Lemur Journal!

Where are you and where are you going?
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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

The gift you carry for others is not an attempt to save the world but to fully belong to it. It's not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make it a better place. Discovering your unique gift to bring to your community is your greatest opportunity and challenge. The offering of that gift — your true self — is the most you can do to love and serve the world. And it is all the world needs."
Plotkin, Bill. Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (p. 13).
From the discussion on Bill Plotkin in the Emergent Renaissance Ecology topics. Just the thing I needed to read.

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fiby41
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by fiby41 »

Giving your gift fully to the world... Way of the Superior Man was where I last heard of that line of thought.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

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Time on my hands since I’m at work and the network crashed here lol…

So I sold off BNDW for a loss and purchased four 10 year treasury notes with YTM of 4.12%. Further investment on the fixed-income side of my portfolio will be VGIT which has a shorter average time to maturity. I’m also planning on investing in VTV instead of VYM. Neither of which I’ve one share yet but it’s planned when my individual stock positions breakeven (*if).

I still have many stock positions that are down and hopefully bottomed out. Some are recovering (like Visa) though slowly. The semi-conductor world is interesting right now and long-term probably a boon for my particular investments of AMD and MU.

I’m looking into tax-loss harvesting. I’ve $7k realized gains from options this year that I’ll probably want to offset a little bit. We will see.

I also acquired a box of free bananas from our local market. The cashier had this box set aside to dump out and I inquired about it. Too ripe? Shoot that’s perfect, can I’ve it? Lol. Cut them up and froze them. This is not the first time I’ve acquired bananas for free. My username is just too fitting here.

Spent last weekend hauling away all kinds of things. Things that we’ve accumulated for years that can’t be donated. We met a guy in our neighborhood who does this kind of thing regularly for a small fee. Chatting with him and I discovered that he often repurposes what he can and resells what he can. Sometimes he’ll make additional income by bringing some of the junk to a metal scrap yard.

My son is enrolled for basketball this winter. That will be his first sport. I am interested to see how he takes to it. We can pair this up with our normal grocery shopping schedule to make this into one trip (his practices are Saturday mornings).

My Father has not been doing well since he caught COVID. Despite vaccination, he still is having lingering breathing issues. I should mention that he has many other health complications (like having to get some toes amputated due to diabetes complications). We’re amazed that he hasn’t had a heart attack yet in his life (he spent most of it being over 400lbs. And he has only lost weight due to health complications like ulcers or stays at the emergency rooms). Despite all this, he still refuses to retire (at age 64) and just focus on his health. Yep that is something my Sister and I just keep an eye on but my Father is one of the most stubborn individuals you’ll ever meet. His health weighs on the mind of my Grandfather who is 91 himself and really doesn’t want to outlive his own kid.

Despite our best efforts to lead in the right direction, I guess we never know truly know how even our own kids will turn out. The most I wish for is my son develops a strong, resilient but compassionate character. The rest is up to him.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by avalok »

Lemur wrote:
Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:49 pm
Despite our best efforts to lead in the right direction, I guess we never know truly know how even our own kids will turn out. The most I wish for is my son develops a strong, resilient but compassionate character. The rest is up to him.
That is an admirable mindset Lemur. I think too often parents (understandably) fall into wishing for too many specifics of their kids. I guess the more concrete the image of how you want them to be, the greater the likelihood of disappointment. A strong character is broad-scope, but such an important predicate for other qualities.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@avalok

There certainly is a balance I think between the two extremes of parental neglect and helicoptering. One does not teach a teenager to drive a car by holding the wheel for them and hitting the brakes. Nor should we just hand the keys over and take a nap in the passenger seat and say "good luck." :lol:

I think the ideas presented here had some influence on me: https://www.amazon.com/How-Children-Suc ... 0544104404

There is also something I really like from the ERE book that I think back on a lot. I'm paraphrasing, this was not in the small chapter "children", but it was about behavioral change in general. Now that I'm thinking about it...gonna CTRL+F this one on my kindle and find it:
To change, many barriers must be overcome. Having previously overcome barriers, overcoming new barriers becomes much easier. You may want to cross-train for a new lifestyle by first completing a marathon, a PhD, or something equally arduous, like building a house of cards.
On the surface, I think this might be a strange recommendation for someone, for instance, who has no concept of saving/investing and just consumes haphazardly. But it makes sense when you think about the fact that it takes character first and foremost to bare through obstacles, handle stress, and have the grit to basically succeed at anything or change their own deeply ingrained behaviors and habits.

So I think this is why I'm leaning heavily towards teaching character first and foremost and letting the child pick what they want to do in this life. I believe this may be accomplished by exposing my son to a lot of different things - sports, academic perseverance, arts / music, even completing hard video games ... and the hope is he'll latch on to one of these. In the meantime, I can guide gently to handle failures, setbacks, and dealing with stressors. This effort alone will be great...environment after-all accounts for at least half a young person's development.

When I was growing up, mentioned earlier in my journal, I found my flow from programming games. Discovered when I was around 11-13 or so. Unfortunately for me, this hobby was squashed and instead I was preordained to focus on school grades. But to me, programming games was more than just a hobby. It was everything to me - I would be in these constant flow states of 8+ hours just hacking away at code, building graphics, collaborating with others on forums, putting together game designs, character development and storylines, hell - I even put together small musical sounds... Man it really was an art that I look back on fondly.

I hope my son can find the equivalent of that one day and instead of me getting in the way, I can get out of the way. And that is what is leading me ultimately to this idea of exposing him to a lot of different things, so he'll have better chances of finding that thing.

October 29, 2022

Net-worth:
$495k (Up $40k)

Sold off my VISA position after the short rally to do some tax-loss harvesting. Put those funds in VGIT. My new allocation is 25% VTI, 25% VXUS, 25% VYM, and 25% VGIT across all of our accounts.

Physical Health / Diet: I'm a lean 166lbs. Maintained 165-170lb range. Had the flu this month but recovered rather quickly.

Mental Health: Mostly good but deleted my Reddit account again because its becoming a time sink and I started finding myself digging a little too deep for my liking with all the political nonsense.

Job: Boring but finding some satisfaction again with coding. We're changing up our software suite so that we can have a sandbox of multiple languages (instead of just being stuck with SAS) ...so that should be fun.

Gardening: A lot of carrots.

Reading / Other: Finished reading "Helping Children Succeed; What Works and Why" by Paul Tough. Good book. I even picked up his other work and read that too. So done this rabbit hole for now. Some good stuff there that I believe can apply to adults these days instead of just kids....I find the term "adulting" lately sort of irritating lol. The bar shouldn't be that low.

Next from the library:

"Digital Minimalism" - Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World" Cal Newport. (I've never read a book from Cal Newport).
"Who We Are and How We Got Here - Ancient DNA and the New Science of Human Past" David Reich

Goals: There is this script at work that I've been developing forever that has hit a snag. My goal this month is to have that done.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by ertyu »

Lemur wrote:
Sat Oct 29, 2022 3:11 pm
I find the term "adulting" lately sort of irritating lol. The bar shouldn't be that low.
People achieve more when their focus isn't on how they fall short from where the bar "should" be, but when they notice and acknowledge even small positive movements in the direction they want to move towards. ":muscle: :muscle: I adulted!!" isn't useful because that's where the bar should be, but because it builds self-efficacy and creates a habit of positive inner reinforcement to incremental steps -- feeling accomplished in small, mundane tasks, which in the end is what gets us to move forward. @classical_liberal wrote about that feeling of accomplishment recently, though I forget if it was in his own journal or in response to someone else's, in the context of, paying for a housecleaner doesn't leave me feeling accomplished, but washing my own dishes does (loose paraphrase). The "adulting" thing is actually adaptive.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Umm…I’m not so sure. Usually I see that term used in the context of accomplishing something small and insignificant- related to an everyday responsibility that normal functioning adults do on a daily basis without celebration or award. Maybe some adulting is relative though.

“Normal Functioning” implies also a stable mental state…obviously someone in a depressive state might find normal adulting to be difficult. But what I’m saying mostly is that adulting to me applies that there is a minimal standard in everyday responsibilities that should be met out of habit.

Actually come to think of it Ertyu, I think I’m dead wrong here and just projecting my own interpretation the more I think about it.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by ertyu »

Before I say all the rest, I do agree with your broad point: people should aim for more than basic functioning. There's more to human life than the bare minimum, and people should want that for themselves.
Lemur wrote:
Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:25 pm
there is a minimal standard in everyday responsibilities that should be met out of habit.
sure -- and you habituate that by performing the tasks that go into it daily and consistently.

what gets you to perform the tasks that go into it daily and consistently because you can give yourself some sort of positive reinforcement -- "it's good i completed that"(*)

so the more important thing here isn't exactly what actions are or aren't included in the "bar" that needs to be met; the more important thing is developing the inner skill of rewarding positive action, regardless of how big or small that positive action is.

(*) depending on how one has been parented and what one has witnessed growing up, this may be missing. it could be it's missing due to emotional neglect and lack or recognition - when all your accomplishments were taken for granted and no one ever told you, "yay!! good job!!" that's something that won't get internalized and something that you need to train.

in the US in particular, the ability to "adult" and self-reward basic tasks can also be missing because overly anxious middle class parents freak out about their child being able to preserve their socioeconomic status when in the economy as a whole, the middle class is being hollowed out. enter helicopter parenting, daily extracurriculars, extreme anxiety and pressure about getting into a good school, days consumed with schoolwork and studies rather than unstructured time with friends, etc.-- that can also leave a person without the ability to regulate and reward the "small tasks of dailiness" because they got lost in the neurotic pressure of "you must achieve X or it's ruination / not good enough to get into X college."

So you get kids that aced AP Calculus and Physics C while excelling as an athlete and leading 4 different student organizations, but these same students lack basic self-care and maintenance skills - no home economics skills, no financial literacy, they've never had to juggle school and a job and learn to prioritize on a basic level because everything was always !! crisis !! you might not get into college !!!

So they need to learn both those basic skills on their own as adults. And they need to learn the ability to self-motivate without it being a matter of metaphorical life and death -- "your life will go off the rails if you don't perform!!" In that sense, I am not surprised that it's the millenials who have this struggle as a generation -- the previous generations had it comparatively good whereas zoomers are checked out and dead inside because they know the traditional pathways to stability and social success are no longer there to start with.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Investing Thoughts

Over the years since I started my journal here I can finally say I've pretty much come full circle from index only investing (because always go up and 4%), to taking control of my own portfolio and active investing and learning options trading, to....getting back towards almost all index funds. The latter being wiser seeing both market euphoria, bubbles, and subsequent crashes and panic, more experience trading, how I psychologically react to market whims and my individual stock positions, being more humble and realizing I'm not smarter than your average investor (made big money on certain trades but have also been burned badly), and overall understanding more "whys."

I now allocate 25% of my portfolio (simple 4 way split) to VTI (total stock market), VXUS (total international), VTV (large cap value stocks), and VGIT (Intermediate-Term Treasuries Fund average maturity 5.6 years and YTM 4.06%) across all my portfolio. Maybe I'll write a novel one day on why I chose this allocation....but it fits me personally, my ideas of the world's future state, and risk tolerance so maybe its not worth the time.

I keep this in mind though looking at inception to date total returns (I no longer assume the future will hold these numbers true but the summarized reason I chose this allocation is noted below as well as contingency and buffer plans).

VTI: 7.25% - America is the world leader in equity returns, business opportunities, and robust markets. I also earn income in dollars.
VXUS: 4.67% - International stocks may help capture growth from a potential changing world order (China / EU) and other developing/emerging markets.
VTV: 7.74% - Big money flocks to safer large-cap dividend/value stocks when tech/inflation/or PE levels get too high for comfort.
VGIT: 1.76% - Intermediate Treasuries help smooth volatility, maintain inflation pace, and reduces overall portfolio risk in exchange for at worst a small hit to total returns.
Total / 4 = 5.36%
Withdrawal 3%-4% of that every year leaves 1.36% to 2.36% of growth to account for inflation.

My future net-worth by default will have fluff because there is certainly more room to cut expenses in my own budget and in terms of contingency, I truly doubt I'll never not make money again (I plan on doing code freelance to make some income whenever) and with that my drawdown can be significantly impacted. On low spending levels, any increases in income are very impactful to the withdrawal rate.

Anyway, my VISA position is sold off. I sold off about 33% of my JPM position (the other 100 shares are waiting to be called away on a covered call). So by end of year, I should've just AMD, MU, and SOFI left. SOFI will probably be my last hold-out and one I believe still has potential for explosive growth when macro conditions turnaround. I offset the losses on JPM/V by doing covered call and short put position profiting this year so my realized gain/loss YTD total is very close to exactly $0.00.

Other Thoughts

It did not take long, but I've already noticed increases in work productivity, better concentration, better mood lately, started reading more lately ... by deleting my Reddit account. Probably the 3-4th time I've done that over the years. I just always end up getting caught up in that app with its constant dopamine hits. Speaking of dopamine....this is a very important thing to regulate for mood. Glad I revisited this. Thanks Andrew Huberman.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by avalok »

Lemur wrote:
Thu Nov 03, 2022 4:37 pm
It did not take long, but I've already noticed increases in work productivity, better concentration, better mood lately, started reading more lately ... by deleting my Reddit account.
I can relate to this in a broader sense of how I use information technology. I don't have social media, but I do use YouTube and regularly fall into reading news sites beyond the point I actually want to. I have noticed these bouts of overuse coincide with a drop in productivity, concentration and mood. I guess they're all geared to distract you and leave your brain scattered, wanting more. The internet is such as noisy place, even with an ad-blocker.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

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I experimented with this (greatly reducing fats in the diet) for a few weeks. Mainly to see if I can optimize things even further. But this one did not end well for me. The diet tasted plain, I couldn't really adhere (first time literally all year that I started back bingeing on junk foods like sugars), my libido tanked, I felt hungry ALL the time despite the volume of food I was eating ,and I was overall asking myself why am I doing this again when my health is already excellent. The big pros of fats - gastric emptying is slowed down (making you feel fuller longer, hence why someone can eat a bowl of oatmeal or rice and be hungry again an hour later), and blood glucose is better regulated due to reduced glycemic load. Also healthy fats have positive health effects on ones hormonal profile, skin, and overall metabolism.

I'm still on a fairly high carb diet (and always will be because I operate best here), but I added the healthy fats back in - the nuts, seeds, fish oil, canola/olive oil, occasional avocado, peanut butter, etc. Felt better almost immediately. I learned quite quickly that the minimal requirement is not the optimal requirement... Here's a decent primer on fats I had come across: https://bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition ... etary-fats In a final thought on this topic, we should understand that no single macronutrient is bad for someone in a vacuum (except Trans Fats - that one literally has no good effect for anyone lol) - it depends greatly on context such as that person's overall eating patterns, activity levels, genetics, current health issues (if any), etc. Still maintaining my target weight but back to doing it the way I had been doing all year - sticking to the diet that I can adhere to to begin with.

Other then that, my job has been cool. I've had many scripts I had been working on that I had breakthroughs on and I was able to wrap up. I've found coding lately to be intrinsically motivating again and I'm very grateful my job is pretty much a perfect match right now.

Still off the Reddit and most news sites and that has helped my general mood. Mainly because I'm spending my time doing other things that are more important. Not cynical, but I've come to understand many conversations on that website...just a waste of time. Why wrestle with a beehive?

The Lemur family has been sick lately. First the flu. Then recovery. Then my son got RSV. Now we're mostly sick again. That has been most of November.

Finally - a interesting short animation I had come across on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/e9dZQelULDk

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

1.) I've been trying to make a 'delicious' vegetable soup for a while now and I think I finally found my methodology while also keeping the meal simple.. Something I learned recently is that garlic has a different taste profile depending upon whether you cook it at the beginning (like sautéing with onions) or add it at the end (like to a soup). I've never tried just not doing the Sauté and just adding garlic at the end and I did this a week ago experimenting with a vegetable soup and it made a world of difference. I also learned to add seasonings at the end as well.


1.) Boil water and add hard veggies (no sauté required): I go with the classic mirepoix because its easy to remember (onions, carrots, celery) and also add one or all of the following if I have it on hand (tomato, potato, bell pepper). Add bay leaf if I have any. Leave for 30 minutes.
2.) At this stage you can assess water level and add softer squash and greens. Usually I do cabbage. Brown lentils or peas can be added here too.
3.) After another 30 minutes, this is where I add salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a herb if I have any, minced garlic, a splash of white wine vinegar. Don't overdo that last one.

Edit: I tried another variation today and I like this even better. Steps 1 & 2 can be condensed to just one step of 45 minutes. I also added salt at the beginning and not the end. And instead of adding white wine vinegar at the end, its even better with 2 tablespoons of white cooking wine at the beginning (and not using the white wine vinegar at all. The point is to touch it with acid.

Good stuff....easy, healthy, but does take an hour. I eat with bread or mix with brown rice.

2.) I think this is the first time I've read/listened to something and then thought of SD:

The Real Causes of Depression | Johann Hari
https://youtu.be/Hfl3Yh7fS4g

I was like ah...spoken like a true Green.

This talk did remind me of Mark Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck Book where he finds that a lot of people are depressed/anxious because they're not living according to their values (a dissonance) or they're living for "junk" values. Also simply because some need is not being met (Maslow). The reason I thought of Hari like a green is because he speaks to how an individualist Westerner tries to solve the depression/anxiety problem through self-care (such as going to the gym, trying to get promoted, buying something, etc...in other words orange) and he suggests the the solutions are of a more collectivist nature (Universal Basic Income, coming together as a community, reaching out to others and building relationships, etc.).

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

December 2, 2022

Net-worth:
$524k (Up $29k)

Finances: Net-worth is up but outside of fixed expenses just a lot of things occurred this month: Bailing out my Brother and his family from near homelessness ($800), Medical bills because myself, Spouse, and son all got flu in November and Spouse/Son also got RSV. A lot of urgent care visits and things like that. My HDHP has this 5-10% coinsurance depending on the medical reason and that added up. So that is another roughly $600. Not counting all the various medicines of which I did not partake but my Spouse/Son were especially sick. Also Christmas gifts for family...something I've been trying to stop as tradition but is never worth the fight so that is another $450. Geez. This might have been our most expensive month in years since I've been blogging here. Just a lot of random things. Was obviously not financially difficult to cover any of this with emergency fund cash. The HSA will cover all medical bills as they come in and the $800 is being paid back when my Brother gets caught up with medical payments / car payments when he receives financial aid (in the thousands) next month. Also call me crazy but I'm still averaging down on SoFI....at $11.69 now.

So yes just about $2k of unexpected expenses. :shock:
I suppose getting sick every now and then is something that should be expected though so I shouldn't be too surprised.

Physical Health / Diet: Continued to have flu this month and ongoing coughing symptoms (possibly got RSV as well but never confirmed for sure). I recovered and I'm good now but it made me lazy and binge on junk foods after I went into a periodic fu*k it mode. I'm 171lbs now (outside my target range) so I'm back on track as of a few days ago :D .

Mental Health: Good mostly. The topic of research in November was on depression. Something I don't normally deal with but I felt a bit low from all the sickness and lack of activity. The big plus again was getting rid of Reddit. I've been spending my time much more productively. And reading a lot more.

Job: There was crazy talk of bringing us into the office 3 days a week starting in 2023 but an exception was made for those with "hard to find skill sets" and apparently I qualified in that category and will remain in my current ideal situation of only 1 day a week at the office.

Gardening: None anymore but part of my system is tossing food scraps into the beds. So prepping soil I guess. I think I want to try 3 sisters planting next year. Mainly because it looks cool but I'm also eating a lot more starches and beans these days since I moved to a WFPB diet in 2022 and I want to level up here and see if I can further dent food costs with gardening.

Reading / Other: 2 books I picked up last month but barely read...

"Digital Minimalism" - Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World" Cal Newport
"Who We Are and How We Got Here - Ancient DNA and the New Science of Human Past" David Reich

But I have this "Big Book on Ecology" that I've been reading that I've found more interesting so I've been digging into that. It is perfect for the layman: https://a.co/d/cloJaTz . I've also been reading a bit more about spiral dynamics. I am now looking at politics, random people I bump into, my family, and the current world order a little bit through that lens and its interesting...I'm seeing things just a little bit differently from a new perspective. I'd say I'm a mostly former orange that is now basically a yellow-green but I can definitely exhibit different colored energy. There is more introspection to be done here I suppose but lately I try not to get caught up in my own head too much. I'm still rewiring from a guy who used to blow his free time on just browsing Reddit and YouTube shorts.

Goals: That script I had last month - mission accomplished. This months goal...another script I've been working on for a while. It is definitely like being Sisyphus but I'm totally cool with that having been in much shittier environments. I finally have work that has been tolerable all year and it was one of the best decisions I made.
Last edited by Lemur on Fri Dec 02, 2022 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

not sure
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by not sure »

Re: earlier soup post :) I love soups and been collecting easy and yummy recipes for a few years now.
Too bad they never turn out the same as I always have a slightly different set of ingredients on hand!

For my veggie soups, I often fry up onions and carrots in a bit of oil before adding them to the rest of the soup. This helps bring out some great flavours. I almost never have to use vegetable sock for flavouring.
If it's a one-pot thing, I would fry them up in the pot itself till slightly golden/starting to soften and smell nice, then add a bit of water and other ingredients.
Another couple of tricks I use for soups are:
- add bay leaf at the end, take out after 30 min or so. I actually don't boil it with the soup. To me, the flavour is a little harsh if left too long
- add a couple of tablespoons yellow mustard at the end (paste), stir well
- add a couple of tablespoons of ketchup in the end - a bit of acidity, sugar and tomato make a surprisingly nice flavour combination. I sometimes use mustard and ketchup together.
- for one of my soups, I add 1.5 tablespoons sugar and 1.5 tablespoons vinegar at the end of the cooking process, when the pot is hot, but I've turned off the heat

Some of the recipes for borsch I've seen call for a couple of tablespoons of vodka in the end. Haven't tried it myself ;-)

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by avalok »

Sorry to hear about all the stuff that went on this month. I guess it demonstrates just one of the reasons to have financial slack, shows the path you're on is worthwhile. Glad to hear that you're past the flu now.
Lemur wrote:
Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:26 pm
I think I want to try 3 sisters planting next year.
I tried three sisters for the first time this year and found the most important thing is timing sowings correctly. I sowed the runner beans too early (we had a cold spell that slowed the corn growth) and ended up having to grow the beans up a wigwam. Still managed to do two sisters easily, so I think it is worth doing even if you don't get it 100% right first time; saves a lot of space.

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@not sure

Thanks for these suggestions. I've never tried any of these so I'll give that a go. Now that you mention it, the soups I've made do have a strong bay leaf taste to them...perhaps my taste buds have adapted for that because I've always just assumed that bay leaf was some sort of secret magical ingredient that one must have on hand. :lol: so I've always added that in!

@avalok

For step 3 - I've read varying advice to let corn get to about a foot before the beans as opposed to 5 inches. I will heed your advice.

Image

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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Thanks for whomever posted this article. Maybe it was Axel? I can't remember where I stumbled upon it on the ERE Network :)

How to Think Better: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught: https://fs.blog/how-to-think/

The article articulates what I'm hoping to get out of with my recent goal towards "digital minimalism". I also posted a short-term accountability goal (again excellent idea Erytu!). 2021/2022 I rid myself of all social medias. Just recently, I dropped Reddit (the last one still hanging on) but then found myself caught in YouTube shorts (I just moved to another drug I guess) and random games on my smart phone. I recognize this as a constant problem now:

1.) The constant dopamine hits makes other (likely more useful) activities seem less interesting thus:
2.) Destroys one's attention span and
3.) Does not allow one to live closer to their deep values.
4.) It's a behavioral addiction.
5.) Overconsumption of digital media provides a false sense of social connectivity.
6.) Time is simply wasted when one reflects on the time spent mindlessly scrolling realizing they got nothing out of it but lost time (a negative externality).
7.) The best form of learning is typically given from longer forms of writing: books and such but also long articles and even some forum posts count. Short term comments and media just don't match...
8) A random thought I had was that as a teenager, I did not cultivate this skill well because instead of deep focus / learning into a text book, it was more like I was on a treasure hunt looking for the statements that might appear on a quiz/test. Or just to get my damn homework over with. So I've been preprogrammed to find answers instead of think of the answers for myself.

I wish it did not take until my early 30s to realize this. When I think back on these past few years, the most impactful personal changes and learning have come to me from connecting ideas and thoughts that've occurred after only consuming long-term forms of media such as the ERE book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, The Hungry Brain by Stephen Guyenet, How not to Diet by Michael Greger, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and the like. These are the books I thought of off the top of my head. I've read some others.... It ain't much but its something. Its no surprise to me that the best insights have come from people that are also voracious readers. And having been on this forum a while, some of the members here have really impressed me with just how much they read. That is what makes this forum great. Over the years, It has made me step up my own game (I started reading).

An example: I lost 35lbs this year because I developed a system of eating from ideas I learned from "The Hungry Brain" and "How Not To Diet." At first, I struggled to get my diet underway despite understanding the science of fat loss. I recognized that I couldn't stick to the habits I needed to succeed so then I came across Clear's book. So connected these ideas...formed a plan. Win. Only after reading Clear's book though did I understand better something Stephen was alluding to in his book. He wasn't just talking about diet habits but for most habits. One great lesson I've learned is to not simply rely on one's willpower for any sort of motivation to do accomplish anything long-term. Learn to cultivate healthful eating habits, reading habits, thinking habits, spending habits......the pre-frontal cortex can be wired better! Its weird but sometimes I separate "Lemur - the self" and "Lemur - the brain" when I think about making changes...(Edit: Actually, this line of thought is not that weird… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow).

What I am aiming for is a reset akin to the buy nothing year. The buy nothing year helps one reset consumerist habits. But I think its worth one's time to also reset digital consumption habits as well if they have similar goals to what I've alluded to here. Moderation in this case has not worked for me which is why I'm doing something closer to a hard reset. These technologies are specifically designed to grab ones attention and at least for me, I don't have the mental toolkit to just moderate at this time. Its why I'm reading digital minimalism to see what insight I can find in this book that might help me develop my own philosophy with handling these technologies more effectively.

ertyu
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by ertyu »

how will you handle investing while on a full digital detox?

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@Ertyu

Good question. So I'm taking Cal's advice that the digital detox is not meant to cause personal/professional harm. Not being able to handle investments would fall in the former group so no problem here. As is checking my bank account. Luckily for me, I've never had an issue with compulsive checking of stock prices or my investment accounts and since I'm mostly index investing now, I only tend to log in when I get paid. The only behavior I've with this is checking SoFi's stock price as a habit due to the fact that I write short puts / covered calls and I've to monitor the situation for rolling purposes. As long as I'm not compulsively checking the price, this shouldn't be a problem.

My digital detox revolves specifically around addicting iPhone apps. My aim is to remove compulsions and live more deliberately and derive more value from long-term forms of media (I need to recover my attention span). The compulsion to whip that thing out and check whatever is strong on this device. So I deleted YouTube, all my games (I mostly compulsively play Pokémon Go, Backgammon, and those Wormzone/Snake .io games lol). Removed Chrome from the home screen because I've a compulsion to check news headlines, and turned off notifications. Reddit was a huge problem with me and I had deleted that weeks ago.

Its only been a day but noticing some things already:

- I'm a bit more present with my family. Funny we had gotten to his bus stop this morning and I pulled out my phone out of sheer habit and I was like "oh yeah this thing is useless right now..."
- Walks with my Spouse, I could only listen and wasn't checking apps during walk.
- Just eating breakfast this morning, I'm usually watching YouTube shorts at the same time. So I was simply present with the quietness of the house and my food.
- I'm getting bored a lot more but this has been a good thing and is leaving me to do exactly what I intended - forces me to seek long-term media/entertainment so I've been reading more. I suppose if I really did not want to read, maybe some emergence will come from this and I'll find another hobby or something else to do. Maybe just being present and accepting boredom can be a skill in itself.

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unemployable
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by unemployable »

I know there's the no-doxxing rule but... you might want to get that registration paid up.

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