August in Utah

I’m writing you from a cozy coffee shop in Utah overlooking the mountains.  It goes without saying now, but my blog schedule is likely to continue to be sporadic.  I wish I could produce these without any effort, and even though the quality and level of writing appear that I’m not trying, it actually takes me a while to write these little ramblings.

I’ve spent the last few weeks doing normal life stuff (eat, gym, hike) and sprinting to get a new stock trading program started.  Today was day two of trading stocks, and so far I’ve made a little bit of money while learning a lot.  No complaints with that result.  I’ve been trading Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) exclusively the past few years, and it’s been refreshing to put my head into a fresh space.  It also helps to diversify the things I’m trading and not be solely reliant on Bitcoin trading.  I’m not 100% sure if I can make money trading stocks yet, but my research is really promising, and I’m finding out by putting my money in action on a daily basis.  I plan to trade very small amounts this month, find out where I’m making mistakes/doing things right (I learn way faster when there is actual money wagered), improve, and hopefully I will be confident enough to keep moving forward or put my efforts elsewhere.

It’s been very helpful for me to have something to work towards, especially now that activities and travel are restricted worldwide.  I tried a few things that I’ve flirted with before (studying poker, writing), but I couldn’t keep the excitement going to sustain me.  The stock trading project wasn’t any more exciting as an initial idea than anything else, but it’s been the right amount of challenge mixed with enjoyment to keep me interested.  I’m past the first phase of honeymoon excitement mixed with overwhelming scariness when actually trying to start, and now onto the part where I can coast a little while improving.      

For the first time since pre-quarantine in Colombia my nutrition and training have been easy and working.  I eat healthy 80-90% of my meals, and the bad ones aren’t as bad as in the past.  I have several easy go-to meals that I can prepare and enjoy enough to eat daily.  My training regiment is still a work in progress, but I’ve finally learned that I don’t need to crush my body, especially my legs (my knee and lower back have been regularly bothering me over the years), to make gains in strength and flexibility.  If my elbow/knee/back is sore, I do things that don’t hurt it.  My pains eventually go away, I feel better, and I go back to making incremental progress.  The incremental progress is also key.  I only add 1 rep to an exercise each week, or a few pounds, even when I’m feeling good and can do way more.  This has allowed my body to adapt (I’m not 21 or taking any performance-enhancing drugs) at a reasonable pace, and after the past few months, I’ve been surprised how many reps/more difficult exercises I’ve been able to add.  

Outside of these few things I’ve been trying to prune away some of the things that I don’t really like, but do out of habit.  Less Instagram, Twitter, and sports news.  I’ve also been making an effort to watch more films and read books, as I lost the routine, and I really enjoy those things.  I’ve been rewatching some movies I’ve enjoyed from the past, but are new to my friend Ari, including “A History of Violence”, “Interstellar”, “Drive”, and “Ex Machina”. 

With that I’ll leave you with a few pics of the outdoors here.  Not only is there incredible nature here in Utah, but it’s also only a 20-minute drive to it in any direction.