We closed on our house August 4th and have been slowly settling ourselves in. The living level is mostly squared away but we still have a ton of boxes packed in our basement which we need to unpack and put away.

I have noticed an Aikido dojo in our town which I pass on my drive to/from work. I plan on starting classes in a couple more weeks once we have finished settling into our home. I have always wanted to start practicing a martial art but never spent much time reading up on Aikido. After doing some research on it the universe may have lined something else up for me in the right place at the right time (just like our zen buddhist neighbors). It certainly aligns with my personal spiritual and philosophical beliefs. We will see.

Thought I would stop in and post an update.

The last 8 months since my last post have been pretty stressful and my constitution has not been great. Work had been ridiculously busy up through a couple weeks ago which kept me in the throes of an ongoing coffee addiction. This kept me flirting with other dietary choices which were poor for my body. Most of them being fruits, veggies, cooked meats, or dairy. To someone on a SAD diet I'm sure it would have been the epitome of self control but it's definitely not for me. Regular exercise also tended to fall to the wayside when I had to make the choice between pushing work out or taking care of myself. Hindsight's a bitch.

Work has settled back into a 40ish hour week (from 60+ most weeks) which is affording me the luxury of reevaluating all the damage I've done to myself. I've been getting out in the mornings for walks & jogs. I plan to go for a 14 mile bike ride this Sunday to kick start my ass into gear. Also slowly getting back into bodyweight exercises as we're giving up the gym memberships shortly. Food is on point though with two regular meals (12ish and 5ish) of raw suet and raw ground beef.

Short term goals are to do a water fast this weekend to kick-start my keto-adaption back to where it needs to be. Shooting to be running a mile or two each morning by next weekend. Tired of half-assing my way through a couple weeks and then getting sidetracked.

Oh yeah, we've been sitting in limbo on buying our first home the last three months. We're hoping to get word next week on closing date. The stress of that whole situation has not been helping things. The home is cool and my wife & I are really excited to move in. 2 level mid-century, with space for us to have people come visit, on 1.3 acres on top of a mountain ridge. And abutted on 2 sides by a 60 acre Zen Buddhist retreat. Definitely looking forward to a positive environment I can be a part of.

So what's everyone been up to?

what type/kind of water you drink?

Regular bottled water. Poland Springs. Definitely not ideal but the quality of our tap water varies greatly being a shallow well.

No offense but I can't figure out if you're the most persistent spammer I have ever seen (literally 2 years between first & last posts) or someone grossly neglected with a response. Either way I appreciate the tenacity.

I set up something, maybe Tinychat, years ago but it never took off. I don't know about others but I interact enough via posts on here. Some forums are more social boards but much of our posts here stay on topic.

During my first two blood allergy tests I tested positive to:
Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Corn, Rice, Soy, Shrimp, Crab, Peanuts, Milk.

The last test included everything they could do. I tested positive on practically all of it. Basically all nuts, all fruits tested, most vegetables tested (good with Bell Pepper), many meats. I don't have the results in front of me. I just avoid it all.

Happy New Years all.

Have you even had raw bison?

Yes. A couple times years ago. I can't confirm it was grass fed/finished though which would make a huge difference for me. Being in New York my access to bison is limited and I'm not going to ship it across the country.

I splurge on a quality piece of extra fatty brisket.

I eat two meals a day. One at roughly Noon and one at roughly 6PM. Both are a half pound of grass-fed/finished ground beef. I have maybe 1/2 cup of blocks of beef suet with that. Redmond's sea salt on top of both meals.
I start drinking water when I wake up and try to take down as much of a gallon as I can before lunch. I don't drink anything for a couple hours after lunch then drink until dinner.
I had some liver the other day and plan to start getting back into organs as I ease back into things but most of my meals will be straight muscle meat the first month or two.

Dan!!!!! 

Five exclamation marks. I guess you did miss me. Good to see you around here Ioanna. Hope you're doing well.

I was just thinking of you today, wondering how you're doing, and here you are! You must have heard me! 

It's The Shining. Be careful with it though. With power comes responsibility.

I haven't been here in a while, also something in my family, but glad to be back and glad to hear from you!

Glad to hear from you too. Hope the whole family issue has resolved itself. If you need another ear you know where to find me.

I'm a project manager for an architect. We've got a ton of work in construction at a hospital in the area. Beautiful place to visit but the North-East has my heart with all the different environments and seasons.

I pack some with the meat.
Work takes me to the panhandle of Louisiana. Sourcing meat that sits well with me has always been a problem (I will get heartburn if there is any corn in the animal's diet) and I have not gone to the trouble yet. It's easy to get complacent in a routine that works.

I spend a week a month clear across the country for work. I pack sealed packs of my frozen ground meat in Ziploc freezer bags then gang a couple of these together in a larger bag. This gets packed in my checked bag and makes it 1500 miles with minimal thawing.
Anecdotally I did go through the TSA checkpoint once with the frozen meat in my bag. The agent opened the bag up and looked at me for clarification. I said "It's not on the prohibited list" and shrugged. He passed me through but you could tell he was reticent to do so. The next trip I started with the checked bag.
I tried in the beginning to do jerky mixed with raw suet to make a raw pemmican. It was convenient but I felt hungry most of the trip. Between that and some constipation from the reduced water I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.