Skip to main content

Welcome

 

I was not sure whether or not I was going to make this blog public, but after a few weeks of sharing it with family and some friends, it seemed like some people may enjoy seeing what I am reading or looking at updates in my life. The primary reason I made this blog was to publicly keep track of books I am reading as a way to help think about the books more critically instead of moving from one to the next, and also so others could see what I have been reading and maybe give suggestions or ask for recommendations. There is not much on this site aside from weekly posts and books I am reading, but so far the response has been pretty positive. Like it says in the header, I hope you enjoy.

Personal/Life Updates

This past week I have really just been settling in being back home after going to Puerto Rico for a week. I actually was not expecting to travel that much but ended up driving down to Baltimore to visit some friends. Additionally, this coming week I will be visiting my brother in Dallas. Going from being at home for 3 months, to traveling to 3 new places in 3 weeks is a bit of a shakeup but I think it was well needed. Life was starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, waking up, working out, working, and going to bed. I don't have other trips planned right now, but I am hoping that after these excursions I will be happy to get back home and get into a routine again.

Books/Podcasts

This past week I have been on a roll with getting through books. As of Wednesday the 17th, I have gotten through one book every day making for 12 days in a row so far. I did not start out with that goal in mind, but I was able to get through a whole book on my flight back from Puerto Rico and then had some other books expiring from the library soon and so I went through those as well. It has been challenging but also pretty fun, and I figure that as long as I am able to keep going I will, but after the 14-day mark, I will let myself relax. I have covered a wide variety of topics and have yet to lose steam. If you are reading this and have any suggestions I am happy to hear them, I have a standing list of books I want to read at some point but it is pretty fluid. If people are interested I might put that list of books I plan on reading somewhere on this site as well.

As far as Podcasts go, I finally caught up to the present on the main one I had been listening to, TIP's We Study Billionaires, and now I am just keeping up to date with their two weekly releases. In addition, I have found some other ones that seem interesting, but none that I would want to listen to consistently. I am very open to recommendations if anybody has some good ones that they follow. It is nice to have a podcast to break up the reading especially if it is covering current events.

Gratitude

For this week's gratitude post I decided that my topic should be friends. I was able to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while this past week, and actually am writing this post from the apartment of some of my childhood friends. It has been easy during this pandemic to lose touch with people. I know personally I get tired of texting, snapchatting, and sending dm's after a while and it is nice to have some actual human interaction. Zooms and phone calls are nice, but you don't get the same interactions that way. I think it is incredibly cool to have a friend decide a few days in advance that we want to drive down to Maryland and see some old friends. 

Being at home more or less stuck with my parents for a few months made me appreciate being able to just hangout. Coming from being a college athlete I took it for granted always having people around. I would walk to class or practice with people, always eat meals with friends, and spend most of my time studying or hanging out with others, and those are all things I have had to do alone for the past few months. I think it has made me appreciate the moments that I get to spend with people more but at the same time made me more self-sufficient. 

I am really hoping that by the fall things have progressed to the point where we are able to have a somewhat normal year of school. Time off during this gap year has made me step back and think about a lot of aspects of my life, and the main takeaway has been to appreciate the day-to-day life in college. I know once I graduate, depending on my job, I will more or less have to be on my own, maybe spending time with a few roommates and occasional visits from friends, but for next year I think I will appreciate being able to relax and not worry about planning every single day and meal, and be able to spend time with friends very easily around campus. 

Lastly, speaking of friends, this is the first post that most people will see if they decide to take a look at the site. I doubt many people will actually get this far, but if you do and you like what you see or have any suggestions please reach out and let me know. Like I mention elsewhere on this site, I had people asking me what books I was reading and that was the main driver for making a site. I don't plan on making it anything fancy, but if you have suggestions for different pages or types of posts I am open to feedback. I don't anticipate many people being interested in keeping track of posts, but a few people I have shared it with so far seem to enjoy it so if you do please let me know.
Labels:

Popular

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution Thoughts as of 6/6/24 Something that has come up again and again in my quest for physical fitness and happiness is the unavoidable fact that we are products of evolution and at the mercy of our biology. The problem is, we have escaped the food chain and these systems no longer serve us. The more you learn about the processes of the body whether it be chemical balances, circadian rhythms, impacts of light, exercise, and food, etc. etc. there are evolutionary reasons why things are the way that they are. We are beings that are optimized to survive and reproduce and things that serve that purpose give us good feelings and things that do not, do not. This does not lead to optimum behavior in today’s world. One example of circadian rhythms and our biological clocks is in the impact of light on biological processes. If it were up to us, we would probably want to divorce these clock signals from light exposure so as to be able to stay up late using art...
Read more

The Adventure of Truth

The Adventure of Truth I have heard from several disparate sources in the past few weeks the notion that following the truth is the most adventurous way to live one’s life. Initially, this sounds like some trite saying you would see on a bumper sticker or a t-shirt that someone wears to the gym, but the more I have thought about it, the more it has resonated. The best thing about reading books and articles and listening to podcasts and audiobooks across different fields has been the connection of ideas and principles that start to take shape. The core attestation in the truth equals adventure claim is that by using truth as a guide, we cede control to the powers that be outside of our rational mind and operate by some “feeling” instead. This sounds a bit woo-woo, but then again, the esoteric is what I find to be the most interesting when it comes to thought experiments. I heard from another source - the creator of Veggie Tale’s autobiography to be exact - that there is almost assuredly...
Read more

THE TRUTH

God is Real. Jesus is Exactly Who He Said He Was. That’s the message. Simple. Complete. If you know, you know. If you don’t yet, maybe this will help you start to see it. I’m not a preacher. I’m not a prophet. I’m just a guy named David Hoffman who stumbled into the most beautiful truth there is, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. My only job is to point. Like a decoder. Not to tell you what to think, but to help you look where I looked. The SparkNotes to Finding the Truth Life is messy. Painful. Loud. But there’s an order behind it all, like music underneath static. Here's the shortcut: Pray  – Even if you don't believe, even if it feels weird. Get on your knees. Ask for help. Ask for clarity. Pray to whatever you think might be listening. You're not alone. Look and Listen  – The signs are there. Always have been. In music. In movies. In the people around you. They start as coincidences, but eventually you'll see the pattern. God is subtle, but never silent. Beli...
Read more

Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares Not to sound too pessimistic, but I think it is true at the end of the day. This is more from a principles perspective than anything else. I think it is probably beneficial to live your life thinking that nobody cares about what you are doing. A chip on your shoulder attitude is part of this mindset, in that it may be helpful to live life as if you have something to prove and that you should make people care about you. However, I feel like the more important interpretation of this quote that is likely fundamentally true, is that people think about you a heck of a lot less than you think they do. In my life, if I take the portion of my waking thoughts that are about my own thoughts, feelings, biases, actions, past, present, and future, and put that over the portion of externally focused thoughts, it would probably round to zero. Not that I am overtly selfish or have a huge ego, but it is just impractical for 99% of people to genuinely think about others more than them...
Read more

Diet and Nutrition

Thoughts as of November 2024 - subject to change as I learn more - feel free to poke holes, always happy to be corrected. Many people over the past few years have asked me for tips and tricks about diet and nutrition. I have gone into detail with people on an individual basis over text/dm, on phone calls, or in person, but I felt it would be helpful for me and others to spell out some of my thoughts in greater detail. This serves a dual benefit of forcing me to list out my thoughts and having something to point to for others to look into at their convenience. Also, over time it will be interesting with new studies and experiences to see how I revise my own beliefs My advice to you People often get annoyed with me when they ask a simple question about nutrition. “Is this good?” “Is this bad?” The answer is, it depends. Some will ask what brands of products that I use, and sure, I could tell someone to eat xyz food or use this supplement, but if you do not understand the reasoning behind...
Read more

“How do you do life without a coach?”

“How do you do life without a coach?” Thoughts as of 6/12/24 This question comes from a recent conversation with a friend contemplating life post athletics. For people not involved in athletics past a certain level, this may not resonate. However, I think that the longer one stays within a sport, and the more of one’s time that sport takes up (highly correlated I’d imagine), this will likely strike a chord.  Further, I think it is more of a commentary on the schooling system writ large rather than something narrowly confined to athletics. The lesson should ring true to anyone finding themselves in the midst of uncertainty, but an example will be helpful in illustrating the point. Speaking from my own experience, I had always been involved in competitive sports. I started at probably 5 years old and continued until I was 22. The myriad benefits of athletics have been widely touted my whole life, such as increased discipline, teamwork, leadership, etc. but I think that there is a som...
Read more

You Are What You Eat - Literally!

You Are What You Eat - Literally! Thoughts as of 5/30/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for a few months now since I first heard the concept mentioned on a podcast. It seems so incredibly simple and obvious, and yet, after 25 years of living, I was and am blown away. We have all heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” It sounds trite and meaningless, and until I heard it expressed in this specific way, I dismissed it as nothingness. In fact, I imagine most people do the same, and I am not sure the originator of the quote intended the meaning in the way I now interpret it. As an athlete, I would always hear analogies along the lines of treating your body like a racecar. You need to take care of the racecar to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency. When it came to food, this was more so fuel for the racecar, or gasoline. You would not just put any old thing into a racecar and expect it to perform at its best. Similarly, as an athlete who wants to perform at a high level,...
Read more

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise Thoughts as of 4/15/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for some time, and there are many more illustrative examples outside of lifting, but I feel that the point is easier made with lifting. In terms of religious or philosophical concepts, I have a lot of work to do to understand what exactly the ego is, and what exactly pride is, but I know they are both very dangerous. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity made me think about pride more seriously for the first time. All of the quotes about pride being the worst sin, or compared to the devil himself I was able to brush past as hyperbole, but upon reflection, it makes sense. Similarly, ego I have never taken all that seriously; however, books like Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy, and other schools of thought that warn of the dangers of ego have been a part of my knowledge consumption over the past few years. One of the catalysts for taking these concepts more seriously was an instance in the weight room and...
Read more

Weekly Updates 3/10-4/2/2025

“I know that I know nothing” - Socrates New quote to start these posts so I can just push out content without worrying about formatting and spelling errors. Instead of giving myself permission to be a beginner, I figured I could just admit that I know nothing and whoosh, all the pressure is off. One last Julia Cameron quote for the road: “It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.”​ — Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way Sorry for the 2 week hiatus, but it was out of my control. I am back in the saddle and hope to continue posting weekly updates once again. “Backstreet's back, alright!” - The Backstreet Boys “I’ll be back…and I am back” - Michael Scott Since I was out of commish for two weeks, I do not have 3 weeks of content, but rather what I did during the original 3/10-3/16 period. Thankfully, it was plenty to make a post out of without having to have a truncated 3-week post. There were one or two podcast episodes I list...
Read more