Daily 5 Minute Journal, February 27, 2016

Blood Sugar

Ran out of my pre-diabetes medication because I changed insurance from Aetna to Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS).

For some reason they require the filling of a prescription for 3 months at a time. The pharmacy has tried to renew a prescription with my dr. but I still don't have it.

So today I didn't have good blood sugar (BS) numbers.

I've been on the +Tim Ferriss 30gms of 30 protein within 30 minutes of awakening. Today I had two protein bars, one chocolate chip Questbar and one Caramel Double Chocolate Crunch Atkins bar. I tested my (5 minutes up here)  BS and it was 151 up from 105 upon awakening, which is much higher than I expected it to be. I'm a little suspect about the bars affect on my blood sugar.

For lunch I ate at Wendy's and had a cheeseburger, fries and diet coke. I ate the bun which is unusual for me. It was delicious. much better than +Five Guys Burgers and Fries I tested afterwards and BS was lower than I expected at 117. While at the mall my son mentioned that they had a delicious Parmesan pretzel. So I bought one and had half.

I had a craving for Carvel but we went shopping at +Target. The cashier didn't shut up. Yap, yap, yap. She was under 18 so couldn't ring up my alcohol purchase. So she had to pass it to the cashier next to her. Very strange rule.

Afterwards the next test at 5:50 pm was 171. I took a nap for 1.5 hours and upon awakening BS was 164 at 7:30 PM, 124 at 8:30 pm. I decided on +Bulletproof coffee for dinner as it probably would affect my BS.

Laptop Purchase

I also went computer shopping today for my son. We went to +Best Buy and +Staples and wound up buying a Dell from Staples for $600 instead of $900 for laptop from Best Buy. The $900 computer lacked a DVD drive and had one fourth the space on it's hard drive. One thing I did was check my sons college website for the computer he needs. He first wanted to get a Chrome book which sells for $200 - $400. His college offers a free copy of Microsoft Office.

Excel Diet

I've been looking for sugar-free yogurt but I can't find it at the supermarket. There is a real lack of low-carb/Paleo products in NY. I have a need for these products but no one appears to be supplying them. I wonder why not? 

My diet hasn't been that successful in terms of getting below 160 and trending downwards. I have noticed more people downloading the diet and am wondering why. I just searched on the terms "Excel Diet" without the quotes and I'm showing up second WTF?  Though lower on the search results a post of mine is appearing with my picture. The post if from Jan. 5, 2013. 

Some speculation as to why. The Excel Diet uses for basic rules in the acronym MEAT

• Measure
• Enter
• Adjust
• Talk

And I've failed at 3 out of 4 of the tasks. I'm measuring still, but not entering, adjusting or talking about it. Some other possible reasons:

• I've been weightlifting so I'm gaining muscle and weight
• I've been eating too much fat in cheese nuts and bulletproof coffee
• I haven't been that committed to losing weight as I was in the past.
• I've been eating foods I shouldn't eat when I'm behind my goal
• I have a foot injury that's preventing me from exercising as much as I would like

While buying the computer for my son I noticed that the spreadsheet didn't appear to work in Google Sheets.

Twitter

I'm still liking +Twitter, especially getting Likes and Retweets. I seem to be getting more than I normally get and I'm wondering if it's due to Twitters change method of showing tweets.

I've noticed that I have a few tweets that have typos that are getting retweets and no way to fix this. Twitter should allow this somehow and not lose the likes. I don't want to delete the tweet.

I had a few tweets that I really liked but didn't get much commenting on.

There was a #fire in a crowded theatre and I didn't yell "FiIRE" because you can't #quote pic.twitter.com/d5aJoh3ZK0

— Alec Berg (@alecberg) February 26, 2016

This one also:

Homer Simpson would be in #heaven here pic.twitter.com/YmJj4RBZU0

— Alec Berg (@alecberg) February 26, 2016

If you like these tweets please retweet or like them.

LIRR/Legal Issue

The other day on the train a guy was talking way too loud. I typically just put my noise canceling headphones on. But I thought I should record his conversation and play it back to him. I didn't do this because it might be illegal and a felony due to wiretapping laws, but I'm not sure.

Excel Class

I've been working again on an Excel class but have had trouble with it do to 3 issues:

• Too much info
• Over and over
• Not enough fun

ok, it's been over an hour on this. I guess 5 minutes goes by when you're having fun.

First Terror Attack in NYC

On Sept. 16, 1920 New York City had its first terror attack and its not well known. This happened at 12 noon where someone drove horse-drawn cart loaded with explosives and detonated it with a timer. 38 people were killed in the attack. Around the explosive metal pellets were attached which damaged the building below. The holes are still evident around 100 years later. There is no plaque denoting the location or the deaths. This happened in Wall Street in NYC. The holes in the building were caused by shrapnel from the bomb.

 

.

See also Wall Street Bombing on Wikipedia

See location on Google Maps. Damage is across the street from the George Washington Statue.

Daily 5 Minute Journal. Feb. 20, 2016

Last night I was real good. I walked 3 miles from Wall Street to Penn Station, worked out at the gym for an hour and walked and ran with the dog. When I got home I wasn't that hungry so I decided to eat just quest bars.  My family had bought pizza from Domino's and there were 3 small slices that my wife left for me. I was so good up to this point but the delicious garlicky smell and the appearance of Pizza hut commercial on garlic knot crust was just too much. How bad could 3 small slices be?

I watched Cesar Millan's aka Dog Whisperer show Cesar 911 and saw Jerry Seinfeld being trained on how to make a scared dog less afraid. Jerry's dog was afraid of him. Cesar showed how to use the leash to unlock the dog by gently tugging to get it to move forward. I fell asleep on the couch and after awakening took my blood sugar. I was shocked to see it at 194. So I tested again and it was 195. I've decided that I can't eat

While on Twitter I somehow came upon Ellen DeGeneris* whom I dislike. She posted a picture from a site called http://how-old.net that said she was 27 years old. I tried it and it said I was 10 years older than my actual age.  This was very depressing. Probably caused by high blood sugars which are known to age people.

I've stated to worry about my son's weight problem. At 17 he's very overweight. Not sure what to do to help him.

Recently listened to +Naval Ravikant on Tim Ferriss' show. He is a co-founder of http://Angellist.co

Listening to James Altucher's book Choose Yourself

Dad's birthday coming up


Reading

• The Productivity Project by Chris Baily
• 80-20 Rule

Upcoming Reading

• Younger You
• The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

Decluttering

Are Health Clubs Healthy

Excel Class or Productivity Class

What can Excel do?


Why is programming fun?

5WH

Excel Training Plan

Creating content

You wont believe what this is in NYC.

New Space Invader in NYC?

Space Invader Street Art spotted Feb. 17, 2016, NYC

Shocking Blood Sugar Numbers

I write this from Buffalo, NY. after having dinner at Duff's, known for their wings and the food was excellent. So after a long plane flight mostly waiting in the airport I didn't eat well. I usually eat low carb. Today I had:

• Pizza
• Pretzel
• 2 bags potato chips
• Chocolate candy
• Chocolate cookies
• Pretzels

Then for dinner:

• Steak wrap
• Chicken wings
• Cheese sticks
• French fries
• Ice cream
• Light beer

I took a Metformin around 2 PM and then with dinner. When I got back to my room after dinner I was shocked to see that my blood sugar was 83 where I expected > 160. I tested 3 times and 83 came up each time. So my question is why? Some possibilities:

• The Metformin is working
• I just started lifting weights and it's working
• Something at home, maybe mold is making my blood sugar high
• I've been doing the Tim Ferriss 30 gms protein/within 30 minutes of awakening and maybe that is helping
• I ate so much that the food hasn't been digested yet
• I had alcohol which with the Metrormin which is keeping my blood sugar low

Daily 5 Minute Blog. Feb. 13, 2016

Wt. 165.6 and blood sugar at 89 at noon. I've been doing +Tim Ferriss 30gms. of protein within 30 minutes of awakening and I'm on day 5. I also have gone to gym 2 days. I had 2 Questbars at 9:20 AM and 1 cup of coffee.

I got James Altucher's Choose Yourself on CD yesterday.

I posted questions on his #CYChat on Thursday and he didn't respond.  I've been thinking about responding to the questions that he didn't answer and also study the questions that were asked.

I came up with about 40 things to do on my to-do list today.  I know it's way too many and I need a better prioritization filter.

I've gone 2 times to +Planet Fitness and have decided to try to do Wed., Fri., and Sun. as my days of choice. Yesterday I walked for an hour in the freezing cold and then stood on a train for an hour, LIRR sucks as usual. I've decided that the important thing with the exercise is consistency so it wasn't that hard to go knowing my goal was to go and not to work out that hard. I was at the gym for about an hour. My wife noticed that the signs misspell the word "judgment" as "judgement."

I'm not sure what my February goal is as it's just about half over. Maybe it was lifting weights.

Work has been better as I'm learning a bunch of new technologies including:

• MapR
• Hadoop
• Tableau
• Drill
• Python

Though I'm worried about automation eliminating jobs. Will there be jobs for my children when the get out of college?

I'm trying to track what I do each hour as the days seem to go by so fast and I feel I haven't accomplished much.

My Excel Diet hasn't been going well, but at least I'm not gaining weight. I've just about stayed the same over the past year.

Daily 5 Minute Journal - Feb. 8, 2016

A boring Super Bowl once again. Who would think that Cam Newton would look so bad. Shows the importance of how a good defense wins games.

Yesterday I joined a gym as a first step in scBR (small change BIG RESULT). Next step is to make a plan to go 3 times per week.

Decided to work from home today as boss is out and I don't want to deal with the snow or blizzard conditions.

Reading Choose Yourself by James Altucher.

Main project is Excel Training.

Daily 5 Minute Journal - Feb. 7, 2016

Super Bowl Sunday, and my family is out shopping for food for the game. Feeling a little lonely as I wasn't invited to any Super Bowl parties. I'm sure if I was I'd probably complain that I had to go to one.

Weight 165 and bs 102.

Went to Camp Bow Wow website and set up an appointment to bring in my dog. It could have been easier by filling form out online (I have to print and bring it in) and now I don't know if someone got my request and I'm waiting for a call. This isn't a good system.

Spent time yesterday on Excel Class, but it became big very fast.

I don't feel committed to any project right now like I have been in the past.

Went out with friends to MP Taverna in Roslyn. Food was okay, and had a nice atmosphere. Two drinks at the bar was expensive with tax and tip. $30 for a house Merlot and a Martini.

Had bread with meal and then we went for ice cream afterwards. My willpower was low and I ate the carbs I didn't want to.

While walking the dog I ran into a neighbor and his dog Riley. My dog and his had a play date in the park in the snow.  I was very happy as Lola doesn't get that many play dates. While playing I threw a snowball up and Lola got it and was playing with it. Riley came over and Lola gave out an unusual bark to leave her snowball alone.  Riley is usually the aggressor when they play but this time the play was fairer and Lola had chances to chase after Riley. Later we walked together and met another dog that was making many agressive attack threats. The dog was face to face with Riley and Riley snipped at the dog's nose almost say "calm the f@@k down."  With that the dog and owner left. The owner said "she's usually not like this."  I notice as we approached she did the wrap multiple times of the leash around her hand. I remember +Cesar Millan always saying to correct and relax the leash.

Daily 5 Minute Journal, Feb. 5, 2016

Another snowy day on Long Island and I get to work for home.  It's Friday and I had plans to take my bro out for his birthday but I'll have to cancel the plans.

Wt. was good at 162.4, surprisingly low and I'm not sure why. Blood Sugar high at 110.

Had grass fed burgers and pizza made with cauliflower flour. Tasted pretty pretty pretty good.

Watched the Bernie Madoff TV movie. Sad story about his kids. I do believe that family didn't know anything about his Ponzi scheme.

Not sure that a morning blog is that useful as suggested by +Tim Ferriss. Seems that time could be spent better.

I've been on a scBR (small change BIG RESULT) kick and +Tony Robbins tweets something about 2mm.

By making 2mm shifts in your business, you can make your entire model more efficient and more profitable. https://t.co/V62wJqgaxG

— Tony Robbins (@TonyRobbins) February 4, 2016

 I'm kind of lost with a project I'm working on. Haven't been able to reach my weight goal which is to weigh < 160. I'm pretty close today but for some reason lost faith that I can reach it.

I'm getting into the idea of doing an Excel training course again, but have failed to create it in the past so am not sure if I'll be able to create it now. Maybe coming up with a better method to create the course would be more useful.

Still reading Choose Yourself by +james altucher

My PURGE (Prioritize UR Goals Everyday) for today:

1. Prepare for presentation on Apache Drill
2. Prepare for Friday meeting
3. Finish Mike D's report having Vlookup issue
4. Look at James C.(me) report 

Had a "cocktail" of pills to reduce blood sugar when I was eating pizza the other day.

• 2 Metformins
• ALA
• Magnesium
• GTF Chromium
• Ultra Sugar Aid

Surprisingly, my blood sugar was okay when I measured it.