Tag Archives: Jawbone

Second Year, Part One

It’s the end of the summer (I am OK with this) and it’s been a while. I am off the idea of fitness tracker comparisons (I love my Jawbone UP2, anyway, and maybe I’ll talk about it sometime) and I never made it with the recipe integration (I leave this to the experts) so I am just going to go with whatever moves me that day.

Two days ago, I left R Featherstone at school for her second year. (We agree that we prefer “second year” to “sophomore” – the latter of which, when you think about it, does sound sophomoric.) The days before were filled with shopping, not shopping, packing, and, especially, not packing, not to mention reading other people’s Facebook posts about sending their kids off to school for the first time and how (insert powerful emotion here) that felt. Not really me, this year, with the mad posting. We both kind of knew what to expect.

Or did we? We filled the car to the gills, making me take a moment to pat myself on the back yet again for purchasing a monster truck (technically, a midsize, I think, SUV, but to this girl, it’s a monster truck) that would hold almost everything. We had to leave the “micro fridge” at home for the time being as the “micro” portion of it turned out to be a misnomer. Anyway, we’ve packed before, check. And we’ve done the road trip together, check. But what we didn’t pack last year was perspective. Perspective, if not folded neatly, would have filled the entire monster truck. Between the two of us, we had classes, scheduling, finance issues, separation issues (both of us, dare I say), discovering where we needed some extra help, and home and work issues. Layer all this on top of a been there, done that attitude, and some unexpected bubbles emerge.

The three hour drive allowed us time both to talk sans most distractions and get too much coffee. I resisted the urge to lecture on everything (R may disagree) and was able to listen and enjoy hearing from this evolving – gasp – young woman. Not terribly stressful.

What R didn’t know, and maybe won’t until now, is how much I miss her when she’s not around. On occasion, we joke about her staying home, or me camping out in her dorm. It’s great fun. My life sparks when she’s nearby. We’ve got this good thing going, a language of our own, things that make us laugh ’til we’re doubled over. I have fun with her that I simply can’t have with anyone else. All that, I realize, is completely selfish of me. My world may light up when she’s here, but her world blossoms and brims with opportunity when she’s not. Perhaps that’s the most difficult part. Yes, we need each other, but not as much as she needs to grow and explore this crazy, rich world around us. I will always be here, stepping back to let her surge forward, but close enough to grab her hand on this crazy ride – if she’ll let me.

Poking My Toe in the Water Again

A couple months ago, I blurted out, during a “get to know you” exercise, to a colleague that I have a blog (although I didn’t tell him what it was called). Then I remembered I hadn’t written in said blog in quite some time. To give you an idea how long it’s been, when I tried to log in today, I wasn’t even sure I knew the password.

Since this all started with activity trackers, I will pick up where that left off, or would have left off had I left off there. About, oh, like, um, a year ago, I decided that the Next Big Thing for the Featherstone family would be the Lumo Lift. This little device was so tiny and subtle that it would be worn on the – for me, anyway – bra strap. Not only would it track footsteps and all that, but it would – get this – vibrate every time I slouched. (Well, not just me, but the user….anyway.) At last, today, I took mine out of its package (there are two others unopened) and gave it a test run (after I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to attach the thing). I also plugged in my Jawbone UP to see if the two were in synch.

The Jawbone was DOA. Didn’t track a thing, and didn’t respond to my iPhone’s request for data. Fail. The Lumo? Well, it didn’t buzz once unless I set it on “coach” mode, in which case, it didn’t stop buzzing (and I am telling you, I wasn’t slouching that whole time, either). I spent a good part of the time checking to see if it still was attached, or catching it when I fell. Finally, when I was in the mud room getting more paper towels (gotta love this color commentary) it fell off, and it remains there now. It lasted a good, say, seven hours, and I am being generous. Good thing I got it at the advanced sale rate of like $69.

Meanwhile, I had charged up the Fitbit, and found two of the three bands I have for it. Now it’s charged up, tucked into its pink (magenta?) band, and wrapped snugly around my non-dominant wrist. I’ve gotten about 25 steps in before settling into bed and beginning this entry.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend is having an intense Facebook conversation with a woman who found him after 15 or so years. It’s 11:33 pm our time. Whatever.

Anyway, more to the point: I am back on the devices and therefore back here. I’ve also started (four weeks ago, to be exact) a new eating plan, and I am down 17 pounds (insert cheering emoticon here). That feels pretty good. Besides, if I am going to blurt out that I have a blog, I may as well populate said blog. Let’s see what happens.

Second Freshman

I spent a good portion of the day sitting at my desk working, helpfully reminded of that fact (the mostly sitting part) by the buzzing of my Jawbone every 45 minutes (since I have it set to vibrate after 45 minutes of inactivity). Things only got crazy when I parked about a mile away from the high school for Back to School Night, and I had to walk – nay, run, since I was (surprise!) running behind – all the way there. Even so, probably not enough steps to warrant a discussion, and in any case, my phone is all the way over there [points to phone in charger about two feet past arm’s length] so I am not getting up to get it so I can report step count and all that.

Before that (Back to School Night, not not reaching for the phone), I had A Day. Y’know, one of those days that starts off with rain leaking into your car, and is followed up by several unpleasant interactions with someone who is either a major league asshole or – no, wait, there’s no “or” here – which is then followed by the discovery of a flat tire with some sort of hole in it, only to return home and find two trees missing and the lovely aroma of mold wafting its way into the living room. So really, that sprint to the high school was the high point of the day up until that moment.

Anyway, this was my first BTSN in our new town, at the littlest one’s new school. Of course, the littlest one is 14, and his new school is the aforementioned high school, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to call him the littlest one, at least in this particular blog post. Where was I? Oh, right, getting to the topic at hand. First BTSN, first time in the new high school. My second freshman. In all the hubbub over the college freshman, little has been made about the other freshman, the guy who bravely and heartily agreed to move, even though that meant he’d start at a school where he didn’t know a single person. And here we are, two weeks into the new school year, and this child of mine seems to be doing pretty well – and his new school seems pretty terrific, too.

This is what I learned: My son is in a good place. He got lucky with teachers (my favorite one is his favorite one!), he’s in a place conducive to learning, and he has opportunities he never would have had had we stayed in our old school system. Even the cafeteria is nice. It’s a good start, a really good start.

At the end of my crapola work day, when I was ready to scream, my colleague/friend said, go home, go to the people who really matter. At the end of the day, look who I get to come home to (yeah, yeah, the grammar sucks). How lucky am I? And that, dear fan club (AKA people who share either my DNA or my room), is really what it’s all about.

Needs a title

This has not been the most prolific blog experiment, I do realize. Nevertheless, here I am again, trying to see if anything grows.

Ok, on the subject of moving, an excellent walk today, again with my friend J. (I’m already sensing a little theme here.) At only 1:18 pm:
Jawbone says 11,032 steps, 5.1 miles
Fitbit says, your battery is low, and also, 10,784 steps, 4.81 miles

Same wrist and all that.

More on moving. As previously noted, we’ve moved. Two months here, and we haven’t totally moved in. At what point is a house a home? My room sorta feels like home, mostly because I’ve got my stuff semi-set up in there, and because BBL is there, too. As far as the rest of the house? Not moving, but feeling stuck. Where do all of these things go? Do we need two sets of silverware, pots and pans, and dishes? (Actually, we need more dishes. A full set that we all could use would be nice.) Or does it just not matter, about the stuff, that is? This I need to figure out. It shouldn’t matter, the stuff, that is, when determining if a house is a home.

On a separate note, I am looking forward to the return home, in three days, of the littlest Featherstone. Not only do I want to give him the world’s most enormous hug, but he can also help me (he promised) make this whole thing more visually appealing. Hey, every little step helps, am I right?

Movin’!

Thanks to an excellent walk with my friend J, today’s stats are:

Jawbone: 12,700 steps (5.8 miles)      Fitbit: 13,581 steps (6.05 miles)

I don’t really have an explanation for the difference. Same person, same wrist, blah blah blah.

While walking and talking today, I thought about writing and blogging and what I am trying to do here. If it’s not clear already, I don’t necessarily know what I am doing. (Case in point: lack of visual pizazz.) 

Two themes emerged during this excellent walk: moving and perception. Y’see, I’ve been doing a lot of moving lately. Not just walking (because I haven’t really been doing enough of that), but actual moving. Three (oh my, or is it four?) weeks ago, my kids and I moved in with my boyfriend and his two boys. So we’ve moved towns. I’ve moved my relationship status. I’m often moved to tears. More blah blah blah. And perception – two devices looking at exactly the same situation see things differently (either that, or I am just reading way too much into this experiment). This is a theme for me in many ways, most pointedly at work. 

Speaking of which…the other day, someone noticed my two fitness trackers, and pointed out that fact to the assembled crowd. A good laugh was gotten when someone noted that I would probably use the one that gave me the better results. Um, no. That’s not it at all. Again: perception. (And a reminder that I need to keep moving.) I considered launching into an explanation of the whole thing, but instead, I curled up into my imaginary shell and waited until someone changed the subject. 

Going along with that moving theme, this is a big week for the Featherstone family. My son is “moving up” from 8th grade (yeah, it’s actually called a moving up ceremony) and my daughter will graduate from high school. Bring on the tissues. 

Sleep or No Sleep?

It’s been a busy few weeks so I haven’t really had the chance to be inspired. (Translation: exhaustion.)

Nevertheless, the experiment is back on. Last night, I set both the Jawbone and the Fitbit to sleep mode. Really. I know I did, because I woke them both this morning when I got up. Sleep stats? Jawbone: 6 hours, 25 minutes (that’s 80% of my goal, if anyone’s counting); Fitbit: no sleep logged. Ooookay.

Today, I am driving way up somewhere in New York and taking my daughter to camp. (You’d think I would know how to get there as I have driven up there seven of the eight past summers, but I do not.) She’s going to be a counselor this year, which, among other things, means she won’t get her luggage magically transported to her bunk. I’m wagering that some steps will be taken along the way today, so let’s see what the bands report. Back to it. And lots to catch up on as well. It’s been quite the, er, interesting past few weeks.

Step Count, 22 May 2014

Missed the goal of 10,000 steps by a significant amount. As in, really need to get my tush in gear. Aside from that, explain this:

The Fitbit claims I took 5,867 steps today. The Jawbone tells me I took 4,625 steps. Same day, same person, same wrist, same amount of actual steps taken.

I can see this is going to be an interesting (to me) exercise (heh).

 

 

Intro, Continued

For six months, we moved. We grooved. I was walking before work – and I am so not a morning person – just so I could rack up steps. I especially recall a few days when I logged over 20,000 steps. In case you’ve never walked 20,000 steps, that’s a hell of a lot of pounding on the feet. I’m not known for wearing sensible shoes, either (more on foot issues in some later post, I imagine) and those not so little dogs were barking. Try walking around for seven straight hours in New York City in July. It’s not pretty.

Through it all, the Fitbit did its thing, dutifully flashing lights when tapped and buzzing on those days when I hit my goal of 10,000 steps. Supposedly, these devices track sleep, too, but in order for them to do that, one must actually sleep (more on not sleeping some other time, probably late at night). Then, long story short, it died. I got a replacement (Fitbit is good about that, as it turns out) with a black band (to go with most everything I wear) to mix things up. Another long story short, it, too, crapped out, and I was told I could get another replacement. This time, another long story short, I selected the “violet” band, which was on about a 20 week back order. I waited.

Funny thing happened while I was sans Fitbit. I didn’t move around as much. Sure, I still used the restroom on the first floor of my building, instead of the one in the office, but without keeping track, steps didn’t feel like an accomplishment anymore. During my long wait time, I got a gift (from Apple, yet another long story which I’m not even going to get into) of the Jawbone Up24. All I’ll say right now is that it is a sleeker, less obtrusive design, but the downside is that the bands aren’t interchangeable. I got a black one.

So I’m wearing the Jawbone for a few days, and remarked to Bob that my violet Fitbit would arrive soon, and that’s when he said I should wear them both, compare, and write a blog about it. The new Fitbit arrived yesterday, and now I’m wearing them both, and I suppose this is where the real story begins.