Monthly Check-In
We are one month in 2022. In an ongoing tradition of trying to blog more, failing to do so, and then coming back to recap a few items, let’s go ahead and do that.
Health stuff
I wrote in an earlier post that my main goal this year will be around improving my health. Not that I’m a super unhealthy person, but I know I can be better. In January I went to see a doctor to hopefully set up for a primary care physician for the first time in a while. The main takeaway I had from this was 1. This doctor likes to rush. 2. They’re concerned about my blood pressure without being bothered to take it accurately. I take my BP at home. It remains excellent. Maybe I should start speaking up when medical professionals don’t test it properly. It bothers me every time and I never say anything, which probably shows why the reading can be high. I’ll be finding a new doctor.
I started physical therapy for my collection of tendon injuries. They’re actually healing quite quickly which I’m very happy about. Still a long way to go before I’m doing the type of running I want to be doing but we are in “barely noticeable” territory right now as far as pain and that is exciting.
I started using the Headspace app for my mental health. I am probably a bottom 5 meditator. I try though and I think that counts for something. My favorite meditations are “coffee meditations”. I love coffee but typically only “enjoy” it on weekends. A 5 minute “let’s taste the coffee together in a soothing voice” is just nice and allows for a little more enjoyment.
I lost about 4 pounds this month. Still a overweight by about 9 pounds but I’m headed in the right direction.
I’m beginning to sleep better. I don’t know about the rest of you but my sleep schedule has been off for about 2 years. I used to be in bed by 9:30 and up by about 5:30 every morning and since Covid became a reality, it’s been inconsistent since. Still working on it though. Maybe that’s the trend to my whole goal around health and wellness for the year. It’s about trying and if you try enough, you’ll get there.
Web Projects
I only worked on one side project in January but I’m really proud of it. XG-Destiny-Checklist.com is a dashboard for my friends and I, and our Destiny adventures. If you’re not familiar, each week in Destiny there is a reset in how you earn rewards. As my friends were leveling up, we’d often ask “hey what do you need to do”. So I made a dashboard to look it up quickly. It’s not “done” but it’s usable for what we need it to do. It is written in React and the code is on my Github if you want to take a peek.
Movies
It took awhile to get boosted so I’ve avoided movie theaters for a bit but the booster finally came so I went and saw Scream. I thought it was fantastic and would recommend it if you enjoyed the original. I’d say most people I’ve talked to have had mixed reactions to it but it’s certainly not bad. Shockingly. That’s all I have on movies so maybe in February we will have more to talk about.
Books
I started reading Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s book, Uncontrolled Spread. It’s his analysis of the Covid pandemic and where we went wrong and where we could improve in the future. I’m about halfway through it. It’s a very long read and I’ll be honest that I sense in each chapter we loop back to “the CDC messed up” which is not a very compelling read. I’ll try to finish it but I’m also trying not to commit to books I’m not enjoying.
I also started reading Artemis by Andy Weir. I don’t normally read fiction but I’m trying to branch out and Sci-Fi is probably the easiest entry point for me. Not done with it yet either but I am enjoying it. Will report back with a full review soon.
Games
Games have been a little quiet going into this busy February but I have of course been playing Destiny. I’ve also been working on Halo Infinite a bit and am enjoying it. I need to finish the story. I’m considering dropping the difficulty down to easy just so I can really get into it. I started Call of Duty: Vanguard. I like this one more than I liked Cold War but it’s still not sticking quite like Modern Warfare did. It might be hard for me to find a place for 3 shooters when I love Destiny and Halo so much.
So that’s it for January. I’d say we are still getting settled in here in the Pacific Northwest. Still doesn’t quite feel like home but that will come with time. I’m still searching for a good coffee place that isn’t a Starbucks. Nothing against Starbucks, I just tend to like the independent shops.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you starside.