Thoughts from the road

We're on the road for a few days and random thoughts appear:

Really? Talking on your phone while on the treadmill? And not being out of breath while running? That's disgusting to those of us who are walking and not able to do the same.

And why are the gym hours posted as 6 AM to 10 PM and it's 5:45 and the two of the three treadmills are already in use? Guess we just post hours because... can't think why.

We're on the fourth set of electronic keys to our room. Four. Count them. Have to have them in the elevator too. Keep getting red and yellow lights on the door, not a green one. Engineering is so not in love with us.

Trusted Google/iPad to get us somewhere and we missed the road (not its fault) but then it had us at the wrong Grand Avenue... Never trust. I know better. Got it straightened out with a phone call. Nice lady at the museum had heard it all before.

To top it off, I got distracted and forgot to pack any earrings and necklaces and have been without for three days now. Shopping. I have got to go shopping. I mean, how distracted can you get to not pack jewelry? Well, I know the answer to that now.

Having a grand time.

Wish you were here,
Kay

The stop watch

Or, curmudgeon strikes again.

I have a treadmill, a lightweight thing which takes up as little space as it can while still being functional. It's over a year old and so has started misbehaving. (There may not be an app for that, but there's bound to be a time-limit on a chip.) Its misbehavior centers on not showing me how far I've treaded once we get into the 1.5 miles range. Nor will it easily let me see my time. It's stuck on some number at the bottom which I think is supposed to be my heartbeat except I'm not even touching the monitor. Too many gizmos on this lightweight machine.

But that's not the problem. I thought if I bought a stop watch and affixed it with Velcro to the machine, then I could estimate when to speed up (from 4.0 to 4.7 mph over the course of exercise) and be done with it. I would win; the treadmill would not.

Well, the treadmill may not be winning, but the stop watch has a good chance.

All I wanted was a stop watch. That's all it had to do: zero out, click on, give me a readout in minutes and seconds, click off, zero out. Simple really.

Or not. I took myself to Walmart where I found two, one in the watch department, one in the sports. They were both $10. The sports department one seemed to be a simpler operation and therefore more suitable until I took it up to the watch department and found that the latter's choice had a back light button.

My exercise room is dark except for the light from the TV and the stubborn treadmill display. I needed the backlight, which determined my choice.

The instructions never said a word--not one--about how to use the stop watch. Instead it was all about pushing button S3 so many times to bring up the date and button S2 to set it. And it didn't work. Those were not the instructions for the stop watch I had bought! Plus, I didn't want the date! Or the day of the week, or the time. I wanted a stop watch!

Then, through a miracle (or just pushing enough buttons before I took the thing back and held out for a sports equipment store), I managed to push the right combination and there appeared--zeroes! A stop watch at last. I pushed it on, watched the numbers whiz by. Off. Reset. Did it again. Gingerly affixed it to the treadmill and left it in that mode. I don't think I would ever find it again and woe be to the person who pushes S3 unawares.