TSA #23 – Sign Up For Fun

Apr 24, 2012 by Ben

This week is another fun Truly Simple Action.  This week you must sign up to do something fun.  We are all busy with work and life and all the stuff in between, but now it’s time to schedule in some fun

Right now, Google something fun that you want to do.  It may be a kayaking trip, a wine tasting tour of the local wineries, or a ridiculous obstacle course.  Yeah you know I’m picking that one.

The point is, there are a million fun things out there to do.  Some cost a little money, but many are free and are just waiting for you to enjoy them.  Take the next 10 minutes and get on Google and resolve to find at least one thing that you can sign up to do.  Meetup.com is another great resource to find likeminded individuals doing fun things together as well.

Don’t just say that you will do one of those things “someday”.  Find something that you have to sign up for. Put it on the calendar.  Invite your friends.  Make it a real thing that you won’t put off because of whatever excuse you come up with that day.  Get your friends together, put it on your calendar and plan a fun day around it.

Life can be busy, but if you don’t fill it up with fun, you won’t have any.  It’s just that simple.

Ben…

TSA = Truly Simple Actions
The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing.

Previous TSA’s:

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TSA #2 – Go do something fun

Dec 1, 2011 by Ben

I hope you all took the opportunity to help someone out and put a huge smile on your face and did the  TSA #1.

This weeks TSA is all about you and your plans.  So… What do you have planned?

The only difference between you spending the night at home watching TV and doing nothing verses going out with friends and doing something fun is the plan.

Plan something fun!

TSA #2:  Go do something fun

Make a plan.  Right now.  Decide to do something fun and make a plan to make that happen.  Call, email,  text, or Facebook some friends and plan to do something fun.  Go onto your local towns’ website and see what local events are happening in your area and make plans to go.

This weekend, the very beautiful, Balboa Park is having one of my most favorite events; December Nights.  The entire park is filled with holiday lights, people, and great food.  They open up all the museums for free and there is a ton of cool performances happening all over the park.

And the food…  Oh the food.  They have this international village where each country has its own little house and throughout that area you can eat the most amazing foods from around the world.  The aebleskivers from the Swedish house are AWESOME!  You also have your standard fair food available for all your kettle corn needs.

So that is my plan for this weekend.  What are you planning?

Ben…

TSA = Truly Simple Actions
The goal of the TSA project is to help make this world a better place and improve our lives, one simple action at a time.

Previous TSA’s:
TSA#1 - Buy a meal for someone who needs it

 

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I built and sank a boat this weekend

Sep 26, 2011 by Ben

What did you do?

As part of an annual tradition, we participated in our communities Nail and Sail again this past weekend.  Its part of Oceanside’s Harbor Day’s festivities and its a lot of fun.  The goal is simple.  You are supplied with some wood, nails and caulk.  You bring your own tools and you get 2 hours to build a boat that you will then sail around the harbor against the other boats.  This is our third year doing it.  The first year, we built an awesome boat that promptly sunk.  The second year our construction was a bit more thought out with pre-built scale models and everything.  While we did win for best construction, the boat was not as fast as it needed to be.

This year we went with a modified design off of a boat we liked last year.  The plan was solid, we had a lot of fun building it, but the results were not as we hoped.

Our theme this year was Rock the Boat and we all dressed up as rock stars (extra points for theme and costumes, and its just fun).  The bright pink paint was thanks to the returned paint section at Home Depot.

We had so much fun and had so many friends come out to cheer us on.

We already have some ideas for our boat for next year. I think we will win, but I’m positive we will have fun.

Ben…

Here are some more pictures of the fun

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Wild West Salsa Competition – Year 2

May 15, 2011 by Ben

It was that time of year again for the Carlsbad Wild West Fest and time to make some salsa for the salsa competition.

And so I whipped up some TrulySimple salsa and it was pretty darn tasty.

First thing, I headed out to the garden to grab some ingredients.  Here are some chives

My garlic is AWESOME.  First time I’ve harvested it, and it is SO fresh and garlic-y

My cilantro rules.  I love growing this stuff.

And some onions.

I cleaned up all the veggies with the help of my friends Joe and Sophie-Helen

Here’s all the ingredients laid out.  I grabbed some corn and tomatoes from the store as the ones in my garden are not ready yet.  Also some black beans from trader joes.

Starting out with a tomato base.   Chop them up.

Throw them into a big bowl.

Cilantro next.  rinse it off.

Chop up a bunch into smaller pieces.

throw it in with the tomatoes.

Next the chives.   Chop them up and throw them in.

Now for the onion.  Chopped up a couple of onions.

and throw them in the mix.

Ok, you want to get your corn blackening at this point.  Fire up the grill on high and just lay them on it.

Turn them every 3-4 minutes or so until you get the nice blackened color all around.   Then set them aside and let it cool down a bit.

Now the garlic.  This is the first harvest of my garlic and it is so good.

It tastes so fresh and amazing.   I grabbed 4 cloves and diced them up

once its all minced up, throw it in the mix.

OK, when the corn is cooled down cut if off the cob with your knife

also grab a couple of cans of black beans and rinse and drain them.

and we throw it all in the mix and stir

add lime juice from half a large lime

and add salt and pepper to taste.  It didn’t need much.

And now for the competition.    Setting my my presentation here.

YES, I have an iPad as part of my multimedia presentation.  YES I’m a huge nerd.  But everyone really liked that and I got compliments on it and my photos, so that was nice.  Thanks to my wife for letting me steal borrow her iPad.

Here are some other tables.  Very nice layout.

I liked this framed Grandma’s salsa

Here was another salsa that was very unique and really tasty.   I liked this one a lot.   Very spicy, but very good.  I”m going to make this.

The wild west fest has some great characters

and some fun entertainment

I got a lot of votes from the various tasters coming through, but right as I ran out of salsa (it was very popular), someone came by and told me, “oh your out of salsa?  Did you save any for the judges?”

WHAT???  Doh!

That did not bode well for my strategy, and thus I did not win this year.

But I had a fun time.  Much like this kid who is so happy with with his cotton candy.

and this kid was enjoying chasing the peacocks around.

Overall it was a fun event, and next year I will be back to own this salsa competition.

Ben…

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A little Muppet fun…

May 9, 2011 by Ben

I’m a HUGE fan of the Muppets.  I grew up with all of those great characters and loved every episode of The Muppet Show.

This guy however is a genius with way too much time on his hands.  He built by hand the original Muppet Show stage with amazing detail.

This thing is truly remarkable in its detail and function

You simply must check out the work of Lance Cardinal.  Its very cool and I dig it.

Also, here is a Muppet movie I would totally watch.  Henson’s 11

Ben…

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