A little bit of history…
I spent the ’90s and early 2000’s desk-bound on caffeine-fueled late-night coding sessions in the UK and USA. Add an aversion to hot and humid New Jersey summers, and an overfondness for beer, pizza and Chinese takeout and fast forward to 2008 when I moved to Germany.
By this point, I was the weight of a small elephant (literally I weighed the same as a baby elephant born in Munich Zoo soon after I arrived.) I had high blood pressure and was a mess physically when Daughter Number 1 came along just before I turned 40.
A further two years of high stress, difficult projects etc. took its toll and I hit a low point when I realized I needed to reassess my priorities and turn things around.
I’ve spent the time since then learning about nutrition, following a mostly Paleo diet (with some beer, minimal pizza and no Chinese takeout). I have taken a serious interest in powerlifting and a rather less serious interest in running.
Now my blood pressure is excellent, I am strong, and only slightly heavier than I want to be. I measure, track and experiment, intending to live – fit, active and healthy – for a very long time to come.
I also have a lifelong interest in human evolution and preindustrial cultures – so will be looking to blend these themes here…
Why am I sharing all this…
I have explored, tested and learned a lot about being a fit middle-aged man over the last decade. I will be recording the most useful insights here, primarily for myself. I don’t know how many times I have picked up some idea, moved on and lost it.
Occasionally (OK – maybe three times), someone has asked for input or advice and I have thought it would be helpful to have it online somewhere.
Daughters Number 1 and 2 are both too young to be seriously interested in any of this; if I record it here, it will be there if they ever are interested.
It is fun to be creating again. In my early career I used to write code and enjoyed developing applications. I know more about hosting a web server than I do about creating a web site – there is not much point in living a long and healthy life if I am not learning and creating!
I want to practice storytelling. I spend a lot of time teaching, mentoring or presenting ideas. I know I absorb more value from effective storytellers that engage and entertain while exploring new ideas, this is a skill worth developing! And who knows, one day, I might sit down to write the great American novel.
What you’re going to find here…
Cave Painting
Reviews of stuff I have read. Some books serve no purpose except to rehash existing material to waste reader’s time and money. I will not comment on those.
But the best books and articles contain a couple of gems that are worth collecting, testing and sharing.
I am not sure yet how this section will evolve, but it should catalogue useful stuff I learned from others.
Flint and Fire
Not recommendations necessarily but tools (including apps) I use to measure, track and improve. What works well for me, and what doesn’t.
This section may get esoteric if I get into preindustrial history and will also cover useful skills, or things I think I probably should know how to do.
Hunter Gatherer
Food philosophy, nutrition, diet and supplementation. Possibly covering also my Paleo journey, losing 30KG of fat through dogmatism and finding a bit of balance through pragmatism
Sabretooth Wrestling
I cannot talk realistically about powerlifting and running without also discussing recovery, injury and injury prevention. That becomes clearer and clearer with every birthday. So this will be as much about what I have learned *not* to do as it is about what I should be doing to realize the fit and active side of my longevity equation.
Shaman Says
Any weird philosophical stuff I am thinking about that is not directly relating to food, tools, exercise (and surviving exercise) will go here. Again, I am not sure where this section will end up…
Meanwhile back at the cave…
What am I currently working on – goals and experiments. Plus ideas for future experiments to look at later
What has gone before…
Milestones achieved over the years – because it is important to remember where you were if you want to keep going forward
From a style perspective, I am trying to use article titles derived from the pop culture of my youth – old song lyrics and movie lines. They will not directly map to the topic but there will be a connection. The excerpt will clarify what the article is really about. I may have to abandon this approach if it kills search engine rankings or gets too hard; I am using Chat GPT to help me find titles but actually regular search seems to work better for this.
I will not be using any AI tools to generate the articles, except having the WordPress AI assistant review the pieces to suggest areas of improvement. Since one of my goals is to practice and improve my writing, it would not make any sense for me to generate articles with a machine! (In case you are wondering, the WordPress AI is not a big fan of my rambling style pulling story threads together and thinks that readers need easily digestible bullet lists…. I am not convinced.)
All photos are my own, mostly taken while hiking with my dog. Apparently I am a closet fan of still life, clouds and sunsets. I still have the ambition to take a great picture of the full moon….
I have started using Mid Journey to generate “photorealistic” images which I am now including in the blog. The prompts used to create these images are my own.
The cartoon caveman holding a stopwatch was drawn for me by a family member years ago. She has waited a long, long time to see it online…
Caveman Musings 