States That I Have Visited

Admittedly, my only claim to a few of these states is driving through them.  I think we crossed into South Carolina just so I could say I'd been there.

Now, these are the states where I've actually slept a night:

Albeit, I was just passing through Arkansas on the way to Houston, Texas.

Note: I've never been to Alaska or Hawaii, but I had to tint them in order to include them in the graphic.

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Movie Quote

-- "The Quiet Man"

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Inside vs. Outside

Humpf.  Until I saw these FitBit activity stats side-by-side I thought I was covering more distance and using more steps while inside.  Based on glancing at the FitBit apparatus when returning home after the walks it looked to me like the numbers were lower when walking outside.  But apparently not so.

My thought was that while I am outside I do not have a clear-cut notion of the distance that I need to walk to complete one hour.  While indoors at the rec center I'm walking a track of pre-determined distance.  Plus there is a clock so I know when I'm at the 60-minute mark.  When walking outside I sure would not want to be several blocks from home when the hour time is up.  One hour is my goal.  Not trying to set any records.  So I sort of tend to maybe walk a bit slower to stretch out the time in my estimated distance.  On occasion I've tagged on an extra loop or walked around the block instead of approaching home on a more direct course.

The FitBit is a novelty.  And it sometimes is an incentive to reach that magical 60 minutes a day.

One hour outside vs. One hour indoors
Note: These are snapshots of my activity at the end of my walking time
and do not represent the entire day's activity

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Broadway in Chicago

I reckon this will be the closest that I get to the real Broadway.

Once again, Patrick hosted me for a day in Chicago, and we saw a currently playing Broadway musical: Hamilton, winner of numerous awards -- 2016 Tony for Best Musical, 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, as well as many other awards.

Patrick planned our itinerary:

9:00 a.m. I will meet you at Union Station and we will head to my apartment to drop stuff off and do other administrative tasks. We’ll take the el to my apartment. 10:00 a.m. Pastries at Alliance Bakery, near my apartment. We'll grab an Uber to the bus tour. 11:00 a.m. Untouchable Gangster bus tour 1:00 p.m. Lunch-- get something small at a fast food place in River North 2:00 p.m. Hamilton 5:00 p.m. Dinner 8:00 p.m. Train home

After our stop at P.'s apartment where I gave him a couple surprises (brownies and a hand-crafted hot-air balloon picture), we stopped at the bakery and ordered delicious croissants.  I had an almond one, and P. chose a more savory one with cheese and red peppers.

We modified the itinerary a bit as we went along.  Following the gangster bus tour, we shared an Italian sub at a Potbelly Sandwich Shop as we walked to the theater.

May 14, 2017

Following the fantastic production, P. suggested we walk towards the train station and find a place to eat.  That didn't quite work out as planned.  There wasn't much to choose from: just no restaurants or they were closed on Sunday.  He checked his phone several times, and when he found something, it turned out not to exist when we got to the address.  Alas, our supper was in the food court at Union Station: Kelly's Cajun Grill, which turned out to serve Chinese food.  We shared what looked to be the last of the food for the day, bourbon chicken.  

Hmmm--

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

As expected, we did a lot of walking.  My Fitbit can attest to that:

 

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Sister Talk

Here is a texting conversation that I had with my sisters yesterday morning:

N:  Milk is tasting a little blinky this morning.

M:  Grammie's milk always tasted blinky but we used it on our cereal anyway.

A:  Smell test first when milk could be iffy.

J:  But if you smell from top of half empty milk jug it always smells bad. Pour into a little cup first. I'm very cautious of Cloyce's milk. Always. For years.

M:  It's the ring around the top of the milk jug. After a few days smells yucky.

J:  That's what I'm talking about. I'm a pro.

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Personal Best

Since the end of January I've kept track of my daily walking using a Fitbit Zip, Christmas present from Patrick.  At the beginning I would take a picture of the Fitbit display on my phone when I got home from walking at the rec center.  More recently I've learned to save an image at the end of the day.  In the course of time, the Fitbit dashboard has changed how it displays.

Below are snapshots of the dashboard two months apart, February and April.  The February photo was taken after returning home from walking the track in the morning.  The 2nd photo is from yesterday taken just before bedtime.

April 22 was a personal best for me in 3 ways:
1.  I've never been over 12,000 steps in one day.  In fact, I'm not sure I've been over 11,000.
2.  I know I've never been over 5 miles in one day.  I suspect I've hit the 4 mile mark maybe only once or twice.
3.  My active minutes are typically around 65 minutes. 

So, what happened Saturday that sent my "records" soaring?  The Illinois Marathon was yesterday.  It is run throughout C-U.  Part of the race is less than 6 blocks from our house, and I walked down to observe what was happening.  That half hour out in the neighborhood is the extra factor.

Ignore the calories burned.  I don't know how that is calculated.  Heck, I register some calories burned when I look at the Fitbit first thing in the morning just from energy breathing throughout the night.   😊

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Today's My Birthday .....

..... and I spent the morning at the county courthouse.  Called up for jury duty.

We sat through an introductory video and explanations.  Then we all were dismissed for the day.  Approximately 45 minutes of instruction.  That's worth the $10/day payment.  I'll call tonight and see if I need to report in tomorrow.  

Then I went to Denny's and got my free birthday Grand Slam meal.  Afterwards, headed over to Meijer and looked through the half-price Easter candy.

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