We’ve ordered a bunch of new toys recently, for a variety reasons.

First up, we got pedometers. I chose the Omron HJ-112 Digital Premium Pedometer, because not only do they count steps, but they also calculate the number of miles you walked and the number of calories you burn. It also can calculate aerobic steps versus regular steps. Right now I have 10962 steps, which it calculates as 5.19 miles, but this is actually low, since my stride when I walk for exercise is slower than my casual stride. But since I know I walk approximately a 15 minute mile, I can just calculate that separately. It also tells me I’ve burned 361 kcals, but that just seems depressing.

AMENDUM the First:
One problem with it. To keep it from counting moving around, it doesn’t start counting until you’ve been walking for four seconds. This means that few of the steps I took today while teaching counted, since most of them were walking back and forth between the computer and the screen. So on my feet for two hours, but only a couple hundred steps.

But I can live with that.

I also ordered two Energy Saving Smart Strips With Autoswitching Technology. What the heck does that mean? It means that we can plug the computer into the control plug, the plug all the peripherals into other plugs, and when we turn off the computer, the other plugs for the monitor, scanner, etc have their power cut, so they don’t use energy. We’re thinking about getting one for the TV, but are not sure if that’ll cause problems for my grandmother. (i.e. will remotes etc work?)

And although it hasn’t arrived yet, I have great hopes for the Bio-Brite SunRise Digital Alarm Clock Dawn / Dusk Simulator Clock with White Noise. I believe I complained to great extent last much about how much I hate daylight savings time. The biggest problem for me is that I have great difficulty getting up when it’s dark. It just seems terribly wrong somehow. (I also don’t sleep well when it’s light, which is why the bedroom window facing the road has a blackout shade.) My hope is that this will allow me to get up earlier in the morning. Not just because relaxing mornings are nice, but because the morning is the best time for me to write, so I have written nothing on my novel/story/whatever since Christmas. We’ll see what happens, but keep your fingers crossed for me.