My dog watch has been completed, and I may now rest. Let’s check the past week or so in.
Follow-ups: As previously mentioned, I spent last week watching my brother’s dogs while they traveled. Though I would have done it for free, it was a paying gig, which I do appreciate. Any extra cash to keep this project going is real boon. Anyway, it was nice to hang in the woods for about a week with some sweet pups and away from my regular routine.
It was also a little bit of a pain in the ass to be away from my usual routine, especially since I was just at the beginning of changing that routine up. But that’s how it goes, and I really don’t think I’m that much worse for wear, so all good.
Fitness / Health: The dogs and I did not go for those twice a day short walks I was expecting. Actually, I couldn’t seem to get them to go for even one single walk. It was really rainy all week, which I understand the older dog just won’t do. I don’t know, I get it. Anyway, I’m back home now, and I’ve started doing my daily walkies again, with occasional runs. Same with the strength training. I finally got around to assembling that pull-up bar I got on deep discount some time back, and wouldn’t you know it, it doesn’t fit any of my doorways. Not a single one. I have determined that I could use it in my bedroom closet, but I think I might need to take the door out. I did realize it may be possible to solve this by just, you know, turning it around. If I try to install it so I’d be hanging outside of the closet looking in while in use, the door itself is in the way. Doesn’t work. Could remove the door, and then it’ll fit. But then my closet will be sans door. However, I think if I hang it so I’m inside the closet and looking out into my bedroom, it might fit perfectly. Wait… I feel like I had this realization before. Did I already come up with this and forget? Well anyway, that admittedly obvious way to make this work just did not occur to me (possibly for the second time) until earlier today. And it’s a lower priority, so I haven’t given it a shot, and it’s possible that I’ll go ahead and forget again, so that’ll be fun. I have more fitness talk, but I want to hit the health first, so we’ll make a health sandwich with fitness bread.
I did finally get in to see my new cardiologist. I like him, I like the office, I like the folks that work there. Seems like a good fit. However, I still haven’t gotten the script for that critical drug that I need for my heart filled. This doctor made a new prescription and sent it directly to the mail order service for this shitty insurance. And they sure did deny it. Multiple cardiologists are certain that I need this thing, and without it, I’m going to end up costing a bunch of money going back into the hospital. But no, it’s more efficient to have this private insurer pretend to be part of a public system so they can deny preventative health measures. Nice. I’ve got another appointment tomorrow, this time about my sleep. I have a referral, but now I’m worried that I also need something else? I don’t have a reason to think that, other than everything is a huge pain in the ass, and I keep getting reminder texts from the place about it.
Okay, back to fitness. Trying to fit all of that protein and fiber into my diet has been a bit of a hassle, but I’m making it work. The most efficient way about it does seem to be the gym-bro chicken, broccoli, and rice, plus supplements plan. For the time being, I’m actually avoiding the rice. I’m sure it’ll find its way back in, but I’ve mostly been filling its place with stuff like high-fiber and/or protein wraps, bread, or noodles. Other leans meats, especially fish, and meat alternatives are on the menu, but you know, I’ve actually found fresh chicken breasts and thighs in those big-ol’ value packs are pretty dang affordable. The thighs aren’t as lean as I should be aiming for, but unless I need to trim some more calories or make for a higher protein-to-calories ratio, it’s not a huge concern. And thighs taste better than breasts, at least as far as chickens are concerned. Anyway, I can see myself having fun working out recipes and little adjustments here and there to the limited menu. Should be a good time.
When I started this change, I found it borderline miserable. All the powders, so many unpleasant and dry-assed calories, and the way your guts feel when you rapidly bump up your regular intake of protein and fiber… not a fun time. But now that my guts are catching up, this is actually going pretty well. I mean, I talk some shit, but I do like chicken and broccoli. Or any greens, really. And a well thought out pan sauce can really transform a dish. Now I’m trying to figure out the other meals. I usually skip lunch, but maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe it’ll be easier to split my calories up in thirds. Then again, I do like an end of day snack. I may have to do away with those, but if I can keep one, then I do have a number of foods that I can use to close my most common nutritional gaps. Yogurt, chia seeds, frozen berries, nuts, high fiber cereal, and more powders. I can do something with that, I’m sure. Fitting everything into the very restrictive box of specific macro goals with hard sodium limits is pretty tough. But it’s doable.
Academics – I finally finished that Algebra course and wow. I did not do great on the final. I think I got a high C. I got really hung up on a few early problems, the kind of stuff I really should have reviewed more. But you know, I thought that I had that stuff. When I got to the end of the test, it was all the stuff that I did review a lot, and that stuff was really easy for me. However, I didn’t get to all of them, because I lost so much time on the early stuff that I couldn’t remember! I straight up missed questions because I ran out of time, and they were the types of questions that I studied for! Ca-rushed!
That’s something I need to work on. Two somethings, really. First, to make sure I don’t get too focused on one area of problems that I end up neglecting critical early stuff. Second, to follow my test strategy. I had one, a test strategy, that is. If I’m struggling on a question for 30 seconds and don’t see the path to finish, I need to skip and move on. And I just did not do that. I should have marked the problems, moved the fuck on, and came back to finish them later. But whatever, I’d done so well up to this point, that I still finished the course with a low A. And I still don’t know if the grade is going to transfer or if it’ll just be a pass/fail. I’m not even sure if this will transfer at all, but I’m hoping this increases my chances that the credits will count.
I’m going to try and grab some easier credits in the next few months, and also see about studying up for my first round of actual, in person classes. The classes that are top of mind are Calculus I, Chemistry I, and Physics I. If I can at least get prepared for them, I’ll be pretty happy. I do think I’ll try to get those credits before enrollment, because every credit I can bank and get a transfer for saves both money and time. I’m a little worried that those credits won’t be accepted by my school, but also, I’m not that worried about it. The main goal remains to actually understand this shit, so if I take a course online and the actual school requires that I take theirs, I’ll be a smidge salty that I’ll have to spend more money, but also… it’s a community college, and their credits aren’t that expensive. The silver lining is that I’ll end up getting a more in-depth understanding of it all. And also be less stressed in class, presumably, which could mean that I could balance that additional depth with preparing for the next set of classes and try getting a jump on things. Wouldn’t that be nice?.
Alright, well I’ll probably have some more thoughts in cooking for this diet update. I think I can regularly do a riff on a Halal-Cart chicken, which I think something like farro would be a good stand-in for the rice. I’m not sure, though. I’ll need to do some real footwork with nutritional facts, so we’ll see.
Alright, that’s it for today. Keep it easy.