I purchased a fitness tracker by Jawbone called the UP24. It was like a chunky orange bracelet, but I don't like the watch ones, so I went with Jawbone. It just died it's third and final time in the last week and a half.
It was only fifty bucks, since I purchased it after it had been discontinued by the manufacturer. They came out with an equivalent but newer version for $100, and I just wanted to try out having a fitness tracker while waiting for Jawbone to get their head in the game and get active heart rate tracking like Fitbit has.
Honestly, if it were just a functionality thing, I would go Fitbit Charge HR, but I can't stand how Fitbits look. And their only colors are black and plum. And I've heard their step tracking can be way off.
Since the warranty for my product expired in March (before I purchased it), they won't replace it. The best they can offer is a 25% discount code for their website. The UP2, their current band, is $100. I would be paying $75 to replace my $50 band.
And I asked if I could use the code at Best Buy, but no, it's just for their website. And since my band freaked out after three months, I want Geek Squad protection. They'd replace it for the next two years.
Dang it. I'm more frustrated by this than I thought I would be. I've read bad reviews on the UP2. None of the other fitness trackers look good.
And apparently I've become addicted to having something track all my steps and workouts, like I'm working toward something, even just my 10,000 step daily goal.
I have a lightweight app on my phone called Google Fit, and it can track steps and actually is smart enough to tell when I'm biking. But I don't want to have to carry my phone everywhere, or if I want credit for that dance exercise I did in my basement, have to have it on me.
Really, the takeaway from all this is 1) I love fitness trackers, and 2) get them from Best Buy and get Geek Squad protection.
Friday, July 17, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Oooooh, I've wasted my life.
Props to anyone who can tell me where the quote in my title came from. Largely because I can't remember it. Someone says it right before being squashed in an amusing way, so I'm guessing cartoon. Simpsons maybe?
Anyway, I was quoting it because I am feeling the guilt of having too many interests and then squandering my time on computer games.
Time Sink #1: Computer games. And when I get bored of computer games... different computer games.
Time Sink #2: Work. I'm listing this as a time sink because, while productive, I don't generally like it. Or more specifically, I like about two of my potential five jobs.
Interest #1: Working out. This is number #1 because I actually do it. Usually. I have a certain level of self-motivating guilt going on. I blame My Fitness Pal app. Which I highly recommend for the same reason. Nothing is as effective as noticing you are spending 700+ calories on that pizza tonight, so you should probably go run today. It's also what encouraged me to give up soda for the second time, largely by me realizing that it's 150 calories and like half my sugar allowance for the day. Did you know a tiny bag of Cheetos was 310 calories? And if that doesn't sound like a lot to you, try keeping track of calories with the goal of staying under 1200. Which meal are you giving up for those Cheetos?
Interest #2: Reading. I had a goal of 100 books this year. That's two a week. I've been playing computer games. I am 13 books behind schedule. Time to go read children's books...
Interest #3: Writing. I've been playing with a story in my head labeled "epic space odyssey," joining the collection of "chanters' fantasy," "steampunk gang," and "angsty-music-stagehand" and half a dozen other half-baked ideas. That don't get written. And I need to actually write things because if I leave them alone too long, I forget them, or at least major plot points.
Interest #4: Steampunk. I have a costume. There are tons of DIY ideas out there and I know people and I want to go to events. And I don't. Steampunk's problem is that even DIY stuff tends to cost money. Maybe I should get a sixth job just for Steampunk.
Interest #5: Playing a musical instrument. I have a recorder, penny whistle, guitar, and piano. I want to play fiddle. I don't play any. Usually I hit a wall pretty early in where it doesn't seem like I get any better and that demotivates me.
Interest #6: Learning another language. I have an app called Duolingo, set for Turkish. It's free. My goal was 20 minutes a day. Hah.
Interest #7: Misc self-improvement. Basically there are a lot of little things I want to learn, like bike maintenance, ham radio operation, Krav Maga, homebrewing, etc. And I don't.
And I should.
But I liiiiiiiike computer games.
Anyway, I was quoting it because I am feeling the guilt of having too many interests and then squandering my time on computer games.
Time Sink #1: Computer games. And when I get bored of computer games... different computer games.
Time Sink #2: Work. I'm listing this as a time sink because, while productive, I don't generally like it. Or more specifically, I like about two of my potential five jobs.
Interest #1: Working out. This is number #1 because I actually do it. Usually. I have a certain level of self-motivating guilt going on. I blame My Fitness Pal app. Which I highly recommend for the same reason. Nothing is as effective as noticing you are spending 700+ calories on that pizza tonight, so you should probably go run today. It's also what encouraged me to give up soda for the second time, largely by me realizing that it's 150 calories and like half my sugar allowance for the day. Did you know a tiny bag of Cheetos was 310 calories? And if that doesn't sound like a lot to you, try keeping track of calories with the goal of staying under 1200. Which meal are you giving up for those Cheetos?
Interest #2: Reading. I had a goal of 100 books this year. That's two a week. I've been playing computer games. I am 13 books behind schedule. Time to go read children's books...
Interest #3: Writing. I've been playing with a story in my head labeled "epic space odyssey," joining the collection of "chanters' fantasy," "steampunk gang," and "angsty-music-stagehand" and half a dozen other half-baked ideas. That don't get written. And I need to actually write things because if I leave them alone too long, I forget them, or at least major plot points.
Interest #4: Steampunk. I have a costume. There are tons of DIY ideas out there and I know people and I want to go to events. And I don't. Steampunk's problem is that even DIY stuff tends to cost money. Maybe I should get a sixth job just for Steampunk.
Interest #5: Playing a musical instrument. I have a recorder, penny whistle, guitar, and piano. I want to play fiddle. I don't play any. Usually I hit a wall pretty early in where it doesn't seem like I get any better and that demotivates me.
Interest #6: Learning another language. I have an app called Duolingo, set for Turkish. It's free. My goal was 20 minutes a day. Hah.
Interest #7: Misc self-improvement. Basically there are a lot of little things I want to learn, like bike maintenance, ham radio operation, Krav Maga, homebrewing, etc. And I don't.
And I should.
But I liiiiiiiike computer games.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
This post is about earrings
Back about maybe ten years ago, I decided to fulfill my dream of getting a cartilage piercing. I'd used those little slid-on cuffs for a while and pestered every piercing person I found with the question, "If my lobes got infected, will my cartilage as well?" Since my lobes had managed to get infected and remain that way for four years, while still being pierced. And then I put sensitive solution earrings in them and they cleared up and everyone was happy. But apparently a cartilage infection can result in surgery and probably losing chunks of your ear.
I like my ears.
But when I was nineteen, I finally just went and got it done at Claire's and got a cutesy pink bottle of stuff to rub on it and so on. It was also several months before I could sleep on that side of my head. And a bump of displaced cartilage formed on the back of my ear for a year or two before disappearing again. Claire's has since ceased doing those, which is probably good because I think they use the regular earring puncher for it and an actual piercing place uses something like a mini hole puncher, I think. Instead of displacing cartilage, it just takes it out. But my cartilage didn't get infected, although it did get jarred during roughhousing a few times and bled and was painful.
I tried with various earrings, but some were too thick and a ring pressed into the ear when I slept, making it sore. So for the past couple years, I've just been rocking the ball-post-back combo, which is basically a normal ball earring. Which I take out at night because it presses into the side of my head.
All this to give some background for when I saw a cartilage earring on another girl on vacation with a flat back, like a tiny coin.
Ok, so stuff like that exists at every piercing place ever. How was I supposed to know?
"Where did you get that?" I asked. "Cause I wouldn't take mine out ever if it didn't dig into the side of my head."
She told me about sketchy-sounding Chinese-run jewelry stores that apparently sold everything and could fix anything. And apparently I had just missed one that day in a shopping center we were at. I had, understandably, spent the entire time in Barnes and Noble.
And so began a quest!
Objective: Obtain a flat-backed cartilage piercing.
"Wayne, can we stop back by Zona Rosa? There's a jewelry place I want to hit up."
"We'll see," Wayne replies. Then later I get told it probably won't be open when we leave the next morning.
"I've lived with this for five years, I suppose I can wait a week," I say.
So at the end of the week, I try again.
"Those are sold at all the piercing places," I get told.
"Does that mean we can't go?" I'm stubborn about getting an actual answer.
We'll see.
On the drive back, they call John from their truck to tell him that we're not able to stop there cause we're going a different way.
Bah.
Back at home, I Google piercing places, but end up going to the mall cause I had a return. In the mall, I stop by "Shag," one of those hippie places that sells incense, baja hoodies, and boxers with weed leaves on them. Shag replaced another hippie place that replaced a Hot Topic. Anyway, they pull out a bunch of flat-backed studs for ears, but there is a problem.
"Those are really thick," I say. They're labeled 16G. "Is that the standard size?"
"Yeah, I think so," replies the guy.
I explain my situation. He tells me that standard size is 22G (which is somehow smaller than a 16G) and how some people up their size by some weird process involving rubbing, lotion, irritation, ibuprofen, and ramming. "What' does Claire's use?" he asks.
"I don't know. I guess I'll go look."
At Claire's, they do actual have varying sizes of cartilage piercings. "Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to do mine, too," the girl says. Apparently, she got hers done at Claire's as well. I pick out a 20G, that looks more blingly that I like, and an 18G, since buy one, get one for $5. I'll start a process of gradually expanding the hole, like I did with my lobes, although there is no cartilage in lobes.
At home, the 20G goes in easily and moves easily and without pain. Too easily. Also, the ring is so small I can't close it around the side of my ear. Too bad I can't return earrings.
No pain, no gain. So I go for the 18G. First problem is that apparently, it is a wire pressed into indents on either side of a ball. So as I pull it out, the ball pops out. So I'd need to realign the ends of the wire and push them in on either side of the ball. Also, since it's an 18G, the wire is fairly hard to bend. Even harder when it has been shoved in a hole too small for it in my ear.
"David? I need your help!"
David's help comes in the form of large pinchy tools that I don't know the names for. If this doesn't prove that I trust him, I don't know what will.
I like my ears.
But when I was nineteen, I finally just went and got it done at Claire's and got a cutesy pink bottle of stuff to rub on it and so on. It was also several months before I could sleep on that side of my head. And a bump of displaced cartilage formed on the back of my ear for a year or two before disappearing again. Claire's has since ceased doing those, which is probably good because I think they use the regular earring puncher for it and an actual piercing place uses something like a mini hole puncher, I think. Instead of displacing cartilage, it just takes it out. But my cartilage didn't get infected, although it did get jarred during roughhousing a few times and bled and was painful.
I tried with various earrings, but some were too thick and a ring pressed into the ear when I slept, making it sore. So for the past couple years, I've just been rocking the ball-post-back combo, which is basically a normal ball earring. Which I take out at night because it presses into the side of my head.
All this to give some background for when I saw a cartilage earring on another girl on vacation with a flat back, like a tiny coin.
Ok, so stuff like that exists at every piercing place ever. How was I supposed to know?
"Where did you get that?" I asked. "Cause I wouldn't take mine out ever if it didn't dig into the side of my head."
She told me about sketchy-sounding Chinese-run jewelry stores that apparently sold everything and could fix anything. And apparently I had just missed one that day in a shopping center we were at. I had, understandably, spent the entire time in Barnes and Noble.
And so began a quest!
Objective: Obtain a flat-backed cartilage piercing.
"Wayne, can we stop back by Zona Rosa? There's a jewelry place I want to hit up."
"We'll see," Wayne replies. Then later I get told it probably won't be open when we leave the next morning.
"I've lived with this for five years, I suppose I can wait a week," I say.
So at the end of the week, I try again.
"Those are sold at all the piercing places," I get told.
"Does that mean we can't go?" I'm stubborn about getting an actual answer.
We'll see.
On the drive back, they call John from their truck to tell him that we're not able to stop there cause we're going a different way.
Bah.
Back at home, I Google piercing places, but end up going to the mall cause I had a return. In the mall, I stop by "Shag," one of those hippie places that sells incense, baja hoodies, and boxers with weed leaves on them. Shag replaced another hippie place that replaced a Hot Topic. Anyway, they pull out a bunch of flat-backed studs for ears, but there is a problem.
"Those are really thick," I say. They're labeled 16G. "Is that the standard size?"
"Yeah, I think so," replies the guy.
I explain my situation. He tells me that standard size is 22G (which is somehow smaller than a 16G) and how some people up their size by some weird process involving rubbing, lotion, irritation, ibuprofen, and ramming. "What' does Claire's use?" he asks.
"I don't know. I guess I'll go look."
At Claire's, they do actual have varying sizes of cartilage piercings. "Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to do mine, too," the girl says. Apparently, she got hers done at Claire's as well. I pick out a 20G, that looks more blingly that I like, and an 18G, since buy one, get one for $5. I'll start a process of gradually expanding the hole, like I did with my lobes, although there is no cartilage in lobes.
At home, the 20G goes in easily and moves easily and without pain. Too easily. Also, the ring is so small I can't close it around the side of my ear. Too bad I can't return earrings.
No pain, no gain. So I go for the 18G. First problem is that apparently, it is a wire pressed into indents on either side of a ball. So as I pull it out, the ball pops out. So I'd need to realign the ends of the wire and push them in on either side of the ball. Also, since it's an 18G, the wire is fairly hard to bend. Even harder when it has been shoved in a hole too small for it in my ear.
"David? I need your help!"
David's help comes in the form of large pinchy tools that I don't know the names for. If this doesn't prove that I trust him, I don't know what will.
Somewhat needless to say, my ear was NOT HAPPY with me. It's still sore. Guess I'll be sleeping on the right side of my head for a while.
So, Quest Incomplete, for now. Until the hole gets a little happier.
Anyone want a tiny 20G cartilage earring? I know we aren't supposed to share them, but I could probably boil it or something...
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Sunday's Dose of Guilt Doesn't Involve a Sermon
Unless your portable snacks to Prairie Moon Winery are carrot and celery sticks, sans ranch dressing, I would not recommend bringing the Fitness magazine.
Now I feel guilty.
Those cheese curds and sea-salt&vinegar chips still tasted good, though.
Curse my lack of self-control.
Monday, May 4, 2015
May the Fourth be with you
I tried finding a calender in Google Calender's list of available ones to add for "Nerd Holidays." Unfortunately, they don't have an official nerd holiday calender. How am I going to know what day to go out for pie? (Pi Day, 3.14) Or talk like a pirate? (Talk Like A Pirate Day, 9.19) Or the best day to host a Star Wars Marathon?
That would be today, by the way. May 4th, or as it is known on the Internet, "May the Fourth be with you."
So now I have to go and add those dates to my calender manually. Truly, a first world problem. Although nothing trumps first world problems like what I consider the ultimate first world problem, that is, Firefly being cancelled. That one still keeps me up at night.
It's a shame that I'm not hosting a Star Wars Marathon, but I'm not really feeling all that great, so I may curl up with my Star Wars Omnibus comic book on Quinlan Vos. You know, the Jedi with dreadlocks.
I'm still waiting for the day when someone gets my subtle tribute to Quinlan Vos, but they'd have to be a pretty big nerd and observant to boot.
Why am I talking about Star Wars? This must be your first time to my blog. Welcome.
Star Wars is my childhood. More than knights and castles and Power Rangers or whatever else they had at that point, I fought my way to adulthood with a lightsaber and the power of the Force. It shaped my views on sci fi (which could be a negative thing) and I am super excited about the next movie coming out this December. Looks like we get a girl Jedi for a main character!
No, don't look at me like that. I'm not about to go crazy and change Thor to a woman or vote for Hillary Clinton or anything like that. But I am a girl and I do like things being equal when they can be (love being able to vote and hold jobs, yah know?) and there was a serious lack of girl Jedi in the original Trilogy (although there was a serious lack of Jedi, period) and while there were girl Jedi in Episodes 1-3, they were mostly cameo roles. And I'd like to forget that trilogy exists.
So there were guy Jedi, and now we get to see a girl Jedi in action. And since I would obviously be Force sensitive (in the same way I would have gotten my invitation from Hogwarts), I would like to know what it is like to be a girl Jedi.
I guess I could be wrong and those are just Tatooine clothes or something.
May the Fourth be with you! Here's some fun videos to get in the mood.
That would be today, by the way. May 4th, or as it is known on the Internet, "May the Fourth be with you."
So now I have to go and add those dates to my calender manually. Truly, a first world problem. Although nothing trumps first world problems like what I consider the ultimate first world problem, that is, Firefly being cancelled. That one still keeps me up at night.
It's a shame that I'm not hosting a Star Wars Marathon, but I'm not really feeling all that great, so I may curl up with my Star Wars Omnibus comic book on Quinlan Vos. You know, the Jedi with dreadlocks.
I'm still waiting for the day when someone gets my subtle tribute to Quinlan Vos, but they'd have to be a pretty big nerd and observant to boot.
Why am I talking about Star Wars? This must be your first time to my blog. Welcome.
Star Wars is my childhood. More than knights and castles and Power Rangers or whatever else they had at that point, I fought my way to adulthood with a lightsaber and the power of the Force. It shaped my views on sci fi (which could be a negative thing) and I am super excited about the next movie coming out this December. Looks like we get a girl Jedi for a main character!
No, don't look at me like that. I'm not about to go crazy and change Thor to a woman or vote for Hillary Clinton or anything like that. But I am a girl and I do like things being equal when they can be (love being able to vote and hold jobs, yah know?) and there was a serious lack of girl Jedi in the original Trilogy (although there was a serious lack of Jedi, period) and while there were girl Jedi in Episodes 1-3, they were mostly cameo roles. And I'd like to forget that trilogy exists.
So there were guy Jedi, and now we get to see a girl Jedi in action. And since I would obviously be Force sensitive (in the same way I would have gotten my invitation from Hogwarts), I would like to know what it is like to be a girl Jedi.
I guess I could be wrong and those are just Tatooine clothes or something.
May the Fourth be with you! Here's some fun videos to get in the mood.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
I guess I never knew what it meant to "blink myopically"
I have recently discovered I am quite probably short sighted. To be fair, I knew my eyes weren't perfect starting last year sometime, where the driver of whatever car I was in would ask, "What does that sign say?" and then be able to read it before I was.
At church, I realized it was hard to read the lyrics from some of the songs while in the back, but blamed it on being far away and whatever funky visualizations they had going on. Then one Sunday, a pastor put up a passage from the Bible to demonstrate formatting. And I couldn't read it. I could have written that off too, saying I could still see the formatting idea and had the text in my own Bible and so didn't really need to read it and maybe that wasn't what he was going for, but David was sitting right next to me and he could read it.
The tragic truth. I was nearsighted.
As the weeks went on after that, I became a bit of a hypochondriac by looking at everything and then freaking out. As it stands right now, letters start to get blurry on signs five feet away. I don't notice it in sunny conditions, but much more in lower lighting. And I notice that I sit someone nearer to the computer than I'd really prefer with this chair and I get a little nearer to stuff in the grocery store to read it than I'd prefer.
It's way more noticeable with letters and signs, largely because of the sharp edges and the fact you have to see all the edges to be able to identify the meaning. Like that park bench could be blurry, but I can still tell it's a park bench. I see it, identify it, and then dismiss it. Which is why I didn't notice for so long. I couldn't tell things were blurry because I only looked to identify, I didn't look to see. But letters... you have to be able to see them.
If I scrunch up my nose and squint, I can make things swim into focus. And I look stupid.
It's not a big deal, yet. I can still see cars and people and everything and even if I can't precisely read the license plate until close, I can still see there is a car, which direction it's going, how fast, and color and type, from the same distance as everyone else.
It's a good thing this didn't happen when I was a kid. I would have been devastated. And glasses would have been the Worst Thing Ever. Because you need them to see, but you have to take them off at night. And they can't fall off or break. And you can't really swim with them on. Now it's like, how was that a big deal? And glasses can be chic.
Even so, I'm mildly annoyed. Is it reversible? Eye exercises, maybe?
Or maybe we can blame the increase in nearsightedness on computers.
*narrows eyes at the computer screen* *not myopically, just glaring*
At church, I realized it was hard to read the lyrics from some of the songs while in the back, but blamed it on being far away and whatever funky visualizations they had going on. Then one Sunday, a pastor put up a passage from the Bible to demonstrate formatting. And I couldn't read it. I could have written that off too, saying I could still see the formatting idea and had the text in my own Bible and so didn't really need to read it and maybe that wasn't what he was going for, but David was sitting right next to me and he could read it.
The tragic truth. I was nearsighted.
As the weeks went on after that, I became a bit of a hypochondriac by looking at everything and then freaking out. As it stands right now, letters start to get blurry on signs five feet away. I don't notice it in sunny conditions, but much more in lower lighting. And I notice that I sit someone nearer to the computer than I'd really prefer with this chair and I get a little nearer to stuff in the grocery store to read it than I'd prefer.
It's way more noticeable with letters and signs, largely because of the sharp edges and the fact you have to see all the edges to be able to identify the meaning. Like that park bench could be blurry, but I can still tell it's a park bench. I see it, identify it, and then dismiss it. Which is why I didn't notice for so long. I couldn't tell things were blurry because I only looked to identify, I didn't look to see. But letters... you have to be able to see them.
If I scrunch up my nose and squint, I can make things swim into focus. And I look stupid.
It's not a big deal, yet. I can still see cars and people and everything and even if I can't precisely read the license plate until close, I can still see there is a car, which direction it's going, how fast, and color and type, from the same distance as everyone else.
It's a good thing this didn't happen when I was a kid. I would have been devastated. And glasses would have been the Worst Thing Ever. Because you need them to see, but you have to take them off at night. And they can't fall off or break. And you can't really swim with them on. Now it's like, how was that a big deal? And glasses can be chic.
Even so, I'm mildly annoyed. Is it reversible? Eye exercises, maybe?
Or maybe we can blame the increase in nearsightedness on computers.
*narrows eyes at the computer screen* *not myopically, just glaring*
Analyze This
I found another repressed fear of my dreams!
To date:
-Fear of not flying after jumping off of something and instead hitting the ground. We'll just translate this one as fear of heights.
-Fear of doing something fun when math homework is waiting at home to claim me (from high school)
-Fear of signing up for a class or having an essay and completely forgetting until it's too late to do anything about it except try to right the whole dang research paper in an hour. (from college) Oddly enough, this haunts me more in my dreams than it did in real life. I totally did a research paper in one day once. And got like an A-.
-Fear of making a breakfast sandwich and it taking forever, only to drop it on the floor and have to start over again (from Panera)
-Fear of having camera duties and jiggling the camera when we were recording. Actually, this one is new too.
-Fear of sleeping through my alarm or having to make it to an interview and it taking forever to walk there.
-Fear of trying to run and not being able to run, or like run in jelly, or not run fast enough
-Fear of trying to drive and not being able to drive well, or crashing into things
-Fear of zombies (don't ask)
-Fear of being unable to see
And now, for the one I just discovered, the fear of being lost in a cave! With bonus fear of being unable to breathe!
Actually, this is another reoccurring one, I just finally translated it. Following another cave dream. Maybe I got this one from a movie of Tom Sawyer. I'm not afraid of caves. I went spelunking once and had great fun. I'm not claustrophobic. I actually like small spaces and will be the first one to leap under a stage we set up to do something. But I am afraid of going into a tunnel, like of snow, and having it narrow to a point and being unable to move, to get my arms from my sides, or to try and wiggle back out backwards while hoping the whole thing doesn't collapse and trap you. And, apparently, I'm afraid of following a tunnel in a cave to have it dead end as your candle is going out. And the bonus points, I'm afraid of diving into a tunnel of water only to have it never resurface and your air run out. I know I had a few dreams about that.
How do I get these fears? I blame movies. Dang zombies.
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