Steps

Kitten update

No kitten sightings reported. Alas.

Steps

Just when I think I'm going to have to sift through my brain to find another blog topic, along comes an email from my sister (K-Poo Weak Hands) asking how I get so many steps into my day. Full disclosure: Walking the dog adds about 3500 and I often walk the mile to the grocery store in the evening to buy a Diet Coke, which adds another 6k, I think. Those both depend on the weather.

Most of my steps come from this:

Yes, this is a treadmill converted to a walking desk by means of placing a board over the arm rails and using a gooseneck thingy to hold my laptop higher up. (This isn't the gooseneck thingy I have, but it's similar — I have two legs hooked over the back of the treadmill display, and two legs sticking out as a laptop shelf.) In the past, I just put my laptop on the board, but I found I was craning my neck too much. The screen is still a little lower than optimal now, but it's not bad.

With a 2% incline and the speed set to 2 mph, I can do pretty much anything other than very fiddly photomanipulation work. Plus, it's in front of a window, so I can look out and give my eyes a break on a regular basis.

It's probably a health and safety nightmare, but I've used it like this for a few years and I have yet to hurt myself. (Yes, I may be jinxing myself by saying that...)

Treadmills are expensive, so let me give you some affiliate links so I can share in the wealth. I have the cheapest Nordic Track, the T Series 6.5S — it goes faster than I will ever need, but the ability to change the incline is nice and I've had it four years now so it's pretty reliable. I didn't buy the monthly subscription and it works just fine without it. (It takes two people to assemble, or one very stubborn person who refuses to admit they need help — I'll let you figure out how it went at my house.)

For a third of the price, you can get this Sperax under-desk model (which is the one my friend, H, is using, I think). Something like that is probably a better choice if you don't have much room. (My Nordic Track can fold up to take up less room, but it's still pretty big.)

So, yeah, that's about 6-7k per hour. Really, the only question is why my step count isn't higher.

Pet Picture of the Day

Former fosters Anne Bony (left), Captain Davy (center), and Blackbeard (looking at the camera) on their emotional support sweatshirt.

Accomplishments of the Day

• Edited/loaded the dragon serial episode
• Remembered Holidailies. Eleven days in a row!
• Added 635 words to the urban fantasy WIP.
• Yesterday's step count: 15,988. Today's will probably be a little higher.
• To-do still today: Add another 1k to the WIP.