You may have seen this before, but it's both interesting and fun:

Have I mentioned that my walking partner, Laurie, has joined a group of folks here in town who are hoping to log 1000 miles this year? I think I can do it but I am not officially joining the group because I'm too competitive. I know this about myself and it can get out of hand. That said, I've begun paying more attention to my own actual miles walked. 

I work standing up (except when sewing). I walk a lot through the day but I'm sure I over-estimate how much I walk. So I bought a Fitbit One so that I can get an accurate count of how much I'm moving. The first One I bought turned out to be defective and it made me cranky until the company told me it was the unit, not me. The Fitbit people replaced it for free, with no hassle, and the new one is working very well.

This little device can keep track of a lot—miles and steps walked, floors climbed. There are web and phone dashboards where you can enter other activities like pilates and weight-lifting, food/calories consumed. There's a scale that links to the device but I'm just logging my daily weight manually.

I don't need to lose weight so why am I doing this? Because I'm competitive, that's why. I've decided to compete with myself. It's nice to have that 1000 mile goal, but mostly I want to collect the data on what I really do, not just what I think I do. I have osteoporosis and I really need to do more. It's early yet, but so far I'm finding that I am looking for places to add a few more steps, to take more stairs.

Boy—I would really love to walk up the musical stairs!

I love this video. Not because of the skill involved, although this young girl is doing something I would never in my life have attempted. I love it because I know the feeling. We all do. Doing something for the first time can be very scary.

How do we make ourselves do scary things? We summon our courage, that's how. It's so good to know that we can all be courageous.

I think that what Ms. Aamodt says in this TED talk about dieting and weight rings true. What it means is that we should all focus more on healthy eating and not worry so much about how much we weigh. I know I've heard that before and so, probably, have you. But she speaks eloquently about weight, in a way that ought to make us all less critical of ourselves and others.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, I guarantee that it will do things that you don't know about. I found this Buzzfeed list by way of another quilter's facebook post (thanks to Frieda!) and I learned a few things. The real trick will be remembering them.

It's good to know how to save a google map so that you can access it even if your device can't connect to the internet (#3) but the trick for deleting a wrong number in the calculator is something I'm more likely to find useful:

I didn't know that you can add a folder to the icon bar or the domain name trick in #17. It's nice to learn new things!

I have a tumblr blog, although I don't post to it often. It's one of those things I'm going to do more often "once I finish this book." (There are so many things that are on the list for then. Sigh.)

Anyway, I do subscribe to a few tumblr blogs and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of them. They post some fun photos. This one of crown jellyfish caught my attention because they are the Pantone color of the year. Woo hoo! Do you you think they know?

Did you know that goats are a thing on the internet? The things I learn from the kids…

The first video is longer, with extra goats. The best part is just after 1 minute.

Here is the same video, but only the funny bit. The quality is less good, but you don't have to wait for the grins.