Week 22 Review

Week 22 Review on the Reset. The end of my 6-month stated time away from work is quickly coming to a close. To this end, I do have a couple of job offers lined up and will be jumping back in by mid-September! Completely refreshed and so very glad to have stepped out for this time. But not done yet!

Physical Benchmarks

• As I remarked early in the journey, one goal was to get my strength up in bench/deadlift/squat. I was using 5/3/1 program to do this. Looking for an overall combined weight of 1050. I am hovering around 1010 right now. I hit some plateaus here and have gone to an alternating high volume (~100 reps) and max lifts. Definitely getting more sore with the high volume. Soreness = muscle growth so this is good. Doubt I will hit 1050 by end of August be will see.

• Running took a hit when I spent last 3 months joined at the hip with my son Grayson, while Jennifer in Belize. But now, really no excuse and just now getting back into running. Will do a 5k soon and benchmark.

• No sugar ... well that's done. Last night during our new trivia place (below) we had some crumbl cookies, which is (sadly) next door.

Spiritual

• If you get a chance to learn about the 6th most winning football coach in NCAA history that no one has ever heard of -- Ken Sparks -- find an hour and watch it for free on Amazon Prime. Just a great encouraging story about a coach who was called to mentor young men. Any leader who wants to get the most out of their team and see them fly high, should pay attention to how he coached. The old adage "people don't care what you know until they know that you care" is on display here.

• Continue to work through and embrace the truth that we, as Christians, can only follow Jesus Christ and live His example only to the extent we are surrendered to Him. There is such a tendency to 'do' Christian service -- read more, pray more, serve more. If only we do things things more strongly, more often, more ... then we can be more like the Lord. But this is not the way God operates. He doesn't need more of us, but less of us -- but more of His Son. As John said, 'He must increase, and I must decrease'.

Family

• August brings a back to school excitement. 10th grade looming, the US Army (hopefully), getting back to travelling for work, game nights, hanging out together. I am thankful everyone is healthy and doing reasonably well.

• Minimizing continues to move FW. Goodwill and IKEA visited many times.

• Game room is looking good. With the pickup of around 15 games from Gen Con, the library grows.

Mental/Projects

• AI remains dormant in terms of me learning it more. The tools are changing so rapidly it makes my head spin. I am investing in areas where it makes sense but every industry will be massively changed by AI -- already undergoing this structural change. Simply to code in Python now seems a waste of time.

• Guitar scales continue to progress. Cannot say I am close to 3 songs being nailed however. Real mental roadblock with staying the course on learning the songs. Start nailing them and get bored. What is up with that?

Geeking

• Hit the goal of learning 25 games.

• Found new trivia place. No way we are going to hit $500 in wins by end of month. We were halfway there when World of Beer closed. New trivia place heavy on pop culture, not my favorite! Ugh ..

• AD&D 2E campaign rolls on. PCs level 4 now in a homebrew campaign. Have worked out the tools to record these sessions and upload to YT, so that is good.

• Reading: Finished Jolt, a sales approach. Finished Execution by Bossidy and Charan. I am probably done extracting what I want from "Jack - Straight from the Gut". Financial Literacy near the end. Halfway through the monster 880+ page "Making of the Atomic Bomb", slow walking the 1st 90 days. Started Hyperion trilogy (a re-read), will start Titan -- Ron Chernow's bio of John D Rockefeller, continue to outline Watchman Nee's 'The Normal Christian Life'

• Gen con was once again awesome: Gen Con 2025

AV