FAQs

Since today's onslaught of students in our office ("do you have any more of those planner thingys") brought with it a maelstorm of questions, I thought I would take a few lines to address the most frequently asked of those:

Q: A treadmill desk in your office!  Really? In your office?

A: Yep, really, in my office.

Q: Does your boss know you have this in here?

A: Yep, my boss knows, and her boss knows, and his boss knows.  So short of a trustee dropping in and voicing a loud objection - I think I am good to go.  

Q: Do you walk on that all day long?
A: I walk on it when I can. Today I did 4.44 miles and 3 hours worth of office work aboard the tread.  Tomorrow I am packed with meeting after meeting -- so will probably only get in an hour.

Q: Don't you ever just want to sit down?
A: Not really. I actually feel very energized, productive, and focused -- whatever antsy-fidgety-doodle in the margin-link clicking part of me that often emerges when I sit, seems to have to just go along for the ride when I am walking.  Today I had to sign 300+ letters and while I could probably have signed them atop the desk, it was more practical to do it at the table.

Q: How fast do you walk?
A: 1.4 mph @ a 5% incline

Q: What kind of shoes do you wear?
A: Pretty much whatever I wear to work.  Yesterday 2" high clogs, today flats.  When I work at my home treadmill desk, I wear my treadmill tennis shoes (I bought them as a getting started present to myself last September).

Q: Don't you get dizzy?
A: Not anymore.  I did after the first day, but since then I am not bothered by the movement  plus reading or typing or writing.  As a person who still gets carsick as a adult, this is a monumental feat.

Q: Doesn't your office stink?
A: I don't think so.  Of course it is winter, so the office is a bit chilly.  Come spring and summer I might have to dial down the mph and incline to make it all work.

Q: Can I use your treadmill desk?
A: Absolutely.  However, you might have to fight off C or P who have dibs on the lunch hour.  I am always gone for an hour @ 9am so if you want to give it a go -- come on over.  If you want to use a laptop, bring one along -- I am wired for all.  (aside: When B helped me bring it into the building (under duress I might add), he suggested that I put it in the break room (does my building have a one of those?) so that everyone could use it.  He's missing the point on its purpose.)

Hope this clears up any unanswered questions.  Please stop by if you can, and as GBC regularly said to folks he encountered in his day "have an effective day."

Oh happy day...

So today was my first day on my treadmill desk, in my new position, in my new office, with new co-workers in a new building and all went well. I was able to cover 2.35 miles today (which was just short of half my milesage for all of last week), so I am so happy to be back on the tread so to speak. I am also happy to report that based on a quick survey of office mates, office neighbors, and the colleague directly below me -- no one seemed bothered by either the novelty of having a treadmill desk in one's office nor the noise that such a desk might produce. It seems quite hysterical to me that for the first time since starting this blog I am sitting in a chair to type in my entry, rather than walking on the tread. But the tread calls and lucky for me, I have two of them. So while the kids and B take in KungFu Panda courtesy of NetFlix, I am going to head upstairs to the home office to feed my brain some brain candy as I delve into my new read: The Middle Place.

Kicking off Monday in foggy style

As I do a quick warm up on the tread desk, I thought I would update my progress report (see right column) and my map.  I am so close to Rimmy Jims, which marks my original goals.  Clearly, with 50+ days to go until my sabbatical is over I will easily surpass the 390 mile mark.  In fact, I will do it this morning when I once again hit the asphalt with friend K for a walkabout town and a cup of joe.  It is a crazy foggy morning, but I find myself filled with satisfaction, happiness, and a huge sense of accomplishment.  We decorated the house yesterday to prepare for a month-long celebration of the Christmas season.  I feel that I have arrived at a point where the daily ins and outs of life are no longer stressful, but welcomed - where the future is filled with potential and the days with good memories.  Happy walking everyone!

5500 calories !?!???!

After reading that the average American eats approximately 5500 calories on Thanksgiving day, and after preparing the caramelized onion + apple + bread stuffing , garlic mashed , and sweet potatoes casserole, and after starting my father-in-law's Christmas present on ArtsCow, I jumped up on the treadmill desk to get some personal work done while watching the end of the Macy's T-Day parade and the beginning of the Purina National Dog Show.  As I write this blog I am reminded of how thankful I am for the many blessing in my life: my faith, my loving family, my good friends, a good job, improving health and fitness, a warm house, and many unique gifts and talents.  I hope as you surf the web today you have time to reflect on the many blessings in your life (no matter how few or how many) and that you take an opportunity to reassess the things you can do in the coming year to provide blessings for others.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Forty-nine days of fun fitness

This morning, I greeting the beginning of week eight by frantically finding a pair of jeans and a warm sweatshirt so that I would be ready to go walking with a friend right after sending the kids to the bus.  It was fun to feel the change in myself physically and emotionally as we traipsed along our 5.44 mile course (stopping midway for Starbucks).  We carried on a great conversation while keeping up a good clip.  I'm not sure if I would have been able to walk as fast or as far while talking as we did today.  This experience, coupled with my continued progress in several important health variables has strengthened by resolve to walk straight through the winter doldrums and avoid (probably for the first time in the last many years) adding on any "hibernation" weight.  I have updated my blog template, my Route Tracker map, and my health variables.  By Thursday I hope to have walked across the 1,000,000 step threshold.  My unswerving enthusiasm and motivations have inspired me to challenge my other soon-to-be-40 friends to join me in a year-long birthday celebration to good health.