Another New Project

I decided over the weekend to buy a pedometer and track how many steps I take each day. The goal of course is 10,000 steps per day. So I checked out a few peds, finally decided on a cheap one (about $15) from Target. This morning bright and early about 5:30 a.m. found me with a sharp knife cutting open the package and a magnifying glass reading the instructions. Everything seemed to be pretty simple, so after getting dressed I clipped the little gadget onto my waistband and headed out into the world. After only a little over an hour I was simply amazed to find that I had already walked 2,000 steps! I was so skeptical I took a walk down the hall, counting 20 steps so I could compare it to the ped. The ped said 17. That's okay. It was a cheap ped so I didn't really expect it to be right on the money, but 17 out of 20 sounded pretty good. I once had one that you had to take your BMI, divide it by your height, multiply the number of children you had birthed by the square root of the diameter of your hair follicles and then program the sum of that number into the little machine so that it would accurately record the number of steps you took. This one, being only $14.99, came preprogrammed so I understood it might be just a tad off. So naturally I thought to myself, "Self: What's the big deal? At this rate I'll hit 10,000 by midafternoon." Of course, this morning I made about 10 trips outside, taking out the trash can, positioning 50 feet of sprinkler hose about five different times, numerous trips to the computer room to print transcripts that came in over the weekend. About 9:30 a.m. I finished all those little tasks and deposited my butt in my oh-so-comfy Lazy Boy and started proofreading. By 5 p.m. my ped showed that I had walked -- what? You say 3,803 steps? Oh, dear. I just can't afford the water bill if all I do is move the sprinkler around hour after hour. Thank goodness the weather is slowly becoming cooler and hopefully shortly I'll be able to take a morning walk and push those steps up closer to the 10,000 goal. Stay tuned for results!

News today: The price of gold went over $1,000 an ounce.

Today in History: 1888 – In London the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, was discovered.