Thursday, April 12, 2012

Caffeine lowers Consciousness

Caffeine lowers the level of conscious awareness.  In some cases that's a good thing.  Not always though.  Caffeine inhibits creative thinking.  So far this year, I average about one cup of coffee a week.  When I fix coffee at work, I make cocoa-coffee since my office is stocked with Swiss Miss packets and bad tasting coffee.  I started this trend because coffee was just as readily available as hot water, and the flavors blend well.  Now I've cut back to half coffee, have hot water with my cocoa, and it tastes about the same.

Lately, I've been trying to up my work output.  I tried doing this before by increasing my overall energy level through healthy diet, regular exercise, and the occasional extra nap.  However, the stress at work is too overwhelming for natural cures.  A couple weeks ago, I tried to jump start my Monday with two full-blast cocoa coffees.  Not only did that make me nauseous and cranky, but it also kicked off another polyphasic sleep trial.  The trial didn't last since I don't drink caffeine when I follow that schedule.  The lack of sleep eventually counteracts the motivation that inspires it.  That, and I run out of things to do at night since I am not very creative during those hours.  This week I tried half-coffee cocoa, and the headaches and nausea returned.

The benefit I get from caffeine is a couple hours of mindless drone mode in which I can do really boring tasks without being annoyed by how annoyingly boring they are.  Even after the euphoria is gone, and I'm left with headaches that make me want to tear people's heads off, I am still in mindless drone mode due to the inertia of having done the same thing all morning.  This makes task switching very difficult.  Meetings are also not a good idea at this time because I'm more likely to tune everyone out and keep doing whatever I was already doing.  I get really impatient with people for stopping me and treat them like imbeciles for asking me questions so ridiculously obvious that I can explain it in one cynical, sarcastic response.  If I have more coffee after lunch, it doesn't usually give any more energy, but it does make me more nauseous and cranky.  By the end of the day, I am really rude and callous which causes problems with socializing with friends and family.

When I was going to college for my computer science degree, I was seriously addicted to Mountain Dew.  There was a vending machine in the computer science department which had a whole row of the green-bottled go-juice.  In fact, one of my classes (Database with Relational Algebra) was so stressful due to tests that would take upwards of seven hours to complete, I would come in early with a two-liter of Mountain Dew to study, and by the end of the day, I would have finished that and had one or two twenty ounce bottles from the vending machine.  Hmm, how much of that class do I remember?  Not a lot.  I also did really terrible in all my other classes because I was too tired to do the homework or study.

It had not really occurred to me until after going for several months with minimal caffeine that using caffeine to further my career only creates a codependent link between a successful career and bad health.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Minimalist vs. Barefoot

I tried the barefoot shoes in January.  I made the mistake of buying Fila.  Rule number one of buying a new type of shoe: Don't Buy Cheap!  They were still more expensive than normal running shoes, but they were obviously cheaper than a quality brand like Vibrams.  I would wear them on a run, then I would have to switch back to my old shoes for the rest of the week.  I tried wearing them at my running clinic that started in March.  It is a fun conversation starter to wear shoes with toes, but it is still embarrassing to run around in something that will skin your heels.  I went back to my old shoes for a while, though they felt clunky and unnatural.  The barefoot shoe was fun because I felt like I was running with my whole foot, not just running on stumps.  I enjoyed the feeling of grabbing the pavement with my toes and hopping around like an elf.

When I first saw the Minimalist shoe (Nike and New Balance's solution to barefoot running), I scoffed at their toe-less unsophistication.  I had my heart set on wearing toe shoes and I did not consider a shoe to be in the "barefoot" class of shoes unless they had toes.  I have learned since then.  The Fila toes really did not add much to the experience.  The whole point of barefoot shoes is they lack the cushion that normal running shoes have in excess.

There is a New Balance store near me.  I went there to get minimalist shoes since the old shoes just don't do it for me anymore.  This store has sales people that have to explain how these shoes work and make sure you don't get injured from buying the wrong shoe.  I only had to repeat to the guy about 10 times that I have experience in barefoot running.  He tried to sell me the Minimus 10.  I insisted on the Zero.  I don't need a stepping stone.  At first I tried to pick out a "casual walking" shoe because I was going for uber minimalism.  The sales guy gave me a funny look and explained that those shoes wouldn't hold up for running.  It occurred to me that they would probably shred faster than running shoes.  Then I picked a "cross-trainer" and got another funny look.  Finally I just told him to point out the running shoes so I could get on with my life.  They didn't have a huge style selection, but I was still fortunate enough to get a non-yellow pair.

The minimalist shoes feel just as good as the barefoot shoes for running with the added bonus of being able to wear socks to prevent blisters.  I can even wear them while riding my bike, something I couldn't do with my Fila shoes because there was no extra room past the toe.  I'm barely tall enough for my bike with regular shoes.

Minimalist shoes are no nonsense primal footwear.  I know several people who have Vibrams toe shoes and love them, but Fila is a brand to avoid like the plague.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Dvorak: Not the Thrill I was Seeking

Sure I could get used to driving on the left side of the road, or sleeping during the day while staying awake at night.  But would it really help anything in the long run?  I learned the Dvorak keyboard layout.  I got frustrated at my inability to learn it faster.  I was so excited when I got up to 30 words per minute, but after sleeping and trying again, I still tried a garbled mix of Dvorak, QWERTY, and some utter foolishness in between.  Free writing was even more painful than taking typing races.  I could memorize a reflex when I saw a letter on the screen, but when translating from thoughts into letters, I wanted to rip the computer apart with my bare hands because the slowness was excruciating.  I finally switched my computer back to QWERTY, and there were relapses to Dvorak (such as typing "the" as "kjd"), but muscle memory goes back much farther than my Dvorak training.

I thought learning a new keyboard layout would be a good exercise in personal development.  It was.  It took typing at 12 - 20 words per minute to I realize what a good typist I normally am.  I did learn how to type without looking at the keyboard.  Previously that was a big slowdown.

One of the things that made the transition difficult was the iPhone.  Sure I can type QWERTY with my thumbs and not mess with the patterning of the rest of my fingers.  But seeing the layout daily was hindering my ability to forget the old and learn the new.  Apple has no plans for implementing a Dvorak layout on either the iPhone or iPad native interfaces.  I would think that since it's all virtual keys it wouldn't be so difficult compared to physical button changes.  I guess they are that lazy.

So I practiced the hell out of Dvorak, but ultimately I asked "why the hell am I doing this?"  The answer "because I can" was not a sufficient reason to continue the torturous exercise in bringing my communication to a screeching halt.  Why switch back to QWERTY?  Because I can type nearly as fast as I think, and it doesn't take thinking to type.  I like to do things my own way, but if that way does not make me better at things I can already do or make it possible for me to do more, then there's no point in changing.  Being different for the sake of being different is not enough.  There has to be something in it for me.  Maybe I would need to switch to Dvorak to type faster than 100 words per minute.  But I don't need to type that fast.  If there ever comes a time that I do, I will sequester myself away from the world for a month and dedicate myself to learning it with no distractions or Apple products.  In other words, that change had better be worth the effort to make it.