I’d noted previously that the Pulse had dissed me on elevation.

Well, today I got further proof that the Pulse is screwing me on elevation.

Michelle’s Fitbit:

Michelle’s Pulse:

Michael’s Pulse:

At noon, I climbed stairs during my lunch walk. At ~5PM, Michael walked home from work, which is mostly uphill.

At ~7 we walked home from dinner, which is also mostly uphill (Essentially, we live at the top of a hill, so it’s always uphill). The FitBit shows that as the greatest elevation of the day. The Pulse seems to give me almost no elevation, but Michael’s Pulse gave him credit for walking up University.

Needless to say, this irks me.

More on pedometers! Yay! (The first post is here.)

Because I am a TREMENDOUS dork who loves data, the ability to view my data over time is very important to me.

It’s also what drove me away from the FitBit universe–the inability to view, manipulate, and download my own data in any useful manner.

FitBit Dashboard (web)

FitBit Dashboard (Android)

I’ll admit I haven’t tried in almost a year, but I was never able to get my step data downloaded from the FitBit website in any useful manner.

Withings Dashboard (web)

Withings Dashboard (Android)

Sadly, I got no useful downloaded data from the Withings website. Boo!

Omron Dashboard (web)

The Omron site gives me my data in a pdf. It’s not a cvs file I can dump straight into Excel, but it’s something I can put into Excel with relative ease.

I’ll be curious as to whether they come out with a phone app. I’m betting someone will.

Omron Health Management Software (PC install)

In addition to the many views here, I’ve been able to export the data into a cvs file that I can open in Excel. This gives me EVERYTHING. It’s pretty awesome.

But of course, if you have a web presence, then you can set up partnerships with other companies and web apps. Some of these can be incredibly useful, such as a partnership between your activity monitor and an app that lets you track what you’ve been eating. Combining the two tells you how many calories you’re burning through movement, and lets you know how many calories you can eat that day for your goal (maintain weight, lose weight, gain weight).

I really like MyFitnessPal, even though I haven’t used it for months. It is very good at making you aware how many calories are in what you’re eating, and you can also track salt and other things you might be watching for health reasons. In fact, MyFitnessPal was what convinced Michael that Fettuccine Alfredo was not the best choice at an Italian restaurant. (Oh look! You’re going to eat all your calories for the day! Too bad you already ate breakfast and lunch!) Although I don’t have high blood pressure, I found seeing the sodium content of many foods to be shocking.

And the ability to scan the bar codes of foods is extremely useful. And if you cook from scratch, you can create recipes and calculate from there, though I found it more useful to use MasterCook for the calorie calculations.

I’ve tried lots of other different apps, most of which–for a variety of reasons–didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. FREX, I prefer to walk indoors, so RunKeeper didn’t work for me at all, since it relies upon your phones GPS.

FitBit and Withings are partnered with lots of sites and apps. Omron almost none, although when I got the Withings Pulse, there weren’t that many apps that used the Pulse data (in fact, most of the connections are more for their blood pressure monitors and scales).

Here are a few of the more popular apps for each tracker:

FitBit
Lose It
MyFitnessPal
SparkProple
DigiFit
MS Health Vault
MapMyRun
Earndit

Withings
RunKepper
MyFitnessPal
BodyMedia
FitBit
LoseIt
HealthVault

Omron
Runkeeper
EarndIt

So, last year I bought I got a Withings Pulse and was very optimistic / hopeful about how it would work out. It was a new product, the website was still being built, and there were regular software updates to the device.

Unfortunately, the Pulse has failed to live up to my expectations.

1. The pulse rate measurement portion of the device stopped working several months ago. I didn’t use it frequently, but it was annoying that it completely stopped working.

2. The website never developed a way for me to download my data. As that was what made me want to stop using the FitBit, that was a huge problem for me.

3. You cannot edit your data. This means that if you forget to turn off the sleep timer, it says you slept for 12 or 18 or whatever hours. I have obsessive compulsive disorder, so this bothered me IMMENSELY. Immensely, as in, I stopped using the sleep timer completely, because I couldn’t bear to see the incorrect sleep times.

4. Although you are supposed to be able to compare data with other Pulse users, Michael and I haven’t yet gotten that feature to work. So I’m collecting data in a void. Which would be okay if the data was accessible to me to download. But it’s not.

5. The altimeter is off. Michael and I spent a day doing the exact same things, and his altimeter recorded twice the height mine did, when, if anything I should have had a few more flights of stairs than he did. Plus, it gives the distance in feet, instead of flights of stairs. I can grok flights of stairs, but a change in elevation measured in feet means next to nothing to me.

So, I need another pedometer.

After a lot of research, I purchased two: The Omron HJ-32 and the Ozeri 4×3 Sport Digital Pocket 3D Pedometer.

The Ozeri was immediately sent back. First, there was no way to download the data, but more importantly, it did NOT (as stated in the description) count flights of stairs climbed. If I can’t download the data, then I’d have to type it all into a spread sheet, and… just… no. Which is too bad, because it was a nice pedometer.

So now, I’m carrying around four pedometers:
1. My original Omron HJ-720
2. The Withings Pulse
3. My old Fitbit Ultra
4. The Omron HJ-32

These are four very different Pedometers, with four different ways of moving the data from the Pedometer to a computer.

1. The Omron HJ-720 is a dual axis pedometer. This means that it measures most accurately in an upright position (such as sitting in a belt clip). It does not have an altimeter, so it only measures steps, not stairs. Data transfer is done by plugging the pedometer into a mini USB cable, you then open the Omron program on your computer, and tell the Omron Health Management Software to grab all the data from the pedometer.

2. The Withings Pulse uses a 3D motion sensor and has an altimeter, and can be placed anywhere on your body in any direction, and measures steps and altitude. The Pulse uses bluetooth to transmit data from the pedometer to your cell phone, and then your cell phone transfers that data to the Withings website. Which means that you must have a cell phone with a bluetooth connection, and you have to leave your bluetooth on all the time if you want it to sync automatically. I had problems with the pedometer automatically syncing data with the website.

3. The Fitbit Ultra has a 3D motion sensor and an altimeter, so it can be placed anywhere on your body in any direction and measures steps and stairs. The device transmits the data wirelessly to the base station plugged into your computer and from there to the FitBit website. The data is never actually on your computer, it just passes through your computer to the FitBit website. Unless you have multiple base stations, the data is transmitted only when you are near your computer.

4. The Omron HJ-32 (I love Omron, but they do NOT have catchy pedometer names) is a tri-axis pedometer, which means it can be placed anywhere on your body in any direction, but does not have an altimeter, so it only measures steps, not stairs or altitude. It is essentially a USB stick with an attached pedometer. You pull off the cap, plug it into your computer on which you have installed the software, and your data is pulled from the pedometer and put on the Omron website. From the website you can then download you data.

All four pedometers come with belt clips, but I have them stuck in my pocket (because I generally don’t wear a belt).

The FitBit has the easiest data transfer–it happens without you having to do anything.

The Omron is best for giving you your data, in a format you can manipulate as you please.

The FitBit is best if you want to compete and compare with friends and family. There are tons of people using the FitBit. (I don’t know anyone else using an Omron.)

The Omron (at least the HJ-720–we’ll see about the HJ-32) is the sturdiest pedometer I’ve ever seen. I bought mine in 2009 and it still works. I’ve put it through the washer at least twice, dropped it countless times, and it still works perfectly. The FitBit Ultra had problems charging and with the outside case cracking. Not all the features of the Withings still work, although the pedometer still functions as it did when I first bought it. I am pretty sure that neither the FitBit nor the Pulse would survive a trip through the washer.

Pedometers with data display:

Pedometers compared to a tube of lip balm:

Pedometers stacked atop my Galaxy S4 (in an Otterbox case):

Pedometers with charging cables or data transfer cables:

Never fear, I’ll have data comparisons coming up next soon.

The weather was lovely, so we out our bikes for the first time this year, went to Coopers Rock and biked to the overlook.

It was gorgeous, and probably one of the few times I’ve been to Coopers Rock that we had the overlook to ourselves for any length of time.

It was so strange to look down and be able to actually see the ground.

For those who have never been to Coopers Rock, that isn’t a boardwark, it’s a bridge, and those are not shrubs, but the tops of trees,

The lowest path is the railroad. The other paths we’re thinking are old trails (Michael suggested logging trails, but I think perhaps those would have been overgrown by now).

The melted snow was coming off the roof in silvery streams.

I love trees in full leaf, but I find the shapes of trees without their leaves to be utterly fascinating. Mind you, I’m the last person who should be walking up staring at the skies instead of where she is walking, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

I haven’t actually fallen off the earth, I’ve just been spending my evenings reading, rather than on my computer, so, I haven’t been posting at all.

Sorry about that.

I’ve also been busy with my new job, but in a good–dare I say, delightful?–way. It’s been lovely to enjoy going to work, to feel appreciated at my job, and to come home and not have to spend my evening wondering how I’ll find the strength to go back the next day.

As I said, it’s been lovely.

Another cause for joy is that my depression has been well-controlled, my anxiety has hardly bothered me, and even my OCD has been quieter than usual. (Of the three, my OCD never goes completely away, but when I’m anxious and/or depressed, it gets really bad. But right now, I’m beginning to remember what it feels like to be an almost normal person. It’s a strange feeling, and I’m not taking it for granted, but it’s been a tremendous relief.

I’ve also been baking, for the pleasure of it, rather than as stress relief, which is also fun, but less good for my waistline. But life is short, and I’ll take pleasure and enjoyment where I find them, and be glad that I also take enjoyment in walking and hiking and other exercise type things.

However, it’s caused posting to be light, because instead of coming home and compulsively getting on the computer, searching for escape from my day, I’m instead spending the evenings, curled up on the sofa with His Furriness, reading, because it makes me happy to do so.

But now that spring is attempting to make an appearance, I’ll probably be posting more frequently, most likely pictures, but perhaps other things.

No! Really! A REAL LIVE PERSON! I have PROOF!

Note: That is not my house. My house is small, but it isn’t THAT small.

And now we have the books of February. Despite being a short month, I still read 16 books for the month. But I fully admit, that was primarily re-reads for me–12 of the 16 were books I’d read before.

Supernatural Fantasy

Trickster
Trick of the Light  (2009) Rob Thurman (9/10)

The Rivers of London
Broken Homes  (2014) Ben Aaronovitch (8.5/10)

In-Cryptids
Midnight Blue-Light Special  (2013) Seanan McGuire (6.5/10)

Occult Crimes Unit
Known Devil  (2014) Justin Gustainis (8/10)

Kate Daniels
Kate Daniels World Short Stories  and novellas, by Ilona Andrews
Magic Bites  (2008) Ilona Andrews (8/10)
Magic Burns  (2008) Ilona Andrews (8/10)
Magic Strikes  (2009) Ilona Andrews (8.5/10)
Magic Bleeds  (2010) Ilona Andrews (7/10)
Magic Slays (2011) Ilona Andrews (9/10)
Gunmetal Magic  (2012) Ilona Andrews  (8.5/10)

Romantic Fantasy

Camelot
In Camelot’s Shadow  (2004) Sarah Zettel (8.5/10)

Mystery

The Investigation  (1959/1974) Stanislaw Lem translated by Adele Milch (NR)

Inspector Montalbano
The Dance of the Seagull (2009/2013) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (8/10)
The Age of Doubt  (2008/2012) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (5/10)
The Potter’s Field  (2008/2011) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (9/10)

So that’s 11 fantasy, 10 mystery, and 5 romance. And yes, that adds up to more than 16. Because few books are just one category.

I’m still reading primarily eBooks if I at all can. 9 eBooks, 4 trade paperbacks, and 3 mass market paperback. And I’d like to point out that 6 of those re-reads I have in multiple formats. I really have come to prefer eBooks that much over paper books.

Gender-wise, I read six male authors, three female authors, and 7 books co-written by a male and a female. My totals are still weighted a bit heavily towards males so far this year, but that’s mostly due to my binge re-reading of Inspector Montalbano.

I’d also like to note that these books had some of my favorite covers, as well as some I really hate.

Rob Thurman always gets good covers, and her Trick of the Light kept that trend.

And although I hate most of the original Kate Daniels covers, the reissue of Magic Bites is about perfect. As is the cover of Gunmetal Magic.

The cover for In Camelot’s Shadow may be one of my favorite covers ever. I bought the book solely because I fell in love with the cover, and after reading, decided that maybe romance wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was.