The Emerald Rose

        Was surfing’ this morning and realized how long it has been since I wrote a blog. So let’s see, what’s going on;

       Still managing Condominium Associations and Home Owners Associations (web sites are www.destincondomanagement.com and www.destinhoamanagment.com, it’s a living. Been at it since 2004, but I move along.

       Going back to college this fall, too many credit hours not enough degrees, it isn’t going to help my “career path, but I LOVE to learn, so an American History Major with a European minor and a BA in 24 months and then thinking of an MA in History after that,…got to keep the mind working or sit and drool for the rest of my life.

       For a little mental technology challenge I’m converting all my computer systems, phones, tablets, etc.to Apple. Enough of the PC world.

       Still hitting the gym 5 days a week trying to fight off aging and stay in shape for another 50 years,…it seems to be working, and I also took up Transcendental Meditation to calm my mind and help it get in shape. It seems to work I’ve cut the Blood Pressure medications in half! 20 minutes a day, twice a day, 365 days a year.

      My wife’s health program consists of an hour a day in the swimming pool doing laps and aerobics “with the girls”, and then regaining enough sanity to deal with me for the remaining 23 hours.

     We are competing, I found a little device called a “Fitbit” , it’s about 1 1/2″ long and 1/2″ wide and only about 3/8″ thick, you clip it on your belt, (or in her case she prefers it clipped to her bra) and just get on with your day. It comes with a little “dongle” that plugs into your USB port and with one touch it synchronizes every day with your computer and updates your stats. It tracks total steps for the day, flights of stairs, total distance you have walked, number of calories you burned, and it will also track your weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) if you enter  it, OR you buy an Aria weight scale which transmits via wireless directly to your computer.  It computes how many calories you should be consuming and has lots of little badges you can “win”, like ten flights of stairs in a day, weekly weight loss of 5lbs. or more, total number of steps you take (my target is 70,000 steps a week.

     You know anal retentive, analytical me, now with my Polar Heart Monitor for exercising and building heart strength, my  little Fitibit gizmo, and a realization that there are more important things than working your butt off, and you most certainly are not going to take it with you, ….it becomes fun to compete with yourself! Check out the Fitbit, for $100 you can’t go wrong, and even now some of the numbers amaze me.

      (My wife is very competitive so just before we turn in for the night if she is close to her ten flights of stairs , (like 7 or so ), she goes up and down the stairs at the house until she hits her ten. (Homey don’t exercise after supper, lifting a nice glass of Australian Shiraz or an Italian Pinot Grigio is enough exercise for me after 7 pm!

      My granddaughter turns 21 this month, and I tell every one I must have been an overactive Kindergarten student to have a 21 year old granddaughter, Grand Father perks now include she can pick up the bar tab when I visit!

      Enough rambling for the first “re-blog” this year. Stay tuned for more.

     Sims; how does this RSS stuff work?

     On the health front still doing good after triple bypass four years ago, had a few stents put in the right leg last year to give me better blood flow when exercising