In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.
In August, Blizzard’s online gaming network Battle.net was hacked and email addresses and answers to personal security questions were accessed
I’m sure you’ve seen commercials like these regarding identity theft, and, funny as they are, they probably leave you slightly troubled… even if you think “that could never happen to me” (NB: I don’t have Citibank Identity Protect and do not endorse their particular product in any way).
Ever since watching Casino Royale a few years ago, I’ve become a fan of the Vesper martini (and is the sole reason I own a bottle of Lillet blanc). And I had my first taste of absinthe at Bar 89 (yes, the one with the cool bathrooms) around the same time, just after it became legal again in the US. Thus, you can imagine my delight to read the Wikipedia article describing a “green vesper” variant of that cocktail.
I’ve strayed a bit from the original recipe, using what spirits I have one hand, so forgive me a bit for using Tanqueray and Svedka in place of the originals, with a half-measure of Pacifique absinthe.
What a punch! The refreshing herbal gin followed by an almost biting sting of anise made for an exhilirating libation, one that I will surely return to on a regular basis (alternating with various single malts, of course!).
Today is day 103 = 3-1/2 months = week 15 of this year, and where are we with our previously-new resolutions? My list has been:
Study Japanese everyday
Go to gym ~3 times a week
Do weekly budget
Iron clothes
Take vitamins
I’ve certainly not studied Japanese everyday, not even close… despite what Khatzumoto has to say about it, I haven’t been able to consistently do it with my work schedule (although that shouldn’t be an excuse).
I’ve intermittently been to the gym, although also not 3 times a week as prescribed, again, secondary to work… but at $500/year, it’s not something I should be ignoring!
I have keep up to date with my budget, with an elaborate spreadsheet for tracking debt/assets and using Mint.com assiduously.
As far as ironing goes, I do want to look good for work (and play!) and so iron when necessary, but it’s fairly common to see a dozen shirts draped over a chair waiting for the touch of steam. I got a new Rowenta iron (yes, a German-made one) so I’ll try to keep on top of that better.
And vitamins, even though I set an alarm every night to remind me to take them, I just can’t bring myself to pop in the Centrum… and calcium… and vitamin B complex tabs. They’re easy and certainly help since I don’t get any sunlight, and they sit right on my table, but… I have no excuse.
I know it’s a joke to make fun of new year’s resolutions and how no one ever keeps them, but what if we did? Imagine how much healthier a population we’d have, eating well and exercising, not abusing substances, doing jobs we loved, in happy relationships, Getting Things Done, living in clean houses, taking time to play everyday…
I’ve been using MyPlate from Livestrong for a couple of years now to track my food and exercise intake, and initially saw very impressive results – over about 10 months I dropped from 205 to 168 pounds. I would go to the gym in my apartment to do the elliptical for ~30 minutes three times a week or so and tried to eat as healthily as possible, mostly keeping track of foods and being aware of what I was eating so I would ration my calories (“I could eat this candy but it’s 45 calories and I only have 200 left for today…”).
I certainly didnt’t subscribe to any new fad diet or anything, I basically ate the usual foods but exercised portion control. And as I’m fond of saying, I’ve discovered the secret to weight loss: eat well and exercise. I recently heard of Timothy Ferriss‘ 4-Hour Body and it sounds like an interesting idea, although as an MD myself, I’m certainly skeptical; maybe I’ll give it a read in my spare time.
And despite being a doctor myself, I make sure to have my own primary care physician to make sure I’m getting the necessary “health care maintenance” advice and screening. A few months ago, I had somewhat elevated triglycerides but an otherwise good lipid profile (LDL 70’s and HDL 50’s) and was told to cut out things like pastries and take-out food… not that I have. I recently came across the FitBit and as a gadget-oriented guy, I thought it’d be neat to get one, but just like those fad diets versus eat well and exercise, I feel the $99 price tag is not justified in my case. It’d be just as effective making sure I take time to get to the gym and remain mindful of my eating (and logging it in MyPlate!).
What do you think? How much do you depend on gizmos and gadgets and the latest in weight-loss hardware and software to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
From as early as I can remember, I had wanted or used a computer. I don’t even remember what the incentive was, but I wanted a computer and for my fourth or fifth Christmas, received a Tandy RL-1000 (the one to the right is clearly a more advanced version). It had this cool drawing program that necessitated the purchase of a mouse (two button or three button? no wheel!) and I think I also had a joystick, although for what, I have no idea. I remember also getting a box with two microchips in it: a RAM upgrade from 256 to 512kb! There was also a dot matrix printer (and eventually a color one) and this neat fluorescent desk lamp. I probably didn’t use the vast majority of what it could do, but I do remember using WordPerfect v5.1 to write up school reports (did my classmates use typewriters?).
In any case, I essentially grew up with computers, having the trusty old Apple ][e at school in kindergarten, IBM PS/2 models through fifth grade for learning touch typing, “Creative Writing”, and “Writing to Write”. I think in junior high we were introduced to “multimedia” with CD-ROMs in those cassette cases and Microsoft Encarta. What a revelation – it was like Wiki before Wiki.
Anyways, I visited my aunt and uncle today who are in their mid-60s and who had recently received one of those digital photo frames. I couldn’t figure out what they were asking me to do until I realized they wanted to put their old printed photos into the frame… it’s possible but in my head, thought it wouldn’t be worth the effort or the cost of someone else doing it for them.
I can’t find the link, but I remember reading something awhile back about how, because we have instant access to information through the Internet and access anywhere via our smartphones, people are becoming stupider: it’s easier to look something up than to remember it. It’s like the phenomenon of looking at your watch and then looking again a second later if someone asks you what time it is: you look first to see if you’re approaching a limit (like whether you have time before a noon meeting) but you don’t really comprehend the time explicitly, so to tell someone the time, you need to look again.
I’m personally very guilty of looking things up on my phone whenever and wherever – and how much do I retain? Probably not much… not to mention the whole distractibility thing and inability to multitask. I’m very fond of saying that “I love living in the future,” especially after discovering something like Google Translate on my iPhone that can translate spoken text (just like Star Trek!) – I’ve always been a sci-fi geek and fantasizing about the future.
What do you think – are today’s children growing up connected from an even earlier age than me at any disadvantage? If so, what would you suggest to today’s parents? If not, what do you think the biggest benefits are.
I recently became interested in personal finances and investments (since I started making a salary after graduating) and came across Vanguard and index funds. I had been amassing enough money to fund an IRA since my 401(k) has no match and offers a poor selection of funds, but had an emergency that required me to essentially deplete my savings and I’m working on saving up again (thank goodness I had saved up an emergency fund!). However, I have 40+ years until I will retire and while I know all about the time-value of money and “the time to invest is now” and “if Sally put $1000 away right now and never did anything else while John started 10 years later and put $5000 a month away who’d have more money” etc, I’m more concerned about my parents.
I remember my mom’s dad selling his CDs to my father to help him through a tough time (and thinking at the time, “how can music help my dad?”) and him subsequently moving in with us after a stroke for my mom to help take care of him. My dad’s mom had nearly zero assets, living from social security check to check and lived with my parents and me for awhile too. It was never said, but I recall a general feeling of “these grandparents, they’re so much work to take care of and I wish we didn’t have to do it… but I guess it’s better than being a nursing home.” They’re both gone now and any inheritance they left to my parents is nearly gone: it was put into a money market account (read “safe”) and continually withdrawn from.
My parents have always suffered from a “it’ll just work out” mentality, and for the most part, things have worked out. We’ve always had food on the table and the bills were always paid, we bought what we wanted – the only thing that we didn’t have as part of “the American Dream” was the annual vacation to someplace warm. But the word budget was never in my family’s vocabulary and especially now after the 2008 stock market crash, my parents are extremely wary of anything that sounds like “investment.” My mom just bought Suze Orman‘s “The Money Class” and I hope she reads it – I’m not sure exactly what it suggests, but it’s surely more than what they’re doing now.
I’m an upwardly-mobile young guy with a “bright future” and all that and am also fairly risk-averse, wanting to buy the best insurance I can afford, be it health, disability, auto, etc. But I don’t want to be in the same situation as my parents, either taking money from them to support myself, or having them be a burden to me as I try to care for them while I try to grow my own self/family/life.
I’ve tried to impress upon them the gist of Harry Markowitz‘s Modern Portfolio Theory, how stocks are not evil and deserve a role in any portfolio, that it’s never too late (they’re 63 and 64 years old but plan on working until 70), and Long-Term Care Insurance might be something worthwhile to buy… although I’m not sure if it’s available to them at their age. But they still think buying a house and renting parts of it out is the way to go. As a renter, one of the conveniences is just to call the landlord when something doesn’t work and expect it to be fixed within a reasonable amount of time. As the landlord, I’m sure he gets frustrated or tired of complaints from tenants, and I’m a pretty good tenant I think. I can just imagine the nightmare a bad / noisy / destructive / non-paying tenant could be and don’t think that’d be a good way for my parents to go. He justifies it by saying “well, if we get enough money to pay for the fixed expenses, then Social Security and the rest will cover any other expenses we have.” That may be true, but it needs an up-front investment of six-figures plus to get a rental property, with no guarantee of tenants. The stock/bond market has no guarantees either, but it’s probably the only way to ensure enough return to support yourself in retirement.
At the end of the day, whatever I say will fall on deaf ears, with the typical response of “these young kids, they think they know everything.” I just don’t want to be in the situation where I have to take care of them by sacrificing my own assets. Wealth is supposed to flow down the generations, not back up. Don’t think I’m heartless and don’t want to do anything to help them, but I’m concerned that my foresight to start saving early will be punished by their lack of tangible planning.
I have a hard time communicating with my parents. I’m pretty sure the majority of people my age feel the same way, but it’s particularly difficult with me since I’m adopted. I work in a white-collar / upper middle-class occupation and my parents grew up decidedly blue-collar. I’ve finished graduate school and then some, and they graduated high school and my sister barely finished seventh grade. When I go home, there’s such a divide between what I think is important and what they think is important or are even able to comprehend.
Image via Wikipedia
I’m in a liminal zone between my family and my friends (who are much better able to understand me) but suffer under the yoke of “we’ve done so much for you, why can’t you be grateful?”. I do appreciate what they’ve done for me, but it’s nevertheless hard to spend time with them just because it’s so dissatisfying. I was watching a TED talk by Eric Whitacre about a virtual choir of Youtube singers, and was profoundly moved by the beauty of such a disparate group of people spread out through the world. I wanted my father to experience it but within seconds of the performance starting, he was making comments like “he’s a real new agey kind of composer” and “they can’t show everyone’s face because there are so many contributors.” It kind of comes down to the fact that he likes to hear himself talk. It kind of ruined it for me, and I became frustrated that I couldn’t share this seemingly simple thing (after all, who doesn’t like a well-performed song?).
I’m on a personal development quest to rid myself of judgment, recognizing that I am very critical of myself and by extension, of other people, but it’s such a challenge when I come home, I’m not sure I can do it.
eklektikos cogitare 