Anti-Resume

One of my favorite non-fiction writers is Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Everyone should read his "Fooled by Randomness".

I was reading the second edition of his "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" (note: this is not related to the recent Natalie Portman film). In it, he points out that it is far more important to deal with what we do not know than to focus on what we do know. He writes about writer Umberto Eco, who has a huge personal library and categorizes people by how they react to it. The majority focus on how many of the books he has read, and the (tiny) minority of wiser ones who..

"get the point that that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool... We tend to treat our knowledge as personal property to be protected and defended. It is an ornament that allows us to rise in the pecking order. So this tendency to offend Echo's library sensibility by focusing on the known is a human bias that extends to our mental operations. People don't walk around with anti-resumes telling you what they have not studied or experienced..."

This really got me thinking about how to become smarter. Perhaps I could benefit from building an anti-resume for myself. List out all the important stuff I'm ignorant (unlearned) or innocent (inexperienced) of and prioritize changing that according to what I hope will have the greatest impact on my brain-power.

So work on my anti-resume begins this week. I'll post one soon.

Resuscitating the Blog

I've decided to resurrect this blog, with a better-defined focus. Since the title eludes to my perception that I'm not quite smart enough, I've decided to try to rectify the situation. I rededicate this blog to that pursuit.

I'll be posting my search for ways to become smarter and the results of my experiments.

By the way, to follow up on my last post, some 4 months ago, I'm now down about 20 lbs. and 13 inches off my total "orbit". My body fat is down 2.35%. I'm about 20% of the way to my goal weight. The last month has been a rough one; I've made little progress.

Health has been shown to impact intelligence and mental ability. So, this is an area I cannot ignore. Really, it's an easy way to make some brain-gains. So today I renew my efforts to get in shape.

New Year, New Body

I'm fat and I will no longer allow it to continue. I think I qualify as "morbidly obese", isn't that lovely?

Ok, I just checked. My BMI (body mass index) is 37.2, which puts me in Class II obesity, also known as "Severe Obesity", but not quite "Morbid Obesity". Whew! Dodged a bullet there. Makes me feel SO much better.

The Starting Weights and Measures are as follows:

282 pounds,
Waist 52.5,
Hips 50,
L. Thigh 27,
R. Thigh 26.5,
L. Arm 16,
R. Arm 16.5,
which adds up to a total of 188.5 inches around my parts (that's roughly the distance from the earth to the moon, I think).
I'm a bit over 73 inches tall.

On Tuesday, I'll have measures for body fat percentage when my new bio-impedance scale arrives. I'll be taking measurements daily. Since I'm a database programmer, you can expect charts and graphs and ratios and such as the data comes in over the year. I want to lose 110 lbs of fat, while adding 10 lbs of muscle, ending up at 182. I don't know if I can do that in a year. It'll probably take two years. But I intend to be well on my way by 1-Jan-2012.

The Launch starts today with a 21-day green smoothie fast. I and my wife and my brother-in-law are all doing it. That's certainly not a sustainable change, and it's not intended to be, but doing this will cleanse and detox our systems. So far today, I've had about a quarter pound of chard blended together with some berries. Can't say the kids breakfast of fried eggs and potatoes didn't look enticing, but I'm OK. I can do anything for a mere three weeks, right?

After the initial green cleanse, I'll be trying various diet and exercise combinations. I've been studying and compiling a plan. I've now got three weeks to solidify it.

Turns out I'm not travelling until the 24th, so this is a perfect time to have a weird 3-week diet.

Wish me luck.

2011 Predictions and Goals

2010 was an interesting year. I'm declaring it a success, though somewhat limited. We have spent exactly 1 year in our new home, now, and we're loving it. Still no deck and no garage, but the house itself is quite pleasant.

I'm not prone to new year's resolutions. I learned at an early age that I'm unlikely to follow through with too much and therefore I'll just be embarrassed. But this year I'm going to do it anyway. What the heck.

1. I'm obese. This year, I'll be doing something about that. As the hilarity ensues, I'll post my progress here. Hope you find it entertaining.

2. My contract work with DataSphere will improve, both monetarily and in terms of enjoyment. 2011 will be the last year of heavy travel, as we grow our Rose & Thorn database business large enough to hire someone to travel for us starting in 2012. I expect my income to rise 25% over 2010's showing, and only dip by 10% in 2012 when we hire some help to reduce travel.

3. I will have a playable version of my CSG product and be play-testing it by Thanksgiving 2011.

4. Keep doing what I seem to be getting right. My wife and kids are happy and love me. I've got a few friends that I admire and enjoy.