Rather Depressing Day

I am finding that I am addicted to starchy carbohydrates. This isn't just a "put the food down" sort of issue anymore.

For instance:

My roommate, when he tries to quit smoking, becomes irritable.

I become irritable when I don't eat starchy carbohydrates

My roommate smokes when nervous, upset, or bored

I eat when I am nervous, upset, or bored.

I also sneak food, hide my eating (which this blog was supposed to fix) and obsess about eatign and nutrition (which this blog is a symptom).

Obesity is not a disease. it's a symptom of food addiction. "Just putting down" the twinkie works about as well as "just putting down" the cigarette. If you can, then great, you aren't addicted. . if you can't, it's useless advice.

Basically, the dopamine and seratonin receptors in my brain are acclimated to High fat, High Carbohydrate foods.

It takes three days to get over it. Unfortunately, this means I need at least 3 days off of work, because my work is stressful enough that, about halfway through a shift I need a carb fix or I will murder someone. I have no doubt that this is exactly what it is like for a smoker.

I believe (without any evidence) that everyone is wired to get addicted to something. In my roommate's case, it's cigarettes. In my case, it's food.

I was so angry at work today. I was struggling to remember solutions to common problems. I was struggling to control calls. I realize that some of this is beyond the scope of eating, but much of my issue stems from a lack of carbs. Once I ate a large portion of potato chips and drank some sugary cocoa, I was fine, productive, and well-adjusted.

This hostility immediately on a no carb diet, and after a week or two oon the slow-carb diet.

I went on a bike ride oday. I rode for an 2 hours today. That and Russian language lessons, are something.

There was going to be a big ol' rant...

..but I ate some peaches, killed my diet, and am calm.

Today, for Russian, I learned conjugation of the present form based on the regular verb "to fuck.*

Why? because I will remember conjugation better that way, from a word I plan to use often. :D

влядь!

Cheers

More info

This abstract discusses how macro-nutrients affect insulin secretion in people with type II diabetes. Basically, carbs cause a very large secretion, proteins a smaller secretion, and fats none at all unless paired with carbohydrates.

It doesn't include things like dairy, which have a low GI, but cause a lot of insulin secretion.

What this means is I can eat nothing. :(

I am kidding of course. It just means that, in general, I can't eat a lot of carbs (duh).

But I have to replace those calories somehow.

Suddenly, a poll!

My diet for the day:

Today I ate:

About 8 oz of chicken cooked in olive oil:

340 Calories, 16 grams of fat, 48 grams of protein, 0 grams of carbs

A single Roma tomato, sliced, and salted:

35 Calories, 1 Gram fat, 1 gram protein, 7 gram of Carbs, 1.5 dietary fiber.

8 oz of Kielbasa

720, 64 grams of fat, 24 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbs.

Total:

1075 calories, 81 grams fat, 73 protein, 18 grams of carbs (13 sugars)

And I drank about 16 glasses of water and rode my bike aerobically for 70 minutes.

This diet looks terrible! Hardly over 1ooo Calories! He'll go into starvation mode!

Well, yeah, I might on this diet. But it doesn't cause the swells of insulin and the crankiness of slow carb.

I suppose to avoid starvation mode I will have to throw another sausage on gthe grill, or another pound of chicken. Maybe I could add some few lentils, combining the diets. In this case, I'd add, say, 3 cups of lentils. That would add approximately 700 calories, 139 Carbs, 30 grams protein, and 15 grams of fat (from olive oil).

Adding meat would increase the cost of a days meals by about $2 but keep my carb count under 50.

Adding lentils would raise my carb count over 100g/ day and cost about a dollar a day.

At the top is a break down of each diet, including cost: one has plenty of dietary fiber, one is low carbohydrates: Both include the olive oil used to cook the foods and a price per day at the bottom, unlabelled.

OK, now on to the mind: Russian lesson!

Addendum

Tonight is Trivia. Not sure if our team is going.

If it is, it will be some time until I can work on my Russian.

If it isn't, tonight will be Russian study, and some reading.

I am taking the Russian slow right now, mostly because I am lazy. And remember, all this work is so I can get smart and fit whilst simultaneously being poor and lazy.

I worked out a rough guideline for Low-Carb vs Slow-Carb. I'll take my notes and turn them into a spreadsheet for you, dear reader(s?)

:

Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Hello, dear reader(s?), I hope this day off is being well-used. I'd go on about the meaning, but you have Wikipedia and the internet, so I'll pass on repeating these cliches.

I am currently listening to "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day" by Arnold Bennett. Quite eloquent, he was criticized for his writing style by his peers

Anyway, I think back on when I lost quite a bit of weight, all eighty-five pounds of it, I ate very few carbohydrates at all. I ate only chicken, about a pound and a half a day, a spinach salad with dressing picked for it's low sugar content, and cucumbers and tomatoes with a bit of salt and cracked pepper.

Now I am trying a slow-carb diet. It is more difficult, but I am not certain why. I lose weight, of course, about 2-3 pounds a week. But I reflect that I am quite cranky after a few days of it, and I do not remember being so when I changed my diet previously.

The differences:

1) Lentils (The slow carbs). Unlike my previous diet, I am eating about triple the carbohydrates. Most of them are not the white, starchy carbs that cause the greatest weight gain. But they also contain sugars.

2) Cheat day. It shoots my insulin into the stratosphere, and makes the next day hell.

One, I think, needs a cheat day to ensure their metabolism. But perhaps I can cut it down to one cheat meal? 4HB suggests that it can.

3) Slow Carb is about $20 cheaper a week.

Unfortunately, I didn't track anything on my low-carb diet. I didn't pay attention to cravings while I was on it, nor when I broke off of it. It is about as difficult to keep up, and a little more expensive than the slow-carb diet. The slow-carb diet, except for cheat day, did not cause the ups and downs of insulin craving that come from a more regular diet. But then, neither did the low-carb diet.

I envy Tim Ferriss's money. I would love to go to a doctor and get some baseline numbers. I'll research options there.

Anyway:

Breakfast: 6 oz of chicken that had been cooked in olive oil

Snack: Salted roma tomato

Cold Bath Protocol

I'll keep you posted: I am going on a bike ride!

Cheers.

On Grad School and More on Food Addiction

I read Penelope Trunk's blog post on Grad School. I want to say I am inclined to agree with her. However, she misses one very important factor:

The job market is shit.
I have a job that doesn't even pay me enough to make payments on my student loans. I am not alone. Several friends are their, too. The idea of slogging in a bookshop or coffee shop, assuming they are even hiring, after slogging through four years of bullshit, doesn't sound fun for anyone.

And make no illusion, we need barristas and bookstore clerks. Somebody needs to pull the levels and oil the camshafts of society. Just ask Mike Rowe.

But that's not what people went to school for, now, is it?

Maybe it's a fools game, going to school for something less marketable than engineering. Might as well, I think, not even go to college.

Except for one problem: Ever apply for a job?

In this down-turned economy, only the shit jobs - the McDonald's, the Burger Kings, and the Subways, are hiring at entry-level.. And why would they hire someone with a degree when they can hire someone without one, and therefore no expectation of higher wage.

Every employer, including restaurants, want experience. But where the hell are you supposed to get experience if you don't allow entry level positions? Remember that job you had in High School waiting tables? That is actually more useful than your college degree in some cases.

Un-freaking-believable.

I read a job advertisement that asked for 40 years of networking experience. That was 3 years ago. That means you needed to work on computer networking in 1968

Yeah, I'm a part of the team that built ARPANET

News flash, companies. You don't need a degree to do 2/3rds the jobs out there. And for those of you say "but it teaches critical thinking and sticking to tasks.' So did High School, when I went there. And, 3 months on a job - the (0 day probationary period- will tell you if someone can do it or is a fuck-up.

I don't mean to swear, but running away from the job market may be stupid, but I contend "What Job Market?"

This rant is getting kind of long, so I guess I will just comment on that.

Go ahead, waste money on Grad School. By the time you are out, maybe things will look different.

I can't, I ain't got none to waste!

The world is changing. Work is no longer like our parents or our parents-parents. We are starting to work on project-based markets. But we still want these projects cheaper, unless you can market it with value-added services and subscription services.

Ugh. All that newsspeak made me vomit a little.

I realize this rant doesn't exactly belong here. I suppose it's about grad school.

Diet today:

Morning: Chicken

Fell Asleep, woke up in a diabetic fugue. Had an ounce of Olive Oil to cure it.

3 brats without buns

And... *sigh* 6 Little Debbie oatmeal pies.

I feel sick, but briefly it felt good.

If that's not food addiction, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I'll keep on keeping on.

I'll start the Flash Diet, where I photograph everything I eat, when I get a phone. However, shame doesn't stop me from eating like a Jackass, so I don't know what will.

Chrikeys. What a day!

Too much happened to go over it.

1) I tried to eat healthy. But the Pig Pickin' was too much for me. The Shealy Clan is awesome, however. Good ol' South Carolina mustard barbecue!

2) I looked into the Pool of the Moon, and didn't like what I saw.

Russian Lessons.

Since I have been slacking a bit, I decided to do a longer lesson today.

I'll have to practice, and many of my lessons involve speaking only, without any Cyrillic.

I may invest in a Russian-English dictionary so I can start recognizing written words and equate them with sounds.

*Actually, I found a site that will work!

Until next time!

Спасибо!

До свидания!

Science!

While we are not all as genetically perfect as Tim Ferriss, I think we can do it.

He also mentions, briefly, about conversational fluency, which is my goal with Russian.

he is right, though: Diet is the hardest part of the whole damn thing.

Here's the link to Tim's NEXT talk

Anyway, the flaw in the science is me right now.

I am really struggling to keep on the slow-carb diet.

So I am going to take a smaller bite of the elephant.

30 grams of protein, 30 minutes after waking up.

Rethinking the Challenge

Today will be interesting:

I am studying Russian in the morning, then rethinking my diet.

I'll keep you posted.

Today's eating

Today I had

1 Kabuki Roll

1Spider Roll

5 chicken wings

8 Amber bock

And I took 1 cold bath.

I am really sucking at this diet thing

Thankfully I am flat broke. So Aside from BBQ tomorrow, I am eating chicken and lentils.

I need to get back on the diet.

Failure to Launch!

Well, per my last installment, I am looking for a solution.

Despite drinking a bit last night, and eating late (I know! I know!)

I woke up ravenously hungry. I was quite out of my mind.

And then I did a dumb thing, I didn't eat. I just went straight to work.

Lots of bad habits today.

I also found this study

looks like nicotine and alcohol are good for weight loss.

Who knew? All the skinny drinkers and smokers, maybe?

I am changing my diet a bit. Significantly less carbs, even low carbs, and more vegetables.

Not that I have been paying attention to my diet anyway. :D

I have a new reason to lose weight.

Stupid Hope. :D

Last night was pretty awesome.

It was my Birthday

So I took the day off from exercise.

I'd add "and dieting" but given the past few days, that's not the case.

Cheers.

We now know a thousand ways not to build a lightbulb.

I normally don't like to quote Edison. But that's the most positive spin I can put on today.

I reflected as I went to my local cookie-dealer to score some second-rate chocolate chip cookies. I'm not part of this "obesity" is a disease crowd. I more of a Ricky Gervais fan when concerning fatties like me.

However, it's more complicated than that. Our brains are pretty crazy.

We say "just don't eat." or "put down the fork."

Truth is, our brains are wired to like Seratonin and Dopamine. That's it. That's all we like.

Our brains are chemically dependent on these, too. If people have less dopamine receptors, or uptake seratonin too fast, then you need to replace it so you feel "normal"

A study found that rats exposed to too much fatty food have less dopamine receptors than those rats not exposed to human foods. When taken off, it took them too weeks to normalize.

So, very much, you can replace food with cigarettes and it's the same story.

I have never had a problem with cigarettes. I smoked for two years, then just quit. Easy-peasy. no cravings whatsoever.

"But!" I hear smokers cry, "I have been smoking since I was sixteen! You only smoked two years."

Publish Post

Well, yes, but I have been overeating for nearly 30.

And Ricky says you gradually build up to that weight, and he is right. Just as we gradually go from a sigarette here and there to a 2 pack a day habit. Same with Alcoholics. they never start thinking "I'm going to drink myself stupid every night."

Now, i won't argue that I'll put down the burger when you put down the smokes. I don't care if you smoke. I am just informing you that food is a drug, just the same. It affects how your brain works.

The last time I changed my diet, I ate right for about 2-3 weeks before I got used to it. During this time I was cranky and slept a lot. I was unemployed. It took only a few days of overeating to return to the old ways.

I think that's why a habit takes 21 days. It seems that's about how long it takes your brain to get chemically used to it.

And during that time, any excuse to indulge is acceptable.

When I got to my dealer, he had discount pizza rolls. So what the hell, right?

I remember my first pizza roll. It was free. The first one is always free. Pretty soon you are giving hand jobs in the alley for McDonald's gift certificates.

Anyway, I'm hopped up on dopamine now, so I am going to cut this short.

I was going t wax philosophical and practical on the causes overeating, but isntead I will leave you with this:

1) I need a solution for my overeating. "Just stop" and "just accept" are not satisfactory

2) I have several friends who drink more than they eat. One, in particular drank quite a bit one day. i asked him what he had eaten that day, he said "A glass of milk." Likewise, my friends who smoke also tend not to eat. So maybe I should take up smoking and drinking?

Lunch

Well, I get a lunch today I work.

That's nice, I suppose. I'd rather go home a half hour early.

Lunch today:

Instant Potatoes

700 calories

I am finding that fatty foods fill me up more, regardless of calories.

I wish I could find information on why.

Obviously one reason is that it doesn't provoke any insulin response at all. So my body's insulin levels never are raised. But aside from that, I can't think of a reason.

I miss pizza day.

Looks like someone had a "case of the Mondays"

"I believe you'd get your ass kicked saying something like that, man" -Lawrence. Office Space

I have a serious case of "the Tuesdays." That's when at the end of "the Mondays" your immune system creates Sarcasmochondria and Cynicalia cells to combat the flu-like symptoms.

They say nothing worth having comes easy.

I think we should punch them and take their stuff. That'd be pretty easy once we find who "they" are. And it would be totally worth it.

It's come to my attention that my goals might not be realistic enough. Perhaps. But I have not figured out what goals are "realistic," meaningful, and not tedious.

Just read "The Dip" by Seth Godin. It was kind of useless. It is filled with cliches and platitudes about when to quit something because it's not working out. Not a lot of specifics. In fact, it's points on when to quit are suitably vague. Is something becoming hard because it's hard or because it's a "dip", that is, the low point after the honeymoon of beginning a project has worn off.

I am already hitting my dip.

This morning:

1) 700 ML of ice cold water

2) 2 oz of Treet

131 calories 11 grams of fat, 3 of carbohydrates, and 6 of protein.

Because life is hard, unless you look like this:*

Then you get the world handed to you. Often by sad, pathetic men.

*Be thankful that I did not post her Youtube channel. She gets about 1 million views on each. I certainly cannot understand why. /sarcasm.

Well, this is not boding well

This is not profound but:

Damned, this is coming difficult. I am quite poor at this.

Well, I suppose I shall try again tomorrow.

Monday Afternoon

I was feeling light-headed so I had, a bit after 3

5 egg whites and a whole egg.

185 calories, about 31 grams protein, and 8 grams fat.

i also had a bit later - 1 slice of white bread.

90 calories.

The white bread is proscribed by my diet, but i fins I have to occasionally eat some.

I didn't get a chance to cook more lentils, so I had to improvise.

Tonight I will be drinking a lot of Diet Coke at trivia. Diet Coke is proscribed in large doses, but otherwise I am the guy who is drinking water all night. Poverty and Dieting do not go well with a social life.

The frustrating things is that diet is supposed to be the main thing that prevents you from losing weight. I may have reached my homeostatic limit at 50 lbs overweight. What a horrible thought.

Monday Afternoon

the work database went down, so I made lunch.

A bout 8 oz (perhaps more) of Chicken, cooked in Balsamic vinegar with a bit of oil.

400 calories, 50 grams protein, 3 grams carbs, and 12 grams fat or so

It doesn't look like much. Just chicken.

I'm going to practice Russian grammar tonight

Also, I have trivia

-

Monday Morning

Monday Morning:

Woke up at 8:10am

All numbers are approximate:

1) Drank 700 ml of ice cold water

2) took my morning ice bath

3) Ate about 195 calories of eggs and lentils at 8:50am

185 calories , 26 grams of protein, 11 grams of carbs, 3 grams dietary fiber, and 10 grams of fat.

4) Was ridiculously hungry, so about 10:15am I ate a 1/2 cup lentils

130 calories, 10 grams of protein, 22 grams of carbs, 6 of dietary fiber, and 4 grams of fat.

I was going to post pictures, but my camera is out of juice and I don't have an SD slot for my computer otherwise.

The cold showers and cold drinks increase my hunger dramatically. Which increases my crankiness to high levels. Then I have to go to work. Helter Skelter, man, Helter Skelter

I didn't sleep very well. I tried to go to bed early, but I was having a lot of pain in my leg. Two Aleve later. the pain had reduced sufficiently for sleep to arrive. I woke up about 3 times last night.

As my birthday nears, I feel very old, and I am reminded of this bit buy Louis CK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzEhoyXpqzQ

Plans FAIL!

Remember my "Homer Simpson" levels of self-discipline?

Yeah.

I am taking a nap.

I suggest shaming me in the comments, so I learn from my mistakes.

Change of Plans

Well, A discussion of Politics lead to drinking. So I blew my fast, and I didn't get to take my first cold bath.

I am reaching Homer Simpson levels of self-discipline.

The plan is still the same, just after work. And, in all likelihood, a nap.

Oh the perils of fermented grape! Parents, keep your children from it!

Sunday Morning, Coming Down

A few things. Despite a week being Friday to Thursday, I've decided to not go on facebook for a week. I am becoming polemic, and arguing way too much. In addition, it's a distraction from what I should be focusing on.

I didn't get to take a cold shower this morning before work. I overslept. If this process is going to work, this needs to stop. I will take a shower during my long lunch today

I have been assigned extra hours at work. this means I will be less broke, but also have less time. I am already constantly distracted from getting work done, so I guess I will have to work harder at focusing

I am available by email and by phone, and since this is my schedule, I will update my blog. comments related to blog content are welcome. If there is a typo, just email me.

Todays Schedule:

9:00 am to 1:00 pm Work

1:00pm to 1:30 pm Cold Shower 1

1:30 to 1:50 Russian study

2:00 pm to 4 pm: Work, part II

That's as far as my schedule goes today.

I would like to work on my book, read another book, and study some Spanish.

Notice I haven't posted anything about eating. Despite negative affects of fasting on my metabolism, my whole body feels sick, so I am skipping eating today. This will not become a habit. Also, most of the data about fasting comes from pastors and religious types, which makes it nearly worthless from a medical standpoint.

Tomorrow: I am going to try something new.

I realize I probably eat too much.

I am considering cutting down what I am eating by about 25%,

So instead of 8 oz of egg whites, I'll try 6 oz.

And instead of 15.5 oz of lentils, I'll eat only 12 oz.

So instead of about 2100 calories, I will be eating 1600.

For those keeping score

Since I started this blog:

Amount of money spent:

1 week of B12 $.75

1 cup of coffee $2.79

Weight lost: 1 lbs

Since Thursday is my cheat day, the "week" is Friday to Thursday.

What I got done today.

Today I finished the Apology of Socrates. Nothing new, really. I had known these arguments from philosophy 101, when I had read it previously.

I also worked on Russian. I did not get very far. I can say about 4 things in Russian. Which is more than yesterday.

I tried to study at the bookstore, but they replaced the coffee shop with a damned frozen yogurt stand. The music they played was terrible; I think it was pop. I was desperate to listen only to the Audiobook. the volume of the music made that difficult. then a gaggle of kids showed up, shouting at each other over the damned music.

So I moved over to the food court, found the farthest corner from everyone, and suddenly I was surrounded by extremely rude employees of the mall, for whom talking loudly was not enough. They also decided bumping my table and my chair was also appropriate behavior. it wasn't like I was reading, or anything.

for those of you who say "You were at the mall, what did you expect?" I say "Honestly, a coffee shop in a quiet bookstore."

In addition to Russian I started parsing Spanish grammar. I also wrote an outline for the first chapter of my book.

It has been brought to my attention that the message is lost if the medium is incorrectly used. I shall attempt to use online resources to learn to type. I do hope you realize the sacrifice this means. All typing lessons are tedious. No matter how many dancing teddy bears and smiling anime cats they put on the screen, they cannot seem to get around the fact that all you are doing is pushing jkkjffdd for minutes on end. I'd rather get mauled by badgers.

This post probably took me a half an hour to write, just so you are aware of how long it takes for me to type.

Weight Loss for the poor and lazy.

OK: I said this blog would be about doing two things on said shoe-string budget: getting the equivalent of a Graduate Degree and losing 50 pounds. I've dicussed the "learnin'" but not weight loss.

I am extremely lazy. I like short cuts. Thank god for Tim Ferriss.

I follow, somewhat religiously, the tenets of Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour-Body. In it, he talks about reducing core body tempurature to help burn calories.

So my day starts with an ice-cold bath to induce shivering.

Basically I fill up the bathtub with cold water and lay there for 20 minutes. Is it as cold as the Ice Baths Tim used? No. But I find it is effective and, more important, relaxing. I can daydream about what I plan to do with the day or meditate. It is extremely soothing. Plus it helps keep my depression in check and energize me.

Then I lie down with a fan blowing on me while I air dry. The evaporatign water increases the cooling effect.

And studies of Thermogenics seem to suggest that it helps burn fat and tone muscle.

And it's safer than many of the supplements.

I also take B12 to boost my metabolism. It's about 12 dollars for 4 months. Or about $.75 a week.

I also take Juice Plus, mostly because my diet lacks a lot of micronutrients found in foods.

Has it worked? Well, my measurements are crude, but I have noticed that my arms and legs have greater tone without any exercise. I have also noticed that on my cheat day, I tend to gain elss weight - 2 lbs instead of 6. It could be placebo, but it's enough to keep it going.

OK. Russian learned. Outline drafted for my book.

Despite not being particularly productive today, I feel very productive.

Which, I suppose, is something.

Thoughts on Metrics - Undergraduate

So here's the first thing I'll admit, albeit sheepishly. I never graduated Undergraduate College. In addition to having to work, personal problems had a lot to do with it. So I figure we'll have to start there

I am 61 Credits from an Undergraduate degree. I am 15 credits from an English Major and 18 from a philosophy major. Given what i want to study in Grad-school, i am thinking about doinfg Art History/Philosophy/History. I'd do something in the hard sciences, but it is more difficult to pursue sciences without labs and teachers.

I have not passed a foreign language requirement. Aside from that I have all my Core requirements.

This means I need 24 Credits of History, 18 Credits of Philosophy, and 24 of Art/Art History.

A 3 credit hour class, according to my Prof friends, requires a textbook and about 1 300 page book for the entire class, takes up approximately 38 hours of lecture and 38-50 hours of at homework/study time per class. It also requires a long final, some quizzes, and 2 pepars of 5-6 pages in length.

I can't really test myself unless I get copies of tests from teachers. I can write papers, but how will they be graded?

I am going to start with the accelerated model. We are going to take one class at a time for 2-4 weeks. this means I will take 4 "classes" per semester. In addition to the single class, I will be studying a language, reading from St John's College great Books series, and reading from my free reading list. Overall, I expect this to take up 25-30 hours a week.

Next week I research colleges and grab syllabi from teachers, find class lectures posted free online, and research the degree path.

Oh, my focus of Grad School will likely be religious Iconography in Orthodox Russia or In Reconquista Spain. *Shrugs* O rmaybe something else entirely.

The First Day, Or, "Boy, I am glad nobody's reading!""

This is the first blog entry, and I will start with a confession. I am a terrible typist.

My rough drafts of anything are miserable. and, despite feeling like a unique and beautiful snowflake melting in the oppressive Florida sun, I am not all one.

If I write ten words, expect 5 errors, at least.

This does not behoove well for this project. After all, a Grad student should be able to type, yes?

The expectation I have is that as I type more, I shall shake this monkey off my back.

So, the first day of a new project. No one is watching me yet, so I can't be shamed into success. But the premises of this blog is simple:

Can one get the equivalent of a college masters education without spending a dime? Can one also, by spending very little money lose 50 lbs?

Too complicated, you ask? Why not have a blog dedicated to just one thing?

That's why it's called What's He Building In There? The "In There" implies inside me, what changes are going on to build a strong mind and a stronger body?

I guess some basic premises are in order:

I can spend any amount of time working on projects related to this, but I must post what I have done that day on this website.

I am not allowed to spend more than 100 dollars a week with a coffee budget of about 20 dollars, and a food budget somewhere around 50 dollars. Less is preferable. Any money donated to this cause can also be spent. All money must be accounted for.

I think that's it for today. We will be taking baseline measurements, but some won't be very accurate because of the expense of the tests. We will also be outline what a Graduate degree means in the next day.

So as today is not merely an announcement of intention, here is today's schedule:

6:30 pm until 7:33pm: Set up this blog. (Free)

7:33 to 6:30 pm: Download Russian Podcasts and a the Book: Apologies of Socrates (Free)

now I am off to Starbucks to organize my thoughts. I tend to use notebooks to do this.

OK, so I didn't quite get to Starbucks. I got to Walmart for some supplies

I organized some of my metrics.