This is me today

Did a double workout day yesterday. 

We hit the gym in the morning for deadlifts and seated rows followed by a metcon with TRX inverted rows and medicine ball work. We finished it off with a 2 km row on the rowing machines. 

Then I decided it would be fun to follow a heavy deadlift day with an evening run with a friend. We only ran about 5 miles, but I still got some blisters on my feet (probably time for new running shoes).

Today my everything hurts. 

There's a lot of food in the U.S., but that doesn't mean we need to eat all the time

The United States of America is a nation where food is plentiful for most people. 

Although we waste a surprisingly large amount of food, and there are certainly Americans who know the pain of starvation (a USDA report on Household Food Security reported that 14% of American households were considered "food insecure" in 2014), most Americans have enough food around to not only eat but to overeat as well (roughly one-third of American adults were considered obese in 2011-2012). 

It's honestly saddening how often we take the abundance of food for granted and fill ourselves until we feel like garbage. Like Louis C.K. has said, "I don't eat until I'm full, I eat until I hate myself." 

Just as Aristotle espoused that there is virtue in finding a happy medium between extremes in lifestyle (don't be too active, but don't be too lazy; don't be too proud of yourself, but don't entirely debase yourself; etc.), there is certainly a state of moderation in our caloric intake that is good for us. We need a certain amount of calories to stay alive, but sometimes it's fun to eat more than that in a day. However, it seems like we should be balancing out the heavy eating days with some light eating days. It was thinking about that in the first place that led me to intermittent fasting a few years ago.

Intermittent fasting is a form of fasting where you cycle between periods of fasting and non-fasting. You can still go high calorie on a day of an intermittent fast, but I've personally found it harder to overeat while intermittently fasting.

I've been trying different forms of intermittent fasting, to see what works well for me. I've enjoyed the "6 on, 18 off" approach (eating all of my meals in a 6 hour period and then fasting for 18 hours), though now I'm trying trying 24 hour fasts once each week. I'm doing a total fast (water only) once each month, and then the other three weeks I just stay low calorie during a 24 hour period.

I've heard people who claim that fasting is bad for you or who ask "why would you want to do that", but there are some potentially great health benefits to fasting. For instance, Kris Gunnars wrote a post for Authority Nutrition entitled "10 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting" where he reports the take-home points for almost 4 dozen peer-reviewed research articles showing potential benefits of fasting in various ways.

However, the main reason I'm using intermittent fasting has more to do with having control over myself. It's a fun mental challenge to push your body into a state of fasting and to have control over the process. I've found it to be a stimulating exercise, as well as a good way to control my caloric intake. Living in a land of plenty, it's refreshing to abstain, just a bit. As I mentioned above, there's lots of food in the U.S. and most people do not have to worry about getting their calories for the day. However, I think if more of us were conscious of how much we eat and when we eat, we might be better at controlling what we eat. Just some food for thought.

Goodbye, Edgar Mitchell

Edgar Mitchell, a navy pilot and Apollo 14 astronaut, passed away this week at the age of 85. Mitchell was the 6th human being to walk on the surface of the Moon, spending more than nine hours in the Fra Mauro Highlands region. 

Mitchell spent much of his later life claiming that alien visitation was a real thing and that the governments of the world were testing on alien crafts and biology. Although his views became questionable, it's still important to look back on the life of one of the small group of people who have walked on another planetary surface beyond Earth. Also, in this time of remembrance of Mitchell, I think all of us still get a good laugh out of what is likely the most remembered thing he ever said. In considering the view of Earth from space, specifically looking at the world as a whole from the Moon, Edgar made this globally-conscious and humorous suggestion:

"The Present", a short film by Jacob Frey

This short, animated film has been popping around the interwebs. It was directed and animated by Jacob Frey and developed with several others as a thesis project at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. 

When we first started watching it we were pretty angry at the kid who gets this new present. The child in question, who appears entranced in his video game, at first treats his present poorly due to something missing. Then, we find out why. A well done animation with an awesome point.

Check it out:

The Present from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

See You Speak Toastmasters - Balance

Tonight's meeting of See You Speak Toastmasters will focus on the theme of "Balance". I'll be talking about using exercises to find physical balance as well as using meditation to find mental balance, but, most importantly for public speaking, I'll also be talking about finding balance in our speaking.

For instance, some filler words (like 'ah' and 'um') will not destroy your message, but too many of them most certainly will. Also, variations in intonation and pitch in your voice, gives your speech a balanced dynamic. Just the same goes for using variations in the tempo (or timing) of your delivery. There's a lot of balance to be found in our speaking.

For tonight's meeting, I'll share this quote from a great speaker:

“What is joy without sorrow? 

What is success without failure? 

What is a win without a loss? 

What is health without illness? 

You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. 

It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, 

That will define you.” 

― Mark Twain

Do It Today!

...But also do it tomorrow.

There's a pretty famous quote that goes, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today". There are plenty of variations of that quote, and an internet search will reveal lots of possible authors (including Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, though Philip Stanhope appears to be the oldest possible source).

I'm feeling pretty motivated today. Definitely a good day to get things done. However, tomorrow's going to have to be a day for getting things done as well. And, probably the day after that...

My motivation for today is to remember to get things done every day but to also reward myself after those accomplishments with some down time. After I read a research article today, I'll reward myself with a chapter from a Harry Potter book. After I revise the current draft of my research article for the day, I will reward myself with a television show.

How do you manage to keep yourself motivated?

FINGERS Mitchell Cullen

I'm a huge fan of didgeridoo music. Every now and then I'll search around the interwebs for some new awesome didg music. However, one didgeridoo player who I keep happening upon on Facebook and Twitter posts is FINGERS Mitchell Cullen. This young Australian multi-instrumentalist makes some fantastic music, blending together guitar and drums with didgeridoo (as well as other instruments). I highly recommend checking out his website and his music. Here's a sample:

FINGERS makes some awesome tunes. Definitely a young artist worth keeping your eye on in the coming years.

SNL's Outtakes for Undercover Boss with Kylo Ren

If you haven't seen Saturday Night Live's skit "Undercover Boss: Star Killer Base", then you need to get on it. This skit might be one of the funniest bits on SNL in quite some time. Adam Driver does a fantastic job bringing some levity to the whiny, emo character of Kylo Ren in a spoof of Undercover Boss.

After you've watched the skit, then check out this video of outtakes for the skit. What they left out is almost as good as what they kept in. 

Ten Fish in a Tank Riddle

I just saw a post on God's Facebook page that had a title with this fairly bold claim:

"NO ONE Can Solve This Riddle. Are You Able To Outsmart The Rest" 

I couldn't help but click on the link, which then took me to a CrowdSocial page which had the following easy riddle on it:

Well, what do you think? It hopefully won't take you too long to figure out the answer. This riddle most certainly wasn't difficult enough to warrant the claim that I saw on the post that God shared. In fact, this kind of riddle really isn't difficult at all. 

There are 10 fish in a tank. 2 have drowned, 4 swim away, and 3 have died. How many fish are left?

It's weird that only two fish have drowned since drowning fish means a lack of oxygen in the water, which then suggests that all of the fish should drown. I guess maybe the two fish that drowned just had a much higher oxygen requirement than the others. Maybe I'm overthinking this...

You've probably already figured out that there are 10 fish left in the tank. The 2 that drowned are part of the 3 that died, but we're not told anything about them being removed from the tank after death. 4 of them might swim away, but they won't get far (they're in a tank). So, all 10 fish will still be in the tank, even if dead or swimming in circles. 

Of course, you have to allow that this is a fish tank we're talking about. The tank could be just small enough to hold 10 fish or it could be bigger than all of the oceans of Earth combined, but it's still a fish tank. Some guy posted in the comments on God's post that it could be a combat tank, but even then the answer still holds.

Pretty simple riddle, but still fun.

If you like an easy riddle like the one above, then here are some more that you might like from Distractify:

12 Mind-Melting Riddles You Don't Stand A Chance At Solving 

(Again, the title makes it sound like these riddles will actually be hard to solve, but that's really not the case. They're simple.)

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Before I leave you, here's another fairly simple riddle that might tickle your fancy. What do you think?