The markets are closed today, so so is work. That said, I'm doing a tiny bit of work today to get ahead for next week.
But I spent a nice morning sitting out on my porch and then went out for a 3-hour-long leisurely lunch with two friends. Neither of my friends had been to that restaurant before, and they both liked it and will go back. I've been going weekly since I discovered the place, which opened in January (I discovered it in March or April). What I like about it is that they have a lot of gluten-free offerings since the owner has celiac. Also the food is good and the ambiance pleasant. The owner brought us a free dessert after we'd been sitting there for a while chatting after finishing our food, which was a pleasant surprise. My friends billed it as a "finder's fee" for getting the restaurant new customers.
I will go tomorrow to take a follow-up ferritin test to see if I've made any progress since I've been taking the new supplement for 6 weeks. They have a money-back guarantee if you see no progress by 60 days. Tomorrow will be 46 days and if there's going to be progress at 60 days, there should be some movement by now.
I'm also working on trying to get more sleep. The Fitbit app was replaced last month by the Google Health app, which uses AI, and I have been finding it helpful. It was able to tell me, for example, that I've increased my average minutes per night of sleep by 14 over the past month, and I've quadrupled the number of nights during which I get at least 7 hours of sleep since the beginning of the year. I'm still feeling fatigued much of the time, though.
I'm planning to do a more comprehensive blood panel in another month--one of those direct-to-consumer ones you can order from Function Health or Superpower or other providers--I still haven't finalized which one I will use yet. While there's a risk that, by running more tests, you are more likely to flag something as a problem that isn't really so, I'm well enough trained in statistical thinking not to be upset by a one-off result and will attend to the overall trends. I'm pretty sure that whatever is causing the fatigue is related to my other chronic autoimmune issues, which are the types of things conventional medicine doesn't deal with optimally.
I'm still happy with my rebounder purchase, although a slightly disconcerting thing is that, in the month I've been using it, my heart has adapted, so now the same bouncing speed that got my heart rate up to a moderately vigorous reading is registering as light. The Google Health app suggested adding holding two 10 pound kettlebells to my bounce after the warm-up. I did that this morning and that helped.
I have yet to make significant progress on my home projects. That is really more of an energy problem than anything else. When I do take time off, catching up on rest is the first priority and catching up on my social life, which has been virtually nonexistent since December until this past week was priority number 2. The usual pattern at work of too many meetings, too few meetings, too many meetings, too few meetings doesn't serve me well, but is out of my control. I might have a couple of consecutive weeks the end of July without any meetings, but the heat then tends to exhaust me as well. In any case, I'm hoping to have more energy or at least more answers to my fatigue issues by later this summer.
Happy solstice this weekend! While it technically marks the beginning of summer, I always feel like solstice and particularly Independence Day mark the end of summer, as we begin to lose, rather than gain light during the day and as things seem to get very busy particularly by the time that August arrives.
June 21st, 2026 at 12:45 am 1782002755
Oh, I didn't know they called those trampoline thingies rebounders haha. Interesting. Now, is it safe to be using a kettlebell and a rebounder at the same time? I am going to assume so since I don't know the details, and you don't strike me as the type that would do anything reckless.
Rest is arguably the most important part of strength training. So, I am glad that you do take time off to rest and recover.
As for the weather, all I know is it's getting too hot for me out there, and I'm all for cooling down as soon as possible. Anyway, Happy Juneteenth to you as well.
June 21st, 2026 at 06:44 pm 1782067498
That's a good (and semi-new to me) point about rest being the most important part of strength training. I do know that strength training can cause tiny tears in the muscles and that rest is where those get repaired, and the repairs make the muscle stronger.
Once I get my sleep/rest more in hand, I really need to work on strength training with a coach until I feel more confident about my form. But rest first.
June 22nd, 2026 at 12:04 am 1782086651
But yeah, basically, exercise is actually the phase by which we rip and tear down our muscles, so that Rest then can come in and repair it all back up, better than ever. Consider it the biological equivalent of... kitchen remodeling. Imagine a demo crew coming in, breaking everything in the kitchen that you tell them to, but once they're done with the demolition, imagine they never actually follow it up with the actual remodel itself. That's basically what happens when we don't get adequate rest (or diet).
In short, exercise is technically what weakens us, but rest (and diet) is actually what rebuilds us back up. Ok, I'll get off my soap box now haha.
June 24th, 2026 at 01:09 pm 1782306585