Little Talk:

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How Much Exercise Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Types of exercise sessions:

warm-up: 0-10 minutes

short: 10-30 minutes

medium: 30-60 minutes

long: 60-100 minutes

1. A session, possibly shortish, towards the beginning of the day

2. A session, possibly shortish, towards the end of the day

3. A session, possibly not so shortish, towards the middle of the day

In a day, two of the sessions will be optional. One of the sessions will be not so optional.

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How Much Diet & Exercise Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Normal diet rules:

1. Three meals and two snacks

2. 20-100 minutes of exercise a day (one or two short, an optional medium)

Diet diet rules:

1. 40-200 minutes of exercise a day (one or two medium, an optional long)

2. A window for the main meal of the day. My preferred window (I think): 12 - 3:30, for the lunch, with the utensils, in the conservatory, or the dining room.

3. Be careful what you eat before the main meal of the day

4. Be careful what you eat after the main meal of the day

5. Be slightly less careful what you eat during the main meal of the day

I think of this diet, God help me, as the MMm-bop BA-Duba-dop diet. (Main Meal, Before, After, During). 

Do I lose weight on this diet? Ha, no. At least, not usually. But . . . sometimes I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBaPI2AKu2g

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How Much Coffee & Tea Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

1. A nice cup of coffee, before the long walk

2. A nice cup of tea, after the long walk

3. So, let's have another cup of coffee. Or, let's have another cup of chai.

What if you are not, and do not intend to ever go, on a long walk? Well, the metaphorical long walk, then. The long walk in the sky, so to speak. The miles to go before you sleep. The miles to go before you sleep.

2023-07-31 update: Alas. Sic transit gloria coffee. The test results were not too bad, but came back with a mild iron-deficiency. At least, the borderline of a mild iron-deficiency. So, apparently, a man requires less coffee & tea. Possibly, a lot less. Changes I am considering making:

1. Cutting out the morning coffee, replacing it with a morning orange, or orange juice, or tomato juice.

"Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out. I love tomato juice!"

2. A cup of coffee and / or tea later in the day, one or two hours after lunch.

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How Much Web-Surfing Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Two or three peeks, one or two pokes.

 

In terms of label:

peek #1: morning

peek #2: late afternoon / early evening

peek #3: night

poke #1: work

poke #2: home

 

In terms of time:

peek #1: pre-dawn / morning

peek #2: afternoon / evening

peek #3: evening / night

poke #1: morning - evening

poke #2: evening / night

In terms of function:

peek #1: after waking up

peek #2: long break from work

peek #3: before falling asleep

poke #1: work, short breaks from work

poke #2: before turning off the laptop for the night

 

In terms of content:

peek #1: a chapter of an audio book, a short podcast, messaging, e-mail, a bit of web

peek #2: a bit more e-mail, a bit more web, chatting and cleaning your inbox while listening to audio or watching video

peek #3: audio books, podcasts, one last look at the web

poke #1: blogs, periodicals, funny papers, working papers, funny working papers, requests for comments, comments, SMERSH

Light reading, for a late afternoon break.

Heavy reading, for a late afternoon . . . refreshment.

SMERSH is Howard Simons' immortal phrase for Science, Medicine, Education & Religion

poke #2: Sunday papers: anything and everything.

My preferred method for newspaper-type web-surfing, I think:

1. First, the messaging and the e-mail.

2. Next, the web.

3. At some point after slaking the web thirst, download the newspaper, on the laptop, and give it a once over.

Currently, I am enjoying taking screenshots of my favorite articles, and storing them in a scrapbook folder.

4. Last, possibly another pass through the messaging, the e-mail, and the web, ending with a clean inbox.

5. Good times for newspaper-type web-surfing (I think): before tethering the phone in the morning, after the afternoon session, before the evening session.

The idea, I think, is to prefer broadcast to narrowcast, and to prefer a date and a volume and an issue number, to 24/7 infinite scroll. But perhaps not to be too fanatical about it.

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How Much Mitigation For Phone Addiction Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

1. Wake up

2. Tether phone

3. Go back to bed and stare out the window a bit

4. 5 minute warm up

5. Turn on laptop

6. Check email

7. Morning session 

8. Short walk, or something similar, during or after the morning session

9. Untether the phone at some point after the morning session

10. Retether the phone at some point before the evening session

11. Short walk, or something similar, before or during the evening session

12. Evening session

13. 5 minute cool down

14. Turn off laptop

15. Untether phone

16. Fall asleep

Good reasons to untether the phone:

1. Taking pictures.

2. Chatting.

3. Listening. 

4. Waiting for the Call.

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How Much Work Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

A Fibonacci work ethic:

1. Start work as early as 7:30 or as late as 11:30

2. Finish work as early as 5:30 or as late as 9:30

min: 5 (11:30 - 5:30)

max: 13 (7:30 - 9:30)

default: 10 (9-10ish - 7-8ish)

By "work", I mean any activity. 

There are, perhaps, two kinds of people in this world: those who find it easier to work from 5:30 to 7:30 in the morning, or those who find it easier to work from 9:30 to 11:30 in the evening. (I am, definitely, the second). If you push yourself to work those two extra hours, you can, perhaps, push your max hours from 13 to 15. Perhaps. But then it wouldn't be a Fibonacci work ethic, would it? It would be like a Five and Dime work ethic, or something.

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How Much Progress Report Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

One progress report a week, written on Friday.

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How Many Stages Of Le Tour De Jour Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Stage 1: Waking up, tethering the phone

Stage 2: Field-work, exercise, or heavy reading

Stage 3: Field-work, exercise, heavy reading or heavy writing

Stage 4: Light reading on the laptop, light reading on the phone, light reading neither on the laptop nor the phone, light television

Stage 5: Writing II: This Time It's Personal

Stage 6: Turning off the laptop, burning down the house

By "field-work", I mean anything away from the desk.

I sometimes find it difficult to write until I have done at least a little exercise.

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Next post: August 29, 2023