guitar player's journal

[Western Red Cedar]

So if you have any tips and trick on the matter, let me know please.

For now, I am going to do more breaks with being active, maybe start doing stretching throughout the day.

It sounds like you found a little reprieve with this issue. I'd encourage you to figure out ways to incorporate as much movement as possible into your new job. I check in with my supervisor a few times a month, and always schedule that as a phone call rather than a video call so I can walk around my neighborhood and the local park while I talk. When I was in the office, I'd ask others if they would like to walk and talk for an informal meeting rather than sitting in the conference room.

Anything you can do that incorporates movement without interrupting your productive/creative flow is really important as an office worker IMO. A quick set of lunges or burpees during your break, some light stitching or yoga, whatever works for you. I was the guy who brought a yoga ball into the office as an alternative for my chair, and it doubled as something to stretch out on a few times a day. Our bodies weren't meant to sit or stand in one place for the majority of the day, and it starts to take its toll.

In terms of pursuing another degree, I'd just keep your WOG and vision for the future in mind when making that decision. I've had the option to pursue another masters or doctorate at a part-time pace, with full funding for the last eight years. For me personally, the time and stress of getting that hasn't been worth it. One of the major factors in my decision-making is asking the questions "what will this do for me professionally" or "what doors will this open?" The latter is a bit hard to predict, but in my case it doesn't really move the needle a lot on professional opportunities.

The other thing I've realized in working with PhDs as consultants and tutoring graduate students, is that I tend to learn a lot more on the job than I would in in the classroom. A lot of the faculty I've worked with live in a world of theory, and are a bit disconnected from how things actually work in my particular profession. If possible, I always choose the option of getting paid to learn while on the job, and applying a bit of extra energy to ensure I am a top performer. This approach requires me to make calculated decisions professionally about the projects and positions I accept. I've stayed away from management positions and embraced the role of subject matter expert because I want to spend my time doing the work, rather than spending a good chunk of my day with management responsibilities.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks for all the advice!

@ertyu, without the schedule and scaffolding I would have a harder time closing loops I think. This would not need to be bad I don't think. But closing loops rather quicker than later is a good exercise for me. I think I would enjoy the course, I will at least apply.

@NewBlood, I am almost sure it would not unlock any new opportunities at work that I could not otherwise unlock. I could consider the degree itself part of enlightenment process. But yes, definitely a matter of what I want to pay for with my time.

@mathiverse, well, I know that now there is funding available which might not be the case in the future. Also, now I have a momentum so could go through the degree in full swing. I take your point about taking time away from other projects which could be more risky but also more rewarding. This MSc seems potentially a rather risk averse way of spending time. Nothing wrong in this per se, but life is only one.

@WRC fully with you on incorporating as much movement as possible throughout the day. I am now completely okay, just learned (again) about how (internal) rule based I can be, in that I just decided 'well, I have a standing desk and standing is surely more of an activity than sitting, hence I will just stand at the desk'. Well, not as simple as this. Re Studies: like mentioned above, the degree would likely be pointless professionally (in where I work now, though in terms of general job prospects I could see it being used). I will apply regardless because it costs nothing but a bit of time to apply and might be that the application will be rejected in which case no issue. Got in touch with one old professor who is well and happy to write me a reference letter if needed.

Hope you will get the outcome you prefer regarding the new post by the way @WRC!

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2023 update 9/52

Guitar

DW likes when I play and sing.

Job

022/156 weeks in (ca. 14.1%).

So it looks like I will lead on that June publication after all. Worry not though, as I have made great progress with an April publication and think that I can use quite a bit of the structure to kick start the June one.

Also, had great fun exploring dplyr and openxslx packages in R. I want to learn how to edit Excel output, either on the R side of things or on the Excel side with VBA. If I managed to build a pipeline where I get from data to mostly ready tables, that would be awesome. At the moment (because I am learning while doing) my process is raw data -> SAS -> R -> Excel.

I appreciate freedom my manager gives me and, I guess trust he puts in my work (although equally, he might be just too busy for micromanaging).

Studies

Finished all but one assignment which is not available yet; will be reviewing the written ones and submitting throughout the next week before I head off for a months.

Will be attending a funded 2 day course in R and SQL queries in R in May. This is provided by a major uni so will look good to be associated with that name even thought in fact it does not matter much at all with it being a short up-skilling course. But then again these things do matter sometimes.

Would like to build some maps in R.

Also, aiming to submit my application for one MSc degree I have been eyeing sometime this coming week.

Health

I got a kilo green tea. Still doing burpees, 200 daily. I eat heaps of rye, barley, lentils, spices, nuts, seeds, fruit and veg. Also B12 and D3. So far so good.

Away

Will be away from next weekend onward for about 4 weeks - likely will not be updating the journal here.

Thanks for reading!

[ertyu]

You sound like you're crushing it! Cool

[guitarplayer]

Thanks @ertyu!
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2023 update 10/52

Things are okay. Submitted all the assignments for uni, did prep for two publications at work. Looks like I got an offer for the MSc in Data Science I have been talking about earlier - that is not to say I got funding for it. Will check again properly when I am back. Also, got a place for a 2 year Data Science Graduate Scheme at work, this would be starting in October.

Heading off in 20 min, will be back in April!

[avalok]

Enjoy your trip. Look forward to more updates once you're back

[guitarplayer]

I am back from my trip to South America. Update about the time away.

2023 update 11-14/52

Physiological

• In the run-up to the holidays, I didn't sleep as much as I would wish. It wasn't too bad, but not optimal. I got it back in the holidays.
• I didn't do burpees daily, managed it in about 5 days.
• For a few days, I have been carrying DW's friend who suddenly and recently got on a wheelchair because of cancer. Mostly bed-wheelchair-car-wheelchair... Happy to be able to do it multiple times throughout the day for many days. I hope some system will be put in place for it as she is not a feather and I doubt another person will be there to do it now that I am gone. Also, getting someone from the wheelchair into a car and back is a big strain for the back of the person carrying.
• I will be doing some stretching to get my back in order again. Also restarting burpees, and possibly giving this aspect of 'physiological' some more attention.
• I would mention being vegan and some bits about my diet (no salt, no fat), but it was difficult to consistently get what I would prefer. Mostly because hosts had their own idea of what is the best food out there and wanted to impress / host 'properly'. Also, sometimes there were no options in shops.
• Eating patterns and types of food some people go for when busy (we were witnessing / partaking in a few days in the run-up of a wedding) are impressive. I followed along, and count it as operating in conditions of severe scarcity of nutrients.
• I have noticed poor air quality on the trip and it is a relief to be back to Scotland with its clean air.
• Now back from the trip, I have a bit of maintenance to do.
  (1) From last night I fast and will break it with breakfast tomorrow,
  (2) Sourced some fruit and veg through Olio last night, will get some more today hopefully. Dark leafy greens would be great, or any greens. Return to the diet that I benefit from so much,
  (3) Keep having plenty of sleep.

Intellectual

• I have an outline of some problems to do with graph theory that I am going to try tackling. I plan to use AI to brainstorm ideas. This might result in co-writing a paper. I am still thinking about to what extent I want to be engaged in this project.
• I have decided to decline the offer of part-time MSc in Data Science I have been thinking about.
• I have some ideas about how do develop intellectually in the coming year via independent study. These are:
  (1) going through the investment curriculum in the next academic year,
  (2) engaging with the data science graduate programme I got enrolled in at work. This will last two years starting in October, it revolves around version control, sql, r and python.
  (3) revisiting the maths and stats degree I am going to finish in a few months.
  (4) following mentorship advice and generally, staying engaged.
• In the next two months I will be busy reviewing for three exams and writing one project to wrap up the degree.

Economic

• We calculated that a month of holidays on a different continent costed DW and I a total of about 3700 USD. This included, among other things, multiple flights, wedding gifts and other gifts, emergency hotel stays, ubers etc.
• I got a letter saying that I could purchase a defined benefit pension of about 1050 USD / annum (inflation adjusted annually) from 2055 with my defined contribution pot of about 9240 USD. I recon I would be able to also start withdrawing about 500 USD / annum from about 2042.
• The holidays laid out before me in practice how many people are driven by status and comfort and can (and do) pay a high price for these.
• I have also observed in practice an extremely short time horizon for economic choices made by many people.

Emotional

• I handed out many gifts on the holidays. Physical gifts, but also being attentive and understanding of other people. It was an emotionally complex work sometimes.
• I got appreciation from DW for the holidays. DW did well as well. We both went out of our way for what I would call 'legacy' reasons.
• I feel I matured as a person compared to a few years back.

Social

• The holidays were a very social time. There was a lot of room for finding compromise and diplomacy.
• DW and I are discussing setting up an edible forest, or getting engaged in something along the lines of an edible forest.

Technical

• Before the holidays I put a lot of time into trying to get better at being a knowledge worker.
• During the holidays I put a lot of effort in developing and maintaining the skill of keeping a positive outlook in the face of unexpected events.

Ecological

• During the holidays we were transplanted to a different ecological system literally and figuratively.

Spiritual

• During the holidays I have been thinking about the nature of creativity.

[guitarplayer]

Yesterday I went to visit a few fellow Olio members and got free fruit and veg of street value of about 40 USD. Feels good to see familiar faces again. I learn more and more about my community members - most people seem wired to talk about themselves and those around them. Discovering the reasons for why people engage in saving food from waste. One friend goes to collect the food, then shares through Olio, then drops some of it off in a 'free food' box in one neighbourhood and stops at two care homes to drop off the rest. Another person volunteers at food banks. I am aware this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Olio now has a 'for sale' section - some of the folk think that it will bring the app down in a few months, as in there will be a paid membership, many will leave etc. Time will tell.

I think even if the app had paid membership, it is still a great system in the grand scheme of things and I would sign up for it. From the environmental point of view, it softens the blow from the disaster of the modern food supply chain. Gets me exercise when cycling and finding out routes to new places, chatting with familiar people, the lottery of the ingredients I get to use while cooking. The whole thing creates more than the sum of its parts.

[Western Red Cedar]

Spiritual

• During the holidays I have been thinking about the nature of creativity.

Rick Rubin recently released a book on creativity and has been doing the podcast circuit to discuss the topic and promote the book. I haven't read it yet, but I've really enjoyed a few of his conversations and his thoughts on, and approach to, art and creativity. It is clear that he's spent the majority of his life thinking about and establishing an environment that supports creativity.

[guitarplayer]

Just looked him up @WRC, would have never looked that way on my own so thank you for pointing this out!

[redacted, have been trying something here]

Booked a talk on the Bayesian stats background of ChatGPT and other large language models.

[arbrk]

guitarplayer, I have never heard of Olio and I am going to join. People have a lot of fruit trees in my neighborhood and there is no way to eat all the fruit yourself. Plus, fruit is expensive and tasteless from the grocery store.

By the way, I DID just sign up and they did try to get me to pay. Looks like you can just X out of the popup, but the only way to press "Continue" is to pay. So you don't actually have to pay, but the design makes it seem like you do.

[avalok]

@arbrk hopefully there are users with those fruit trees. In my area there seem to be a select few people who doing the vast majority of the listing, and then everyone else who collects (including me). Most of the stuff comes through the supermarket collections, though in fairness it isn't really growing season here yet; I have thought to put excess allotment veg on there when the time comes this summer.

@guitarplayer the selling feature has not gone down well here from talking to people, though I've heard nothing of a paid membership. Like you, I'd probably pay to use it, for all the reasons you listed.

[guitarplayer]

@arbrk I don't remember how it was when I was joining. There is for sure a sort of simple membership and an upgraded membership for a monthly subscription. There you have full access to a map and other features I don't know of because only use the basic one.

Your idea for the apps use sounds like a great idea, there should be a wide variety of fruit in Los Angeles. I warmshowers (google it) stayed at one couple's place in Chester once. In their neighbourhood, they had an apple press for the use of the neighbourhood. Lots of apple trees growing around. Really strong cider, no good for the teeth though.

@avalok just the other day I saw someone was posting lots of organic tatties from last year's harvest from an allotment. You have a bit of that in Glasgow Southside. Gives me ideas about where in the city to relocate if it comes to that.

[avalok]

It's a good job DW has (very proud) Scottish heritage, and so I know what tatties are! Down here they are just potatoes, we English are so boring in that way. I don't really need to tell you this, but I highly recommend an allotment; if you can find a well managed site they are a joy.

[guitarplayer]

Yeah I sometimes like to use the Scotticisms like nips and tatties, outwith, yous, wee and such, it's been a few years I guess. Would be great to have an allotment but the queue is very long I hear (never queried though!)

[redacted, have been trying something here]

[guitarplayer]

[redacted, have been trying something here]

[guitarplayer]

2023 update 15/52

Back to normal

Okay so I think I am slowly getting back to normal after the holidays. We were away for about four weeks and the time was full of impressions and experiences, some of which it will take time to process. I probably give myself about 8 weeks to have it all more or less processed. In the holidays we did a lot of stuff that would be seen as 'fun' by most people. Went to the Pacific coast, went to the Atlantic coast, were lazy at the beach, attended a wedding at the beach, stayed in a colonial times hotel, stayed in a hippy hostel, were playing with some big waves (I first wrote the size but I think I have very little imagination of the size of waves so I just say 'big' - they were fun to jump through), went to taste coffee where it is grown, explored a few cities, ate a lot of local food, attended an engagement party, spent time with DW's old friends and family, among others.

There were also many things we did that I would preferably swap for something else. We sat in front of a TV sometimes. We spent A LOT of time in planes and private cars commuting. I would much rather travel by local transport to get the feel for the place. Planes and private cars - very detached from the daily life of local people sort of world. You look through the window and it's almost like sitting in front of a TV. I would rather eat a different sort of food and would generally plan my time differently if I could. DW tells me that we experienced the life of locals because we were staying with friends. But since the friends are at least middle class (in the developed world understanding of the phrase: a house or a new build flat, one or two (or three I think in one instance) cars, residential swimming pools), the life experienced was probably pretty similar to any place else. I would rather experience the median lifestyle of places we went to.

Anyway, I might be writing about it still in the coming weeks.

Job

028/156 weeks in (ca. 17.9%).

Work is busy after holidays, wrapping up one publication and quite some work on the other publication that is due in June. Getting back on track with it all.

Studies

This weekend I should write the last assignment and then it will be just one final project and three exams in early June.

I have decided not to pursue the MSc in Data Science I have been writing about earlier. I will give this time to independent study.

Tea

I got this idea of grinding my green tea in a coffee grinder. It works very well. The reasons were to get more out of my tea and for ease of eating the tea leaves. Tea leaves are like any other leaves - greens. When they are large, it is tricky to eat them, when they are ground you just stir the tea and drink.

Weather

Spring is here! Nice weather around, I look forward to summer in the new environment after our move in October last year.

Thanks for reading!

[ertyu]

you ground dry loose-leaf tea? .... is that what matcha is?

[guitarplayer]

Green tea, yes and that was the inspiration. But matcha is I think ground as finely as Turkish coffee is. I will not manage such fine job with the coffee grinder DW found (for free).

The spinoff of this experiment is the realisation that herbs can be processed the same way. As in, for example when someone grows sage or peppermint. Or finds them cheap or for free somewhere. Or, round about early autumn there are birch polypores growing everywhere. They are called 'swiss knife' of the world of fungi, good in many ways. So they can be dried and ground for teas. Pepper boletes can be ground for pepper. etc.

[guitarplayer]

2023 update 16/52

Personality

Another throw of MBTI dice as the discussion is simmering on the forum, this time I got an INTJ. If I remember right across the last few years, I would consistently get strong IN. T/F, J/P would alter with some leaning towards T and no leaning re J/P.

Job

029/156 weeks in (ca. 18.5%).

My newest publication is out for release next week. Happy it all went mostly smoothly. Tidied up some code for the next person doing it, need to update the manual. For a change, this one had an innovative element that was not there in the last iteration. Got spotted by my manager and heard the work was brilliant given the circumstances (amongst others the fact that I had a 4 week gap in working on it due to my holidays).

Got a confirmation that I am okay to take part in a Data Science Graduate Scheme at work, it lasts two years. I will get to work on a platform with a lot of computing power. I will find out more about it because I am curious, but in principle it is a sort of super computer that is located somewhere in Scotland and takes up a room-worth of space or more.

For the Data Science Graduate Scheme, I can choose to work in either R or Python. I am contemplating working in Python to branch out as by now I am a Journeyman in R but just an apprentice in Python.

The next two months are going to be possibly busy with two or three pieces to publish until end of June.

Studies

Wrote the last assignment. Now it is just submitting three remaining ones (already written) in the beginning of May. Then I need to write one project in R via Jupyter (which is like a big assignment), and will have three exams. For the exams, I will probably mostly do mock exams + past exams. Recently I was reading through handbooks to recall what I'd learned.

It has been hard to get back on track with this after the month off, but I think I am again finally entering the deep work territory.

As mentioned last week, I got accepted into the MSc in Data Science but decided to reject it / withdraw my application. I still need to execute i.e. log on to their platform and do the clicks.

My intention is to get good with money in the academic year 2023/24. This includes going through the investment curriculum in that academic year. I will be starting my work on this in Autumn 2024.

There is the question of the independent project with one professor to do with proving some maths on graph theory. To what extent should I remain engaged in this?

Tea

My body could not handle green tea with no food, I would get nauseous, had to eat something with it. The body adapted now - no issue green tea in the morning on empty stomach.

I tightened up the coffee grinder and now it actually produces something pretty close to matcha when used with green tea! Though I am worried to wreck my coffee ginder this way, I see the grinding mechanism is plastic.

I used it for cumin last week, worked great.

Food

The 'Free' element of the food scavenging app can be a tricky bit - fighting the brain. Dan Ariely ran experiments on it, published in either 'Predictably Irrational' or 'The upside of irrationality' (if I remember the titles). So DW and I have settled on getting our fruit and veg on Friday evenings, maybe a top up on Saturdays. Otherwise we try not to look at it. Mostly works.

Yesterday I went out, got, I don't know, maybe 10kg+ worth of fruit and veg, maybe 15kg+.

Went through the second 25kg sack of legumes, lentils. Still have maybe 4-5 days worth left, but need to order more. So I will be ordering another 25kg sack - anyone has a recommendation for the legume to order?

DW suggests we go green lentils since the last time it was brown lentils, and before that black beans.

Stoicism

I will get back to Stoicism and will be publishing in this journal rather than in a stand-alone thread. Makes it more likely I will be practicing it. I don't know what form this will take yet. I had one idea long while ago about going through a course that seemed to be offered on a website (there is a link somewhere back in this journal), but that website is more of a shell of the course, an unfinished project. I need to come up with something else then.

Ok, I think that's it for now. Thanks!

[Salathor]

I like red lentils. They break down when cooked and make great soupy/curry base. I don't think it would be my ONLY lentil since they break down so much, but it's always good to have a bag on hand. My lunch for the last few days has been a red lentil curry and bread for scooping it.