Daniel J Isom

Photo: Lindsay Fishman This is going to be a shorter post, but I wanted to share a new song from one of my favorite bands, Twenty One Pilots. I've covered them on the blog before. About a week ago they released the song "Level of Concern" and it went right to the top of the Billboard Top 100. It dethroned, Panic! at the Disco, who has reigned for 76 straight weeks with two different songs. A song that ended that dominant streak deserves some love and attention. It's different from their other stuff, but so are many of their songs from album to album. "Level of Concern" was written during this crazy time, where our whole country and most of the world is under some sort of quarantine order. It's got an upbeat tempo and is incredibly catchy. I listened to it a dozen times in a row after hearing it for the first time. Give it a listen, I doubt you'll be disappointed: It's one of those things that I really needed as we grind through thi

Whenever the bananas I buy start to get little brown spots on them, I'm no longer interested in eating them. It didn't use to be that way. There was a time when I'd eat a banana at any stage after they were no longer green. Now I prefer them barely ripe. The riper they get, the sweeter they taste. I've noticed my taste for sweets has declined some as I've gotten older. So, it's inevitable that I never finish a bunch before they start to spot. Not wanting to be wasteful, I throw them into a gallon sized freezer bag and put that in the freezer (if I don't already have a bag going). When the bag is full, I know it's time for banana bread. Well before yesterday, I had 4 full bags in our downstairs freezer. Since it was well past time to make banana bread, and it's not like I can go out and do something else right now, I decided to make a few loaves. I'm a big fan of walnuts in mine, but a plain loaf is always good too. Since I had about 1

March was certainly and interesting month for us. Christine and the kids were home for most of the month because the schools closed and then moved to distance learning. Working for the Division of Public Health, I've been rather busy dealing with COVID-19 related matters on top of my normal work. Despite the madness, it was a great month for all three things I wanted to accomplish. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month It wasn't a long post, but I covered the new site layout . One of my most read pieces covered my new favorite sport, Marble Racing . I took some time and did the 10 Games Exercise . 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We got back on track and knocked out both plays of Azul. I love how simple the game is, but I don't like how Christine beat my ass both times. With those two plays, we have 16 left to go by year's end. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month March was another great baking month. There was no theme,