The Virginian by Owen Wister. I just finished this 1902 novel that essentially created the Western genre as we know it. Wister’s tale of a laconic, principled cowboy in Wyoming Territory established tropes we now take for granted: the showdown at high noon, the strong silent hero, and the eastern tenderfoot narrator learning the ways of the West. A core theme in The Virginian is honor. I did a lot of underlining in my copy about that topic. Despite being over 120 years old, the book is surprisingly fresh and modern. If you want a better appreciation of the Western genre, from the best Western novels to the top Western films to the greatest video game of all time — Red Dead Redemption 2 — pick up a copy of The Virginian.
The Hot New Job for Men: Nursing. Ten years ago, if you asked me how many dudes I knew who were nurses, the answer would have been zero. Today, I personally know several men who are nurses and even middle-aged men who are shifting careers to nursing. And it looks like this anecdotal uptick is backed up by data. Nursing is drawing more men than ever, with male RNs nearly tripling since 2000. The appeal? Job security and solid pay — registered nurses pull in $95,000 on average, with specialized roles like nurse anesthetists hitting $214,000. While males currently only make up 14% of nurses, that number’s climbing steadily as more men discover this potentially rewarding career path. It’s a big shift from the days when male nurses were the butt of jokes in movies like Meet the Parents.
Micro Gainz Microplates. Have you stalled out on making progress on a lift like the overhead press and want to increase the weight, but adding the lowest plates available — typically 5-pounders — still feels like too big a jump? These fractional weight plates let you make tiny 1/2 to 2-pound increases, perfect for breaking through stubborn plateaus. At first glance, spending $60 on what amounts to metal chips might seem excessive, but the ability to make micro-jumps in weight is a game-changer for achieving progressive overload on upper-body lifts.
Jingle Bell Jazz. Not sure how this 1962 compilation made its way into my vinyl collection, but every December, I find myself giving it regular spins on my record player. It’s a good mixture of Christmas standards in various genres of jazz, including bebop, swing, and cool. It’s a perfect album for trimming the tree or sitting by a roaring fire reading a book on a cold December night. You can listen to the full album on YouTube.
Also, this really made me laugh.
Quote of the Week
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
—William James
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