This Week:
- How I spent my one full day in Denver.
- Everything that I took with me for my 282 days abroad.
- Days back in Acton at my parents house.
May 2024
| Su | M | T | W | Th | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 5/1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 6/1 |
Where In The World Was I?
Metrics From The Week
Soooo this is something interesting. For how comfortable my sleeps have been and how good I’ve FELT my sleeps have been this week back at my parents house, I can’t quite figure out why my recovery scores are so low. I would’ve expected the complete opposite.
My HRV is significantly lower, RHR is significantly higher, RR is significantly higher. I’m back to working out but not that intensely. I’m not at high altitude, the air quality is great, my room is fairly cold at night (good), the bed is comfortable.
Hmmmm 🤔🤔🤔
Current theories: high CO2 in my room at night, elevated caffeine intake during the day, TOO warm (too many blankets) while sleeping. That’s all I can think of right now. We’ll see if it “acclimates” over the next week.
April 2024 Whoop Rankings (Men 20-30; 99,684 members):
- Day Strain: 11.5, 26,000th, top 26.1% (11.5 community-wide average)
- Recovery: 72%, 3,104th, top 3.1% (60% community-wide average)
- Sleep: 87%, 7,076th, top 7.1% (75% community-wide average)
Business Progress Update
No updates since last week.
A Day In Denver
I flew out Sunday night, so I spent a day in Denver. It was kinda fun being back in my stomping ground but with a different perspective. Rather than in my van, I was on my feet (with my two backpacks), so my perspective of the city and access was different.
I took an Uber into the city center (transit would’ve taken too long) and basically spent the whole day in the Union Station area.
Feels like I’ve been to every single coffee shop in Denver (Nomad Workspaces) but I managed to find 2 new ones that I’ve never been to and that were great!
Kaffe Landskap in the morning/afternoon (to write last week’s post) and Hello Darling in the evening (to kill some time before my flight).
I was honestly impressed by Denver coming back. Kaffe Landskap had a great modern healthy food menu (smoothie bowls, specialty drinks, salads, wraps, etc.). It was just like southeast Asia! (… except 4 times the price 😂😶). There was also just a lot of energy and people out and about walking around, at the park, and getting food.
I spent part of the afternoon in Commons Park chilling and got some ice cream.
As I walked around the park with my two backpacks, I couldn’t help feeling this weird sense of… discomfort? 🤔
For context, the U.S. has the most homeless people that I’ve seen in my travels and while I actually noticed that it seemed to be a whole lot better than I remember seeing last year, I did see a good handful+ of homeless in my couple days in Denver.
I haven’t exactly lived a traditional life in about 2 years now, so when I was last in Denver in my van, I definitely felt not normal. But, this feeling was different.
It felt like people were looking at me (felt like, not confirmed).
I mean, how often do you see a guy walking around like this (taken Aug 6th, 2023):
I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t want to be viewed as some weirdo or homeless guy that’s contributing to the homelessness problems.
But as I noticed this feeling and recognized this thought… I thought
“um… but wait no… technically, you ARE homeless…”
“like by definition, sooooo yeah” 😅
I’m not really sure what to make of that, but it’s been a weird feeling to grapple with. I just gotta continue to pass off the thoughts of what other people could be thinking of me.
✈️ Back To Boston
So, What’s Actually In My Backpacks?
This has been my entire (physical) life for the past 282 days.
I think I did pretty well! I’m grateful I spent all that time planning last year, creating the perfect modular wardrobe, figuring out all the items I needed. The only things I needed to add were: my Anytime Fitness key fob, the international driver’s permit, another pair of shorts, a couple athletic shirts, and some more socks.
I would’ve liked to have more clothes so I didn’t need to do laundry as often. However, being able to fly with ONLY carry-ons was so clutch, I can’t tell you how nice that was. There were numerous times where I’d walk past the check-in desks at the airport and the line of people snaked around and around with hundreds of people waiting to check their bags. Me? I just walk right past 😈
Walks, Coffee, and Food
So peaceful, so much greenery, and such beautiful trees/flowers! But also everything just kinda feels smaller than I remembered (as a kid) 😄
It’s been lots of coffee chats, hangin’ out, and good food (PLUS homemade tea, coffee, and food; shoutout to my Dad the creative brewmaster and baker).
Love to see my photos in real life! It’s so rewarding to know that I took those photos (shoutout to my Mom for the purchases ❤️: Lakeshore Sunset, Wyoming Wake, and Mediterranean Beach (not pictured); Full Portfolio)
Nice to get back into the gym too! One of the things I was thinking about as I drove through town to Anytime Fitness was just how different life is out here in suburbia where you literally have to drive everywhere.
You just can’t do anything else while you’re sitting in a line of traffic waiting for the traffic light. It’s just so different from everywhere I’ve been the past year.
VERY excited to finally be able to try these out.
And after 4 months of using my $100 burner smartphone that I got in Bali, I finally got the Pixel that got replaced from my broken one! WOW it’s so fast and nice.
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She’s Aliveeeee!
After being covered for about 7 months, she started right up! I’m impressed!
What’s Next?
Still unpacking, organizing my stuff, and prepping for the next adventure. Not ready yet but I’m starting to get excited for what’s next!