In 1894, an election year, Grover Cleveland was faced with a serious dilemma. You see, in the late 1800’s the railroad industry was the hip place to be. It was the driving force of our economy. The railroad was like Silicon Valley on steroids.

Silicon Valley works well when most of the workers are happy and taken care of. The railroad was no different. Grover Cleveland realized this when the railroad workers went on strike because their wages were cut.

When the workers of your most valuable industry all decide to strike, that’s considered a problem. Enough of that, and the entire economy is shut down. Cleveland recognized this, and reacted in a way we wouldn’t really call level headed.

Howdy, people. Hope August treated you well. September is always a fantastic time because football season is right around the corner. Which means that my Saturday and Sunday are spent watching grown men hurl themselves into each other for my pleasure, and I love every minute of it.

I knocked out 5 books in August. All of them great reads in their own right. Check out my thoughts, and if you’re looking for any of them you’ll find a link to snag it should you choose to. Enjoy!

One time I ate 12 doughnuts in the span of 24 hours. I didn’t make it fit into my diet or anything. I just went hard in the paint and before I knew it I was balls deep in some awesome doughnuts. Why? Because it was a Special Day.

Is there any greater enemy to the diet than the Special Day? The day that comes around, and provides an unforeseen temptation that is just enough to drive you off the tracks to 6-Pack City and straight into Doughnut Mountain?

In my own personal experience, I’ve seen this sort of thing happen countless times. Someone is kicking ass, they’re seeing results, and then that Special Day comes.

In the year 1982, two future hall of fame NBA players faced off for an NCAA National Championship. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels featured a freshman named Michael Jordan. The Georgetown Hoyas featured a freshman named Patrick Ewing.

Both teams were complete powerhouses who had sailed through the tournament up to that point. They made for an all time great basketball game, and in this game the legend of Michael Jordan was born.

With 17 seconds to go, Jordan hit a jumper from the left wing that put the Tar Heels up for good. They won the National Championship and Jordan went on to become arguably the greatest NBA player in history.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Chicago to visit one of my best friends. We’ve been bros since way back. We introduce ourselves to new people, and then when they ask how long we’ve been friends, we drop this gem on them, “Since the age of Uno.”

It’s not a joke, either. Our families go back generations.

Back to Chicago.

We’re in line at Wrigley field. It’s my first time checking out a Cubs game. I’m freaking pumped. We’re going to watch a game from the famed bleachers, see the lovable losers, and take in some baseball history.

By the way, it turned out to be some SERIOUS baseball history. Cole Hamels threw a no-hitter. It was the first time the Cubs had been on the wrong end of a no-hitter since 1965, when a dude by the name of Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game. Serious history.

As we’re waiting in line to get inside the stadium and lamenting the fact that we were standing out in the Chicago heat (LOL) I had a brief moment of philosophical brilliance which resulted in this gem:

For those of you curious, this was me last month.

But don’t you worry, baby. I’m back. My reading mojo has returned, and I killed it over the course of July. Thanks to a mix of some serious pleasure reading, a couple of shorter books, and some downtime due to travel.

Here’s the July Reading Romp, baby!

A few weeks ago California enacted strict water conservation measures. The state is looking to cut its water usage by 25%, and citizens now aren’t allowed to water their lawns between 9am and 6pm, and are only allowed to water the lawn twice a week.

California and their water crisis can teach us a very serious lesson about stress. All we have to do is look at the reservoir.

Stress is something we all have to deal with on varying levels every single day.

Before we get going, I want you to poke around this website a bit. You see how damn good looking it is? You can thank my friend Katie Rose. She’s the website whisperer, whose ability to create a badass site is only overshadowed by her ability to talk gangster rap and fitness.

This post has been the collaboration brain child of Katie and I for a long time. We share a love of fitness, a love of gangster rap, and especially a love of Wu-Tang. After we finished redoing my site, it was only fitting this badass collab be the first post. In it you’ll find a mix of both of our thoughts, but it’ll read as one badass article. Much like a great Wu-Tang album.

6 Things Wu-Tang Clan Can Teach You About Fitness

I don’t have a 6 pack.

I’m perfectly capable of drinking a 6 pack. I’d love to have a 6 pack of that kind right about now. But I don’t have 6 pack abs. Would I like to? Yeah sure. I hope that I do one day. But I’m perfectly content with not having them right now.

Our obsession with abs is pretty impressive. It’s nothing really new though. Society has been obsessed with abs since the Greeks and Romans. Now thanks to photo shop, which we all hate yet judge our own bodies against, we’ve taken it to a whole new level.

Nowadays we’d hardly call someone fit unless they’ve got a set of abs that would make Arnold envious. That’s terrible for body image, and whether we’re able to realize it or not, completely wrong.

I spend roughly 50 hours a week in a gym that’s almost identical to Globo Gym from the movie Dodgeball. That leads to seeing a lot of people do a whole lot of shit that makes me cringe. I inevitably hear from clients, chatter at the water fountain, or at the smoothie bar of the things people are doing outside the gym to help them lose weight that makes me go home cry myself to sleep. I’m here to set the record straight. Here are 6 ways people do fitness wrong.