💪 Finkel's Fast Five 125 - June 19th, 2020

Welcome to Finkel's Fast Five #125. Thanks for reading and subscribing!

One quick announcement and then we'll get rolling. A few years ago I had an idea to write a book about the generation-defining, icon-stuffed, dynasty-filled sports year of 1996. Pretty much all of the modern legends and legendary teams were active: Jordan, Griffey, Gretzky, Tiger, Tyson, the Cowboys, Bulls & Yankees, Iverson, Kobe, Favre, Kentucky hoops, Dream Team II, Michael Johnson and the Olympics, Florida and FSU and Nebraska & more. The sports world as we know it was formed that year... Pumped to announce that publisher Diversion Books just bought the rights and the book will be out for Father's Day 2021, in time for the 25th anniversary of 1996. I'll keep you all updated here as I start writing, but really psyched for this project and wanted to share the news with my FF5 family!

ONE

BOOKS - There was a wildly famous man from the late 1800s and early 1900s who is still regarded as the greatest pedestrian of all time and I've become fascinated with him. His name is Edward Payson Weston and he was a professional extreme walker.

Yeah, you read that right...but it's cooler than you think. Weston did his first walk from Boston to Washington, D.C. for Lincoln's inauguration when he was 22. He did the 478 miles in 10 days and 10 hours. And he was just getting started. He later walked from Portland, Maine to Chicago, covering the 1200 miles in 26 days and he went on to complete dozens of hundred-plus mile feats. His crowning achievement was when he walked from Manhattan in New York City to San Francisco - at age 70! That's 3,895 miles. He did it in 104 days. I've gone down the rabbit hole on him a bit and just ordered the book chronicling this last feat. Fascinating guy.

TWO

TECH - When it comes to tech, I would describe myself as a late-adopting, off-brand kind of guy. I don't care about being first. I don't care about having the "thing" everyone has. Never have. In fact, it usually takes a bunch of people pointing something out to me before I realize it's time for an upgrade.

This happened with my flip phone and now it happened with my ear buds. Evidently, I'm one of the last people around who still rocks the old school, plain white, wired earphones that come with your iPhone. Yes, the sound was crappy. And yes, when I ran the wire would pop out about ten times... But so what? After the 10th person told me how much more convenient running is with earbuds, I did some research and found an excellent pair for about $40. They pair to your phone in two seconds. They work covered in sweat and they stay in your ears while you run. Never heard of the brand. But they work. Here they are.

THREE

COMEDY - I have to give a shoutout to my brother for this one. Last week he recommended Marc Maron's podcast with Jerry Seinfeld as a guest and I just listened to it and it's excellent. Seinfeld had never been on before, the two had never met, and Maron admitted Jerry was never one of "his guys".

All of that led to a really engaging interview that spanned Seinfeld's family and childhood, his early years in clubs as a teenager and college student, which he rarely talks about, and then they get down to the nitty gritty about who inspired them, what "funny" is, what comedians are really like and on and on. it's like a brilliant comedy history class. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

FOUR

TRICK SHOT - Last week I wrote about how my son is into track and field and how we now have relay batons and run "relays" around the neighborhood. Well, as long-time readers know, my boy likes to create "challenges", AKA, trick basketball shots for me to try in the driveway... And he bet me that I couldn't dribble the ball with a baton, then balance the ball on the baton and sink a shot.

You know where this is headed... The celebration is real because for the first time I hit it on the first try.

FIVE

A great quote about happiness:

“Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.”

– Benjamin Franklin

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