If this were an ad, I'd go on about how horrible and worthless I felt before, and how wonderful I feel now.

Actually, I don't feel all that different. I prefer much warmer temperatures. I have much more stamina. I need less sleep. My skin and hair are not at all oily. I wear much smaller clothes, of course. I can fit more comfortably into airline, movie theater, and car seats. But when I'm just sitting at home or at work and reading or writing, as I usually am, I really don't feel any different at all. I felt fine before, and I feel fine now.

The temperature shift is probably what's most noticable to others, other than my appearance. I used to be most comfortable at around 60 degrees F (16 C) when inactive, or about 20 degrees F (-7 C) when very active. Now I'm most comfortable around 90 degrees F (32 C) when inactive, and around 60 degrees F (16 C) when very active. This means I need no air conditioning. In fact I have the heat on right now (mid-July) while most of my neighbors are running their air conditioners full blast. Fortunately, the landlord pays for heat in my apartment. At work I always wear a sweater, and often a winter coat too.

The increase in my stamina is what makes the most difference to me. I used to get out of breath slowly climbing one flight of stairs. Now I can run up 40 flights without getting winded. I believe I could keep running up stairs non-stop for 24 hours or more, if anyone built a stairway that high (and pressurized it so that the top wasn't sticking out of Earth's atmosphere). I bike 20 to 40 miles a day, typically at about 15 mph (25 kmph) uphill, and about 30 to 40 mph (50 to 60 kmph) downhill, without fatigue.

My skin and hair are not at all oily. On the positive side, this means I can handle CDs, diskettes, film, and lenses without getting fingerprints on them. On the negative side, this means my skin is often red and peeling. I could probably fix this by putting grease on my skin, but I find that to be too gross.

Last updated July 9th, 1995.