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The Still Growing 10,000 Step Club

Last year, as I was finishing my first year with a Fitbit, I took my last look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since I first started tracking my steps way back in July of 2011.  At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 81 times.  In the past year, I have managed to add an additional 35 occurrences, raising the total to 116.  With my second year using the Fitbit coming to an end last week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new look at my now top 25 step days over the past 5 1/2 years, featuring 12 new entries.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total continues to be from my 2013 trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 3/22/2016 – 22,493 steps

My first new entry shares much in common with my #1 day, taking place in Disney World last March.  The day’s excursion started at Hollywood Studios before heading over to Epcot Center with Jeff and Val.

3: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My now third highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 3 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

4: 6/2/2016 – 18,725 steps

The second new entry comes from last June’s trip to Universal Studios.  Our first full day at the park, we split the day between Universal and Islands of Adventure, taking in all of the different Harry Potter options.

5: 6/4/2016 – 18,617 steps

The third new entry rounds up the top 5 with another entry from last June’s trip to Universal Studios.  The day included another trip to Islands of Adventure, and would have ended up even higher but for an afternoon trip to the hotel pool.

6: 9/6/2015 – 18,259 steps

Down three slots from last year, my now-sixth highest total comes courtesy of my trip to Toronto in September 2015.  This Sunday consisted of traversing around Toronto, with trips to Royal Ontario Museum and, at night, the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest.

7: 9/11/2015 – 17,889 steps

My seventh best total also occurred during my trip to Toronto.  My last day in the city was spent at the Eaton Centre mall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a few other stops.

8: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My now-eighth highest output brings us back to Disney World in 2013, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.

9: 6/1/2016 – 17,243 steps

My fourth new entry again comes courtesy of last summer’s trip to Universal.  This first day of the trip started in Chicago at O’Hare and took us to the Hard Rock Hotel for check-in and a round of mini-golf at City Walk before taking a quick trip in the afternoon to Islands of Adventure to reacquaint ourselves with the original Harry Potter attractions.

10: 6/5/2016 – 16,317 steps

We round out the top 10 with my fifth new entry, which again took place last summer at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, where we tried to take in all of the non-Harry Potter attractions.

11: 9/5/2015 – 16,083 steps

We head back to Toronto for my eleventh highest day, my first full day in the city.  There was exploring along the riverfront and, of course, a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game.

12: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps

This total was accomplished thanks to the 2014 Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work.

13: 4/11/2016 – 15,597 steps

My sixth new entry took place last April, where an exciting day of work was followed by a trip to Wrigley Field for Opening Day festivities.

14: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

My now-fourteenth highest total comes thanks to a Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.

15: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

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Team Stats: Strike Outs

With 2 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the offensive side of the ball with strikeouts.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Diamondbacks have a commanding lead with 9.6 strikeouts per game, the only team over 9.  Both the Cubs and the White Sox are in the bottom (or top, depending on your point of view) third, surprising given the number of at bats given to strikeout machines like Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, and Adam Dunn.  The California iteration of the Angels have the low water mark with 4 strikeouts per game.

Strike Outs
Team Name Strike Outs
Chicago White Sox 3321
Chicago Cubs 2612
Minnesota Twins 410
Cleveland Indians 369
Kansas City Royals 363
Pittsburgh Pirates 349
Cincinnati Reds 342
Detroit Tigers 327
Houston Astros 317
Milwaukee Brewers Continue reading →
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Fitbit III: Week 1

The third year of tracking activity with the Fitbit got off to a good start, with every day surpassing my new daily goal of 6500 steps, the first time I’ve accomplished that feat since early October.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday thanks in part to a trip out to the grocery store.  The work week was pretty consistent, thanks to meetings that mostly kept me at my desk and staying in for lunch.  The big day was Saturday, where I headed in to the city to see George Takei at the Chicago Theatre, ending up with an early 10,000 step day.

Total steps: 51,137

Daily average: 7305.3

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Fitbit Year 2

A year ago, I set a goal of 2,184,000 steps, an average of 6000 steps per day.  Despite losing my original Fitbit during Week 10, which cost me some steps, I managed to easily surpass my goal, coming in with 2,582,752 total steps.  My average step total per week was 49,668.31, which comes out to about 7095.473 per day. The median weekly total was 49,887. My best week was Week 18, which was the start of my trip to Florida for Danny’s graduation celebration.  My worst week was Week 6, when the flu kept me bedridden for 2 days.

For the upcoming year, I plan to up the ante again. I am upping my goal for steps per day from 6000 to 6500, which would bring me to a yearly total of 2,366,000 steps. Seeing as I surpassed that total this year, with over 216,000 steps to spare, I expect I will have no issue with this.

 

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #159-167

3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 artists in my iTunes library.  Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact.  So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 artists, based on number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2017.

We continue on today with the remaining 4 acts tied for 167th, the 3 tied for 164th, and the first 3 tied for 159th, spanning the 1960s through the 2010s.

#167: Cee Lo Green
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

Tied with his own collaboration effort with DJ Danger Mouse, Cee Lo Green makes it as a solo artist thanks to his one megahit.

#167: Bad Religion
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

2 hits from the band, who I saw open for Pearl Jam at Soldier Field in 1995, make up this total.

#167: Belly
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The band, formed by former Throwing Muses member Tanya Donelly, uses contributions from 2 songs to make the list.

#167: Alice Cooper
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The so-called Godfather of Shock Rock hits the chart thanks to contributions from 3 different tracks.

#164: The Doors
iTunes stats: 28 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

3 tracks make up the total from the seminal LA rock group fronted by Jim Morrison.

#164: Poe
iTunes stats: 28 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The trippy singer scores with 4 different songs to make up her total.

#164: Frente!
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Team Stats: Saves

With 2 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the defensive side of the ball with saves.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the California iteration of the Angels lead the way with an even 1 save per game.  At the bottom end of the spectrum are the Anaheim incarnation of the Angels, the Miami version of the Marlins, and the Devil Rays, who did not manage to earn a single save.

Saves
Team Name Saves
Chicago White Sox 112
Chicago Cubs 92
Kansas City Royals 17
Minnesota Twins 14
Toronto Blue Jays 12
Cincinnati Reds 11
New York Yankees 10
Detroit Tigers 10
Houston Astros 10
Los Angeles Angels Continue reading →
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#42 – Ivan Calderon

Name: Ivan Calderon

Rank: 42

Position: RF/LF

Years With White Sox: 1986-1990, 1993

Acquired from the Mariners as the player to be named later from an earlier trade for Scott Bradley, Ivan Calderon joined the White Sox on July 1, 1986.  After spending some time in Triple A Buffalo, Calderon was called up to the big leagues, appearing in 13 games and hitting .303.

Taking over as the every day right fielder in 1987, Calderon put up impressive offensive numbers.  He hit .293 with a career high 28 home runs and .888 OPS.  He made one of the defensive plays of the year on July 27 at Tiger Stadium.  Playing left field, he jumped on top of the mini scoreboard at the bottom of the fence to rob Alan Trammel of a home run.

An injured shoulder cut short Calderon’s season in 1988, as he was placed on the disabled list on August 1 and missed the remainder of the year.  Appearing in only 73 games, he managed to hit only 14 home runs while his average dropped to .212.

A healthy Calderon returned in 1989, but the shoulder injury seemed to have sapped him of much of his power.  He appeared in 157 games and totaled 622 at bats, but managed to only hit 14 home runs, equaling his total from the injury shortened season the year before and falling well below his career high in 1987.  1990 was more of the same, with the third straight season of 14 home runs, but he did manage a career high 44 doubles.

Following the season, he was traded, along with Barry Jones, to the Expos for future Hall of Famer Tim Raines, Jeff Carter, and a player to be named later.  He returned to the White Sox on August 31, 1993 as a free agent.  He appeared in only 9 games over the final month of the season, hitting an anemic .115 no home runs and 3 RBIs.  He was left off the playoff roster and, after the season came to an end, he decided to retire at the age of 31.

Sadly, 10 years later, on December 27, 2003, he was murdered in a bar in his native Puerto Rico.

Calderon’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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FB2: Week 52

We finish off the second year of Fitbit activity with a pretty good week.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, where I fell about 900 steps short of my daily goal thanks to not really leaving the house at all.  Monday was a nice bounce back, with over 8100 steps, thanks in part to a long day at the office.  Tuesday was another decent day, coming in over 7000 steps.  Wednesday fell back closer to the 6000 step mark.  Thursday turned in to the best day of the week, thanks in part to a mid morning walk over to North Plaza for coffee.  Friday and Saturday finished up the week about even.

Total steps: 47,579

Daily average: 6797

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FB2: Week 51

A pretty good week as I posted my highest total since the week before Thanksgiving.  Things got off to a decent start on Sunday, as I managed to just cross my daily step goal.  Monday was a typical day at work, coming in around 6500 steps.  Tuesday saw a big increase, with close to 9500 steps, thanks to lots of walking around the work place.  Wednesday and Thursday were spent in training, so I didn’t get my usual chances to get up and around.  Friday was a bit of a bounce back as I spent the day working before working all night on a deployment.  Following a little sleep, a nearly 60 degree day on Saturday led my first 10,000 step day of 2017 and the first I’ve had in January since 2012.

Total steps: 49,691

Daily average: 7098.7