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Challenge 2 - Week 0 - Feb 07-13, 2021 Update Hmmm, I wined oops whined too much, I forgot to post my Challenge 2 - Week 0 - Feb 7-13, 2021 Update Neck Stretches/Shoulder Mobility - 3 times (Tue, Thurs, Fri) out of 5 The plan to do this during my work day Daily Stand-up call at 10am didn't quite work out. I needed to pay attention to Sprint Backlog displayed on my laptop's tiny screen. I only managed to do 2-mins of neck stretches and then I get distracted by the discussion going on. 'Need to schedule this in. Shoulder Mobility - 0 out of 5 I would rate my shoulder pain as 7 out of 10 (most painful). I need to get my act together on fixing this. Minimalism - Simplify. Try something every week along the concept of Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without. Use It Up: Finally used up that bottle of Sandwich Spread to make the Egg Salad Wear It Out: It's been cold lately, so I decided to use my MH down jacket. My thoughts had been for most things, if I didn’t use it in a year, I must donate it. 'Love this jacket. It is so warm. I am glad I am able to use it again. Make It Do: I received a small Air Fryer last Christmas. After 2 weeks of using it, I have decided to probably donate it. I already donated my microwave oven but I actually have a Toaster Oven and will do for what I need. I have a tiny counter space this has freed up more real estate. Do Without: I had one of those wind-up visual timer and really loved using it. But, now it is broken after a year. So, I've been looking for another one but I think I can do without it. I have tried timer apps in my phone but that takes too much time. The wind-up timer takes one twist and it is set. But, it has not been keeping the proper time. The last 30-min time I set ended up being 1 hour. And, i thought time passed by so slow. I do have another Ikea wind-up timer. I have doubts on this one as well. Not super accurate. I think it actually runs faster. Run/Walk Feb 07 (Sun) - No run/walk. Spent entire day cooking/baking. Feb 08 (Mon) - 3.30 mi Feb 09 (Tue) - 3.22 mi Feb 10 (Wed) - 5.32 mi Feb 11 (Thu) - 3.51 mi Feb 12 (Fri) - 3.23 mi Feb 13 (Sat) - 4.16 mi Weekly Total - 22.74 mi - Mostly walking than running but I'm getting outside. Meal Plan/Tracking/Symptom Tracking I usually do One Meal A Day (OMAD) with 16-8 fasting on weekdays. My feeding window is between 2pm-8pm with essentially one big meal - lunch. I usually eat around 2pm. Oftentimes, I snack late which I really try to avoid but I still crave sweets late in the evening especially on a stressful day. I consider anything > 100 calories breaks the fast. But, I don't stress about this. I have eliminated lots of food and track my intake to avoid allergies and inflammation. The last couple of weeks I have been drinking purified water instead of tap water filtered by Brita, which does not really filter out heavy metals. I've stopped taking most of my supplements except for the collagen and iodine microdrops that go with my buttered coffee. My allergies have calmed down but it acts up again if I drink soda (coke) at night. The soda removes that 'taste' in my mouth when I eat something spicy. There are so many things on my 'NO' list that it is better to just think of my 'YES' what I can eat list. So, my meal planning/prep revolves on that. I cook on week-ends for the entire next week, portion, and freeze them. Whatever is scheduled for that day, I take them out in the morning while making coffee and they get defrosted by 2pm. I don't cook on weekdays, except for the sunny-side up eggs 3x a week. I try to take a photo before I eat but sometimes I forget especially during the snacking part 😉. Here are some from Week 0.

Thanks. Appreciate your kind thoughts. The world works in mysterious ways. A new AVP joined the team. I believe we will be dealing with him in the future for most stuff. Thanks for your concern. It was just the weirdest thing. We would recommend all things to help him out and automate his needs but he would always derail anything. I would setup a multi-team meeting. He is critical on this because whatever his input would be the business logic to use. He accepted but never showed up. As he keeps the process of the actual calculations to himself, nobody could really explain anything on the call. So, I told my boss, we will reply to his emails and provide any documentation but that's it. There was another call and the same item got brought up. He just says it's a separate thing and will deflect the conversation to another topic. He speaks in a very condescending manner. But, perhaps, that is just the way he is. I stay out of his way. I let my boss answer the emails. I have more than enough work with several other business users. Thanks. Appreciate your warm thoughts. Incidentally, something good did happen on that last call with him. He strongly stated that my boss should work with his IT team and that actually resolved something else. Managers can be territorial about their turf. My manager would play this cat-and-mouse game with the other IT manager. I could never understand it even when he explained it to me. I come from a place of abundance not fear. My manager, this other IT manager, and this annoying director are all Indians (from India). There must be something cultural at play here. The new AVP is thankfully 'not Indian'. There is hope after all...

Challenge#2 Week 0 has been a heck of a week. By end of Thursday, I was ready to give it up. My last beer was last Christmas but after my 4:30pm Thursday meeting, I was so stressed I messed up my meal plan by gorging on chocolate and mini egg pies. Opened a bottle of white wine and had a glass. Over 25+ years working in Information Technology (IT), I thought I had met all kinds of people. What an incredibly sad day for the company that one of its people is a total narcissist and he is one of my customers. My first thought was - wow, what kind of parents raised such a person? Then, the next thought was, dang, if he has a wife, I feel totally sorry for her to live with such a person. Third, I thought, I hope if he has children they don't grow up to be like him. I've reflected many times on my judgmental thoughts. I've talked to my manager and he has stated the same thing too. I know and met this person's boss too and I don't know how he managed to weasel his way in. But, I guess there are such things as functioning narcissist. I have thought about this situation if this is how I want my life to be. Working for somebody I totally despise. Will there be a re-org in the company's future and this person will move on to another position? Hmmm, having a glass of wine and reflecting on these thoughts is probably not the best thing...

Thanks for the encouragement! Life is a work in progress. I've continued on my mobility goals in the next challenge.

Solid goals! So, is the air squats hold like normal squats but you hold it for 60secs/1 min? Your payout concept reminds me of a Super Spartan Race I did once with a bunch of friends. Not doing the obstacles would mean penalty of 10 burpees. One of the obstacle was to jump from a 40-ft ledge down to a swimming pool below. Naturally, with your shoes and backpack on (you cannot really leave them behind). Ruchik could not swim and had a fear of heights. When it was his turn, he would move forward on the ledge, look down, shake his head, and ask the next person to go ahead. He kept doing that and we eventually started chanting go Ruchik, go Ruchik, go Ruchik. And all the other participants followed chanting too as he was holding up the line. So, he was the only one left in our group that has not jumped. We waved at him and waited from the pool below. The race did have divers sitting on surfboards floating in the pool ready to help participants if needed. He did jump and successfully survived. The 10 burpees penalty was not an option because he would have to backtrack a long ways to get around the pool obstacle. Interestingly, I pass by at least 2 playgrounds in my run/walk in the greenway. Now that you mentioned it, I believe there is a way to do a pull-up/hang, I just never thought about it. I should check it out. Good luck on your challenge!

The last challenge has helped me to be consistent and accountable. I want to continue to build on these gains and improve other things that are not going well. The goals for this challenge: 1. Neck Stretches/Shoulder Mobility - In the last challenge, I have the exercises in my daily plan but I fail to do it. I tried doing it after I wake up or before going to bed but could never consistently do it. I need to improve on this. So, the plan is to do these exercises during the Daily Stand-up call at 10am. 2. Minimalism - Simplify. Try something every week along the concept of Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without. 3. Run/Walk - I've managed to make this consistent to the point that it feels effortless. Continue with the Monday to Thursday run/walk and Friday/Saturday/Sunday grocery run/walk. Listen to the Holy Bible audiobook on these run/walk. 4. Meal Plan/Tracking/Symptom Tracking In My Journal - Using a digital OneNote journal has become almost like a habit from the last challenge. I will continue to use this tool not just to plan my meals/food intake but also track the time/description of symptoms, then I can start to figure out some of cause of my allergies, inflammation and pain.

Definitely, you deserve a good rest for for a successful challenge completion! 'Well done!

Week #5 Update. I'm pretty happy I did 116.79 miles run/walk in Jan2021. Being accountable to my goals really helped. My neck and shoulder pain is really bothering me. I definitely need to do something about it. 'Will have to build on it on the next challenge. Overall, I consider this challenge successful.

Here's the Week #4 late update. It's pretty good except for the Neck Stretches/Shoulder Mobility.

Yes, that's a good suggestion. I tried doing it after waking up but only did it once. But, I don't have a consistent sleeping time so I just rush in the morning instead. So, we have a Daily Stand-up Call at 10am for an hour. So, I plan to do the neck stretches and shoulder mobility at that time. So, we will see.

Finished my Week 3 update. Week 3 has been a busy week. I baked a Sans Rival cake for my officemate's birthday and brought to her home (with a bouquet of roses and bolt-in toys for her kids) last Sunday. It was great to see them again. Monday was a holiday but I have no recollection of anything useful done. My journal says cooked chicken liver and "vegetated"!!! Finished a photo collage for mom on Tuesday. One more photo frame to finish. We had an install on Thursday hence too much work to get things done. We nearly did not get the sign-off and it was a nail biter when we got it before the cut-off time. The stress caused my sugar cravings, indulged in them, and paid the price with the most itchy eczema flare-up on my right hand ring finger. Scratched the itch and that didn't help. Ended up playing the piano for 2+ hours on Friday evening to relax. Got all cooking done this week-end for the rest of the week, portioned and froze them (chicken masala, stir fry mushroom, steamed sweet potatoes, baked pork meatballs, rice). 'Was craving for sweets, so I baked Brazo De Mercedes cake - half recipe and half the sugar. 'Turned out ok. The new rule - one slice = 1 glass of water as I don't drink as much as I should.

Solid goals. How's the challenge going? I do "my version" of Intermittent Fasting mostly following 20 hours fasting and 4 hours feeding window. Then, doing OMAD (one meal a day) on the feeding window (2pm to 6pm). Because I have allergies, my diet is a combination of carnivore + plant paradox + nickel allergy. I've been doing it for 2+ months now and I don't even notice hunger. But, I also have a sweet tooth. I fall off the wagon when I am tired, stressed, and de-hydrated. I have tried having nuts instead of sweets but I am getting allergic reaction to peanuts, cashews, pistachios, almonds. So far, avocado cups (mild or spicy) help the cravings.

awesome week - 805 kg and 710 reps! you're crushing it!

'Just lurking about as I found your Bike vs Car side quest very interesting. I used to hike a lot and hurt my right knee before one of our biggest hike for the summer - the Devil's Path hike (rated one of the toughest hikes in the US Northeast - 23-25 miles, 9,000 ft elev, 17+hrs, technical terrain). Hobbling and barely able to flex my knee and in pain, I went to this sports/rehab clinic on Wed. They had xrays, scans, etc and they said no broken bone, just some pulled ligaments and inflammation. They injected cortisone on the knee. 'Told me I should be fine hiking that Sat. It was true. I was absolutely fine, good as new, zero pain. I did put on some KT tape on both knees, brought some pain meds (not needed), and used my hiking poles. This is not a medical advise, but it is an option if you have your heart set on the Century Race. I run ultras so I understand how disappointing injuries can be after religiously training for it. I think cortisone shots are fairly safe as long as you don't have more than 1 in a year. My officemate casually mentioned that her mom has them every year for her knees. I was shocked but not surprised. I've had a shot in my sole for my planter fasciitis, my right shoulder for frozen shoulder, all in separate years though. Totally helped and didn't have any side effects.

Thanks for the links. I've used archive.org before but I'll check out the others.

Strangely... those doggy hydrants don't smell. This dog park is pretty well maintained by the city. I have tried the YouBible app earlier where they assign the reading so you can read the Bible in a year but just couldn't follow through. I finally found an Audible recording which has the proper chapters for both the Old and New Testament. I've downloaded it so I can listen offline while I'm on my run/walks.

I have gone back a couple of times to the Black Creek Greenway and the painted rocks gang have been busy.

Week 2 Update - Run/Walk is ok but Neck Stretches and Shoulder Mobility is again an epic fail.

I didn't realize there is such a thing as GORUCK. I always thought you are only supposed to carry 10% of your bodyweight in a backpack. Is there a weight limit you carry on this challenge? How do you move 505 kg? That sounds like a really big number. How's your push-up challenge doing? Do you also have weights while doing push-ups? Last year, when I go walking (instead of running), I decided to carry a backpack and load it with 3 liters of water. Then, progressed to I think 6. The pack weighed 14.2 lbs. It's not too bad when you get used to it. Hmmm, my cheap backpack is starting to rip at the seams. I actually want to try to carry 40 lbs but have never done so. I think the heaviest weight I carried was like 25 lbs went I went backpacking. These days, I walk to the grocery (about 3-4 miles round trip) carrying an empty backpack and I have a limited to-buy list enough to fit the backpack. No impulse buying but carrying some weight on my way back.

I meant to post my weekly update as well. I pass by the Cary Dog Park whenever I run/walk on Northwoods Greenway. It's a doggie heaven as their "humans" installed these fire hydrants for their beloved "canine" friends. I really doubt if these are working fire hydrants as they are all over the place.

I'm a bit behind on my postings. I usually get a chance to post mostly on Fridays and weekends. I had a couple of realizations or sort of epiphany on Week #1. Perhaps, there was a reason why I could never really get this meditation going. On Dec 31st, I got an audiobook on Lucid Dreaming. I write about what happened. Have you ever had lucid dreaming? This is when you dream and realize you're awake inside a dream and you can direct your dreamscape. There are things you can do in your dream to verify you are in a dream and not awake. That is what this audiobook "Lucid Dreaming" was teaching me. Just when I was very sleepy, I started it and put on my bluetooth headphones. It had some talkies and I think some background sounds. Eventually, I fell asleep and there I was in a restaurant eating something with a friend. I cannot recall who but I think it was a female friend. We were on a table beside a window, eating and chatting. Outside, we saw this big semi truck loaded with logs with chains around it. It was trying to back out. I hear the beeping when a vehicle goes on reverse. Suddenly, the blinking red lights on the back of the truck kept getting closer and closer. I thought, this is not good. If the driver does not stop, it will hit the restaurant. Then, I remember the sound breaking glass and screaming at my friend to run. I turn around and I see the back of the truck looming over me. I thought... he's gonna run me over. And I woke up. Heart beating so fast, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The audiobook is long over. It took a while for me to calm down and be able to go back to sleep again. I knew it was a dream or nightmare because I would not consciously think of a truck running me over while in my cozy bed. I'm not quite sure if it was lucid dreaming as I did not get a chance to direct it or follow the checks to identify if I am in a lucid dreaming state. The next night, I did not use the lucid dreaming audiobook. I had a dream. Not as violent as the night before. I remembered it for a couple of minutes. I should have written it down as I cannot recall it now. I have since returned that audiobook and have absolutely no desire to Lucid Dream anymore. Then, last night I sort of started meditating, visualizing, etc. I fell asleep and I saw this black huge creature looking beside my sleeping form. He suddenly came and tried to strangle me with a rope. I started screaming 'Help!' I literally woke up screaming help! I wondered if my neighbor heard me. I was still sleepy but I didn't want to continue the dream. I prayed and asked Jesus to protect me. I eventually calmed down and fell back to sleep. After this, I decided to stop all 'New Age' practices as these are really opening up yourself for bad things to come to you. If you research, there are very scary stories of people getting 'awoke', ie, kundalini awakening and they ended up getting 'attacked', needing meds, etc. Likewise, I have decided to stop my audible subscription. This ability to select and return books feeds this 'need' of what's next? There's always a new author teaching new stuff or there's this bestseller that's everyone's talking about. It never ends. Perhaps, that is good for some people. In the meantime, my Holy Bible is collecting dust in my night table. Hence, I've decided to do 'fasting' on reading other books and try to finish reading the Holy Bible for as long as it takes me. I guess this is a long-winded post but I thought I'd share this story.

Hope your son is doing better. 212 day running streak is pretty epic! How's that fancy scale doing? I've always wondered if those really works. Can it keep track of more than 1 family member? How does it know who is standing on the scale? I keep thinking my scale is broken coz the numbers don't seem to change. I occasionally kick it and it seems to reset itself. Maybe, I need to change the battery, lol.

Some photos taken during the walks. I found some painted rocks along the Black Creek Greenway. Don't know who made them.

'Not a huge mileage on Week 0. Lately, I've used the trick of walking instead of driving to get groceries. I wear an empty backpack. I have a very short to-buy list to avoid impulse buying (since it will not fit on my backpack), If I need more, then, I have to walk again the next day to buy the item(s).

Thanks. I'm doing the Everday Meditation from Aptiv which is free with the audible subscription. This has 20 episodes and I'm on Day 8. I'm still not sure if it is working or helping but I'm just going through with it. For my run-walks, depending on my mood, I either listen to audiobooks or music or prayers. What I am really looking is more into isochronic beats coupled with binaural beats with some guidance on visioning. It is something like the mental movies described in Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, State Akin To Sleep by Neville Goddard, PURE technique by Frederick Dodson, etc. I guess I should stop looking for the magic recipe and just focus on one technique.