Category Archives: Lifestyle

Six months?

I’m seeing that it’s been 6 months since the last post. That’s far too long, because it means there hasn’t been much meaningful progress on things.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

I’ve had some problems and some successes. I’ve picked up some new habits and interests. Focus has shifted here and there. I realized that some of the things I wanted to do weren’t that important to me after all, so I abandoned those in favor of other things.

Back problems are still a big concern. After the last major blowup, the plan needed reworked. Unfortunately, I haven’t stuck to it as rigorously as I should. It’s purely my own fault for allowing excuses to get in the way. That has to stop.

Now.

On the up side, there have been some other successes to focus on as well. Seven has now lived with me for just shy of four months now. I’ve continued to rapidly pay down my debts, putting me in a pretty good position overall. The meadmaking has been going well, with several different successful batches and some more intriguing ones in various stages of progress now.  I’ve completed the prototype for my very first card game, though no playtesting has happened yet (over the winter, for sure). Things aren’t bad by any stretch, but they can always be better.

Once again, it’s time to regroup, declutter my brain, and push on.

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Recognizing opportunity

I’ve been missing my camera lately. Haven’t been able to take a lot of time to get out and shoot lately.

Last weekend, I went to the Arnold Sports Festival just as I do every year. Needless to say, there are plenty of opportunities to shoot interesting things there. Those photos will be up when I get the time to do all the editing.  This isn’t the kind of thing I want to talk about in this post though. This one is about learning to recognize the less obvious opportunites.

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KISS ain’t just a band

At no other time in the history of the world has there been the access to information that we have right now. Whatever your interests, there is a huge body of knowledge that can teach you almost everything you want to know. Unfortunately, that backfires on people from time to time, usually in one of two ways. Continue reading

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The obligatory Thanksgiving post

It seems like it’s almost required to have a post around Thanksgiving, talking about what you’re thankful for. In fact, it’s popular for people on Facebook to post something every day of November with something different they’re thankful for. The idea is a good one, I have no doubt about that. It seems to me that the problem is the rest of the year getting forgotten.

Now, everyone talking about something they’re thankful for every day of the year would get really annoying. At the same time, I’m not sure that people really take the time to think about that from December through October. If you get some benefit out of doing this during November, might you also get some benefit out of continuing for the rest of the year? Continue reading

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Life in the fast(ing) lane

For several years now, I’ve played with different dietary protocols that revolve around the idea of intermittent fasting. Simply put, IF is a period of eating followed by a longer period of not eating. This is the opposite of what a large portion of the Western world does, eating pretty much from waking up until going to bed. There is a growing body of evidence to support this as a valid dietary strategy for many people, demonstrating positive effects on insulin, leptin, and ghrelin (among other metabolic hormones) and should not be confused with either anorexia or bulimia. Continue reading

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This is our handbook

Ron Swanson is one of the greatest philosophers of the modern age. I find myself offering this advice to people with increasing frequency.

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30 steps to a good life

This sort of thing has been done to death all over the place but I was thinking about some little nuggets of wisdom about being a man that I’ve collected over the years. Some things I learned from my father, some I learned the hard way. It struck me as a good idea to keep a record of some of what’s gotten me this far. Someday, I’ll be able to pass it on.

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GOOOOOOOOOOAL (setting)!!!

This week is an absolute killer. Not only is it a heavy week at work, I’m also down to the wire on getting moved. Since I was out of town last weekend (Arnold Sports Festival, awesome as ever!!), I have to get all my moving done this week. I’m putting a load in my truck in the morning, unloading it at the new place on my lunch break, and doing another load after work. Every day. The goal is to have everything that isn’t furniture moved before Saturday morning. The only things I can’t get in my Blazer are my couch, bed, and dining room table. Everything else is definitely doable with just my little red truck.

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The importance of down time

When’s the last time you took some time for yourself? Hell, when’s the last time you got a good night’s sleep?

In December 2009, Science Magazine had an article about this, where it cited a study by two researchers from the Harvard Business School that showed that taking time off increased productivity, communication, job satisfaction, and a number of other benefits.

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Starting Point: Get debt free

Who doesn’t want to be part of the debt-free club? Not owing anything to anyone is a dream for most Americans. I’m going to bust my ass to make it my reality. It’s something I’ve been working on for a while now, chipping away at slowly but surely.

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