Update for 8/21/2016

Project updates

• Life maintenance
  • Diet – After six-and-a-half long weeks, I’ve completed my gluten-free experiment, and with no improvement in my ulcerative colitis symptoms, I’ve concluded that gluten is not the problem, unless I’m super sensitive to microscopic contamination from restaurants, factories, utensils, and so on, which seems to me a flaw in the use of elimination diets for diagnosing things like gluten intolerance. So now I have only one diet running, the TLC diet, and it’s a relief to be able to eat mostly normally again and not worry about being a burden on people, though Heather and Jeremy were kind enough to accommodate me last week at the Star Wars marathon without feeling burdened; and if gluten had turned out to be the problem, as it is for many people, I would’ve worked harder to find ways to live with the diet in the future and not complain so much. And I would like to add that because of this experiment and against all my expectations, I have found a brand and variety of ice cream that can compete with Blue Bell, and it’s one of the few gluten-free foods I’m keeping in my diet–fat-free creamy vanilla by Breyers, which needs no toppings and should be savored in thin slices. Cooking experiments: for the ice cream (no toppings needed, but they’re still allowed!), this chocolate sauce with half-and-half for the heavy cream and with unsweetened cocoa and Smart Balance spread for the baking chocolate, which all worked really well.
  • Exercise – Saturday morning, for the first time in about eight years, I used the weight machines at the gym, with the goal of figuring out the details of my workout, and my muscles are still sore. Now I just need to decide on a schedule (twice a week?) and settle on a workout logging app, and I can get my probably-doomed (since I’m on a calorie deficit) weight training program moving. Meanwhile, to my surprise, my daily walks are gradually speeding up as I get used to the rates I set on my metronome app.
  • Daily routine – Last week one of my main projects was to try to get to bed on time, which ideally is 9:00; and as usual when I really try, I succeeded at the beginning of the week and then pushed my bedtime back further and further as the week wore on; but I’ll try it again this week and maybe learn a little more about what it’ll take to become consistent. Time on social media still eats too much into time for more important things, so I’m gradually cutting it down to the sites I really care about that don’t completely suck me in, which basically leaves me with Twitter.
• Math relearning – With a more relaxed diet and a renewed attention to my use of free time, I’ve managed to carve out more time to spend on this project; and so to continue the theme of ending long delays, after years of thinking it would happen one day, I’ve finally created a project on GitHub, a place for people to share computer programs they’re writing, and my GitHub project is the programming part of my math relearning project, a program I’m calling Math Student Simulator. So far I’ve posted a brief explanation of the project and one of the scripts I’ll use to manage my code, which means I now have code out in public for other programmers to verbally rip apart like a pack of wolves, so … have at it, I guess! I’ve achieved enough momentum on this project that I’m able to think about it at times when I’m not physically at a computer, which is a state I’ve been hoping to reach, and it makes me think my progress will accelerate a bit. This week one of my goals is to post on the wiki a longer explanation of the programming aspect of my math relearning for people who want to understand why I’m doing it.
• Movies – I’m watching more of these than usual right now, and the latest was Jason Bourne on Sunday with Tim. It was interesting, and I found I could follow its plot better than I normally can in a political thriller, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting better at paying attention or because it was dumbed down to my level.
• Dusk – I’ll leave you with these. I went back to the park from two weeks ago and still didn’t get good pictures, but I did get some from the lake in another area of forest preserve #2.
  

  A different area of forest preserve 2.

  A photo posted by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:26pm PDT

  The lake at forest preserve 2, dusk deepening.

  A photo posted by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:30pm PDT

  City lights next to the lake. Yes, the illusion of isolation is shattered. I really like the water tower in the center.

  A photo posted by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:34pm PDT

  The lake again, with an airplane high in the sky and some birds just above the water. I find the sight of distant clouds at the horizon deeply settling.

  A photo posted by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:37pm PDT