06/30 LIFE project

This post is an overview of the LIFE (Lose It For Ever) study, which I joined about eighteen months ago in November of 2005. The study was intended to assess the efficacy of different approaches to weight loss.

Volunteers were recruited via advertisements in local newspapers, which is where I saw the ad I answered. Each volunteer paid $50 for participating in the project and needed to meet specific BMI & health goals to qualify (I was one pound under being too fat to participate).

The material presented was in six modules, and the study volunteers were divided into two tracks.
Group A - attended every week for eight weeks with five week breaks
Group B - attended every other week ongoing, tapering off over time


The modules were

Module 1 - Calorie counting

Module 2 - Pedometers

Module 3 - Meal replacements (Slimfast and planned menus)

Module 4 - Exercise

Module 5 - Structured menus (Traffic Light diet)

Module 6 - Contracts


Group A focused on one module at a time. Group B mixed data from each module. I was part of Group A. I lost about 45 pounds (low point during meal replacements) and gained back about 12 pounds after that module ended. Every six months we went in for psychologial and physical examinations.

In following posts I will provide more details of the LIFE modules.

7 down, 23 to go.

05/30 20 Types of Blog Posts and where's my ring?

(Note: I was sitting here typing and suddenly noticed I'm not wearing my wedding ring, which I very rarely take off. I'm really concerned but a cursory search of the house has turned up nothing, so I am hoping I took it off at work while I was repairing a white board. This is really upsetting to me, so I'm turning in kind of a half-finished entry tonight. If anyone reads this, I'd appreciate some good thoughts as I really hope it isn't lost.)

(update - found it! yay! I moved a chair and plop it landed on the floor. It's not funny but it's funny how I don't notice it very often but when it's gone I literally can't think of anything else. I am also a little disturbed at this twice-yearly ritual...one does think of Alzheimer's...)

So I was trying to find a way to formalize the content, so I would be filling in an outline instead of staring at a blank page and fighting the Idea Demon for a scrap of inspiration. I googled a little and found a couple of really interesting posts about different types of blog entries:

Original list (Darren Rowse) : He's just got an interesting site period, but this post inspired me to try and use this structure for the 30 day project. All idea credit for this is his.

Challenge (bunnygirl): She was going to write one post of each type and keep track of it, which she did.

So what if I am eighteen months late to the party. I am going to do it anyway, besides it will get me through the next 20 days and by then I should either be rolling on my own or off watching Tivo and wondering why my life still sucks.

Here's the list - I stole the HTML from bunnygirl's site, tablefied it, and added a space to link the post once I have it written. I took the initial definitions from Darren and tried to rewrite into something I can understand. I also tried to group related types of posts.

She struck the posts as she did them and I will do the same:

The 20 Types of blog posts are: (Why is Blogger's table handling so sucky?)

Type	Definition	Post
Contrasting Options	contrast products, services or approaches that outlines the positives and negatives of each choice.	Pending
Informational	Define or expand on a concept. Will either be a literature review, a research, a link or a rant.	Pending
Instructional	Tell people how to do something. If you include items from somewhere else it's a link or literature review.	Pending
List	Brief list of phrases or sentences around a theme or question, and develop each into a paragraph or two. Must be your own content. Probably a instructional or informational at heart.	Pending
Literature Review (Darren called it a Collation Post, some people call it a sling blade...)	Like research but more semantic than empirical. Identify a question, but instead of empirical data, research what others have written/said. Collect everyone’s ideas (with short quotes) and tie them together with a few of your own comments to draw out the common themes that you see.	Pending
Research	pose a question that can be empirically answered gather data (if you are reading and quoting from other people's work it's a survey, not research) assemble the data into a usable form make inferences, find conclusions	Pending
Inspirational	Tell a story of success or paint a picture of ‘what could be’.	Pending
Interview	Interview (1 or 2 questions, you are not Playboy) or a guest post.	Pending
Profiles	Do some background research on an interesting person. Point out how they’ve reached the position they are in and write about the characteristics that they have that others in your niche might like to develop to be successful.	Pending
Hypothetical Posts	Pick a something that ‘could’ happen down the track in your industry and articulate implications.	Pending
Memes and Projects	Suggest an idea, offer a poll, solicit a memetic sense of a topic or situation.	Pending
Prediction and Review Posts	Doesn't have to be December 31 - this would be fun to do the night before your birthday or anniversary. Review what happened this year Make predictions for next year (good time for a list)	Pending
Critique	Find positives in what others do and make constructive suggestions for improvements.	Pending
Debate	Between two people, between a blogger and ‘all comers’ or even between a blogger and themselves.	Pending
Link	link to a post/article but add your own commentary & insight so you don't get flagged as a spammer (which my old blog did repeatedly)	Pending
‘Problem’ Posts	Review negatives of a product or service, along with suggested solutions/workarounds.	Pending
Rant	sound off, one two, sound off, three four...	Pending
Review</dt>	Share your opinion and ask readers for their opinion. Opinions are conclusions based on provable facts. Rants are attacks in the form of opinions based on other opinions, or data which cannot be sourced.	Reviewed Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
Satirical	See The Onion.	Pending

6 down, 24 to go. I hope I find my ring.

04/30 JackFest

Went to JackFest last night, a friend of mine had tickets for a suite at the Xcel and was good enough to invite me, so I went with him. Saw four acts:


The Gin Blossoms

Quick, name a hit of theirs besides "Hey Jealousy". They played their songs and got out. It's never good when the lead singer tells the crowd "We're used to only playing places with a Ferris Wheel." Yes, it's the part of the rock and roll lifestyle that nobody ever talks about; they focus on Bowie and Clapton and ignore the Wal-Mart greeter-lever gigs most big bands wind up playing (speaking of which, Canned Heat was at the Narrows last night and Bill Halley and the Comets were at the Medina - unless they're wheeling coffins up on stage there's some serious inheritance going on there.)


The Pretenders

I am of the era but never liked the Pretenders, so I was ready to snooze through this. I did not appreciate what a great showwoman Chrissy Hynde is. She really made their set fun to watch and their performing after the Blossoms stood around and played instruments got the crowd re-engaged.


The Stray Cats

Best show of the night, best show in a long time. Fun fact: I had previously seen the Cats in their first Minneapolis show waaaaay back when they opened for the Rolling Stones at the same location (when it was the St. Paul Civic Center). I was too young to go myself so I went with my dad's secretary. Anyway, they've just reformed and this was the first show of their tour. It was great! They sounded great, they interacted well and Brian Setzer is the reincarnation of Eddie Cochran. I wonder if Jack Knife and the Sharps and The Reverend Horton Heat and all the other outfits that have been stealing the Cats' act for the last 25 years were in the audience.

Worth the price of admission all on its own. They did a version of "Lights Out" that would have made any rockabilly spirit smile.


ZZ Top

Um...yeah. Maybe time to hang it up. Some signs your band is well past its prime:

• Your "stage show" is an LCD screen running a WinAmp visualization.


• You randomly stop singing in the middle of songs because you know the audience is singing every word along with you.


• You are, shall we say, casual about things like hitting notes and keeping the beat.


• You have obviously oft-repeated stories introducing your songs. ("Jewelry! Jewelry!")


• You have exactly one new song, during which everyone goes and gets drinks and goes to the bathroom.

The Crowd

This wasn't an act, just observations about my fellow concert-goers. Gen X is getting older. The guy with the mohawk and bald spot? Dude, the "O-hawk" is never going to catch on. But there we are, all hip and cynical and watching the Daily Show between baby feedings.



5 down, 25 to go.

09/30 Eight Random Facts about Me

Been trying to do some research for blog entry ideas and found this: Eight Random Facts about Me. Basically put down eight random things about yourself and then pass it along to others. I don't know any other bloggers so I am not sure whom I would send this to, but here it goes for me.

• I am a terrible insomniac. Have been since childhood. I used to wait for my parents to go to sleep and then went out in the kitchen (where they couldn't see the light) and read till 4-5 in the morning. Tried the Steve Pavlina thing, tried sleeping pills, tried getting up at 6, etc. Only does a little good for a little while.


• I recently joined a university long-term weight loss study and lost about 30 pounds. I'll be writing some posts about that...later.


• Every serious romantic partner I've ever had was born in August to parents who worked in IT. Everyone. Yes, multiple.


• I had some brief Internet notoriety after writing a fictional case study of the zombie apocalypse (and I do mean brief and limited). However, it was enough to prompt a fanzine editor to look me up for a rewrite, which I did but never got published. i'll put it up somewhere and add a link, should have it somewhere.


• I have zero talent for Scrabble. I love to read and write, I love obscure words and I'm usually pretty good at word games but I cannot play Scrabble to save my life. I am terrible at it.


• I'm terribly shy. I have a couple of close friends that I've known since high school but I have never mastered the arm's length - neighborhood group - happy hour buddy thing that's so crucial to networking. I can't even do it on the internet and that's supposed to be the great micro-interest bazaar, for crying out loud.


• When I was younger (child of 9), I had a debilitating disease that kept me in the hospital and then bedridden at home for the better part of a year. The next year my parents split up and I moved to another state for a year. That didn't work out, so I came back, but in the interim all of my friends had changed from 9 year olds to 12 year olds and I really didn't fit in anywhere. So I read a lot and I have never really been close to more than 1-2 people at a time. Not an excuse, just a reason.


• Once at a work happy hour, someone asked everyone one of those questionnaires where you name a set of images that come into your head. At one point they had you picture an animal - I pictured a bear, happy enough to live in the woods eating fish and not really looking for trouble, really pretty shy unless you threatened its family or pushed it the wrong direction on the wrong day, in which case it would tear you apart. Turns out that question was how you see yourself. I tend to agree.

5 down, 25 to go.

03/30 Life Skills for Children

This is a post idea from my SO. Apparently in a work conversation the issue came up about what ages kids should be learning what skills. Of course this is a general guide and I really don't know what I'm talking about, but I've never let that stop me before and I don't intend to start now.

Age 7

• Neighbors names


• Home address and who they should and should not tell


• No unsupervised computer access


• Difference between storybooks and news about real people


• Dress selves, make own breakfast


• That there are things people do that are bad, but they feel good so people do them anyway. Some of their friends might want to do some of that bad stuff, and it might seem like they are having fun but they are not going to have fun for very long and then they are going to have a lot of sadness. Most people don't do those things, and if they get invited or they see kids doing stuff they can just leave, call us or go to a safe house and we won't yell at them. They can always get new friends but you can't get a new you.

Age 9

• Family names and jobs


• Should be able to find their way home from anywhere in neighborhood


• No unsupervised computer access


• That people have different opinions and you don't have to change your opinion if someone disagrees with you, and they don't have to change their opinion if you disagree with them.


• It's better to be sorry before you do something than after.


• Clean house, make simple packaged foods


• Without a lot of graphic details, that there are things called drugs and sex and bullying and what they should do if they run into specific things like someone offering them drugs or sex, or if they see bullying or are bullied.

Age 11

• Extended family names and jobs


• Should be able to navigate you home from various places in the city


• Own email account with talk about how many people on the internet are not who they seem to be, and that the computer connected to the internet is like a door into our house; once you let someone in, and they know that they can get in, it can be hard to make them leave.


• They should be able to explain why they like or don't like something.


• Specifics of drugs/alcohol and sex, and that people do it because it feels good but those good feelings don't last, and when they're gone all you want is to get them back. So then you start looking for those good feelings all of the time, and you ignore the things are hard now, but feel so much better when you do them.


• Sort laundry, mow grass, do basic work like change a lightbulb, etc

Age 13+

• forget it - they're teenagers, they're doing whatever they want and will just blame your poor parenting skills for whatever trouble they get into. Listen to them, check up on them, let them make their own mistakes as long as they're not catastrophic. Protect them, love them, fight with them for their own well-being. Ignore their hatred and wait for the storm to pass.

4 down, 26 to go.

02/30 Effective Time Management

I said I would post every day, and this probably won't get saved until tomorrow so I already missed out. I can weasel and say 30 days = 30 posts and get away with it.

The reason I posted so much about setting goals and cascading them to objectives is because so much activity seems to be simply for activity's sake, and not to support some larger mission in life. (What's it all about, Alfie?)

I was hoping by writing down all of those terms and specifics, I would be able to define my own outlook and goals. I did do a lot of reorganizing of my personal items last night so maybe it did some good.

One of the things that had always stymied me about goal-setting, etc was that the goals seemed so arbitrary - "make a bazillion dollars", etc. They seemed so plucked out of a hat, so MTV-driven.

For me, looking at this in terms of feelings seemed to help a lot - instead of asking myself "what do I want", I asked myself "how do I want to feel? Who am I?"

I don't know what it will do in the long run but for now it seemed to help.

A good book in this field is "I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This" by Julie Jansen. It has tests, etc that try to identify some personality traits and interests that might be useful to you in your job search.

3 down, 27 to go.

01/30 Goals, Objectives and Tasks

One of the big movements on the web (that I'm currently aware of, anyway) is the Getting Things Done movement pioneered by David Allen. Rather than comment on GTD or on the billions of sites, articles and sub-pages dedicated to implementing GTD, I'd like to focus on what I usually focus on when understanding a system - defining terms.

The terms themselves are pretty universal but their definitions are open to interpretation (and it's the interpretations of terms that makes a system, and a system is what people want to sell, so of course there's different definitions depending on what's being sold to you).

Anyway, here's my nominal list, and guess what - I am not the sole authority on the Internet so YMMV. The idea is not to complicate your life, the idea is to create a mental model of all of these things so you can organize your efforts and compact your to-do list.

Goal

A goal is an abstract state or property you desire, something that is felt or perceived more than seen or used: I want to be financially secure.

Feature

A feature is a specific state or property, something that can be seen, felt or used (think of it as an embodiment of the nature of one or several goals) - goals and features can have a many-to-many relationship. Think of the features as proof of reaching the goal. In the example above, the following features show that the goal has been achieved:

• I have three months' salary in near-liquid assets, to draw upon in case of a change


• I spend less than I make


• I operate on a planned budget

The key is that the features are all positive statements of measureable things and act to prove that you've reached the goal. This is a critical function because it tells you (a) what you need to do, (b) how to know when you're done and (c) when it's time to consider the goal achieved. It seems like the emptiness many people suffer from a sense of dissatisfaction upon "achievements" stems from not tying those achievements to their goals, their desired states of feeling. Unfortunately that kind of introspection seems to only arise during a mid-life crisis.

Objective

Objectives are a stated intention/definition of what needs to be done to implement a feature. It's the top-level definition for a project, which is a set of tasks and metrics. Continuing with the above example:

• Be financially secure




• Have three months' salary in near-liquid assets, to draw upon in case of a change




1. Get three months' savings into a near-liquid asset




• Spend less than I make




1. Spend less


2. Make more




• Operate on a planned budget




1. Create and maintain a budget

Project

A project is a collection of tasks and metrics with the express purpose of implementing an objective. The projects are not the stuff you write on your to-do list every day; they're the guiding ideals behind your daily actions. This congrues with real life if you consider your daily projects to support the objectives of goals like staying alive, maintaining employment, caring for your family, etc.

Task

A task is an activity necessary to complete a project. Projects have many kinds of tasks: control tasks, environment tasks, maintenance tasks, training tasks, even delegation tasks. More on this some time in the future.

Metric/Measure

A metric or measure can exist at any level but is generally tied to either a task, project or objective. This is part of my own implementation - goals do not have measures in my mental view - the features are the metrics of the goals. Metrics are specific, measureable and repeatable. In the case above, a metric might be the specific balance to maintain in the asset, or the spending cap/spending amount in the budget,or the interest rate on the asset. Metrics are usually summary numbers (sum, average, mean, count, etc) but can also be non-numeric (a present or absent state, a letter grade, etc).

There's a section to add here on business management taxonomy but I have to get to work. Hopefully later.








2 down, 28 to go.

30 Days of Blogging

So I have a blog, and occasionally I make posts to it, most of which are maudlin dispositions and ruminations on the inexorable nature of age and entropy.

I think it's because this blog isn't really -about- anything, and if you read tech news you get a lot of input that basically nobody reads a blog unless you happen to be a columnist, or Guy Kawasaki, or Martin Fowler, or Cory Doctorow or you write a provocative title and get picked up by Digg or popurls (bane of my working existence).

It's the Larry Niven effect; every time I feel like writing sci-fi I look at his stories and think "how the hell could I possibly add anything to this genre?" or of course horror/mystery with King, screenplays with the likes of Scorcese and Tarantino, etc. And every time I write a blog it winds up with "what's it matter anyhow?"

I'd like to change this, specifically because I want to:

• Redevelop my writing habit - I recently worked with someone on a little collaborative fiction (we swapped story ideas we were stuck on) and it felt pretty good. I could use a little feeling good right now.


• Do a little goal and interest exploring - maybe writing is still open to me as an option?

So I will never be famous. So I will probably never even get paid for anything besides my Paint Check article from the 1990s (mental couch note: maybe link that). I have to be OK with that if this is going to work.

So here's my thesis and rules. My rules in this case are to keep this from turning into yet another half-a-page-of-scribbled-lines project:

1. Create 1 blog entry every day for 30 days.


2. Write in the morning if possible, just so you can have it done early.


3. No blogging from work.


4. NO encoded personal stuff, no "I should X, why can't I X, why do I suck so much, what a terrible person I am" type dramatics.


5. Flash fiction is OK if you must, but use some restraint, old boy.


6. Blog entries have to have a structure:
   
   
   
   • Thesis - something the entry is about, not just "here's something from the news and now I am going to whine about my fecklessness and inability to X"
   
   
   • Supporting point 1
   
   
   • Supporting point 2
   
   
   • Observation
   
   
   • Summary
   
   
   
   

So what if I am not Penelope Trunk, who to me is the perfect blogger. She's observant, insightful, writes from a basis of real-world experience, is brutally honest and gives others a chance to share their perspective.

So what if no one is reading. The important thing is that I am writing, and the potential that these entries will be read someday means that I need to put at least a modicum of craftsmanship into them. Maybe that will help me find a little personal and professional direction. We'll see.

1 down, 29 to go.

Three Chick Flicks and their Unintended Message`

Analysis from a prof at UW-Green Bay of the unintended message of three popular female-oriented films. Very thought-provoking. Maybe I need to see the world like this. I think his thesis makes sense.


Note to future self: the issue seems to be immediate gratification versus ongoing struggle. Were you right? Were they? Did it all work out, because right now there was just a conversation that makes it seem like it will not, and once you decide it will not it finds a way to come apart.

Can you really be as happy as you make up your mind to be?