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

Kaizen Day 12/13, Apr 21/22 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 12/13 of that routine


April 21

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 the rode my back back home. I was back home by 7:30 AM

When I got home I started to make the bone broth, since this is a chicken bone broth, you don't need to have it simmer for 20 hours, 8-9 hours is all it needs.

Bone broth finished and stored in jars

I use the bone broth to drink hot on a cold winter day, I also use it as a base for soups and risotto


For dinner we had chicken with sweet potatoes and a salad. I saved the bones again and froze them. Once I have a decent number of bones I will make another bone broth


Total steps:  11,109
Total floors: 18
Total distance: 5.2 miles


April 22

Today I did a 4 mile run at the canal, started at 7 AM

For breakfast I had eggs, roasted peppers and an English muffin


Made some tomato sauce because my oldest son wanted pasta for lunch. I took out a quarter of the tomato sauce for him. I added some bone broth to the rest of the sauce blended it and turned it into delicious tomato soup.  I then made hot cheese sandwiches (paninis) to go with the soup for me and the two youngest kids... They gobbled it up in 2 minutes


For dinner we had burgers with sweet potato fries and a mixed green salad

I started to watch Warcraft..I stopped watching after 45 minutes, I like the main actor Travis Fimmel from the show Vikings but the movie was just very disappointing. I also never played Warcraft or World of Warcraft so maybe that had something to do with it. How did this movie get a 7 rating on IMBD?


I listened to Tim Ferriss podcast with Dorian Yates: Dorian Yates on High Intensity Training, Injury Prevention, and Building Maximum Muscle that was really interesting.



Total steps:  15,607
Total floors: 13
Total distance: 6.8

Kaizen Day 11, Apr 20 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 11 of that routine

Woke up at 4 to go to New York City and the gym. This plan got derailed really fast, I had to log into work because there were some problems with the testing DB servers. It took about 90 minutes to get it all resolved,  because of that I didn't have time to go to the gym and make it to the office at a reasonable time.

I walked to the station, took the train to Newark Penn Station, from there I took the path to Worl Trade Center. I then walked to the office.

Had a sandwich from Le Pain for breakfast

At lunch time I got myself a Korean bi bim bap bowl




I decided to take a little walk after lunch since it was such a nice day. I walked around for 30 minutes or so and took some pictures.

Me having grown up in Amsterdam, I couldn't help myself, I had to take a picture of these beautiful tulips in new Amsterdam






This is a pic looking over at Broad Street with Fraunces Tavern in the front, you can see the office building I work in in the back ground



Here is a short part about Fraunces Tavern from Wikipedia 

Fraunces Tavern is a landmark museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street. The location played a prominent role in history before, during and after the American Revolution, serving as a headquarters for George Washington, a venue for peace negotiations with the British, and housing federal offices in the Early Republic. It has been owned by Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York Inc. since 1904, which carried out a major conjectural reconstruction, and claim it is Manhattan's oldest surviving building. The museum interprets the building and its history, along with varied exhibitions of art and artifacts.[4] The tavern is a tourist site and a part of the American Whiskey Trail and the New York Freedom Trail

Left work around 5 PM, did the reverse commute from this morning

I had cabbage and potatoes with roasted chicken for dinner. I saved the chicken bones, I will use them to make a bone broth. For dessert I had 2 kiwis

I also noticed that I lost 5 pounds so far when I weighed myself this morning.

Below is an image of the steps, floors and distance

Kaizen Day 10, Apr 19 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 10 of that routine

Today I got up at 4:45, 15 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. I had a little bit of cold brew coffee and read some news. I left the house around 5:30 and biked to the gym. It is about 4 miles or so to the gym, this took me about 20-25 minutes.

While I was biking I stopped at the graveyard near St Paul's cathedral and I took the most beautiful sunrise



 Isn't that beautiful? It makes getting up in the dark so much worth  it.

At the gym I did back and biceps. I then biked back home, this was a little faster because a large part is downhill

Ate some sunny side up eggs, had some homemade bread and cornichons and cherry tomatoes with it

Didn't really eat lunch today but had 10 or so peanuts and also 2 slices of homemade banana bread my wife made

Dinner was some kind of vegetable and bean stew...  it was pretty tasty. Also had spring mixed salad with a lemon and olive oil dressing

Since I worked from home today, I only did 10K steps and 13 floors

Kaizen Day 9, Apr 18 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 9 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 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi . 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 226 calories

Got to the office and the view was wonderful, I decided to take a short video from the room where the pool table is. The view is pretty neat, you can see Brooklyn, Staten Island as well as the Freedom Tower

Here is the video in question

A pool table with a view #pool #pooltable #manhattan #brooklyn #sunny #newyorkcity #newyork #55water

A post shared by Denis Gobo (@denisgobo) on Apr 18, 2017 at 5:18am PDT

For breakfast I had yogurt with fruit

For lunch I had a burrito bowl from Chipotle

Burrito Bowl

Left the office at 4:30, finished the  book When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi on the train. Walked home from the train station

In the image below, you can see the steps, floors and distance for the day

Steps

So far I have lost around 4 pounds, not too bad for 9 days, this will probably start to slow down soon

Kaizen Day 8, Apr 17 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 8 of that routine

Got up at 5:15, had my cold brew coffee, went for a run around 5:45. Did a longer run than usual today, I ran about 4 miles. The run was pretty easy and enjoyable, I listen to the this week in tech podcast while running

After the run I took a shower and made myself some breakfast. I had 2 eggs with spinach, a bit of ham from last night and some cherry tomatoes

Breakfast eggs with spinach & ham + cherry tomatoes medley #breakfast #eggs #cherrytomatoes #spinach #homemade

A post shared by Denis Gobo (@denisgobo) on Apr 17, 2017 at 4:01am PDT

Walked the 2.2 miles to the train station, listened to Pearl Jam rearviewmirror while walking

At work I only had an apple and an orange.

Walked the 2.2 miles back from the train station home. For dinner I had the same as last night since we made food for 2 days.

Was suffering from Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) a little on my arms, must have hit them real good at the gym this Saturday

Today I did 20,907 steps, 4 floors and the total distance was 9.5 miles

Kaizen Day 6/7, Apr 14/15 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 6/7 of that routine

April 14th

Didn't do too much on April 14th, did a workout at the gym, no cardio

Made myself some oatmeal for breakfast, I usually don't eat before going to the gym, but I had to wait till 12 to go to the gym so I decided to have breakfast before the gym for a change

Steps total for the day was 7,001 steps and 8 floors.

Had pasta with cauliflower and cherry tomatoes for lunch
Made peanut sauce from scratch for dinner, had that with chicken, wild rice and bok choy

Managed to finish the podcast S-Town (this podcast is done by the same people who did serial)



April 15th

Didn't go to the gym because of the holiday and I was busy with other things. I did manage to go for a quick 2.5 miles run in the morning.

Had a smoothie with yogurt, kiwi, blueberries and pineapple for breakfast

Didn't have lunch but did have an early dinner instead.. perhaps we can call this a drunch or linner?

We had baked ziti with sausage as well as ham in the oven. A side was a huge bowl of spring mix salad


Steps.floors/distance for today can be found in the picture below

Kaizen Day 5, Apr 14 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 5 of that routine

Today I woke up around 5:30, I had my cold brew coffee, I then went for a run around 6:15. I ran for about 25 minutes or so. Got back to the house at 6:45, cooled off, took a shower and then went downstairs to make myself some breakfast


For breakfast I had the following

Breakfast after a run #breakfast #eggs #cornichons #salad #hotsauce

A post shared by Denis Gobo (@denisgobo) on Apr 14, 2017 at 4:14am PDT

As you can see I had 3 eggs, some salad and also a couple of cornichons

After breakfast I walked the 2.2 miles to the train station to catch the van going to the office in New Jersey. I had a sandwich at work (roasted turkey) and also an apple and an orange

Since it is Good Friday, I left a little earlier today from work today, I caught the early van going back to the train station at 4:40. I then proceeded by walking the 2.2 miles home.

At home the kids wanted pizza, so we ordered some Pizza from Nomads in Princeton. As a side I made sauteed Kale with garlic

Had a clementine and a kiwi for dessert



Total steps for the day: 20.2K
Total floors climbed for the day: 4
Total distance for the day 9.9 miles

Kaizen Day 3/4, Apr 12/13 2017

This post is part of my daily kaizen routine, this is day 3/4 of that routine

April 12th

Decided to take a workout break. Worked from home, a sandwich for lunch and pasta fagioli with Swiss Chard and String beans for dinner. Had some cashews as well as a kiwi and a couple of clementines

April 13th

Back to NYC today..that means getting up at 4 AM, walking to the tran station for 40 minutes catching the 5:20 train, then transferring to the 5:55 path to World Trade Center. I read about 30 pages of the book When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi while on the NJ Transit train, I also listened to some podcasts while on the PATH train and while walking.

Stepped off the train, got out of the station and was greeted with a beautiful morning. Had to snap this picture and post it

WTC #manhattan #nyc #newyork #newyorkcity #wtc #worldtradecenter #mornings

A post shared by Denis Gobo (@denisgobo) on Apr 13, 2017 at 3:30am PDT

I then walked to the New York Sports Club gym on Broad street and did chest, shoulders and triceps as part of my workout. I also did 24 minutes of cardio which burned a total of 275 calories


After the gym I went to the office. I brought my breakfast and lunch from home today. For breakfast I had yogurt with kiwi, banana, clementine and some almonds

By 8 AM I did 12,000 steps and 15 floors


For lunch I brought a sandwich with Gouda cheese, cherry tomatoes and spring mix salad

Did the reverse commute around 5 PM, arrived home at 7 PM. My wife make pasta with turkey meatballs, tomatoes and peas for us. After dinner I had a clementine and a kiwi

Total steps for the day: 24K
Floors climbed today: 19
Distance: 11 miles

Kaizen Day 2, Apr 11 2017

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


Today I got up at 3:57 AM, whenever I go to NYC which is normally on Tuesday or Thursday, I set my alarm at 4 AM. I will wake up before the alarm goes off most of the time, this was true today as well

Coffee...


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 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi . 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 and biceps as part of my workout. I also did 21 minutes of cardio which burned a total of 250 calories

After the gym I went to the office. I brought my breakfast and lunch from home today. For breakfast I had yogurt with fresh strawberries and a clementine

At lunch time I had dinner left overs from the night before, pasta with farm raised ground beef and cauliflower

Going home I did the exact opposite from the morning (makes sense ..how else would I end up home?)

My wife made pasta fagioli with swiss chard, I had that for dinner. As dessert I had 1 clementine and 1 kiwi

Here are also the steps and floors for today,  a little over 25 K steps and I climbed 17 floors... not bad

You are probably thinking what I do while doing all this walking... the answer is simple..I listen to podcasts. Some of the podcasts I listen to at 2X speed, this is always true for the Joe Rogan podcast

Here is what I listened to today

Started yesterday and finished today

Joe Rogan

#943. Moshe Kasher is a stand-up comedian, writer and actor. His new show “Problematic” premieres on...

Finished all these

.NET Rocks

1431 Multi-tenant Apps Using cloudscribe with Joe Audette

Stuff you missed in history class

Three Nuclear Close Calls

Trianulation 293

Ron Gilbert - Thimbleweed Park

Tim Ferriss

Cory Booker — Street Fights, 10-Day Hunger Strikes, and Creative Problem-Solving

Started

Joe Rogan

#944. Scott Eastwood is an actor and model, and is also in "The Fate of the Furious" releasing in theaters on April 14. 

Cameron Hanes is a bowhunting athlete, “training intensively each and every day to become the Ultimate Predator.”

That is all for today...next post will be tomorrow

Kaizen Day 1, Apr 10 2017

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

I started the day by getting up at 5:30. The night before I made a cold brew coffee, I added some half and half to this coffee and finished in about 25 minutes or so.

I ran for about 30 minutes and was back home around 6:45 AM. The run itself was pretty easy, I didn't go too fast probably 9 miles per hour or so.

After I cooled off a little, I took a quick shower. After the shower I made myself breakfast. Three eggs scrambled in coconut oil, a side of micro arugula and some cherry tomatoes. After breakfast I had two clementines.

I walked to the Princeton Junction train station for 40 minutes to hope on the van which takes me to work. I can take the bus from my home as well but it takes the same time more or less. I would have to walk to the other direction, wait on the bus and then the b us ride would be about 15 minutes or so, and then I would wait at the station for 15 minutes. I hardly ever take the bus, only when it rains really hard or is extremely warm (90 degrees and more)

I basically had another coffee at work as well as a green tea. No food but had lots of water

I left work at 5, hopped on the van back to the train station, and walked back home for 40 minutes

Dinner tonight was the following

What you can see in that picture is pasta with farm raised ground beef and cauliflower.

I had 2 clementines for dessert

Here is a pic of my steps for the day, it is a little more than that but I don’t always carry my phone with me

Adding some Kaizen to my life

I turned 47 this weekend and decided I should try to improve my life, after all I am getting older and want to be around when my kids grow up. I gained a little weight in the last 10 years, probably between 10 and 15 pounds or so. The best way for me to tackle this weight gain would be to use several small changes. Think of it as Kaizen, if you don’t know what Kaizen is, here is a small definition and the link to Wikipedia.

Kaizen (改善^?), is Japanese word for "continuous improvement ". In business, kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.^[1] It has been applied in healthcare,^[2] psychotherapy,^[3] life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries.

By improving standardized programmes and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first practiced in Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality-management teachers, and most notably as part of The Toyota Way. It has since spread throughout the world^[4] and has been applied to environments outside of business and productivity.

The first thing I will do is document all the stuff I eat, I am doing this because if I eat any crap, I will need to document that, so it will force me to really think if I should have that bag of chips or handful of M&Ms today

I will also increase the times I do aerobic exercises

I will not skip my workout days (sometimes it is not my fault, NJ Transit does not always run on time you know) But if I skip a day, I should make it up on a non-workout day

Finally, I should start working on my flexibility, I should work on becoming more flexible, I got kind of stiff over the years

That is all for this post... the first daily post will go out tonight