Welcome to the first installment of a series I’m calling “Fireside Chat!” It’s a low-key spinoff of the popular Monthly Favorites. I check in once a month and casually talk about things I have a thought or two about across a range of topics. Links of note will be listed under Further Reading.
Video Games
Currently Playing
“What’s the story, Wishbone?” 🎵
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: This goes without saying. It’s been the perfect reason to take a 20 minute 2 hour break during the workday. I can jump in and do a few tasks and not think about my email inbox for a moment. I’m not very far in yet. I still haven’t paid off my first house expansion debt, I only just got the Able Sisters’ Tailor Shop, and the general shop is undergoing its first expansion. Honestly, I’m not mad about it. It’s been very helpful in terms of not getting overwhelmed by the current climate. So far my favorite villager is Bones, because he reminds me of Wishbone. 🐶
Looking Ahead
I have functional program that will randomize my game choices so I can actually play what I have. My plan is to limit myself to two games per month to start, one short game and one long game. I’m taking it out of the sandbox in May and seeing if it makes a measurable difference. I’ll make a proper post for the official start.
Reading
I went absolutely bonkers picking up material from the library before it closed, so I’m currently working through that pile. Progress has been slow, which is frustrating. So far I’ve finished five books out of fifteen. Thankfully the library is auto-renewing everything since book drops are locked.
Looking Ahead
In line with my video games, I’ve started to organize data concerning my book inventory. I would like to start working on my To Be Read (TBR) list, which has spun way out of control.
My approach is very similar; I started by gathering all known data points into Excel workbooks. My own personal inventory and what I’ve already finished prior to starting this are in one workbook. The TBR and what I’ve finished this year are in a different workbook. It will be dedicated to just 2020, and if I continue I’ll make separate books for 2021, 2022, and so on. I’m not pressed about whittling my TBR down to 0, as it’s sitting pretty at over 500 titles and change. The current plan is read what I can, then carry the remainder over into the next year. Or I may burn it down entirely, I haven’t decided.
I also have a program that will help me pick books from the TBR. Its logic is a little different from the video game randomizer, but the core function is the same. I have it set to randomly pick two books currently. I can always run it again if I want more.
Fitness and Health
I finished Fitness Blender’s 4 week “Low Impact Round 2” program and started “Bodyweight Round 2” (both are still on sale at the time of me writing this). I’m also about to wrap up a 6 week nutrition challenge (not run by FB), which I’ll be very glad to be done with. I have two chief criticisms of the diet plan. In my tier, it eliminated all fats entirely, even the good ones. In addition, if I wanted a piece of fruit as a carb serving (out of two allowed per day), one serving was half a piece of fruit. I’m sorry, I’m not going to eat half a kiwi. A kiwi is max 42 calories, I’m eating the whole damn thing in one go, and then another if I feel like it! To me that just smacks of quackery, and I’ve deemed it not sustainable.
I’m frustrated with my health. My last two blood panels have shown low free T4, high TSH, and stupidly high thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO). Spoiler alert, I’d bet money that my next panel will have even more TPO antibodies! I’m trying very hard to not use Dr. Google, but these factors point to Hashimoto’s. Plus I have a direct genetic connection to Hashimoto’s through my paternal grandmother, yay. But sure, let’s continue calling it “borderline hypothyroidism.”
My doctor expressed reservations about starting synthetic hormones now because it might put me at risk for arrhythmia. I’ve been able to function fine up until this point, but a part of me is anxious to be more proactive about treatment. Currently, I’m concerned about weight irregularities I’ve been tracking, even though I’m in the healthy BMI range. It’s really been messing with my relationship to food. Any kind of food I put in my mouth, whoops, there’s five pounds, which takes forever to work off. Overall, it sucks because there’s no cure, and no incentive for the scientific community to find one, as long term studies are expensive as hell, and this won’t kill me any faster than usual.
Looking Ahead
There are two things I’d like to try in the near future nutrition wise. The first is the MATADOR approach (Minimising Adaptive Thermogenesis And Deactivating Obesity Rebound). I still need to read through the whole study, but the preliminary conclusion is that intermittent energy restriction (a caloric deficit) is more effective than constant energy restriction in the long term.
The other thing I’d like to try is eating seasonally. I will have to be pretty flexible with that however given the current state of affairs. I’m intrigued by maximizing nutrients based on produce items that are actually in season.
I’ve read the Autoimmune Protocol diet is supposed to help alleviate symptoms. I’m not sure I’m ready to jump right into that yet. I have a couple books regarding it in my TBR I might have to bump closer to the top of the order.
Save State of the Blog
I’m rapidly approaching the first 30 days of being online! I know in the grand scheme of the Internet that’s basically nothing, but the point is I’ve stepped out of Development Hell™.
Some current challenges I’m facing are:
- Finding my tone of voice. I wanted to sound somewhat serious and professional during my planning phase, and it just feels stiff. This isn’t academia, I can literally do whatever I want. What a wild concept!
- Not getting sucked into rabbit holes. Part of the struggle to launch was constantly reading about best practices for web design, writing, community building, and on and on and on. I need to just do, otherwise I’ll never get anything done.
- Organizing my flow. I have drafts and ideas scattered all over the place. I have physical notebooks with notes, a OneNote notebook, Microsoft Word docs, drafts in WordPress, and a somewhat organized OneDrive. Yikes. It’s a wonder I ever got started at all. My goal over the next 30 days is to lean out and optimize my workflow.
- Topic categories. I don’t know how deep into categories I want to get just yet. Or even how many I should use or need. I’m hopeful I’ll adapt to that with time.
- Not getting sideswiped by stats. I should know better than to go anywhere near my statistics in the first 6 months, possibly longer. I find I’m really easily swept up in the numbers, and it distracts me from doing my thing. I’m positively giddy a few people want to jump in with me now (hello new peoples!), but follower count should not usurp content creation on the current critical path. In the illustrious words of my new favorite band Paper Kings:
No it ain't nothing special It's not like I'm on some voodoo Walk into the room like Only you can do what you do
Those are my highlights this month! I’m excited to kick off a couple projects in May, which I just realized is Friday. Time doesn’t really have meaning anymore.
What’s in your highlight reel? What irons do you have in the fire?
Further Reading
Byrne, N M, et al. “Intermittent Energy Restriction Improves Weight Loss Efficiency in Obese Men: the MATADOR Study.” International Journal of Obesity, vol. 42, no. 2, 2017, pp. 129–138., doi:10.1038/ijo.2017.206.
Seasonal Food Guide – US based seasonal food guide
Eat Seasonably – catchy UK campaign name. They used to have an interactive calendar that appears to be borked. Still a neat site though.