Though frequently referred to as “little Chicago” by folks from Illinois, the “Cream City” (so called for the hue of the local brick) has a distinct culture and identity. A case in point, Milwaukee water fountains are called “bubblers”.   And the local NPR radio series answering listener questions in Chicago called “Curious City” (on WBEZ) in Milwaukee entitled “Bubbler Talk” on WUWM.  The origins of this odd term and public radio series offers an interesting dive into Milwauke history. Read More

That’s right, “Milwaukee or Bust”.  So, while not literally driving a beat-up Model-T cross-country for the promise land, echoing back to 1930s Dust Bowl days, the metaphor helps dramatize my move and internal travails to find a new home.  Temporarily living in “God’s Country” (as my cousin’s refer to Wisconsin) shifted my mindset, which has evolved over the past couple months as a post-pandemic, 50s-something. My June blogpost “Exit Chicago” detailed uprooting myself from Chicago to try out Wisconsin while still buzzing back to the city one-day a week for appointments with Back to Natural Health and catch friends.    Read More

The narrative current over the past 11-months has been overwhelmingly in support of vaccines.  The same time I was pursuing a regimen of repurposed, off-label prescription drugs, a modified diet, and boosting vitamins to fight off long-Covid.  In retrospect, from my experience, thousands in online support groups, and front-line doctors it is clear these medicines indeed work.  Today, I am no longer suffering from crushing fatigue, shortness of breath, malaise, and am beginning to really live again.  Although still not 100% these treatments have made a huge difference. Read More

I contracted Covid in March of 2020.  I was never hospitalized but I experienced four weeks of fatigue, difficulty breathing, tightness in my chest, malaise, exhaustion, brain fog, and a complete loss of productivity. I am a 57-year-old writer and athlete.  Feeling better, I got back on my road bike and four weeks later had logged 520-miles.  Then BAMM!  With no warning—on May 15, 2020—Covid returned and laid me out.  Month after month I struggled to manage life’s basics, occasionally able to accomplish some half-days of work.  Read More

Fast approaching a year of dealing with Covid I am finally starting to feel better thanks to a friend of a friend and a Nobel prize winning substance, known in medical shorthand as IVM.  My journey is not over, but IVM has offered a major path to recovery which has been thwarted from the start.  This is my story… Mid-morning on March 23, 2020, I was knocked down with fatigue, slept for 2-1/2 hours and awoke to a growing malaise and brain fog.  Read More

I am not going to get all “soap-boxy” about what should have been done to combat this pandemic.  Plenty of that can be found elsewhere, but suffice it to say face masks are a good idea.  In Czech Republic they have used them quite successfully to curb the spread of the Coronoavirus (COVID-19). In my case, I believe (without readily available tests, still unconfirmed) I came down with Coronavirus last Monday (3/16).  I have no idea where or how I got it.  Read More

So New Year’s Resolutions . . .  Have you broken yours yet?  So far, I’ve both broken and mostly stuck to mine, as we humans love contradictions. Normally I am not a New Year’s Resolution kind of guy, but this year I felt the need for something different.  I had been cycling the last couple years with a group that became a team with uniforms, sponsors, and an executive board last fall.  Composed of late-20s and mostly 30ish-year-old riders I enjoy trying to keep up.  Read More

HAPPY NEW YEAR and 2020 no less! It’s hard to believe an entire decade has just slipped by.  Reminds me of shampoo.  Not the 1975 movie with Warren Beatty.  Of course, now I have completely dated myself, even though I did not see it in the theater, rather on TV a few years later.  Anyway my point was, losing a decade is like shampoo because it slowly sneaks up on you, using a little each day, then seemingly all of a sudden… Bam!  Read More

Hope you are enjoying your summer!  It seemed to take forever to get some consistently nice weather here in Chicago!  And then BAM!  Someone turned a switch and it’s full on Summer! Of course living less than a score of blocks from Lake Michigan’s cool water in the spring definitely makes for chilly and foggy days that extend into June.  In addition, all-time high-lake water has made boating more dangerous with submerged jetties and barely visible break walls — even the lake shore bike path is half underwater near Oak and Olive Street Beaches! Read More

Each author has her or his own approach, but the trick to writing a book is trusting the process.  As Hemingway advised a young writer, “the first draft of anything is shit!” explaining that the real work comes in the revising, rewriting, and reworking of a manuscript as many as forty, maybe fifty times, to get to the finished product. For many writers, myself included, the first draft can be the hardest to complete, even though it is rarely where the bulk of the time lies.  Read More