BagOfNothing.com

• NBC’s Olympic coverage had a segment which showcased regional food, and of all the restaurants they decided to visit, they went inside a Fogo de Chão. I have nothing against that restaurant, I love it, but it’s a chain restaurant with 29 locations in the United States  and nine locations in Brazil.
• In high school and college, many people told me I was the doppelganger of Chicago Bull Luc Longley. I only mention that because he’s now an assistant coach on the Austrailian men’s basketball team that was playing the U.S. yesterday and he had a bit of screen time.
• Never watched field hockey before until yesterday, and that blue field was something else.
• The first time I paid attention to Olympic diving was during the Barcelona Olympics because the backdrop was amazing. Too bad it wasn’t broadcast in HD.
  
• I’d like to know more about how high divers practice. For instance, do they use trampolines? I’m just thinking that after each dive, that’s a long climb back up to practice another dive, it’s hard to do any repetition.
• No one in my family noticed I clean shaved my head.
• Someone was kind enough to leave a comment yesterday detailing their stress test experience and blood pressure issues, which he now has a handle on. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to do so and it answered some questions I couldn’t find online. I’m starting to record my BP every morning so I can have a record of at least a month before getting a stress test. One morning, it was 163/91 with a resting heart rate of 88 BPM.
• Here’s a fun tool from the BBC (Hint: Enter DOB as DD/MM/YYYY)
  
  • Here are my body match stats:
    • You are the same height as 1097 athletes.
    • You are the same weight as 74 athletes.
    • You are the same age as 43 athletes.
      
• I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ is a brilliant mini-series, especially if you are into Eighties nostalgia and film homages, but done with a classic tone and feel, minus any of the cheese. I plan on writing some non-spoiler thoughts later.
  • Netflix is releasing a ‘Stranger Things’ soundtrack in two volumes. Volume 1 will be available on August 12 and Volume 2 a week later.
  • How Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ Cast Its Kid Actors
• I follow Pecan Lodge on Twitter and read this odd tweet from them last night, which has since been deleted.
  
• BBC – Will the skyscrapers outlast the pyramids?
  • Egypt’s pyramids were the skyscrapers of their day – and they are still standing 5,000 years later. Do today’s tallest buildings stand a chance of outlasting them?

• After years of toying with the garage door and having it serviced more than I’d like to admit, I finally just bought a brand new one and had it installed. I went the Craig’s List route and saved about two-hundred bucks I think. The guy that worked on it was so nice and polite I even tipped him, and I haven’t seen someone so thankful in a long time.
• For the second time in my life, I decided to shave my head with a razor. It brings out the half-Asian in me more so than usual.
  • Here are four things I think every man needs to do at least once in his life:
    • Shave his head. Maybe not with a razor, but a buzzcut without a guard.
    • Let the hair grow out at least six months without a haircut or trim.
    • Grow a beard for at least half a year.
    • I forgot the fourth.
• The Olympics reminds me of all the times I failed to commit to something. Age, experience, and perspective will do that do you. But it really makes me appreciate what medal winners have to do. Seriously, we may see only one minute of glory in their life, but to get to that moment, you’re looking at dedication which required going to bed early, waking up early, turning down social engagements to make early practice, diet and nutrition, doing what needs to be done when you are drained and have no motivation, injury and rehab, and on and on and on….for years.
• It was so neat seeing NBA players from the men’s national team in the audience cheering on Michael Phelps. Not only does it feel like the tables have turned, that they aren’t in the spotlight, but it’s neat seeing professional athletes admire greatness and be a part of history. Phelps is that rare athlete that can have a laser-like focus and turn it up to an eleven, much like Jordan, but different.
• I think every summer Olympics from here to eternity, you’ll hear the name Nadia Comaneci dropped at least once during gymnastics. I think it will now be the same with Michael Phelps, and no one will remember the name Mark Spitz.
  • I can’t find the exact quote, and I’m going to botch it a bit, but he really impressed me at one press conference when his career first took off when he said, “I”m not looking to be the next Mark Spitz, I’m looking to be Michael Phelps.”
  • I wonder if anyone calls him Mike.
• Wasn’t a fan of NBC’s commentators for swimming yesterday. One guy did everything he could do to try to jinx Phelps, so much so I thought Phelps was going to pull up with a cramp. He also said Phelps was exhausted after his last race for the night. Well, duh, you’re supposed to leave it all out there and give it all you got. Also, one of the announcers for gymnastics sounds exactly like Lester Holt and it throws me everytime.
• I’ve never known anyone or their child who has competed in diving and have no idea even if that’s an option around these here part, yet one recently one a medal.
• It’s funny how most of us will watch something like gymnastics and critique it yet have no idea what’s really good or bad. But I guess you know when you see it.
• Since so many flags of all the nations are manufactured in China, I wonder if the Chinese delegation just brings it with them.
• I thought Scott Pelley took a small jab at NBC last night with this statement during the ‘CBS Evening News’:
  • “Fair warning. We are about to report an Olympic result because it is news. It’s not our fault that the TV coverage is delayed. Here it is…”
  • Pelley and his wife recently bought a flatiron condo. I have no idea what a flatiron condo was.
• The Cowboys have been in a downward decline of morality for years, and it looked much worst yesterday when Art Briles visited their training camp. I think Stephen Jones is trying to do some sort of power pose.
• I thought I could find some stuff on Men’s Fitness’ website on blood pressure, but nope.
• The guys on The TICKET were joking around and one of them playfully stated that the anticipation of the holidays, or an event, is better than the holiday or event itself. I thought about that for a good five minutes and agree for the most part. It’s not always about the destination, but the journey.
• Popular Mechanics – Texas Is Drowning in Wind Energy – Yes, you can have too much of a good thing.
• Today’s dose of ‘MURICA! (I guess)
  
• And yet she’s the one that spent time in prison – Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg to Host Weekly ‘Dinner Party’ Show on VH1
• I’m not sure I stated this yet, but Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ is a phenomenal mini-series. Non-spoiler thoughts will be posted soon. For those of you that do watch, when I’m mad at WifeGeeding, I now refer to her as a mouth-breather.
• I used to work at the huge Fidelity Investments campus in Westlake. TD Ameritrade was just down the road in a very sizable building. So this news was a bit surprising to me – Schwab campus in Westlake will bring 1,200 jobs to North Texas
  • The Charles Schwab Corp. will build a $100 million, 500,000-square-foot regional campus in Westlake that ultimately will bring 1,200 jobs to North Texas within10 years.
  • If memory serves me correct, Fidelity gets a tax break by having cattle on their land.
• I bet a lot of folks thought this was an easy no-brainer decision for Truman to make.

President Truman writes to Senator Richard Russell today 1945 about his plans for ending war against Japan: pic.twitter.com/svuCEQey8c

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) August 9, 2016