Technology: Annoying us into healthy habits.

           I have a historically bumpy relationship with having a healthy lifestyle. The only times I can recall being at what would be considered an athletically competitive weight were times when I wasn't actively interested in being healthy. It came as more of a byproduct of my lifestyle at the time; IE, working high hour, manual labor positions.
          Then in 2011, I suffered a hernia in my groin area, had surgery, and ended up being completely off work and off my feet for about 6 weeks, then light duty for another 2 months, which became permanent because my old position had been filled. During just this time, I went from a fit 165 pounds, to 175*, and it precipitated what I call the 'Tides' of weight I have fluctuated through ever since, pin-balling from 185 all the way up to 200 and back, depending on how seriously I was trying to be fit. But since my efforts were always intentional rather than a byproduct of 8 hours grueling labor, getting it to stick by motivation alone wasn't working out so great.
          It also does not help that in 2011 and continuing until 2016, I had almost no self control when it came to food. Down the hatch, everything all the time. I was increasing my exercise, but I developed the unfortunate mindset that 'high exercise=high calorie intake'. And while more calories are important to the exercise process, I had no way to really gauge it. So a 5 mile run would be immediately followed by an entire pizza.
          This brings me to the meat and potatoes** of today's post which is how technology can enhance life and help us overcome our tendencies. In 2015, I picked up a Galaxy Gear S2 Classic smartwatch. There are a plethora of health apps out there, and being a Samsung geek, I had at least a passing relationship with Samsung Health(S Health, Gear Health? They keep changing the name.) But having the Watch made it a more noticeable presence in my life. From the moment I put it on, it started being the naggiest piece of tech I had ever had. Every hour it would condescendingly vibrate and let me know: 'You've been sitting for over 40 minutes. Why don't you go and do something?' This was annoying but it started having an effect on me. In order to avoid getting nagged to death by what I usually referred to as my 'wrist mounted mother' I would respond to the notifications by standing up and having a stretch.The watch would then also patronize me for getting up, as if to say ' I'm so glad you're being less useless. I'll nag you again in an hour.'
          What I found was that the semi humorous nagging of my technology was creating an awareness of what I did in my day to day life. After a few rounds of updating the watch UI and couple years, I eventually turned off the nags, but the behavior had remained. I found myself standing up and stretching every hour or so like clockwork, the watch still let me know if I was doing anything brisk for more than 10 minutes, and most importantly of all, it allowed me to quantify two areas of my health that I had no ability to reasonably track earlier: Calories in(food), and calories out(exercise). And it was able to do it with astonishing precision. The food tracker had just about any food ever mass produced with a nutrition table, and the exercise tracker was capable of tracking reps, duration, heart rate, and even altitude***. And with that, I'm now on a path to being a healthier me.****

-Will


Editor's notes:

*If I knew someone that gained 10 pounds in 6 weeks, I would assume they were currently bodybuilding or smuggling cocaine. Either way, I'd drug test them
**Literally every meal until he got the watch.
*** "Galbraith mountain is almost 1500 feet high at The Bluffs!" He never shuts up about this. 
****There are two empty pizza boxes right behind his office chair. They were not empty yesterday.

Filling in the wee hours of the morning.

          I, am , by nature, an early morning person. With a recurrence rate around 95%, I am almost invariably up and out of bed by 8:30. And this presents me with a few issues:

1. My pathological need to do something, especially in the morning. I can probably blame my dad for that annoying habit. I spent my high school summers down in Utah working with my dad on a little business call 'Outlaw Bar-B-Q'(Still in operation, with staffing changes). While not the clearest memories, certainly the most frequent was the morning routine, which started at 4:00, and proceeded through the same steps: Wake up Call, Coffee, Cigarette, Chit Chat, Jacket, Truck(it is only hot in Utah when the sun is visible. Bring a coat.)  In all the summers I spent with him, he only ever broke that rhythm once, so he could get up at 6. So lazy. I know. And it seems like that's where my internal clock got stuck, accompanied by an intense desire to do something useful. And at my present state* there isn't a lot of things to be done aside from job hunt and do laundry.

2. I am a Millenial**, but the majority of my contemporaries have a sleep schedule for non work days that has them up by the ungainly hour of 11 AM, so most people I know are either working, asleep, or dead.


So How do I fill these morning hours?

With literally anything I can:

Today's unneeded project:

Background:

I bought a table yesterday. My friend Julie helped me pick it up and assemble it. It looks like Stained Oak or some other very nice wood.

This morning, as soon as I got up,

I removed the table top by unscrewing all 4 mounting bolts,

Tightened the screws mounting the top section to the trunk of the table leg, re mounted the table top,

flipped the entire table over, re tightened the mounting point between the feet and the trunk, then righted the table. Why?

The table was a little wobbly.

This is primary insight into how I work as a person. I tried to fix a completely inconsequential problem with an insane amount of work because I was bored. It's also the reason I made this blog post. Which took 40 minutes to write.

I haven't even made coffee yet.

Editors Notes:

*Unemployed

** Read: Douche

*** This isn't a footnote from anything specific up there, but Will texted me at 9:30 and asked me to edit this before he posted it. I'm not on your schedule, dude, let me sleep. 

****I pulled this garbage heap down to half its original size, mostly because Will felt compelled to detail what he plans to do with the table after: sanding, staining, drying, refinishing, blah, blah, blah. Go to be a carpenter, you tool, and let the rest of us be.     

Gross beers and Kilts: a view from the outside

          Beer has always been a complex topic for me. In terms of flavor, there are moments when I readily agree with Randall Munroe's opinion on it, but by the same token, there are beers that I have come to genuinely enjoy. Today's beer, the Kulshan du Saison, had at K2 here in Bellingham, falls very clearly in the former category, probably more so that most beers I have ever had. It was pretty gross. It coated my tongue like metal flakes and rotting green apples. 

In terms of my palate, beer generally falls into two categories:

Beer that tastes good to me;
Beer that does not taste good to me, but probably tastes good to other people;

          I make it a point to understand that things that I do not enjoy might be enjoyable to other people. Even things like Steel Reserve and 4Loko have a certain demographic that enjoys them, it just happens to not be me. However, my experience has prompted me to add a third category to my Proprietary Beer Rankings(PBR'S):

Beer that is in fact/or at least appropriately comparable to cat pee.

Kulshan, I love all the beers you have made. Just fix that one.


Additional:

          I ordered a new kilt last week since I had outgrown* my previous one and I've been wearing it to keep things fresh**. I was out less than an hour and as soon as I got home, my sister texted me that a friend had texted her that I was "Straight BAMF" after seeing me out of her car window. I had to look up that term to find out what it means because apparently I'm 67 years old and cant keep up with the street lingo.

-Will A






Editor's Notes:
* Got too fat for
** Couldn't be bothered to wash any real pants

Introductions, misc, etc, TCP/IP, DNS, CDC, DNR.

Hi blogosphere,

Welcome to the best, smartest, funniest, most tax deductible, appropriate for minors, will not get you in trouble with your mom, blog ever written.

          Ok, literally none of that stuff is true right now, but I'll see if I can pull off 1/6 by the end of the year. Your mom might like it if shes into that kind of thing.

          A little about me: I'm a 29 year old IT guy with a big mouth, an abundance of free time(at the moment) and snark, and only 85% of the standard limb count compared with my demographic. So putting together a blog seemed like one of the most reasonable outlets. I'm mild(ish) mannered, but easily excitable. Moms love me for some reason.(Ask most of my exes what their moms thought of me and you would not believe what gets said. It gets kinda gross).
         
          I want to set some expectations about this blog, so that you can decide if you want to come back for the regularly scheduled content: This is technically an opinion or comedy blog, but that's only because I'm trying to categorize what happens inside my head and all you could consistently say about that is that it is (attempting to be)funny, and I voice some things very strongly. Everything else is debatable. I'll post at least one recipe, guaranteed.
          But I don't want this to be all about me. When I get some subscribers that aren't from the CIA or Google analytics, you guys are what helps me shape my content. Tell me what you like. Tell me your dreams, tell me your deepest darkest fears, but most importantly, tell me your preference on curtains in a dining room, because white blinds in my house are just the worst.
          I look forward to entertaining, enlightening, charmingly disarming, or even lightly buttering you in the weeks to come. I'm hoping to do a MWF posting schedule, but ideas have no time table, supposedly. Plus I've got stuff to do.

Stay tuned and here's two thumbs up(attempted) for luck.