Dennis Goedegebuure, Author at Dennis Goedegebuure

Wake up call – surviving a heart attack

Wow, wake up call!

For the last couple of days, I had a muscle in my back which felt like it was strained. Didn’t pay too much attention to it, just thought I needed more exercise.
Yesterday I felt light-headed driving into work, so before I hit the freeway I turned around to work from home.

This morning while walking the dog, I started to feel really bad. Turned around to drop of the dog.
While on the phone with Fiona, I described all symptoms of a heart attack.

Quickly went to the hospital, and as soon as the doctor attached a heart monitor I could hear him say: “Yes, he’s having one”

The next 2 hours were a roller coaster. Within a minute there were 6 people in the room preparing me to go into the operating room.
The doctors removed one blood-cloth which was blocking a vessel. A couple others are slightly blocked which can be treated with medication.

I can say, I’m extremely lucky I got to the hospital so fast. Doing much better now…

Social Holiday: Getting off the crack of the short-term dopamine feedback loops

By Dennis Goedegebuure

It has been hard, but for the last five days I’ve not posted, liked and only commented once on a Facebook post. Only work-related stuff is still published on my wall. Yes, I’m taking a social media break too. For how long, I’m not sure yet, if I like it you won’t see me here as much as before 2018.

Are you addicted to the short-term dopamine feedback loops of social media?

I’m Dennis, and I’m an addict to the short-term dopamine feedback loops of the little red dot of Facebook engagement. In addictions they say, acknowledgement is the first step to get better. For me, it’s key to get off the social engagement crack for the future of my kids.

Do you find yourself at dinner with friends watching at your phone the whole time? You might suffer from the same addiction…

Screentime for kids these days

My 11 years old daughter got an iPod last year. She already has an Insta account. Short for Instagram with the middle schoolers. We started to see big behavioral changes with her since she got the iPod. Screen time has changed the way she responds to us.

With our two boys, it’s even worse. iPads, television and Kindle fire are a constant discussion point. I would hate it if my kids end up like the two women in the picture, going out for lunch constantly staring at their phones, while they sit opposite each other. I took this picture last week in San Francisco when we were having lunch for my daughters birthday as a reminder for her not to behave this way.

A couple of weeks ago I even posted about the early morning TV behavior of my 4-year-old. It looks funny, and comments all were laughing a bid until you live this.every.fricking.day.for.over.a.year now. Mr V is only 4, can’t read or write yet, but through voice search commands can control the TV & cable. Great technology innovation, but not when you try to control his behavior. Safe to say that I locked up the way you can order on demand video’s after this, while that doesn’t stop him from controlling the TV, and sneaking downstairs to watch early in the morning.

Frying brains through screentime one kid at-a-time

The brains of our kids get fried by screentime these days. So many times we see couples with kids in restaurants, where the parents finally get a quiet dinner just because the kids have an iPad to play with. There is a reason why both Steve Jobs & Bill Gates didn’t let their kids play on an iPad, or at least limited screentime. (source: 1 & 2)

For me, the realization of a need to change came when all this escalated with the winter break holidays. Kids are out of school for 2 weeks, a house full of guests/family, and a need to keep a baby happy with naps during the day. This means, not a lot of day trips for the kids, lots of time at home to spend the day. The number of discussions we have had about screen time was off the charts.

Meanwhile, I happen to stumble on the comments from Chamath Palihapitiya about his regrets of contributing to the development of these short-term dopamine feedback loops while he was at Facebook. I have tremendous respect for this guy saying this in public and watched numerous video’s in which he explained his comments, and the context you should understand this remark in. Watch the whole video below to see what context his comments should be understood in. I start the embedded video at an important moment in the interview:

In his house, there is no screen time what so ever! You see, it’s not just the pull of social engagement on Facebook or Instagram which makes kids want to watch tv or use an iPad. It’s an easy way out for parents to get the kids occupied for hours without any need to put a lot of energy in them.

Great, let me try this no-screen-time thing… One day over the holiday break, I take my two boys to the sports park after having the same discussion about laptops, Kindles, iPads and TV again. We ended up running around the field, playing throw-and-catch or soccer, and having a lot of fun with the three of us. When we got in the car to grab lunch, I asked them if they enjoyed themselves;

“This was so much fun”

they both said. I asked:

“More than screen time?”

“Yes, WAY MORE FUN!”

BOOM, mission accomplished.

For the next 3 days, we went for at least an hour per day to the sports park, if not 2 hours. I wished this could be my life forever, throwing footballs with my boys outside.

However, reality kicked in, and it was back to work. Because of no time during the day to play throw-and-catch, they are back to endless whining about screen time and ongoing fights over the remote control for the TV. I’m almost there to cancel our cable and sell off the TV. And our kids already get limited screentime!

This calls for drastic action!

Social Media Holiday

For me to be a good example for my kids, I need to live the way I want them to behave. No phones at the table, no endless screen scrolling at the couch. So, I have challenged myself to a social media holiday. For my work, I will need to have some access to Facebook, so I will keep posting work-related content of Fanatics. For the rest, you can reach me through other channels.

If I’m not responding to any of your posts, It’s not you, it’s me…

How I Lost 13 lbs in 90 Days by Not Drinking Alcohol

By Dennis Goedegebuure

Last week Friday, It has been 90 days since I walked out of the Galen Center in Los Angeles. I had just experienced an intense 4 days. For 4 days, From March 23 – 26, I attended the program Unleash the Power Within from Tony Robbins. Some people say it will change your life, others say; life will never be the same. Both of these statements are true.

Picture by Emmeil Davis with permission

Apart from getting more focus in what I want in life, a drive to concentrate and do more meaningful stuff and a need to refocus on my relationship with my wife to strive to a higher and more loving relationship, there was a full day focussed on health. Right there and then, I committed to pursuing a cleanse of my body, to get rid of all acids and unhealthy stuff that had been building up in my digesting system for years. The cleanse is pretty intense, but if you condition yourself to focus on the outcome, you can endure any difficult diet. And what’s more, I just walked over fire, so how difficult can a 10 day cleanse be?

Picture by Michelle Hardesty‎ with permission

The 10 day cleanse program consists of 4 actions. The actions are focussed on eliminating 4 groups of food/acids from your diet, which in general are bad for you if you over consume these. The rules of the 10 days cleanse of these 4 groups are:

No dairy products; Damn, I like cheese!
No sugar or white (refined) flour; Damn, you mean I can’t eat any of my beloved Dutch licorice?
No meat or fish; Damn, I like my BBQ-ed steak
No acids, so no coffee or alcohol; Damn… I mean… Damn!

For 10 days, I followed this challenge religiously. After 9 days, I said to myself, I can do more… so I went for 30. After the 30, I started to re-introduce some of the other products but stayed away from coffee & alcohol.

Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.

Now, as last week Friday, I’m at day 90 without alcohol approaching 100 days. I just had a couple coffees in the last week. The results are amazing. I lost over 6 kilo (over 13 lbs).

Shots of Sambuca by DPictures Dennis Goedegebuure

Was it difficult, yes and no. Yes, it was difficult not enjoying a good wine when I had dinner with our friends from Third Door Media when they had wrapped up a conference in San Francisco. No, it was not difficult, because I know why I do it, and what it will bring me long term; I’m much more productive and been working towards a couple of long term goals I would like to achieve for me and my family.

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine

What I got back from it is a similar experience as my friend Jon Henshaw describes:

The other thing that’s changed significantly is what I call my brainergy. I feel more alert and energetic. I had no idea just how much alcohol was physically depressing my body and my mind. I’m sure it’s also because I’m eating healthier now, but not drinking alcohol has made my mind significantly more sharp and intellectually motivated.

Now, every night instead of sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, watching uninteresting TV series or the CNN reporting of the shit show of politics in Washington, I’m working out on my reclined bike or working on side projects. I get so much more done. I’m starting to like this new found time…I even finished my first book in years, where I always had an excuse of not having enough time to read. Pff… that is just bullshit! And what’s more, I lost a ton of weight (6+ kilos) in the process too. More on that in the next post!

I can say that I‘ve been very impressed with the impact the UPW conference has had on me, and the way I use what I’ve learned there.

Start of the Season, Planting Tomatoes

By Dennis Goedegebuure

For the winter long, I’ve been waiting until this moment. The end of February, almost March, when the temperatures are getting higher, and almost no chances of frost in the night, it’s time to start the garden for this season. As you can see in the graph below, for the last couple of weeks, the average temperature has been climbing steadily, and I deem it’s time to put in some tomatoes for a big harvest this year.

Temperature graph for 2016 in Pleasanton in Celsius

Temperature graph in Pleasanton, metrics through Ambient Weather Station

This Sunday morning, there was time for some garden therapy, with lots of preparation before we can plant. For month, we have been recycling coffee filters, egg shells, fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen in the Composting bin.

Composting fruit & vegetable scraps in a composter bin

Last summer I even bought a bunch of worms for better composting. For the last couple of weeks, we have not added any more scraps, since we really needed to get the compost ready for the planting in spring. The worms have been multiplying to a large numbers I even think I can start a worm farm now.

So, the potting mix I’ve used last year, can be re-used in a mix with this years compost and some new potting mix. This way we get a potent mix to grow our veggies in this year, and don’t have to buy that much new potting mix.

Mixing the compost with last years- and some new potting mix

And with some newly bought, fresh cherry tomato pack and a mild chili pepper variety pack at the Home Depot, we have a good start in the garden for an early harvest.

Cherry tomato pack

And for a later harvest, we have planted seeds in the little mini greenhouses. This was, we will get a wave of fruit & vegetables throughout the summer. In the greenhouses, we have organic heirloom tomatoes, Cherokee Purple to be exact, and organic beefsteak tomatoes. To get enough bees coming to visit the garden, we also started with around 12 sunflower seeds, from two different kinds; the Mammoth Sunflower and the Solar Eclipse.

Mini greenhouses for fast growing seeds to plants

I Got My Home Weather Station Data to Track El Niño

By Dennis Goedegebuure

I’m a bid of a data geek, which has caused me to buy the Ambient Weather Station on Amazon (aff link). This way I can track and measure the different data points it collects about the weather in my back yard.

As 2016 is expected to see more rain fall due to the El Niño effect, I started to track the daily rain in my back yard with the weather station. The data is easily displayed at the station’s display, which is connected with the external station through wifi.

In the picture below, you see the rainfall rain rate on December 13 at 41.4 mm per hour. This was quite the waterfall out of the sky. Next to rain, you can track the temperature, wind speed & direction, humidity, air pressure and solar radiation strength.

The solar radiation meter is very helpful for us to explain our kids why they need to put sunscreen on, while it looks like the sun is not that powerful from inside the house.

All data can be downloaded in a spreadsheet, which makes for easy tracking of monthly rain fall like the graph below showing daily rain and cumulative rain, or the low-, average- and high temperatures for the month of January 2016.

As I’m from Europe, all metrics are displayed in metric system units; mm rain fall or temperature in Celsius.

Fanatics Super Bowl Party San Francisco

By Dennis Goedegebuure

While working for Fanatics Inc, I get the opportunity to work on events with major sports stars. Apart from having a selfie taken with Shaquille O’Neal, who is just massive, I got the chance to get into the official photo booth with Jonathan Ogden, Melvin Fowler and Vincent Curry, who had just signed a new extension contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. Last but certainly not least, the CEO of Fanatics; Doug Mack.

Dennis Goedegebuure Fanatics Super Bowl party San Francisco

Dennis Goedegebuure VP Growth & SEO for Fanatics Inc.

Jonathan Ogden & Dennis Goedegebuure at the Fanatics Super Bowl party San Francisco

Melvin Fowler & Dennis Goedegebuure at the Fanatics Super Bowl party San Francisco

Vincent Curry & Dennis Goedegebuure at the Fanatics Super Bowl party San Francisco

Doug Mack, CEO of Fanatics & Dennis Goedegebuure at the Fanatics Super Bowl party San Francisco