Last day of the month and the question I have is wtf did I do this month and what will I do next month?
I've been working on this problem for years and haven't been able to solve it. What I'd like is a summary of my plans and accomplishments. So today I will start on my post-month analysis. Maybe use a simple blog post to record this.
I've been thinking more about "What to focus on?" which I'd write as W2FO on my notes. The other day I checked and the domain was available. So now I have a new distraction W2FO.com.
Yesterday was a beautiful day almost feeling like summer. I didn't nap which is unusual. I spent most of the day mowing the lawn and taking dog for a walk and doing something on the internet.
I'm still using a RTS method or Random Task Selection to figure out what to do.
I've be doing okay on my ExcelDiet.com. I've seen the importance of having this method and following it.
I've been on a new website call GoinsWriter.com which is nicely written and a good place to learn from. Though it said to "write a sentence for the argument of your book" which I'm having trouble. I posted in the comments and hopefully I'll get a response.
I spent some time working on the outline for a book 27 Ridiculously Simple Methods to Persuade Others. Though my persuasion skills need work to get more feedback. I've thought about a system where people give each other feedback on their projects and score points from the poster by giving good feedback and the get to move to the top of the list of people needing feedback.
I could get feedback by creating a Youtube video and then identifying the weakness of my pos (Product or Service) though is there an subliminal message where pos means Piece of Shit?
I've posted a list of my talent stack a term from Scott Adams the Dilbert Comic strip creator.
When it comes down to it, my biggest problems are:
Lack of feedback
Lack of focus
Not finishing
Too many projects
I like to start new projects
Getting bored with project
Not failing
Please leave a comment because you might be able to help yourself by helping me
I continue to try to figure out what to focus on and have started a goal notebook.
Work = $
Health
Clean/House Stuff
Outside - Seeds, weeds, wood, paint
Inside - Leaks, squeeks
Family
Other
Twitter
I seem to be getting a lot more mentions on twitter recently. Replying to popular tweeters seems to be the best way to get these. I'm following mostly Scott Adams and Stefan Molyneux but you can see my main list at http://87sc.com
I've tweeted 11 straight days about my ExcelDiet.com, The idea is for public expression of my weight loss ot help me lose weight.
Health
Forgetting to take my vitamins
Metformin didn't work
Trying to lose 10 lbs in 10 weeks
Sitting on exercise ball at work
Juggled at lunch
Standing for 10 minutes every hour
Bought and took PQQ from Vitamin Shoppe $20 from Life Extension tweet
Blood pressure = 117/84
heart rate = 68
The LifeExtension.com website referred to something called The CR Way, which means Calorie Restriction. I want to do some research on this to see if it can help lower my blood sugar
Metformin didn't work
I tried to test the effect of Metformin on me and found it had an insignificant effect. I want to do better more accurate testing to determine what works and what doesn't. This seems to be a theme in my life as in the past I tried to see which trading strategies worked and which didn't.
So one day with Metformin my blood sugar dropped 12 points and one day without it, it dropped 10 points.
Brain Freeze and Cherry Drink lowers Blood Sugar
I'm not sure why but a long walk in the sun + a cherry medium frozen Dunkin Donuts drink + Metformin (I think) caused my blood sugar to reach lows I haven't seen since I started testing.
While I was drinking it I was getting brain and chest freezes that were so painful.
I tested once and got a 63. I was so shocked I tested again and got a 75.
Free Speech
I've watche a few videos with Mike Cernovich and Alex Jones on Free Speech. Mostly on how "they" are trying to silence speech.
I see a tweet from Howard Dean who is a democrat and ran for president a few years back that "Hate speech isn't free speech." I'm not for hate speech but who is to say what is hate speech and what isn't. The most obvious line about free speech is "You can't yell fire in a crowded theatre."
Work
I have a big deadline every 21st of the month as some reports are due. I have to collect PowerPoint slides from 5 different groups and put out 8 separate decks with about 45 - 65 slides. There is a lot of work that goes into producing these documents.
I set a schedule in the beginning of the month and had deadlines on Tuesday and Wednesday that were missing my 3 different groups. Then on the final day a number of slides were missing. In addition people miss the deadline and don't even email me to say "sorry, something came up, yada, yada, yada and I'll get you the slides tomorrow.
I try to publicly shame them by highlighting their tasks in red. I'm not sure if this helps or hurts as it could get someone to make they get me the documents on time or it could piss them off and make sure they get them to me late.
I thought about cc'ing their bosses, maybe having a meeting or even meeting in person. I could talk with their suppliers as one person said technology made a change without notifying them.
One thing that pisses me off at work is seeing that many people have a higher title and work in an office where I have a measly cubicle. This focus gets me angry and bitter. I think the only way to get a better title may be to get a new job. The other thing to do is just focus on doing the best job I can do and let whatever comes my way come.
Reading
I didn't read much this week except for Charles Munger who is Warren Buffett's partner at Berkshire Hathaway and his speech to Harvard on Psychology of Human Misjudgement.
Dog - Lola
She's trying everything this morning to get treats
Whining
Crying
Wagging tail
Winking at me
Terrorism and islam
I don't hate muslims and not all of them are terrorists, but it's sickening what these people do in the name of islam. Do we want to bring these people here? With their culture that:
Suppresses free speech
Encourages violence and death against
Homosexuals
People who leave the religion
People who draw cartoons or criticize their false prophet
I'm so fed up with hearing about this and their backwards beliefs.
Final Depressing Thought
We're all on a trip that doesn't end well.
Time line
The following was an attempt to track how my day went, but this seems like a futile task. Please skip as this part is for me.
6:30 Wake up
Weight 168.6
Put up hot water
Greet dog and send her out to get treat
Thinking that Lawn looks bad
Checked twitter and go 8 notifications
6:40
Water boils
Loading dishes
Test Blood sugar
Let dog in and she's whining for a treat so I give her a milk bone
Mixed coffee in french press for 4 minutes
Dog crying for a treat
6:50
First cup of french press low acid coffee is ready
In public restrooms if you are a man, always leave the toilet seat up. This helps the "aimers" (guys who try to pee in a toilet with the seat down and miss the seat due to their aiming skills) not have to practice their perceived skill. Note, that this doesn't apply to your home, where women can "fall in" (does this happen?) due to your laziness.
So if you poop, the last thing you should do is lift up the toilet seat so that the next "aimer" will not get the seat wet.
The next person will pee with the seat up,.Pee-ers will pee and poopers will drop the seat to poop.
Please pass this on to others so we can have cleaner toilet seats.
I can't solve the world's problems but I'll try here.
A little courtesy starts with you.
While I'm complaining, I've been making at least 3 pots of coffee at work each day. There are a bunch of lazy bastards at my office. If you take a cup of coffee and you can make another pot, please make at least one per day, otherwise it's just not fair.
I feel like I didn't get much done yesterday. I've wanted a system that could show me the answer to this question. At work I need to track my time and often feel the same way. If I know where my time is going I believe I could learn from it and make better usage of my time. There are many "productivity" books that say you should track you time for a day or week and learn where you waste it.
First I'll just do a brain dump of what I remember:
I installed the new cable box in my basement
I brought up folding table from garage
I worked on this document
I watch a lot of videos on Syria
I watched 2 Derren Brown Videos
I napped
Twitter
Bought and ate ice cream
Cooked Salmon for dinner
Didn't watch Islanders hockey game but followed it and the Toronto vs, Pittsburgh game and the Isles are out of the playoffs :( on the second to last game of the year
Sitting vs. Standing
I've been trying to stand more since watching a video on the internet saying how bad it is to sit. Not sure if it's true or what is true anymore. I downloaded an app that gives me an alarm every 50 minutes to stand up. So if I do this at work that's 80 minutes of standing with probably lower productivity unless I have a stand-up desk.
I asked my boss if I could get one and she said that I need a reason. I said "Like a doctor's note?" and she said yes. One thing I realized that how valuable you are at work is based on what you will get and will not get, If my boss really valued my contribution she would have said "I'll see what I can do." If you're being turned down for things like computers, or stand-up desks then you should take this as a message.
I'd like an app that measures how long per day I sit.
Standup Desk
I've been wanting to get a Stand-up desk at work. I asked my boss if I can get get one and she said "You need a reason." So I have a doctor's appointment and want to ask my doctor for a note. Instead of asking him right out I first ask him about what he thinks about "stand-up" desks. After he agrees with me about their usefulness I ask if he will write a note for me
Drs. Appt
My PSA 3.5 which is high for a 57 year-old
Asking for a note for stand up desk
I'm asked to spy on whether my doctor washed his hands
Weight
170.8 yesterday and 171 this morning and I want to start the Excel Diet again. In 11 weeks I could be at a goal weight.
President Trump sends cruise missiles to Syria
This week there was a chemical weapons attack in Syria and President Trump order 59 Cruise Missiles fired at the airport where the plane took off from. Is this the first shots fired for WWIII. A couple tweeters (People on Twitter) Scott Adams, Mike Cernovich think the attack wasn't by Syria's government. Others like John Xenakis says that it was the Syrian Govt did commit this and other atrocities against civilians.
3D images
On my phone I noticed that image appear to be 3D. I'm not sure why or how this effect works. My wife and son don't see the effect.
Taxes
Tax day is fast approaching. About 1 week away. I hate taxes so much. I go to the accountant each year and get charged $250.
To-do List
Install Cablebox
Bring up folding table from garage
Clean Garage
Vacuum
Clean other desk
Clean poop from yard
Wrap up wood
Clean Desk
Read Habit book
Finish automation at work
Shopping
Buy Damp Rid
Buy Paint to finish painting the fence
Buy new faucet for kitchen sink
Work
Move latest mxlp-s slide to template
Finish Automation
Generalize automation
Health
Start up the Excel diet again
Try to figure out how to have a better diet
Research PSA and Prostate
Reading
I've been reading Steve Scott's book 23 Anti-Procrastination Habits. It's a good book and I'm not sure if this is from the book but I have listed this rule:
"Don't start a new task or project mid-week. Work on one project or story per week."
This idea is from the scrum methodology. So I'd like to start an Agile methodology with my projects. I need to start a Backlog and to pick one or more items to do for the week.
Goals - Habits - Actions
I want to change, but change is hard. Everything you do is related to habits.
Work
I've been feeling stress at work and disliking the job a bit. The stress is coming from the constant deadlines and not enough time to deliver. Then also from doing two jobs. One is automating or programmer and the other is report producer. I feel like I have to do some work on the weekends to catch up as I feel like I'm falling behind.
Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
I watch the show that Jerry Seinfeld does with Fred Armisen who stars in the show Portlandia. He was a bad guest and barely had anything to say. I also watched the episode with Miranda Sings. Also pretty bad, but interesting very end when she comes out of character.
Showing Phone on TV
Faster Internet
I got a faster internet connection this week and needed a new router as previous one was too old to handle the faster speeds. OptOnline gave me one for free.
Twitter
On twitter I posted a number of tweets and the one below is my favorite.
Juggling at Bryant Park
I went to Bryant Park one day last week and found the Juggling group. I met a bald guy named Alex and, a guy who was juggling 7 balls named Joshua and some other guy whose name I don't recall.
He was teaching someone to juggle and told her not to look at the balls, which is terrible advice.
I worked on 3 balls, 4, 5 and some club juggling. My hamstrings were killing me the next day from all the bending to pick up the balls.
Food
Fresco on the Go - Gorgonzola Zucchini and potato chips 34 E. 52nd street
Whole wheat pizza on First Ave. between 68th and 67th street
Prediction bias - This is were you remember correct predictions better than you remember incorrect predictions.
Overwhelmed - This is where if you have too many choices you choose nothing.
Oversold - If someone tells me how good a movie, book, TV show is I'm usually disappointed.
Stand Up
I've heard about the issue of sitting too much and somehow came across the following silly video. Now I'm not sure how true this is but it's probably worth investigating. At work I asked my boss if I could get one and she said I'd have to have a reason for it. When I said, "Like a doctors note?" she said "Yes."
The video said you shouldn't sit more than 3 - 4 hours a day but implied that if you got up for 10 minutes each hour that it would counteract the affects of sitting. If this doesn't scare you into not sitting.
Habits Book
I started reading a book on habits by Steve Scott on my Kindle
Bring Bulletproof Coffee to work
Read Steve Scott Habit book called 23 Anti-Procrastination Habits. This book looks interesting and is top on my reading/doing list.
Cognitive Issue when you have too many decisions
Improve my flexibility
Plan you life there's not much time
Fake News Tell
I've been looking at how the MSM (Mainstream Media) pushes out fake news. To me, media should be unbiased and the tell of bias is calling President Trump, "Trump" or "Donald Trump."
There is so much speculation on Russia's influence on the election. I don't trust the MSM on this.
Work
At work I'm very busy, I made a mistake recently. I got an email from a user complaining/questioning data on a report. When I researched the problem I found what I thought was a discrepancy. I told the user that the data was wrong in an email that I sent out pretty late.
This was a big mistake as the data wasn't wrong and I pissed off a co-worker. At least he told me he was pissed off instead of being Passive Agressive.
I apologized and said that I was wrong, made a mistake in both email and over the phone. You have to be careful on what you send out. I did it because the data looked wrong and I felt I would be blamed for the problem.
I like the work I'm doing at least part of it. One problem is that I'm developing and doing wearing 2 hats. Deadlines keep coming up.
March Accomplishments
I would like to know my top n accomplishments in March were.
Ran for 21 minutes in 3 sets of 7 minutes
Car Mileage is below lease allowance
I got stuff done and work and still have a job
I got my work goals out
March Failures
My weight has not dropped and my BMI is in the overweight range. I tried eating low calorie but failed.
My diet is sucky as I'm eating way too many protein bars.
I have a lack of friends at my new job (5 months now).
I sent out a slide with the word "Global" misspelled as "Glolbal"
Goals for April
I'm not sure what my goal for April should be? Maybe that should be my goal. To create a prioritized list of my goals.
People
Just watched below video with Alex Jones and Stefan Molyneux. I like Stefan. Alex Jones was too much into conspiracy theories so not a big fan, but he's joined the Trump Train.
I was recently watching a Mike Cernovich Periscope but couldn't finish it. I like Mike but he kept repeating himself over and over. I just couldn't watch it. He was on 60 Minutes recently and was pretty good.
I was listening to a Sam Harris podcast and I like Sam's work but he could lose the "anti-trump" bullshit. He might be right about him, but I rather he stick to his normal brain, atheist schtick. I wish he would debate or have one of the following on his show, Stefan Molyneux, Scott Adams or Mike Cernovich
I liked Cernovich on 60 Minutes who is Fake News.
I've watched a lot for Derren Brown videos. Derren is a magician that has amazing content.
Any of the following are good.
Luck
The Art Heist
Betting on Horses
I bought one of his books and started reading it.
Pet Peeves
I've upgraded my computer at work to Office 2013 from 2007. It's been annoying getting use to it. Of course I will. There are little things like changing the color of the Outlook Icon from orange to blue. When I look for Outlook in my task bar I don't see it.
I also had a macro that warned me before I sent out emails that no longer works. None of my Quick Access toolbars were transferred and some software was removed for MODI, which is code to do optical character recognition.
Blogger annoys me as there's no shortcut key that I'm aware of that will allow me to quickly change something to a sub-header.
I use an http://e.ggtimer.com at work and I'd like a way to pop up a message when the timer expires.
Another problem I've been having is the inability to load picture to blogger. I did a little checking and couldn't figure out the reason.
Book Buying
Went to Strand Books on 13th street and Broadway in NYC. If you like books they have a big selection of low priced books. I've also been buying books and the discount store Unique.
I've run out of room in my book shelve. One thing came up was that I almost bought 2 books I already own, but since I've loaded most of my books on a website, I was able to check this.
I also take books out of the library that I almost never read. Some current books I have are:
Adios, America by Ann Coulter
Self-Hypnosis for Dummies
The Procrastination Equation
8 Week Blood Sugar Diet
I had an idea that for every new book I buy I'd have to get rid of two books, but that was just an idea.
Lonely
I've been feeling a bit lonely. At work I don't have anyone to hang out with like I did at my previous position. At home, the kids are at college and wife sleeps in a different room. She watches TV in her room and I don't see much of her.
Messy
I continue to be messy. Mainly in garage, bedroom, family room even outside.
