Tag / Work

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FB8 – Week 47

The first week of my annual December vacation led to my first week over 30,000 steps in nearly two months.  The week got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, finishing with 4200 steps.  A drop on Monday, my last work day of the year, left me with only 3700 steps.  A nice bounce back on Tuesday put me at 4300 steps.  Wednesday was pretty similar, with 4250 steps.  Thursday saw a slight decline, coming 12 steps away from 4000.  Friday jumped back over 4100 steps.  A trip to the grocery store on Saturday pushed me up over 5400 steps, easily my highest total of the week.

Total steps: 30,111

Daily average: 4301.6

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FB8 – Week 46

A disappointing total for my last full week of working for 2022.  The week got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, finishing with 4400 steps, my highest total of the week.  A drop on Monday left me 8 steps away from 3800.  Another downturn on Tuesday put me at 3100 steps.  Wednesday fell even further, dropping to 2500 steps.  An after-work retirement party on Thursday put me back over 4100 steps.  Friday needed 6 additional steps just to reach 2300.  Saturday was even worse, finishing the week off with a woeful 2000 steps.

Total steps: 22,396

Daily average: 3199.4

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FB8 – Week 45

Going back to work following a week of vacation led to a decrease in step output.  The week got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, coming 21 steps shy of 4200.  A drop on Monday left me 19 steps away from 3800.  Another downturn on Tuesday put me at 3100 steps.  Wednesday perked back up a bit, ending over 3800 steps.  A push on Thursday left me back over 4000 steps.  Friday was easily the worst day of the week, needing 2 more steps just to reach 1900.  Saturday saw a healthy improvement but was still a disappointment with a woeful 2900 steps.

Total steps: 23,812

Daily average: 3401.7

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FB8 – Week 42

A lost week, thanks in part to a dead battery and too much work, ending my streak of finishing above 30,000 steps at three weeks.  The week went off the rails on Sunday, since I forgot to bring my Fitbit charger with me to Boston and my battery died on my flight home, meaning I lost a lot of airport steps, registering only 3100 steps.  Things picked up considerably on Monday, as I ended up with just over 4300 steps.  Things fell off again on Tuesday, as meetings left me at 2900 steps.  Wednesday was even worse, dropping down to 2500 steps.  The promise of the final 70-degree fay of the year on Thursday led to the best day of the week as I played hooky in the afternoon, spending some time at a beach by Lake Michigan and finishing with 4800 steps.  Friday fell off again, dropping down to 3500 steps.  Saturday was spent making sure Michael was fed, which left me with a mere 2800 steps.

Total steps: 24,120

Daily average: 3445.7

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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

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FB8 – Week 40

Another fairly consistent week, where every day fell between 4000 and 5000 steps, and I finished above 30,000 steps for the second week in a row.  Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, as I finished with 4300 steps.  A 6 step increase on Monday also put me over the 4300 step plateau.  Tuesday fell off just a bit, going down to just over 4000 steps.  A trip into the office on Wednesday turned into the week’s high point, finishing just 8 steps shy of 4900.  A day off of work and a birthday dinner put me just 6 steps over 4000 on Thursday.  Another day off on Friday led to 4300 steps.  A trip out to see Black Adam and celebrate my birthday with Daryl left me with 4500 steps on Saturday.

Total steps: 30,438

Daily average: 4348.3

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Travelling The 50 States – Indiana

Over my 47 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 start today with the 19th state to be added to the Union: Indiana.

State: Indiana
Joined the Union: 1816
Visits: 1100+

From the fall of 1992 through the spring of 1997, I matriculated at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  Accounting for breaks, weekends home, and other holidays, I estimate I would have spent over 1100 days in the Hoosier State.

While it is possible that I visited the state of Indiana at some time during my youth, given its proximity to the Chicagoland area, the first confirmed visit would have been in the early 90s, when I made my campus visit to Purdue.  I can’t say that i have any particular memories from this trip, but I’m fairly sure it happened.  Starting in August of 1992, West Lafayette became my home away from home for the next five years.  In December of 1993, I made my first visit to Indianapolis for a double header of Purdue women’s and men’s basketball at Market Square Arena.

As I was stopped at a gas station before getting on I-65 on my way home after graduation, I said that I would never return to the state of Indiana again.  That pledge lasted a little more than two years, as I returned to campus in September of 1999 to see Purdue defeat Notre Dame at Ross-Ade Stadium.  I would return again in December of 2000 for the final game of the season, seeing Purdue defeat IU and earn their first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1967.

My next trip to Indiana came in March of 2001, when I saw the Monkees at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville.  In November of 2004, I returned once again to my old stomping grounds to see Purdue once again defeat Indiana at Ross-Ade Stadium.  I made two football trips the following year, watching Purdue fall to Notre Dame in October and defeating Illinois in November.  In 2006, I made my first visit to South Bend with friends from work to see Notre Dame once again defeat the Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium.

My next trip to Indiana came in November of 2008, when Purdue managed to defeat Michigan at Ross-Ade Stadium.  The following September, it was another loss against Notre Dame.  In October of 2011, there was another family clash as Purdue defeated Illinois by a touchdown.  Two months later, I spent New Year’s Eve of 2011 at Mackey Arena, watching Purdue defeat the Fighting Illini in my first basketball game back on campus since graduating in 1997.  I returned a little more than a year later on the second day of 2013 for another successful tilt against the Illini at Mackey Arena.

In 2013, I made the mistake of returning to Ross-Ade stadium in September with a work friend, as her husband’s alma mater, Northern Illinois, throttled Purdue.  In March of 2015, a trip to Mackey Arena saw the basketball team beat the Illini, but the football tilt that November went the other way. Continue reading →

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Travelling The 50 States – Hawaii

Over my 47 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 30 states I have visited (60% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 50th state to be added to the Union: Hawaii.

State: Hawaii
Joined the Union: 1959
Visits: 2

I’ve made two trips to the Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland, first in 2019 and then again earlier this year.

Way back in 2019, I made my first visit to the island of Oahu, arriving the first Saturday in February.  After a day of checking out my surroundings around the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort and down Waikiki Beach, I took a tour of the island of Oahu on Monday, with stops at Hanauma Bay, Nu’uanu Pali lookout, Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, Sunset Beach, Waimea Falls, and the Dole Plantation.  Tuesday, I took in a whale watching cruise, where we were able to see multiple whales surfacing during the excursion.  After a day of relaxation on Wednesday, I traveled to Pearl Harbor on Thursday to see all of the associated attractions and museums.  I enjoyed another day of relaxation on Friday before heading home on Saturday.

Following a long pandemic, and nearly two years of working from home, I decided to break out in a big way this past January.  Using airline vouchers left over from my cancelled trips of 2020, I booked a two-week trip, returning to the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort for the first week and staying in a lesser hotel for the second.  Not knowing how the pandemic would impact the local tourist offerings, I decided to play it safe and go for ultimate relaxation.  My days were spent reading by the pool, taking the occasional swim, both in the ocean and in the pool, and listening to music and podcasts.  It was heaven.

The second week I was working remotely, meaning my days usually started at 4AM local time.  This let me wrap up the workday around noon, when I would usually head back over to the resort, to enjoy some of the outdoor spaces, or the beach.  All told, I racked up seven books and two week’s worth of 10,000+ step days.

Will I return?  Absolutely, although I would like to check out some of the other islands on future trips.

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FB8 – Week 36

After a late week surge last week, disappointment settled back in as I fell back below 30,000 steps.  Things got off to an ok start on Sunday, where I finished with 4100 steps after lunch in downtown Lafayette with Danny.  Monday fell off quite a bit, dropping to 3300 steps.  Tuesday was the high point of the week, finishing with a sad 4500 steps thanks in part to my first visit to an Allstate office since March of 2020.  Wednesday was the week’s low point, finishing with only 3000 steps.  Things started to improve again on Thursday, going up to 3300 steps.  Friday saw a nice jump, going up to 4100 steps. Saturday fell off a bit, finishing 10 steps shy of 3800.

Total steps: 26.298

Daily average: 3756.9

 

 

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FB8 – Week 35

After the disappointment of last week, a late surge helped put me back above 30,000 steps for the week.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, where I finished with 3800 steps.  Monday fell off quite a bit, dropping to 2800 steps.  Tuesday saw a very slight increase as I ended the day 4 steps away from 2900.  Wednesday was the week’s low point, finishing with only 2200 steps.  Things started to improve on Thursday, where an after-work trip to the local grocery store helped push me over 5600 steps.  A trip to Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday left me with 5200 steps.  My best day of the week came on Saturday thanks to a trip down to West Lafayette for Homecoming, which left me with 9400 steps.

Total steps: 32.078

Daily average: 4582.6