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10000 Steps

Dec 042012

Daily activity for Dec. 3, 2012

After a summer of riding bikes and being active outside, I knew I needed to maintain activity through the winter. I don’t do so well at going to the gym and I haven’t been particularly good at either skating or skiing.

I recently ordered and received a new pedometer — a Fitbit ONE. A small device that just clips onto your clothing it records your steps and your stair climbs. It has a small digital display of the count and, when I am near my Mac or iPhone, it synchronizes my data with a personal web site where I can review the statistics — daily, weekly, monthly.

If you tell it when you go to bed and when you get up, it also gives you an indication of when you were “awake” during the night. Really, it is recording motion so it is a bit of a proxy for sleep/waking times.

This reference provides a medical perspective on the issue of steps/day vs. activity levels. It suggests less than 5000 steps/day is a sedentary lifestyle. So far, my experience is that most days would be below 5000 — a typical day with no exercise is around 4000 for me while a busy day with multiple shopping trips etc. can get up to 6000 or even 7000. It suggests over 10000 should be considered active while over 12,500 is classified as highly active. Most days, I find I need to spend an hour or so at a decent walking pace to get over 10000.

I have my current daily goal set at 12000 steps and 15 stair climbs; the latter is much easier to get than the former.

Sometimes, I am a bit of an “Inspector Gadget” — looking for the latest gadget. Kind of sad but true! Will this gadget help me keep a reasonable level of fitness?? To be determined ….

Sleep pattern for Dec. 3, 2012

Such tools for personal monitoring are going to be much more available. There is now a case for an iPhone that makes it an EKG monitor — not yet approved for use. I have a free app on my iPhone that will give me instantaneous heart rates and keeps a database of them.

What do you do to motivate your fitness actions?

The Power of Open Space

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Feb 242011

I was asked to bring something a little different to a planned meeting – something that would create more engagement and the opportunity for more decisions.

The meeting started traditionally enough with a series of presentations providing the common information base for the issue at hand. We held off on much discussion after the presentations.

At the end of the presentations, we invited people to propose topics for discussion and built the agenda for the rest of the meeting.

It was not a familiar process to some of them but it was fun to see the results. Some long standing issues were confronted in a collaborative way yielding what appear to be some breakthroughs for them.

Open space is a very powerful method in group facilitation.

Scotch Tasting

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Jun 272010

Last night, my partner and her friends engaged in the 9th annual squeak tournament. A couple friends and I engaged in an alternate activity – a scotch tasting.

We travelled through a few brands – starting with those lightest in colour first. A Glenfiddich was first up. Described in the Whiskey Bible as a real “40 watt bulb”, it was a good start to the evening. I had a little Glen Breton left – a whiskey made in Cape Breton that has been involved in a number of court cases. Whether something happened to it sitting in the bottle, it performed very poorly last night. Very sharp indeed and not an enjoyable drink. Funny that I have enjoyed the rest of the bottle over time.

Next, we went to a 12 year blended bottle – Chivas Regal. It demonstrated that a blend can in fact stand up to and be better than a single malt. It was nicer than either of the prior two choices.

The competition stepped up a bit then with a 16 year old Lagavulin, an Amrut and a whiskey maker’s edition of a Macallan. The Amrut was cask strength so just over 60% alcohol vs. The 40% more typical of whiskey. For me, the strength of alcohol was too much and took away from my enjoyment. It really is a very nice sipping whiskey. The other two were just fine and a very enjoyable end to an evening.

Photo:

The photo was taken in a flower pot in my back yard this afternoon. With a lens baby and a macro ring, I like the strong graphic imagery of this one.

iPad — Updated Thoughts

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Jun 172010

I’ve been using the wi-fi iPad for a couple weeks now — since it was officially released in Canada. As it happens, I have also changed employment and given back my work lapto. So, the iPad is now the only tool for on the road.

I continue to be impressed with the functionality of the iPad for reading documents, browsing, the web, etc. The touch screen and the typical interaces with the software make this a simpler task than the keyboard/mouse combination. There are some sites where one cannot scroll within pop-up windows and others where one can. So, there are some situations where I must revert to the desktop.

I find composing posts to this wordpress blog to be quite difficult. I think partially that may be due to the specific theme I am using but it really shouldn’t matter. So, using the wordpress app for the iPad and then accessing the actual site through the safari browser, I can just about do a complete post. In fact, I must create a draft post first on the desktop to get an image with an appropriate thumbnail for the post. Not a good solution — each post takes three ‘touches’ or just one from the desktop.

I am moderately annoyed that the iBooks application still doesn’t have books for sale in Canada. As I also have the Kindle and Kobo apps on the iPad, it isn’t a huge issue. This is really one of the strengths of this device — the flexibility.

Photo:

This crocus image was taken in our yard in the spring of 2010. I used a Lensbaby with a macro +10 ring on it to get the extreme closeup. The Lensbaby naturally is focussed only in a sweet spot and, with the macro ring, the depth of field is very small — less than 1/2 cm in this case.

iPad — what about archiving?

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Jun 012010

I continue to use my iPad — trying to understand the good, the bad and the ugly. So, far there has been no ugly and I am only starting to get some thoughts on what could be bad.

One of my primary interests in the iPad is as an e-reader. My choice went to the iPad (over other options like the kindle or sony or the many other choices) because of it’s flexibility. With the app framework, we see there is already a kindle app and a barnes/noble abb etc. Plus, the app framework enables the reading of other kind of content — whether web content through an RSS feeder or specialized magazine or … content. My thought was this platform offers a bit more flexibility in what is and will be a very dynamic field.

One example of the unique kind of content is the recent edition of Wired. This is one of the first examples of the potential for digital, serial content. There is a good review of the current magazine version here. As you can read in the review, this one issue of one magazine is around 500 mb.

Clearly, even a 64 GB iPad will be filled before long. My started up with over 1/3 of it taken up just with music from iTunes. My planned usage is for this device to be a travelling back-up device for photos during vacations etc. So, I am thinking I likely only have about 20 GB for all app, e-reader, etc. content.

What is an appropriate long-term strategy to keep content that one wants in the future? I guess one can only choose to keep it in iTunes and then re-load it to the iPad if/when you want to look at some older content. As the review above notes, the current Wired example is not searchable and nor can you share or save just portions of the full content. Now, Wired is likely not something to be kept … but there will be content that is worth keeping for future reference. Anyone with great thoughts on the strategy or approach?

Photo:

Trees have been slow to bloom with the coolness of spring here through May.

First Impressions of the iPad

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May 312010

I received the iPad on Friday last week. With a rainy and snowy weekend, there were good opportunities to try it out.

My take away so far is likely not much different than many. It is a good device for reading especially off the internet – things like newsfeeds etc. I find I can skim through news feeds, Facebook status updates, Twitter etc. Much more quickly than with a mouse and keyboard combo.

I find the typing to be really tough. I am normally a touch typist but now must do 2 finger to avoid huge errors.

I am travelling to Oslo Norway later this week. It is a very short trip and I am debating taking just the iPad. We will see.

Photo:

This image is of a window in a hotel in Tromso Norway from a visit there a number of years ago.

Musical Memories

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May 232010

I was taken back 30 years today by the program Inside the Music. And taken back in a very pleasant way. They had a program on Fraser and DeBolt — I hadn’t heard this vinyl since the 80′s when the record player was replaced with the first generation CD player. Their first album (and there only were two) was released in 1971. Watch this video at youtube to see just what they were! They employed sounds and rhythyms much more common to 20th century classical music than to “folk” music. Some dissonance; off-beat rhythyms. A little Stravinsky mixed with ….

Thanks to CBC for reminding me of some outstanding art. I may have to go buy a record player and get the vinyl out of the box. Close to 1000 albums still resident in my basement waiting for the grand resurrection!

Movie: Exit through the Gift Shop

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May 222010

Photo: Taken in downtown Edmonton, AB in 2006; image of graffitti on a wall.

I went to the the movie Exit through the Gift Shop tonight at the Garneau Theatre. A fascinating film. With a subtitle of `The World`s First Street Art Disaster Movie,`you know it won`t be a run of the mill film. It tells the story of a French guy who stumbles into the world of street art — and stumbles into it with an endless amount of film and time. He participates with and films many rather famous street artists. This film is actually made by one of the more famous — Banksy.

I was most struck by how little (i.e. essentially nothing!) I knew of this whole movement of street art. I was struck by how it was possible to miss completely the significance of some of the artists. They have a very real recognition that there are is different than most other art in one significant way at least — their art is transient; it will be defaced and destroyed as people clean the graffitti up. And yet, it is truly art. I was struck by the recent statements by Edmonton`s police chief (as reported in this story in the Edmonton Journal) that graffiti is a crime. Maybe it is … but maybe we need to find a way to include such `transient art`within a community that wants to be world class.

After the movie, we went to Dadeo`s for a bit of dinner. It is most certainly worth a visit if you haven`t been there. Sweet potato fries are now on many menus in the city … but theirs are still the best to my taste.

Liberty and Licensing

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Apr 182010

Lorne Gunter‘s article in Sunday’s Edmonton Journal caused me reflect on the concepts presented in Nudges.

To adapt their thoughts, the Alberta Government could have chosen a nudging vs. Regulation strategy. As a nudge, we could establish 2 classes for the advanced driver’s test that is now required of new drivers. The ‘normal’ advanced test and the ‘distracted’ test. For the distracted test, the driver would be handed 3 to 5 random short printed messages during the test — requiring a correct answer about rules of the road. The driver would also receive 3 to 5 cell phone calls with the same question/answer format. A pass mark would be set for the questions while the road test would be done as normal — except the driver would be performing it while occasionally distracted.

We thereby protect Mr. Gunter’s interest in liberty — people can still choose to have a license that permits them to drive while distracted. But, they have demonstrated they are skilled in doing this. Insurance companies could potentially offer different insurance policies to holders of distracted vs. regular licenses. We might learn that holders of these licenses are actually better drivers and deserve lower rates. And, as now, individuals could choose whether to stay with the initial license they get, the advanced license or the distracted advanced license. My son, for example, has not done the advanced test — he doesn’t want to spend the money on the exam and he doesn’t find the restrictions inhibit him.

The debate on licenses is likely done in Alberta but this ‘nudge’ concept is really valuable — preserving choice and liberty for individuals in manners that encourage good choices — choices that appropriately reflect individual and societal risks and costs.

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