Done last week (20150315 Su - 21 Sa)

[mdlbear]

Very mixed week. On the positive side, I had a terrific birthday brunch at Salty's with Colleen and Emmy, my weight is down (and about time!), I've been sleeping less, we got the rest of the garage cleared, and the garden is being professionally worked on (Naomi's birthday present to me). On the negative side, I got very little work done, I went into a full-on depressive meltdown Wednesday night, my health insurance company announced a major data breach, I've been sleeping less, and the garage work hurt more than it did two weeks ago, when I actually lifted more.

The observant reader will note that sleeping less is in both categories: I like the extra time in the morning, but it probably isn't good for me and I end up being pretty useless earlier in the evening.

I finished reading Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky last night. Very informative about the bad effects of stress, and how it works. Very little about how to manage it -- pretty much the only concrete suggestion is exercise, and that only helps if you want to do it (forced exercise is stressful). Which I don't. Except for walking, and even that often hurts too much to be enjoyable. Possibly because of stress. This is called "being attacked by a vicious circle". Vicious little feedback loops with big sharp teeth.

I may need to think should be thinking seriously about finding a less stressful job. The problem with that is that I probably can't afford to. Meanwhile, I get angry at the idiot headhunters who keep offering me jobs in Silicon Valley, and try to keep my head above water while swimming madly upstream in the Amazon. Which is less metaphorical than I'd like.

Lots of good links in the notes.

0315 Su
  * Up 7:35; W=210.8; shower, ... dishes, laundry
  @ Irregular Webcomic! #3375 Terry Pretchett.
  @ GNU Terry Pratchett +Creede Lambard
    Sending Terry Pratchett home with HTTP headers - Boing Boing  
    catsittingstill | New song Send Him Home 
  @ fayanora | Finding joy in the uncaring nature of the universe.
  * noon - Brunch at Salty's.  Got somewhat chilled putting the scooter into the Honda's
    trunk in the rain.  Remind me to wear the leather jacket next time.
  @ 11 Reasons Your Crazy Cat Obsession Makes You Happier And Healthier 
  @ California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now? - LA Times 
  & incidental to searching for thinkpad keyboards with Chaos, I found one on ebay and put
    in a $25 bid.  Considering that this is the one with the trackpad that's selling for
    $400 on Amazon...  We'll see.  In the process, discovered that my keyboard has USB
    ports.  Not that I can use them, because the trackball is PS2.
  & Attempting to rescue G's laptop -- it was declared dead, but seems ok now.  Weird.
    Upgrading to Windows 8.1 from 8, which is miserable.
  * Listened to some of the jazz CDs I got in New Orleans, with Colleen and Glenn 

0316 Mo Colleen's birthday
  * up 6:35; W=211.8; laundry
  @ 10 stunning images show the beauty hidden in pi - The Washington Post (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ A Christian Nation? Since When? - NYTimes.com Since the 1930s. +Kee Hinkley
  * 10am Eliminate Chaos.  Much chaos eliminated.  Three boxes to be shredded.  Enormous
    pile of donations.  Still way too many books and boxes of desk and kitchen surfage.
    % totally wiped; tired to the point of partial incoherence.
  @ Be a cloud storage tycoon with Google Nearline - I, Cringely 
  % 9ish incredibly sleepy

0317 Tu
  * up 6:40; W=210.2;
  @ thnidu | Reason and science about bees
    What's the deal with the Bees? - Posts - Quora tl;dr: 
    " To summarize, CCD happens because bees have a naturally poor immunity to disease and
      to chemicals, both of which they are exposed to at higher rates and often together,
      and that immunity is made worse due to poor diet and stressful conditions. There is
      no one cause, nor is there one solution. "
  * 8am wake Colleen -- leave house by 8:45
  * 10am Steve dentist
  * 2pm Colleen urology
  @ Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise Sushi Set | ThinkGeek

0318 We
  * up 6:30; W=212.6; 
  : The garden is being worked on, and is looking good.  Ongoing garden care is N's
    birthday present to me, and it's wonderful.
  @ BBC News - Web servers enrolled in Pratchett tribute (siliconshaman)
  * 15min:  puttering.  Found a few more items for the donation pile
  @ Your Body Ain’t Wrong, Girlfriend. {67 Untouched Nude Photos} | elephant journal 
    f(various)
  ! overloaded, overwhelmed, and depressed.  Dry sobs -- at least I think that's what it
    is.  Fortunately in bed with Colleen and Curio.  Very worried about how little he's
    eating.  Probably didn't help that I'd been reading about meltdowns and depression.
    Weird reaction to touch, too -- it would set me off rather than soothing.  GAAH!
  : Probably related:  realized last night that I didn't have my tryptophan.  Weird, that.

0319 Th
  * Up 6:15; W=211.2
  * Checked on tryptophan.  Briefly thought I wasn't getting enough, but 120/month should
    do it for 4/day.  Weird.  Ordered more, and sprang for 1-day delivery.
  ! neutral.  I'll take it.
  : Premera Blue Cross was pwned.  Signing up for credit monitoring.  Which, as usual,
    didn't work in chrome.  Also slow -- wonder why.  I assume they're being hammered.
    call  1-877-371-7902 to finish setup.  
    -> email has a different number, and comes from a different domain.

0320 Fr
  * up 3ish; ; Reading, cat cuddle, dozing
    Could have gotten back to sleep around 5 if I hadn't had to get up by 6:30.
  & Spent the morning and early afternoon being the Middle-Sized Bear for N and G.
    Decided to write off the day work-wise, and try to get stuff done over the weekend.  
  % 4:40pm sleepy.  Can't imagine why.
  : According to Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, depression is often the result
    of learned helplessness -- being subject to stressors one has no control over.  Hmm.

0321 Sa vernal equinox
  * up 7:30ish; W=209.2; laundry, bedding, ..., dishes
  * System Pavers - looks too expensive to do the driveway, but we're getting the side
    path done, and a 6' extension to the pad in the front.
  * Massively unsuccessful lumber yard trip.  Nobody has poles, and nobody has redwood;
    Home Depot doesn't have 16' 4x4s of any sort.  I'll have to go with Western red cedar.
  * Finished Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky.   Very informative
    about stress, what it does to you and how.  Very short on concrete suggestions. :P
  * 15min:  garage:  moved xmas ornaments onto N. side shelves; some other sorting.  Could
    theoretically clear off a plastic shelving unit if I had a place for it.

Comments

Exercise

[solarbird]

If you think you can get yourself to do one exercise thing daily, for about 3-5 minutes a day, the list at the bottom of this article is actually very good for core strengthening.

http://greatideas.people.com/2014/12/24/5-minute-workout-harley-pasternak/

Basically what you really want to do is get your metabolism up once a day, and each of these will at least nudge you in that direction. And it's short enough that it might be easier to make yourself decide you actually want to do them not because you enjoy them, but because of the low investment to reward. It's like, I don't enjoy my allergy meds, they taste bad. But I do want to take them when grass pollen is in season, because yeah.

Re: Exercise

[mdlbear]

Hmm. Thanks -- interesting.

I mostly need aerobics rather than strength, and some of those exercises don't even look physically possible for me. And others require equipment I don't have, and in the case of the ball don't have room for. I could, maybe, come up with a set that don't have those problems, but it's not clear that they'd do any more good than the week-daily walk up the hill from 8th Ave. to 3rd on Virginia St. Which is aerobic, at least when I can manage my usual walking pace.

Good to know that that may be enough.

Re: Exercise

[solarbird]

Well, it's good to have both, you know? Core strength plus aerobic combines very very well.

You might try the ones you can do of them. The only one that requires equipment is the ball, tho'. (Okay, I guess one requires a weight, but you can use anything, like, say, a couple of Game of Thrones volumes.)

But yeah, if you can get your metabolism up once a day, that helps a lot by itself.