Lemur Journal!

Where are you and where are you going?
User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

July 1, 2022

Net-worth:
$533k (Up $20k)
$470k (Down $63k)

That is another record because I own a large stake in MU, and AMD, and with the crypto crash came the semi-conductor crash. We're now reminded that this industry is treated as a cyclical by Wall-street though I believe the long-term outlook is always on the upside. Regardless, we're no longer half-millionaires and will have to wait for recovery. For MU, this is a company with fantastic financials and we should expect continued buybacks and maybe even raised dividends in the future. I started adding after-tax money to BNDW. My plan has not changed - we will continue to sell individual stocks on breakeven by cost-basis (which may be a long time) and continue to sell covered calls when I can and use the proceeds to reallocate. I'm upping my overall bond allocation from 10% to 30% as I predict in the future once recovery happens and we continue to save and invest in the equity indexes, I should be just about ready for leaving the workforce and I would like to reduce portfolio risk. Lastly, still buying SOFI as deposits increase and I'm in this one long-term anyway.

I will reiterate again that I don't lose any sleep over market conditions. With ERE, returns don't matter as much as overall savings rate is. Even when running the numbers...4% of $470k is still $18k annual and while our spending is above this, we're close. These things just don't matter when you know you're still going to be working anyway for the next couple of years with a fairly high savings rate.

Physical Health / Diet: Gained 1 pound from 171 to 172. End goal is still 165 pounds. I still tracked calories and hit my walking steps and all that good stuff but I've been non-stop dieting for a few months now so I took a few weeks off to stabilize. We went on a small vacation to a beach and I stuffed myself for 4 days. It was glorious. :) But now I'm refreshed and ready to tackle this in July.

Mental Health: Still awesome. Also totally random but on the topic of free will....I don't believe we've that. A few months ago, I wouldn't have believed anyone if they told me that but now I'm starting to believe that free will does not exist. Sounds "crazy" to type that out...and I still have much more to read on the subject. I can't even remember what prompted me to look into that. But anyway, this has not caused any sort of existential dread or anything like that. I'm not a fatalist by any means. Quite the opposite - it is sort of relieving to believe that we don't have free will. It gives me more empathy and more respect for the brain.

I'll be short and sweet and let me know if this is a logical fallacy but generally we consider that a computer does not have free will because it takes input from its operator. It is not aware of itself. It doesn't have a concept of a "self" like we do. But just because we've a a concept of a self does not mean we've free will! Take animals for instance - we also don't believe animals have free will either; they run on pre-programmed brain scripts (called instincts). But we're animals. Just ones aware of their own consciousness...but like computers and animals we also take input from an operator (the environment) and update our code (brain) based on the feedback that we receive. The neurocircuitry itself and the processes of how memory is stored can just be thought of as stored data. How do we've free will when every thought or action is based on these memory stores that precipitate behavior and all other biological/chemical precursors that ultimately originate in the brain that create behavior? Where is the "free will" in these actions?

I want to steelman my own thoughts here eventually to see if I can support compatibilism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism but I'm still very humble here.

Job: Too easy but we've a team lead leaving and work being distributed among everyone. So I asked to take some of that to alleviate boredom.

Gardening: Watermelons, Peppers continue to grow. I am prepping another plot to plant squash/cucumbers.

Reading / Other: I've some books on my to do list coming in:
  • The Worm at the Core - Sheldon Solomon
  • How to be Free in an Unfree World - Harry Browne (I've seen this referenced too many times here so figured I would pick this up)
  • Alexandria - Paul KingsNorth - On my to-do list for FAR too long.
Also my sister in law and her two kids live with us again. The Father (my brother) is out of state trying to get settled. It might be a few months. Its chaotic as projected but so far not nearly as stressful as last time - probably because my expectations are settled right. I know what is coming. COMPLETE and UTTER CHAOS. :roll: This time around, we don't try to force too much order into the environment. Just let it be. At least we've all leveled up communication wise so on that note, conflicts aren't nearly as bad.

Goals: Just keeping the systems running. I don't really believe now I've achiever like goals anymore...Especially when it comes to career/jobs. For that, I just want to keep the money inflows coming in during this crappy macroenvironment. It is more like I've a list of things I want to do and read and learn about. My health goal of 165lbs is more of an ego thing at this point. I'm already at a real healthy BMI. I just wanna prove that one to myself.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by ertyu »

Robert Sapolsky who did primate research and teaches at stanford would agree with you on the free will. Here's a youtube lecture that introduces his work to see if he's your thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRYcSuyLiJk. He has books which I recommend and a semester-long course on the Stanford youtube channel https://youtu.be/NNnIGh9g6fA (first lecture) - there might be a newer one, but this one is still great.

As you can tell, im a fanboy

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@ ertyu! I haven't seen you post in a while. Hope things are going well for you. I will definitely bookmark these links for future watching. Funny enough I think I watched a video of Sapolsky making this argument a year or so ago, but I had dismissed it for unknown reasons.

I had a tarp just sitting on some grass for about 3 weeks or so. That killed the grass. The next step was to build a mound. The dirt was hard clay and rock...and definitely not easy to work with. I could barely stick a garden fork in it.

So, I plowed it not with a tiller or anything else because I don't want to buy anything. Instead, I used a steel garden rake and had my 6-year-old 60lb sit on the other side of it and I just pulled it across the small plot a few times to loosen up the soil about 4-5 inches lol :lol: he had fun and I had exercise.

Raked the mound together, pulled out obvious leftover grass/weed, and then seeded the squash & cucumbers after adding some compost/fertilizer....

Image

I could not think of a better solution but gardening while trying not to spend a dime on anything sure makes for some creative improvising....

Let us see how this works out. Most of my guerilla gardening this year has been successful except for the garlics. I think those failed because my soil was too compacted.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Sounds like stoicism but every now and then I browse the ERE blogroll. Some of those articles I've probably read a few times already. I found one paragraph (the last sentence in particular) that really resonated with me and stuck with me:

Image

This was the day I believe I became solidified in my identify as a pessimistically optimistic person and I've been much happier since. Because every time good things happen, it is always a treat.

Bonde
Posts: 70
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 5:21 am

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Bonde »

Concerning free will I got interested 12-15 years ago when I read a Danish bestseller about the frontiers in neuroscience by Lone Frank. I think that I got convinced a few years later during the first year of med school after having studied neuroanatomy and the different types of cells in the brain. I cannot see how we can have free will with our current understanding of neuroscience. It goes against the basic mechanics of the organ.
As for you it also gives me more empathy. Maybe also a more cynical way of understanding the world. For me it has been a good cooping mechanism of the loss of my dad and my mom's alcoholism. It is easier to let go and no judging when causation is complex. I then try to understand instead of only having a feeling of hate or whatever. I also recognize my feelings and try to understand them and let them be my feelings.
Even psychoanalysis with all its talk about the ego/self do in my interpretation not validate free will. To the contrary Freud is known for arguing that psychoanalysis showed us that we are not master in our own house (originally the quote was by Emil du Bois-Reymond https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cr ... arcissism/).
I usually don't talk about it as the topic is controversial E.g. my GF has a law degree and a big part of law is the self/individual action. It took some convincing that I am not a nihilistic maniac. I think that society will change for the better in many ways when free will is abandoned. Fewer people will go tp prison and instead get some kind of help/treatment or maybe we make policies that prevent most crimes happening. For those who cannot be helped (e.g. sociapaths) and are a danger to others we will need some kind of prison. I am also a bit afraid that we cannot handle to truth. That human kind will go back to some kind of nazi regime. Instead of race (or wealth today) it will be genetics/epigenetics that will divide us. Maybe it is better that change comes in small steps e.g. by understanding nudging.
I try to be aware that it doesn't lead down a deterministic hole. I can never know for sure how my actions will turn out. That uncertainty keeps me humble, keeps me working hard/motivated and keeps me curious about almost everything.
That ended up as a long comment. Thinking about thinking/actions gives me joy and I rarely stumble upon other talking/writing about free will.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@Bonde

Thanks for sharing!

In regards to empathy, I am in agreement. Because free will is an illusion, we can support having more empathy not only for ourselves but for others because all thoughts, feelings, and actions are pre-determined by underlying causes. Those underlying causes being of a biological/chemical nature - a person's current brain structure and the way it is wired.

The ramifications of handling this truth remains to be seen but I think it will be better in the long-run though fatalism should be avoided. The best lessons I've learned in these past years is that we can change our thoughts & feelings through behaviors which in turn improve the brain through neuroplasticity. So we can attack these underlying causes directly. Other thoughts tell me though that recognizing the illusion of free will can be used by bad actors to justify doing whatever because of so called irresponsibility. On the other hand, I now have a bit more appreciation behind the logic of progressive prison systems used in Europe as opposed to what we do here in the United States.

Continue to think about your thinking - (meta-cognition). It is a lifelong journey and one I'm happy an old professor I had in college introduced me to. Overall, a morality is still needed and we must understand ourselves before we can understand others....And that is whole nother can of worms that has been hotly debated over thousands of years. I can also see why the recent forum focus on spiral dynamics makes a ton of sense in this regard....because emergent renaissance ecology appears to be looking for a framework to produce some sort of "theory for everything" behind human behavior. With this understanding, we can craft better messages in support things like extreme savings, anti-consumerism, and the like. It is a fun academic exercise anyway.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

What I've been up to...

1.) Well job of course but it is engaging as I've a few responsibilities now and I'm learning a new programming language anyway. I've a bunch of travel next week that I'm not looking forward to but is what it is. I'll line up some podcasts or something.

2.) Maintaining my plants. Watermelon & Bell Peppers. And that pic above. It actually worked. I've some squash and cucumber coming up. Looks like tilled soil, some mixture of compost & fertilizer, good sun & water, and keeping down weeds is really all that is needed to get vegetable plants to sprout and grow. No square beds needed. I even have my own compost that is consistently generating. I will have to be more proactive though if I want to go bigger.

3.) Reading one of the books on my list: How to be Free in an Unfree World - Harry Browne ...Halfway through. This one is.... interesting. The author likely had a very strong locus of control in life. I did not know he was a Libertarian and also one of the thinkers behind the permanent portfolio (if not the creator). Interesting fella. I can't actually say I've gained much from reading the book though. Nothing new that I already know is presented. But I'll finish since it is an easy read.

4.) I'm kicking my health goals up a notch to drop these last 4 pounds (I hit 169lbs with the final aim to be 165lbs) by lowering calories from 2000 a day to 1600 a day and switching primarily to a mostly plant-based diet. Very healthy...very fitting in ERE style frugal eating. I've alleviated some of my concerns of protein intake recently. Longevity research is the newest rabbit hole I'm going down. Started when I read David Sinclair a few weeks ago and now revisiting Valter Longo. My Spouse even quit red meat and fast food completely...she showed high triglyceride levels at a recent appointment a few weeks ago, so the saying goes we don't change until something personally affects us? I'm vindicated - I've been making the anti red meat and junk food argument for a while now with her lol. The good news is when my Spouse does want to change something...she does it fast and swift. She has never been one to lack discipline once a decision is made. That same mentality creates stubbornness sometimes though. Me dropping 31 pounds this year so far has surely had an influence as well.... actions speak louder than words.

5.) Market is doing something. A relief rally? I've not been paying too much attention lately but maybe if the CHIPS acts pass, I'll see a pop in my NetWorth from my investments in AMD and MU, the latter which is my heaviest stock position.

6.) Sister-in-law is a PITA.

7.) Need to up my plant based cooking now. So that is fun. For now, I've just been doing traditional mirepoix for everything. I'm trying to recall the trilemma here....but I'm always in favor of cheap + taste good and I don't mind if the prep takes a while as I mostly enjoy cooking.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Random thought lately is that I'm expecting geoengineering to come to the UK and many places in the world in the next decade. I don't know what that will look like, but I take it these will be tried by world leaders looking for quicker top-down solutions as opposed to a general messaging for a reduction in consumption because they would want to keep the economic systems running. The idea of reducing one's own personal consumption seems to be heavily resisted in internet comments such as "we need to attack the corporations instead." Blame games essentially.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

August 1, 2022

Net-worth:
$517k (Up $48k)

Some market comeback. Only other change finance wise is I started investing my HSA and just auto-sweeping any dollars after $1,000. I'm still just buying BNDW, selling covered calls on individual stock positions, and buying SOFI here and there. But things are mostly boring in this area - and I like it that way now.

Physical Health / Diet: Mission accomplished. Hit the scale yesterday at 164.8 lbs and promptly celebrated with far too many potato chips and homemade guacamole. :lol: . Leanest I've ever been but now calories have been set to maintenance. The push from 171lbs to 165lbs went smooth and was significant because I had to kick up the effort a notch. I dropped meat, diary, and cheese. Upped veggies and whole grains. Only fats are from healthy fats - no saturated kinds. I predominately switched purely to a plant-based diet 2 weeks ago or so for longevity, health, and other reasons. I've definitely been influenced by Rich Roll, Valter Longo, Michael Greger, and others...they make a great case. I don't aim for perfection but I'm still tracking and collecting data like logging my calories because it is such a habit now and keeps me in check. I roughly follow Michael Greger's "Daily Dozen" but I'm not against adding fish oil for omega 3s and eating the occasional greek yogurt/dairy product - especially post workout. Meat is extremely limited for now unless its a social event or I just want pizza or something.

But being like 99% plant-based is giving me a ton of new energy, more fullness (easy when my fiber intake is hitting 60+ grams a day), less hunger...I'm really thriving. And also enjoying the new found skill of cooking veggies. Rekindled homemade tomato sauce, reminded myself how to pickle things, and I'm keeping up with the nutrition science again. It has been fun here.

Mental Health: Last month's post was about free will. Now I'm reading "The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Life in Death" by Sheldon Solomon. I'm not that far in the book yet but the beginning is postulated that terror management theory is based on two factors: defending self-esteem and cultural systems.

Job: Getting busy now but my days are flying. Good state of flow and I'm still shutting off that laptop right at 5PM and not thinking about work any time after that. The only thing that sucks about work right now is that it is still work and something I have to do 8 hours a day when I'd rather do other things. But my relationship this year has not been adverse...that is so nice after years of hating my job.

Gardening: Watermelons, Peppers continue to grow. My plot of squash and cucumber are thriving. I just mulched them with cutup grass.

Reading / Other: Great my library due dates are 2 more weeks so time to pick up the pace. Books so far...
  • The Worm at the Core - Sheldon Solomon (Good book so far).
  • How to be Free in an Unfree World - Harry Browne (Pretty much done...book was okay kind of boring and I found myself skipping irrelevant sections. 4 years ago me would have liked this book more I think but the author and I have fundamental differences or something. Doesn't mesh well.).
  • Alexandria - Paul KingsNorth - I read a little bit...I'm definitely not used to this style of literature.
  • The Longevity Diet - Valter Longo.
SIL will be moving out in two weeks as my Brother secured a living. TFG...

Goals: Well I hit the health goal I've been targeting for almost 6 months now so that is neat. Goal this month is to continue discovery of plant-based foods and meals. I also want to figure out the deal with Omega 3s and the rationale behind the 1.8-3.0 grams per day EPA/DHA recommendation. Hitting that from non-animal sources? Only algae oil and that is pricy...and is this necessary? I need to sift through this as a starting point: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/omega-3-fatty-acids/ Also a reminder that ALA (another Omega 3) does not convert well to EPA/DHA. Conversion factor is only 10% or so ... you'll need a lot of it to get the recommended EPA/DHA.

Scott 2
Posts: 2824
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Scott 2 »

Lemur wrote:
Sun Jul 31, 2022 10:23 pm
I also want to figure out the deal with Omega 3s and the rationale behind the 1.8-3.0 grams per day EPA/DHA recommendation. Hitting that from non-animal sources? Only algae oil and that is pricy...and is this necessary?
I take 2 a day of the Ovega-3 Vegan supplement. The dose is 540mg DHA, 270mg EPA. Best price I found is on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Supplement-Suppo ... Z56YH?th=1

For awhile I did a daily tablespoon of flax oil from Trader Joes. That's around 7g of ALA, which assuming 10% conversion, is about 700mg of the "good" Omega-3's per day. I found keeping with that to be more difficult. The taste isn't great, and it might of been causing some digestive upset. It is a little cheaper:

https://www.traderjoesgroceryreviews.co ... upplement/

From what I understand, contamination concerns have a lot of people moving away from fish and fish oils.


My wife does a concierge medicine program. One of the fancy tests they do, looks at the Omega 3 fats in your red blood cell walls. That's what got us back on the Omega 3's, around this time last year. I'm interested to see how her values have changed, after a year of supplementation. I've looked into the cash pay price for such a test. It's around $75. I am considering it, since the Omega-3 supplement is around $300 per year, per person.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Thanks @Scott 2

So I've done some more reading on this and gathered some notes saved in a word pad....
  • Omega 3s are important for optimal health and males should look to get at least 1600mg daily in ALA. ALA is necessary as the body can not produce it on its own.
  • Chia seeds and flax seeds are good examples of ALA. One tablespoon of chia seeds provides 1.32 g ALA, meeting the recommended DRI for women and satisfying nearly 83% of daily ALA needs for men. Walnuts also have ALA but are more calorically dense. You mentioned flax oil as well - also a great source but I've read that your experience is not unique as many others report the digestive issues as well. I vaguely recall a paper that compared flax seeds, grounded flax seeds, and flax oil and found that the grounded flax seeds and flax oil had equal effectiveness at raising EPA/DHA blood levels, but the former was better ingested and adhered to because it did not cause the digestive issues. Edit: Found it in the conclusion https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18689552/
  • I just add 1 tablespoon of grounded up chia seeds / flax to my peanut/almond butter + kale sandwiches or just mix in smoothies. Easy to hit my ALA this way.
  • While flax and chia seeds are healthful and provide important nutrients like fiber and magnesium, they are not efficient sources of EPA and DHA.
  • To date, there is no official recommended daily allowance for EPA and DHA. However, most health organizations agree that 250–500 mg of combined EPA and DHA is enough for adults to maintain their overall health.
  • There are overall mixed benefits to whether supplementing fish oils / algae oil is necessary (more on next point); however, it is found that both fish oil and algae oil are equally effective for raising blood EPA/DHA levels. With that being said, I'd personally opt for the algae oil if I were to supplement because I could avoid the potential contaminants found in the fish oils.
  • DHA and EPA aren’t classified as essential nutrients because the body can convert ALA into these two fatty acids (DHA/EPA). We know that this conversion is not efficient in most people (~10%). Of course, for this to happen, the body must receive sufficient ALA in the first place. So it’s possible (but not yet certain) that some vegans/vegetarians can fully satisfy their body’s DHA and EPA needs solely by consuming sufficient amounts of ALA-rich vegan foods. The trouble is that people vary dramatically in their ability to convert ALA to DHA and EPA. So the only way to ensure that your body receives sufficient amounts of these latter two nutrients is to supplement and/or get tested on your levels.
Conclusion - I'm still considering the algae oil supplement if I really want to optimize, but I am in no rush because I still consume fatty fish 1-2x weekly plus I get the ALA sources daily.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by sky »

How do you grind the chia or flax seed, a coffee grinder?

chenda
Posts: 3289
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by chenda »

@Lemur - These are the ones I use:

https://solgar.co.uk/products/solgar-tr ... 3-softgels

As you can see they are not cheap but they deliver a massive 1008mg/756mg of EPA/DHA per daily dose.

The suggestion is that hunter gatherers had a much higher Omega 3 dose than modern humans. Even a century or so ago grass fed cattle increased the average dosage than compared to twentieth century grain fed cattle.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@Sky - Yep. I just use a coffee grinder.
@Chenda - Thanks for that.

Ovega-3 Vegan Algae was $0.37 per unit for 135mg of EPA and 270mg of DHA.
Chenda's Fish Oil link is $0.08 per unit for 320mg of EPA and 200mg of DHA.

Sometimes I wonder why the Fish Oil is appearing to be a lot cheaper than the algae oil...one would think industrial sized algae pressing would be cheaper than having to maintain and feed fish?

This comparison above is a little bit flawed but if you go on Amazon and sort low to high on price and switch between fish oil and algae oil, it does seem like the fish oil comes out cheaper most of the time and you get more DHA/EPA.

User avatar
Viktor K
Posts: 364
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:45 pm

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Viktor K »

algae supplement plus 1 tbsp of chia seed is enough?

do you have to grind chia?

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Viktor K - Yes chia has to be grinded as well for maximum benefit. Or they could be soaked and then eaten to weaken the shell. Also 1 tbsp of Chia and a supplement is enough to meet health requirements. Could also use ground flax seed as well.

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Reading "How not to Diet" by Michael Greger. Interesting read so far and this is just an excellent resource for anything nutrition related: https://nutritionfacts.org/

Stopped tracking calories and still managing well at 165lbs. I'm basically eating the same meals everyday and keeping up exercise routine. 99% of the time pretty much whole foods plant based. Rather easy to maintain health at this point but only reading further out of genuine interest and to add tweaks here and there. Like I just discovered chia pudding....also whole grain peanut butter sandwiches with Kale + sauerkraut + pickles. A weird combo but awesome I'm telling ya.

Market is stinking again but I did add more to SOFI position below $7.00. Otherwise adding to BNDW.

Work is rather busy as my responsibilities picked up but I still like my job so far. I'm constantly in a state of flow and I'm usually busy coding 8 hours a day. Coding date fields is a PITA.

The only thing that kinda blows is I've to return to the office 1 day a week. Long commute again but I make the most of that with podcasts or videos.

Introducing son to Manga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Punch_Man .

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

September 1, 2022

Net-worth:
$491k (Down $26k)

All of my individual stock positions are out of range for me to do any covered calls due to low premiums and fear of melt-up rally knocking out my positions. Nothing else has changed - sticking to index fund investing but I am using after-tax money to buy either BNDW or SOFI (if under $7). But once again, things are mostly boring in this area - and I like it that way. SOFI cost basis per share is down to $12.90...

Physical Health / Diet: Excellent. So with my return to the office one day a week, I started weight lifting again because my workplace has a gym and I might as well take advantage of it. It is the first time I've weight lifted in probably years now. I have an extremely weak posterior chain (I can't squat even the bar without pain) due to long-term lower back and flexibility issues in this area. Squatting is not necessary for leg strength though (but it is effective) and with my problems - I need to avoid spinal flexion. So I did find that the trap bar deadlift can work the same muscle groups while minimizing my chances of injury.
Trap bar deadlifts develop the glutes, hamstrings and back. The main benefit is that they put less stress on the lumbar spine than barbell deadlifts which is important for people with back issues. They require less technical proficiency than barbell deadlifts and are easier to learn.
Seemed to do the trick because I woke up this morning with a nice soreness - not a painful one. Maybe I'll come back to trying out squats again with a few months of trap-bar deadlifting and working on my flexibility. Other focus is maintaining 165lbs. I'm weighing in at 169lbs at the moment so got to tighten the belt. Its possible I put on weight due to the weight lifting. I'm kind of scrawny so maybe I got some noob gains out of that.

Mental Health: Finished reading "The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Life in Death" by Sheldon Solomon. In a nutshell, terror management theory postulates that people double down on lift affirming actions to bolster self esteem and their cultural scheme of things to keep death anxiety stowed away in the unconscious. They used some scientific methods to prove their thesis. The methods were compelling but controversial in some circles. In any case, its a great read and the book had me think about my own mortality quite a bit.

Job: Still a sweet gig. I might be getting put in for a monetary award for work accomplished in recent months. That would be nice.

Gardening: Watermelons are done. We had four good ones in total. No bad.... Peppers continue to grow. My plot of squash and cucumber are at the end of their lives and we've harvested most of it. We planted turnips, cabbage, carrots, and kale for fall crops.

Reading / Other:
  • How Not to Diet - Michael Greger (I'm more than halfway through - I'm loving this book)
  • The Longevity Diet - Valter Longo. (Plan to read after Greger's book but at this point I don't know if anything new will come. I've seen every Longo interview that exists on the internet at this point).
Lastly, my SIL finally moved out. What a relief.

Goals: I picked up a keyboard at a Yard Sale for $15. Worth $200 on Amazon. Of course, it broke via electrical failure after two days. Ah well, I took a chance. I don't have any fixing electronic skills...but I opened it up anyway to look for obvious things such as loose wires or maybe I figured it just had a lot of dust that could be cleaned up with alcohol and q-tips. But I found nothing of the sort.

One last thing - I tried to find Financial Economics, 2nd Edition by Zvi Bodie, Robert Merton, David Cleeton at my local library. They did not have it nor did the outside library search could bring a copy due to it being an educational tool or something. This book is on my radar - it has been mentioned in the past in this forum as a good financial foundation text. I've a Master's in Finance but I'm a few years removed from academic studies. The topic on EVE online really rekindled my interest in this area.

theanimal
Posts: 2627
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by theanimal »

You may try looking to see if they have Investments by Zvi Bodie. That's the one listed in Jacob's investment curriculum: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/start ... sting.html

User avatar
Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

I've them the Financial Economics book now. Reading when I find the time. Just a few pages here and there.

Best advice I could possibly give for habits - Just commit to a little.

Don't feel like working out? Just do a few pullups.
Don't feel like writing? Just write a few sentences or an outline.
Don't feel like reading? Just read a page or two.

Most of the time just committing to a little bit leads one to end up doing the full thing for whatever task it is. It is one of the best tidbits I picked up from Atomic Habits a few months ago that I still apply today. Even if you do only end up doing the bare minimum - you'll still rewiring some brain circuitry to develop the long-term habits. My problem is slow reading has slowly been going away. I'm tearing through books now. I'm more consistent at work now in recent weeks as well.

Post Reply