I FINALLY reach 10,000 steps per day

In fact I was 500 over.

Every day Vicky beats me.  In fact, she beats me by huge margins, often 2000 or more steps.

We get little credit for bike riding, for example, but she will end up with 1000 more steps than me for the same ride.  Same thing happens with ping pong and with dancing.  She always ends up with more steps.

Well, yesterday I thought I'd finally beat her.  We were both going to mow the lawn. She uses the finish mower on the area close to the house, and I struggle with the huge DR mower for the back field (about 1/2 acre).  No WAY I don't get my 10,000.  It takes us each about two hours, so I thought that should do it, along with everything else we did that day, to finally get me 10,000 steps.

Here is the piddly little postage-stamp area she mowed (well, part of it anyway.......half of it anyway):

And the huge expanse I mowed:

 

Just for the heck of it we both took pre-mowing measurements.  In addition, I also wore one of my hiking GPS systems, a type that measures distance not by steps but by satellite.

Here are the totals for the two hours or so we worked, using our activity trackers:

Vicky:  3100 steps

Dan:  2400 steps

Vicky:  1.32 miles walked

Dan:  1 mile walked

Beat me again.  AGAIN!

I can sort of understand that because how we mow is different.  She can generally walk a little faster and more consistently, whereas with the DR Mower it is a different story.  The ground is uneven and it only has two rear wheels.  Turning requires a lot of effort, and you almost have to come to a stop to do it.

However, the significant finding, I believe, was in comparing the distance using the GPS system (our hiking GPS) and the step system (the activity tracker).

Using the hiking GPS I got credit for 1.84 miles, whereas with the step-counting activity tracker I got credit for 1.0 miles.  That's a big difference.  And we trust the accuracy of the hiking GPS because we have calibrated it using other GPS systems and with known distances of trails.

The units appear to be good for measuring straight line walking, with your arm free.  The sensor detects motion in three directions using a little gizmo called an accelerometer.  That sounds like something from Flash Gordon, but essentially it is to filter out extraneous movements from movements that are step-like.

A few days ago I made several short journeys into our back garage to fill the wheelbarrow with wood for our stove.  I got virtually no credit for those steps--too slow, not enough movement, and not far enough.  Arrggh.  It was hard work, too!

The activity trackers are useful as a way of comparing days with each other.  And if a person can do a lot of straight line walking they are pretty accurate.   But they aren't good for much beyond that. 

So, how did I finally get my 10,000?

Answer:  By playing the piano.

I don't play it gently--I beat the thing into submission.  I hurt it and dare it to not produce something sounding vaguely like music.

And all of that beating gave me step credit. 

So, I have decided on a new exercise program.  One half hour a day of playing the piano and I'll have my 10,000 steps and be buff for my high school 50th reunion that will be held in only 99 days (give or take an hour or so...................but who's worrying about that?)  

Trash talking with ping pong

Since we got our table last July we have played almost every day we have been home, 30 minutes a day.   We don't keep score, but we have a lot of fun trash talking and celebrating, as the previous video of Vicky showed.

Only fair to display my immaturity as well:

50th High School Reunion

When I think about High School Reunions, the old Statler Brothers song comes to mind:

And the class of '57 had its dreams
Oh, we all thought we'd change the world with our great works and deeds
Or maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs
The class of '57 had its dreams


My 50th is here.  I can't deny it any longer.

I thought High School 50th reunions were for other people, not for people like me.  Just like I once thought arthritis was for other people, but not for me.  Or Medicare, or AARP, or Social Security, or complaining about the younger generation.

After giving it much thought (and much wine), I have decided to travel back to Fort Collins, Colorado and attend mine.

It was actually kind of a big decision because I'm not a keep-up-with-people-from-my-past kind of person.  I'm not on Facebook, and have no intention of ever being on it.   I saw my high school mates at my 10th reunion, and then at my 25th, but have had no contact with any of them since then.

So I really haven't had much interest in keeping up with my high school friends.  It's just not me.

So why go?  I don't know the answer to that, really.

Part of it is that I wouldn't want to not go.  I wouldn't want to always wonder what it would have been like.  And you only get one chance, so it isn't like I could decide later that I had made a mistake and then do something about that.

Another part is that I would like to see the people who attend, to know that they have made it, and have been happy.  As I think back about my high school I realize that there are a lot of people who were nice people.  I assume I'll find out about their life stories, in abbreviated forms, and will be glad to know of all they have done and seen.

I've also wondered a bit whether it is something that a person, in a way, must do.  You have made it 50 years, and none of us who attend were ever guaranteed that opportunity to create lives (and some never had it, of course, which adds to the bittersweet aspect of a 50th).  It almost feels like one is obligated to celebrate something like this.  For all of us to get together and, in one voice, say:  "We were blessed."

There is that philosophy that people spend the rest of their lives living down their high school years.  I think it has an element of truth to it.  For example, I've been laughingly saying that I am going to finally lose that six pounds that I have been trying to get off for the past two years.........but maybe it's not really a joke.  Maybe I mean it.  I'll contemplate that thought this evening while I'm eating my salad instead of what I usually eat.  hmmmmm

I used to teach Adolescent Psychology.  One of the concepts in that area of psychology is that of the Imaginary Audience.  This is the idea that people believe that everything they do or say and how they look is the main subject of attention for everyone else.  Of course, the joke on everybody is that it isn't true.  Instead, everybody else is walking around believing the same thing, and thinking everybody is paying close attention to them.

But going to a 50th High School reunion brings up those kinds of thoughts once again.  Or can.  How will I look compared to everyone else?  Nah!  I'm too mature for that kind of thinking.  That's not why I had a dream the other night that one of my high school friends who I haven't thought about in years was getting married and I noticed that he looked just the same as he did in high school.  Not me.  I've grown up.

I do need to get a new pair of slacks for the event, though.  And there is that six pounds. 

10,000 steps update

We can't do it.  We find it almost impossible to get to 10,000.

Today, for example, we did some HARD yard work.  Our grass is very long, so we took turns pulling the mower through it.  We painted, we washed decks, we moved stuff, etc. etc.

It is 5:00 and I have under 6000 steps, and Vicky has 8800.  And I'm exhausted.

Sheesh.

When I was pulling the mower through 18 inch tall grass I would keep my eye on my fitness tracker, and found that I often got no credit at all for steps.  That's discouraging.

I think our fitness trackers do a good job of consistent straight-ahead steps, but for anything other than that it isn't all that great.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

For the past two days we did long bike rides.  Our first was the Tulip Pedal (52 miles), and the second was the Daffodil Classic (40 miles).  We call them our flower rides.  We love them.

Vicky would get credit for steps when I wouldn't when riding.  We were riding the same route, doing the same thing, and she got credit for steps. 

Life isn't fair.

10,000 steps per day

We read somewhere about FitBit, and thought that sounded interesting.  A way of measuring your steps for a day.  Our goals had been focused on time, not steps, and we were curious how many steps we took during an average day.

Sean, my son-in-law, got one free at his work.  Based on discussions with him we decided to go with the lowest end Garmins. We didn't care about heart rate or any of that stuff. We just wanted to know how many steps we took.

WELL, that's been interesting.

It's brought out our non-competitive spirits.  When we play ping pong, and a ball goes off to the side of the table about equidistant from both of us we used to take turns getting it.  Not so now.  "I'll get it."

And we are always comparing numbers.  All the while saying we are not "competitive."  A typical conversation:

"I'm less competitive than you are."

No, I'm less competitive than you are."

No, I'm afraid I'm less competitive than you are."

We usually make our nightly sojourns to the bathroom at the same time.  On the first night I cleverly thought of walking to the one that is about 10 feet beyond the closest one.  HAH!  I THOUGHT. Got her.

When she came back to bed, she reported that SHE had walked to the bathroom at the far end of the house.  HAH!

Well, besides the fact that we have both learned that we are less competitive than the other person, what do we make from our first few days with our Garmin activity trackers?

1.  You don't get much credit playing ping pong.  All of the lunging you do from one foot to another isn't registered.  You have to walk a few feet before the instrument detects "walking."  In other words, you don't get much credit for one of our activities.

2.  You get horrible credit cycling.  Might as well not even bother. 

3.  Dancing is great.  Lots of steps in a short period of time, especially with swing dances that are faster.  Dancing is great exercise.  It's something everyone has known, which is why at dances the thermostats are typically set low.  Otherwise, you sweat.  And why about the most fit group of people on the planet are dancers.

We have yet to break 10,000 steps per day, but have cycled an average of 1 1/2 hours/day, played ping pong 1/2 hour per day, danced once 1/2 hour, and worked in the yard and on cleaning the cars (kind of decent work) 3/4 of an hour per day.

They cheat us!

What the devices are good for is showing us comparisons between days.  If we do no other type of exercise, and our numbers are low, it is a good reminder to get up and move.

And they work best if you are not in competition with anyone, like we are obviously not.

d

Refinishing the Hoosier

Before kitchens had built in cabinets, pieces of furniture were used to store food, utensils, and cooking supplies.

One of the most common pieces of kitchen furniture was a cupboard called a  Hoosier cabinet, named because the most popular ones were made by the Hoosier Manufacturing company in, you guessed it, Indiana. 

In the early 1970s I acquired one of these and began the process of refinishing and restoring it.  I would buy one to cannibalize a part and then resell it, until the one I had was fairly complete.

The cabinet has moved around over the years, and this spring returned to me.

It was in need of having all of the drawers re-glued and the interior re-painted.  It was my first spring project.

All done!  Looks just right in our kitchen area. 

Vicky took no time at all to put it to use: