[TimovieMan]

The previous challenge included a post-vacation respawn.

That has mostly been successful.

 

The parts where I struggled most were doing a (mini-)workout daily, and respecting my sleep curfew as to not be too tired throughout the day.

 

So I'm keeping what works, and I'm adjusting what doesn't (or at least needs improvement).

The logging remains the same, but the sleep curfew gets tightened a little. The number of days with a (mini-)workout get an increase too, as does the workout count.

 

Log:

	Bad	Poor	Ok	Good	Excellent	Frequency	Notes
Intermittent fasting	< 14 hours	≥ 14 hours	≥ 16 hours	≥ 17 hours	≥ 20 hours	Daily
Calorie intake	> 4000 kcal	> 3000 kcal	≤ 3000 kcal	≤ 2400 kcal	≤ 2000 kcal	Daily	Ballpark figures are good enough
Calories spent	< 2750 kcal	≥ 2750 kcal	≥ 3000 kcal	≥ 3500 kcal	≥ 4000 kcal	Daily	Fitbit numbers
Calories in/out deficit	< 500 kcal	< 0 kcal	≥ 0 kcal	≥ 500 kcal	≥ 1000 kcal	Daily
Curfew	≥ 1.00 am	≥ 0.45 am	< 0.45 am	< 0.30 am	< 0.15 am	Daily	Add 2 hours before non-working days
Sleep	< 5h 30m	< 6 hours	≥ 6 hours	≥ 6h 30m	≥ 7 hours	Daily	Fitbit numbers
Avg. sleep	< 6 hours	< 6h 15m	≥ 6h 15m	≥ 6h 30m	≥ 6h 45m	Weekly	Fitbit numbers
Steps	< 6.000	≥ 6.000	≥ 8.000	≥ 10.000	≥ 12.000	Daily	Fitbit numbers
Avg. steps	< 9.000	≥ 9.000	≥ 10.000	≥ 11.000	≥ 12.000	Weekly	Fitbit numbers
Distance	< 15 km	≥ 15 km	≥ 20 km	≥ 25 km	≥ 30 km	Weekly	Walk to Mordor distance
Workouts	< 1.0	≥ 1.0	≥ 2.0	≥ 3.0	≥ 4.0	Weekly	Mini-workouts: 1/10 per exercise
Days with (mini-)workouts	< 4	4	5	6	7	Weekly

 

 

The plan of attack centers around my 23:45 workout alarm.

Once that rings, I will finish whatever it is that I was doing, actually do a mini-workout*, and then go to bed.

I will force myself to do this. Enforce it until it becomes habit!

 

* Mini-workout (for now) consists of the DailyDare exercise, "burpee replacement" exercises (squat jumps, knuckle push-ups and elbow plank mountain climbers), and a 5-minute breathing exercise to calm down again, since the workout is done so close to bed time.

 

Update:

Addition as of week 2 for left wrist mobility exercises and caffeine logging.

	Bad	Poor	Ok	Good	Excellent	Frequency	Notes
Coffee consumption	4+ cups	3 cups	2 cups	1 cup	None	Daily
Wrist mobility	< 1x5	1x5	1x5 + 1x3	2x5	> 2x5	Daily	3 "free" exercises, 2 surface exercises

 

[Loveable_Bouncer]

32 minutes ago, TimovieMan said:

The plan of attack centers around my 23:45 workout alarm.

Once that rings, I will finish whatever it is that I was doing, actually do a mini-workout*, and then go to bed.

I will force myself to do this. Enforce it until it becomes habit!

 

* Mini-workout (for now) consists of the DailyDare exercise, "burpee replacement" exercises (squat jumps, knuckle push-ups and elbow plank mountain climbers), and a 5-minute breathing exercise to calm down again, since the workout is done so close to bed time.

This is an interesting technique... I personally am trying a cup of tea to make me sleepy. But didn't think of adding activity to be the habit... 

[Snarkyfishguts]

 

following!

[Laghail]

Following!

[sarakingdom]

5 hours ago, Loveable_Bouncer said:

This is an interesting technique... I personally am trying a cup of tea to make me sleepy. But didn't think of adding activity to be the habit... 

 

Some people find pre-sleep workouts too energizing, but for others, they work off stress hormones and get the muscles all warm and relaxed. Worth a go, if stress is a bedtime issue.

[TimovieMan]

5 hours ago, Loveable_Bouncer said:

This is an interesting technique... I personally am trying a cup of tea to make me sleepy. But didn't think of adding activity to be the habit... 

Part of it is practical: exercising is more likely to happen when I'm alone than with Mrs. Movieman or the kids around. Doing it late in the evening means I'll have privacy.

Part of it is also my night owl nature. My energy levels are higher in the evening and lowest in the morning. It's so much easier for me to do this late at night, than it would be in the early morning. I much prefer staying up later to waking up early.
And if it tires me out, I'll probably sleep better. Once I get my heart rate and my adrenalin and norepinephrin levels lower again. That's where the breathing exercise comes in...

Probably helps in clearing the mind as well, but I don't usually have trouble falling asleep...

 

 

 

 

I've started the week well.

Did the DailyDare and "burpee replacement" exercises on both Monday and Tuesday, and got in bed at normal hours.

 

I'm trying to increase the exercises with one rep per day. Did 12 squat jumps, 12 knuckle push-ups and 24 mountain climbers on Monday. Did 13-13-26 yesterday.

The knuckle push-ups are broken down in two sets, because I'm still not used to the knuckle pressure, despite the padding I use.

 

Calories are well within acceptable limits, but there's a tad too much chocolate and other carb-y goods in the house due to Saturday's family food extravaganza.

Still, week zero is looking good so far:

	Week 0
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h33
Steps
Avg. steps	10.5K
Distance	10.40 km
Workouts	0.8
Days with (mini-)workouts	2

 

 

I've even done some darts practice the past two days. That had been a while...

But I also played a ton of TE4... ?

 

Full career so far.

Spoiler

The week 19 Italy M25 futures tournament started with the TimovieMan Bagel Delivery Service.
My first 3 matches were all double bagels, and even the semi-final started with a bagel. I lost the first game of the second set for 6-0 6-1, though.
Suffice to say that the unknowns that I faced in the first rounds weren't all that. My semi-final opponent was tougher, but his error rate was high, which is a significant advantage for me.

 

The final was something else, though. I faced the same (unknown) Mexican player that had knocked me out in the Argentina M25 tournament in week 7. I lost 6-3 6-2 then, and it looked like I was going to face a bigger loss now.
I immediately trailed 0-4 and had a lot of difficulty keeping up with his powerful and very precise strokes. I managed to fight my way back into the match, though. At 1-5, I managed to break him not once but twice to equalise to 5-5.
Then I had a weaker game on my serve, with two avoidable unforced errors, and it cost me the set. 5-7.
In the second set, he got 0-3 up as well before I nabbed one back. Kept my serve at 4-1 too, and managed to clear a championship point at 5-2. His second championship point, though, should have been mine. He returned no less than three balls that would have been clear winners against most opponents. He not only returned them, but gave them such pinpoint precision that they were almost winners as well. My return of that last one bounced just over the line. 5-7 2-6.

 

19 tour points for playing the final, though. I'm now the world #331.

 

The coming weeks are reserved for the junior tour again. First the Italia Open, then Roland Garros and finally Wimbledon.

Week 21, 1997. The Italia Open AA-grade junior tournament.

As the world #1 I was the first seed, naturally, and favourite for the win.
I proved that status by winning both of my first two matches with 6-0 6-0, first against Juan Pablo Brzezicki (a future top 100 player) and then against Michael Llodra (the future singles #21 and doubles #3).
I took these opportunities to make some attempts at drop shots. Now that I have the shot in my arsenal, I might as well train myself to actually use them. Several attempts were made, with moderate success. One or two hit the net cord, a few bounced too high so they could attack, and a few were returned in the net - not winners, but successful nonetheless. I was a tad more careful with drop shots vs. Llodra. I don't want a serve-and-volley player at the net...

In the next round, I was up against an unknown Indian. I had played against him in last year's Italia Open. I won 6-1 6-0 then, and I repeated that score line now.
Then came Czech player Michal Tabara (a future top 50 player) in the quarter final. He's a big server with a strong backhand and a powerful forehand. It proved a difficult match, but I won 6-2 6-3. There were fewer attempts at drop shots in this match, but still a few where it was the more "natural" choice of shot.

In the semis, I faced Australian Nathan Healey. I've double-bageled him earlier and the season, and did the same now to reach the final.
There I was up against the junior world #2, Marat Safin, who beat me in the Australian Open final.
The difference now was that I was a couple of percentages stronger, and this was a clay tournament, not a hardcourt tournament. That gave me an advantage I lacked in our previous match-up.
It proved a BIG advantage, as I managed to mop the floor with "The Safinator". 6-0 6-0 for the tournament win!

 

This increased my lead as the junior world #1, but also gave me 4 pro tour points to put me at #328.

In week 23, I entered the junior Roland Garros grand slam. My status as the favourite was undisputed after the Italia Open clay win.

I bulldozed through the tournament, despite facing opponents like the future world #21 Taylor Dent, Thai doubles specialist Sanchai Ratiwatana (who would get to the doubles #39 spot), Croatian future #3 Ivan Ljubičić and doubles #23 Jordan Kerr. Kerr had even beaten Marat Safin to get to the final.

*EVERYONE* got served a double-bagel.

I won the junior grand slam event without dropping a single game!

 

And I got 5 pro tour points as well to become the world #324.

 

Let's hope I can do just as well on the junior Wimbledon tournament. Grass is vastly different than the clay surface I'm best at...

 

 

 

Here's "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice, off his debut album "O". It was his debut single even!

 

The song is probably best remembered for its inclusion in the film "Closer" (with Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen who should have won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar for it). It's an excellent song.

 

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

[DarK_RaideR]

Got me worried there for a moment, with no mention of TE4 updates in your plans. But then I scrolled down and all was well.

[TimovieMan]

2 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Got me worried there for a moment, with no mention of TE4 updates in your plans. But then I scrolled down and all was well.

 

 

So....

 

we're three days in, and I've already dropped the ball.

 

I was playing TE4 when my alarm went off. The match I was playing was nearly finished, and once it was done, I did in fact turn off TE4 with the intention of doing a mini-workout.

But then I thought that my in-game player was still only 15 years old and could potentially win a second junior grand slam. So I went to look up how old Stefan Edberg was when he managed a career junior Grand Slam (by winning all 4 in the same year, the only player to do so) in 1983. He was 17.
But he caused the accidental death of a linesman in that year. The linesman was struck by a ball, fell off his chair and hit his head hard.

This led me on a  wiki walk, where I spent a lot of time reading a sizeable list of confirmed "unusual" deaths... ?

And before I knew it, it was 1 am.

 

I did the DailyDare - to at least do something - and went to bed.

 

Curfew is a red log for the day (would've been orange in previous challenges). And today my energy levels are low, presumably because I missed out on at least half an hour of sleep. Bike ride to work was slower than usual, and I'm tired.

Still going to limit myself to just *one* coffee, though.

[TimovieMan]

2 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Still going to limit myself to just *one* coffee, though.

Okay, so I caved and had *two*. ?

Before 11 am, though, so I should be fine tonight. ?

Plus there might be some activity for which I'll gladly forgo a long walk this evening, which might help with getting to sleep afterwards... ?

[TimovieMan]

So my boss just messaged the entire team with the question "who among us is the expert in Google Sheets? Who could help me organise some things with multiple drop downs and select statements etc.?".

 

Now, I'm primarily the Excel expert, but I have helped a team lead with Google Sheets before, so I know that she knows that I'm the resident expert.

Asking the question to the entire team, knowing full well that most of them will be looking at me, kind of obligates me to volunteer. While still feeling like I'm being volunteered. ?

 

I already dread what's coming... ?

[TimovieMan]

I've yet to post a song today.

 

Here's the original version of one of the most covered songs of all time: Dolly Parton's "Jolene".

I'm not a singer, but I hear this song is covered so often because it's just that fun to sing. I can dig that.

Plus, it's an absolutely fantastic song in its simplicity and emotional delivery.

 

It always made me wonder, though. Considering how Dolly Parton looked in the late '60s and early '70s - before all the cosmetic surgery -, just how beautiful was this Jolene character that even this woman felt that she didn't compare??? ?

 

Dolly Parton - Jolene

 

The official lyric video - because nobody knows these lyrics by heart yet... ?

[Snarkyfishguts]

She was a different kind of beautiful. Dolly talks about it in an interview here. I don't reckon that Dolly was too worried after a while.

 

She's such a wonderful songwriter. 

[AerynLee]

Ooh, spreadsheets! Lol. 

 

I'm with you on preferring to workout later in the day. I'm not as much of a night owl (my ass is in bed by 10pm at the latest) but I would much rather do an 8pm workout than one before work.

[sylph]

14 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

She was a different kind of beautiful. Dolly talks about it in an interview here. I don't reckon that Dolly was too worried after a while.

 

She's such a wonderful songwriter. 

Dolly Parton is a treasure. Her work for children's literacy is unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, hi ?

I am also familiar with that feeling of being volunteered without actually being volunteered.
I'd much rather be asked directly than pretend otherwise.

[Loveable_Bouncer]

19 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Part of it is practical: exercising is more likely to happen when I'm alone than with Mrs. Movieman or the kids around. Doing it late in the evening means I'll have privacy.

Part of it is also my night owl nature. My energy levels are higher in the evening and lowest in the morning. It's so much easier for me to do this late at night, than it would be in the early morning. I much prefer staying up later to waking up early.
And if it tires me out, I'll probably sleep better. Once I get my heart rate and my adrenalin and norepinephrin levels lower again. That's where the breathing exercise comes in...

Probably helps in clearing the mind as well, but I don't usually have trouble falling asleep...

This makes sense, thank you for sharing. I'm the opposite of not getting much stuff done at night after work. Jealous of evening game time, as i found that really makes it a struggle to calm down for bed.  But I ended up getting a better idea how to make a routine with my evening struggle of still getting to bed. 

[Mad Hatter]

8 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

So my boss just messaged the entire team with the question "who among us is the expert in Google Sheets? Who could help me organise some things with multiple drop downs and select statements etc.?".

 

Now, I'm primarily the Excel expert, but I have helped a team lead with Google Sheets before, so I know that she knows that I'm the resident expert.

Asking the question to the entire team, knowing full well that most of them will be looking at me, kind of obligates me to volunteer. While still feeling like I'm being volunteered. ?

 

I already dread what's coming... ?

What I mostly dislike about this is not so much the volunteering, but more that it takes away from everybody else. Once you become the expert then you're the expert forever and then you're stuck whether you like it or not! And then it prevents other people from learning even though they might want to (ok maybe not spreadsheets ?) because there's never enough time.

[Snarkyfishguts]

9 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

So my boss just messaged the entire team with the question "who among us is the expert in Google Sheets? Who could help me organise some things with multiple drop downs and select statements etc.?".

 

Now, I'm primarily the Excel expert, but I have helped a team lead with Google Sheets before, so I know that she knows that I'm the resident expert.

Asking the question to the entire team, knowing full well that most of them will be looking at me, kind of obligates me to volunteer. While still feeling like I'm being volunteered. ?

 

I already dread what's coming... ?

 

Ugh to email antics

[deftona]

9 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

 

Now, I'm primarily the Excel expert, but I have helped a team lead with Google Sheets before, so I know that she knows that I'm the resident expert.

Asking the question to the entire team, knowing full well that most of them will be looking at me, kind of obligates me to volunteer. While still feeling like I'm being volunteered. ?

 

Gotta say, I'd be ignoring this email really hard. 

 

Following! 

[TimovieMan]

18 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

She's such a wonderful songwriter. 

18 hours ago, sylph said:

Dolly Parton is a treasure. Her work for children's literacy is unbelievable.

She also comes across as fun. She's been on the Graham Norton Show a few times, and she's always a hoot.

 

She once related to AC/DC's Brian Johnson that she found cassette tapes that indicated that she wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" on the same night. The way she then went "Buddy, that was a good night!" has always cracked me up.

 

 

16 hours ago, Loveable_Bouncer said:

This makes sense, thank you for sharing. I'm the opposite of not getting much stuff done at night after work. Jealous of evening game time, as i found that really makes it a struggle to calm down for bed.  But I ended up getting a better idea how to make a routine with my evening struggle of still getting to bed. 

Depends on the types of games you play, I'd reckon? As in: more casual, relaxing stuff will calm you down, while action-packed horror games might indeed be a problem...

 

 

14 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

What I mostly dislike about this is not so much the volunteering, but more that it takes away from everybody else. Once you become the expert then you're the expert forever and then you're stuck whether you like it or not! And then it prevents other people from learning even though they might want to (ok maybe not spreadsheets ?) because there's never enough time.

I'm already the de facto go-to guy for everything Excel-related, so the team already knows I'm the expert.

Basically, I'm the "first-line IT person" for our department. If I can't help, only then will they go to the actual IT department. I'm also a lot faster than they are - I help ASAP, usually even immediately. The IT department can take months, depending on the request... ?

 

As for the "preventing them from learning", unless I wrote extensive VBA code that I think will go over their heads, I do tend to explain what I did and how I did it, so they might still learn.

And I tend to teach anyone who uses a VLOOKUP formula to use INDEX/MATCH instead. ?

 

13 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Ugh to email antics

13 hours ago, deftona said:

Gotta say, I'd be ignoring this email really hard. 

It was in the team's group chat. Ignoring it means that everyone in the team can see that I didn't reply. It really put me on the spot. Which is why I felt obligated to "volunteer".

Even if that means stepping in before someone else could.

 

That's what I dislike most about the whole thing. Those that already know I'm the expert will just go "sure, Timo will do it" and already assumed that I was going to do it anyway.

And the few that didn't already know I'm the expert, might now think I'm the team's brown-noser for jumping at the call. ?

[Jarric]

Every time someone mentions Jolene it makes me think of the eldritch horror version:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Harriet]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:23 AM, TimovieMan said:

 

This led me on a  wiki walk, where I spent a lot of time reading a sizeable list of confirmed "unusual" deaths... ?

And before I knew it, it was 1 am.

 

This is terrible but also kind of funny. Good luck with the curfew next time. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

Every time someone mentions Jolene it makes me think of the eldritch horror version:

 

 

Oh wow I love this. Can we have an eldritch horror version of more songs please? 

[Harriet]

Actually I have a specific request. My brother sang an English-lebanese-german version of Sheeran's thinking out loud for the wedding of some friends. A German friend and a Lebanese friend, I think. Very touching. Anyway, so I want an eldritch horror version of the lyrics. Please. 

[Harriet]

I mean, I could start:

When your nineteen and three quarter legs don't work like they used to

And I can't sweep you off your collection of feet

[TimovieMan]

Office day today. As of this month, there's only two days per week of working from home allowed.

On one hand, it's a day more that I'm pretty much assured to get 10K+ steps in, and 3K+ calories spent, because there's the whole "biking to work and back" thing, and there's always a half-hour lunch break walk.

On the other hand, I get a far longer walk in when working from home, while still maintaining pretty much the same working hours. The lack of commute is a great time-saver, that I now lose for an extra day...

Still, not complaining because it's company-wide policy, and pre-Covid working from home was *never* an option...

 

Had my weekly weigh-in this morning. The results of last weekend's family BBQ are very much present.

I usually manage to get rid of the weekend excesses, but that's a lot harder when the event was at our place. Always lots of leftovers and carb-y goodies in the house that I then can't stay out of... ?

 

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 93.5 kg (+1.5)

Body fat: 22.4 % (+0.9)

 

 

Did the DailyDare yesterday, but nothing else in terms of exercises.

There was "bed cardio" before, though. ?

 

Keeping my Fitbit on proved funny. ?

*bzzt* "You're earning zone minutes!"

*bzzt* "Milestone: 300 zone minutes this week!"

Looking at the stats afterwards: 1000+ extra steps! 51 minutes of "intense activity"! ?

Didn't get identified as a type of sport, though... ?

 

 

And then I got into bed late. Again. So much for the "enforcing" idea.

I did turn my laptop off at a timely hour, though. It basically went to heck because I had to go to the toilet...

...and wound up doom-scrolling on my phone... ?

 

My log was looking so great on Wednesday. Now it's mainly looking so previous challenge...

	Week 0
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h02
Steps
Avg. steps	11.1K
Distance	15.10 km
Workouts	1.0
Days with (mini-)workouts	4

 

 

In unrelated fashion news, I've been walking around with my shirt's sleeves rolled up until just under my elbow. Not because of practicality or comfort or because it's warm. No, mainly because my favourite football pundit here (former Club Brugge midfielder Gert Verheyen) often sports that style with confidence, and I'm trying to emulate the cool... ??

It's like a relaxed "business casual"... ?

 

 

 

Here's a song that I mainly knew in the Status Quo version. Gave me a "that's originally by The Doors???!?!?" reaction. Followed by a "the original is even better" reaction.

And then a "but it's on The Doors' "Best of" album that my dad owned, and I had listened to that hundreds of times back in the day" contemplation.

Guess I listened to his "The Very Best of Status Quo" album even more... ?

 

The Doors - Roadhouse Blues

[deftona]

1 hour ago, TimovieMan said:

Here's a song that I mainly knew in the Status Quo version.

 

Mon dieu. 

 

As a huge Doors fan this was a sucker punch ?