Kaizen Day 21, Apr 30 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 21 of that routine

Got out of bed ad 5:10 AM today..had my coffee and listened to some podcasts. Left the house around 6:20 AM and ran for about 40 minutes.


My oldest son made a raisin cinnamon bread the night before and today he used that bread to make french toast for everyone.

While the wife and kids went to church I walked around Princeton and listen to the London Real podcast with Crazy Legs

Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy from the Bronx New York City, USA. He featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983.

This brought back a whole bunch of memories from when I was a teenager. I remember watching the movie Beat Street and Breakin' and liking them. Back in the early 80s I could pull off some of those breakdancing moves like the worm.

Here is a pic I snapped near the golf course in Princeton right across the Wawa and the Princeton NJ Transit train station  

Near the golf course, close to Princeton University

For lunch I took some leftover string beans and cherry tomatoes salad, added chickpeas and chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano to it and shared it with my kids


For dinner we had a variant of chicken cacciatore, we substituted mushrooms for green beans because not all the kids like mushrooms

I had half a cookie for dessert as well as some blueberries and a kiwi


Total steps:  20,681
Total floors: 4
Total distance: 9.8 miles

Kaizen Day 19/20, Apr 28/29 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 19/20 of that routine

April 28

I worked from home today, mostly because we had a bunch of meetings, it doesn't make sense to go into the office just to dial into meetings

I woke up at 5, had my coffee and then rode my bike to the gym. I did a back, bicep and leg workout and then rode my back back home. I was back home by 7:40 AM

Had some eggs for breakfast, and I had a sandwich for lunch


For dinner we had pasta with kale, bacon and fontina cheese, we also had a side of salad

I had some ice cream for dinner

Total steps:  11,930
Total floors: 21
Total distance: 5.3 miles



April 29

I woke up at 5 because of a huge thunderstorm, had my coffee and then rode my bike to the gym at 6:20. I did a chest, shoulder and tricep workout and then rode my back back home. I was back home by 8:30 AM

Had some leftover pancakes for breakfast

Took a walk to the bookstore with my oldest son while the two younger kids had their tennis lesson

Had a little pasta with broccoli for lunch


For dinner we had burgers on the grill with a side salad that had string beans and cherry tomatoes in it

salad with string beans and cherry tomatoes

Total steps:  21,538
Total floors: 18
Total distance: 9.5 miles

Kaizen Day 18, Apr 27 2017, bring your kids to work day

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 18 of that routine

Today was bring your kids to work day, I decided to bring the 2 youngest kids to the New York City office to meet some people and after that I would take them around the city a little

I made scrambled eggs for the 3 of us. We packed sandwiches water and fruit, my wife dropped us at he train station. We took the NJ Transit train, as by a miracle, the trains were running on time for a change. We took the path train from Newark to the World Trade Center station and I took a pic there




We then walked to the office on 55 Water Street. They played a little bit off ping pong and air hockey. I had them meet some of my co-workers. We left around 10 AM, we went to the National Museum of the American Indian which is only 3 or so blocks from the office

We spent some time in the museum and looked around in the shop. They have some really expensive stuff there. Some bracelets were $4500



After the museum, I took them to the September 11th memorial site



The plan was now to go to Chinatown and Little Italy after that. We walked to Canal Street, looked around a little, we then made a left on Mulberry street which is in the hear of Little Italy. There is a Audrey Hepburn mural on Mulberry street, I took a pic of the kids in front of it




We were supposed to walk to Union Square, sit down to eat lunch and then walk to the High Line, but they were very tired from walking. We took the subway to Union Square instead. We sat at the park in Union Square and ate our sandwiches. We then walked to whole foods and all 3 of us got a nice ice cream stick.

We walked to the High Line and then sat down on one of the benches to rest

Walking around I noticed this building designed by the architect Zaha Hadid  who passed away recently

ded

We walked to Penn Station and took the train home


The kids did some reading on the train, Nicky is reading The Blue Lotus which is a Tintin story

At home we had early dinner, my wife made turkey bolognese


This food was gobbled up in 2 minutes, they must have been starving from all that walking

In the end here is what the activity looked like

Total steps:  25,383
Total floors: 22
Total distance: 10.4 miles




The kids went to sleep 30 minutes earlier and had a very good night sleep. The last time they walked so much was in Washington.

Kaizen Day 17, Apr 26 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 17 of that routine

Whenever I plan to go to the city I set my alarm to go off at 4 AM. I will always wake up by myself around 3:57 AM, the alarm will almost never go off while I am still sleeping. Today I woke up at 3:35 AM. I decided to get up...what is the point trying to get another 25 minutes of sleep in

I made myself a cold brew coffee the night before and I drank this between 4 and 4:30 AM

I left the house at 4:30 AM, walked to the train station, this took 40 minutes. I caught the 5:20 train, I read about 30 pages of the book Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen . The train arrived at  Newark at 5:55 or so, got on the PATH train and arrived at the World Trade Center station around 6:20. I then walked to the New York Sports Club gym on Broad street and did push-ups, shoulders and triceps as part of my workout. I also did 20 minutes of cardio which burned a total of 230 calories


Arrived at  the office a little before 8 AM

Had yogurt with fruit for breakfast

I attended the S&P Global shareholders meeting today. This was the first shareholders meeting I attended in person. After the meeting I decided that this will be the last shareholders meeting I will attend in person, I will just dial in from my desk next time.

For lunch I had a bean burrito and an avocado

I took a 25 minute lunch walk around Wall Street

Left work at 4:30 PM, got to Princeton at 6:10. my wife picked me up, so I didn't walk home today

For dinner we had the same as last night: lentil soup


Total steps:  25,490
Total floors: 23
Total distance: 11.9 miles

Kaizen Day 16, Apr 25 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 16 of that routine

Got out of bed ad 5:07 AM today..had my coffee and was about to go for a run at the trail but then a downpour happened.  I thought about skipping the run today but it stopped around 5:50 and it was just drizzling. Instead of going to the trail I decided to just run on the sidewalk, I also cut the run short by 15 minutes otherwise I would not make it in time to catch the van to work

Listened to triangulation show 295 with Cory Doctorow on the run

Cory Doctorow's latest novel is Walkaway, a look into the future of mass surplus and mass unemployment.
He talks to Leo Laporte about how people reinvent themselves, the difference between disaster and catastrophe, the future of copyright, and his refusal to use DRM.

 Had a smoothie with yogurt, almonds, kiwi, banana and strawberry for breakfast

Walked the 2.2 miles to the train station to catch the van to work

Had chicken oreganata with orzo for lunch

Since it was really crappy weather and my wife was picking up the kids from piano lessosn, she picked me up from the train station

For dinner had lentil soup and string beans on the side. The lentil soup was made with the bone broth I made on Friday.


Total steps:  21,057
Total floors: 8
Total distance: 9.6

Steps April 25th

Kaizen Day 15, Apr 24 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 15 of that routine

I worked from home today, mostly because we had a bunch of meetings, it doesn't make sense to go into the office just to dial into meetings

I woke up at 5, had my coffee and then rode my bike to the gym.  It was a beautiful morning

Snapped a picture of a sunrise while biking

This is the library at Princeton University campus early in the morning




I did a back, bicep and leg workout and the rode my back back home. I was back home by 7:30 AM

I had 2 pancakes that my kids didn't eat and some leftover scrambled eggs for breakfast

I had some cheese and bread for lunch

For dinner, had cauliflower, sausage and pasta

My son made chocolate biscotti and oatmeal raisin cookies, had half a cookie and one biscotti for dessert



Total steps:  16,094
Total floors: 16
Total distance: 7.4

Kaizen Day 14, Apr 23 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 14 of that routine

I decided to do a run again today, I normally don't run twice in a row but because the way this coming week is scheduled it made more sense to hit the trail today instead of tomorrow.

Got up at 5:30, had my coffee, browsed the internet a little, listened a bit to The Ancient World - Rediscovery podcast.  At 7 I went for my run, I listened to 2 episodes of the The Ancient World - Rediscovery podcast while running.

I was at 10K steps by 8 AM.

While my wife went to church with the children, I decided to walk around in Princeton for an hour since it was a beautiful day

Here are some pics I took from my walk

Seventy-Nine Hall


Seventy-Nine Hall was presented to Princeton by Woodrow Wilson's classmates in 1904


East Pyne Building



East Pyne Building, originally Pyne Library, was built in 1897, the Sesquicentennial gift of Mrs. Percy Rivington Pyne, mother of Moses Taylor Pyne 1877


Prospect Garden


Eight thousand flowers are planted in the garden every year during a two-week period in May, after the tulip bulbs that bloomed in the spring are removed


After picking up my wife and kids, we went to 2 farms to pick up some vegetables as well as some meat

I took a short video of this cute calf at Cherry Grove Farm




I watched El Clásico between 2:45 and 3:30. This is a soccer/football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.  I still can't believe that Barcelona won, the brilliance of Messi was on full display today, because of this win, the league is still open. I still think that Real Madrid will win the league however

Had the same for lunch today as yesterday since I still had some soup leftover

For dinner we decided to have chili con carne, rice, salad and pico de gallo, all of this was made from scratch

For dessert today I had some ice cream, this is the first time I had ice cream, cookies or candy in 2 weeks. I made today kind of a cheat day by allowing a bit of sweets today

Total steps:  18,779
Total floors: 3
Total distance: 8.9