Tag: Life

Categories
Biohacking Emotional Work

Day 1478 and Hoping For More

I briefly was overtaken by the desire to travel to Washington D.C for the inauguration. I am however more focused on the work in front of me for chaotic capital and on my 2025 goals of putting my ankylosis back to remission.

I finished a ten day hyperbaric chamber oxygen therapy course which has made me feel significantly better.

Day 1470 and Disappointing Biomarkers

I found a new potential candidate for an IL-17 inhibitor that has recently been released in Europe.

I’d had a disappointing set of bloodwork and I was determined to push forward on new improvements. I want a personal life that is more than lying prone in bed working on my professional passions.

I want more time with my family. I want the capital to pursue children. I’ve had embryos on ice for years and been too ill to carry them. I may be too old. I have family that live outside the United States with no easy visa solutions at and that I’d like to have near me. 

 If we are able to put together the capital investment required for surrogacy (or the miracle of being able to carry myself) a family means having everyone able to be a part of the children’s lives.

Maybe this is a fantasy beyond measure.

Day 845 and Fucked Fertility

Maybe my health will never support the strain of this with the workload I choose. But I pray that visas will come, that health can be granted, that capital will be liquid, and the possibilities of getting it all together isn’t impossible even in this crazy moment. Pray for my family if you are so inclined  

Categories
Biohacking Chronic Disease

Day 1475 and Equalizing Pressure

I scared someone really badly today. As I was being locked into the hard shell for my eighth hyperbaric chamber oxygen therapy session, I realized I had forgotten my chewing gum.

At 2 atmospheres of pressure it can be a real challenge to keep your ears from getting painfully congested. Even with yawning and blowing oxygen out your nose, it’s like going into an airplane with a sinus trouble. It’s uncomfortable but it can also be dangerous.

Careful. Equalize the pressure in your ears. If you feel your ears stuffy, equalize the pressure in the following ways. 1. Yawn 2. Swallow saliva. 3. Close mouth, pinch the nose, out of breath, blow the nose (all spelling mistakes theirs)

I got a little panicked as I was trying to stop the clinic technician from finishing the sealing process as I wasn’t sure if they could stop it once it was sealed or if I would need a full decompression cycle.

I was texting frantically “I forgot my gum can this be stopped ASAP so I can get it?”

I was tapping the window on the hardshell with a worried look and showing the text. I kept trying to make the font bigger and be clearer. FORGOT GUM OPEN?!

But it was confusing enough that everyone in the room thought something was seriously wrong. Which it would have been without the gum as I can’t do a full hour at 2 atmosphere without the help of the chewing. All the yawning, blowing out through the nose and other techniques aren’t quite enough.

It wasn’t yet an emergency. If it was I would have hit the big red button. But everyone seemed to think it was. After 2-3 minutes of frantic miscommunication it turned out that it was fine to open it up but we’d need to restart the seal and pressurize it again. I got the gum. And look who was on the TV screen.

Just don’t die while inside the chamber

Categories
Emotional Work

Day 1474 and Process over Outcome

It’s hard to trust, well, anything. The uncertainty of the near future looks like the uncertainty of the far future right now.

It feels as if one is in a fog so thick that you can’t see your own hand reaching out to touch something at arm’s length let alone glimpse gjr far horizon

How do we set goals and work towards outcomes in that kind of world? I find it unsettling despite having years to prepare for a more chaotic world.

I am learning to let go of grasping for specific outcomes and lean on process to bring me to outcomes. I work the problems in front of me. I maintain the protocols that work for me. When they cease to yield results I change as rapidly as I am able.

Categories
Biohacking Chronic Disease Medical

Day 1473 and Sunday Slumber

I dislike having to set specific wake times up for early morning obligations. It always disturbs my sleep the night before as my mind convinces my body I must avoid missing the obligation. I’ll wake up 3-4x more than average to check the time and I’ve not oncd overslept.

As I’ve been doing an intensive course of HBOT (hyperbaric chamber oxygen therapy), I’ve been obligated to show up at a specific time and place each day. And it’s really messed with my sleep as my mind seems intent on reminding me to wake up early enough to be on time.

I’ve got a day off today and I’m happy to be spending it sleeping and browsing the news.

News

A bear steepening or selloff of longer duration bonds is freaking markets out. The WSJ thinks maybe you should take the other side of the trade. Knowing what government will be functional and fiscally stable in 30 years is a hard bet for anyone to make.

Remember GameStop frenzy trying to mess up Steven Cohen and his hedge fund Point72? Well he beat other funds with 5 billion in profit this year and increased fees. But diamond hands are forever.

Trends

Disaster girls are the new professional girlfriend.

Nuclear energy is making a comeback according to Bloomberg. I’ve got an SPV for you if you are looking for early stage projects. HMU on DMs and I’ll send you along.

Luxury is tanking so maybe cater to older shoppers with money?

Reading

One of my favorite founder/authors Hannu Rajaniemi has a new book called Darkome. It’s not available in the American markets yet but he’s hosting a book party for the JPM Health Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. I have a few invites. Again DM me for the hook up. It’s a fantastic thriller

Categories
Media Politics

Day 1472 and Odds and Ends

I have now done six days of hyperbaric chamber oxygen therapy (HBOT for short) in a row. I also did a vitamin IV with glutathione so my morning was well occupied with maximizing wellness.

Because I was inside a chamber and tied to a chair for a few hours I was able to enjoy my backlog of reading. If you enjoy essays and e-ink books I personally use a combination of Readwise Reader and Daylight.

News and Essays

Peter Thiel has an op-ed in the financial times about the American ancien regime and the chance for the Internet era to enable us to grabble with the trouble of our elites.

A fan of Leibniz? The New Yorker reviews two books on his life. The polymath wrote quite a bit which endears me to him but our real debt to him goes beyond calculus notation. George Boole’s logic is partially informed by Leibniz.

Leibniz loved the simplicity and the suggestiveness of binary: he titled a draft paper “Wonderful Origin of All Numbers from 1 and 0, Which Serves as a Beautiful Representation of the Mystery of Creation, since Everything Arises from God and Nothing Else.”

Jacobin asks where all the good American Marxist academic work might be given that we perceive universities as hotbeds of socialism. Spoiler alert it’s hard to find.

Is middle age sexy? I went to read the styles piece in the New York Times only to discover that one must be over 50 to count. This elder millennial keeps trying to claim the mantle of middle age but Gen X and Boomers refuse to age.

Tips and Tricks

It’s wise to have a medical plan when traveling. American medications may be unavailable or even banned (Japan does not permit Adderall in the country).

I travel with a box of about 30 core medications to cover everything from allergies to food poisoning to bacterial infections.

Interested in becoming a Normie Man? Go on Joe Rogan. Not notable enough for an appearance. Let me suggest the rousing version of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

Categories
Community Preparedness

Day 1469 and Prayers and Hope

My in-laws live on the west side of Los Angeles as well as one of my portfolio founders, significant extended family and many dear friends including one of my closest and best friends. I am afraid for all them as the fires in Pacific Palisades has rapidly spread.

Please pray for the city of Los Angeles and her people as these fires rage. A dry year with little rain and unpredictable Santa Ana winds have led to a precarious situation.

Officials warned of devastating losses as the main blaze raced through the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The fast-moving fire spread across nearly 3,000 acres and was still 0% contained early Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department –WSJ

A professional colleague known well to the venture community Mark Suster is quoted in this WSJ piece as he and his family were evacuated. I fear many more may be in his position. I pray their homes are not lost.

I have an especially strong emotional reaction to these types of rapid urban firestorms after living through Boulder’s Marshall Fire two years ago. Over three thousand homes were lost. It was devastating to my hometown and it is still rebuilding three years later.

I advocate for preparedness as both an individual and a community. I have lots of posts and media on the top if you are interested. When these tragedies strike, show up for your neighbors and your family by preparing so that when the worst happens you can be at your best for people.

Categories
Medical

Day 1467 and Hyperbaric Chambers

I had a pretty rough anaphylactic experience over New Year’s Eve (fireworks are pretty but dusty) that has me reaching for steroids to calm the hives. My autoimmune response was awful. 

Not being one to take being sick laying down, I decided to make a run to a clinic that has a hyperbaric chamber. I’ve known a number of athletes who use them as well as those who suffer from rheumatoid diseases. I signed up for ten sessions as frankly I need to recover from the horrors of the corticosteroids I took. 

Happenings

Salt Typhoon is much worse than we thought (WSJ)

The number of people searching for office jobs for at least six months is up by 50% since 2022. (WSJ)

Justin Trudeau resigned today (WSJ)

Other Cool Stuff

 The Open Longevity Project

Categories
Chronic Disease

Day 1466 and Bubbles

I feel as if I have bubbles in my joints. They move and grow and every change hurts so badly I can’t stop myself from crying.

I’ve put out a request for biohacking help as it doesn’t seem like my current routines (which have been stable enough for normal work) are doing the trick any longer.

It’s hard sometimes to tell the difference between pain itself and the fear of the pain not relenting when the pain becomes acute. I get scared that the ever increasing pain won’t be controllable.

I’ll riffle through NSAIDs, Tramadol, and the dreaded stronger options as I do box breathing and voo-hum breathes. I’m practiced at throwing my attention away from the pain but the physiological impact is the same even if my mind can distance itself.

Before I was first diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, I had doctors try to convince me it was all in my head. “Take an Ativan!” I’ve never quite lost the fear that I won’t be taken seriously as pain management is such a clusterfork in America.

Addicts abound and doctors are often skeptical and malicious. It can feel as if those of us with chronic pain from illness will never be able to get enough distance between our genuine needs and the “drug seeking” junkies in crisis on our streets. We get treated like criminals with suspicion while zombies on the streets find other ways.

I’ve never known the supposed euphoria of an opioid like OxyContin as for me the rare occasion where I take on feels more like a brief respite from horror. There is no joy or ebullience. Only a mind of normality of function and clarity of mind which I imagine normal life is like for most people.

Categories
Medical

Day 1465 and Biohacking Help Request

I’m having a bit of trouble with an autoimmune flare so I’ll keep the narrative but short.

Essays

Everything is About Sex. Femininity is About Power

Shopping

I am going to take a course with a Twitter mutual on building an AI life coach for myself. It’s an exercise in accountability for my playtime & learning.

Considering buying this Hooli vagus nerve stimulator.

Tweets

Geeks, Mops and Sociopaths in the Memetic Of Woke

Medical

I’m looking for my next step in my medical care. If you’ve been watching the blog over the last few years you’ve seen my struggles with chronic health issues and the work I do to be well enough to pursue my work.

But I’m at an impasse and I know we must have more solutions than what I’ve got. Looking for a doctor or research group that may have protocols or care capacity for the autoimmune buffet of nonsense that plagues so many. I have ankylosis & psoriatic arthritis, joint pain & anaphylactic allergy issues along with migraines.

I’ve worked with woo, lifestyle and nutrition changes, supplements, osteopathy, injections and IVs, longevity science & expensive biologics to pursue the functionality I have now to work. But I long to work the hours of my youth and I don’t believe science has progressed so little that arthritis and migraines should be so painful and exhausting. So please feel free to DM on Twitter with recommendations for clinics and physicians.

Categories
Internet Culture

Day 1463 and Nuke It From Orbit

Seems like everyone I talk with is extremely sick. We’ve got norovirus ripping through a bunch of populations in America and Europe. Lots of reports of flus and Covid variants taking folks with respiratory cases in my professional and personal life. And of course everyone is worried about the H5N1 the bird flu variant.

I myself am having some autoimmune flares that I’m resorting to treating with steroids which is extremely frustrating. I fear the power of immune system rebooting drugs like prednisone.

Steroids are the “nuke it from orbit” option when your system is too reactive. I try to dose it down as soon as symptoms clear but blowback sometimes means you can’t titrate off them without symptoms returning. I rarely do more than 5mg a few days in a row.l but even then I worry about its usage. Being covered in hives and unable to think from an autoimmune response is probably worse though. Minimum viable dose in all things.

Reading

The SEC Wrote Off 10B in Fines it Can’t Collect

The News is So Awful 40% of WaPo Coverage Triggers Advertising Safety Blocks

Maybe Skip Breakfast?

The WSJ shows some terrifying price trends in the most important meal of the day

People To Follow

Andy and Keturah Hickman are some of the most interesting people I know. And you can be pen pals with them.

Stuff to Buy

I’ve never quite managed to keep up regular usage of a red light mask (needed antibiotics a few times since I purchased one and they make you photosensitive) but Beautypie has the same OEM as much more expensive versions if you are in the market. Affiliate link for $20 off.