life.  In fun.  In fulfillment.  In freedom.  Freedom of choice.  Freedom of time.  Freedom to live where you want.  Freedom to work with who you want, when you want.  Freedom to provide, to create and to take a trip without feeling (or worrying about) the financial effects;

11843.  Some people step from moment to moment, event to event, with the inconvenience and effort draining life.  Doing too much on their own to save money at the expense of time and energy.  However, those with resources can focus on efficiency and become more effective.  The wealthiest people have more support.  This creates leverage of their greatest gifts and value.  The team matters.  Those who have a great team have earned ways to focus on the most productive things.  And for the truly wealthy, this means finding time to enjoy life along the way.  (Some just do more work even though they rarely, if ever, enjoy the fruits of their labor);

11844.  Some of the richest people rarely have a free moment or time for themselves because it is all about more.  They work to fill a void from earlier years with money, accolades and net worth.  Hoping to have respect or prove themselves or relieve their pain.  But this doesn’t mean they are fulfilled.  From the outside, it may seem this way.  But when it is only about more, more can destroy relationships, diminishes and discounts wins and drowns out the special things that money cannot buy;

11845.  As Coco Chanel famously said, “The best things in life are free, the second best are very, very expensive;”

11846.  You can earn money, but you can also earn happiness and the path may not always align;

11847.  When money becomes the reason or excuse for not having time, for not being present, for providing money over memories . . . when it becomes profits over people or a relentless pursuit at the expense of love, we lose.  The good news, it isn’t an either/or;

11848.  Money follows value.  It chases value.  Money doesn’t give a shit about effort.  Effort isn’t the key or determining factor;

11849.  Thinking is hard work.  Hiring people and developing skills can be difficult, but not as difficult as doing everything yourself.  The intelligent adage of smart work and hard work, but not hard and isolated work.  Collaboration is the key to value, to prosperity.  Scarcity and the consumer condition confuses people, causing them to think labor or time equal money;

11850.  The hustle culture spouts that we must sacrifice (family, memories, love) to have more money.  Again, there are those who earn it by giving up all other areas of life, but that isn’t required.  It will hold you back;