In recent days, I stumbled into Viva La Dirt League's Are Cellphones Ruining Us? podcast episode. It's just three dudes, admittedly three guys who pour a lot of joy into people's lives, talking about their own behavior and experience with cell phones.

I was taken aback by how miserable they are while being unable to escape their phones. I don't know if that's the difference between ages 35-40 versus 45, but as the tech evolved, I quickly did my own thing. Phones have no dominion over me.

I recall writing a post in 2005 (among the lost archives) specifically about how I disliked how folks would have that squirrel reflex to anything their phone does during a face-to-face conversation. Contextually, it was at Republic Coffee on Madison with "dumb" phones, but I already saw a glimpse of today coming on the horizon as an existential threat.

I considered what does it mean if anyone can instantly break into my life and hop up-and-down like an impetuous child, that we would have no quiet places to recharge...that we're always flipped to on...that what we're doing individually or who we're am investing time into is not important.

There was once a time when checking a notification on a phone was awkward if not outright rude—conveying to to the person who is sharing their day with you that WHATEVER this notification is about, it's more important than them. Maybe in the present, people's online follower tendencies inform them that they don't really matter, so they accept endure this behavior by others. I suspect they might even champion it, "We must bow down before the wonderful and mighty...Steve."

There is no age I would have fallen for TikTok or Instagram nonsense. How could it? I wouldn't know the first thing about how to communicate on those platforms. "I gotta take a picture every day? Edit a video?!" It all comes off as an evil marketer's dream: a magazine ad platform on one side and a TV ad space on the other all swirled together with that photoshopped me-me-me. And the followers of the Great Steve will spend hours at a time bathing in all of that uselessness and narcissism!

You can count me out on that.

I shake my head. Nevertheless, I heed VLDL's warning. As I stated the other day, I got around to cutting ties with Google and Garmin. I factory-resetted my phone and crossed the Android Debug Bridge. My phone can't used as a time vortex. While I'm on the fence about having a web browser on it, I retain Bitwarden. System utilities aside, I've got a Bible, GTY, and Spotify. That's it. I can be called and even texted. But, there's no email client. My life isn't my phone. This former Bolton High School's Who's Who of Computer Science is alive!

This early VLDL video from 2014 on pedestrian crossings sums up my take on all of this:

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My carnivore streak has reached 150 days. 5 months! And once again, scurvy never set in. 🤪 This diesel locomotive keeps rumbling along.

Trains to Tokyo, staring out windows
A place we've never been
While soundtracks play in backgrounds
To the stories of our lives

Anberlin

The thing is, I faced a lot of personal unknowns on that first voyage in carnivore, ESPECIALLY since I was once SUPPLEMENTS-TO-THE-MAX guy. These days, I know I can trust it as a species-appropriate diet. Sure, in lean times we can gnaw on tree bark and leaves, but we were more satisfied when we hunted with our dogs or netted fish.

When I survey the past 5 months, how strange it is to reflect on how I once found it difficult to return to this lifestyle! Profound is the addiction of carbs—sugar can be VERY enticing!

My Wednesday/Sunday Fat Focus days experiment continues. Unlike last time, The 37th Expedition ought to give better insight toward the impact of having a couple days where I bump 87% to 98-99% calories from fat. I actually up the amount on those days as well, though its generally in the neighborhood of 250 grams, so it's not a statistically significant change in calories. As such, I would not label it as metabolic confusion. But, I'm definitely throwing my body a curve ball! And yet on those days, I can feel I am missing the protein.

Incidentally, I never miss sugars. I make up the next day (and the preceding) by feeling free to bump up the protein beyond 75. And I look forward to tomorrow morning when I reward myself with a filet of salmon!

As to my other fitness categories, while experientially, it's just another day, I seem to have returned a few plates to the rack regarding my persistent fatigue. Yesterday, I pushed the ol' mower across both the front and back yards. Not that my chest did not flutter, but there was an increased stamina capacity. Just not enough to continue with the weedwacker. I can now also stand up and fry up bacon fully and not settle!

My legs are also lighter. Sometimes, I feel like I can step up on air. My kicks have greater snap and control. But, I suspect that's more of a function of continued weightloss, especially as these particular 38" pants either demand a hand or a pair of suspenders. And yes, today is an Alaskan belt buckle day...and you KNOW I'm snapping suspenders against these long-sleeved black shirts!

Through the mountain of fire
With glass eyes and digital water
Through the shadows, I'm coming home

Gunship

Garmin's interpretation of my watch's data is meaningless. I know I'm just not THAT frazzled. When the parameters of a scenario are modified, I adjust accordingly. It's change that gets folks, doesn't it? That shift away from homeostasis. And I welcome change.

Earlier this year, I laughed aloud in delight as I walked the perimeter of Easthill through the pouring showers and the tempest of crackling lightning. Chaos makes sense to me, or at least, it's honest. It's not the 2002's False Faces of edged lawns and vacation pics uploaded to Facebook. The real world is broken, tribal, and animalistic.

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Not that there aren't storylines, but they are all thematic elements that have played out many times before. Isn't that one of the luxuries of reaching the mid-40s? There's a consistency that we see. I'm not saying I'm nuzzling up to it for lovin', but it's no adversary I haven't already seen before.

No, stress is not a proper interpretation by Garmin. What metric does it use to reach that conclusion? Heart rate variability (HRV)—observe the timing pattern and notate signficant difference. Assuming my Forerunner 935 is accurate, apparently my HRV is crazy-go-nuts! That said, in context, my brewed cup of maybe-neuropathy, fatigue, and HRV funky behavior is consistent with being a zombie for a long time.

So what do I do?

1. Toss my Garmin aside. Avada Kedavra Google.
2. Walk.
3. Lift weights—I got that Golden Ratio to hit by year end!
4. Maybe be a software developer. Why not? I've got Raspberry Pi just laying around. Pick up a couple of these Black & Decker books and be a knuckle-dragging gorilla.

I really bought into those core tenets of Taekwondo back in my training (or they aligned up with who I am). The two that stand out in this time is Perseverance and Indomitable Spirit. Fundamental to both is the understanding the environment, what is under my purview and that which is part of the system/terrain. You could say it's a SWOT analysis. Or you could just think it's the recognition of the things I can control vs. things I can—use to my advantage. And once you do know the tabletop layout, then dominate and win...even if victory conditions resemble Rocky or Gladiator.

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