Monday, October 28, 2013

I am going to go insane.

This latest knee problem is making it impossible to run and do anything physical. Even taking stairs hurts.

Not being able to be active is driving me insane.

That's the thing about getting in an active groove, you get addicted.

And now I'm losing my mind not being able to be active.

I miss yoga. And running.

AND EVERYTHING!

ugh.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Fitness!

Hello, friends!

A group that I'm a part of on Facebook that posted and asked what we do at home for fitness. Then I shared SO much, I thought, "Wow! I should make this into a blogpost!"

So I did, with some reformatting for the site!

Free things I do for fitness:

1. I run with a friend in the park.

2. We take our dog to the dog park.

3. I also do 25 of the following all in a row. Some of these I don't know the name so I make it up. Holla in the comments if you want me to clarify.

  • sit ups
  • crunches
  • reverse crunches
  • elbow to knee crunches (both sides)
  • side crunches-both sides
  • lay on your back with your feet in the air
    • do straight up toe touches
    • cross your feet do cross toe touches
    • switch your feet and do more toe touches
    • push ups.

There are also a couple apps I recommend a couple apps (I have an Android) that are good:

Running:
1. C25K - This app is really good for getting you started. It pushes you just enough that you're like, whaaaaat? I can't do that, but then you do it, and you're like, yaaaaay! The link is to the free version, but I think the pro version is worth it.

2. Zombie 5K Training - Just a twist to the normal 5K running app. Fun! There was a cost to the app, but I can't remember, I got it on sale after the new year...

3. Runner Academy - It's a podcast for runners of all types, and it's really inspiring. There's also a metronome to help you stay on your cadence. Full disclosure: the host is a friend of mine.

4. RunKeeper - This can be used for other exercise tracking as well, but obviously, by the name, their main focus is running. It pairs well with the Polar Heart Rate Monitors. One of the best investments I made was the HR monitor.

5. Polar Wear Link Bluetooth Transmitter Set (Medium/XX-Large)
Targeted Fitness Apps:
1. Daily Workouts (free) - these are all targeted to specific parts of the body. It's timed and they fit in tight schedules pretty well.

Abs
Arms
Butt
Cardio
Legs


2. Pocket Yoga - three different length workouts for three different settings (dessert, beach and mountain)

3. Headspace - it's a meditation app that I use. It's really a great way to help focus yourself. I recommend doing it sitting up though... I have a tendency to fall asleep.

Tracking/Rewards

1. MyFitnessPal - I've used several different free tracking apps, but this one is my favorite that is free. What they offer is fabulous for the fact that it is FREE.

2. EveryMove - this app is GREAT. You enter your activity and earn points toward rewards. Right now I am earning points toward a donation to Make-A-Wish. You can also earn toward jewelry, fitness equipment, gym memberships and other gift cards. It's pretty amazing!

Well, that's what I got, I hope it helps you out!

---*UPDATE*---

I can't believe that I forgot the #1 thing that I always have with me, no matter what I am doing, fitness or otherwise! My RoadID.

Sometimes bad things happen. And if or when they do, you are going to want to have ID on you, but it's not always easy to carry carded identification. RoadID fixes that problem for you. From their website:


As you can see, it's something personal for the company, and I fully believe in their mission and the ideals that they uphold. If I lived in Kentucky, I would totally apply to work for them. I just ordered a slim band to replace my sport, with some sweet badges to go along with it. I'll post a picture when it arrives this week!

This is not a sponsored post.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Awesome Sauce Tinkering

The things you discover when you noodle!

I have two gmail accounts and I have recently been using the second one a little bit more, such that, I have need to actually monitor it a little closer. For silly reasons, like people generally finding it rude if you ignore their emails and fail to respond for a month. (Shocking, I know!)

Although Google does have an "add an account" capability, that allows you to run two Google accounts in the same browser, there are some hiccups when it comes to using other Google services. I don't use the other services very often on this secondary email, so I wanted another solution that would do what I really want Google to do. What I want Google to do, is for a user to be able to use the multiple inbox feature to have multiple gmail inboxes in one screen, not just divide your inbox by labels, filters or what have you.

So. My solution.

First, I went into the settings[1] of the second email (example@gmail.com) and set up mail forwarding to the first email[2] (me@gmail.com). I also set up the forward to automatically mark forwarded email as read[3].


After following the steps to verify that I own both accounts, I set up a filter in me@gmail.com with the "to" parameter as the address of the example@gmail.com. This filter automatically labels all forwarded email and archives it as soon as it hit my inbox.



Make sure you select to apply the filter to however many matching conversations have already been forwarded from example@gmail.com, or you're not going to do an easy search based on the label/filter later.

Here is where the magic happens. Enter settings, labs, and enable multiple inboxes on me@gmail.com. You should look through some of the other really cool stuff the labs team has done. Like, ridiculous amounts. I'll wait. Ok, now, make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom and click save.


Then, go back into settings at the "Multiple Inboxes" tab and delete the automatic fields that are there and enter label:example in Panel 0. I want the second inbox to be below my me@gmail.com inbox, so I select that option and click save.


Then more magic happens. Click on "Accounts and Import." Then under "Send mail as" I added example@gmail.com, and verified (again) that I owned the accounts I was trying to send mail as. After that is verified, then a fancy little thing shows up.


You can reply from the email that the message was sent to. So, for instance, I get an email to example@gmail.com, and I get it at the me@gmail.com address through the system I just set up. I can click reply while still in the me@gmail account, and it will send the email as though I am signed in as example@gmail. Without signing into the other account. Ever. Brilliant. And, if you click compose, in the "from" field, it automatically enabled a drop down that allows you to choose which email address you want to send the email from.

There are still some issues to work out, for example, handling the email that is sitting in example@gmail.com, marked as read. I suppose it will have to be a learning process where I add filters for incoming mail as I get it, so gmail can delete it if it's X, or archive it if it's Y, but once that is all settled, it's going to be a nice little operation.

Another issue is that the only way for me to no longer see the messages in the second inbox for example@gmail.com that I have read is to delete the label that was assigned to them upon landing in my inbox, or delete the email itself, which I may not want to do.

Google does all kinds of awesome stuff, so hopefully they will come up with a solution for the issue. Or just make this work-around redundant by enabling what I just did with two clicks and a verification in multiple inboxes!

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Speaking of awesome, have you checked out Google Keep yet? It's like Evernote and Google Tasks had a baby.

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More awesome is the program that I used to create these screenshots, Snagit.

Full disclosure, Adam works at TechSmith, and Snagit was used for the creation of these lovely screen shots. The heinous editing is all mine, however, and I was not compensated in anyway for this post by Google or TechSmith for the use of Snagit or the plugging of their stuff. I just think it's awesome.