This is intended for everyone to wear their Mickey or Minnie Ears and share your happiness on social media.

I don’t usually wear Mickey ears on headbands because I’ve never found one that didn’t give me a headache. However, I do love the look. The best part is that a lot of people are making their own ears, so you can model them after any character you want.

Some of the ears are fun, and some of them are elegant. Some don’t even require a sewing machine. There truly are ears for everyone.

I think I’ll make a pair to wear on National Wear Your Ears Day. We can never have too much Disney.

It is from one of my favorite childhood films, Condorman, a fun and crazy movie about a cartoonist who becomes a spy. Michael Crawford (before he was the Phantom of the Opera) is in it.

Today is Chips and Dip Day, so this is the perfect quote to say anytime someone asks you a question. (It means yes.)

A person in your house: Do you want tacos for dinner?

You: I’ll bring the dip, if you bring the Dostoevsky.

See, it totally works.

What are your favorite chips and dips? Potato chips with french onion dip? Tortilla chips and salsa? Fritos and bean dip? Yep, those are my favorites. What are yours? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook.

I don’t know if there is a National Chips Day (it turns out National Potato Chip Day was March 14,) but I don’t eat chips without dip. Perhaps that is why I love that quote so much.

This is not to be confused with National Popcorn Day, which is in January. Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks, and my go-to treat when I’m at the Disney parks. I don’t like liquid butter on my popcorn, so I skip movie popcorn, but my favorite popcorn is found at Les Schwab Tire Centers.

I’m not alone in this love affair. Americans eat about 17 billion quarts of popcorn every year, more than any other country. I figured that was mostly movie popcorn, but only 30% is consumed outside of the home.  At home, I make my popcorn in an air-popper and only put salt on it, so it’s a relatively healthy snack. However, there is a great variety of toppings you can put on popcorn from caramel to chili powder.

When I was a kid, we gave out homemade popcorn balls at Halloween. This was in the 1970s before parents were concerned about tricks among their children’s treats. Our popcorn balls were a manageable size. The world’s largest popcorn ball was 12 feet in diameter and weighed 5,000 pounds.

Do you love popcorn? Do you eat it at home? What is your favorite topping? Enjoy some popcorn today in honor of Popcorn Lover’s Day. While you are at it, get your tires checked.

I don’t spend a lot of time on YouTube, but I have a few music videos that I like to watch. My favorite right now is “Into the Unknown” performed by Panic at the Disco. This is the song from Frozen II, and this cover is awesome.

After that, I usually listen to Brian Hull sing “Let it Go” using different Disney character voices. This is my favorite version. I let it play as I do other things, and then I stop.

Today, I glanced to the right where the other videos wait to tempt me, and one caught my eye. It was an acapella Disney medley. Now I like DCapella’s renditions of Disney songs, so I thought I’d check this new singer out. I could always exit out if I didn’t like it.

Well, I loved it. I loved it so much that I’m sharing it with you. It’s a Disney medley by Jared Halley. What makes this special is he sings all the parts. It’s unbelievably good.

What I loved most was not the singing, which was great, but the way he made all the videos of him singing flow seamlessly. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into this video, and he has a lot of others.

I hope you will watch Jared’s video and check out his YouTube page. I could spend hours watching his various covers. It inspires me to create things that people will stumble upon and share with their friends. Absolutely amazing.

This is the 5th summer that runDisney has provided a virtual race series. I haven’t participated in all the races because I haven’t always liked the medals (I’m all about the medals), but I’m pleased to promote this summer’s virtual runs.

A virtual run is not done on a computer (I hear that all the time.) Instead, it is run that is done whenever and wherever you want. While traditional races happen at a specific time on a specific date at a specific place, you can run a virtual run on your own schedule at a place of your choosing (even your treadmill.)

It does have a computer component. You sign up online, and if necessary, turn in your time to the website. (Some charity runs, like those done by PHRC, send you the medal whether you do the race or not.)

The runDisney Virtual Series is made up of three 5ks, one in June, one in July, and one in August. You get a bonus medal if you sign up for all three races (I did that last year since it was Marvel-themed.) You can also do just one or two (I did that the year I only wanted the Mickey Mouse medal.)

This year’s theme is favorite park attractions. June’s medal is for the Mad Tea Party, July is for Space Mountain, and August is for the Haunted Mansion. runDisney hasn’t revealed the medals yet, but I think they will be awesome.

If you have made a resolution in 2020 to exercise more, training for and running a virtual race is a great way to ease into the sport. Plus, you can walk a virtual race, and no one will think you are too slow (or like me, you can run/walk, and no one will think you are too slow.)

The medal comes in the mail, and it’s fun to open it once you have done the run. I hope you’ll consider doing a virtual race this year. If I live near you, I’ll gladly do it with you.

I love trying new things. Setting up the Footle and Grok podcast has forced me to try a lot of new programs, and I haven’t mastered them yet. However, all the tech stuff I’m learning is more like work. It’s exciting but necessary.

I prefer to try new things that are fun. When I went to Disneyland by myself in September, I vowed to experiment. I’d been to Disneyland dozens of times but usually ate at the same restaurants and rode the same rides. This time I had lamb at Bengal Barbeque that was terrific and loaded fries at Galactic Grill that weren’t.  It didn’t matter, though. Both experiences were excellent because I’d never tried either of them before.

So, do something new today. Read a book that someone has recommended to you. Try a new exercise, either at the gym or with a video. Cook a new food. There are lots of weird root vegetables in the produce section right now. Thanks to the internet, you can find a recipe to help you figure out what to do with rutabaga or celeriac.

Or go to a Greek restaurant. I don’t know why I recommended that all those years ago. Maybe I was trying to tell myself something.

Kala Christougena! 

A new exhibit is coming to the Morocco Pavilion at EPCOT. The Morocco Pavilion is my favorite place in the World Showcase, and usually, the displays show off the amazing art of the country. This new exhibit, “Race Against the Sun,” is about racing, one of my favorite topics.

Two remarkable races happen in Morocco and are featured in this exhibit. The Rally of the Gazelles is an off-road, all-woman desert rally. That sounds amazing, but the one that piqued my interest was the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands.)

This race may have “marathon” in the title, but it is actually an ultra-marathon. It covers six days and 156 miles through the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco. Since its start in 1986, it has been called the toughest foot race on Earth.

I love learning about crazy long races in insane environments. I hadn’t heard of this one before, so I searched around to see if there was a documentary about it. It turns out there were several. I watched one about the 2000 race that was unreal.

I love watching movies about unbelievably hard races, Barkley, Mount Marathon, Badwater, and others. It’s fun to watch humans push themselves to the limit. But the Marathon des Sables might just be the hardest.

I agree with Anakin Skywalker when he said, “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.” I would never do a race in the Sahara Desert. The three half marathons on three consecutive weekends that I’m doing next June is tough enough for me.

I do encourage you to watch the documentary on the Marathon of the Sands. It is quite moving how much people can do and how much support they give each other.

I hope the display is still at the Morocco Pavilion when I go to Walt Disney World* in January of 2021. That is how I want to experience that race, in Florida.

*I would love to have three or four people come with me to Walt Disney World. I’m going to run the Dopey, but we’re also going to ride a ton of attractions, and hopefully visit all four parks in one day (you get a certificate if you do.) It’s a lot of fun and January is a great time to go.