October 4, 2015: Me Day - Age 30

My fourth personal inventory year, actually split across a few days because it's getting harder to just vanish for a full day. This past year was satisfying and novel and has gotten me fired up for the next one.

Wake up and watch the sun rise.

I've been waking up around 4:30 every day for months (thanks Max); the sunrise is not new these days!

Measure physical stats and take fitness pictures.

0.7 lbs lighter than this time last year, within 0.2% bodyfat. Actually I was up 6.2 lbs a month prior to measurement and 1.5" on my waist, but I didn't like that, so I spent one month trying to eat as few calories as possible (mostly MealSquares and fish) to get back down to a more comfortable weight and not Get Old And Fat, as silly as that is (harder to undo the longer you wait, I hear). I hadn't tried the "just eat fewer calories" strategy before, but it worked well, averaging 1600 calories per day (1200-2000). This is in preparation for getting totally ripped over the next year as I finally have time to work out and focus on fitness. Let's see how I do next year at this time!

Weight:

135.3 lbs

-0.7 lbs

Body fat:

10.9%

+0.2%

Chest:

32.50"

-0.75"

Right arm:

11.25"

+0.00"

Left arm:

10.75"

-0.50"

Waist:

26.75"

-0.25"

Hips:

34.50"

-0.50"

Right leg:

20.25"

+0.00"

Left leg:

19.75"

-0.25"

Resting HR:

70 bpm

+2bpm

Measure my max push-ups and pull-ups.

38 push-ups, +7: fast, strict, chin touching the ground.
16 pull-ups, -1: fast, no kipping, chin above bar.

Take a long walk.

I ambled with George and Becca over the park and through the rubble garden back to my place after watching The Martian, and we discussed its use of Science! It was nice.

Read from a favorite book.

I read the sequel to Ancillary Justice yesterday, which, while not quite a favorite book, was totally enjoyable. I was a bit confused on what seemed like the dramatic lowering of the stakes from the first book to the second. Is this whole thing a setup for something epic in book three? Looking forward to that coming out in two days.

Get blood tests.

I ordered the same blood tests from last year from DirectLabs. Everything was basically the same except that (not surprisingly) iron levels are high again. Time to go give some more blood.

Count my possessions and get back down to 99.

Far less churn since last year as my possession stabilize. I have to think about them less and less. To that end, I realized that counting chargers and cables was not helping me think about stuff less, so I stopped counting those, instead just counting the devices they go with.

Take stock of finances.

I increased my savings more than expected, paradoxically, despite aggressively investing profits in my businessess and trying to trade even more money for time.

(If you're me, you get to see finance stats here. Since you're not me, you see nothing.)

Do Quantified Mind testing.

I have three years' worth of monthly aging batteries now, and despite the big 30, there's still no sign of cognitive decline with age. Yet.

Call my family.

It was good chatting with my family, although I didn't get long with anyone in particular. I hope to spend more time on the phone soon. I'm still way below average on family communication frequency compared to people around me.

Have a spectacular dinner with Chloe.

Chloe took me out to Les Clos, where we ate oysters, duck, French onion soup, and four canoes of bone marrow. I looove bone marrow. George and Becca babysat Max so that we could go, and it was sublime.

Reflect on the past year

I sat down with my journal and evaluated three areas: what went well, what didn't go well, and how my relationships are now.

What went well? This past year, I:

• Spawned a baby infant! (This makes me feel on track with my life more than any other thing.)
• Suffered well the slings and arrows of being a new parent.
• Remained as happily married as ever.
• Got CodeCombat profitable and just raised a bunch of money to dare more greatly.
• Started a badass early morning wakeup and productivity routine.
• Continued to optimize eating to be pretty healthy while taking nearly zero time or money (thanks, MealSquares!) and not eating any desserts.
• Built a baby-carrying robot and got better at basic hardware and EEG stuff.
• Enjoyed living in a sweet pad and upgraded the furniture further.
• Increased my savings more than expected, paradoxically.
• Only had to do two trips: one flight and one drive to Yosemite.
• Got my Skritter involvement down to basically nothing, 0 hours most months.

What didn't go well?

• For a while there, things were tough with CodeCombat, and George and Scott quit.
• I hardly worked out at all, and for a little while until last month I was slightly fattening.
• I wasn't as productive as last year, only spending 77% as much time working, and not as focusedly.
• Happiness tracking has too much bias now that I'm not at my computer as much; I need a new method.
• Regressed a bit on the standing desk (but I guess it's not that bad because I stand so much more with Max).
• Didn't get any further with many personal development things, like rationality, Stoicism, fashion, health, hygiene, etc.
• I didn't write much.
• I haven't focused on my music collection, so everything's getting pretty old.
• I only went on a couple hikes, none very fulfilling, and had very little nature exposure beside.
• I didn't really work on friendships much.

How are my relationships?

It kind of sucked not working with George and Scott at CodeCombat any more and was particularly lonely hacking on it part-time when it was just me, Matt, and Cat, all working remote. Glad Scott's back in the office, but it's not as close as before. Having the baby has been really good for hanging out, and also for meeting new people. In general, though, on a scale of 1-10, I'd have to take one closeness point off a bunch of friends and family.

Organize my files and computer desktop.

I now have a work computer (iMac) in addition to my personal laptop, so I took some time to get everything syncing properly across the two. This sure is a lot easier than it was 20 years ago.

Add at least one tradition.

New tradition: watch a movie I really want to see.

Destroy at least one habit.

Destroyed happiness tracking at desktop. Also not doing the piece of art tradition any more, that's two years in a row I haven't wanted to do it.

Extra this year

I organized two events: one outing to go see The Martian which had about 17 friends show up, and one house party to just hang out and talk, which had about 25 people show up. Both were really fun. The Martian was good but not quite as good as I thought it would be, since the book was so great and the movie had to leave out a few science disasters. The party was excellent, and I saw some great people that I hadn't had time to hang out with very much before. I almost want to do this sort of thing more often.