Rant Do Us a Favor and Don't

Rant - Do Us a favor and Don't

Disclaimers First 

1. We have three dogs
2. I'm the VP of our HOA
3. I walk about 10 miles a week in our HOA and the adjoining HOA
4. Both of the HOAs provide bags for picking up dog poop. (See example below). 

Common Courtesy and Uncommon Stupidity

It doesn't take a genius to understand the concept. Both HOAs would like people that walk their dogs to be responsible for cleaning up the mess. 

But for some reason, we have a few idiots (I was going to say %!#$**-wipes but my spell checker kept correcting to wet-wipes), that:

1. Leave their house to walk their dog without a baggie
2. Decide to use the baggie from from the HOA provided station
3. Pick up the poop, tie the bag 
4. Drop it on the grass next to the sidewalk
5. Expect the magic poop fairy to come and pick up their poop 

Magical Poop Reclamation

Please notice that there is another version of the Dog Clean Up Station. It is outfitted with a garbage can. 

I guess we could provide a garbage can at each station. And, we could pay someone to come take away the poop. We would have to pay them... this is not a "volunteer friendly" type of chore. Are you willing to let me raise your HOA dues to pay for this additional service? 

Also, call me a cynic, unless the idiot's dog poops right in front of the station, it's unlikely that the bag will actually get into the garbage can. Please note my exact position on this subject: dogs are not idiots, stupid %!#$**-wipes owners that don't take responsibility for their dogs are idiots. 

So What is the Rant?

You own a dog (I can appreciate that). You walk your dog (bravo!). But you can't seem to understand that wrapping dog poop in a plastic bag and throwing it in the grass is just idiotic. No one driving by is going to stop and pick it up. No one jogging by is going to pick it up. No one walking by is going to pick it up. 

Why go half-ass on doing the right thing?

Let's make a deal... If your dog poops on the sidewalk, please clean it up and take it home and throw it away. Your mess, your responsibility. 

If your dog poops on the grass, don't tie it in a plastic bag that will take 3.4 million years to biodegrade, or that will be shredded by the landscape company into hundreds of bits of plastic that will take 3.2 million years to biodegrade. I'm willing to let nature takes it course.

Just do us both a favor and don't... half-ass your responsibilities. 

~Tot1

Or, you might consider upgrading your dog!
Our poodles are smart enough not to poop on the sidewalk.
And, we're responsible enough to take care of our own poop. 

Garmin Vivofit 1000000 Steps

Garmin Vivofit 1,000,000 Steps 

How to walk 1,000,000 Steps in Less than 6 months - Lessons Learned

The First Lesson is simple: You have to get up and walk. I have had peaks and valleys since I started wearing the Garmin Vivofit on 11/24, but stepping out of the front door is always a good step towards victory. 

Daily Chart of Steps
Notice the valleys about 2-3 after the 14000+ peaks
(Click on Chart for a larger version)

The Peaks: 

• My longest streak for beating the target was 17 days in January, and my current daily average is 8949 steps per day (about 4.5 miles). At 1 million steps I will have walked 500 miles in under six months. 
• Lesson #2 - If you hit your target early in the day, the rest is gravy. My biggest day was on a Boy Scout camp-over. I walked early in the morning to reach my goal, then spent the afternoon and evening hoofing around camp - running up an 18,000+ step day - or about 9 miles. 
• Lesson #3 - Good shoes matter. I switch back and forth from running shoes to a midweight hiker. I can definitely tell the difference the next day. The hikers give better arch and ankle support, but I can feel the harsh "slapping" on the balls of my feet. The running shoes are very light, and provide a soft heel-strike. Good music matters too. 
• Lesson #4 - My glucose scores have fallen as my step count has gone up, and they are in a tighter range. While I have not lost a lot of weight (a mere 5 pounds), my waist size has fallen from a 42 to a 38. And, I have a pair of 36" waist pants in the closet that I can squeeze into. 

The Valleys:

• I'm trying to find a way to meet the "spirit" of the Vivofit. If the goal of the Red Status Bar indicator, for being idle, is to get me moving... it's not been a good match. My work schedule includes a lot of back-to-back one-hour meetings.  I tend to squeeze my steps into a long, single walk (3-4 miles in one fell swoop). 
• I have not been able to figure out how to take a day of rest. That is not to say that I have not rested. In fact, after several of my biggest walking days there is generally a day where I just can't get to the target. 
• Bad weather days (cold and rainy) are still a problem. I have gone to the YMCA a couple of times, but treadmills are still a mystery. The step count seems to match up, but the jarring and soreness seems much worse than walking outside. And, it doesn't appear that the pace reported by the treadmill (3.8 mph) is any better than my normal walking speed (about 1750 steps/per 15 minutes or ~3.5 mph). Again, the steps match, but the speed (and distance?) do not.   
• I was out of action a couple of days in Jan and a couple in Feb - nothing big, but it cost a few thousand steps. And, I can report that I've had no injuries due to walking (just a bit of old-man soreness). Getting back on track was not as difficult as I would have expected. 

Daily Glucose Scores - The Proof is in the Score

My average daily Glucose score (dotted line) has fallen from 135 to under 120.
HbA1c from 7.3(H) in Oct 2014 to 6.6 in Jan 2015 to 6.2 in Feb 

I reached 800,000 steps on Feb 22, two days after I tested for an HBa1C of 6.2 - which is well inside the standard range of 4.0 to 6.8% While my doctor still has me on medication, I'm in a much better place. 

Click for Larger View

The chart above combines the blood glucose scores (blue line) with a 14 day trend line (green) compared to my daily steps (orange line, with steps divided by 100). My Glucose score should be below the top black line - 120, and my steps above the bottom black line 100 (*100=10,000). Notice that when the step count crashes, the glucose score spikes. 

I also track days where I miss my medication (metformin), which happen to coincide with days where I was out of action ("non-walk") days. My blood sugar score will spike if I miss a dose, so I'm not out of the woods (yet). But it seems clear that >8000 steps a day helps keep control. 

March 14... 1,000,000 Steps

Bottom Line

On March 14th, 110 days after I started wearing the Garmin Vivofit, I passed 1,000,000 steps. I still need to work on taking more steps throughout the day, and still need to figure out how to get steps in bad weather. 

It's a huge win! For the cost of a $90 Garmin Vivofit from Amazon I've been able to push my HbA1c score down, my waist size down, and my legs are very strong and shapely for the first time in a long time. 

Now, time to attack the scale and get into those 36" pants. 

~Tot1

Garmin Vivofit 500000 Step Review

Garmin Vivofit - 500,000 Step Review

Click any graphic for
a larger view

The Garmin Vivofit that I purchased in November has been tracking all of my steps - with the exception of a single day when it stayed on the side table and I stayed in bed. 

Garmin Vivofit - 400,000 Step Update 
Garmin Vivofit - First 300,000 Steps

What I Have Learned

First, you need  a few measured loops, simple walking loops where you know the exact distance. 

• 500 steps to the bus stop and back
• 2000 steps to the lift station...
• 4000 to GH Street...
• 7000 to the elementary school...

At the beginning of the day when the Vivofit picks the target, these numbers are not overly useful. After all, a 9000 step target is not going to be satisfied by any of these. But at the end of the day, when you just need  a few steps to meet your goal, having a few pre-measured loops will keep you from wandering the neighborhood like a hobo.

Second, comfortable shoes matter. I switch back and forth between a pair of mid-weight hiking boots and a pair of very light-weight running shoes. The running shoes allow for a faster pace, and the extra heel cushioning is terrific. The boots give great ankle support, at the cost of a more jarring stride. I still rotate between the two because I wear the boots when hiking (not on paved roads or sidewalks) so I need to feel their weight and support. But, for the longer loops I try to go with the running shoes. 

Third, you have to have good music on your MP3 player. Hit "Random" and start walking. 

What I Need to Work On

I need to work on a strategy for crappy weather. I was able to bundle up (layers) for cold weather down to 32 degrees. But cold and windy and damp are not my favorite combination. Once you get warmed up, the layers start working against you, and any attempt at relief was rewarded with chills. 

Did I really miss my December target by 315 steps?
Yes, Yes I did... 

I need to figure out how to relate to the Garmin Vivofit. Sure, we have come to an agreement on daily targets (the Garmin picks). And, I know that I am going to miss my daily target - my longest streak in 11 days, all during the Christmas and New years Holidays. In fact, I only surpass my target 69% of the time. 

But, I missed my December monthly target by 315 Steps! The sum of the daily targets for the entire month is recorded and reported. Imagine my surprise and disappointment. In January I had a couple of very busy days and missed my daily target. I have been working to catch up. 

I have not found a way to reset the daily target - which is randomly picked, but seems to trend higher every few days. My goal requires 8440 steps per day, which is well below the random picks. 

Finally, I need to find time for the additional steps. I have increased my pace from 1600 steps per 15 minutes to 1800+ per 15 minutes - which is about 3.5 MPH. Much faster and I would need to start jogging. My morning routine and typical work day scores about 3500 steps. So I need to find reliable time for the other 6000 steps or so -- after taking care of wife and kids, and sports and band and scouts and... 

I don't always have an hour a day to dedicate to the road. 

Green Bar = High Activity
This chart shows pace of 1787, 1830, and 1828 steps per 15 minutes.
Click for larger view. 

Bottom Line

I started tracking my steps with the Garmin Vivofit during the week of November 23. Since Thanksgiving I have lost seven (7) pounds and my blood pressure and HbA1C are back to normal. 

I have recorded >535,000 steps, with no injuries - not even blisters. It takes me about 2071 steps to cover a mile (my score today: 14,522 steps, 7.01 miles). 

Aches and pain sure -- because: old and fat. But, I suspect that jogging ~260 miles in 65 days would have been physically traumatic. Injuries limit exercise.  

Walking is working for me. The Garmin Vivofit is keeping me honest and working hard.

~Tot1  

Garmin Vivofit - 400000 Step Update

Garmin Vivofit 400,000 Step Update

This is an update to my blog: Garmin Vivofit - the First 300,000 Steps.



Early in January the Garmin Vivofit web site started having Sync issues. It appears that the Sync problem has been resolved - data is flowing between my device and the web site. But some of the data is not flowing down to the Reporting tables. 

Garmin Error Message

I have not lost any data, but I did take the step to create an Excel spreadsheet to capture my steps.

Here are some of my notes:

12 Minute Bars?
Or, 15 Minute Bars?

1. The Export Function is limited to rolled up values (Weekly or Monthly). It will dump a simple table into a CSV format.
2. To get daily values, you have to look back over & day periods, then mouse-over the columns to read the number of steps.
3. Reports look back from "today". If you review your stats on a Wednesday, the "Week" is Wednesday to Tuesday. Seems like a calendar week (calendar month) would be a better timeframe.
4. The "Workout Intensity" indicator is odd. From a walking point of view... I have hit 1500+ steps in the (12 minute?) time capture. That seems to be "intense". Not sure what the threshold is, but ~4 MPH for walking is a lot. Again, no instructions to understand this feature.  [Update 1/19/15: It appears that 1711 steps is "Intense". Not 1706... 1711.]
5. Uphill, downhill, flat... no difference. In the end it probably evens out - especially if you are walking loops.
6. Finally had to take the Vivofit module out of the wrist band at wash it... (60 days!). Gunk accumulation was minor, but it's back to new condition now.  

I'm still a big fan... the Vivofit has motivated me to get off my duff and move. I'm still on track for 2.5 million steps by Thanksgiving, 2015.

~Tot1

Garmin Vivofit - First 300000 Steps

Garmin Vivofit - Review

After two years working at Microsoft my health was pretty poor. Sure, I was really active, but by diet and sleep patterns were a mess. And, to deal with work stress it wasn't unusual for me to grab the chainsaw and garden tools and do several hours of exhausting yard work - just so I could get to sleep.  

When we moved back to Texas from Seattle I was fully burned out. Dr. M. told me my blood sugar (HbA1c) and Triglycerides were too high and put me back on diabetes medication for the first time since 2009. I could have saved time and money for the office visit.

For Thanksgiving I purchased a Garmin Vivofit from Amazon (product link) for just under $80. I'll cover the Good, the Bad and the Bottom Line... and endorse the product as a solid, low price, wearable fitness device - for those that walk or jog. 

The Good 

Dashboard - Drag and Drop modules.
Clean, easy to read, and simple to use.
(Click for larger image).

• The website is very simple to use. Menus are on the left, graphics on the right, and click-down for more information. 
• The band display is very easy to read, even without glasses, as long as you have some light.
• Not having to charge it daily, or weekly, is a huge win. Sync is completed via a wireless mini-USB device and takes less than 30 seconds. I sync every 2-3 days, but understand that it can hold several days of data. 
• It's waterproof - and I have tested with showers, swimming and the hot tub. In fact, the only time I took it off was when I was cleaning the turkey.
• The Red Bar (no activity) feature is very motivating.  
• The reporting feature is easy to understand.  

The Reports Section makes it easy to review your history. 

For those that need encouragement -
Badges are easy to get at first, then they require more effort

The Sleep Tracker is nice, and easily editable -- in case you
forget to set Sleep Mode or to turn off Sleep Mode in the morning.  

The Bad

• There is very little documentation (even online) to help understand how the device works - the underlying logic that is. YouTube videos for the Vivofit are mostly marketing in nature. 
• The Sleep Tracker shows how much movement you have during the night - on a scale from Low to High, but does not offer any measure to relate to the scale. Is tossing-turning considered "low" and a walk to the bathroom "high"? It's just not clear.
• Some chores don't register as activity. Doing the dishes, folding laundry... if you are not moving from place to place, you don't get points. On the other hand, vacuuming and raking the yard seem to over-score.
• The Personalized Daily Goals (random step targets) are OK, for variety, but the Vivofit does not recognize the days of the week. My Monday calendar is typically booked with conference calls. So I have missed my Monday goal several times. My Thursday calendar is light, so I'm OK with a few more steps.  
• There is not really a good method to set a monthly (or annual) target for steps. Again, I suspect Garmin sees daily activity as key to success, but I work on longer and larger goals. My 2.5 million step goal for 2015 is not easy to track on the Vivofit. 

The Bottom Line

The Garmin Vivofit has helped me get out of the house and walk. It provides (hourly) encouragement to meet daily goals, does a good job recording activity, and provides very real feedback on performance. It is very low hassle - no recharging, no removal to sync, no removal to take a shower. 

My first 300,000 steps were accomplished with just a bit of nagging... which is exactly what I need. 

~Tot1

P.S. The Garmin Vivofit also allows manual entry of your weight. 
I lost (LOST!) five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. #winning.