Updated: April 19th, 2026
The world I should wish to see would be one freed from the virulence of group hostilities and capable of realizing that happiness for all is to be derived rather from cooperation than from strife. I should wish to see a world in which education aimed at mental freedom rather than imprisoning the minds of the young in rigid armor of old dogma calculated to protect them through life against the shafts of impartial evidence.
Bertrand Russel, Why I’m Not a Christian
What I’m Reading
I have no idea why I have so many books going at one time but I’ve always been that way…
I have all but stopped reading nonfiction for now because “still researching” has become an excuse for not writing and not getting started on the book–my as yet untitled book idea. As a break, I fill my reading time with fiction:
- In Search of Lost Time, vol. II–, Marcel Proust. Apparently this is the longest novel ever written and seldom do people actually finish the whole thing–challenge accepted.
- A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness, Michael Pollan. Continuing my exploration of consciousness, which started with Annaka Harris’s book Consciousness, then her audiobook/documentary Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe. Next will be a foray into sources in each of those and Pollan’s book.
- The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, Arthur C. Brooks
- Collected Essays: Reflections on Self-Knowledge, Emotional Maturity & Calm, The School of Life
- We Who Wrestle with God, Jordan Peterson–I’m reading this one with my mom in sort of a book-study. We both wrestle with God. She believes, I don’t.
- I just finished Moby Dick for the third time and I’m thinking of reading (again) Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy, so to compare the two. There’s lots of literary criticism comparing the two and I’d like to see that for myself.
- I’m also listening to several podcasts: Cultish by Amanda Montell, and Philosophy Talk.
Moved Into a 100-Year Old House
Projects, Projects, and more projects.
The house is livable and ready for entertaining at this point and we have already hosted a dinner party and a few overnight guests. Now we are working on … what to call it?
Whatever you call it I’m learning I like to fix stuff and build shit.
- Bookcases
- French drain around the garage?
- Landscaping
- Potting bench?
- Squat rack and bench press stand with attached shelving unit for kettle-bells, dumbbells and other equipment?
My Office
I finished painting. Next step is to ‘hack’ some IKEA “Billy” bookcases to look as if they are built-in shelf units. The rest of the ‘decoration’ I already own, I just need places to put it. Hence the bookshelves.
The “Sun Room”
Kathleen calls this room “Grande Soliel” (I call it the “nautical nap room” because I like puns). Big comfy furniture, artwork hung, a book shelf rearranged, knitting projects next to the chair… Eventually this room may get painted but the scheme will likely remain nautical. I think “haint blue” will end up on the ceiling in here.
Basement Workshop
Finished building a workbench and tool shelving unit. Got some new power tools. I’m designing a tool rack and battery center for them.
I built two saw horses and with those then built two kayak racks on the garage back wall using the wood from preexisting shelves I demoed.
I built a mobile base for my large miter saw. I can put this on the work bench or saw horses. This and the circular saw will make other projects easier.
Dinning Room
Painting, likely.
Living Room
Hung a new television. I’ll be painting at some point.
Landscaping and Exterior
Finally got the deck rebuilt! Now we need deck furniture–table and chairs, comfortable seating, umbrellas, and all that.
My mom will be here in June, and I plan to start doing some planting and landscaping while she’s here because she loves that stuff.
Zettlekasten & ‘Second Brain’
I’ve processed through all of the papers, scraps, and notebooks brought over from my last job and years of self study, and through my more business-like files. Most of that went into the recycling bin or was shredded. A few scraps of information went into my zettlekasten and the rest end up in a digital archive (I’m switching from Evernote to the Apple Notes app; yes a future blog post will explain why and how).
Next step is to process all of my old common-place notebooks and review the books I was reading when I scribbled in those notebooks.
All of this processing will land in my zettelkasten on 4×6 cards, filed into my antique library card catalog (see “Writing a Book” below). As I process these books I’d like to write summaries like Derek Sivers.
An Atelic Activity
I’m taking “Basic Cooking Skills” at the Loretta Paganini School of Cooking, International Culinary Arts & Sciences Institute. I’ve taken Basic Skills 1, 2, and 3. I had to take a pause this summer but will restart this fall. There are 5 in the series. Each one is four three-hour classes per month. They also have several specialty classes–pastry, cocktails, bread baking… I’m having fun and that’s what counts.
I’m also thinking of taking a photography class…
The Centenarian Olympics
I am “de-trained.” I’m also retired from law enforcement–a group that suffers from higher rates of all-cause mortality, I think in part because they just stop. They are tired and worn out and what purpose is there NOW for training?
Enter Peter Attia and his centenarian decathlon. As outlined in Doctor Attia’s book Outlive, The Science and Art of Longevity, the centenarian decathlon is a frame work he uses to organize his patients’ physical aspirations for the later decades of their lives.
“Think of the Centenarian Decathlon as the ten most important physical tasks you will want to be able to do for the rest of your life. … I find it useful because it helps us visualize, with great precision, exactly what kind of fitness we need to build and maintain as we get older. It creates a template for our training.”
Peter Attia, MD
Time to stop talking about it and get started training for my version of the ‘Centenarian Decathlon.’ I need to line out my ten (or more) events and get to work on a training plan.
Regardless of the events the over-arcing mission is intentional, purposeful, deliberate, goal-driven training to optimize three physical fitness dimensions, highly correlated with longer ‘health-span’:
- Aerobic endurance and efficiency–for metabolic flexibility and maximum aerobic output,
- Optimal strength and power to weight ratio,
- Stability, balance, and coordination.
Update: We switched from our ‘fancy’ gym to the local YMCA, but what I really want to do is eliminate time and distance barriers by programming around my home-owned equipment. Running and the rowing machine for my aerobic endurance and efficiency, kettlebells and a sandbag for strength and power to weight ratio, and yoga and other movement practices for stability, balance, and coordination.
However. so that “I’m programming it” and “I’m preparing to” doesn’t become the never-ending excuse, I will return to the gym-five-days-a-week routine ASAP.
Writing a Book
To move in that direction I’ll be reviewing old “common placing” books, book marginations and my indices, and developing my (analog) zettelkasten of 4×6 cards into my antique library card catalog (thank you Kathleen).
A small confession: I’m an organizing junky. I have common placing books from 1995(?) which was a combination of travel journal, spiritual practices, and the notation of interesting stuff I read or learned or found. Problem is the accessibility of this information is near nil. So too are all the marginations and self-developed book indexes that I wrote but never processed. That’s a big backlog of lost learning and knowledge.
For these reasons I’m likely to be blogging about this process and my re-reading and research.
Like what you’re reading? Has this information been helpful or entertaining? It’s all free, of course, but if you feel moved to the point of spending money, I won’t stop you from clicking this PayPal donation button…
