Last week, one of my professors mentioned something about America that I’d like to elaborate on. As wealthy and prosperous as we are, the United States is one of the worst countries in the world at adhering to the “three pillars” of health — nutrition, exercise, and sleep. I believe it was Mike Huckabee (Disclaimer: I don’t support him for the presidency) who recently said that we have not a health care crisis, but a health crisis. For an interesting read specifically about obesity, look at this 2003 testimony by Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

You can say all you want about what the government should do to improve the situation, where our money should be spent, yadda, yadda, yadda — but we all know that when it comes to the government, nothing happens quickly (unless it’s related to anti-terrorism). That’s why, here at Don’tASQ, we believe in the power of the people to fix — or much better, to prevent — their own bloody health problems.
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Today marks the third day of living this dreaded vegan/exercising/early-rising life. I’ll give a brief synopsis of how things have been going and what’s to come.

Diet
The vegan diet, thus far, hasn’t been terribly difficult to follow. Other than the occasional chicken sandwich craving, I haven’t had many regrets. Of course, it’s only been three days — ask me again in three weeks. However, for full disclosure, I should note a few possible exceptions…
*Green tea: I bought a bottle of green tea which “contains a small amount of honey.” Not included in the ingredients, just in fine print on the bottom of the label.
*Boost protein drink: Contains “milk protein concentrate.” I started buying these last semester, but I don’t think they’re vegan-friendly. I have about six more to drink, and will not be buying any after that.
*Blueberry waffles: Contains whey powder, which apparently consists of milk. I’ll be more careful next time. (Give me a break!)
*Syrup: I bought a bottle of Valu-Time syrup containing “artificial flavors.” I don’t know that it’s not vegan, but quite frankly, that scares me.

I’m not an anal retentive purist, so I won’t be deterred by things like a “small amount of honey.” I’m doing this diet primarily for health reasons; saving an animal or two is a bonus.

Fitness/Early-rising
Yesterday, I woke up before my alarm; I didn’t sleep much at all the previous night. This morning, however, I happily shut off my alarm and promptly returned to sleep for an extra three hours. As a result, I missed out on my morning run. Yesterday’s workout went quite well.

Effects
Yesterday morning, I had a surge of creative energy in the morning (after my workout) that lasted a good couple of hours. I don’t know how to describe it other than that I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but brainstorm ideas, whiteboard style — and so I did! I also experienced a brief stuffy nose this morning, which may have been a detox symptom due to the diet.

Expect another update on this next week.

In addition to going back to basics and getting up 5:30 every morning, I will be resurrecting the ever-popular Fitness project… with a few twists. (more…)

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas Edison

Just like everyone else in the world, I’m “celebrating” the end of the year by reflecting on the ups and downs of the past twelve months. Unlike everyone else, however, I’m not sugarcoating anything — in the realm my own life, 2007 was a failure of catastrophic proportions. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Projects:

• Dream Machine

Of the five projects on which I made any headway this year, the Dream Machine was probably the most successful… though that’s not a major feat given the competition. Beyond my original prediction that the project would take two weeks (it took six), I’ve also failed to attempt any sort of virtualization. Nowadays, I pretty much just stick with OS X. The laptop runs beautifully, but I’m simply not using it to its full potential. Lesson learned — Tweaking doesn’t need a purpose; it’s fun for its own sake. I’m itching to try out the latest versions of Ubuntu and Fedora, though…

• Fitness

Though the Fitness project admittedly wasn’t the extent of my focus on health (more on that in a moment), it’s safe to say that I bombed it. I didn’t exactly get off to a “running” start (get it?), and I eventually got bored and stopped recording my progress. In the weeks following, I noticed a slowdown in improvement (and even some slight deterioration), to the point where I eventually decided that it wasn’t worth my time and I would have to re-work the project. Lesson learned — Health isn’t a project that can be tackled half-heartedly.

• Polyphasic Sleep

This project was a failure only in the sense that I didn’t achieve what I set out to achieve — two hours of sleep, every night, for an indefinite period of time. I did, however, master such feats as napping around the clock (for varying lengths, averaging about 90 minutes), waking up drenched, and making my roommates think that I escaped from an asylum. Lesson learned — People have no idea what to do about others who don’t share their sleep habits.

• Resolutions 2007

Last year, I claimed that I would score 20 “productive” hours (whatever that means) each and every day. No, I wasn’t under the influence or playing a prank. In some aspects, I’ve achieved that, but what I’ve truly failed at doing is documenting my time or using any form of accountability. I definitely feel better about myself in this regard than I did a year ago, but I don’t really have anything to show for it. Lesson learned — When it comes to productivity, choose quality over quantity.

• Write, Write, Write!

Write, Write, Write! was never an “all-year” project, but it’s worth mentioning. I wasn’t at all frequent or consistent with publishing (especially during this fall); not usually for a lack of writing material, but for a (perceived ;)) lack of time. I wish to carve out a certain amount of time every day for Don’tASQ instead of waiting until I have “a free minute.” Lesson learned — A great thing about writing is that it can be done any hour of the day.

Areas of Focus:

• Finance

Despite having worked a full-time job for seven months (instead of taking classes), I’m arguably not much better off financially now than I was last year. However, there’s no question that I’ve learned a lot about finance from all of the little things — savvy co-workers and roommates studying business, and even the process of finding the right credit card. Lesson learned — Debt in America is bad news!

• Fitness

In addition to the Fitness project (briefly reviewed above), I’ve made some serious attempts to change my diet. While I’ve had a bit of success, my biggest problem is, once again, not documenting that progress. Lesson learned — Fitness and Finance are mutually exclusive (healthy food can be expensive!)

• Relationships

Compared to a year ago, when I lived alone, this year has been incredible from a social standpoint (living with several good friends). Hermitization is on the decline and procrastination is on the rise! On the romantic side, I decided earlier in the fall that the timing wasn’t right to pursue any romantic relationship; surprisingly enough, I’m glad I made this choice, and it’s actually been kind of a stress relief. Lesson learned — Okay, so maybe not everything in 2007 failed.

Happy New Year! 2008 will be your best one yet!

It’s Monday morning, around 7:30. I am in the weight room of the Athletic Complex, sitting at the leg press machine. I glance down at the pad of paper on which I record my progress, and see the number 16. “Okay,” I think to myself. “I did 16 reps on Friday, so today, I should be able to do 17.” And I begin. As usual, the first several reps are easy, but it doesn’t take long… 11… 12… 13… “This is starting to hurt, but I can’t give up yet!” 14… 15… 16… 17! “Whew! I made it!” That’s when I look at my notepad to jot the number, and am shocked by a realization. I didn’t do 16 leg presses on Friday (I must have been looking at a different exercise); I did only 12.

My exercise program, inspired by the Colorado Experiment, consists of several different exercises, one set each, completed to failure (i.e. when I physically cannot do any more repetitions). After hitting 20 reps, I increase the weight. Under this program, an increase of five reps between sessions is pretty significant.

But I didn’t think I was going far until the set was done. I was only trying for a small goal… and immediately quit as soon as I’d met it. I don’t know for sure that I could have done any more reps, but I almost didn’t even try after #17. I wonder how much more effort I truly could have put into my workout this morning.

Society teaches us to set goals and strive to meet them. There’s nothing wrong with that, inherently; but what happens after we meet our goals? Sometimes we’re tempted to stop there, or “take a break” even if we decide to set a higher goal and press on. Or sometimes we fail to meet our goals, and immediately conclude that they were too lofty. I, however, advocate a different approach: Failure? What’s that? It just seems like yet another excuse for apathy.

Does my exercise anecdote sound familiar? You can probably think of a situation in your own life that parallels it. The moral of the story is the same: Failure is all in your head.

Those of you who have been following the Resolutions 2007 project know that I made a New Year’s Resolution that, by the end of the year, I would be spending 20 out of 24 hours of every day doing “productive” activities. At the time I made the resolution, I issued a challenge to readers to try it themselves. I don’t think many of you took me up on it. But I’m here to convince you that it’s not only possible, but easier (and more fun) than you may think.
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Last weekend, I brought the project that has consumed my life for the past six weeks to a loose ending by successfully installing KDE on the Linux OS.

English translation: It went from a text interface to a pretty-looking “icon” one.

There is still more work to be done, and there may be for awhile, but probably nothing worth writing about — and more importantly, nothing that will consume massive amounts of my time. The purpose of this project was not to describe the system I was configuring in gory detail, but to create a guide for those who would want to do such a thing themselves. I’ve finally written that guide.

It’s difficult to “dumb down” a highly in-depth technical project like this one, but I’m more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about my year-long Resolutions project, check out this post and this one.

On a personal level, the month of July was frustrating, to say the least. There’s loads of content I’d like to start adding to this website, but at the same time, I have to keep poring my energy into more “offline” projects (namely the Dream Machine and Polyphasic Sleep), since I anticipate that completing them first will be the most beneficial in the long run.

• 20 Hours (of Productivity): 8
• The Good: July was actually an extremely productive month for me, though you would never know it by skimming the month’s Blurblog posts (all two of them)! I’ve not started tracking hours yet, but I’ve been averaging around five hours of (polyphasic) sleep per day, and have been reasonably good about not wasting the other 19 hours. One unexpected positive side effect of the Dream Machine project is that the polyphasic schedule has come more easily — it’s easier to stay awake when you’ve got a well-defined to-do sitting right in front of you.
• The Bad: Admittedly, Don’tASQ has suffered some neglect. While productivity is great, I’ve got to strive to be more balanced. “But what exactly is ‘productivity?’” Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there…
• Finances: 6
• The Good: I’ve put some serious thought into financial planning, and may consider turning it into a project (maybe even a global one).
• The Bad: I haven’t actually done the planning yet.
• Fitness: 4
• The Good: Bonus points for being very intentional about eating healthy — and succeeding (most of the time).
• The Bad: The Fitness Project is on a hiatus. See this post for more info.
• Social/Relationships: 3
• The Good: I try to see the good in things, even when there isn’t necessarily any to be found.
• The Bad: On this front, not much has changed since… well, since January.

I’d prefer to avoid writing constant updates about projects which are personal rather than global in nature (by “personal” I mean those which only directly involve me — currently, all of them). Don’tASQ is not about me but about us, and it’s important for readers to understand where that focus lies. Nevertheless, I also feel it’s important to keep you informed when I virtually disappear for a month without warning. In this roll-up, I address the status of all current and a couple of near-future projects — not to explain where I have been (though that will be answered), but to give you an idea of where we will be going. (more…)

For more information about my year-long Resolutions project, check out this post and this one.

We’re halfway through the year! Time for a midterm report card?

• 20 Hours (of Productivity): 6
• The Good: I’m actually doing the projects I keep promising to do… albeit with delays, in some cases.
• The Bad: Write, Write, Write! doesn’t count. More on that later.
• Finances: 5
• The Good: I’m fortunate enough to work with people who are young enough for me to relate to but old enough to be able to give some financial advice — and it certainly seems sound.
• The Bad: I may have overspent on that new laptop. Oops… got to control those impulses!
• Fitness: 6
• The Good: I’m still doing the Fitness Project.
• The Bad: I’m not doing it well, and I’m starting to lose motivation. Changes will be needed soon.
• Social/Relationships: 5
• The Good: I’ve recently made major progress in forcing my own de-hermitization.
• The Bad: Let’s be honest — I’m still single, and not doing much looking. The relationship goal may actually be one that I end up altering, for the simple reason that a relationship is never something you want to force. Exercise, on the other hand…

Sidenote: I realize that I haven’t been doing much writing (Writing, Writing, Writing?) lately. I don’t want to sound like yet another drab personal blog, so I’ll spare you the details — I’ve been busy. It will change.