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Caffeine

I love coffee! I’m not sure about you but I drink all kinds, all flavors, all roasts, all mixes.  Plain espresso, americano’s, latte’s, and even black coffee.  I drink it in the morning’s, before workouts, after workouts, before work, after work, before bed.  I absolutely love coffee, and I know many of you do too.  However, have you ever thought about the side effects of caffeine?

Caffeine: A stimulant, a performance enhancer, a drug, a supplement, and a daily fix for many.

If you didn’t know caffeine was a drug, then your welcome because it is considered a stimulant.  The reason I talk about side effects is because of how it can impact your everyday life.  My favorite coffee time is pre-workout because of how it effects my body during a workout.  Caffeine is proven to lower rate of perceived exertion during workouts.

Squatting 315 pounds without caffeine might take 90% of your effort, but with… it may be closer to 75% or 80%.

Is that a bad thing?  Absolutely not, often it will actually benefit you in the long run because you can push your body farther than it normally can.  Yet, for those who rarely work out and simply pickup their daily Starbucks, caffeine is most likely the hidden enemy.  If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day for two weeks; chances are by the end of that period of time your body will be craving it, regardless of whether you truly want it or not.  This is what happens when you give your body stimulants (i.e. caffeine).  For those reading this that have a cup, or two, or three every single day take a day off and see how you feel. Chances are that foggy feeling that you feel every morning won’t go away, and that headache you nurse every night?  Yeah that’s going to be there for a while.

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Parsec’s Life Lessons

Last June, I turned 37. My birthday seems to come sooner and sooner every year much like the holidays. Over the last few years, I’ve started to reflect on what I’ve learned in life and I’d like to use this blog to document these life lessons. This will be an evolving list and it will be interesting to see how it changes over time…

*In no particular order*

(1) Generally speaking, no one will ever love you more than your parents.

(2) People are not very good at determining what will make them happy. We mostly guess or look at what other people are doing.

(3) In order to better understand happiness, you need to study it.

(4) Money can lead to freedom, fun and convenience, but not lasting happiness.

(5) The quality of your life is often determined by the number of uncomfortable situations you put yourself in.

(6) Do not define yourself by what others can take away (e.g. occupation, money, possessions).

(7) History does and will repeat itself.

(8) Don’t spend too much time worrying about what other people think. Use that time towards being a good person and the rest will follow.

MORE TO COME

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Cryptocurrency: What the heck is it?

Version 1: I read.  I am an avid reader for a reason.  It is because I love to learn. However, one topic — cryptocurrency — and the blockchain it is built on (or at least I think that’s what it’s built on) are constantly changing and confusing to understand.  Anyone else with me?  Or can anyone drop a comment and explain to me who, what, when, where, and why?

– Buzz

P.S. Bitcoin sounds cool @parsec!

Edit: I bought a little Bitcoin last week when it was 3095…it’s up nearly a thousand dollars within a week.  Crazy! I bought a hardware wallet which is a cool piece of technology, and did my research on the “public ledger”.  I am interested in potentially investing in some alternative coins (i.e. Litecoin) or an entirely different technology such as Ethereum.  I will keep everyone updated!

Please drop a comment about your situation with cryptocurrencies and technologies.

– Buzz

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Mindbender of the Month: A Scaling Mystery

In the United States of American, we use Fahrenheit.  The rest of world utilizes celcius.

I recently traveled to Canada (from the United States) and I learned something new.  Can you guess what it is?  I might give you a hint.  Ok I will because otherwise I am just a crazy person writing to myself.

0 degrees Celcius is freezing and 32 degrees Fahrenheit is freezing.  So how is -40 degrees Celcius equal to -40 degrees Fahrenheit??????

Enjoy your mind game!

– Buzz

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Risk vs Reward: A Tale of Old Souls

If you came here looking for a tale of opposites then congratulations you found one.  In the world there are two types of people, those who take risks and those who don’t.  I believe that in general people fall into one of the two categories, but Old Souls fall between them.  You may ask “How?”.  You may say that I am contradicting yourself, but in reality there is more than just risk vs no risk.  There is making an educated decision vs randomly throwing all your cards into the basket.  In general, Old Souls tend to study situations more thoroughly than the average person based on feedback from other Old Souls like myself.  For this reason the chances of having a greater reward for a smaller risk can be seen quite often from our kind.

Preparation vs Execution?  School vs Job?  Waiting vs Doing? Poor vs Rich? Sad vs Happy?  Stalling vs Creating?

All of these in my head are complete opposites of each other.  Some of the examples are better than others.  I have a friend who is an Old Soul.  He is in a large dilemma where he seems to be caught on the left side of this issue.  He is waiting.  He is preparing.   The long route with less risk, but much safer for him.

Is this human nature, or an Old Soul feature?

What should he do, take a risk and walk on the right, or choose safety on the left?

EDIT: The Future

I moved out of the country for a bit to help fulfill one of my aspiring dreams while he stayed home and actually took a step backwards I think.  In my mind, I believe that the true Old Soul nature isn’t to sit back and take your time, it is to make educated decisions that are best for you even if others disagree.  My friend an I are almost complete opposites, yet in the end we share the trait of thinking our decisions through thoroughly before we make them.  Cheers too the educated decision!

– Buzz

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Targeting Souls

An Old Soul needs to connect with others like himself.  It is simply in his nature, true or false @parsec?  In my opinion it is true, therefore we need to find our avid readers some more old souls with some fun stories, experiences, and viewpoints to share.  Comment for any topics you want us to target when we are searching for other old souls (Searching isn’t the proper term, we don’t need to.  We simply find others like us).

– Buzz

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Scrolls of the Souls – Parsec’s Top 5


 
I’ve never considered myself a “book worm”. It’s not that I dislike reading, but it’s a significant time commitment whereas watching a TV show or even a movie can be done in 1-3 hours. You can’t really multitask while reading a book either (which is a good thing). That said, I do find immense value in reading.

The truth is that once you’ve completed your education (high school, college, etc.) you have little exposure to “passively” learning new things. At the very least, a “variety” of new things. No one is making you learn anymore. Yes, you may learn things for your job or a hobby, but you don’t get the wide exposure to ideas or concepts that you once did.

It took me many years to realize that I really wasn’t learning much any more and, therefore, not growing as a person. To combat this issue, I turned to audio books as I would always have time for them while traveling to/from work.  I exhausted the interesting CD-based audio books at my library and stumbled on the app called “OverDrive.” OverDrive provides an extensive, free catalog of ebooks and audiobooks. Go check it out.

In contemplating my top 5 books, I felt a little biased towards books that I have read (or listened to) within the last few years. Probably because they are fresh in my memory. Here’s my list:

(1) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. If you ever feel that life has got you down, read this book. So much more amazing than the movie.

(2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. There is a reason why this book is so prevalent in schools. It is a classic.

(3) The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. I can honestly say that this book changed my outlook on a number of things like work, money and retirement. I wish I read this book 10 years ago when it was first published.

(4) Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Like nothing you’ve ever read, trust me.

(5) Anything about Abraham Lincoln. I’m a sucker for Abe Lincoln books such as Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

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Sense of Humor

I was watching various stand-up comedians on Netflix the other day. I could pretty much tell which acts would appeal to me in less than 5 minutes. This caused me to think about the nature of “humor” – why do some people find certain comedians or types of humor appealing while others do not?

I think that sharing common experiences with the comedian dramatically influences if we find them funny, but there is certainly more to it.  For example, I find Jim Gaffigan to be extremely funny, probably in large part due to our similar experiences as parents. However, there are other comedians who are parents, but I don’t find them as funny.

Humor seems to be granular – you may laugh at some jokes by your favorite comedian, but not necessarily all of them, whereas another fan may find those to be funny. Can this be explained?

I plan to look into the science of humor – if it has actually been studied.

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Chiropractors, are they worth the hype?

Hell yes!  I am an athlete, and even if I wasn’t I would still be physically active for at least an hour and a half each day by choice.  I love working out, eating healthy, and improving my health.

Yet, everybody, athlete or not, active or not, understands the aches and pains of everyday life.  A tight back, a painful shoulder, and a tweaker knee are all common inconveniences that many of us feel on the daily.

The majority of us — young or old — can wake up in the morning and feel something that hurts or is out of place.  We can stretch, ice, take Motrin, but at the end of the day it only gets worse.

The solution: A trained professional who makes a few adjustments and your feeling better.

I will be the first to admit, I was skeptical.  First visit…….. CRACK!!!!  I’m sure they could hear my back popping in the next town over.  (Disclaimer: This is not a joke).  5 hours later, I couldn’t bend over I was so sore.  He had cracked my neck, popped my back, and re-aligned my hips.  The next day I woke up and realized that my back wasn’t tight.

I will gladly take a few hours of soreness in return for an overall better feeling body and day of the week.  For anybody who is debating whether it’s worth the price, I am here to tip the scale.  Try it once or twice and see for yourself.

– Buzz

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iPads at the Dinner Table

Why? Why? Why? and Why?  It doesn’t make any sense to me.  Yes, I am not a parent.  Yes, I am still going to rant.  Dinner time is the time of day where family gets to spend time together and reflect about the day.

I remember playing Tic-Tac-Toe with my grandmother with crayons on little scraps of paper as well chopsticks (the game) with my sister (I always won).  So why do kids need tablets just to get through a half hour dinner now?  Netflix, games, and ignoring everybody else in the new norm, someone please try and explain this to me.

Thank you for reading my random rant.

– Buzz