Simple Living

In my pursuit of simplifying my wardrobe, I've heard a lot of good things about the Japanese brand Uniqlo.  I am naturally skeptical regarding the overall quality among fast fashion retailers, but decided to give them a try as I've been having mixed results with Zara, H&M, Old Navy and others; my primary problem being the lack of basic essentials. T-shirts // Good For example, I just wanted some decent quality t shirts in plain colors for a reasonable price.  So I started there and am quite impressed with Uniqlo already as I purchased both their Supima Cotton and Dry Packaged lines of t shirts.  The only problem I had was finding them in size large.  I'm in that weird limbo size category between medium and large and generally buy large and hope it shrinks a bit to fit nicely. Oxford shirts // Good I also found a nice oxford short sleeve in light blue and picked that up.  I'm quite happy with it.  I also found a nice linen shirt in a blue/white plaid pattern fo

Did a 5 mile walk @ a 19 minute/mile pace.  Started with a nice Cappuccino from Olive & Oliver (quite good) and finished my walk at Denny's for lunch.  A fairly good day with plenty of coffee. I still plan on taking a hike later in the afternoon when it's get a bit cooler and less sunny and hit the book studying Kimball Data Warehouse.

There was a 50% off sale at my local Adidas store and I picked up 2 items a track jacket in red/black stripes and a navy/white stripe windbreaker.  I'm quite pleased with both of them. The track jacket is great indoors, but doesn't really keep me very warm outside as I suspect the material allows the breeze to blow right through.  The windbreaker is phenomenal, it is very lightweight, keeps me warm outdoors and also water resistant. In total, I spent about $45 total ($20 for the track jacket, $25 for the windbreaker).  I would have preferred the track jacket in the more classic red/white stripes and a royal blue windbreaker, but they are both fine as-is and I'll enjoy them for many years. That fulfills about half of my 2019 clothing purchases.  I'll likely pick up a pair of Adidas track pants later in the year and see quite a few at Costco.  Probably in the 3rd Quarter and some replacement t-shirts and that'll complete my 2019 clothing replenishments. Review

Had to have a good cup of coffee and went with the Sidecar.  It tasted alot like a Cappuccino, but I think it's still a Latte Macchiato.  They are very similar and have the same ingredients, just in different order with the Cappuccino having Espresso first then Milk, and a Latte Macchiato reversing that order.  Both topped with Milk Foam.  I also like the side of Espresso. I enjoyed this while studying more of Kimball Date Warehouse (Chapter 5).

I bought a new leather watch band for my Apple Watch.  The original rubber watch band was irritating my skin after prolong use and at times making the watch almost unwearable. Overall, this leather band has made a marked improvement in the comfort and wearability of the Apple Watch and is absolutely a great deal at about $10 on Amazon. The only error I made was I own a dark grey watch and the end links for this strap are silver chrome, but it's barely noticeable to me.

For my 1st purchase of 2019, I deviated from plan and picked up a 750 mL bottle of Jim Beam.  I wanted an entry level bourbon to help me compare and contrast with the Wild Turkey 101 and Jim Beam was a perfect choice.  It was sweet and smooth, but otherwise bland and this helped when switching to Wild Turkey to accentuate it's flavor profile. I like the price point of Jim Beam and it's otherwise a very palatable drink.  I probably will add another bottle every now and then, but want to make room for Wild Turkey 101 as my bourbon staple next to my scotch stables of Johnnie Walker Red and Black.

I've owned an Apple Watch for almost 2 years.  I purchased my Series 2 on April 2017 and wore it regularly for most of 2017, but for some reason stopped in 2018 and switched back to traditional wristwatches.  Starting around Oct 2018, I began wearing my Apple Watch regularly again and have been wearing it almost daily ever since. I. What brought me back to the Apple Watch? Convenience.  I found the value of an Apple Watch is it's well integrated with the Apple ecosystem and I can rely on it as my main access point for alerts, messages, phone calls, music controls and useful info.  In a sense, the Apple Watch functions like a tiny data dashboard. I only need to take out my iPhone if I need to search the internet, send/receive messages or access certain apps.  Otherwise, I can go through most of the day never having to take my iPhone out of my pocket. They've also made some enhancements in the interface.  I'm now able to click an icon on the top to get back to the

For 2018, I've purchased about 12 bottles of liquor @ 8 Liters for $404 (albeit $65 was estimated due to Johnnie Walker Blue being a gift).  That roughly equates to about 1 bottle per month, which is about on point. I increased my bourbon percentage to 33% of total consumption to help expand my horizons.  In general, I found them a little too sweet and it tends to overpower and alter the taste experience that I'm more used to with scotch whisky.  But after having tasted bourbon on a regular basis, I'm finding that I need to have a bottle on hand to enjoy a dram every so often between whisky pours. House of Johnnie I already knew that I lean heavily towards Johnnie Walker and 1/4 of my total consumption this year was in Johnnie Walker Red & Black.  Those are my go to favorites, but I'm finding Monkey Shoulder and Jameson are worthy alternatives. 2019 Future I'm going to continue my 1:2 ratio of bourbon to scotch and continue to sample other brands.

 My weight has held steady at 173 lbs for past 5 years.  I started gaining a lot of weight from 2004 to 2010 and it since leveled off above 170 lbs ever since; that's roughly when I stopped long distance running (I used to run 25-30 miles per week). as My Diet 2019 ~ 2022 I've been reading about keto diets and the issues with processed sugar and contemplated trying a keto diet, but was concerned with the side effect of feeling tired/sluggish due to ketosis.  I will however try to reduce my carbohydrate intake by avoiding processed sugar and increasing the amount of protein and fat. To keep it simple, I'll make just four (4) changes to my diet: Breakfast (egg or tuna salad sandwich) Eat veggies ( 8 oz/day - Celery, Carrots, Cucumbers, etc) Drink more water (48 oz/day) Avoid processed sugars I've been trying this for a few weeks now in 2018 and seems to be working.  For most part I've been eating an egg or tuna salad sandwich for breakfast, snack on the crunchy veggie

At a company party I got two (2) surprise gifts...a bluetooth Sony speaker SRS-XB10 and a pair of Apple AirPods.  I'm quite happy as I've been wanting some bluetooth audio gear.  The Sony is fairly decent for its size and will be useful at outdoor parties and events with its 12+ hour battery life. The AirPods are more interesting and after several days of regular use I'm finding them very convenient vs. conventional wired Earbuds due to the freedom from tangled cables.  I ordered a silicone case with clip for added security and convenience as I didn't feel comfortable carrying the charging case in my pocket.  A clip or way to securely tether the AirPods is almost a necessity. A very nice Christmas.

In regards to my Technical Domains, I've had quite a few 'dead-ends' where I chose to quit at some point or am taking quite a bit of time to complete my studies (i.e. stop/start).  This is not a bad thing and demonstrates my ability to know when to 'stop' and change paths accordingly.  Whatever I can glean from my studies is still good, albeit not to the levels and depths of knowledge I would initially desire. At same time, my non-technical domains is quite healthy and reading numerous books over the years to keep my brain fresh and stimulated as purely technical pursuits can get repetitive and boring. My Past Study Patterns (Technical Domains): 2014 T-SQL Pro // Quit MCSA - SQL Server // Stop/Start for years 2016 MCSA - Window Server // Quit MCSA - SQL Server - Success! 2017 MCSA - Web Apps // Quit 2018 MCSE - R // Stop/Start Art of R - Matloff Book // Done! MTA - Python // Stop/Start Python - Lutz // Done! Statistics WMU Book // Do

 I'm quite impressed at my original iPad 2 that I purchased 7 years ago in 2011 is still going strong.  Just checked the battery health and it's at 85% useful life, which is impressive.  The iPad 2 is probably one of the oldest pieces of technology that has survived and continues to work as designed. Granted it's a bit laggy relative to my more modern laptops and iPhones, but is totally functional and I rely upon for both its size, weight and form factor as its unparalleled in terms of reading PDF documents; especially with the handy bookmarking feature. While it's required me maintaining a set of old charging cables, the battery life allows me to use this tablet for several days between charges, so I'm not as concerned.  Perhaps in 3-5 years I'll finally retire this device and upgrade to a new iPad or relevant tablet. Update - Aug 2023 - Digital Photo Frame Now in its 12th year, repurposed it to become a digital photo frame.     It's too slow

One of the biggest eye-openers was the realization that 'Data Science' really means 'Statistics' and there is a time honored college major and discipline that focuses on statistics.  In many ways, data science is not new, but rather it appears to be so as it leverages modern computing technology with statistical analysis software like R or SAS. To that end, studying programming languages and writing code is one thing, but to understand why is probably equally important.  I'm spending some time to study statistics textbooks and found some decent, free material online. I've retooled my Study Plan for 2019 accordingly (original 2018 plan was more Language/Platform specific, but weak on Theory/Technique).  My Study Plan // Eventual Skillset: I. Domain: Statistics DW/BI (Data Warehouse / Business Intelligence)  Math II. Tools: SQL Tableau R Python I. Domain A. Statistics: Statistics and Data Analysis (WMU - Statistics 160 Textbook)  //

 I have about 92 items in my primary collections.  By treating them as 'collections' helps me focus and carefully select which items to add, replace or keep. Headphones -- 15 -- $700 Technology -- 11 -- $1700 Watches -- 11 -- $6000 Fountain Pens -- 4 -- $100 Whisky -- 5 -- $300 Clothing -- 46 -- $3200 Value Estimation -- 91 // $12,000 10 items constitute the bulk of the valuation at about $8,000; of which the Rolex and Omega constitute most of that.  The rest of my possessions tally up to barely $4,000.  I used a combination of depreciated or replacement cost to determine valuation; for example I can find my Rolex Explorer online for about $3,700 and used that as the value basis.  Kinda surprising how much money I've spent over the years accumulating all this stuff and in only 91 items! Reflecting on that, none of these are actually my 'primary' expenditures.  I spend more on food, housing or transportation each year.  My car costs at least several thousands in car