Leeds United — Blog — Stay At Home Husband

Best Activity

Social Media Detox: On Sunday night I deleted twitter and Instagram from my phone, to ensure that I spent the week social media free, I asked Tiff to change my passwords. I was locked out. The result was a Sunday through Friday morning social media freeze. I have to be honest, it was glorious. I was finding myself getting lost in the crappy parts of twitter more recently. Instagram is just a time suck. It’s the place I go when I have a few minutes or if I’m bored. This weekly freeze is something I’m going to continue to do. I feel better; I was more productive, and I honestly didn’t miss it all that much. There was a muscle memory that I noticed the first day: I’d open up my phone and my thumb would hover over the spot that Instagram used to live. After a day, that habit disappeared. I highly recommend forcing yourself to take a similar type of break from social media.

Best Watch

Daybreak: This new Netflix show is a fun watch. It’s set in post-nuclear-bomb, apocalyptic Los Angeles, but the kids all survived and the adults were turned into zombie-like monsters. Just like high school, the kids have formed cliques (the jocks, the nerds, the outcasts, etc…), controlling different parts of the city and fighting with each other. The show follows “tweener” Josh, who was new in town before the bomb hit. He’s handsome, he’s “weird” (he’s really not, though), he’s a Canadian survivalist, and he has to find the love of his life: Sam Dean. The show is over the top, and, like many of these Netflix shows, targets kids; however, the language and general themes of the show are pretty mature. Maybe that’s an old guy take, but it’s not a show that I’d want a middle school kid to watch. If you’re older than a middle schooler, check out Daybreak (if you’re a middle schooler, I’m not sure how you found your way here, but welcome!).

Matthew Broderick plays the dull headmaster. Ah, Nostalgia.

“Take Us Home”: Leeds United has crashed into my conscious this past week due to my podcast with Both. We researched Leeds United for our latest episode, (coming next week), and the club has captured my attention. Between reading The Damned Utd. and watching this show, I have enjoyed learning about Leeds. “Take Us Home” is a docu-series following the club’s 2018/19 campaign as they rise from near financial ruin to fighting for promotion to the Premier League.

Best Read

The Damned Utd: I wrote about this book on my Book Club page. It’s a great book about 1960s and 1970s soccer, and Leeds United more specifically. Here’s the link to my longer thoughts.

Seeing Red. Boston’s Traffic Problem: Now that I’m working from home, the time I spend in a car has dipped dramatically. It’s glorious and many times when I do have to drive, getting back into the city is maddening. Charlestown is basically an island with three ways to get into it. With a casino on one side (and a horrible rotary), it can take a long time to get home. Wanna go 2 miles during rush hour? Better set aside an hour, pop some blood pressure meds, and download a good podcast (or just walk and skip the blood pressure meds… it’s probably faster to walk).

Best Listen

Everyday life by Coldplay: Ok, so I have to be honest. I am tossing this your way without having listened to it yet. It was just released this morning and my headphones are dead; I’m not super keen on trying to play it on my laptop while sitting in a coffeeshop. Some people might, I am not one of them. But considering I’m in a bit of a music/podcast groove, I don’t have much new to share. Oh… except for…

The Daily: This shortish podcast gives you one important story of the day. During this week, it was a great way to check in on the Impeachment hearings, especially considering I did'n’t have Twitter to scroll through. Beyond the hearings, this is a good one to listen to every day.

Best Eat

Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups: We rarely shop at Trader Joe’s, but when we do, there’s always a few standout snacks that we find. Tiff went this weekend and found these little delights. They come in a small bucket, they’re bite-size, they’re delicious. It’s a miracle we still have some left, that’s probably because they’re in a cabinet, not sitting on the counter ready to be raided every time I enter the kitchen.

Tuscan Farro Soup: I made this on Monday, and it was super easy to make (read: limited chopping and a lot of “dump and simmer”). It lasted us most of the week. Hot tip: add some Wegmans Parmesan Garlic Bread as an accompaniment.

Best Drink

Wine Tasting: This could have gone up in the best activity section. On Saturday, Tiff and I went down to a wine shop in Boston called The Urban Grape. They had a pretty serious wine tasting, which was focused on Thanksgiving dinner wines. They had three tables with five wines each (from different distributors) and then one table with liquor. I’m not a big wine person, I like it; I don’t really have a grasp on all the nuances though. I do know I should swirl and smell before drinking, that’s about it.

Best Plugs

The Random Division: In our third episode about the this decade, Tiff and I talked about fashion. From Athleisure to hombres, nothing was off limits. We’d love if you followed the podcast on whatever pod app you use (and write us a review if your an iTunes person) We’re also on Instagram if you wanna follow us there, too. We’d love to hear from you on IG or in our email: TheRandomDivisionPod@gmail.com

The AFC East sucks at football: I crunched some numbers in the NFL from the last 16 seasons. The AFC East deserves a lot of the criticism it gets for allowing the Patriots to dominate for nearly two decades.

The Imperfect Game: I can’t speak highly enough about these deep dive pods I’m doing with Both Long. We have a Leeds United episode on the way, but if you haven’t listen to the other two pods we’ve done about Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United, check them out.