Tag / New Year’s Day

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2018: The Year In Travel

As I arrive home from California, I thought it would be nice to look back at the many trips I took last year.  Things got started in March, when I headed out to Las Vegas for the IBM Think conference.  Along the way, I took in a show, Absinthe, at Caesar’s Palace, a Barenaked Ladies concert at Mandalay Bay, and a show by The Chainsmokers at MGM Grand, where I was staying.

Following the conference, I took a detour to Phoenix for a long weekend, where I took in some Cactus League action at Camelback Ranch and Peoria Sports Complex, seeing the White Sox, Cubs, and Mariners (twice!).  I also enjoyed a trip to the slot canyons and Horseshoe Bend in Page, followed by a quick trip to the Grand Canyon.

About a month later, I took a short weekend trip to New York.  Danny, Michael, and I flew to New York on a Friday night, where we met up with Angelina and had dinner with the family she was nannying for.  Saturday was a glorious spring day, spent sight seeing at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, the Guggenheim museum, and the Empire State Building.  Sunday was spent at the Lyric Theatre, watching both parts of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, before heading home early Monday morning.

My next trip came at the end of July, as Val and I headed down to Roanoke, Virginia, to celebrate Jeff’s 50th birthday.  After a day of “work”, the highlight of the trip was Saturday’s hike up Catawba Mountain to McAfee Knob.  Sunday was spent recovering, before heading home.

I spent most of September in Europe, starting with a week in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  Aside from work, there was a trip to Castle Ward in to look at Game of Thrones filming locations, a hockey game featuring the Belfast Giants, a trip to the Ulster American Folk Park and a nip across the border to the wonderful town of Muff in Ireland, and a Black Cab tour of locations in Belfast related to the Troubles. Continue reading →

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FB4: Week 49

Another good week, thanks mostly to spending New Year’s in California.  The week got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, where a trip to Pasadena to attend Band Fest and see the float barn at the Rose Bowl garnered over 7200 steps.  Monday came in just over 10,000 steps, thanks to a trip to Warner Bros. Studios followed by dinner in Beverly Hills.  Tuesday, New Year’s Day, was the big day of the week, with over 13,600 steps thanks to a return trip to Pasadena for the Rose Parade.  Wednesday wrapped up my time in California with a trip to California ScienCenter to see King Tut and the space shuttle Endeavor and a quick stop at the beach, to the tune of 8400 steps.  Thursday was down to 4200 steps, as I spent the last day of vacation recovering from the previous week.  Friday I returned to work, where I was able to get over 8700 steps.  Saturday was the low point of the week, as I didn’t leave the house and ended up with a mere 1600 steps.

Total steps: 53,953

Daily average: 7707.6

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Fitbit Year 3

A year ago, I set a goal of 2,366,000 steps, an average of 6500 steps per day. Despite my Fitbit giving up the ghost in December and a 10 week downturn to finish out the year, I managed to easily surpass my goal, coming in with 2,737,842 total steps. My average step total per week was 52,650.81, which comes out to about 7521.544 per day. The median weekly total was 52,910.5. My best week was Week 9, which used a Jiff challenge to propel me over 70,000 steps for the week.  My worst week was Week 48, where I slacked through the entire week between Christmas and New Years.

For the upcoming year, I plan to up the ante again. I am upping my goal for steps per day from 6500 to 7000, which would bring me to a yearly total of 2,548,000 steps. Seeing as I surpassed that total this year, with nearly 190,000 steps to spare, I expect I will have no issue with this.

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Fitbit III: Week 49

2017 came to a sad end and 2018 got off to a slow start in a week that could only be considered good based on what came before it.  Sunday, the last day of the year, could not even make it up to 2500 steps.  New Year’s Day managed to bump that number up to nearly 3000 steps.  Things got a bit better on Tuesday, as I returned to work for the first time in 3 weeks, ending up with nearly 7500 steps.  Wednesday was a little lower, back under 7000 steps.  Thursday was the high point of the week, coming in with almost 7800 steps.  Friday just eked past 7000 steps.  Saturday fell back down to 4200 steps, ending the week on a down note.

Total steps: 38,583

Daily average: 5511.9

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Fitbit III: Week 48

While the week between Christmas and New Year’s is traditionally slow, this week was almost historically bad.  Friday was the only day to pass 4000 steps, and it still fell nearly 1000 steps below my goal.  The week’s total was my worst performance since the abbreviated first week ever with the Fitbit and my worst full week since the similar timed week in 2015.

Total steps: 26,554

Daily average: 3793.4

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FB2: Week 49

A nice bounce back week after the disappointment of last week ended 2016 on a down note.  The week, and the year, got off to a slow start on Sunday, as New Year’s Day kept me down below 3000 steps.  Monday was a nice rebound, finishing over 7000 steps on my last day of vacation.  Tuesday was time to go back to work, where I managed to stay pretty steadily at or above 7000 steps for the remainder of the week.  Saturday avoided the usual weekend drop-off to finish above 7600 steps.

Total steps: 47,530

Daily average: 6790

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Fitbit Week 48

Week48_FBThe last week of 2015 got off to a good, if infuriating, start as I was forced to make a return trip to the Apple Store to replace a bum laptop.  A winter storm kept me stuck inside the house on Monday, my only day below my goal throughout the week.  Tuesday bounced back, thanks in part to my efforts to remove snow from the driveway.  Wednesday and Thursday were pretty non-descript days, but 2015 came to an end with 3 straight days above my target.  2016 got off to a decent start on Friday, though it was my lowest total of the week save Monday.  Saturday was another decent day, thanks to a trip to the grocery store.

Total steps: 43,145

Daily average: 6163.6