Kaizen Day 29 May 9 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 29 of that routine

I woke up at 5, had my coffee and then rode my bike to the gym. I did a back, bicep and leg workout. I then rode my back back home. I was back home by 7:30 AM

I listened to the triangulation podcast with author Daniel Suarez while biking to and from the gym

Daniel Suarez is the author of five books, including Daemon, Freedom(tm), and Influx. His latest book, Change Agent, depicts a near-future world where genetic editing technology has become commonplace. Daniel talks to Leo Laporte about how he writes, how biotech like CRISPR is poised to create the next industrial revolution, and what it will be like when your steak is grown in a vat instead of raised in a pen.

I read all Daniel Suarez's books so far, I loved Daemon and Freedom, will have to check out Change Agent

For breakfast I had a couple of eggs and some bread

I worked from home, had a bunch of meetings and did a fair amount of troubleshooting. I took 1/2 a vacation day because I wanted to watch the Champions League semifinal between Juventus and Monaco

Lunch was a burrito with some tomatoes

For dinner, I had a minestrone with beans

Dessert was some watermelon

Activity for the day

Total steps: 14,223

Total floors: 15

Total distance: 6.6  miles

Kaizen Day 28 May 8 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 28 of that routine

Got out of bed ad 5 AM today, had my coffee and listened to some podcasts. Left the house around 5:30 AM and ran for about 40 minutes. On the run I listened to the Tim Ferriss podcast episode: The Savant of Speed — Ryan Flaherty.  I noticed that the runs are getting easier than when I started, it is actually not that bad the last 2 minutes or so. I am thinking of either adding some distance or maybe running faster, not sure yet, I will give it a week or so,

Cooled down, took a shower, walked the 2.2 miles to the train station

At work I had a slice of pizza for lunch as well as an apple and an orange

Played 5 games of 9-ball at work, managed to beat my buddy Vlad 3-2, even though he lead by 2-0 and he also put in the 9 ball from the break in the first game. In the end, I had a little bit of luck and managed to win the last game,

Today I Learned

I finished the Ancient World podcast, I started to listen to a new podcast (new for me), this is the Stuff You Should Know podcast. I started all the way from the beginning, the first 20-30 podcasts are around 10 minutes each so I am blazing through it. So there was an interesting episode, I have never heard of this before, it is called Guerrilla Gardening

From wikipedia

Guerrilla gardening is the act of gardening on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned sites, areas that are not being cared for, or private property. It encompasses a diverse range of people and motivations, ranging from gardeners who spill over their legal boundaries to gardeners with political influences who seek to provoke change by using guerrilla gardening as a form of protest or direct action. This practice has implications for land rights and land reform; aiming to promote re-consideration of land ownership in order to assign a new purpose or reclaim land that is perceived to be in neglect or misused.
The land that is guerrilla gardened is usually abandoned or perceived to be neglected by its legal owner. That land is used by guerrilla gardeners to raise plants, frequently focusing on food crops or plants intended for aesthetic purposes.

You can also check this site out if you want to see pictures and get more information http://guerrillagardening.org/

For dinner I had the same exact thing as yesterday: Italian Wedding Soup

For dessert I had some yogurt with fruit

Activity for the day

Total steps: 27,224

Total floors: 5

Total distance: 13.9  miles

Kaizen Day 26/27, May 6/7 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 26/27 of that routine

May 6

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.

Had a combination of breakfast and lunch today around 11, I guess I can call it lunch, it was a cheese sandwich and some tomatoes

For dinner we had burgers, sweet potatoes and salad

Total steps:  20,038
Total floors: 4
Total distance: 10.2 miles




May 7

Went for a nice 2 hour walk between 5 AM and 7 AM. I shot this 4 minute video around Blair Hall in Princeton at the university



For breakfast I had some eggs, an English muffin and some tomatoes

For lunch, I had some rice, zucchini, onions and tomatoes. I added a little soy sauce and sambal oelek to give it some flavor and heat



Dinner tonight was Italian wedding soup.  Dessert was a little bit of ice cream


Total steps:  14,310
Total floors: 10
Total distance: 6.5 miles

Kaizen Day 25, May 5 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 25 of that routine

I woke up at 5, had my coffee and then rode my bike to the gym. I did a chest, shoulder and tricep workout. During the workout I decided that between each set I would go up and down the stairs twice. By the time I was done with the workout I had climbed 56 floors.  I then rode my back back home. I was back home by 7:30 AM

For breakfast I had a couple of eggs and some bread

I worked from home, had a bunch of meetings and did a fair amount of troubleshooting

Before work I installed CTP 2 of SQL Server 2017, I checked out the new SELECT INTO FileGroup functionality and wrote a short post about it: SQL Server 2017: SELECT INTO File Group

I didn't eat lunch but I had some fruit and cheese during various times of the day

For dinner we made Mexican food since it was Cinco de Mayo. May 5th is also Bevrijdingsdag in the Netherlands. Bevrijdingsdag is celebrated each year on May the 5th to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.

For dessert I've been a bad boy and had cookies and cream ice cream...


My goal was to climb 100 floors, I ended up with climbing 101 floors. I did 45 of them at home, most of them were done during phone calls with work (backlog grooming, story closing and daily stand up)

Here is what the rest of the activity looks like

Total steps:  15,837

Total floors: 101

Total distance: 7.6 miles

Kaizen Day 24, May 4 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 24 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 3:50 AM. I decided to get up...what is the point trying to get another 10 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 back, biceps and legs as part of my workout.

I then walked to the office and snapped this picture below from the 33rd floor




For breakfast I had a burrito, avocado and cherry tomatoes



For lunch, I had something that wasn't too healthy, it was a buffalo chicken steak sandwich


On my way home I saw this cool vehicle at the New York Stock Exchange... I originally though it was a hummer. I is actually a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

Here is what wikipedia says about this vehicle

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is a United States military (specifically U.S. Army, USSOCOM, and U.S. Marine Corps) program to part-replace the Humvee^[3] with a family of more survivable vehicles with greater pay load. The JLTV program was approved in 2006 to begin early studies.

On the train ride home I listened to Tim Ferriss podcast show:  Exploring Smart Drugs, Fasting, and Fat Loss — Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Walked the usual 2.2 miles from the train station home

For dinner I had leftovers from the day before, baked ziti, we also had salad

For dessert I had some pineapple and a kiwi


Here is what the activity looks like.... is that half a marathon?

Total steps:  27,498
Total floors: 46
Total distance: 13.1 miles





Looks like I need to tighten the belt by 1 hole any day now, my jeans are starting to get a little loose

Kaizen Day 23, May 3 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 23 of that routine


Today I didn't do any cardio or workout to the gym. I had to be home with the youngest kids while my wife had to drive the oldest kid to school to catch a bus to NYC as part of a class trip. He went to see the play School of Rock and also visited Radio City Music Hall

I decided to take the stairs every time I passed them as kind of a workout today


I did my usual 2.2 mile walk to the train station, I arrived with 20 minutes to spare , I walk around the train station. I noticed the lighting in the tunnel looked kind of cool, I took a picture and you can see what it looked like below

Tunnel at Princeton junction Train Station

At work whenever I went to use the restroomI decided to take the stairs down and then up again
The goal was to hit 50 floors for the day

I also decided to do a 24 hour fast, so dinner will be the first solid food I will have today. I had coffee with half and half but no solids


For dinner my wife made baked ziti and we had cauliflower on the side


At the end of the day I actually did 77 floors, not too bad at all. I noticed at least 4 people going up and down the stairs in the office around lunch time

Here is what the rest of the activity looks like

Total steps:  24,874
Total floors: 77
Total distance: 11.3

Kaizen Day 23, May 2 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 23 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 3:45 AM. I decided to get up...what is the point trying to get another 15 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 21 minutes of cardio which burned a total of 240 calories


Arrived at  the office a little before 8 AM

Had yogurt with fruit for breakfast

For lunch I had a rice/bowl from Chipotle

Left work at 4:30 PM, got to Princeton at 6:10. Read about 30 pages of the book Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen on the train. 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:  20,664
Total floors: 24
Total distance: 9.2