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Once Upon A Time There Was A 10,000 Step Club

My world was very different three years ago, as I was finishing up my fifth year using a Fitbit.  I had just added 45 new 10,000 step days, my third best year to date, and, with upcoming trips to Boston and California already on the docket, things were looking good to add a good number more and add some new tales to this list of my Top 25 step days.  Then, the corona virus happened, the world basically shut down for the next year or so, and I stopped needing to leave the house.  I’ve worked from home since March of 2020, which theoretically gives me plenty of free time to go out for walks, but, in practice, leaves me homebound more often than not.  All told, I managed only thirteen 10,000 step days for the just completed eighth year of Fitbit usage, which, granted, is better than the prior two years combined, and gives me a total of 283 since I started keeping track back in 2011.  With that in mind, here’s the list of my Top 25 step days, which has now stayed static for three years.

1: 4/14/2018 – 27,470 steps

My best single day total is from my April 2017 trip to New York to see Angelina.  The day’s excursions included trips to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Empire State Building.

2: 7/21/2018 – 27,278 steps

My July 2017 trip to Virginia, to hike up Catawba Mountain to McAfee Knob with Jeff and Val, fell just short of the top spot.

3: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

2013’s trip to Disney World, which spent 5 years as my single day best, included excursions to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom, and yes, falling 12 steps short of 25,000 still irks me.

4: 6/3/2019 – 24,665 steps

The first full day of 2019’s summer trip to Washington DC spent most of the day at the Smithsonian Zoo.

5: 8/8/2019 – 23,866 steps

Late in the summer of 2019, I spent two weeks in San Francisco for a work trip.   On my last full day, I went out after work, walking to Pier 39 and then back the other direction to Oracle Park to see the Giants take on the Phillies.  My totals would have been even higher, but I was dead tired and took an Uber back to the hotel after the game.

6: 3/18/2018 – 23,780 steps

My first day in Las Vegas for the 2017 IBM Think conference, the day’s totals include gallivanting around town, including a late night trip up to Caesar’s Palace from the MGM Grand to see Absinthe.

7: 10/24/2018 – 23,362 steps

My October 2018 trip to Boston to see Angelina for our birthday gives us our next entry.  While she was in class, I took tours of Fenway Park and Harvard, before meeting up with her for a late lunch and then heading to the airport for the trip home.

8: 3/22/2016 – 22,493 steps

My one-time second highest day took place during the ill-fated trip to Disney World in March of 2016.  The day’s excursion started at Hollywood Studios before heading over to Epcot Center with Jeff and Val.

9: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

Still my highest total at home in the state of Illinois, the next entry comes thanks to the 2013 BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.

10: 12/29/2018 – 20,374 steps

We wrap up the top 10 with 2018’s trip to California and the trip to Disneyland to see Danny perform with the Lincoln-Way Marching Band.

11: 8/5/2017 – 20,218 steps

The next entry came in August of 2017 on the first day of my trip to Boston with Danny and Michael.  After landing in town, we traipsed to the Science Museum, a breakfast joint, our hotel, and, finally, Fenway Park.

12: 7/14/2017 – 20,208 steps

Down to #12 is my 2017 trip to Disney World, a one day journey with Angelina to celebrate her high school graduation. Continue reading →

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Travelling The 50 States – New York

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 11th state to be added to the Union: New York.

State: New York
Joined the Union: 1788
Visits: 3

I’ve made three visits to the Empire State, two to New York City and one upstate.

My first visit to New York came in March of 2003, when the Cubs were scheduled to open their season in Queens against the Mets.  After arriving at our Newark hotel, we took the train into Manhattan, meeting up with a friend of my traveling companion and grabbing a late dinner at the Tick Tock Diner across the street from Madison Square Garden.  During the meal, plans were made to meet up again the following day for a tour of the city.

After a morning in Jersey, it was back to Manhattan, where we ditched the rental car at a church and headed out on foot for a tour of the city.  Our first stop was Ground Zero, where we saw what remained of the World Trade Center a year and a half after 9/11.  From there, we headed to Chinatown, where we hooked up with our friend from the night before, who scored box seats for Monday’s opening day tilt from the nuns that lived in her building, a welcome upgrade from the upper-level tix we had scored on eBay prior to leaving home.  The rest of the day was spent walking around and seeing the sites, including a trip to St. Mark’s Comics.  Eventually, we found our way back to the car and headed back to the hotel.

Monday morning was the big day and meant traveling from New Jersey across Manhattan, and then onto Long Island and into Queens to get to Shea Stadium.  We listened to Howard Stern on his flagship station while working through traffic.  Eventually, we arrived at Shea Stadium, where the newly acquired Tom Glavine, a future Hall of Famer, was on the mound for the Mets.  He made it through 2 pitches before the crowd turned on him.  Things quickly turned south for the Mets as the Cubs scored 4 runs in the top of the first on their way to a 15-2 victory, behind two home runs from Corey Patterson.

Following the game, it was time for the long drive home.  Unfortunately, we were stuck in Queens and had to work our way west again with the afternoon’s traffic at its peak.  We passed through the Bronx and Yankee Stadium as the hosts on sports radio WFAN were discussing the new YES network and the attempts to get picked up by cable networks in New York before the Yankees opened their season the next day.  Eventually, we made it out of New York and were on our way back to Illinois.

My second trip to the state of New York came in 2015 as part of my vacation to Toronto.  After a morning jaunt along Niagra Falls, my travelling companion and I headed back to the good old US of A, towards Cooperstown, NY, where the Baseball Hall of Fame beckoned.  After heading to the center of town and parking at fabled Doubleday Field, we entered the museum.  There aren’t enough words to describe all that was seen at the Hall of Fame.  All of the baseball history you could shake a stick at, except for the portion covering the 70s through the current day, which had closed down for renovations that very day.  Finally, we entered the Hall of Fame Gallery, housing the plaques honoring each player voted into the Hall.  My first destination, after the centrally located first class, was the previous year’s electees, where I found both Frank Thomas and Greg Maddux. Continue reading →

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2022: The Year In Live Performances

During 2022, I managed to get out three different times, taking in my first post-pandemic concert and play and my second comedy show.

In June, I attended my first concert since 2019.  Garbage was opening for Tears for Fears at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre and I made a last-minute decision to attend.  I hadn’t been to this particular venue since 2017, despite it being the closest to my house.  After a nice set from Garbage, I stuck around for the first part of Tears for Fears’ set.  The songs I knew from them were evenly split between the beginning of the show and the end, so I stayed for the first five songs they performed, hearing Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Sowing the Seeds of Love before leaving.  Without the crowds, I was able to get from my seat to my house in about a half hour.

For my birthday, I received tickets to the stage version of Clue.  In November, the night before Thanksgiving, Angelina, Danny, and I headed into the city for what was my first trip to the theater since 2018’s trip to Broadway.  The production of Clue is based on the movie, which is one of my favorites.  A good time was had by all.

To wrap up the year, I headed to the Chicago Theatre to see John Oliver on New Year’s Eve.  It was the perfect New Year’s Eve for someone my age, with the show starting around 7:30, wrapping up by 9:00, and allowing me to drive home and be in the house by 10:00.

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2022: The Year In Travel

After two years of limited travel due to COVID, things opened up once again in 2022 and I actually found myself on an airplane or two throughout the year.  I thought it would be nice to look back at the trips I took this year.  Things started in late January, when I went to Hawaii for two weeks.  Things were still pretty locked down on the islands at the time, so I didn’t do a lot of activities, but a week relaxation at the beach and the pool followed by a second week of working remotely followed by afternoons at the beach did the body (and the mind) good.

The next trip came at the end of May, as the family headed to Boston for Angelina’s graduation.  The boys and I arrived late Friday night, where we basically went straight from the airport to the hotel to sleep.  On Saturday, we did some sight-seeing.  Sunday was graduation, followed by a celebratory dinner.  We all headed home on Monday, save Angelina.

At the end of July, I headed out to Denver for a quick trip to add a new stadium to my collection.  I arrived on Tuesday and high-tailed it out to Coors Field for that evening’s game, which the White Sox won against the hometown Rockies.  The follow-up the next afternoon was not as pleasant, after which I headed back to the airport for the flight home.

August brought a road trip to Indianapolis, to see Danny perform with the Troopers drum corps at the DCI World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium.  What was supposed to be a two-night stay turned into three, when the Troopers unexpectedly made it to the finals. Continue reading →

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2023 Calendar

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we can unveil the cover to this year’s calendar gift, given annually to my mom and sister, and made up of pictures I have taken throughout the year.  It is getting harder and harder to get enough pictures to flesh out the calendar, especially with Angelina spending more and more time in Boston and Michael being homebound for the most part.  Danny, on the other hand, is an embarrassment of riches, between his different band activities.  As in year’s past. the calendar was produced by the good folks at Shutterfly and we will unveil each month’s photo(s) on the first day of the month throughout 2023.

This year’s cover features Angelina, Danny, and Michael masked up outside of Agganis Arena on the BU campus from our visit this summer for Angelina’s graduation.

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Travelling The 50 States – Michigan

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 26th state to be added to the Union: Michigan

State: Michigan
Joined the Union: 1837
Visits: 5

Despite its proximity, The Mitten has been an infrequent place for me to visit.  Nearly all of my visits can be attributed to one of two things: baseball and ice skating.  The one outlier came during the COVID lockdown, when travel options were limited.

My first trip to Michigan came in 1999 in an effort to see a game during the final season of Tiger Stadium.  Along with my mom and my sister, we took the quick flight and then took a bus into Windsor for a pre-game meal, the first time any of us had left the country.  After some slight difficulties getting back across the border, we headed to the game, where rookie Kip Wells made his major league debut for the White Sox and picked up the victory against the Tigers.  We flew back home the following day.

Nearly a decade later, I returned to Detroit in 2010 for a Labor Day weekend clash between the White Sox and the Tigers.  This time, I booked a hotel in Windsor, so I drove from Chicago to Canada, checking in to the hotel before catching a bus back across the border and to Comerica Park.  The next afternoon, I drove back and took in the afternoon tilt before driving home with two Tiger victories under my belt.

Six years later, the synchronized skating championships were held in Kalamazoo.  The family travelled north to see Angelina and her team compete.

In 2019, the family traveled to Ann Arbor, where BU was competing in a synchronized skating competition.

My most recent visit to Michigan came over Labor Day week in 2020.  With everything locked down thanks to the corona virus, I was looking for a chance to get away and found a nice Airbnb in Holland close to Lake Michigan.  Other than a couple of trips to the lakes (both Macatawa and Michigan) and a day spent in Saugatuck, I didn’t see much of the sites, as the rona was still very much a concern.

Will I return?  I imagine so.  Neither of the boys have been to Comerica yet, so a future visit is not out of the question.

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FB8 – Week 44

A week of vacation plus warmer weather led to improved numbers.  The week got off to a better week on Sunday, registering 4300 steps.  My step total rose by 33 steps on Monday.  A trip to the movie theater and the store turned into a decrease, as I finished 7 steps shy of 3500.  Wednesday was a busy day, picking Angelina up from the airport and taking her to doctor before going out to see a stage version of Clue with both her and Danny and leaving me 15 steps away from 5900.  Thanksgiving festivities on Thursday led to the week’s low point, finishing with just 2300 steps.  Friday saw a big improvement, coming 18 steps short of 4300.  Saturday fell off again, just barely surpassing 3000 steps.

Total steps: 27,731

Daily average: 3961.6

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Travelling The 50 States – Massachusetts

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 6th state to be added to the Union: Massachusetts

State: Massachusetts
Joined the Union: 1788
Visits: 6

The Bay State has been a more recent travel destination, with all six visits coming within the past five years.  In what I’m sure is completely unrelated news, Angelina has been attending Boston University since 2018.  This visit total would have been at least one trip larger, as I had plans to bring Michael in April of 2020, but the whole pandemic thing kind of put the kibosh on that.

My first visit to Massachusetts came in August of 2017, when I took a weekend trip to Boston to see the White Sox take on the Red Sox with Danny and Michael.  We arrived in Boston on Saturday morning, heading straight from the airport to the Museum of Science, where we spent most of the morning.  After a quick breakfast, we headed to our hotel, which was located in the medical district.  We checked in and relaxed for a bit, before deciding on going for ice cream prior to heading to Fenway Park.

The game went about as you would expect.  With James Shields on the mound, the White Sox did not put up much of a fight.  We were sitting down the left field line, with a good view of the Green Monster.  The seats, which may or may not date back to the stadium’s opening in 1912, were not really designed for people well over 6 feet tall, so there was a lot of uncomfortable shifting as our knees were smooshed into the seats in front of us.

The next morning, we went out in search of breakfast once again before gathering up our belongings and checking out of the hotel.  Our first stop was just down the street, at Harvard Medical School, where we posed for pictures.  From there, we headed to Skywalk Boston, their version of the observation deck at Sears Tower.  It was only on the 50th floor, so the effect was a little different, but we did get to see the majority of the area.  From there, over to the harbor to see the Boston Tea Party museum.  The two-hour experience took us through the town meeting where the “attack” was planned, on to the boat to throw the tea in to the harbor, and then through a movie and other artifacts from one of the most famous events in American history.  From there, it was off to the airport for the flight back home.

My next trip came the following year, when I returned to Boston in late October to celebrate birthdays with Angelina.  I arrived on the Tuesday before our birthday, enjoying a brief tour of BU and a nice dinner at Fogo de Chao with Angelina before heading over to the House of Blues to see Garbage.  The next day I took a tour of Fenway Park prior to Game Two of the World Series, before heading out to Cambridge to look around Harvard before heading home.

Just over a month later, I returned to Boston with my mom to see Angelina’s first synchro competition on Cape Cod and an ice show by the BU Figure Skating Club, seeing many of the same BU sites as my last visit.

In October of 2019, I once again travelled to Boston to see Angelina for our birthday dinner.  Unbeknownst to me, she had suffered a concussion the day before, so she was busy for most of the day.  After chilling in the hotel for a bit, I headed over to campus for a late lunch before waiting for her at a protest I happened across, trying to stop hate monger Ben Shapiro from coming to campus for a speech.  After dinner, she headed back to her dorm to rest, and I left early the next morning to return home.

After a two-year hiatus thanks to COVID, my next trip to Boston came this past May for Angelina’s graduation.  Danny, Michael, and I flew out on Friday and spent Saturday sightseeing around Boston with the family.  Graduation was Sunday morning, which we topped off with a dinner out on Sunday night before heading home on Monday.

My most recent visit came earlier this month, as birthday celebrations were finally allowed to restart.  I arrived late on Friday night, and then spent Saturday with Angelina and Emily, including a trip to the Museum of Science and a return visit to Fogo de Chao.  Sunday morning. they picked me up from the hotel and drove me to the airport, bringing my latest visit to an end.

Will I return?  I have to say yes.

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FB8 – Week 41

A weekend trip to Boston helped pick up what had been a down week to that point, helping me finish above 30,000 steps for the third week in a row.  Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, as I finished with 4000 steps.  Despite answering the doorbell for the handful of trick or treaters on Monday, I ended Halloween with just over 3800 steps.  A trip to the office on Tuesday left me just 17 steps away from 4600.  Wednesday turned into the week’s low point, finishing with only 1900 steps.  Thursday bounced back a little, going up to 2800 steps.  An afternoon flight on Friday put me up above 6900 steps.  A trip to the Museum of Science and birthday dinner with Angelina on Saturday pushed me up over 8900 steps, my highest total since the end of September.

Total steps: 33,100

Daily average: 4728.6