May 4, 2023
News
My landlord put carpet down in the kitchen. Right between the sink, fridge, and stove. Three tiles were loose, so this was his solution. We are moving out in August.
Millan and his buddy Mano write a blog called No Bells (nobells.blog). They just did a write up on The Dope Boyz. Check it out, it's really great.
I am looking for a house to buy. I'm doing a real legit house search with a real estate agent and all. We figured out that the process is way to stressful for Ilana so she is staying out of it and it's all me. It's my money anyways so no problem. For me it's a little bit stressful but mostly exciting. I'm looking for a place in the city with a good size porch/deck and space for a squat rack, sauna, and fan bike.
I have started microdosing psilocybin mushrooms. .1g once every 3 days. I realize this is quite a cliche tech worker thing to do but I think I already completely embody the average tech worker stereotype. It has been great! I think this is the best thing I've ever done for managing stress and maintaining perspective on which things in my life matter and which don't.
A few people reached out when I sent the letter saying I was looking at buying a new watch. To give an update on that, I ended up buying a classic G-Shock for fifty bucks. I love it... it's super functional, looks clean, and wears well. I was toying with the idea of buying something much more expensive, but I'm just as happy with this.
Fitness
I have a race coming up in NYC. I'm doing the Brooklyn Half Marathon on May 20. I have not been running too much to prepare, but I have been doing resistance training in the gym. When I ran the full marathon my body gave out far to quickly... probably at around mile 15 was when I started feeling really worn down. Now that I have been doing resistance training (with special emphasis on lots of squats and deadlifts), I feel much stronger on my runs. I'm hoping this translates to greater durability so that when I hit mile 8 or so I will be able to keep up a good speed throughout the rest of the race.
I am reading a book called "Outlive" by Peter Attia. He is a Joe Rogan type of person... I first heard him on the Andrew Huberman podcast and he also comes on Joe Rogan. The book is fantastic, I bought two copies and gave them to my mom and dad. Peter Attia is a physician who focuses on longevity. He defines longevity as increasing both lifespan (the amount of time one lives) and healthspan (the quality of one's experience during their lifespan). The main idea of the book is that in order to maximize lifespan and healthspan, there are certain things one should do and one should start doing these things as soon as possible. Health and vitality naturally degrade with age, so having maximal health at age 35 (for example) means that if you keep it up, even with the degradation of your health that will happen by the time you get to 95, you will still be able to walk around and do normal, everyday things. This is a big deal, because the vast majority of 95 year olds are not able to do normal, everyday things. I would guess the vast majority of 75 year olds are not able to do this. This is a big deal, because if you are alive but cannot do the things you want to do, why are you alive? So I gave this book to my parents and I am hoping that they read it and take this message to heart. If they start doing some of the things in the book it could make the time they have with my siblings and I, as well as their future grandchildren, so much better than it would be otherwise. Not to mention it would likely make my siblings' and I's lives much easier in the future, since if our parents are healthy and able to do things, they are less likely to need to be taken care of and need frequent visits to the hospital for various things.
Real Estate
New section in the newsletter. There is a legit home search going on, and it features yours truly with new character Jessica the real estate agent. We got matched on Zillow randomly and it turns out that she lives in the same neighborhood as my parents. So it's fate that she's gonna be awesome and find me a fantastic house.
Here's what we are looking for... house or townhouse. If it's a townhouse, only end-unit. Porch or a deck is a must-have. 2+bed 2+bath. Has to be within a 20 minute drive to downtown or midtown. Has to be walking distance to SOMETHING, like a park or a coffee shop type of thing.
It has been really cool driving around Atlanta and exploring all of the areas of the city. I had never been in most of Atlanta's neighborhoods. It's really cool to see what's happening in the city, especially from the view point of a real estate investor, as I am looking at where development is happening and imagining how these neighborhoods will be in the future. The beltline is massively important. Everybody wants to live on the beltline because that's where all of the development is happening. The beltline in South Atlanta is (surprisingly) really intriguing. There is tons of development down there. I still have a lot of looking to do... going to look at the west side and north side. But I think I'm getting convinced that the best thing to do will be to buy SOMEWHERE on the beltline. It's great for me as well because I enjoy running, so anywhere that's on the beltline will always have a great path to run on.
Another thing I am looking for is room to put a squat rack, sauna, and fan bike. The sauna is more optional here, but it would be really cool. I love getting in the sauna, and I think it would be great to use it with Ilana or when friends come over. I'm thinking that for a home gym, basically all you need is a squat rack and the fan bike. The fan bike will be great for cardio when it's raining outside or I just don't want to run outside, and the squat rack should be good for full-body resistance exercises. Anyone who knows better than me about this stuff, please let me know whether you agree with this or not.
In the end, Ilana and I are set on moving into a bigger place in August. So I am figuring I might as well buy a place rather than spend the money renting.