Tarly Tries to Take Over the World: II -- Dealing with my scatter-brained sidekick

[Harriet]

5 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

sorry, I don't know how to umlaut

 

on a mac keyboard it's option+u, then the letter you want. It's also acceptable to just use 'e'. 
Mueller, Loeffel, Spaetzle...

[Stronkey Kong]

Waiting for this phone meeting to start for my potential side-gig. I've been waiting 17 minutes. Imma say he's got three minutes left or that's it. No deal.

 

Addit: Nope. Deal's off. I'm not working for someone who can't or won't call within 20 minutes of a scheduled meeting time. Not for a part-time side gig for sure. This was not a dream job or a big break. It would have just been extra stuff on my plate that I don't need anyway.

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Since I'm able to work and receive a paycheck right now while others can't who are dealing with all the craziness right now, I just made a donation to the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund:

 

https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/

 

I'm announcing this to encourage you all to donate (to this or elsewhere) if you can. And feel free to derail my thread to discuss this or any other charities that might help the world right now.

[Harriet]

3 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

 

Since I'm able to work and receive a paycheck right now while others can't who are dealing with all the craziness right now, I just made a donation to the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund:

 

https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/

 

I'm announcing this to encourage you all to donate (to this or elsewhere) if you can. And feel free to derail my thread to discuss this or any other charities that might help the world right now.

I can't decide what to focus on for donations. Should I choose one of the poorest countries where people are the worst-off, and donate to them? Or should I do something for my own country? Which country? The one I come from or the one I live in right now, or the one I live in normally? Which issue should I focus on? I want to have the greatest possible impact... ARGH

[Snarkyfishguts]

I've donated to ACLU and CAIR in the past. CAIR is kinda like the NAACP Legal Defense and ACLU specifically geared for the Muslim community. A lot of my friends said that if they have issues being detained at the border, or just civil rights in general,  they call CAIR before ACLU. I'll be adding NAACP Legal Defense Fund to the list. They've accomplished some amazing things!

 

I have chosen to avoid bail out funds after reports of misuse of money and scam artists using very official sounding titles.  The Minnesota Bail Out Fund is receiving a lot of criticism for only using .5% of the donations to actually help people. Yikes. 

[KB Girl]

Oh man yea those choices are rough. Glad I don’t have to worry about it to be honest 🤭 but deep respect for you all doing the work of making an informed choice. 

[Stronkey Kong]

20 hours ago, Harriet said:

I can't decide what to focus on for donations. Should I choose one of the poorest countries where people are the worst-off, and donate to them? Or should I do something for my own country? Which country? The one I come from or the one I live in right now, or the one I live in normally? Which issue should I focus on? I want to have the greatest possible impact... ARGH

 

The greatest possible low cost impact = support a good politician... but good luck finding one.

Own country: no problem with taking care of your own neighborhood.

Poor countries: your first world money can go really far there.

 

So, maybe find a candidate, find a local cause, drop a few bucks to get clean water (or whatever) to some people living in a desert.

 

2 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I've donated to ACLU and CAIR in the past. CAIR is kinda like the NAACP Legal Defense and ACLU specifically geared for the Muslim community. A lot of my friends said that if they have issues being detained at the border, or just civil rights in general,  they call CAIR before ACLU. I'll be adding NAACP Legal Defense Fund to the list. They've accomplished some amazing things!

 

I have chosen to avoid bail out funds after reports of misuse of money and scam artists using very official sounding titles.  The Minnesota Bail Out Fund is receiving a lot of criticism for only using .5% of the donations to actually help people. Yikes. 

 

Thanks. I 'll put CAIR on my radar.

 

That is something I worry about. I often want to donate, but I want to do my research first so I know which charity actually gets the most of my dollar where it's needed. Then I forget... sounds like a task for the BuJo.

 

31 minutes ago, KB Girl said:

Oh man yea those choices are rough. Glad I don’t have to worry about it to be honest 🤭 but deep respect for you all doing the work of making an informed choice. 

 

I wish we had good working, effective institutions to solve these problems here in the US, but once you start talking about expanding government, payroll deductions, and bureaucracy the voters lose their minds.

[KB Girl]

Ahh I didn’t even mean it in that sense because we have our causes and it’s not like I don’t care about the rest of the world (but yes I’m extremely lucky to live in a somewhat better functioning country), just meant that I don’t have a dollar to spare so I don’t have to worry about who to give it to. (Also don’t worry about me or pity me because we have a good support system.) 

 

But local efforts go a long way, even without spending money. 

[Stronkey Kong]

My five weeks starts today, since my weeks run Sat-Fri. Regardless of challenge bounds, I'm still doing a weekly summary of all I do. I was trying to make week 0 just like a regular challenge week. so...

 

Week 0 Summary

 

Nutrition and Body Composition Tracking:

 

Most recent nutrition tracking sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jag6eSOsi69is3HXipmECDZzUL6E1ryeSxoKp-Y5eJI/edit?usp=sharing

 

Overall my daily average values are:

2457 Calories

145 g Pro

321 g CHO

66 g Fat

 

I thought I'd gone over on nuts and seeds, but it turns out my max is 14 servings, not 9 (don't know where that came from), so I just squeaked in at 14. I really hit the protein hard, I usually average 110-120 g / day. I had quite a bit of whey protein.

 

The big blemish on my record was last night. I skipped breakfast, then didn't bring a lunch so I went to Burger king. I got two spicy, crispy chicken sandwiches, a large fry, and a large diet dr. pepper. My intent was to save the second sandwich for later but instead I ate both in one sitting. Then, later in the night, my coworker went to McDonald's and got a round of blue raspberry whatever-the-fuck-they-call-their-version-of-a-slushees for everyone (there were only four of us there). It was delicious and refreshing but full of sugar. And I realized, that blue raspberry taste more like some mutated orange flavor than any kind of raspberry. There is no such thing as a blue raspberry, so it must have been the result of an accident in some lab that was working on a new type of orange flavoring.

 

I was worried that today I'd come in at a higher weight and reflecting no change over the week, but despite all that...

 

Updated weight record:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1auR9MMvqi4AdYN2afjqD33chhwSyB-TvUzmI7hVz42o/edit?usp=sharing

 

I hit a new low weight of 255.8 lbs.

 

 

Something's up with that key:

Orange = daily weigh-in

Blue = 7-day rolling average

Orange dots = highest and lowest weight in the previous 7 days

 

And something funky is going on with the lines at the end 🤷‍♂️

 

MOAR GRAPHS (spoilered cuz lots of big graphs)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Just weekly 7 day average weights.... easy to read columns.

 

 

 

 

My measurements are finally starting to show a slight downward trend, and my shoulders look like they went up a little, might be that my yoga session this week pumped up my shoulders a little with all the overhead holds, and shoulder support in downward dog etc.

 

Wheel:

 

Kinda meh, but I got it done this week.

 

3 workouts:

2 Stat bike:

32 min 320 cals 10 cals/min

55 min  500 cals 9.09 cals/min

 

Total

87 min, 820 cals, average intensity =  9.42 cals / min.

 

1 Yoga:

30 min, from Yoga for the Inflexible Male

 

I think I've been bouncing on the floor with my weight. The range on my weigh-ins is tight. Things are slowing down. I'm getting cravings. I'm pretty sure I'm just running lean and pushing against the floor now. I'm making good progress, but it's gonna slow now, and it's hard to do intense exercise, especially on the bike. It might be time to bust out the kettle bells and the barbell, just to get some better quick intensity in. This is reflected in this week's mini-goals.

 

World Domination:

 

Made two attempts as this week's quiz in my online course and didn't pass on either attempt. I need 8 / 10 questions, and I've only got 7/10. I am really just stabbing in the dark on how to get the last 3 questions. It is apparent to me that if I had at least a BS in electrical engineering or a related field I'd be able to more readily recognize the mistakes I'm making on this. And no doubt I'm capable of figuring this out, but I think I'm going to ditch this course for now, and come back to it later when I'm ready to start doing it for credit. I have this weekend and next to play around with the course materials... maybe I'll figure it out, maybe not. I'll download and print what I can. After next weekend, I'll have to pay another $80 for another month's subscription, and it's not worth it if I'm not ready to get credit for it.

 

Most likely, I'm going to focus on building up my current strengths to get the entry level job I need to keep moving. I am going to double down on learning more C/C++, Embedded Linux, and developing my own projects. Last night I ordered a Raspberry Pi Zero (a computer the size of a couple matchbooks) so I can build this minimal retro gaming multi-console I've been planning. If I can do that, it should qualify me for some entry level work in this field. Then, when I have some experience and have caught up on other topics, I can revisit taking these courses for credit toward certificates and Master's degrees.

 

And I'm considering rescheduling for this side gig. I figure I can use Friday's cancellation as leverage to be paid in advance for calls and meetings. I'm not sure yet if I still want to do it. The main reason I'm still considering it is to gain a network connection with a manufacturing/tech company located in the Bay Area that will probably need embedded systems programmers and engineers in the future. Yeah. I probably should give it another chance.

 

Managing Pinky:

I've updated my BuJo for next week. I changed my format a bit. I'm using the minimal planner style for the week's events. Then the weekly To-do list. Then my Food/exercise log is on the opposite page. The food/ex log also has my grocery list (again) and a to-do list with my weekly challenge goals.

 

 

 

I've also got a BuJo prepared for my retro console -- but it adheres less to the standard BuJo format.

 

==============================================

 

For Week 1:

 

Weekly Food and Fitness Challenges:

• Do a HIIT workout
• 1 hour total of yoga
• Do planks and supermans
• Don't exceed plan for Nuts/seeds

This is all to keep me pushing on that floor and keep moving forward.

[Stronkey Kong]

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

Ahh I didn’t even mean it in that sense because we have our causes and it’s not like I don’t care about the rest of the world (but yes I’m extremely lucky to live in a somewhat better functioning country), just meant that I don’t have a dollar to spare so I don’t have to worry about who to give it to. (Also don’t worry about me or pity me because we have a good support system.) 

 

 

I took it that way, because I wanted to get that off my chest. I could still go on, but...

[Harriet]

3 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

The greatest possible low cost impact = support a good politician... but good luck finding one.

Own country: no problem with taking care of your own neighborhood.

Poor countries: your first world money can go really far there.

 

Oh my goodness, you're right. I can do all three. Well, two, anyway. We don't really buy our politicians in Germany. 

[KB Girl]

8 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

 

I took it that way, because I wanted to get that off my chest. I could still go on, but...

Ahh feel free to send me a PM if you want to vent a little more, you’ll get all the socialist sympathy you need. 
 

Good zero week! 

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Nutrition: I spent the afternoon at my parents' house for Father's Day. We had: baked chicken w/bbq sauce, cheesy potatoes, mac and cheese, creamed corn with sour cream and moar cheese, green beans, and carrot cake for desert.

 

Oof. I just burned through half my dairy for the week. But no ragrats. It was all pretty amazing.

 

Wheel: I got the first one in last night. I was on the wheel for 50 min. and burned 500 cals. The workout was a gradual ramp up to peak intensity with a HR above 170. I maintained that high level for about 5 min. Then I just pedaled casually until I reached 500 cals. Afterward, I did some planks, followed by some light yoga stretching and posing to stretch out and relax my quads, hams, and glutes... I'm gonna just go ahead and keep doing all that at the end of my wheel workouts. It was a nice 5-10 min cool down.

 

TtTOtW: I haven't worked on my online course. I don't know if I will. I did start researching how to build this minimal game console thingy. It definitely feels like doing that will be more accessible from my experience perspective. So I'm going to work on it more tonight.

 

Managing Pinky: Nothing I can think of to report there.

[WolfDreamer]

21 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

It was all pretty amazing.

 

Sounds amazing! Glad it was a great day.

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Pinky got off his leash and I am wiped out.

 

I need to unwind my brain and get some decent sleep.

[Snarkyfishguts]

On 6/23/2020 at 4:23 AM, Chris Tarly said:

 

Pinky got off his leash and I am wiped out.

 

I need to unwind my brain and get some decent sleep.

Hurf hurf, unwind your Brain.

 

I hope you got some good sleep and are feeling better.

[Stronkey Kong]

This week has just sucked. Nothing bad is happening, I just feel crappy.

 

I missed a lot sleep over the weekend, then Mon and Tuesday I just felt like garbage. I couldn't concentrate, and I just worked hard at concentrating more and it was exhausting.

 

Yesterday, I didn't bring a lunch and went to burger king again, ugh. Now I have to stick to all veggies, fruits, veggie proteins, and beans for the next two days, cuz that's all that's left to eat.

 

Weight is hanging in there, though I no longer trust my old scale and have ordered a new one (which should arrive today). And there was just a knock at the door...

 

Okay. New scale measures the same weight 😕 so I guess it wasn't necessary... BUT! New scale is one of those fancy ones that does body fat, bone mass, muscle mass and shit like that and has a decent app, so I can outsource some of this graphing and whatnot and save myself some time... seriously, some of these weekly summary posts take me a couple hours and a lot of that is fucking around with graphs... oh and the adhd and the youtube in the background.

 

Not anything going on in the workout department this week. I'm just trying to survive the next two days. Then I'll get back at it over the weekend.

 

Also, my brain might be composing the next great cyberpunk masterpiece in the background of everything I do. This is one side benefit of the adhd, enhanced creativity and an ability to exist in a separate more interesting imagined world simultaneously. I may have to start writing again to see if I can get this one out.

 

This brain is fun sometimes, but it can be exhausting.

[Harriet]

4 hours ago, Chris Tarly said:

This week has just sucked. Nothing bad is happening, I just feel crappy.

 

I missed a lot sleep over the weekend, then Mon and Tuesday I just felt like garbage. I couldn't concentrate, and I just worked hard at concentrating more and it was exhausting.

I hope you get some high quality rest and perk up soonish. 

Those darned bodyfat scales. Mine keeps lying about how fat I am. 

[Stronkey Kong]

Looking at the numbers my new scale comes up with...

 

It says I have a body fat% of 32.5. By the navy method I use to calculate from weight and measurements I get 33%. So that coincides pretty well. 

 

It also says I have a high amount of skeletal muscle compared to average and that I have a metabolic age of 43... I am 36.

 

Diagnosis: Dad bod.

[Stronkey Kong]

And another Saturday Summary.

 

Turns out, I just crashed through the floor.

 

Week 1 Summary

 

Nutrition and Body Composition Tracking:

 

Here's the updated sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jag6eSOsi69is3HXipmECDZzUL6E1ryeSxoKp-Y5eJI/edit?usp=sharing

 

Unless you guys really like looking at these trackers, that's the last time I'm going to the trouble to copy my bujo tracking sheet into google. It serves no purpose other than as a longterm backup. I have the bujo, and I already have all the numbers of servings in another sheet... so why bother?

 

I went over on dairy, oil/fat, and grains. I went to Burger King twice this week. <sigh>

 

But, somehow the numbers came out good.

 

Overall my daily average values are:

2331 Calories

135 g Pro

297 g CHO

67 g Fat

 

And I finally crashed through the floor of 255. See below.

 

Updated weight record:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1auR9MMvqi4AdYN2afjqD33chhwSyB-TvUzmI7hVz42o/edit?usp=sharing

 

I hit a new low weight of 252.8 lbs. My body fat percentage is at 31.8% according to the new scale... that actually dropped since yesterday from 32.5%.

 

After 9 weeks on this plan I'm down 15 lbs. That's realistic, healthy, sustainable weight loss there. And again, I like this diet. It's not restrictive and I don't feel deprived of anything. I can eat what I want as long as I stick to the portion sizes and limits, and I've shown that going out of bounds once in a while doesn't hinder my progress.

 

My other measurements are staying the same or going down.

 

 

I think the sudden crash overnight came because I got on the wheel for the first time in nearly a week. I was sweating like crazy.

 

Wheel:

 

Terrible:

1 workout:

1 Stat bike:

50 min  500 cals 10.0 cals/min

 

Only one workout in, and that was last Saturday. Last night's workout will count on this next week. I decided a while ago that Friday night/saturday morning workouts can be counted on either week. Like I can either stretch to hit a goal from the previous week, or put it on the week it actually falls on.

 

World Domination:

 

I just cancelled my coursera subscription. I won't be finishing that course. I'm going to focus on building my own projects for now. That will be a much faster and more reliable way to get my foot in the door somewhere. And I didn't reschedule the side gig interview. I decided it's not worth my time.

 

Managing Pinky:

 

Lack of sleep last weekend got me into a spiral. I was feeling crappy and unfocused. There's definitely a threshold where too much organization and structure for too long causes me to overvent that ADHD energy.

 

Maybe more exercise would've helped. Yes. It would have.

 

Also doing creative things. I just signed up on Nano to do the camp Nano for July. And see if I can get this cyberpunk novel out of my head. Though, I should rethink my 50,000 word goal.

 

==============================================

 

For Week 1:

 

Last week I did my planks and supermans, but didn't do any HIIT work, or yoga.

I did manage to not exceed servings of nuts and seeds, but I was only worried about that because I had the wrong (lower) maximum on the previous week's log.

I also realized that I've been underestimating the portion size of my cereal. So I'm going to put some time into checking and calibrating my serving sizes.

 

Weekly Food and Fitness Challenges:

• Do a HIIT workout
• 1 hour total of yoga
• Do planks and supermans, 2x
• Re-evaluate serving sizes
• Do some outlining for cyberpunk novel
• Read my how Linux works book... 17 chapters, starting on 3, let's see how many more I can get read.

 

[Stronkey Kong]

Nutrition: Today I made some homemade flatbread and ate that with some brie and grapes. Then I ate it with veggie beef cooked in vegetable broth (which was really good). Then I finished the rest of the bread with some pasta sauce. So I've already consumed a ton more grains than I should have. But I still have 15 servings, and at three a day that's totally do able for the rest of the week.

 

At least I didn't eat all the brie. I got a 4 oz wheel(?, i feel like the wheels are the giant cheese blocks...) from my Imperfect Foods subscription a few weeks ago and it's been chilling out in my fridge. I pulled it out and let it warm up on the counter. Now, I've had brie before, and yeah it's a little stinky, but it's usually just whatever I can find at a standard American grocery store. But this stuff was funky as hell. So more the real deal maybe? It tasted good, but you have to get over the smell of the rind to get the taste of it. Idk. Was it in the fridge too long? It was good, but I couldn't just eat the whole four ounces... I could easily do so with cheddar. So I just ate one ounce, in small nibbles along with the bread and grapes, and that was that.

 

So, too much bread, but the rest of the week should go fine.

 

Addit: I also checked a few of my serving sizes. I don't know if I mentioned this, but all my portions are based on simple hand based measurements. For instance, on serving of poultry (4 oz.) is the size of the palm of my hand. One serving of nuts/seeds is a small handful. etc. I was mostly worried about my cereal, which I was understimating, though not terribly, and nuts/seeds because they are so easy to miscount, and a "small handful" is not an exact measurement and with the calories in nuts and seeds it could be really easy to underestimate or create error. Turns out I'm pretty much spot on with those small handfuls. I'm going to keep checking though. But fewer worries about that now.

 

Wheel: I did a short... very short KB HIIT workout. I warmed up with 60-90 s of single arm swings with a 36 lber. Took a brief rest, then started doing thrusters with a pair of 36 lbers. I was planning to do 10 sets of 10 EMOM... I did 2 sets of 5 EMOM. LOL. After I realized the plan wasn't happening, I tried to move my KBs out of the way  make room for the Stat bike and that made me realize that I made the right decision. When I bent down to pick up just one KB at a time, my quads and hams both lit up with pain and fire and cramping. It took five minutes of light pacing and drinking water before I got both the KBs moved. Then I got the bike out into the middle of the room and did 24 minutes at a pretty light pace, mostly just to keep moving a bit and keep blood flowing. I wanted to just keep going. I was watching "My Next Guest" with David Letterman on Netflix and wanted to finish the episode, but at 24 minutes, the burning and pain came back, and even though I slowed down it didn't go away so I figure I burned out all those resources.

 

I crossed off "do a HIIT session" on my bujo, but added "do another HIIT session" at the bottom.

 

I'm going to wake up in the middle of my sleeping period with a Charlie Horse.

 

TtTOtW: Okay. So cyberpunk novel probably isn't happening now. Which is good. It would have just been a distraction. I don't think I have any great ideas to add to that genre, or if I do I don't know it yet. I did start Neuromancer, and have ordered a few other key cyberpunk novels and am keen to keep reading them and see if I get any great ideas but for now I'm satisfied to get back to programming and embedded system studies.

 

Managing Pinky: I realized that one of my hindrances is that I haven't had a good space for reading. Reading at my desk, like anything that takes more than 20 min is not very comfortable. I prefer to sit or lie on the couch when I have bigger passages... bingeing cyberpunk novels or reading multiple chapters of a book on the linux kernel.  The couch had some junk like empty amazon boxes and some notebooks and tools and things on it that have prevented me from using it to just veg and read. So I decluttered my couch. After I post this I'm pulling up some cyberpunk/synthwave music channels on youtube and I'm gonna read a chapter or two of my linux book, then a chapter or two of Neuromancer until dawn.

[Stronkey Kong]

Nevermind. Cyberpunk novel is happening now.

 

 

That is me in cyberpunk mode.

 

I was batting the story idea around in my head some more at work tonight, and started finding a voice on this thing.

 

In other news, we got our first tested and confirmed case of Covid 19 at work. They made the day shift leave early. Then night shift just had a pretty regular night since the person who tested positive likely didn't have contact with anyone on nights. Tomorrow they're testing 20 people. If they find any positives, we might be shutting down for a week or two. The night was a tad edgy.

 

But, if we shut down, we all get paid anyway and I'll have plenty to time to work on this novel or whatever it turns out to be.

[miss_marissa]

Fingers crossed on the COVID case! Weight trend chart still looking good!

 

I like making pizza with brie. Thin crust then use pesto sauce and slice the brie into squares and scatter. I like adding chicken, red bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes, but you could add whatever floats your boat (sausage and olives would probably be good also).

[Stronkey Kong]

9 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

Fingers crossed on the COVID case! Weight trend chart still looking good!

 

I like making pizza with brie. Thin crust then use pesto sauce and slice the brie into squares and scatter. I like adding chicken, red bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes, but you could add whatever floats your boat (sausage and olives would probably be good also).

 

Thanks.

 

They tested 22 people at work today. Two more were positive... but those two were highly suspected... so we're remaining open for now.

 

I could see doing that with most of the brie I'd had in Wisconsin. It was pretty mild and generally palatable. The stuff I had over the weekend... it smelled like a mushroom that a cat peed on. That was mostly the rind, and the inside tasted like rich creamy brie with delicate notes of a mushroom that a cat peed on. It was better than it sounds, but a little to aggressive for a "pizza." I'm putting pizza in quotes because this also seems like the type of ingredient where we add and it's no longer pizza... or wait is it just chunks of brie as a topping... I'm imagining nothing but melted brie on the pizza. Yeah, that would be aggressive and off the rails, and you would be broke.

 

I miss Glass Nickel's Socre Bleu pizza.

 

Tomorrow night is my last night for the week, then I have a four day weekend... just how it worked out for our holiday schedule.

[Stronkey Kong]

The first 236 words of my camp nano cyberpunk novel are written.