Friday, April 28, 2006

Travel decisions

A new personal best: 11,901 steps yesterday.  I was in Anaheim and visited the gym in the morning, sat in meetings all day, then walked from the hotel to Downtown Disney and back.

Our 5th anniversary is coming up in 5 short months, and we have $5,000 and a little over a week to go anywhere.  It's tough to decide because I want everything - privacy and intimacy so we can discuss big Issues, excitement and sponteneity so we can enjoy the change of pace, planned tours and sightseeing so we can take advantage of the rare opportunity to see other parts of the world, comfort food so I don't have to widen that scary horizon for myself, but the option to try new foods as long as I know I like all the ingredients...  It's fun to dream about all the places we want to visit: Italy? Argentina? Grand Canyon? Alaska? Australia? A local all-inclusive resort and spa? Or a not-so-local one? Stay in hostels and save money for fine dining? Or go for all-around luxury?  It's awe-inspiring to realize the world is really so big, but it all just makes this decision so enjoyably difficult.

Monday, April 24, 2006


I've never been entertained by gazing at art, but last week this story on NPR and the Listener Comments the following week made me want to visit Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey to visit this sculpture inspired by Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party.

A new pedometer record

Saturday my steps reached 11,200+ steps.  A new personal best!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

My pedometer

I have been wearing my pedometer for a couple of months now.  I've only gotten to 10,000 steps once in that time -- it was a day where I was setting up my trade show booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center at the end of March, and my freight was missing.  I had to walk back and forth across the whole convention floor several times to track it down.  It did eventually show up, and I had 10,200+ steps by the end of the night.  It felt so good!

I started this venture by establishing a baseline for myself, which is what the experts say you should do.  I spent 2 weeks wearing my pedometer making no special effort to walk more than usual.  I found that in an average day spent at work, I got 2,000 steps ALL DAY.  If I paid attention and tried to walk more, I would get 3,000.  Weekends usually netted me 5,000 steps.

I've improved that so that I can usually get 4,000 steps on workdays, and today is shaping up to be my second 10,000+ day.  I'm at 9995 and the day is not done.  I feel so good.  It's a weekend *plus* treadmill time at the gym, so that's why I got such spectacular results.

Daily Mail Picnic Animation

I saw this and thought you might enjoy it. Make sure your speakers
are turned on because the song is really funny! : - )
http://eclectech.co.uk/dailymailpicnic.php