Peter's Q1 2025 Letter
and the Cherry Blossoms
With the start of spring, the cherry blossoms in DC are in full effect. It’s always too short as they only bloom for about a week or so, which makes the time even more special. It is a sight to see for all in the area or in the area visiting. Most people are familiar with the cherry blossoms planted in high density around the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial, but they are also scattered throughout the city.
The warm weather brought the cherry blossoms out which in turn brought out some reflections. Here are my mumblings for the first quarter of 2025.
Health
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP): Regenerative health is gaining steam, particularly with the process of recycling body tissue to heal damaged tissues or organs. Recently, I had a series of two PRP injections to help with some adductor tendinopathy. I have no idea how the first injection felt as it occurred during surgery for another nearby limb. The second injection, however, was pretty painful. My hands clenched the examination table in the doctor’s office, but it was tolerable. It had to be done. First, one vile of blood was drawn, spun in a centrifuge for about 10 minutes, and the plasma was separated for extraction for the injection. The plasma was then reinjected into my troubled adductor tendon. Crossing my fingers it does some healing magic!
PRP Injection #2
Book
Why Gold? Why Now? The War Against Your Wealth and How to Win It: Published by investor E.B. Tucker in May 2020 just before the United States and much of the world shut down for COVID, the book offers a staunch reminder that the value of fiat money nearly always depreciates immensely over time. Conversely, gold is a unique store of value that cannot be devalued and can be seen as wealth insurance. Why? Because of the limited supply. All the gold ever mined in the world fits in just three and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools. In 1935, the price of gold was $35 per ounce. As of today, it hit an all-time high of $3,106 per ounce against the US dollar. Overall, the book was a highly entertaining read from the author’s unique background in furniture sales, to investing in real estate during the housing crash in the 2000s, to joining the board of directors of a publicly traded company.
I do not own gold myself, but E.B. Tucker makes a compelling argument to put a little cash into the hard currency of gold bullion (coins, bars, etc.), even a few percent of one’s portfolio. Tucker also mentions gold mining company stocks but says he prefers investing in the royalty companies as the best risk-reward opportunity. Back in 2019 when gold was considered very undervalued, a friend of mine bought gold coins after reading the financial literacy book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” by Robert Kiyosaki and was laughed at by some mutual friends. Back then the average price of gold for that year year was $1,393 per ounce. Who’s laughing now?
Podcast
The Correct Way to Build Strength, Endurance & Flexibility at Any Age | Pavel Tsatsouline: I never miss a podcast by one of the greatest strength coaches ever, Pavel Tsatsouline. Born in Belarus, part of the Soviet Union at the time, Tsatsouline was a physical training instructor for the Spetsnaz, the elite Soviet special forces unit. He later emigrated to the United States in the 1990s and started off as a kettlebell instructor. Although known for bringing the kettlebell to the West, he later founded StrongFirst, a highly sought out physical fitness certification company that offers coaching certificates for kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight training.
Despite Pavel’s long history with the kettlebells, he focuses on certain movement patterns for hitting strength or endurance goals, and some of the best movement patterns for longevity. He also demystifies why training to failure can be counterproductive. The podcast is long at around 4 hours, so if short on time, I recommend listening to the first hour.
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