Jeff Blogs

I’ll admit it, I am a complete geek when it comes to gadgets. I am constantly looking for new devices to automate every aspect of my life. I have no idea why I find this so fascinating but I do. So when my wife suggested that perhaps we should start walking to get a little exercise; the first thing I did was to begin looking at pedometers.

In its simplest form a pedometer is attached to your waistband and will measure the number of steps that you take in the course of a day. Obviously though I was not interested in the simplest form of a device. No, I had to find the most tricked out pedometer on the planet.

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I’m developing a rather healthy love/hate relationship with my Nintendo Wii Fit. Ever since we got the thing I have tried to give it a fair trial. I know I am not getting any younger and my life seems to be in complete turmoil making it nearly impossible for me to find time to go to an actual gym. So anything that I can find that will get me a little more active I am all for. I initially attempted to use Wii Fit and was completely miserable. According to the documentation that came with this torture device, it is built to help you with strength and balance. Really all it did was confirm my worst fears. I am old, out of shape, and have all the balance of a yak with an inner ear problem.

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I thought I would start with a continuation of yesterday’s entry and give you an update on how it went at the Grand Canyon State Games. Both Trina and Tiffany had registered for events in Track and Field. The track meet was located at Mesa Community College in Mesa (it works out better to put the college in the city it is located otherwise people get really confused). Events were to start at 5:30 PM and check-in was to begin at 5:00 PM. After spending the morning at the Sports Authority watching as Trina tried on various shirts and shorts, I was definitely ready for something a little more exciting. Trina was especially nervous since she had not jumped competitively in over a quart of a century. She loves it when I put it in terms like that. Add to this the fact that she had not trained at all for this event and her anxiety levels were extremely high. Tiffany on the other hand was the poster child for coolness. Competing at a high level has become old hat to her and she was just enjoying the idea of being able to high jump with her mom.

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Late last evening we received a call from our oldest daughter Ashley. Last year she decided that she was going to get back in shape and lose the weight that she had gained since going to college. She has been diligently working on that and is now probably in the best shape of her life. She looks great and feels even better. During her high school years Ashley was a pretty good athlete. She was a triple jumper on the track team and to this day holds the freshman record in that event at the high school. With all the success that Tiffany has had during her high school track career; Ashley had once again gotten the competitive bug and wanted to compete. Living in Utah she found a state competition that among the events featured track and field. She entered the meet and competed in the long jump and the triple jump. She called to tell us that she won both events. We were very proud of her and were excited to share in her news.

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I had previously written about my shopping adventures trying to get a Wii Fit for my kids. Since that traumatic episode I have shied away from anything having to do with this device. Well that and the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks have been in town for a 6 game home stand has left me with very little free time. The Wii Fit box had been set down next to the television and literally forgotten about until Dakota uncovered its existence. Since that time all I have heard was his pleas to set up this device so he could play. I swear, I really need to stash things in better places until I have enough time to deal with things after baseball season is over. Finally I could not take it anymore and I allowed the kids to set up the Wii Fit. I was hoping that telling the kids to go for it would dissuade them. I further assumed that setting up a Wii Fit would be too complicated for mere children to understand and therefore give me a little extra time. I was wrong on so many levels.

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