jriot

You could totally be drinking whole if you wanted to.

Whole milk is where it is at! Full flavor while leaving you feeling satisfied.

You're going to have to lift for many years before that happens. I went from 165 lbs to 235 lbs over 4 - 5 years, and ended up having a powerlifting total of 1,405 lbs. I didn't even use supplements, just good old fashion whole foods. I am not at my peak yet (34 years old), the gains will come slower but they will come.

Are you a commie, not liking buttered toast, what world am I living in here?

I've curated my 2020 list over the last few months, eventually splitting it in two; 2021 has been started, but below is my 2020 list.

Brave New World

Catcher in the Rye (3rd read)

Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

War and Peace

Catch-22

Stranger in a Strange Lan

The Hobbit (3rd read)

The Illiad

The Odessey

Walden

Leisure, The Basis of Culture

The Seven Storey Mountain

Confessions

The City of God

Ways of Life St Augustine

Catechism of the Catholic Church

These Truths

Battle Cry of Freedom

The Complete Guide to Fly Fishing

The Lure and Lore of Trout Fishing

The Duck Huntingest Gentlemen

But you need to be AI data driven! j/k

Completely understandable.

Will you all have a need for data scientists?

Cajun food is unique to the region as it was developed when Acadian immigrants fled Canada while incorporating the cultures of the region at the time. If anything it is quintessentially American.

The atomic family model is not antiquated. The majority of the country follows that model with research demonstrating that is the best path for success.

You obviously haven't been to the southern portion of the country. Louisiana - Cajun country near Lafeyette, Creole in New Orleans, has a strong food culture. It is a sin down here not to be able to make your own roux.

While I would love to get coffee, I live in New Orleans now. You mention weather right now being gross up there, which I remember clearly. Today it will be 72 and sunny here. I wonder if the weather causes social issues, unknowingly?

While the culture is different, the difference I see, is that people in the NW want to keep to themselves, where other places people want to share.

Good to know! Where do you find people speaking Cajun French in Louisiana? We went to the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles a few months ago, the only time I heard French was in the music, no one seemed to use French during a conversation.

Interesting. I lived in the PNW for 15, maybe more years of my life - AK, WA, and ID. Washington was certainly unique in attempting meeting people.

The PNW is terrible for community building. I recently moved to the deep south and the overall vibe is much different, much more focused on community.

No, not yet. It will most likely be Parisien as well, since learning Cajun French would make the journey much more difficult.

I am in South Louisiana as well, close to New Orleans. Grandfather is full Cajun, grew up in Cutoff, with his father being the captain of a shrimp boat.

One of my goals next year is to learn French. Do you speak French?

> there is little legal precedent formalizing the right for Americans to individually own weapons.

As an American I don't need a legal precedent to say I can own certain property, a legal precedent needs to be set to say I can't own certain property.

Outside of discussing 18th-century language, do you really believe Americans are going to turn over their guns because a politician comes along and says we have been misinterpreting it thus we must all turn in our guns?

You mean unconstitutional opinion.

I don't own or use a smart-phone, why should my kid be forced to?

I put on some fat with it, but due to the weights I was lifting for the last 6 - 12 months it didn't seem to be a concern. Remember what you see on TV and the movies aren't representations of strength, they are on special diets, have trainers etc...

I was strictly concerned with being strong, not being cut, so carrying around a little extra wasn't a big deal. The main thing, no one will think you are fat when you are strong, it is quite noticeable. Lastly, the meal I posted was at my strongest, lifting the heaviest. If I wasn't lifting those weights I would have gained quite a bit of fat.

If you are taking a few months off due to a baby, cut back on eating. Always think long-term. Two months off while you adjust to a newborn will do wonders when you get back into it. If you try to do it all, you'll be stressed and not enjoy lifting - or anything for that matter.

I would be the last person you want vegetarian advice from. If it weren't for my wife, I'd stick to potatoes, broccoli, and grilled asparagus. However, as you noticed I drink a lot of milk, a lot. A pint has 300 calories and 16g of protein. Additionally, add butter to anything you want. Grits butter, eggs, cook in butter etc... It adds a lot of calories (good in my opinion) which is what you want when lifting heavy.

That will be maximum, ever, I suspect. In reality, it isn't hard but does take time and you have to push yourself. The hardest part is really eating. A typical day would like this,

1. Breakfast, a cup of espresso with milk, 6oz NY Strip, 1 cup of grits with butter, 16oz whole milk.

2. Lunch, 6oz NY Strip, 2 eggs, 16 oz whole milk

3. Snack, 2 - 4 pieces of fruit e.g, 3 apples with peanut butter.

4. Dinner, 2 - 3 pieces of fried/grilled chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes.

5. Desert - a quarter slice of pie with 16oz of milk

I didn't take any supplements, just ate whole foods I cooked at home. Everything was made from scratch. The pies used lard we rendered at home from leaf fat (fat near the kidney).

Do you want to get strong? You want more in the 2 - 5 rep range for many sets. I followed the Sheiko method (which lays this out) for 2 - 3 years. In June I tested and had the following:

1. Squat - 505lbs 2. Bench - 355lbs 3. Deadlift - 540lbs

Also, eat big!

Confirm. Went from 165 lbs running 55km races to 235 lbs with a 1,405 lbs powerlifting total in 5 years. I started this month to reverse the process, going to run a 50 miler next time this year.

That is a good possibility. I complete the work assigned to me while being able to get a 1.5-hour workout at the gym and my wife does a 20 to a 50 mile bike ride every day. TC might be low but my and my family's health appears far better than most of my peers. Less money, but our health is a better long term investment.

~$1400 a year.

As one of the posters mentioned I have a VA loan.

0% down with a 3.5% interest rate - you don't pay PMI with a VA loan and $0 down ($8k total in closing costs which were mainly taxes). This is the biggest aid in building wealth as we were able to save everything (minus moving costs) from the sale of our previous home.

Right now NFCU estimated our property taxes high so our mortgage is $2100. Next year our property taxes will drop due to LA exemptions that will drop our mortgage down to $1800 - 1900 range.

I have well water so no costs there, electric and gas are $150 combined a month, this is the highest we will pay due to A/C in the summer. Also no pool - lawn is being transformed into a functional space, garden of vegetables and fruits with chickens.

Plenty of places to locally travel; Japan is a little stretch for us so we will see. Walking distance from my house is local jazz/blues hall, been here since 1885. Every other Saturday from 6 - 9pm you can sit and listen to live music, get a plate of fried chicken/catfish with jambalya, greens, potato salad/colslaw, cornbread, and cake for $20 a person ($10 entry, $10 for food). Plenty of festivals which are free offering a range from Festival Acadiens et Creoles 2 hours away to Blues and BBQ in downtown New Orleans next weekend. So our costs here are around $150 for weekend family fun, some weekends we stay at home as we need a break.

All in all $3k a month is spot on which in Lousiana goes far. Plenty of culture, arts, food, and outdoor activities.

Our home was $348k - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths in Louisiana.

That is true, but my wife and I were also separated for half of our first three years of marriage. As I deployed and shortly after I returned she deployed. We were also stationed in Turkey where at 4 months pregnant we learned the military would not allow her to give birth there anymore. She had to fly to the US with our older daughter at 7 months pregnant by herself and stay there until she gave birth. There are many pros to the military which have benefited us, but also many stresses those outside the military never deal with.