Morning commute… invigorating.

Bach - Cello Suite No.1 i-Prelude - The Silence Before Bach (by remmanson)

Sunday of Champions.

Smokin’ Spare Ribs and Watchin’ Football.

Sunday is Broncos Day in The Bandel household here in Colorado.  What makes it all complete is firing up the Weber Smokey Mountain BBQ and making some hickory smoked spare ribs.

I’d like to share with you a couple of my secrets.  First get yourself a nice looking meaty rack of ribs from your local grocery store.  I tend to just buy what’s on sale personally.  My favorite cut is St. Louis style, which is really just a cut down version of a spare rib.  You get less meat though for the money so I’ll usually just buy some spare ribs and cut them down myself.  Sometimes though, like I did today, I’ll just cook the whole cut of spare ribs.  They come out a more fatty and don’t cut up as uniformly as a St. Louis cut, but there is more meat to serve for a NFL sized appetite like mine.

First I take the meat out of the clear packing material, wash it with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels.  I then pull of the membrane off of the back of the ribs.  It’s a thin layer of tissue that when removed will make the rib come out much more tender.  The membrane is a bit tricky to remove to it does take some practice.  My technique is to just peel off a corner at the narrow end of the rack, and start pulling with a firm hold being careful not to tear it.  It’s much easier if you get the membrane off in all one piece. 

From there I coat my ribs in mustard.  I use mustard with Tabasco sauce in it that they sell at Wal-Mart.  This mustard is there to create a sticky coating for the dry rub to stick to.  Next add the rub.  I have used so many different rubs and combinations that I am not partial to any one in particular.  If I had to make a recommendation based on a rub that I think is amazing for several reasons I’d have to go with Jack’s Old South Rub a Dub Rib Rub ($11).  It gives an amazing caramelized coloring, and a slight sweet maple tone mixed with deep flavor and complexity.  It is VERY good on pulled pork also.

Once both sides are coated and rubbed I cover with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours.  I usually keep it in overnight personally but I don’t believe this is a necessary step for the rub to penetrate the meat properly for maximum flavor. 

I always cook with Kingsford charcoal and hickory wood when I do pork on my smoker.   The charcoal is responsible for providing the majority of the heat, and the hickory wood provides an amazing flavor to the ribs.  I get the temperature to about 250 degrees and cook for 1.5 hours then flip.  At the 2.5-3 hour mark I pull the ribs off, and brush them with a honey and melted butter mix on both sides.  I then put them in tin foil and throw them back on the smoker to finish cooking.  The majority of the smoke flavor from the hickory will happen in the first 2 hours of cooking.  Finishing the ribs in foil makes them come out nice and tender with the bones showing nicely out of the bottom of the rib. 

At the 5-hour mark it’s time to pull the ribs.  I mix up a special batch of my famous BBQ sauce while I let the ribs rest for 20-30min.  Sometimes I’ll fire up my gas grill and finish the ribs by basting with sauce and flipping a couple of times (only takes a couple of minutes).  BBQ sauce has sugar in it so cooking with it on high heat will cause it to burn if you aren’t careful.  Don’t ruin your ribs with burned sauce!

Another way is to just heat up the sauce and let your guests serve it or brush it on as they wish to.  This is what I usually do.  I want everybody to see and taste my ribs without having to mask the flavor in BBQ sauce.

That’s it for now.

Give it a try and enjoy a great afternoon of good old-fashioned American fun.  Support your local NFL football team, and share some awesome BBQ with great people. 

GO BRONCOS!

About Shawn.

I’m Shawn. I’m a husband, a father, a business owner, a coach, a leader, a mentor, an athlete, a competitor, and a spiritually lead man.

I like to think about my life though not as necessarily who I am, but who I will become.

Who will I become? I will become the world’s best husband to my amazing wife Julia.  I will become the father of the century to my daughter Jaelyn, and will be the shining light for her and my other future children. I will be an owner of multiple businesses. I will be a developer of leaders. I will become a great educator, mentor, and speaker. I will become a man of value based on what I am able to give to others. I will become a spiritually driven empowerment giver to my children and influence others to be great leaders, givers, and mentors themselves.

I promise to become a man remembered by the gifts he leaves behind in people he inspires, empowers, and loves.

I am who I will become.

Getting things done,

Staying organized,

and Living Stress Free.

If you are anything like me, then your life is probably filled with way more things that you could ever accomplish. 

 There are so many areas in life that our energy and attention are consistently being drawn to.  Usually our attention wonders to the areas that scream most loudly to us at any given moment.   

Shawn’s typical day in the past.  

There I was, sort of like a pinball in one of those old-time pinball machines.  I’d launch out of the gate to start my day on a mission.  Then as soon as I got shot out into the world I was bounced off  every single bumper.  I was launched from here to there and everywhere depending on what I bumped into.  As soon as I hit something I reacted, and then I was rudely bumped on to whatever came next.  It was pretty draining and very unproductive.

So I decided to STOP THE INSANITY.  I took a deep breath, and figured I just needed to assess what the heck was going on.  Why couldn’t I control my day and work flow?

Here’s what I learned.

There are a couple of things in my life and work that give me simple satisfaction.

They are the following:

Getting stuff done that is important to ME.

Being organized

And NOT being stressed out.

Shawn’s top 5 things that stress him out.

1)  Feeling overwhelmed

2)  Feeling disorganzied

3)  Feeling like I’m being unproductive

4)  Forgetting things/Losing things

5)  Being dragged and pulled through my day in reactive mode

So, I decided to geek out and figure out how I could fix these things with proven methods and available technology.

Here’s what I used.

1)

David Allen’s book: Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity

Available in audio book (my preference while driving) @ Audible.com

2)

A little office space set up in the loft in my house equipped with the following:

An inbox, a stack of manila folders, a stack of white paper, an expandable file folder, a bankers box for reference folders, and a label maker (and please refrain from hating on my label maker, it seriously changed my life!).

3)

Two different Iphone apps: (also available for use on Mac/PC)

Both are free at the itunes store.

Evernote

Orchestra To-do

So after playing around with these systems for about 6-months now I’ve got a little routine that works great for me that combines these tools.  I am now able to handle huge projects, add more to my plate comfortably and have plenty of mind left for creativity (new ideas).  Also, I know exactly what I need to do now.  More importantly though I am now comfortable NOT doing things.  It’s now totally okay to just say no to OPP (Other People’s Priorities).

After applying the techniques in the book Getting Things Done I now am a collector of ideas, to do’s, and random stuff in my Evernote app as things pop into my head.  Also I am now a collector of paper stuff, reference materials, bills and stuff in my office inbox.

I revisit the inbox in Evernote and the office where stuff is collected when it starts to fill up and clear it out by classifying the stuff.  It’s simply labeled as DO, DELEGATE, DELETE, or REFERENCE.

This is David Allen’s system and it works.

If I can DO the stuff really quickly, like two minutes or less… I just do it.

If it’s something I can DELEGATE… I just delegate it right then and there (text first or email second work best for me).

If it’s something that is just crap… I hit the DELETE button or put it in my wastebasket.

If it’s reference stuff that I might need later, in Evernote I file it in a REFERENCE folder with a tag so I can easily search and find it by topic.  (Example: a vendor equipment tracking number or receipt for my business gets tagged “equipment” in my Evernote Reference folder). For paper reference I use a banker box with manila folders that are labeled (Ah the label maker). 

So I can tell you if this all seems daunting it isn’t.  Just start by taking the first step.  Download the apps.  Go to Wal-Mart and get the office stuff I listed.  Get a wastebasket (a big one) and start going through piles of paper classifying it and chucking it (the fun part for me).  The first time you do the organizing and classifying it is pretty damn liberating.  It does however take some time the first time you go through your personal mess.  So set aside a Sunday afternoon for like 2-3 hours to just go ballistic.

After that it’s just about working the plan daily for only a total of maybe 15 minutes per day.  Life changing!

The last piece that I added to my little system and daily routine was the free Orchestra To-do app.

I wake up each morning and create my what I call Daily 6 to do list.

It is just 6 things that I’d like to accomplish during the day on that day only.  Throughout the day I make sure that I do my best to get those 6 things done regardless of what else happens throughout the day.  I usually write down two really basic things that I can easily check off that get some momentum going on my side.  Example being today I wrote as one of my Daily 6 read a story to my daughter.  She’s 9 month old and I can read her a little Golden Book or Dr. Seuss in like 2 minutes (the total duration of both her and my attention spans).  I only add one or two really big-time items to my Daily 6 list so I’m not overwhelmed. 

Now as I launch into my day it’s perfectly okay to not do or just “collect” the stuff that I bump into during the day.  I no longer stress because I already know what I want to do because it is already written down on my Daily 6.  I do not add to the Daily 6 throughout the course of the day either.  It is what it is.  In that way I stay out of reactive mode and stay where I want to be… which is

Getting things done,

Staying organized,

and Living Stress Free

Let me know your own personal organization tricks, stress free techniques, and getting things done methods.

CrossFit at 9000 feet elevation!

I really enjoy traveling to different places and exploring the local offerings.  I don’t need to get too fancy about my travels either.  Sometimes the greatest pleasures are hidden right in my own backyard in the simplest places. 

We live in colorful Colorado and our “backyard” The Rocky Mountains are one of the world’s natural treasures.  My wife Julia, our baby girl Jaelyn, and I ventured up to the high county this past weekend to explore and sample the offerings of Winter Park.

Meeting locals and hanging out with them on their turf is what really makes you understand the local culture.  For me being a passionate CrossFit athlete, there is no better way to bond with locals than dropping in on a workout at their CrossFit affiliate.

For the Winter Park locals, that affiliate is CrossFit Thin Air.  I emailed the owner and was replied to within an hour welcoming me to join them for 7:30am workout the next morning.  This generosity is pretty common of the folks who are involved in the CrossFit community.  CrossFit is, and always has been, a brotherhood of awesomeness.

So I crept out of bed early on a chilly but beautiful fall morning to explore.   My wife and baby slept peacefully in the slope side mountain condo graciously provided to us for the weekend by a friend and member of our own CrossFit gym.

CrossFit Thin Air is at 9000 feet elevation.  For those of you who know what a CrossFit workout feels like, this lack of oxygen was sure provide me with an interesting workout experience. 

As I approached the property I was absolutely blown away with the natural beauty of the 40+ acre grounds where CrossFit Thin Air was hiding.  I would describe it as my perfect vision of CrossFit heaven on earth. It was like nothing else I had ever experienced.  Most CrossFit gyms are gritty, raw, industrial spaces with little or no visual appeal for the casual onlooker.  It’s always been more about kick ass workouts rather than creature comforts. 

This place felt like a mountain retreat.  On the property was a house, a barn/gym, a cross-country ski course, a shooting range, and views to die for.  The gym is a two a two-story structure with the main workout area on the upper floor.  It was outfitted with deep wood paneling walls that gave it the feel of a backcountry ski lodge.  This feeling was magnified by panoramic mountain views of god’s country from the upstairs windows. 

I just walked around with my jaw on the floor for about the first ½ hour I was there.

All of the equipment in the gym was hand made by the owner.  He is one of the most talented metal workers I have come across in the CrossFit community.  His small space was outfitted with so many custom pieces of equipment.  You could spend an hour scanning the gym and probably not be able to take in all of the little details of craftsmanship that surround you.  He runs a company called Functional Steele where he makes and sells his wares too.

The locals greeted me like a true friend to their CrossFit home.   I couldn’t wait to workout with these guys and gals in mountain CrossFit paradise.  I had a great workout too.  A 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 3 Ring Muscle Ups, 7 Burpee Box Jumps, & 10 Pistols/1-Legged Squats. 

The elevation was definitely a new challenge.  It made it fun for me though I will admit.  I normally work out at about 5300 feet.  It was a big change from normal, but it wasn’t quite as bad for me as I expected.

I had so much fun that I had my wife Julia come back with me later that morning after breakfast.  She was invited to workout with the CrossFit Thin Air coaches at 10:00am.  Also, I just had to show her this place and give the experience that I had that same morning.  The place was just too hard to describe to her.

If you are in the high country of Colorado I highly recommend making the little town of Winter Park and CrossFit Thin Air a destination.  We left feeling high as the clouds, smiling from ear to ear, and with great memories to take home

Smoke some meat like a pro in the snow!

We got our first snow here today in Colorado.  I woke up this morning and pulled the curtains aside.  I was greeted with an amazing winter wonderland.  The first snow is always a little magical when you see it for the first time.  I mean really for the first time, because there I was holding my 9-month-old daughter in my arms and seeing it through her eyes too.  She just stared in amazement at the white billowing marshmallow land in her backyard this morning.

Two days ago it was 80 degrees.  This is just typical crazy Colorado weather.  I guess here you’ve just got to be ready for just about any weather at any time.

I went out to the garage to dig out the snow shovel from its hiding spot from last winter. While I was digging for it I spotted my Weber BBQ smoker eyeing me from the corner of the garage.   The wheels of my head started spinning away.

Mind you it was really chilly out, and I didn’t have a jacket on either.  My instincts were telling me to light a fire for warmth.  This was my physiological response to being cold I figure.  This need along with being hungry as hell lead me straight to my activity for the day.

Smoking a giant hunk of pork shoulder on my BBQ smoker in the snow!

Now for those of you who are uninformed of the true nature of smoking meat vs. grilling, let me fill in on the differences in short.

Grilling is for hot dogs, burgers, and chicken breasts.   Smoking is for pulled pork, ribs, brisket, and chicken thighs.

Grilling is for amateurs.  Smoking is for pros.  Grilling is for zeros.  Smoking is for heroes.

Smoking takes skill.  Grilling only takes… well a grill.  Ha.

There is something so instinctly primitive and right about firing up a hot smoking pit and slow roasting your kill for 10 plus hours prior to feasting with delight.

If you want to smoke like a pro, with a great user-friendly smoker check out THE WEBER SMOKEY MOUNTAIN ($250).  For a fire source for your smoker charcoal and hickory wood is the only way to go in my book.  Propane smokers, electric smokers, or any other artificial heating device other than fire takes away from the caveman nature of the experience.  That’s what it’s all about for me.

So be in the know, smoke like a pro, on the day of the first snow.

Stripe the Lawn