Lazy morning
2005-03-16, 2:15 p.m.

Day 206 - Lazy day so far

Didn't go to the Y this morning. First weekday morning miss in 2 weeks. Still did the step class last night, and the tuesday morning trip was extra, so matbe it's not so bad. Still in first place for males in the 40 - 49 age bracket, but there's a girl (!!?!) that has snuck into first place for all humans in the 40 - 49 age bracket. My hat's off to her, she's got to be working her butt off to be there.

Thing that makes this all kinda neat is that our Y is with the FitLinxx system. ('scuse me - a simulation run just finished, got to go check on the results. Back in a bit. You wait right there.)

Got results, but not what I wanted. Methinks there's a gremlin on the loose and he's adding some funky delays to my system. Better finish this at lunch.

Later: (same day even!!)

Hmmph. Old code, old stimulus = good runs. New code, old stimulus = bad runs. New code, new stimulus = bad runs. Looks like there's someting fishy in the new code, huh? This isn't C, C++, Fortran, Basic, Cobol or Pascal. We're talking VHDL. Ought to be fixable - just have to find what's getting this one counter module hung up. Simple, just takes time & patience.

Oh yeah - Fit Linxx. Some of the equipment at the Y is tied in to this huge network. All of the resistance (weight) machines are, and some of the cardio equipment is. Once you have an account, you enter in your PIN number and ask the system to set up the machines for you. All the different machines you have been trained on are now ready for you. They basically remember your resistance settings so you don't have to. When you get to a particular piece of equipment, you enter in your PIN again. The machine retrieves your data and you're ready to go. Do the exercises like you've been taught and the machines record everything for you. They also track range of motion (make sure you do full reps) and speed (no forcing it fast to get through a rep too easy). The machines also increase the resistance from 20 - 25% on the negative (return) portion of the exercise. That's something you really notice.

If you do cardio work on equipment not in the network, you can also enter the data for that - time spent, effort level, calories burned, distance covered, heart rates (peak & recovery) - all kinds of stuff. The big deal is that you accumulate points for each of these activities. You get 10 points for each resistance machine in a session, 1 point for every 100lbs lifted, plus 5 points for every minute of cardio work. A typical session for me involves 40 minutes on a treadmill for 200 points, 21,466.8 lbs lifted for another 215 points, plus 60 points for exercising on 6 different machines for a total of 475 points. Plus, you can also enter in the time spent in the aerobics classes, spinning class, swimming, even bowling. For example - a 60 minute aerobics class is worth 300 points.

Even better - all this data is accessible on line. You can compare your progress points-wise with everyone in your facility or even the whole Fitlinxx network. I like the facility wide comparisons myself. These can be broken down into categories based on time period, gender and age. That's where I got all the info in the first paragraph. Only drawback is that sometimes there's a 24 - 48 hour delay between when the data is recorded and it shows up in the on-line statistics. Sucks being impatient. And competetive.

Wif went to the Y last night after work. Couldn't even get a parking spot, so she came home. Wif can't go with me early morning cuz she has to man the phones in case some teacher gets sick and decides to call in. Wif gets to try and track down a substitute teacher. Sucks. District needs to contract that out to a service like 90% of the other districts in the county. That's also the hang up in the early evenings. Phone duty. So - the wif feels restricted to a couple of hours right after work & the weekends. Long as she goes, I can't complain. Looks like she's starting to drop a few pounds too. At least her slacks are fitting looser - not like they're any easier for me to get - nah, never mind. Won't go there.

Since I updated the vital stats yesterday, no reason to repeat them today. No updates anyhow.

Maybe I'll go do a step class tonight. Have to tape Survivor, but it's 300 points I missed out on this morning. Hmmmm.

206 days down. Another 0.25 pounds too.

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