Week 18 Review

My weekly review is in a danger of becoming a bi-weekly review! Here is a recap for week 17 & 18 of my 24 week journey:

Life is good to be sure. I have said it several times before (and won't stop) that taking this hiatus has been a blessing. Why?

1. I am home during this critical time for my 21 yr. son Grayson - who was out of control with alcohol and vaping, along with other recreational things. Had I been traveling, which is a critical part of the sales world, I could not have done this.

2. Time away from work reinforces the desire to be a part of a great organization looking to do great things. With the uncompressed time, there is space to clarify what it is you want to really do.

3. The physical and mental benefits of the break have been terrific.

4. Pursuit of personal side projects

Physical Benchmarks

• Lifting, running, eating, sleeping -- repeat. I think there is a T-shirt to this effect? Pretty well describes current routine. Max lifts are plateaued, but I am ok with that for the moment. The fact I see Grayson running 2 miles at 7 min pace makes my day! Anything beyond that is gravy. My other kids already rock it, with Jacob under a 5 min mile. The no sugar has devolved into light sugar. Again, ok with that

Spiritual

• Watched the Forge the other night with Jacob. Was a great film by the Kendricks on the importance of discipleship for young men.

• Continue to drink in Watchman Nee's book 'The Normal Christian Life'. Such an amazing look at the book of Romans and breaking down in clear terms why Christians don't often move past from having their sins forgiven to being delivered from sin in their daily life. We need both forgiveness for our sins but also deliverance from the sinful nature. He draws the analogy to trying to get rid of alcohol in a county by smashing all the bottles but not dealing with the factory that makes it. The good news is Christ has already taken care of both, but we still try to do it under our own power and fail miserably ...

• My kids in various stages of being close to the Lord so I continue to pray for them, as well as, the strife in our country. As Zig Ziglar said, we need to be a good finder. Let's find the good in people, not the things that irritate us. Of course praying for many other things, but those two top of mind now.

Family

• Being Dad remains the massive job I have right now. I hope I am an example and striking the right balance of getting out of the way but also being hands on.

• Jennifer and Jacob and others back in Belize!

Mental/Projects

• AI has taken a back burner somewhat as my focus has been elsewhere.

• Guitar scales continue to progress. Cannot say I am close to 3 songs being nailed however.

• While being off work is a blessing, I am very motivated to get back to work. I am pretty deep in the interview process with a couple of cool companies. Just a matter of timing really at this point.

• Beginning to pull together my bug out bag.

Geeking

• Took advantage of the steam sale and bought a few things, including Solastra, Crown of the Magister. A fun pre-Baldur's Gate 3 romp. However, I uninstalled it yesterday as it was taking too much time (I really get addicted to playing those things). So, I am glad to make the right call there.

• AD&D 2E campaign continues to go. Using ChatGPT heavily to color some scenarios. I find ChatGPT usefulness is heavily weighted toward the creative side (but not graphics) and less on the research side. Find so many errors when compiling lists and data from real world.

• Reading at a massive clip right now. Books working through: Execution, Invisible Planets, Jack - Straight from the Gut, Financial Literacy, Making of the Atomic Bomb, the 1st 90 days and Mindset. Finished the Ring by Stephen Baxter.

• Gen con ~ 2 weeks away in Indy

AV