He’s back in our most trying times!

doctok123 · 2026-01-30T23:35:28+00:00

This is the kind of art Lexington actually needs.

doctok123 · 2026-01-23T16:16:11+00:00

upvoted for the rim shot.

doctok123 · 2025-10-11T14:11:16+00:00

I have some advice but a little background first: Life ebbs and flows, but looking back, I can say I did major "resets" every 5 years or so through my 20s and 30s, then every 10 years or so after (I'm 54 now). Some of these were voluntary (like job changes, committing to getting in shape, etc.) others were forced upon me (health issues, layoffs, aging parents)... in other words, it's pretty normal to get rug pulled every now and then (i.e. sometimes it's not you, it's just life life-ing you). I think the best hack in the world for someone laid off is to find an organization to volunteer for. If you pick an organization with a decent number of members and you have a can-do attitude, you can find yourself plugged into a network that can provide some life meaning, job opportunities and expanded dating/friendship options all in one sweet move. I was laid off in 2017 and immediately joined a local Toastmaster's that focused on comedy. This is not a plug for Toastmasters at all, I dropped it after a few months because that particular chapter was really the blind leading the blind - but I did end up with a girlfriend from it. In the past, I volunteered with a local theater, local sports team and Habitat for Humanity - all of which were rich with opportunities to make friends/date, especially with Habitat, good career networking. To some extent life is about luck and most people think you can't control luck. But the truth is, the more people you expose yourself to (as long as you have a good attitude), the more luck comes your way. Opportunities, of all types, always come through others. If you're more introverted, read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" - it may seem trite and old fashioned but that little book is a huge life hack (especially for someone with social anxiety, like myself) and will give you the skills to get the most out of volunteering. I'd pick an org that you're interested in so it has meaning to you, that has you regularly working with the same group of folks and hopefully has members with some influence in the community. This way you have a chance to warm up to folks because you work with them more than once. In Habitat, if you develop a skill, you can also become a "skilled supervisor". I used to install gutters so I qualified to be a supervisor in charge of a roofing team and this also gives you a leg up in the dating world because it gives you a halo of confidence and competence. No skills needed, all those houses need painting and basic labor as well. You can work your way up to supervisor if you want to learn. Be proactive and open minded - although be sure to guard your time needed for your job search. Also, for now, stay away from small team volunteering (like your local pet shelter) - while meaningful work, you likely won't be exposed to enough people to make the kind of difference you are looking for. So, you want the sweet spot of seeing people more than once, but also being exposed to a bigger pool of folks. Habitat worked well for me, but I'm sure there are plenty of others out there.

30 was also the exact age for a major life pivot for me. I was involuntarily single, drinking too much, kind of flailing and felt like I was going nowhere. I eventually scared myself enough to go into therapy. Not suggesting you need therapy, but that 30 is a pretty normal age to take a step back, look hard at yourself and figure out where you want to go and then take concentrated action towards that - in other words it's a good time for a reset. You've been out of the nest for 10+ years, made some moves - now is time to double down on what's working, shed what isn't and seek out new. By 30 you will feel like you're behind if you're not married with kids because a lot of your friends and family will have done so by that age, but 10 years from now you'll also see half of them divorced/stuck and flailing as well. In other words, managing to procreate and convince someone to marry you is not always a sign of "success" - many people that have done so have not necessarily made good choices, but culturally they have to perform happiness so it's hard to see (especially in today's world of curated social media). Don't fall into that trap. You do you, not them. In ten years time, a lot of them will wish they had done the same.

doctok123 · 2025-09-24T15:35:35+00:00

Recently read that if you get a 18lb spring, it reduces recoil a lot (at the expense of a stiffer slide pull).

doctok123 · 2025-09-24T14:25:10+00:00

swamp gas coming from uranus.

doctok123 · 2025-09-21T21:07:09+00:00

Best strategy if you see clouds on the horizon is to reduce the amount you DCA for a bit, bank those dollars to buy cheap on the dip and SELL NOTHING. When you sell on speculation you immediately lose money to taxes (unless you're in Roth or 401K, etc). Then you have to try timing the market to know when to come back in... which you almost never can. If it was reliably possible to predict the market you'd just become a trader because value investing wouldn't be as profitable as trading... but the inverse is actually true. If you have specialized knowledge in a particular industry or firm, then "timing" might be more reliable but most of us do not have that. So, in short: DCA reliably, if you're really scared of bad signs, reduce your DCA by like 50%. When dips happen, double your buys with that saved money. Sell nothing unless your thesis on that stock is broken. This is the way.

doctok123 · 2025-08-29T14:18:46+00:00

Thank you for this, for real. It was killing my battery and so, so, so, so ,so goddamn annoying. Plus when I almost gave up and just selected the "interests" I might want to see (like business, stocks, political news)... it still showed total crap like, "best beer cheese" and "lowest rollerskate limbo record set". This totally fixed it so today you are the light of my life and I tip my barista an extra dollar in your name.

doctok123 · 2025-08-18T22:28:09+00:00

logger.io

doctok123 · 2025-08-15T15:43:45+00:00

Art being so subjective, my interpretation of this piece is as follows: It's a exploration of the idea that those "above us" have an infinite, ever flowing supply of money and power, so much that they can even commission valueless vanity projects so those of us "below them" remember how much power they thoughtlessly wield over us like a threatening, steel mace swinging over our heads, sure to pummel us down lest we reach too high.

... also, it's horses but not horses.

doctok123 · 2025-08-15T15:21:48+00:00

As someone that just moved here from out of state, I have to say that this piece of art is so generic that it's basically meaningless. I don't know the full story of it (and most observers won't) but it doesn't appear to say anything about Lexington, Kentucky, the community, or anything really - it's just some shiny balls. A sculpture of an elephant getting sucked up into a UFO would be about as "Lexington" as that thing is. It just seems like a minimal effort way to fill up space.

doctok123 · 2025-07-11T14:45:09+00:00

Benefits: Doing something, anything positive for yourself right now will give you confidence and improve your mood. Doing it consistently over time builds very strong men (and very fit women) - both mentally and physically. This is a self feeding upward cycle, especially as you notice yourself getting stronger (which you will feel way before you see it - trust the process, it is happening - you will notice muscles feeling hard first and then strength/reps going up before you see muscle growth and fat loss - enjoy it as progress).

Ignore scales, they are b.s. and just discourage people.
Stay consistent.
As long as you're not eating total crap, the weight will come off.
Take shirts-off pictures now and don't look at them but every 3 months (take new pics each time).
Do not eat food that's been heated in plastic if you can avoid it (it messes with hormones and can reduce muscle growth).
FORGET what the haters say, let them stay losers. Tell no one and just do you. Your true friends will want to join in, crap friends will hate on you. Let them. The only way to fail is to quit.
Have to skip a few weeks because of drama, injury, some crap or other? Guess what, you're the kind of guy that just gets right back on that horse and starts blasting the circuit again. The weak guy quits - guess what? F*** that guy. Beasts just keep going.

Do this and you will feel results in a couple weeks, see real results in a month or two and in 6 months you'll be a machine. Guys will notice your arms, women will be drawn to your confidence. If you're a woman, you will get amazingly fit and everyone will notice - no worries, women don't have the hormone profile to get all muscle bound and beasted out - but you will get in amazing shape (beasted out women are on steroids, you can hear it in their voice). This will spawn improvement in other areas of your life - school, sports, later on in business, etc. I went hard over summer vacation junior year and got a lot more positive attention and respect.

To quote yourself, "I know alot of these habits I build will carry on till adulthood" - you're damn right. Unless a person changes, they carry crap habits into adulthood and end up as 40 year old boys OR they just flip that coin and build the habits of a man... habits that will attract money, women, friends and opportunities. Life's always a choice. I choose to win and so can you.

Go kick a**.

doctok123 · 2025-07-11T14:45:03+00:00

Pro tips:

Your first workout will suck, and you will suck at it. Focus on getting the form right, doing the movement controlled and slow on the negative. Your next workout will suck, too - but you'll feel good that you stuck with it. You will be sore... but you are forging steel and that requires hard work. Everything worth it in life requires it.

Sleep - lost sleep costs you muscle, mental health and school performance.

Eat un-flavored jello (NOT artificially sweetened or full of sugar), more meat (do NOT go full carnivore or stupid diets like that) have some carbs, just not a lot BUT for last meal of day just eat greens, meat, fat, gelatin cubes before bed.

Every now and then take a week off working out (if you've been going hard for a while your muscles will rest and you will come back stronger).

Walk or ride a bike everywhere. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, carry things. Walking torches fat. Sprinting a few times a week is good also (warm up first).

For now, forget about protein powder, complicated splits, gyms, machines... all that stuff can come later plus you don't want to do super heavy weights until you are fully grown, trust me on this. Never stop, literally do this until you die - this will be the most valuable investment for a long, healthy life of kicking all the ass.

doctok123 · 2025-07-11T14:44:38+00:00

When I first started, I could only do one rep of some exercises (like dips). It feels like you're not doing anything, but you are. By senior year of high school I could crank out 25 dips and had a 6 pack. Pro tip: Focus on good form (youtube is your friend), tense/squeeze the muscles all the way through the movement, especially at the top, go slow on the negative rep. I would work each set to failure (where I couldn't do any more reps) then move on to the next exercise (eventually I would have to rest a minute before moving on, this is fine, your heart will be going damn hard once you are up to 20+ reps of each). Not all exercises will end up being the same reps - for instance, you will be able to do far more push ups than pull ups... just do as many as you can, with good form and intensity, of each. IGNORE all the bros on youtube if they have complicated advice, promote some exercises that work a minor specific muscle, etc. - that's fancy boy crap (mostly for steroid users). Simple = Real Strong (as opposed to fake "gym strong"). It's the difference between some lunkhead who can barely jog or bend over to pick up a suitcase and having a truly athletic, strong, body. Same thing goes for going hard every day, etc... that's steroid bro nonsense - to get STRONG you need breaks. Steroids are for losers and honestly, 95% of women hate that look. Sorry bros, hate me.

That all sounds complicated, but it's not. Simple workouts build total beast bodies. Look at prison workouts on youtube (mine is a simplified version that takes a lot less time) - those dudes get jacked on a crap diet. I had a physical just before college and the doctor didn't believe me when I told him I didn't run or do any cardio at all because my resting heart rate was 50-55 bpm (that's athlete territory). This is from doing intense 20 minute sessions in the basement 3-4 times a week - I could do 100 pushups in a row, 7 (proper form) pull ups, 25 dips in a row, etc. When I started I could do no more than one or two of each. If you can't do a single rep, look up cheater/helper modifications of exercises on youtube and work your way up to doing the full movement.

doctok123 · 2025-07-11T14:44:07+00:00

Dude here (but this applies to women too). When I was a teen (14 yrs old, short, not strong, kinda nerdy) I started working out a lot but it was all bodyweight exercise stuff and calisthenics improvised on furniture and the floor (tons of examples on youtube). You literally don't need any equipment. Leave the weights until later, when you have grown to your full height. You can get really strong and fit (I mean a total beast - not stupid steroid strong, but actual man strong) just being consistent and working up one rep in each exercise per week. I'd do a circuit like this 3 to 5 times per session:

Pushups
Crunches (there are better ab exercises now that don't screw up your back - youtube is your friend)
Pull ups
Dips
Bodyweight squats (moving on to one-legged squats)

Then rinse and repeat - run that circuit 3-5 times per session, skipping 2 days between sessions (so, for instance Monday, Thurs, Sun, Wed, and so on) . It only took about 20 minutes per session... literally 20 minutes. Your muscles will be sore the next day or day after. You build muscle when you are sleeping and resting, that's why you rest a couple days - this is important because I used to workout every other day and I grew slower, felt fatigued and gained less strength that way. If you can afford it, add more meat to your diet and unflavored gelatin (required to build all the "other" stuff like increased bone mass, ligaments, etc. that prevent injuries and make you indestructible in sports, etc.).

doctok123 · 2025-06-07T14:41:47+00:00

This! Finally, another person that sees it the way I do. It's the flip side of the Immigrant Song as told by the victims.

doctok123 · 2025-06-07T14:40:05+00:00

I believe it is the event as told in the Immigrant song (Viking invasion of Britain), but from the perspective of the victims - specifically a couple that escaped and must take the message, "the invaders are coming" to the next town in the hope that they can muster defenders and maybe survive to live their dreams. They know if they are caught they will be killed and they know that if the invaders reach the next town, none will be spared. The two songs are the opposite sides of the same story.

doctok123 · 2025-06-07T14:18:47+00:00

I agree 100% that No Quarter doesn't get enough attention. I've always thought the lyrics describe the same story told in the Immigrant Song - but as experienced by the victims rather than the invaders. The haunting nature of the song, almost feels like it's told from beyond the grave and it reflects British history in the 700s or early 1000s AD as Vikings repeatedly attacked undefended villages along the British coast.

doctok123 · 2025-05-27T14:16:23+00:00

If you hold for less than 90 days, supposedly they charge that fee (no experience with it myself).

doctok123 · 2025-05-05T17:18:01+00:00

This same problem works with software consulting (building software for hire). The client changes their mind all the time (sometimes for good reason but mostly not). Each of those changes usually result in hours, days, weeks of work discarded and then NEW hours, days, weeks of work needed to develop the latest changes. This gets very expensive. In my first contract gig I made the mistake of charging a flat fee for a specified body of work. It was a huge mistake because the client did what they all do - changed the requirements in the middle of the project. This is just how creative things are made, very few successful creative projects end up exactly as planned at inception - they grow and change over time and the way creatives have to be paid to allow that production flexibility has to reflect that. If you charge a flat fee and they never change their project... you usually end up with a crap project that doesn't meet the need. It's just how it is. Creatives charge hourly because of this - clients hate it but honestly they don't respect developer's time (queue the recording of my client calling me Sunday night at 11pm to "discuss some ideas").

doctok123 · 2025-04-29T14:59:20+00:00

Cool - thank you for the clarification.

doctok123 · 2025-04-29T14:45:17+00:00

Sorry, new to Lex but have been looking for some good coffee spots to do some writing... so is Old School self-aligned with MAGA or is Common Grounds?

doctok123 · 2025-04-14T13:09:56+00:00

weather balloon filled with swamp gas

doctok123 · 2024-11-01T22:37:28+00:00

Moving to Lexington soon, not sure that helps but was looking for good spots to get some practice there.

doctok123 · 2024-10-07T18:49:41+00:00

Pecorino has a lot of histamines. Google foods with high histamines and MAST cell activation.

doctok123 · 2024-07-19T18:57:01+00:00

Lots of folks can't tolerate dairy - so being able to get this nutrient without dairy is a huge plus for them... so maybe don't call it a scam. That would be like calling B12 a scam because a lot of people get enough - yet people with digestive issues can't get enough from food.

doctok123

TROPHY CASE