thejdizzler
2d ago
Iphone 17e. The screen is much larger and more pleasant to look at, which means I look it at it more.
thejdizzler
2d ago
- Work: frustrating week at work because equipment keeps breaking.
- Fitness. Knee is still bothering me but I've started running again. Not sure if this is the greatest idea, so checking in with my PT and coach to see if it's safe to do so.
- Intellectual stuff. Wrote two blog posts last month, and have been continuing my study of history, although not making as much progress as I would like.
- Finances. Ended up spending around $3400 last month, which is pretty typical, giving me a savings rate of 13% after taxes. I apparently have been overcounting taxes significantly, so I'm really saving a lot more than this, but I'm going to keep it like it is this year to make sure I pay capital gains tax appropriately.
- Dating. Hung out with my girlfriend once on Thursday night and another time on halloween!
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Social: friend's halloween party.
- Screen time: 2.5 hours phone. Big new phone is really addicting and now I have to bring it to work so my screen time is really on the rise.
- Meditation: Have moved up to 15 minutes a day, sometimes twice a day. Looks like I've collectively meditated 7 times (15 minutes each) since the last update, which is huge!
thejdizzler
2d ago
I don’t know man. People trot out Aquinas and Augustine like it’s some slam dunk (at least in the catholic circles I used to frequent a few years ago). Then you read the guys and they’re riddled with logical fallacies.
thejdizzler
4d ago
Reading that article I see that we are capped at 10k of those bonds per year. Is that right?
thejdizzler
8d ago
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Work: got roped into this AI project at work which is getting me excited but also nervous about how I'm going to manage my time.
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Fitness. Knee is bothering me so I'm pushing off the start of formal training for another week.
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Intellectual stuff: Feeling overwhelmed with work so haven't made much progress on anything.
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Finances: Haven't spent much more this month, on track to be under $3100. Trying to square away some delisted securities and a 403b account I didn't know I had before the end of the year.
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Dating. Saw the girlfriend once last week and we are going to a halloween party as penguins together.
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Tarot. No session this week.
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I was in Shedendoah all weekend with XC friends from when I was on the team earlier in my PhD. Super fun time, but drank way too much.
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Screen time: 2.2 hours phone. Big new phone is really addicting and I'm playing way too much Pokemon Champions.
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Meditation: Have moved up to 15 minutes a day once a day so far this week.
thejdizzler
9d ago
Where can one get semaglutide in the US without prescription. My roommate is struggling with having to eat a huge amount of food (way more than his metabolism needs) and I think Ozempic could help him out a lot.
You gotta read the book now. More of my thoughts about it here, but I didn’t really like how the movie sanitized the books inherent pessimism.
https://deusexvita.substack.com/p/review-8-of-2024-cloud-atlas?r=u4cqu
thejdizzler
16d ago
- Work: continue to make slow and steady progress on the last part of my PhD.
- Fitness. Started training a bit for Boston. I'll be following a plan by John "Hadd" Walsh which I can't start until I get to about 50 miles/week, which should be some time in mid November. Added in a 10 minute stretching routine before bed, which should hopefully help with some injury/flexibility issues.
- Intellectual stuff: Finished War and Peace and War (hoping to do an effort post on this book soon, it was great), and have started listening to another audiobook of Turchin's which I am also really enjoying. Spanish has fallen a bit by the wayside, but that's okay because I'm reading a lot. I've fallen a bit behind on blog posts, but that's also okay as I've published quite a bit this year.
- Finances: Spending has been pretty bad this month because of three big purchases (Chicago marathon for next year, Shenandoah trip, and two rounds of metabolic testing for $400). Money from parents should help with being in the green for the month (money market dividends should be very large from the extra $200k I have in the account), but I still need to practice better fiscal discipline. Spending so far: $2775.
- Dating. Hung out with the girlfriend all of last weekend and she met some more of my friends.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: Spanish happy hour, saw my friend Emory at the Baltimore marathon, hung out with my girlfriend's sister and husband.
- Screen time: 2.5 hours phone. Big new phone is really addicting.
- Meditation: Butyeko meditation sessions 3 x a week before bed.
thejdizzler
23d ago
- Work: nothing new to report.
- Fitness. Chicago went great until 24 miles then I had to walk run to prevent cramping. I was on pace for 2:40 or under, but lost a good 4 minutes in the last 2 miles to finish a 2:44. I wrote up more about my race and the prep on my blog. Now it's time for two weeks off and then training for Boston!
- Intellectual stuff: Bopping around a lot of books right now, trying to finish some up. Highlights include War and Peace, War and Peace and War, and the Vital Question. The first is with my girlfriend, the second is for philosophy book club, and the third is so I can write a blog post on the origins of life to push back against some creationist substackers who are arguing that abiogenesis is impossible.
- Finances: My parents transferred another third of the money to my account yesterday, meaning I can start talking to realtors about buying a house in the spring. Spending so far this month: $1800.
- Dating. Didn't see my girlfriend all week, but called/FaceTimed her which was good!
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: Saw a bunch of friends at the Chicago Marathon, spent some time with my parents, and went to the beach with my friend Jeff.
- Screen time: 1.6 hours phone
- Meditation: started Buteyko breathing, which has been helpful for giving me more motivation for meditation. 3 sessions last week.
thejdizzler
24d ago
How do you find time to read so much?
thejdizzler
27d ago
Damn what a good summary of Harry Potter and some of the things I love about it and it's message.
What Romantasy would you recommend checking out? Might be a good way to get some of my foreign language hours up?
thejdizzler
30d ago
Mutual warm feelings!
thejdizzler
30d ago
- Work: nothing new to report.
- Fitness. Taper time! When the weather has been cool I've been having fantastic workouts, but otherwise I have been a bit off. Aiming for 2:42 I think and will pick up the second half to go under 2:40 if I feel good.
- Intellectual stuff: Finished Dance finally and starting on War and Peace with my girlfriend. I want to be reading (and/or meditating) way more, but I've developed a bit of a scrolling problem that seems to be somewhat anxiety inducing (as well as time wasting). I suspect that this problem comes from having a bit of an extreme attitude when it comes to reading and other intellectual activities. I "have to" do my hour of Spanish or my Spanish grammar book, and so rather than read some Joe Abercrombie or Game of Thrones, activities I actually have energy for, I just scroll or play Pokemon showdown or something stupid.
- Finances: Last month ended up being about a 13% savings rate. I'm aiming for about 15% this month, and hoping I can increase it to 20% by the end of the year. Spending so far this month $1539.
- Dating. Hung out with the girlfriend twice last week, things are going well. I masturbated once last week and once this week, but not to porn (which would be cheating).
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: went to get beers with my friends and introduced the girlfriend. Also went to a cool wine bar with my roommate Friday night, but we stayed out a bit late.
- Screen time: 1.2 hours phone
- Meditation: slipped back to only three times a week.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Yup, my roommate is going through it right now. Women who absolutely do not know their value treating him like complete shit and being surprised that he doesn't want to go on another date.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Marcus Aurelius followed by Constatine XI Palagiaos.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Seconded.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
But they called themselves the Roman Empire and were considered to be Romans by their historical contemporaries. Byzantium is historical revisionism.
And Rome WAS part of the Roman Empire during the reign of Justinian. He initiated a very costly war to retake Italy, which succeeded.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
There is hope out there, however dim. I was in this exact situation for the last few years, and happened to somehow meet a good one on hinge in August. Things are going really well, and I don't see any red flags at all yet.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
- Work: nothing new to report.
- Fitness. Still feeling a bit off and a bit pessimistic for Chicago. Hoping for under 2:40 still but workouts have not been very promising. Depends quite a bit on the weather I guess. Last week: 60 miles in ~8 hours.
- Intellectual stuff: Wrote a third blog post about my Oura data (sleep doesn't seem to matter, at least not in my very consistent 6-8 hours). Reading Turchin and various Spanish books.
- Finances: Sat down with Claude and figured out from my budget that the main things I can save money on are unnecessary subscriptions (I hardly use Netflix right now for example) and eating out. That being said, I still managed to save about 15% this month, which is not terrible. Spending so far: $3425.
- Dating. Hung out with the girlfriend twice last week, things are going well. Masturbation and porn continue to be an absolute non-issue now.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: fantasy book club on Sunday, science expo for the youth of Baltimore City, and hanging out with my girlfriend.
- Screen time: 1.5 hours phone
- Meditation: 5 minutes every single day last week. Now trying to get an evening and morning session in before extending the duration.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Yup! It's such an info hazard that I'm still looking for ways to radically improve my sleep despite the fact that my sleep is clearly pretty good.
I will say Guzy's response to that book was just as bad however. It's probably not good to force yourself to sleep less than your body needs.
I just did a big data analysis with Claude of the last four years of my health data.
Conclusions: Basically sleep doesn't affect anything. At all. This is probably because my sleep is in a very tight range (6-8 hours). This suggests I can probably chill out about my sleep needs, barring a major lifestyle change that would drastically improve some aspect of my sleep that I'm somehow blind to.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Girlfriend.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Man this made me really sad. I need to spend more time with my dad.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
For context my PR is 1:12 from a few years ago. I'm hoping to do under 2:40 at Chicago in a few weeks, so this result was a little scary.
Good luck with your own half!
It's frustrating that apple continues to make phones bigger. I don't want to switch to an android phone because the iPhone is just such a good product, but at the same time I don't want to be spending 2-3 hours a day on this thing after spending 8 hours at work on my computer.
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