Self Rationalization.....

As you know from previous posts, my brother has been in town and to visit his friends I've been letting him borrow my car. So while he has the car, I've returned to alternate transportation. Yesterday, I had to head downtown, and normally I would have ridden my bike. But I decided that I'd add some miles to my latest toy, the iPod Nano+Nike Plus, fitness tracker. This thing is so cool, that I cannot even describe it, but I will blog about it which is almost as good. This little gadget is a receiver that attaches to your iPod Nano, and only the Nano (don't ask my why -- in marketing we call it segmentation). Along with the receiver is a sensor you attach to your shoe (or as Nike would like you to do, purchase a pair of the Nike+ shoes that have a little recess in the sole that you can put the sensor it). In geek-talk, the sensor is a little accelerometer, but it just counts your steps.

So all you do, is turn on the iPod to the training section and you get this lovely voice that tells you how your workout is going while you listen to music. Very cool. When you are done with your workout, you can re-sync your ipod and your progress is loaded onto your computer and the Nike+ website so you find out how you are doing. It helps you track your progress, more on that word later. I realize how much my iPod is part of my life, but not just mine but othere. There's a great post on the "The Compact" blog on iPodus Lostus Freakaoutus. And all I could do is nod in sympathy.

But back to "progress", we live in freaky times right now, a time of perceived absolutes everywhere. The U.S. is fiercely bipartisan right now, but sadly so is the rest of the world is too. I've been enjoying the posts on the Compact yahoogroup, but it at times seems shrill. There is one post where a woman worries about buying new pots, because she finds out that her existing ones have Teflon and she doesn't want to give them to others or buy used ones that may have the same problem. Relax, you're doing better than you've done before. And that's what I love about the iPod+Nike thing. Everytime I sync, I'm a little further a long. And that's where we start.