Dartmouth

This past week was our first loss of the season against Dartmouth moving us to 7-1. With the current standings in the league, this still gives us a chance to share in the Ivy League title as long as we win out in our final two games against Yale and Penn.

Personal Updates

I do not have all that much to update on this week since it was more of a dead week of the semester. I have a few assignments and more interesting events next week and in the weeks to come as my life will continue to change. I think I definitely played a pretty decent game against Dartmouth, but as a team, we really could not get anything going until the second quarter, and by that point, we were sort of fighting from behind the whole time. I have continued to develop and improve my game week to week, and I am excited for the challenge of this next week since the stakes are so high. It will be our senior day and the final time that I play a game in Princeton stadium so I am hoping to go out on a high note. I will do my best to continue to recover from various bumps I have sustained throughout this season, and try to work on some of my weaknesses this week in practice. Another motivating factor that I have that is only somewhat a joke is the fact that if I get one more top offensive player of the game award in these next two weeks I will get a bucket hat that is pretty sweet. If all of the things that come about from winning out were not motivation enough to give my best effort, then the bucket hat on top should get me there.

Books/Podcasts

I was able to finish the book I had initially started back in August on body Language called What Every Body is Saying, and I really enjoyed it. It was relatively short but packed with information that I found interesting. I am not sure how my reading habits will change after the next two weeks mainly because I will also start to make a legitimate effort to start chipping away at my thesis. I will also have a lot more free time and ideally, undergo some physical changes and be working out on my own schedule. Depending on what types of workouts I end up doing I could definitely start rotating in audiobooks or different podcasts during workouts or runs, but I am not sure right now if I will want to do that. I think it will definitely be good for my mental health and a good way to recharge if I am able to start to incorporate more activities into my life that are not "required" and are simply for pleasure. With the requirements and pressures of school, football, and other obligations I have struggled to squeeze in much personal time for other activities. I have been doing a pretty decent job with keeping up with my podcasts as well, and I plan to do that regardless of all of the other things going on in my life.

Gratitude

I will also continue the theme of being thankful for my physical health. Even though I have had a bunch of bumps and bruises here and there, and also have fought through some illnesses, I feel like I have had the healthiest season that I have had in my 5 years here which has made the whole experience much more enjoyable. I am hoping to finish out these last two weeks strong and end my career on a high note. I am definitely cognizant of the fact that last year with only a few minutes left in my last game I got a pretty devastating injury that took months to recover from and still affects me to this day. I am planning on going all in and trying my best in our remaining practices and games, and I am hopeful that being the aggressor will help to keep me protected, but I know that with the nature of the sport, oftentimes injuries are out of your control. I am grateful for the 8 games that I have been able to play, and I am hopeful that I can make it through my final two.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

“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...

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,...

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...

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...

The Largest Red

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