Building a Better Dave

Dave at 59: Reflections on Life, Facing Aging, and Ditching Dairy Queen

Today I turn 59 and apparently, I have one goal: Don't Break a Hip. So I reflect a bit on my 20s, 30s, and 40s, as I have 365 more days in my 50's. According to AI, "From reminiscing about past relationships and experiences to contemplating the inevitability of aging and the challenges of staying healthy, Dave's musings offer a heartfelt and relatable perspective on navigating life's journey." So click Play already Key Points: You can't change people. I don't want to live a life filled ...

What A Wonderful World

Sometimes we forget what life was like, and in todays' episode I realize that I can get the answer to just about everything with a few clicks of a mouse.  Things we learned today. Which way to set your ceiling fan in the winter. Rhino Sex Elephant Sperm Collection

You've Gone Too Far With Time Blindness

Yuri Bezmenov was a russian journlist who defected to the USA. He explained a strategy of the KGB. HE said this in 1984. It was called either ideological subversion, or active measures. What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It's a great brainwashi...

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Surviving a Rollercoaster of a Day: Unexpected Hurdles and Heart-Pounding Moments

Today we have a very relatable topic to delve into. We've all had those days where everything seems to go wrong, where every step forward feels like two steps back. Well, my friends, today we're talking about having a bad day.   All I had to do was go to Walmart, buy some fruit and two cables, and get to the church by five for a special event. It just seemed like I couldn't catch a break all day. No matter how bad your day is, someone might be having one that is even worse. It's hard, ...

Band-Aid Blues

Welcome back to another episode of "Building a Better Dave" with your host, Dave Jackson. In today's episode,  a mysterious bump near the armpit is getting bigger. Dave takes us on a journey of curiosity, self-discovery, and a deep desire to stay healthy. Join us as we explore the hilarious yet relatable moments of navigating waxing, dieting, financial frugality, and the pains and fears that come with aging. So grab your headphones and prepare for another thought-provoking and entertaining e...

Pistols at Dawn!

So Meta/Facebook released a "new" app called Threads. I installed it to check it out, and well...   It's Twitter.  No. Seriously, it is Twitter (with a different name) Why? Because of a difference of opinion, once again, America separates. Pinapple Pizza Sompe people love pineapple on your pizza, while people like me are more traditional (pepperoni and maybe some onion).  Instead of trying a different type of pizza, we get HIGHLY offended and scream HOW DARE YOU! or ask, "HOW...

Spiking Like a Mother

I've started using a Continous Glucose Monitor (or as the cool kids call it a CGM) from Signos. It's pretty amazing and the thing I love about it is if I put in my food into the app before I eat it, it will warn me, "Hey, you better exercise for 20 minutes when you finish eating THAT."  So I do, and I watch my blood glucose stabilize.  Grapes are out. Like, never again. Which is a bummer, as I love grapes. FRONT OF MIND The one thing this does is it helps you keep your health in fr...

Chipmunks Aren't Sexy

Dallas turned 45 (See picture here) and Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Charlene Tilton, Audrey Landers, Steve Kanaly, Joan Van Ark, Sheree Wilson and Cathy Podewell met up for a reunion. Victoria Principal didn't attend. . Here are three key takeaways: Dave has never seen anyone who looks better after getting work done on their face He advises women (and Men) to focus on healthy habits such as eating right and exercising if they're thinking of updating their appearance. Dave questions th...

Outrunning the Cheetah

I looked up and I was subscribed to Peacock, Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, Hbomax, the only one missing was paramount. I use YouTube TV to get "TV." As I was considering closing these, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to chime in on the conversation around the water cooler at work. Then I remembered it's not 1995. I haven't had anyone since Christmas talk about a TV show that I felt I was missing out (Yellowstone, and I wasn't but I binged it on Peacock).  A friend of mine told me how he...

The Cure For Plastic Bags

I spoke about my now PSTD reaction to finding pile after pile after pile of plastic bags that my sister (who NEVER throws them away) had stored throughout my house in a previous episode.  After watching a report from ABC News called Trashed: The Secret Life of Plastic Recycling that there was an option that had never crossed my mind.  Isn't that the way so many things are? We convince ourselves of an outcome, or our potential and we never challenge that thought. We never check to see if ...

It's All About the Mindset: The Road to Adulting

I've got some momentum going. My house is cleaner, my vocabulary is growing, my finances are more organized, I'm focused on losing weight, and I'm possessed by the spirit of my Mom, who is helping me locate the best deals for food. When something doesn't go your way, it's not a failure. It's an experience that you can use to move forward in a smarter way.  00:11 Intro 00:37 Lots of Irons in the Fire 01:11 Triggered By My Uncle 02:15 Act 4 02:59 Dave The Slob 03:47 Health Benefi...

Old Dog - New Tricks?

In this episode, I talk about making a brain tattoo, setting myself up to succeed (if I can just remember what it is I'm working on...) and parenting yourself. I just need to add one thing to my routine. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Todoist App Evernote App Google Calendar Todoist Tutorials ENJOY THE SHOW? Buy Dave a Coffee

A Special Place in Hell

While I never met him in person, a fellow Libsyn employee was killed by a drunk driver on 12/4/22. He was a wife and three young daughters.  If you're new, I was married to an alcoholic, and hearing about drunk drivers is somewhat triggering. Throw on top a parent leaving the earth way too soon, and now you really are hitting me on all levels.  But wait, there is more. It turns out there are people who are using AI (artificial intelligence) to scrape the internet for obituaries so they...

The Male - An Endangered Species?

I am worried about men. I think we are an endangered species. Here is why: SPORTS We listen to sportscasters who are making millions talk about athletes who are making millions for team owners who make billions. There are dedicated radio stations that talk about nothing else than how the team is doing, and what they need to do to win. None of that talk has any effect on the team. Zero FOOTBALL COMMERCIALS Then when you watch a football game, you always have: 1. The spokesmodel wh...

I Blame Carlin, Pryor and Chappelle

So I'm back from an event where people got offended by the presence of someone being in a room. That's a new one for me. I've been disappointed to see someone but seeing them never brought me harm. How can you say you are for inclusion, and at the same time say you want to exclude someone? I don't understand. I'm also sad to see people water down very powerful words. I save the "F word" for the end of the argument (thanks to George Carlin). I also hear people using the word Fascist, and ...

Recreational Outrage

It's hard to watch a friend get canceled. My friend Daniel is a devout Christian. Currently, there is the worry that Roe Vs Wade will be overturned and abortion will be illegal.  Daniel left a comment on a tweet that was pro-choice. "“Stopping the mass murder of blacks and women, along with all the other babies, will be wonderful for the USA. How anyone could be so barbaric to endorse the murder of nearly 1 million babies every year is unbelievable." (He later deleted this tweet) Danie...

The Joy of Commercials

Today I share a story that I have not thought about in a long time. It's weird to think of a time when there was ONE TV in the house, and you couldn't fast forward through the commercials. My brother and I created a sport that we played during the commercials. This came to me after attending a storytelling event from Matthew Disk who is the author of one of my favorite books Storyworthy. He has an exercise where you list three random things you can touch. You then have one minute to come...

As You're Getting Older

Gentlemen, is this just me? There are certain things that happen as you get older: 1. You're probably having less sex in your marriage. 2. Your anatomy might become looser and hang lower 3. Your urination stream is not as powerful as it once was.  I get those but NOBODY mentioned this one and it's happened to me.  I LOST MY ASS.  As in my buttocks. As in I'm wearing the same pants as always (34X36) and my belly is larger than it has ever been, and yet my pants will straight up FALL do...

Was Frosty Depessed?

When I read the lyrics of the song "Frosty the Snowman" I saw some disturbing things.  Frosty was on the pipe. He was headed to the village with a broomstick in his hand. Frosty attempted death by cop. If Frosty was black in lived in Chicago, he would've been dead.  Did Frosty have a death wish? Was frosty really just unselfish? Was Frosty just a moron. Was the "Magic" in his hat just packets of cocaine? Why is Frosty (a middle-aged white guy) really just a pedophile? Maybe f...

75 MILLION DOWNLOADS!

Today I'm talking about my time at the Spark Christian Podcast Conference in Grapevine Texas this week. I got to hear Tara-Leigh Cobble speak twice and WOW what a story.  She (in two years) has 75 million downloads of her Bible Recap podcast. Would I get up the nerve to ask her on my show? If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to buy me a coffee. Mentioned in this episode The Chosen (it's pretty cool!)

Am I Having a Heart Attack?

So on Tuesday, I had to crawl through the back window of my house after locking myself out of my house - wait for it - twice.  On Friday I had one of my "Sweating buckets, getting dizzy, can't decide if I'm going to have explosive diarrhea, vomit or passout" sessions. This now has fairly nasty stomach pains. I injured my stomach on Tuesday with a nasty scrape. This is Friday.  I wake up a few times during the night. It hurts to move in bed. Each time I wake up, the pain is moving higher ...

Hey There You Are!

Today I explain some side effects of 2020.  COVID 19 where 19 stands for how many pounds did you gain? It turns out 444 lbs is heavy.  I may have more deliveries in the future. My gut is ruining my aim I have carried on a Jackson tradition  Sometimes life has to hold a mirror up until you acknowledge it.

I Don't Want to Do My Homework

While many people may find themselves crying watching This is Us, I thought things had taken a weird turn when I found myself choking back tears when I was watching the Real World Reunion (on the Paramount Network). When I feel this way, I have a mental picture of one of those Submarine doors that has almost opened and water starts gushing out, and I get there just in time to spin that wheel and lock it up and go back to whatever I was doing... I decided to try Better Help, and it's not ...

Where in the World is Roy?

This episode really makes me sound weird. What I'm getting at is how things make you feel.  “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou My second marriage wasn't always bad. My wife and I had a running gag of dragging a stuffed bear with us to events. It was funny. He was behind the speaker at our marriage.  My ex-wife named him Roy. I use to give Roy a voice and make him say...

Just Me And My Thoughts and an Empty Old House

I found myself in my new old house. This was different. I had no speakers, no Internet, and my phone was there, but that wasn't going to work.  I was alone - with just my thoughts.  I wasn't sure what would happen, but sometimes when I'm left alone with just the voice in my head things can go negative.  The house (without the noise to distract me) sent my brain into the archives of thoughts that I had not remembered in decades.  The brain is amazing, and I enjoyed a trip down memory ...

Building a Better Dave Playlist

Bags, bags, and More Bags

Today I share some insights into love and living with people who had disorders.  I currently get annoyed with how cashiers bag things at the store. I end up with twice as many bags as needed. It just seems everywhere I turn, I'm opening a drawer, a pocket, a box, and its all bags. Love is knowing someone's characteristics that drive you nuts, and accepting them. It's part of what makes them who they are. You can try to change them, but you and I both know that the chances of that succeed...

Not As Hard As You Thought

I lost a lot of sleep worrying about talking to my sister. My sister (who I love dearly) has always had my back and has a very unique set of skills. While never officially diagnosed, I think it is safe to say she has some form of Aspergers. This can make things "fun." My brother and I (and, well everyone else) knew it made more sense for me to take over the house I grew up in (where my sister occasionally lives), but just cause it makes sense doesn't mean my sister would go for it. She's n...

Without a Care in the World

It's always weird how any stories in my childhood involving animals of some sort have a weird outcome, In this case, it was lightning bugs. I took a second tonight and really let myself go back to the front yard. To the time of being a kid and shouting when you achieved your goal. When the only thing you needed to worry about was if you had any empty peanut butter jars (of course you did cause you would store food in them).  It was a time when you did not have to worry about anything. Yo...

There Goes My Hero

Why is it that the people that seem to make the best points ae comedians?  The other night I watched 8:46 by Dave Chappelle. It's an amazing presentation. I also loved his last special on Netflix called Sticks and Stones. Then at 4 in the morning, it came to me: DAVE CHAPPELLE IS MY HERO.  He makes me do all the things I said a good podcast should do. He makes me laugh, cry, think, or groan. If it doesn't do any of those it should be educating or entertaining me and DAVE DOES ALL OF TH...

Do Your Homework Watch the 13th

I am an ill-informed middle-aged white dude. A black man was lynched in 2020 in broad daylight as George Floyd was pinned to the ground by police and later would die.  I often hope someone will come along and teach me so I'm not so ill-informed on how to act, what to say, etc when it comes to people of color. It's time for white people to take a step and do our homework. The better we understand, the better we communicate. The better we understand, the better we live.  Mentioned in thi...

Grumpy Turtle

I've never been able to get passed the "woo woo" part of Yoga. However, when I see fit people one of the words that comes up in regards to how they stay fit, it's Yoga. Lost In My Yoga Class Any time I tried yoga the instructor would go through different posts like: Funky Firefly Young Puma Sad Palm Tree Be the Embryo Hords of Locust Legs behind your head Silly Kitty Grump Turtle Baby Rhino and I would be still trying to figure out the Sad Palm Tree as they are finishing up. ...

Shades of Gray

I watched a movie called Bowling for Columbine, and one part really caught my attention and that is how many things on the news are based on fear.  Killer bees Swine Flu Bird Flu and many other things. Everything seems fear-based.  BLACK OR WHITE There is a song by the Monkees called "Shades of Gray" and while it was talking about equal rights for people of color, but it made me notice that now you are either a scary cat who is afraid to go outside or a nutjob who won't "Let you ...

Hey, Let's Try That...

 I just have a really weird thought today. I don't know why this popped into my brain. I'm making my breakfast. And this thought pops into my brain and that was: How did Adam and Eve figure out how to have sex that first time? Did Eve look down and go, that's weird. You have a thing? And I don't? Or was it a case where she was bending over to pick up something and Adam tripped him? Did God come down with a PowerPoint presentation and show this slot A into tab B Was it an Instinct? ...

Kicked in the Taint

April is the month that all my relatives died in. Mom, Dad, Aunts, it just seems like every day my phone reminds me how many years ago somebody died.  Throw on top of it being locked in due to a pandemic it makes from some interesting dreams. I never had a Dad dream. I had a GREAT mom dream, but no Dad dream and then... Nothing good happens at four in the morning. Not even hanging out with LeBron James. Nothing better than waking up at 4 am PISSED OFF.  The pandemic is real. A friend o...

Shout it Out

I had something happen yesterday, and you just kind of think, well, that was weird. And that was a, I think I told you about my neighbor next door who had a really old mom who eventually died. And for some reason, he had a fruit basket, and he gave it to me along with some other things in his freezer that he didn't eat, but his mom would, and he has since moved out. The neighbor immediately to my right has moved out. So I'm hoping a Claudia Schiffer type person will move in and want a po...

Another Bikini Story

Why are people in their 50's wearing bikini's news like they've found a long lost animal species? HERE IS ANOTHER ONE! see https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/elizabeth-hurleys-flawless-figure-baffles-010458031.html   REAL HEADLINES Elizabeth Hurley Skips the Gym to Relax In Revealing Dress Elizabeth Hurley Gets Cozy In Sexy LBD Elizabeth Hurley Is Sneaky & Sultry In Cleavage-Baring Ninja Suit Elizabeth Hurley Eyes Up Christmas In Open-Chested Jacket, Bikini Bottoms & NO Bra ...

What's a Mall Uncle Dave?

A mall that was a part of my childhood is on life support and in April the last store (JC Penny). I'm not sure why this is making me so sad. Sure it's part of my childhood, but I guess in a way the Mall is a mirror of me. It was so big and so strong, and now it's on its last breathe.  If something so big and strong can die, then it's just a reminder that we all need to maximize our time on the planet.  I'm walking around the mall, taking mental pictures of its 860,000 square feet because...

It's Not Fair

My Dad would always let me know that life is not fair.  I have found that weight loss is a lot like walking the wrong way on one of those moving sidewalks at the airport. If you're walking the wrong way you would need to really walk fast and then if you stopped for a second you would be catapulted backwards very very quickly.  I had to wear a suit for the first time since 2018 and my "Lucky Green Suit" no longer fits. This brought on a bunch of emotions and I took a second to take a seco...

Merry Wednesday

While I plan for it, and know its coming, and still make the day special, not celebrating Christmas on December 25th is still a little weird.  Today I talk about how it appears people have given up on going to Christmas on Christmas Eve. I miss soft, warm, candlelight services of my childhood with my whole family.  What did I do? I went to the movies....

I'm Happy You're Happy

This weekend I attended the wedding of my ex-wife. Awkward? Maybe a little, but not really. I am getting more comfortable in my role as a "family friend."  I got to bust out my prayer licks and freestyle a prayer. I got to meet what would've been my step-grandkids.  It's one thing to go to a wedding because you have to, but in looking back it's cool to go because you're invited. 

Everything Old is New Again

My brother leaves for Floriday and my family celebrates Christmas before he leaves (in this case almost two weeks early). It was a great time with family, food, and loud squeals of delight over one gift. The gift is highly confusing for me. It's a what? Like, really?  Yeah... I don't get it. 

If the birth of the messiah happened today

I was singing some Christmas songs in the kitchen when a very strange question popped in my head. What if the birth of Jesus happened today?

Quick Reviews To Chew On

Merry Happy Whatever. It's like fuller house without the boobs. The Irishman - Great cast. Three and a half hours. Surprise (spoiler) a bunch of mom guys whack people. Shocking. The Movies That Made Us - So far this is great. I love all the behind the scenes info.  Back in the Game - It's easy to see why these people are broke.  Hamilton Beach " Smokeless Indoor Grill"

Homework For Life

WOW 2019 is almost over. Matthew Dicks has an exercise he swears will slow things down. You write a sentence or two about your day. So many people think they don't have stories. They do, but they don't remember them. I'm trying to do this and it's cool but it takes discipline.  Here is Mathew Dicks on YouTube

Turkey, Football, and Butterman

Sports are kind of weird as we: Watch millionaires comment on Athletic millionaires In front of people who can't afford the tickets Who can't afford the parking or the $7 hot dog Their comments have zero outcome on the game, but it gets us wound up. We all want to be winners and those colors for my team represent ME, and I want to be a winner. If we lose our day is shot.  For me, I was happy I started the day with 20 minutes on the bike skipping breakfast having one giant meal...

Its Been a Long Time Since I Pooped My Pants

Today I talk about some steps I took to make riding my new exercise bike a little easier. It brought back some memories.  I also apologize to anyone I may have offended by saying this podcast was not great.  Set a goal you have to grow into. I like that phrase.

Dolly Parton's Wholesome Cleavage

Dolly Parton Confuses me. She comes across as family-friendly. We all know she has giant boobs, and somewhat defies gravity when she stands up.  I thought it was inappropriate when she openly flirts with Jimmy Fallon and seems to be a little weird. She talked about how her husband wants a threesome (jokingly with Jennifer Anniston). The first episode of heartstrings has Julianne Hough playing Jolene who also has her boobs hanging out in every scene. I guess I'm just confused. How can w...

My Reminiscenses

A four-page typed up a letter from what I believe is my Great-great-grandfather as he talks about the days Oklahoma becomes a state. This makes me believe I was born to be a podcaster.  I was also glad to hear nobody got molested.