Garth's Equipment Shoppe

Except, no, Garth's not here right now.

You can sort of see much of my walking configuration in this picture, or bits of each.

• Lifespan TR1200DT - the treadmill base. Not much to say about this thing. It does its job. It came with a console that you can see the corner of in the picture on the right hand side. That console has a USB port to keep my phone charged, and it claims to have Bluetooth connectivity, but there's no Android support, so there's that. Dear LifeSpan, give me an API to code to - I'd love to be able to pull distance/time/calories from the console, and I'd also like to be able to adjust the speed from software.
• iMovR adjustible desk - comfortably large, and adjustable to a variety of heights. I've got the version that uses electrical motors that also has presets, in the theory that I might use the desk as a dual use surface, for walking and also seated work, and it'd be nice to have one button press that takes me back and forth.
• Dell USB keyboard - several jobs ago, I think, there was a box of extra keyboards for anybody that wanted them. I took several. I like the throw of the keys. 
• Kensington Expert Mouse - I've had several trackballs over time, and the Kensington Expert Mouse is probably my favorite. I never use the third or forth buttons, but other than that, it's awesome.
• Samsung Google Chromebox - Most of the time, when I'm walking, I want to watch NetFlix or YouTube or listen to music or podcasts. A Chromebox is sufficient for those tasks, plus being able to jot down notes in my Google Docs spreadsheet and update HealthMonth and whatnot else that I might be doing. Apparently, I can also update this blog, as I'm doing that right now.
• ViewSonic monitor - it's a monitor, it's screwed to the wall.
• Samsung TV (not pictured) - also screwed to the wall, above the monitor. I was thinking that I'd dual-screen or have DVDs showing on one screen and be able to browse the web on the other, but I haven't really got that working. So the TV is usually turned off.
• Withings Pulse activity monitor - this is actually the thing that I wanted to talk about when I started this whole post. There are several devices you can affix to your body, from a FitBit clip (tried one, it wouldn't sync with my phone, nor with my laptop unless I booted into Windows, and who has time for that? Also, it fell apart too many times) to mechanical pedometers (surprisingly simple devices, a conductive marble in a wire cage. Count the number of times it rattles.) to more fancy wristwatches (I've got a Samsung Gear Live wristwatch that measures heart rate and steps taken, but that's got to be measuring wrist acceleration, which doesn't work well when I'm on the treadmill and resting my hands on the desk.) I like the Withings Pulse device, a little tile that you can snap into a wristband or into a belt clip, or they say you can just dump it in your pocket. Maybe I should have kept it in my pocket, because yesterday I discovered it wasn't in the belt clip anymore. Maybe it got loose as I was moving furniture at my folks', maybe at a picnic, maybe on a ferryboat to or from, but the device isn't much good to me when it's not affixed to my person. Once I got home, I went straight to Amazon.com who will get me a replacement by Wednesday. The replacement also comes with a sturdier wristband than the one I had before, which sounds good. Maybe, it'll also come with a belt clip that doesn't let the thing go when I'm dragging a steamer trunk down two flights of stairs. Probably not a well-tested use case.

Also sort of in this picture, but hidden from view, is a foldaway keyboard/mouse tray. I don't think it's really designed for this desk, though it was an accessory I purchased as part of the same order. I looked around to see if anybody was selling an iMovR ThermoDesk Stowaway Ergonomic Keyboard Tray on Amazon or eBay, but there doesn't seem to be a much of an aftermarket for these guys.

And, just to make this blog more update-y:

Distance: 62.93mi

That's around halfway from San Diego to Los Angeles. I should drill in a little bit and get more local landmarks. 

The first steps, or the middle steps, or some such.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
 - Lao-tzu

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
 - Glenn Yarbrough "The Greatest Adventure", in "The Hobbit"

So, a beginning. But, like most beginnings, it is a stepping forward from what came before. This is a new blog in which I intend to document my walking and hiking and other bits of travel, some of which will be hikes on mountains in the Pacific Northwest, much of which will be less glamorous travel happening in my imagination while my feet are occupied on a treadmill.

Some time ago, around 17 years, I recognized that I wanted to more easily get more exercise into my daily routine, and I got a treadmill. I recalled a motivational program that my local swimming pool ran for its distance swimmers, where they'd keep track of distance accumulated on a map from Puget Sound (Washington) to Hawaii. I adopted this bit of motivational record-keeping and plotted a path from Cambridge, MA, where I was living at the time, to the Seattle area, where I grew up, and where I now live.

I estimated that I'd be able to do 25 miles a week, and that would get me to Seattle by such-and-so date, and I calculated when I'd hit Niagara Falls, and Chicago, and so on, and by exercising a little bit more today, I could maybe get to Niagara Falls by Easter. And so the plan worked for the first several months - I stayed on track and I reached my virtual destinations.

And then I moved from that apartment, across the country, to the Seattle area, and into a different apartment, and the downstairs neighbor really didn't like the noise of the treadmill, and so there went that habit. And there went that virtual trip.


Years later, I had moved from the apartment to a house, and I had acquired an exercise bicycle. Picking up from the failed virtual trip, I plotted a trip from Seattle to San Diego. This would be a little shorter, and it would cover territory I was familiar with, having covered I-5 on family road trip summer vacations as a child. I stuck to this project for its duration, posted pictures of the places I was "visiting" in my imagination, and could feel the miles pass before me.


And so we come to today. The old exercise bicycle needs a new pedal and/or footstrap, the old treadmill has been taken away for lack of easy repairs that I tried to apply. I have a new treadmill, which I'll post a little bit about here. I have a fancy standing desk that I just assembled last night. I'll probably describe that, too.

And I have another virtual trek in mind - San Diego to Los Angeles to Chicago via I-5 and then via historic Route 66. I've already got a jump on this, counting the travel that I've done since getting the treadmill at the beginning of July. The total distance is over 2000 miles, and the exact distance depends on how faithful I want to be to the historic route. If you watched Pixar's "Cars", you know that the older roads were less direct, but more colorful. If I were taking this trip in a real car (and that's an idea that has appeal), I'd certainly want to take side trips and detours and visit the off-the-beaten-path bits. For a virtual trip, I might afford myself the luxury of side trips for free, without plotting major detours.


Some vague rules for myself before I get very much further:

• The point of this is to incorporate regular healthy exercise into my daily routine. Chicago isn't the purpose of the trip, it's merely the point where I make new plans.
• I'll take credit for treadmill miles and miles walked on hikes, walks, and other bits of outdoors distance. I won't take credit for walking around the house or work. If When I repair the exercise bicycle, I could count miles on it towards this goal, but I'd prefer not to, as the amount of exercise I get per mile is less, so it feels like cheating.
• This is part of an effort to be healthier, which includes weight loss. I might discuss that a bit here, but not a lot.
• I'm not trying to plug goods or services. I'll probably turn on ads for this blog, because that's a thing to do with a blog. I might mention the specific brand names and model numbers of my treadmill, standing desk, and other stuff, but not because I know very much about how they compare to anything else in the market, so my opinions are likely to be completely uninformed, and so I encourage you to do your own research to make purchasing decisions.
• If I inspire you to exercise more and develop healthier habits, that's great! I'd be happy to hear success stories.