Coffee Break: Pimple Patches

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1. Has anyone done those nutrition/fitness coaching programs that I see on my instagram constantly? If so – would love to hear feedback, what you liked and didn’t like, and if you’d recommend it, who would you recommend doing it with?

   I’m decently knowledgeable about both fitness and nutrition, but what I really need now is accountability AND someone to do the planning for me. I’m up about 20 lbs from this time last year and I’d love to make progress on losing the weight / building muscle and endurance before summer. Work is busy and stressful (but no so busy I can’t work out or cook, I’ve just been choosing not to) so having someone to do the “thinking” for me would be great.

   1. I know there are ethical concerns about AI, but I’ve had huge success using ChatGPT for this. I asked it to come up with a full “glow up” plan for me, ask it for pep talks, take photos or links of menus and ask “what should I order,” etc. I have found it most useful for talking me out of binging and helping me to make a healthy food choice in the moment.

      For instance, I sent it a photo of a frozen meal and said “I’m considering having this for lunch, what do you think?” and it gave me an analysis that said it’s ok, but what about some healthier alternatives. Or, another time I said “I just got back from a stressful family dinner and REALLY want to binge on junk food,” and it totally talked through some healthier coping strategies until the craving went away. Because it’s not a real person I don’t feel self conscious being really whiny sometimes, or talking the same issue to death. One caveat is that it’s not great at creating recipes, the regular internet is still better.

      Since starting in December I’ve lost fifteen pounds, quit nicotine and drinking and feel great.

      1. Dang good for you!! Sounds like you’ve been quite successful!

      2. That is so interesting! Glad you found something that works!

   2. Going off of this – I’m starting body recomp (lose fat, build muscle). Looking for any recommendations for meal prep friendly (aka cook 1-2x a week and eat leftovers and/or simple “girl dinner” meals) body recomp recipes or meal plans. Happy to pay for a subscription or service if someone has a good recommendation. Not looking to work with a dietician right now, but just an online resource with good options. I know the basics of nutrition around this, but I’m not creative and am looking for someone to provide me with easy enough and quick enough recipes – I’m not going to be eating plain boiled chicken and veggies – I want something that’s enjoyable to eat!

      1. Not sure if it fits your needs but The Real Food Dietitians have a weekly newsletter with “What to Eat this Week.” It gives 5 or so main dishes and a high protein breakfast with recipes and food prep ideas. DH and I have been using it for menu suggestions for a few weeks now — sometimes using their recipes, sometimes using our favorite version. It might help, might not, but give it a look.

         1. Thank you! I love the recipes but never knew about this!

      2. Not sure if this is too boring but I cook up lean ground turkey, mix with an equal amount of riced cauliflower and add (homemade) taco seasoning. I prefer to have it as a taco salad: lettuce, fresh salsa, corn, black beans, guac, taco meat. I add tajin seasoning to make it taste like chipotle. Bam, full meal. I eat this 5-7x/week easily. You can use it in quesadillas, soft tacos, add rice, whatever.

2. i just feel sad. i work in higher ed at a top 20 university. i just met with a first gen student who had secured herself an internship and then full-time job with the pathways program, which has been revoked. this kid did everything right, and now has to start her job search all over again. i know stuff like this has happened before with financial crisis, the pandemic, etc. and that life is unfair…but it really is so unfair!

   1. So sorry to hear this. This environment is going to be challenging for recent grads in certain fields.

      If your student hasn’t already, I’d highly recommend that they list their Pathways placement as an accomplishment on their resume. Not all employers/recruiters will care, but many of these programs are highly competitive and even listing their involvement could be a leg up on other applicants in their peer group.

      Another recommendation would be to reach out directly to pathways contacts at legislative and judicial branches if their skillset could be applied there. Non-executive branch placements can still be an option.

3. has anyone taught themselves to do watercolor painting at home? i keep seeing dumb tutorials and would kind of like to learn, but don’t want to commit to a class.

   1. I haven’t specifically, but I think this would be something you definitely could do. The style itself is not super tricky, but there are a lot of techniques you can employ and I would think YouTube or similar would definitely have tutorials. My mom taught herself from a book/manual back in the day.

   2. This is very easy to do, it just takes practice. Go easy on yourself and be patient. Buy the good paper (arches) and student grade paints and brushes. Watercolor is actually harder to control on cheaper paper, so it’s easier to learn on the good stuff.

   3. I haven’t, but my mom has! She started with one of those monthly kits that would get sent to her with some instruction videos and from there, as she got deeper into the skill, she found some that she really liked, including Jean Haines online art school

   4. I actually just checked out a library book for this (although I had the supplies already from a learn to paint your pet class). I haven’t started the book yet but it looks promising.

   5. I got a workbook from Emily Lex studios for Christmas. It is the flowers one. It has the painting on one page with instructions below, then a sketch next to it. So kinda like a painting coloring sheet? The instructions help me understand layering and mixing. Overall just a relaxing activity.

   6. I took a watercolour class at our local community college and the majority of our homework assignments were YouTube Tutorials. We would do a similar project in class, then follow the tutorial for the homework and then talk about it the next week.
      I would say tutorials vary, but watercolour painting is pretty easy to do something high impact with very little experience. And once you do have some skills under your belt things will look even better. (I find the trick for me is knowing when to stop.)
      No reason not to try!

   7. It’s something that’s been on my to do list for a while, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I found my library offers access to an online arts/crafts class portal, so I have a class cued up.

   8. I follow the tutorials online for watercolor pencils since that’s the supply I have. I only paint pictures that I like, and it has worked for me so far to learn some basic techniques and develop a bit of an eye for color.

      I would encourage you though to consider a class either through your local offerings (where I live, the parks & recreation department has art classes), or through online offerings.

      I just started a class where every student paints their own stuff, inspired by a large collection of landscape, seascapes, animals, flowers etc photographs. The teacher walks around and teaches technique, suggests materials and gives tips. I am the only adult among 10 children, it’s the first time in 25+ years that I paint something – but I really don’t care and have created two beautiful (in my mind) paintings in just 6 weeks. The course runs for 4 weeks each with one weekly 2 hour session and you can book it just once or continue.

   9. Yes–I used Scott Swinson’s classes. It has been super-fun. I was not a total noob at painting (like I took middle school art ages ago), but I’ve loved it. Recommend his class in particular.

4. Anyone ever been approached by one of those research-for-investors shops? I got emailed by Capvision on Friday and asked to do a one-hour consult. They asked me some screening questions and then said the client would like to talk to me. Then they also sent me a “consent to record” which I thought was a little weird. Google reviews of the company are…not terrible but not great. Any advice appreciated!

   1. Best I can tell, you can negotiate your rate up and you will be paid. But the recording of your interview will be available to all the subscribers of that particular service. So you have to weigh if the cash is worth potentially 100s or 1000s of people listening to your “insights” in an area.

   2. Yeah, that video just becomes content that you’ve created for them to publish for free and you lose all rights.

      1. yikes…

   3. I do them but with GLG, Maven, and guidepoint. Most often they are recorded but for private client use only (eg. Shared with someone that doesn’t make the call). There is a whole different track for stuff they share publicly and it’s very clear.

      If you would be OK with the consult, reach out to the recruiter and ask how the recording will be used.

      Know your value, and don’t be afraid to bid high. I get $450/hour. I’m sure I would get more calls if i charged leas but it isn’t worth my time.

      1. As one of the investors who uses GLGs to conduct your interviews, push your hourly rate higher. We pay GLG ~$1100-1300 per hour long call, you definitely should be making more!

      2. Do you find that you actually get selected through any of these providers? I have a bio with Guidepoint and get so many emails from them (have my rate set at 375) but have yet to be selected for anything. Lots of topics seem to be about ediscovery and litigation, which isn’t my area.

   4. I would not do this. I get questions like this all the time. My hourly rate is $500 and I have a contract minimum of 20 hours (which is low for my industry). They don’t even want to pay for an hour.

5. Explain to me like I am 5. Tween boy and his friend play Fortnite, etc online. Kid F, not in the group but from the same grade, crashes their games and “bullies” tween boy. I honestly do not understand all this and want to because I have slightly younger kids.
   1. How do you crash games? Do you have to be invited to connect or ask and be accepted?
   2. Do people have screen names or how do you even know who is who?
   3. What even is “bullying” online when you are (as I understand it) trying to kill each other?
   4. Is there anything to lose by changing your handle?

   I don’t get how this works and don’t game. The tween boy’s mom got all huffy with me for not being supportive. OTOH, she is getting the school involved and trying to get the other kid changed with bullying and maybe getting a restraining order (so if I don’t understand, I’m not sure a judge would do better). It all sounds unhinged TBH but overall I get how bullying is a legit problem.

   1. I don’t know about fortnite, but growing up with these kinds of games I can answer #3. The analogy that comes to mind is a sport like soccer or basketball: there’s good-natured “trash-talking,” and then there’s harassment (targeting someone specifically, perhaps even at the cost of winning) and insults + threats that are above and beyond what is acceptable for play — which is usually a “I know it when I see it” type of thing, but when it gets personal or when one person stops having fun and the insults keep coming, it’s usually crossing the line.

      That being said, a restraining order does sound unhinged; she seems like she cares a lot about her son and he is probably feeling awful and depressed, so she could be going into mama bear mode.

      If you’re close with this mom, I would just trust that bullying is happening, her son is tech-savvy and tried to fix it, and nothing has worked despite all their attempts to ward the bully off. That’s probably the support she’s looking for, if you want to give it.

   2. I have a kid who is a gamer. He’s in college now. We went through all of this. He had a lot of anxiety about gaming and the social aspect of it, and eventually we got a few appointments for him with a family therapist who himself is a gamer.

      One thing we learned through the therapist that was really illuminating for me is that multiplayer online games are really a social life for kids. I know people love to say that when they were kids, they roamed the neighborhood and didn’t come home until dinner. But it’s different now. This is how kids meet up with other kids. Our own minimizing it as “just a game” wasn’t the right response, and I’m glad we finally got wise via the therapist.

      The fact that you put “bully” in quotes struck me as you not believing it is possible to get bullied over a video game. But it absolutely is.

      If your kids aren’t in this age group and aren’t one of the tweens involved, I’m not sure why your support is needed, but I imagine the mom of the bullied kid perceived that you didn’t believe this could be bullying. That’s something for you to get your head on straight about.

      As gamer kids, especially boys, get older, there’s a lot of “trash talking” while playing the games, so that’s another aspect. My son and his high school friends did tons of it but as far as I know there are no hard feelings, as they are still his friends.

   3. Most games are set up so you have a friends list and can see what world/server someone is playing on. That facilitates getting together with your friends, building clans and a lot of other social/game interaction.
      People are pretty consistent about keeping their screen names so they can make friends and be social. Fortnite has rankings for example that allow for bragging rights.
      An example of bullying would be making a high level character and standing at the spawn point for new characters and killing them as they show up. Or stealing someone’s kills (you get the last shot in so you get the credit). This can show up in various ways depending on the game. Most games have mechanics to prevent this from happening but it varies.

      Also, there’s a lot of games that allow you to play in your own world with just your friends (Roblox, Minecraft). Fortnite is not that. When our kids were tweens we had to take away the Fortnite type of games because they would get really frustrated. We steered them to other games they could play with their friends until they could handle it better. (Because if that parent thinks the worst is the kid being bullied wait until he loses the gear he worked 3 months to gather).

6. To this morning’s Vienna poster: I was there last year. My unpopular opinion is that sacher torte is severely overrated. Instead, go to Cafe Oberlaa (there are several locations) and get the chocolate mousse torte.
   Also, don’t sleep on the street vendors selling hot snacks — there’s probably one just outside the Staatsoper. Get some hot roasted chestnuts.

   1. But it’s also for the experience. Especially with the opera.

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