Recommendations and Resolutions for 2016 (#129)

I want to know about what happened to the tiger too!

i know if i listen to this i’m gonna end up buying $100 of stuff on amazon

Tim,

Always good to hear you two,although I find that video is funnier.

I love calisthenics and I think there are good reasons to consider it one of the best forms of exercise for total body strength.I am willing to bet good money you’re going to pull the planche off and here’s my contribution to your efforts:do band-assisted workouts.They’ll help you progress gradually and quickly towards your goal whilst at the same time allowing you to immediately experience the full and proper movement,speeding up the development of muscle-specific strength as well as overall balance and muscle memory.Here’s an example (the funny accent is a bonus): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BofBR1QNzXo

Short Film-making? Count me in. I’ve scored (music) over 40 features, and produced one. And we have a mutual friend in Rolf P. I’d be delighted to chat.

Thanks for the recommendation on Headspace. Just downloaded the app and took my first 10 min meditation session. Would like to recommend a great read to you called Fully Present – The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness….by Susan Smalley and Diana Winston. Check it out.

awesome resolution 🙂 I hope how that ‘having a child’ plan is also going well.

Hi Tim! I just listened to your episode and the part about giving up soda’s in 2000 was amazing. I actually gave up all sodas in 1998 (Coke, Pepsi etc) , as well as ANY food that is Deep Fried. (yes anything) It was just a random thing I tried for 2 weeks in an effort to correct my eating habits which had gotten kinda wonky at the time. I learned that not eating food “prepared” a certain way was key. I can still have french fries or chips, but they have to be baked. So really, I didn’t give up any foods, just the cooking process.

Two weeks turned into a month, which lead to a year and that quickly turned into many years. After I hit 10 years, i vowed just to stay away from both of them for good because as they say: “you can always quit, so why quit now?”. If I quit, I would have to start all over and I just wasn’t going to do that. This year marks my 18th year and I’m still with it. And of course there is no effort involved now. It’s so easy not to even eat or drink either.

For me it’s became a source of personal pride, and let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Peer pressure was immense in the early days. I couldn’t go out to eat with friends without them ordering deep fried appetizers. They would make me feel really bad whether I wanted to or not. It’s amazing how much effort people put into making you eat what they eat to make them feel better about themselves.

The good news is I was always into going to the gym and working out to the point I thought I wanted to compete one day. That never happened but recently I was in Austin visiting old childhood friends I grew up with. All of these guys (I’m 49) had at least 40-46 inch waists, up from 29-32 when we were kids. I “still” have roughly a 33-34 inch waist, 6 feet tall, 196 lbs, which is exactly where I was in college in the late 80s. 🙂 These days if anyone gives me static, I just tell them i’m under doctor’s orders not to have either, and amazingly at that point they’re all good with it. 🙂

Anyhow thanks for all you do! You’ve made more of an impression on my life and by extension my families in just the things that filter down from you, through me to them.

I hope 2016 treats you well.

-Mike LeFevers

Love the podcast and listen regularly, so I’m regretful that my first post may come off as negative or cynical. But a question: did some product placement creep into this pod?

You have always been transparent and up front about your interests, so I was surprised during a moment of the discussion about your and Kevin’s recommendations. Kevin mentioned that his “sister” was asking “the other day” about meditation, and he was quick to recommend Headspace and its “Take 10” trial program. I love Headspace, but this soundbite — which was not in an ad — sounded stilted and awkwardly placed, and in retrospect, kind of advertisy. Then, at the end we learn that this episode was brought to you by Headspace. Hmm.

I don’t mind that you believe in your sponsors so fervently — in fact that’s a cool thing. But I don’t want to have to filter the content of your pods as I listen, wondering if there’s something else at play. Am I off base?

Sorry Tim, how do you live in SF and not know about the Beach Challet? Maybe you should spend more time in SF?

Thanks, Fellas! Great show. Please do more Random Show!

Tim,

Outstanding, as usual. Cant wait for the next one.

For bodyweight routines that work look at Daniel Vadnal’s FitnessFAQ on youtube.

The MTHFR gene!! For those that missed this piece in the podcast, Kevin Rose spoke about a gene that he inherited called the MTHFR. This is worth exploring further and the fact that it was brought up in the first place further validates the power of information in these podcasts. I discovered i had this mutated gene after i had my blood tested against food allergies from my local naturopath. Did this only because my wife did it and discovered some interesting results. After discovering that i had this mutated gene in addition to high reactions to foods that would never show up in physical form, i felt like i was put on a path of better decision making with my nutritional plan. Its akin to meeting with a financial advisor about your future invest strategy only its about your health. Anyway, i found that i had a high reaction to many foods i enjoyed regularly. After i stopped eating them completely to confirm the test results, my body,mind made significant changes over a 60 day period. Anyway, check it out. Thank Kevin for sharing. Its not everyday someone publicly announces they have a mutated gene….

JB

Hey Tim,

Thanks for doing what you do. It really means a lot.

What do you think is the most efficient way to promote empathetic systems based thinking (on a personal and organizational level), and can this be done on scale via technology/the internet? Essentially, how do you think the most basic elements of human relations can be packaged and taught in a way that scales? What’s the most efficient way to help people design their lives to be in harmony with their community and environment, on a global level?

Tim & Kevin, I really enjoyed this episode. Added bonus, your shenanigans & power outages kept me up for my 3 hour drive home at 10 PM last night!!

I’m also interested in learning the planche and/or front lever, and I’m looking forward to what you figure out on the progression to it. As we often do, we’ll let you pull it all together and enjoy going thru doing it on the other side. I’m doing much of that with Pavel’s S&S routines now. I’m 6′ & generally have better leg strength than upper body, with poor experience doing a planche in the past. If you need a volunteer to test out your soon to be discovered protocol, I’m open to trying it out!!

Per your request for Montreal recommendations… My sister-in-law owns a tea room in Montreal called Cha Do Raku 茶道楽 http://www.cha-doraku.com Her shop is stocked with tea varieties that she finds on her frequent trips to tea farms in Japan to hand pick selections. I’m confident you can find just the right selection if you stop for a tea break. If you do plan to stop in let me know as I’d love to say hello. BTW: my brother, her husband, is a fellow Princeton alum with degrees in eastern studies and neuroscience.

What was the tea that Kevin recommended in this episode?

I put $500 into Wealthfront to see behind the curtain. Interesting company, very transparent and educational. I would suggest giving it a whirl.

Hei guys, I remember there is one episode of Tim Ferriss podast in which Tim himself was interviewed by someone else. Struggled to find that episode, anyone remember which one was that?

Hi Tim! Here are some recommendations about Montreal (my hometown). I’ll break it down into several categories:

GEOGRAPHY

Montreal is built on and around a mountain (hence its name). It is on an island in the middle of the Saint Laurent River.

Here’s a common source of confusion: Montreal is the city, Mount Royal is the mountain. In fact, there are many repetitive names here: there’s Saint Laurent River, Saint Laurent Boulevard (a street nowhere near the river), and Ville Saint Laurent (a neighborhood nowhere near the river or the boulevard). So before you look up anything in Google Maps, make sure of the name.

GETTING AROUND

Because Montreal is on a mountain, there is a lot of travel up and down slopes. You can travel in a few different ways:

Walking: Montreal is great to walk around. Of course it’s a big city so you’ll eventually need another mode of transport. Pro tip: when you’re downtown, north is uphill, so it’s easy to understand directions.

Public transit: We have extensive public transit. This includes buses and a subway system (called the metro). Many places downtown are directly accessible from the metro, so you can access them without ever stepping outside (great during winter cold!). This feature is known as the “underground city” of Montreal. Fun fact: if someone tells you they travel by “BMW”, they don’t mean the car, they mean “Bus-Metro-Walk”. That’s my preferred method of travel, because the transit system reaches so many areas.

Biking: Montreal is the second-most bike-friendly city in North America (source: http://copenhagenize.eu/index/ ). It has a lot of bike paths. As previously mentioned, you will often be biking up or down hills. It also has BIXI, a bike-sharing system. This lets you rent a bike at a BIXI station, ride to your destination, and drop it off at another BIXI station.

Uber: Uber is currently in a dispute with Quebec taxis. As a result, many Uber drivers will ask you to sit in the front seat, so they don’t look like Uber drivers.

Driving: I recommend against this. Our roads are so badly designed that civil engineers travel here from around the world to study how bad they are ( http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/montreal-is-falling-down/ ). Also, parking can be a pain in any popular part of the city. Instead of driving use BMW, or Uber if you’re going somewhere out of the way.

LANGUAGE

The province of Quebec is almost entirely French. There are many people in Quebec who simply don’t speak a word of English. If you’re planning on travelling outside of Montreal, be prepared to speak French. However, Montreal is bilingual, using French or English. People who work with the public are usually functionally bilingual.

Please note this is Quebec French, not France French. If you’re familiar with the latter, the former will sound quite different to you. Here’s a great place to start: Most Americans mispronounce the city name. They say “MAWN-tree-all” and immediately stick out as visitors. Instead, say ‘MUHN-tree-all’ and you’ll sound native.

In the past, language has been a hot-button topic in this province, for various historical reasons. But if you tell people you’re American and trying to learn French, they think you’re adorable. If you then start swearing in French, they think you’re hilarious. French cursing is mostly religious; practice saying “CAW-liss” (the holy Christian chalice, spelled “calice”), and you’ll make friends quick. I’m totally serious here.

FOOD

The food in this city is so good that it’s very hard to stay Slow Carb in Montreal. You will constantly be waiting for your next cheat day. Because we have so many cultures here, we have a huge selection of restaurants and places to eat; if you want Ethiopian food for lunch and Polish sausage for dinner, you can get it.

Bagels: This is not a New York bagel, and that distinction is so important it gets its own Wikipedia page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal-style_bagel ). Eat them fresh out of the oven from Fairmount Bagel and Saint Viateur Bagel for the best in Montreal.

Smoked meat: This is beef brisket that is both like and unlike pastrami. The best is at Schwartz’s Deli: order it medium-fat, with a side of fries and a Cherry Coke.

Poutine: Poutine (pronounced poo-TSIN) has been described as “God’s diarrhea after binge-drinking”. It’s French fries, hot brown gravy, and melted cheese curds. It is worth every artery that it clogs. My favorite is at Decarie Hot Dog. Just look at it: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/decarie-hot-dog-saint-laurent?select=xoFOk9Bqjr5SDCJVVGDcEA

Joe Beef: Voted as one of the 100 best restaurants in the world ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/joe-beef-makes-the-list-of-the-worlds-100-best-restaurants/article24617531/ ), this is a tiny steakhouse. Get there early, it fills up fast.

Queue de Cheval: A high class restaurant with high class prices. One of their specialties is poutine with foie gras.

Orange Julep: The building is easy to spot: it’s a 40 ft high orange. They serve an orange cream drink, as well as hot dogs and fries. And every Wednesday night they have a classic car show.

Other: I cannot emphasize this enough: Montreal has a lot of great things to eat. Google your options, explore around, there is so much you’ll want to eat here.

MOUNT ROYAL

This is the mountain that rises out of the center of the island. It is covered with green space (Mount Royal Park), and offers the best views of the city.

When the city was founded centuries ago, the founder Paul de Maisonneuve planted a cross at the top of the mountain. That cross has since been replaced by a 100-ft metal cross that you can visit. Also, the cross lights up, so at night you’ll be able to see it from miles away. You’ll notice there are no super-skyscrapers in the city. That’s because the law limits building heights, to maximize the visibility of Mount Royal and its cross.

Every Sunday afternoon the Park hosts the Tam-Tams drum festival. Hundreds of people show up to listen to drums or electronic music, sun themselves, and get stoned. Good times.

SHOPPING AND NIGHTLIFE

Montreal has 4 major universities and dozens of colleges and other schools, so there are a lot of students and young people. As a result, our entertainment options are top-notch. If you want to buy clothes or other goodies, people-watch, find restaurants, or hang out in pubs there are several areas to go.

Downtown: The downtown area is roughly a rectangle. It’s made up of four major streets running east-west: Sherbrooke, Maisonneuve, St Catherine, and Rene Levesque. It stretches west to Atwater Avenue, and east to Saint Denis Boulevard. Crescent Street is a major spot for bars and clubs at night.

Saint Laurent and Saint Denis: This is the second rectangle for nightlife, which overlaps with the downtown rectangle. It’s made up of two streets, Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Denis Boulevard, that run north-south. Here the nightlife is younger, more student-oriented.

Old Montreal and the Old Port: As the name implies, this is the old part of the city. The major street in Old Montreal is Saint Paul, just walk down to appreciate the architecture. The Old Port is right next to Old Montreal, and it’s the same idea but it’s right on the water. Also, don’t miss Place Jacques Cartier, a big plaza that features street performers and artists. Pro tip: the roads in this neighborhood are cobblestones with big gaps, so make sure your lady friends don’t wear stiletto heels.

ARCHITECTURE

Montreal is one of the oldest cities in North America (founded in 1642!) so many buildings are old and beautiful to look at. If the areas I mentioned above aren’t enough for you, here are a few more to visit:

Notre Dame Basilica

St Joseph’s Oratory

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral

ILE SAINT HELENE and ILE NOTRE DAME

These are two islands right next to each other in the middle of the Saint Laurent River. They’re easy to reach by BMW (metro station Jean Drapeau). Here, you can visit La Ronde amusement park for roller coasters and bumper cars. You can also go to Jean Drapeau Park, a large green space with a great view of the city skyline ( https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153204359300925&set=a.10150496823735925.364774.589300924 ).

FESTIVALS

Montreal hosts so many festivals it’s hard to keep track. They’re almost always in the summer, because no one wants to be outside during our winters. Here are the three biggest:

Jazz Festival: The Montreal Jazz Festival is the largest jazz festival in the world, according to Guinness World Records, hosting 3000 performers and receiving over 2 million visitors over 10 days. Despite its name, it’s not limited to jazz; past years have featured Stevie Wonder, BB King and Diana Ross. Some performers play free outdoor shows, and others play indoor concerts which require a ticket. The outdoor shows are downtown at Quartier des Spectacles, a large outdoor plaza next to the Place des Arts concert hall

Just For Laughs: This is the largest comedy festival in the world, featuring the biggest names in comedy, like Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK and Amy Poehler. There are many outdoor events at Quartier des Spectacles, but if you want to see a big name you’ll probably need a ticket for an indoor show.

L’International des Feux Loto-Québec: This is the most prestigious fireworks competition in the world. It spans several weeks, showcasing one competing country on a Wed. or Sat. night. Every competitor has a 30-minute fireworks program, accompanied by music played on the radio. The best place to view them is on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, which is closed to traffic during the competition.

OUTSIDE MONTREAL

Here’s a big difference between Montreal and any American city: the province of Quebec is mostly uninhabited. Quebec is twice as big as Texas, but 90% of that area is basically empty.

You can be just about anywhere in the US, and if you drive two hours in any direction you’ll find people. That’s not true here. If you leave, your only options are Quebec City (3 hours), Ottawa (2 hours), Vermont (1 hour), or the Quebec wilderness.

Of course if you want wilderness, then you have a lot of options: skiing, snowboarding, hiking, hunting, fishing, river rafting… We have a huge territory to explore. But that’s a guide all to itself, and this guide is long enough. 🙂

THAT’S IT!

If you need further details, please comment on this post so I’ll get an email. I’m happy to help!

In one of Tim’s more recentish podcasts he mentioned an alternative to traditional health insurance that emphasized prevention. Does anyone remember which Podcast it was or where I can go to find more information? Thanks all.