I’m still going strong on the treadmill. It’s been a week since I installed the treadmill and I’m pretty happy with the results. On most days I seem to walk around 4 miles at a pace of 1 mph. I haven’t really noticed any difference in my weight (not that I’m trying to lose any) so it’s not clear what the calorie burn is at this point. But I do notice that I’m more focused on the tasks at hand once I’m on the treadmill. Once I’m on it, I don’t want to stop what I’m doing, which is a good thing. I’ve gotten much more done over the week since I’ve had it.
Category Archives: Personal
Walking While Working
I have joined the ranks of the “work walkers” — I now have a treadmill in my office. The walking while working movement was started by Dr. James Levine of the Mayo clinic. His basic premise is that NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is more important that regular excercise. One way to trigger NEAT is to walk while you work. More info is also at http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2005-rst/2836.html.
So I acquired a treadmill and built up a desk for myself so that I can walk while working on my computer. With the number of meetings that I have every day, the number of hours I actually spend doing this will vary, but at least I won’t be sitting on my rear end while I’m in my office. FWIW, I am actualy an exercise fiend these days — I work out 5 days a week, including both cardio and weight training. (Today, for example, I did a one hour indoor cycling class.) But I think this will be fun and I’m looking forward to the other benefits of this activity, including better focus and concentration.
This picture is what my office looks like with the treadmill. It’s hard to see the treadmill in this photo because it’s directly behind my desk chair. I built the desk around the treadmill and you can see my computers off to the side.
The next photo has the chair moved out of the way so you can see the treadmill itself.
The next photos are close-ups of my desktop (without the laptop).
And one of me on the treadmill …
New Bike
Teaching My Daughter To Drive
I’ve reached that point in my life that all fathers dread — teaching your child to drive. I’m pretty convinced that the bulk of parental grey hair is because of this time of life. Don’t get me wrong — she’s doing great as a driver but that doesn’t mean it’s easy on me.
One of the things I recall about my experience learning to drive is a comment my father made over and over. He’d always tell other folks to watch out on the sidewalks as I was coming by, implying that I was going to run them over. On the sidewalk. Cute.
I think I’ve been extremely patient with my daughter during this time of angst and I think she’s doing okay learning to drive. It’s scary though, especially for someone not particularly fond of sitting in the passenger seat, regardless of who’s driving. I’m not sure why I don’t like being a passenger; it’s probably a control thing with me. I like to be in control of the situation and sitting in the passenger seat means that I’m not.
One of the things that I emphasize to my daughter is that she should be humble about the entire driving experience. The effect of 3500 pounds of vehicle slamming into a 120 pound body is devastating. She got a small taste of that possibility when two deer jumped out in front of us as she was driving. Fortunately she hit the brakes, but a van nearly hit us from behind. A copper pipe from a rack on top of the van slid forward and bounced against one of the windows of the car, but we thought that he actually hit the back bumper. Fortunately, no harm was done, but it was effective in making the point about the seriousness of driving. Maybe that experience will help her become a better driver. Maybe all kids need an experience like that. A brush with death or injury. But just a brush; no death or injury actually required.