mathiverse's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks, Ego!

guitarplayer
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Location: Scotland

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by guitarplayer »

Hey, what changes! Great to hear you are actively shaping you life the way you want it to be. Very happy for you!

mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks, guitarplayer! I'm happy to be trying something new.

Scott 2
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Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by Scott 2 »

Congrats! Interested to see what the new phase of life brings.

mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks, Scott 2! I hope my switch turns out as well as yours has.

basuragomi
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by basuragomi »

This is a banner year for ERErs pulling the plug, good luck with the final stretch!

mathiverse
Posts: 788
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks, basuragomi!

In my case, I'm in a semi-ERE situation, though I hope to reach official FI via ERE in the next few years via expense reduction and slower earning.

mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

I changed my last day at my full time gig to yesterday, so I'm done with that job.

I also started the tutoring job this past week.

guitarplayer
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Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by guitarplayer »

Great! Very happy for you, write updates on how it goes with the tutoring!

mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Thanks, guitarplayer!

Tutoring has been pretty great. It's surprising to see how good I am at programming compared to beginners. I really don't remember much about being at the stage of learning that my students are in, so I've had to do a lot of learning about how best to help them. There are so many concepts that are second nature to me that I didn't even realize was something I had to learn way back when! I am going to change my tutoring schedule next semester to be more regular, so I can more easily get into a routine during the week. Also I might try to free up my weekends.

After a low expense month in October, I really dropped the ball in November. I'll be posting a financial update closer to the end of the year. I will try to finish strong in December, but the spoiler is that I totally missed my goal for the year. Fortunately, I learned quite a bit and I think next year will be better. :)

I've been running a bit recently. Lately, I noticed that I run to feel good which is in contrast to when I had to feel good to run. It's a welcome mindset shift that hopefully will result in more consistent running.

My focus is on making cooking and eating in my default. That's where my budget has been busted lately. Well, that and poorly planned holiday travel.

mathiverse
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Update:

. I'm eating in again (not all the time, but probably soon). I had to reign in some bad habits that developed over the last month.
. I cooked two new recipes: eggs benedict and egg cups.
. I will participate in the WL5 -> WL6 thread-based MMG. The work for that MMG overlaps with my work for the other MMG I'm a part of.
. I figured out health insurance for next year. I'll be paying about $37/month for health and dental insurance via my state's market place instead of $941/month via COBRA.
. I am borrowing a suitcase from a friend for a trip instead of purchasing one for my one off trip.

mathiverse
Posts: 788
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

Update:
. I started going outside to get sunlight within a few hours of sunrise and within a few hours of sunset in order to reset my messed up sleep schedule. It appears to be working. I've been up two or three hours earlier than usual lately and I get sleepy earlier in the day. Thanks for that idea goes to the Huberman Lab podcast.
. My worm bin is still functional after not touching it for 1.5 months due to worms being gross. I'm glad it's such a resilient bin since I'm a lax caretaker.
. I applied the advice from my thread about tutoring. It did help a lot to spend more time understanding the background and knowledge of each student. Also special thanks to @IlliniDave for suggesting I force students to come to me with specific questions. That has made tutoring easier and more pleasant.
. I made three new recipes: vegetable broth, split pea soup, and mushroom barley soup. They turned out well.
. I had frozen chocolate chip cookies dough leftover that I didn't want to eat due to cutting back on sugar. I gave some to my neighbor, some to a friend who works at the place I volunteer, and the rest to another friend. It felt better to give away the frozen dough to my very appreciative friends than it would have to eat it! In the future, I will give away cookie dough more often.
. I made multiple calls to get an issue with my insurance sorted. I normally procrastinate hard on such things, but not this time.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

ertyu wrote:
Thu Jan 05, 2023 7:06 am
[F]or 2023 I asked myself, "what's the one thing that, if you do it, all else becomes easier or unnecessary"
Nice question! I asked a similar question myself as I was reflecting on last year and my answer was to increase the energy level and the stamina I have each day. In the long term, I'll have more capacity for everything else I want to do.

Basically, I need to improve my diet, sleep, and physical fitness.

For me, it's mostly about removing things when it comes to diet (ie sugar and processed foods). And it's about consistency for sleep and physical fitness.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

I'm back to trying to lowering my food expenses. This time around, I'm going to do weekly meal prep which others have suggested before. I had discarded the suggestion because 1) I wanted to cook everyday, 2) I didn't think I'd like the taste of the food enough 3) I didn't think I'd get enough variety on a meal plan, and 4) I didn't really know any recipes that would be good for a meal plan and I thought that'd it'd be challenging to find recipes that fit my taste and would keep for a week. (1) and (4) are no longer true. (2) and (3) might still be true.

The biggest thing I was missing before was the self knowledge that attempting to cook everyday is a horrible plan for me. I have never been consistently interested and energetic enough to cook every single day. I thought for a long time that the only thing stopping me from cooking everyday was energy or time or cooking skill or something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but that I could eventually solve for. And, well, maybe I could eventually solve for it, but I realized I'd probably be better off trying something different. Therefore I'm going to try meal prep instead. I am fairly sure that I can consistently force myself to cook on one day a week, so I'll try that.


So the plan is once a week make enough food for lunch and dinners to be covered. This weeks meal prep dishes were lentil soup and salisbury steaks.

bostonimproper
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

My (unsolicited) suggestion if you plan to do really repetitive meal plans is to make and keep a few different sauces with different flavor profiles on hand to zhuzh up your dishes so it’s a little bit less like you are eating the same thing every day. Like a nice green sauce or avocado cilantro dressing might add some nice lighter and acidic flavors to the heavier dishes you have planned. Or maybe a roasted red pepper sauce or chipotle tahini for something a little spicier. You can make sauces in a batch, stick some in a small condiment bottle, and freeze the rest until you need for refills.

Also consider keeping some chopped/pickled cabbage and tortillas on hand in case you want to change up the form factor with leftover tacos or to make a quick side salad to complement.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Are you still trying to access sunlight in the morning and evening? I picked this habit up from Huberman as well for a few weeks last fall, and tried to pair it with walking barefoot in the grass. I really enjoyed it but dropped it when it got cold and dark.
mathiverse wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 3:27 pm
The biggest thing I was missing before was the self knowledge that attempting to cook everyday is a horrible plan for me. I have never been consistently interested and energetic enough to cook every single day.
I really enjoy cooking but I often don't have the energy or interest to do it daily. If you find you need more variety than weekly batch cooking provides, maybe you can find a middle path where you cook 2-3 times per week, but make large dishes with plenty of leftovers. This is more or less the system I've landed on. I also like to keep things like salad greens, eggs, tortillas, fruit, or bread in the fridge/freezer so I can add a little variety to the weekly menu without too much effort (I wouldn't necessarily count making a quick salad or wrap as cooking if I have most of the ingredients on hand). I think food is one of life's great but simple pleasures, so I don't want to compromise too much in my own system.

*+1 to bostonimproper's suggestions. There are lots of little hacks to add variety to a "batch cooking" strategy. Having a freezer really makes a difference.

avalok
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Location: West Midlands, UK; Walkscore 73

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by avalok »

I'll second WRCs middle way of cooking 2-3 times per week, if batch cooking does not provide enough variety. I also found I enjoyed the cooking more when it was more spaced out; not crammed into one day, but also not every day. I guess the only downsides are that sometimes I do have to cook when I really do not feel like it, and I spend more time cooking and washing up than the batch approach.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

@all: Thanks for the tips! I hope to improve on the menus and options over time, so I'm happy to hear any suggestions. I'll try to implement some as the weeks go by.

I might try multiple days of cooking if the variety isn't good enough. For now, we'll see. Maybe it won't be a problem.
Western Red Cedar wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:27 pm
Are you still trying to access sunlight in the morning and evening?
Yeah! I get a minute or two in the morning, pre-sunset is normally around ten minutes, and I normally get an hour or so midday. Ideally, I'd do a bit more in the morning, but for now that's what it has collapsed to.

mathiverse
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Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by mathiverse »

This week's meal prep dish: Chili

avalok
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Location: West Midlands, UK; Walkscore 73

Re: mathiverse's journal

Post by avalok »

A great one: tastes far better after having cooled anyway.

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