3/6/2010 A New Pedometer

Slept in a bit today, packed up, and headed home, but with a stop at REI in Seattle first for a new pedometer. Found one there exactly like the one I just lost. I am hoping my computer won't know the difference. I didn't get home today until close to 3:00 PM, and after having a bite to eat, I fell asleep for a little nap, a rare occasion for me. When I woke up, it was almost 5 and I decided to head out for a walk. It was a beautiful day, and I'm sorry I missed most of it. I drove up to the port trails, and oh, it was nice to be home. I was hit first with the crisp, fresh air. I didn't realize how I much I had missed the fresh air all the week in Seattle, especially being indoors most of the days. And then, since it was getting late in the evening, I was treated to a symphony from the birds, including crows and hawks, and the ducks and frogs. It was a great evening for a walk. Heading through the woods, I could smell the spring dampness and the moss, and as I walked along some of the grassy areas, that sweet smell of new grass. I sort of feel bad for city dwellers who miss these smells and sounds on a daily basis, let alone the sights. How lucky am I to live in such a great place.  2.5 miles today, at a bit of a slower pace, but I was busy drinking in the sounds and smells. My route is here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/636453

3/5/2010 The Lost Pedometer!

The conference wrapped up today with a disaster--I lost my pedometer.  Gone! I also lost my debit card, but that was nothing compared to losing my pedometer. In the end, I found my debit card, but the pedometer is gone forever, I fear. I looked everywhere for it. It's a special pedometer. It's an Omron that measures your steps both horizontally or vertically; thus, you can have it on your hip, in a pocket, or even in your purse, and it will count your steps. It also counts aerobic activity (steps and time), calories burned, mileage, and it connects to my computer and uploads to both a program it comes with as well as Microsoft's HealthVault, which ties into my health records. It's an awesome pedometer, and I highly recommend it. Someone has mine now, I'm sure. Not really sure how far I walked, but based on the last two days, and the fact that we were packing up this afternoon, too, I am going to say well over 5 miles. Plus I retraced my steps at least 5 times looking for my pedometer. Oh, well. REI tomorrow for a new one!

The conference was a great success, with over 2300 in attendance. It was a very busy week, as one can tell by my lack of bog posts, but we feed off the energy of the attendees, and there was plenty of that!  We celebrated the conference this evening with a nice dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

3/4/2010 Conference Day 3

Today was another busy day of walking and walking--but all inside again at the conference until later in the evening. I clocked 4.8 miles on my pedometer, which surprised me a bit since I thought I had walked at least as much as the day before, and I walked again from the Hyatt to the Crowne Plaza as well, an additional .48 miles.  It was a great day, with the conference in full swing, concurrent sessions and workshops all day and into the evening.  It has been fun seeing people here who are following my blog--they all check with me to see how far I have walked each day.  Tonight we had a reception at the Seattle Aquarium, and there was a beautiful sunset just as we arrived.

I snagged this picture just as we were heading into the aquarium. We were treated to a welcome by Philippe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau. How cool to be in an aquarium and have a Cousteau right there beside you talking about the fish. He was the opening keynote this morning for the conference and showed some great video clips from his work, work with Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter," and also clips from his grandfather's show, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. It was a great keynote, and he was able to span all generations with his message.

3/3/2010 NCCE Conference

I have really gotten behind with this blog, having put in 15 hour days this last week. Pretty much all I wanted to do when I got back to my hotel room was hit the bed.  Today I didn't ever go outside between 7:15 AM and 8:15 AM, when we finally left the Convention Center.  It was the first full day of NCCE and we had two all day seminars going in addition to workshops in two hallways all day today.  My pedometer said 5.12 miles by the end of the evening, and that was all clocked on two floors of the convention center--6th floor and 4th floor. Whew! No dinner until nearly 9:00 PM, and then back to the hotel room for bed. Maybe now you can understand why I got behind in my blog. My knee held up great, but my feet are very tired tonight. Glad I wore my tennis shoes today.

3/2/2010 The Convention Center

Today was the first day of the NCCE conference, so I was pretty much inside for the whole day. I clocked 3.87 miles on my pedometer.  I did take a several walk block in the evening, from the Convention Center up to the Crowne Plaza and then down towards the waterfront a couple of blocks and back up to the Convention Center, so I got in a bit of aerobic walking as well. As I was heading towards Nike Town, about 6:00 PM or so, all of a sudden the doors opened and out poured a lot of people, who all took off running down the street. Since they were all dressed in running gear, I guess they must have some sort of running club that meets there. I think that is a great thing for them to do. I might have to stop by there tomorrow and find out if that's what I saw.  We had a beautiful sunset tonight and a very mild evening, but by the time we were done having dinner, it had started raining.
Two years ago when we were here for the conference, my knee killed me. Now...no problem walking anywhere. In fact, it feels better to walk than to sit. We'll see how that holds up come Friday night!

3/1/2010 What a Week It Will Be

Today starts the Northwest Council for Computer Education annual conference in Seattle. I drove down this afternoon, and by bedtime had clocked 2.55 miles on my pedometer.  (My pedometer is a main piece of my attire every day now.)  That 2.55 miles was just a starter for how the week will go, I'm sure. It will be interesting to see how many miles I end up walking by Saturday morning when I head for home.  Workshops are on the 6th floor; registration and exhibits and keynotes on the 4th floor, and offices on the 5th floor. A lot of walking just between those areas. No pictures today, but I'll make sure I have my camera with me tomorrow. Maybe I'll even be able to sneak out for a "real" walk around Freeway Park or an urban walk downtown. The problem with walking downtown is the traffic lights...sometimes you have to stop and wait for the light to change...kind of a bummer. I'll really try to get away, though, because it will feel good to get out of the convention center every once in a while during the week and go for a walk away from everything, and there are lots of parks around here. I would really like to walk the waterfront trail.

2/28/2010 A Record Setting Day

No. I'm not talking about the Olympics and all the medals the US won. I took my longest walk so far today, 4.35 miles. I did the entire Padilla Bay Dike trail, out and back.  I decided I hadn't gone to the Padilla Bay trail for a while, and it is by far the most scenic trail. I really didn't intend on walking so far, but it was such a beautiful afternoon. I headed out after the US-Canada Hockey Gold Medal game, and once I started walking, I just kept going.  My knees and legs held up great. I did get a bit hungry, and my hands got cold once the sun went down, but all in all, it went quite well.

There were so many people out today that it was difficult finding a parking spot. People were running the trail, walking, pushing strollers, and bicycling. And the animals were everywhere today. I saw two bald eagles sitting in a tree; two river otters scurrying into a hole in the rocks; heron; a rabbit; and of course numerous ducks of all sorts. 

The two eagles sat up high where they had a good view for fish, ducks, or other food sources. One of them was still there at the end of my walk. The river otters were a surprise. They were playing on a little point of land that juts out where there is a bench. A man was sitting on the bench, totally unaware that beneath him there little playful animals were having fun.  The sun had nearly set by the time I was done today. As I was taking this picture, a lady ran past and commented on the beautiful evening. Indeed it was.

My mind wanders a lot while I walk--today I wondered what it would be like to walk across the state or even the country. At my rate it would take me 15 days just to get to Spokane. One of my favorite books was A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, published way back in 1979. I think I need to reread it. I looked for it tonight, but can't find it. Must have given it away--as I do quite often with books I really enjoy.

I have now completed two months of walking and totaled 130 miles so far! This coming week will be a challenge; I will be at the NCCE conference all week. I doubt I'll have any maps, will mostly track my walking through my pedometer. last time I did that, a couple of years ago, there were days when our steps were in the 20,000 range. We'll see. You can see my route today here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/631605