I’ve had a Fitbit for awhile (it was supposed to be a gift for someone else, but they already had one) but finally started wearing it this week. I thought it wouldn’t be much use to me since I exercise regularly already. As they say in Congress, ‘I would like permission to revise and extend my remarks.’ A Fitbit generates data and if you are one of the few humans that read my blog regularly, you know I LOVE data. I have a pretty sedentary job most of the time, but I had no idea how much I… err.. sat on my ass. The data has done a fantastic job of getting me up and moving while the diet portion of the app clues me in to just how much I consume in a day. It doesn’t hurt that I’m now in competition with my workmates.
I managed to get two of my four daughters to play sports. My youngest is a go-getter. The other, one of the twins, is in it for the social aspects. It can be quite frustrating at times to watch. Strangely enough, what frustrates me isn’t seeing what they are doing wrong or could do better on the field, it’s that I made the same kinds of mistakes when I was there age and know much better now that I can’t do anything about them.
Summer vacation starts this week for my crew. I’m already saying what my father said as I’m sure his father said before him. They have no idea how good they have it, when I was their age, I worked my ass off all summer.
Here’s a strange fact – I know how to play bridge. I’m not that good at it, but I know the basics and can play a few hands. My mother, who died when I was thirteen, loved to play bridge and often had impromptu games in addition to her regular bridge group. When a wave a nausea hit (she had cancer), I was often called upon to sit in and play. I looked into the possibility of joining a bridge club, but there’s one problem – they’re all during the day at senior centers. It seems that no one less than sixty-five years of age plays anymore. It’s been almost a year-and-a-half since I’ve played. I’m actually kind of sad about that.
Speaking of cards, it’s a dying pastime. I played all kinds of cards when I was young – it’s what we did during the summer instead of work. We played Gin, Rummy, Hearts, all manners of Solitaire, and a game called Hi-Lo. When I wasn’t playing poker during college, I was playing euchre. That’s mostly gone now that the internet is here. My girls will play a game called Nerts, but it’s more of a game of reflex than one of skill. I tried to teach them euchre at one point, but there just wasn’t any interest.
