Mike Wazowski: The Slow Build, Part 1

[Mike Wazowski]

21 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

Happy (belated) birthday!! Sounds like a great day.  

Thank you!! It was a very good day indeed, and I'm in the process of planning a little get-together this Saturday that should also be excellent.

 

21 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

Oh that sounds tasty!

 if you ever wanna try making it, I put the recipe in a spoiler below for Paul.

 

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

Oops, I overlooked this at first. Happy 30th, rather belatedly!

 

D'awww

 

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

Anyway, thirty is a good age in my opinion. Good things will come to you, I am sure of it.

Here's hoping! It started off with the first day of a city-wide thawing and hasn't taken a crummy and horrible turn yet, so it's already WAY better than the last couple months of my twenties!

 

12 hours ago, PaulG said:

You all know how I feel about quinoa, but I still must know more about this stew. Is there a recipe??

Kind of! I started making it a few years ago by trying to make a version of the "greens, beans, and grains" frozen meal Trader Joe's used to make (that was vaguely based on a West African stew of some sort). I hadn't made it in over a year, so I was pretty sloppy with my process - but it turned out well in spite of that. And good news - the original frozen dish used couscous, so you can call me a godless heathen and serve it over whatever grain you like!

 

Here's roughly what I did:

Spoiler

Combine 2 cups dried chickpeas, 6 cups of water, and a generous handful of salt in an Instant Pot (IP hereafter), cook on high pressure til they're nice and tender (took over an hour for me, mainly because I never remember to pre-soak my dried beans).

 

Once they're done, throw these into the IP in:

• 1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• A bag of kale (I think 12 oz.) chopped up a bit to more bite-size portions
• A spoonful of vegetable bouillon (Better than Bouillon brand) to basically turn the leftover bean juices in

I set the IP to high pressure for 10 minutes, then:

• Caramelized about half an onion and several garlic cloves (all finely-ish chopped) in a couple tablespoons of butter (with some salt added to help flavor them / caramelize / because Samin Nosrat told me to)
• Chopped up ~1/2 cup of peanuts coarsely in a nut chopper
• Mixed together cayenne pepper, chipotle pepper, cumin, and coriander til I had a reasonable looking mixture

Once the IP was done with its 10 minute thing, I popped it open, set it to Sautee (to boil the stew and help it reduce), and added all of the above, plus:

• Some lemon juice (~1-2 oz)
• A spoonful of peanut butter (~2 Tbsp, maybe less - I was scraping the end of a jar and would normally have used ~4 Tbsp - I use the natural stuff,  might require some tweaking if using one with sugar added)
• Some powdered peanut butter (probably ~1/3 - 1/2 cup when all was said and done - I mostly use this to thicken and as a lower-fat way to get peanut butter flavor; I use an unsalted, unsweetened version of this)

Then I let it boil for a bit til it was nice and thick and taste tested - I was mostly happy with it, but ended up with my large volume of powdered peanut butter because the peanut flavor wasn't popping like I wanted it to and the my IP was boiling more vigorously than I wanted for a gentle reduction into a thick stew.

 

You could totally use different spices, start with canned beans instead of dried, and use more peanut butter and less powdered (all the way up to no powdered PB if you don't keep it in stock)

 

12 hours ago, PaulG said:

Beignets are the following dream: you are the baker’s feckless son, and with a dough scraper you snip off a little corner of the doughnut dough, a half hour before they say it will be done proofing. You fry it while your parents’ backs are turned, swipe it hastily through a Cambro of powdered sugar, and eat it in the back where your grandmother is asleep on a sack of flour. Buying a beignet is buying that dream, handed to you in a paper bag.

 

ITS DELICIOUS

^this is pretty damn accurate. As someone who just tried beignets for the first time on Saturday.

 

12 hours ago, PaulG said:

 Thanks!!!

[Mike Wazowski]

Week 2, Day 1 (Mon): So, remember how I was gonna ease into things nice and slowly, building back up to my old activity volume and taking it easy on strength training until I was used to dance training again?

 

...there's some evidence that didn't happen yesterday.

 

For starters, there's how my whole body feels - a bunch of muscles around my scapulae are super sore, as are my anterior delts; and I'm currently feeling a mild version of that pleasant "leave me alone and let me be one with the couch" level of exhaustion you get after an intense workout.

 

Then, there's my smart watch stats - remember a couple weeks ago when a dance practice and a long walk had me setting an all-time record for daily activity at 1,700ish calories between exercise and NEAT? Well, that record got shattered yesterday (whoops) between a morning strength workout and a dance practice. Dance was super productive, just very physically intense (and sadly, didn't get frustrated very much, I was mostly just excited to be back - so no neural plasticity for me *).

 

Work just sorta flew by - I got good work done and had some productive meetings, but I remember basically nothing. Then it was time for dance, then coming home from dance to change out of sweaty clothes, scarf down some cereal, and PTFO.

 

*For anyone who didn't get that joke, check out Paul G's thread for neuroscience discussion stuff.

 

The workout - definitely can tell I'll be able to ride noob gains for a bit given how much my strength has fallen off since last year and even since a few months ago.

Spoiler

Warmup stuff

• Handstand practice (holds against the wall, basically)
• L-sits on my new parallettes: 3 sets of about 10 seconds hold, added a couple extra seconds with legs tucked at the end of my last set and will do that for all going forward
• A1: Pull-ups: 3 x 4
• A2: Pistol squat negatives: 3 x 2/2 x 5s lower
• B1: Rings Support Hold: 19s, 20s, 19s
• B2: Hamstring slider curls (double legged): 3 x 8 I'm not in love with these, feel like they're only using the hamstrings and barely activating the glutes, may substitute them for glute bridges building to 1-leg variations
• C1: Push-ups on parallettes: 2 x 8, 10
• C2: Ring Rows (at just below my rib cage): 12, 2 x 10
• D1: Hanging knees to chest: 2 x 6, 7
• D2: Copenhagen plank (lower leg support, knee on rest): 2 x 15s, 16s each side
• D3: Arch Hold (legs only): 3 x 20s

 

And the daily scores:

Mobility (10+ minutes a day): ✅

Mindfulness / Prayer (5+ minutes a day): ✅

Walk (at least 0.5 miles outside per day): ✅

Daily Plans Made (at a minimum, every work day): ✅

Weekly Plans Made (no later than Monday, or Tuesday if Monday's a holiday): ✅

Running Weekly Average Hours Asleep (no set goal per se, but will course correct as needed): 7:16

Running Weekly Average Active Calories (no set goal, just collecting data): 1,909

Ankle prehab (3x / week): N/a so far

Pilates (3x / week): N/a so far

Bonus! Mini Strength Workout (ideally 2x / week): ✅

Bonus! Solo Dance Practices (ideally 1-2x / week): N/a so far

[PaulG]

9 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Here's roughly what I did:

!!!

Funnily, I was just looking at a recipe floating around Serious Eats the other day for Ghanaian Groundnut Soup/Peanut Stew, which it looks like is very much along the same lines — minor differences, except for the spice profiles.

 

Groundnut soup seems to be a dish that might be a recurring thing across regions of Africa, but I am willing to bet spice profiles are specific to localities. I’m tempted to poke around my Pierre Thiam book and see if there’s a Senegalese version too. If I wind up making something, I‘ll be sure to report back.

 

9 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

The workout - definitely can tell I'll be able to ride noob gains for a bit given how much my strength has fallen off since last year and even since a few months ago.

It’s like we’re twins

 

9 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

B2: Hamstring slider curls (double legged): 3 x 8 I'm not in love with these, feel like they're only using the hamstrings and barely activating the glutes, may substitute them for glute bridges building to 1-leg variations

I’ve never loved a lot of the posterior chain exercises talked about in bodyweight circles. I agree you want to biase glutes if possible. Even in bridges, I’ve noticed my own glutes don’t seem to fire easily as my hip angle approaches neutral... I’m not sure I have a great solution though. I really like natural hamstring curls, but they have their own problems.

 

If only we all owned a solitary barbell we could use just for deadlifts...

[Mike Wazowski]

17 hours ago, PaulG said:

!!!

Funnily, I was just looking at a recipe floating around Serious Eats the other day for Ghanaian Groundnut Soup/Peanut Stew, which it looks like is very much along the same lines — minor differences, except for the spice profiles.

 

Groundnut soup seems to be a dish that might be a recurring thing across regions of Africa, but I am willing to bet spice profiles are specific to localities. I’m tempted to poke around my Pierre Thiam book and see if there’s a Senegalese version too. If I wind up making something, I‘ll be sure to report back.

Oh, you might've found a more authentic starting point! I got my recipe from the ingredients in a trader joe's frozen meal that may have just listed "spices" and then 2015 me just picked some stuff that sounded good at the time. But definitely report back how yours goes!

 

Quote

It’s like we’re twins

Haha yes. Twins aboard the noob gainz train!

 

Quote

I’ve never loved a lot of the posterior chain exercises talked about in bodyweight circles. I agree you want to biase glutes if possible. Even in bridges, I’ve noticed my own glutes don’t seem to fire easily as my hip angle approaches neutral... I’m not sure I have a great solution though. I really like natural hamstring curls, but they have their own problems.

Hmm ya, glad I'm not alone there. I think for bridges, I'm fine with the glutes firing less near neutral hip angle since I'm pretty sure that's standard for deadlifts as well. I thankfully have a pretty large range of kettlebells so I can do some resistance on single leg RDL's and honestly that plus some glute accessories is about all my posterior chain can handle with dance constantly in season.

 

Quote

If only we all owned a solitary barbell we could use just for deadlifts...

Haha if only...though to be fair, I would also need *very* forgiving downstairs neighbors! Though I sometimes miss my old office gym (which had oly platforms), I'm actually really happy overall with the home gym I've cobbled together this past year.

[raptron]

On 2/22/2021 at 11:58 AM, Mike Wazowski said:

Ehh, a lot of people with that opinion 1) are ill-informed on the nuance of what's actually going on within Texas and 2) fail to comprehend the level of fragility in the power generation and grid systems where they live. It's not just a Texas problem, though I suspect many places are not getting the wakeup call from it that they should.

I mean, there are ample factors and deliberate policy decisions that made Texas' grid PARTICULARLY fragile, which I am sure you have been hearing plenty about recently. 

 

Quote

Wrap up of Week 1: Saturday was my 30th birthday, and it was a pretty great day! I woke up, did some stuff, met up with my boyfriend and we grabbed beignets from a local shop, feasted on those while watching the newest WandaVision, and cuddled / hung out for a while. We took a break during which I did...something but I don't remember what, then we grabbed a nice Tex Mex dinner and I got a marg to go with it. Oh! And there was cake!

Happy belated!!! 30th! WoOOOOOooo! 🥳

 

 

On 2/23/2021 at 2:27 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

Week 2, Day 1 (Mon): So, remember how I was gonna ease into things nice and slowly, building back up to my old activity volume and taking it easy on strength training until I was used to dance training again?

 

...there's some evidence that didn't happen yesterday.

GASP. I'm SHOCKED, I say, SHOCKED. 🤣

 

Daily checks looking strong. 

 

[PaulG]

20 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Oh, you might've found a more authentic starting point! I got my recipe from the ingredients in a trader joe's frozen meal that may have just listed "spices" and then 2015 me just picked some stuff that sounded good at the time. But definitely report back how yours goes!

I have no update, except that I paged through Thiam’s book and found the Senegalese version too! It’s called Mafé. I am one of those Philistines that only keeps no-stir peanut butter around the house, but the more I think about this, the more I want to try it with chicken or lamb, so I will for sure let you know.

[Mike Wazowski]

5 hours ago, raptron said:

I mean, there are ample factors and deliberate policy decisions that made Texas' grid PARTICULARLY fragile, which I am sure you have been hearing plenty about recently. 

Actually, I disagree with the word "ample," though I believe that's been a common media framing.  The main issue was insufficient regulation requiring winterizing of plants, and in addition some issues with aged infrastructure making rolling blackouts difficult to implement. 538's politics podcast had a pretty good run down of what did and didn't actually contribute to the issues in Texas. But the aging infrastructure, in particular, is an issue everywhere within the US and likely in most of the world, because infrastructure maintenance is often slowly skimped on when budgets need to be trimmed down. 

 

Unless you're talking about bill shock news, and in that case, that's basically a single company (Griddy) operating with a type of plan that's not well understood by the bulk of its customers (literally, probably only analysts at power companies are familiar with how it really works). I believe it should be regulated better - either with better disclosures or not allowed to exist - since it's the power plan equivalent of driving without insurance. But that's an issue affecting a tiny fraction of all Texas consumers.

 

5 hours ago, raptron said:

Happy belated!!! 30th! WoOOOOOooo! 🥳

Thank you!!!! It was a beautiful bacchanal on Saturday, have a one week late little shindig planned for Saturday morning as well (with more sugary fried dough, this time in the form of fancypants donuts).

 

5 hours ago, raptron said:

GASP. I'm SHOCKED, I say, SHOCKED. 🤣

 

Daily checks looking strong. 

Hehehe what can I say? Enthusiasm is strong with this one. And maybe the "nose job" is helping my upper respiratory system not be the limiting reactant in my physical training? (a boy can dream, at least).

 

2 hours ago, PaulG said:

I have no update, except that I paged through Thiam’s book and found the Senegalese version too! It’s called Mafé. I am one of those Philistines that only keeps no-stir peanut butter around the house, but the more I think about this, the more I want to try it with chicken or lamb, so I will for sure let you know.

Ooh, thanks for sharing another take! I'll probably update the herb profile on mine a bit based on some of these, next time I make it. But this weekend is all about a redux of my quiche, because there was a pretty scary crust mishap that didn't affect the final product tooooo much but definitely annoyed me.

[Mike Wazowski]

Week 2, Days 2 and 3 (Tue / Wed): 

I, unsurprisingly, felt like I was run over by a train on Tuesday morning. OK, maaaaybe not that bad, but the body was whining, that's for sure! I sort of shambled through the work day both days, but still got the critical things done. Had a little hang out time with the BF Tuesday after work, then taught my college kids by myself which was a grand old time. We've got a small but mighty group showing up for zoom stuff, this week was smaller than usual so it was more biased towards socializing and shooting the shit, and it was really fun even if I can't wait til vaccines are a thing and we can start seeing people safely in person (because a ballroom class, especially with a lot of different ability and dedication levels, is much Much MUCH better in person).

 

SPEAKING OF, I was able to refresh the CVS website early enough in the day Wednesday, and I was able to finally get registered for Covid vaccine appointments - fingers crossed nothing happens to disrupt those. 

 

Wednesday was mostly a work shamble and D&D game, which was fun. We're still in a between adventures interlude, so a lot of my contributions were just making oafish comments in an attempt at a Russian accent. 

 

Sleep's been a bit rocky - I think I overcorrected for tiredness with caffeine both Tuesday and Wednesday and it kept me up too late (OR maybe I have an issue going from a state of high arousal for a social situation to low arousal and ready for bed, to use some Huberman lab terms and pander to @Mad Hatter and @PaulG). But my first attempt will be weaning myself down to more normal caffeine intake the next couple days and see if maintaining that into next week solves things on my Tuesday and Wednesday when I have social things that go later into the evening. I've also been slacking on mobility - might need to place it somewhere else in the day if it keeps getting cut at the end of the day - and my ankle prehab and pilates. If I do it 3 out of the next 4 days (it's not so intense as to preclude back to back days), I can still hit my goals and get through only missing 2 mobilities and 1 meditation (which is pretty solid for the first week of a restart).

 

Mobility (10+ minutes a day): ✅❌❌

Mindfulness / Prayer (5+ minutes a day): ✅✅❌

Walk (at least 0.5 miles outside per day): ✅✅✅

Daily Plans Made (at a minimum, every work day): ✅✅✅

Weekly Plans Made (no later than Monday, or Tuesday if Monday's a holiday): ✅

Running Weekly Average Hours Asleep (no set goal per se, but will course correct as needed): 6:33

Running Weekly Average Daily Active Calories (no set goal, just collecting data): 994

Ankle prehab (3x / week): zilch so far

Pilates (3x / week): zilch so far

Bonus! Mini Strength Workout (ideally 2x / week): ✅✅

Bonus! Solo Dance Practices (ideally 1-2x / week): likely 0️⃣ this week

[sylph]

16 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

And maybe the "nose job" is helping my upper respiratory system not be the limiting reactant in my physical training

You jest (I think), but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a hugely contributing factor.

[Mike Wazowski]

49 minutes ago, sylph said:

You jest (I think), but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a hugely contributing factor.

Hehe the tone didn't come across in writing - I'm actually pretty sure it's hugely helping, the only joke is continuing to call it a "nose job" (it's maybe the inverse of one - my nose looks exactly the same, but the interior function is *vastly* improved)

[Scaly Freak]

9 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Hehe the tone didn't come across in writing - I'm actually pretty sure it's hugely helping, the only joke is continuing to call it a "nose job" (it's maybe the inverse of one - my nose looks exactly the same, but the interior function is *vastly* improved)

 

So it's an invisible internal nose job.

[Mad Hatter]

HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAYYYY!!! 🥳💃🎉

 

On 2/26/2021 at 12:12 AM, Mike Wazowski said:

OR maybe I have an issue going from a state of high arousal for a social situation to low arousal and ready for bed, to use some Huberman lab terms and pander to @Mad Hatter and @PaulG)

😄 I often have this problem too. Same after some late training sessions, parkour classes were particularly impossible to wind down from.

[KB Girl]

Belated happy birthday  hope you had a nice celebration yesterday involving those fancy pants doughnuts. 
 

On 2/25/2021 at 10:49 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

But the aging infrastructure, in particular, is an issue everywhere within the US and likely in most of the world, because infrastructure maintenance is often slowly skimped on when budgets need to be trimmed down. 

No. In Europe at least that sort of thing is regulated. 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

No. In Europe at least that sort of thing is regulated. 

True, and it's hard to imagine a power outage affecting an entire country! Here the biggest issue is always falling trees, but that doesn't affect people living in cities.

[Mike Wazowski]

OK, it's been a hot minute since I checked in!

 

Here's the highlights of the latter half of week 2 and the first half of week 3 (in emoji form, as a poor imitation of raptron - and limited only to things I remember):

💊 Got my first COVID vaccine shot on Monday - side effects were a sore arm, plus a little bit of fatigue yesterday

🌲🍩 Had a park birthday party with bougie donuts Saturday morning - it was a grand time in spite of ~mediocre~ rainy weather

🎵🕺 First. Full. Weekend. of dance practices since January. It was much needed and very fun and very intense, all in one

🍲 Date night with the BF - went to a chinese-inspired noodle place that was essentially new to us* and had a great meal of spicy noodles and dumplings; sadly, the cool ice cream shop down the street was temporarily closed

 

Other stuff happened, but honestly 🤷‍♂️

 

*I had gone once before and been unimpressed, but I believe I both ordered a poor choice and had malfunctioning tastebuds from a slight head cold at the time - so I gave it another shot and was not disappointed!

 

Scores and stuff:

Mobility (10+ minutes a day): ✅❌❌✅✅✅✅|❌❌

Mindfulness / Prayer (5+ minutes a day): ✅✅❌✅✅✅✅|❌❌

Walk (at least 0.5 miles outside per day): ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅|✅✅

Daily Plans Made (at a minimum, every work day): ✅✅✅✅✅|✅✅

Weekly Plans Made (no later than Monday, or Tuesday if Monday's a holiday): ✅|✅

Running Weekly Average Hours Asleep (no set goal per se, but will course correct as needed): 6:41 | 6:59

Running Weekly Average Daily Active Calories (no set goal, just collecting data): 1,206 | 953

Ankle prehab (3x / week): ✅❌❌|✅

Pilates (3x / week): ✅❌❌|✅

Bonus! Mini Strength Workout (ideally 2x / week): ✅✅|

Bonus! Solo Dance Practices (ideally 1-2x / week): 0️⃣ |

Ankle prehab, pilates, mobility and mindfulness all showed up as opportunities. Have strategies I'm implementing as of midweek, TBD on success rate. But if nothing else, big wins on day / week planning and walks (and high activity levels in general).

[KB Girl]

Date night is good ❤️ I want date night. Vaccine is also good. 

It's been a hot minute again, how goes? 

[Mike Wazowski]

On 3/7/2021 at 1:41 PM, KB Girl said:

Date night is good ❤️ I want date night. Vaccine is also good. 

It's been a hot minute again, how goes? 

Oh hey!! I'm alive and just rubbish on keeping up with stuff here.

 

The past week has been...ok-ish. Definitely some sleep issues, possibly from adjusting to how strong cold brew coffee brewed at home can be vs. a half-caffeinated espresso blend I drank most of the winter (plus various and assorted work anxieties). Also, possibly a bit sick or a delayed side effect from the vaccine - I just felt tired and sinus headache-y all day yesterday.

 

But there were some really bright highlights!!

🙏 I officiated my best friend's wedding on Friday!!

🍕 Boyfriend and I tried a new pizza place* that offers what they call detroit style pizza and it was very, very good (think a thick, almost breadlike crust with a really nice chew, plus cheese that melted over the sides and caramelized)

🕺 Per usual, plenty of dance practice over the weekend

 

*Technically, a not yet open offshoot from an existing place, that's selling their pies at the the existing location for now.

 

Mobility and meditation were both kind of a struggle and realistically, I haven't found the right solution to make them part of my routines yet. But that's ok, I'll come up with another experiment, maybe tomorrow

[Harriet]

9 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

🙏 I officiated my best friend's wedding on Friday!!

 

Sweeeeet! I hope it was lovely and gorgeous and that you enjoyed exercising your power to wed. It's not often you declare things and they come true:

 

"I pronounce you healed!" nothing happens

"Let there be cake!" nothing happens

"I now pronounce you friend and spouse!" Friend and spouse are now married!!! Words make things true!!! You are now a wizard!!!
 

[Mad Hatter]

19 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

possibly from adjusting to how strong cold brew coffee brewed at home can be vs. a half-caffeinated espresso blend I drank most of the winter

Hmmm you seem to run into this problem so often I'm beginning to think you do it on purpose. 😂😛 

 

19 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

🙏 I officiated my best friend's wedding on Friday!!

That's so cool!

 

9 hours ago, Harriet said:

"I now pronounce you friend and spouse!" Friend and spouse are now married!!! Words make things true!!! You are now a wizard!!!

After the paperwork. 😉

[raptron]

WEDDING! DANCING! PIZZA! THIS UPDATE HAS EVERYTHING.

 

Excited you are officiating!! That's so fun. Congrats to your bestie.

[Mike Wazowski]

9 hours ago, Harriet said:

Sweeeeet! I hope it was lovely and gorgeous and that you enjoyed exercising your power to wed. It's not often you declare things and they come true:

 

"I pronounce you healed!" nothing happens

"Let there be cake!" nothing happens

"I now pronounce you friend and spouse!" Friend and spouse are now married!!! Words make things true!!! You are now a wizard!!!

It was indeed lovely and beautiful and a memory I'll cherish forever. It was hectic preparing for it (the exact ceremony flow and vows were finalized within minutes of the ceremony) but that just made it an even more pleasant memory in retrospect.

 

2 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Hmmm you seem to run into this problem so often I'm beginning to think you do it on purpose. 😂😛 

😛 I think it may be more of a caffeine sensitivity thing - and also maybe a bit of needing to train my brain to recognize the diminishing marginal returns of MOAR COFFEE even and especially when I'm a bit tired. I have been tempted a few times to splurge for a genetic test to see where my caffeine processing phenotype lands (but my Midwestern Catholic working class upbringing and its associated frugality has won the day so far).

 

1 minute ago, raptron said:

WEDDING! DANCING! PIZZA! THIS UPDATE HAS EVERYTHING.

 

Excited you are officiating!! That's so fun. Congrats to your bestie.

Yep, 'twas a truly spectacular weekend!

 

Alright, quick update from Week 4, Day 2:

🏃‍♂️ The sunshine and warm weather were calling to me, so I did an outdoor run, rebooting my noob running program

💻 Actually had a productive day at work, first time in a while (I have a real, pressing deadline on the calendar, that certainly helped get my rear in gear)

🛠️ Went to home depot before work to grab some additional lag bolts, because the wall mount for my dip bars neglected to include screws, puzzlingly; unfortunately, while attempting to hang them today, it turns out my hex bolt wrench doesn't fit into the 3" x 3" square tube in a way that'll let me attach it to the wall, so another hardware store trip is called for.

👬 BF and I started watching our first TV show together - in true nerd fashion, it's Avatar: the Last Airbender (I've never seen it, and it's been astonishingly good so far for a cartoon). He came over yesterday after work and before I had to teach dance to cuddle, hang out, and watch a couple episodes. Nice low-key mini date in the middle of the week

[Mad Hatter]

5 minutes ago, Mike Wazowski said:

and also maybe a bit of needing to train my brain to recognize the diminishing marginal returns of MOAR COFFEE even and especially when I'm a bit tired

Nooo no such thing! 😆 (I may have a small problem right now because I'm finding coffee too tasty haha)

 

6 minutes ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Avatar: the Last Airbender (I've never seen it, and it's been astonishingly good so far for a cartoon).

fixed it for ya 😉

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

10 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Sweeeeet! I hope it was lovely and gorgeous and that you enjoyed exercising your power to wed. It's not often you declare things and they come true:

 

"I pronounce you healed!" nothing happens

"Let there be cake!" nothing happens

"I now pronounce you friend and spouse!" Friend and spouse are now married!!! Words make things true!!! You are now a wizard!!!
 

Healed and cake can work with proper timing.

[Scaly Freak]

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Healed and cake can work with proper timing.

 

Cake can be healing, in the right context and circumstances.

 

One thing that made it easier for me to reduce my caffeine intake was to start dialing back how much I had in the afternoons. I would tell myself that instead of drinking any more coffee after 4:00 pm I would have water. I also found that replacing the coffee with some kind of tea made my brain miss the coffee a lot less, since the tea is a hot drink I can sip, so it checks all the coffee boxes outside of what the liquid in the cup/mug is.

[sylph]

On 3/10/2021 at 11:14 AM, Mike Wazowski said:

The sunshine and warm weather were calling to me, so I did an outdoor run, rebooting my noob running program

Has your 'nose job' effect been noticeable with your running ability/capacity, too? (I'd guess, yes, but am curious anyway)