Gone Polar.

A couple of months ago I ordered a Polar Heart Rate Monitor watch. It is wonderful!

 

It's really sad though that I've just gotten around to posting a blog about it. I've been using it at least since August (as you can see from the photo!).

 

I'd been wanting one for a while. When I started working out hard core with Insanity, Insanity Asylum, and running again I realized I wanted something to track my effort and improvements.

 

It's pretty cool - it has a fitness test that shows what category/level of fitness you're in when you first buy the watch so you can know how you fair in comparison to what you should, and potentially work towards improvement if needed or desired.

 

The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't really have a stop watch per se. It tracks your time when you start a sesh, but doesn't really let you see the timed clock very well. But it's all good - I still like it and favor most of what it displays and how it displays it.

 

One reason in particular I bought it was for calorie counting. I find that most machines don't track calories very accurately, and in addition, the 1,000 calories that people say are burned with Insanity is not really true (at least for me) - though every "body" is different.

 

Anyway - I'm happy with it! I hate having to wet and put the strap on each time, but if I'm doing a hard core training it's worth it.

 

Have a happy Thursday!

 

Google+ and my photos.

It's photo time!

Now that I have more time on my hands (read: early mornings, nap times, and after night night), I have been able to crank through some much awaited and much anticipated things on my to-do list -- organizing and saving my photos, being one of them.

As you know, I take LOTS of photos. Some I keep and some I throw out. But for the most part, I save the majority and grow electronic piles of them that build up for years until I finally get to a point of needing to create a backup.

I used to upload them all to CD Discs and save them that way. In fact, most of my photos are saved that way and stored in a corner cabinet in my house.

But Discs are going out of style, they're old, and they take up space. Not to mention, if I ever lost them I'd be up a creek because they're the only place I have them stored!

Enter: Google+ (and 2013!).

My friend David (Leslie's husband) introduced me to this phenomenon when I visited them in Nashville over the summer. It's not that I was opposed to Google+ as a decent share space, but in my mind, it was just one more thing that I was going to have to "keep up" with.

Facebook is enough. Let alone Twitter (which I don't plug into either, and Instagram, which I haven't even signed up for yet!).

The fact is, I don't really want the entire world to see all my photos (i.e. through Facebook), so I didn't want to use that as a long-term storage space. And while Google+ has this capability I'm sure, as it functions as a social media site, I learned that it has options for album uploads and storage space by the thousands, with privacy options too.

My new bff.

So as we speak, I'm uploading all my albums - only the recent ones on my computer - for new, relevant and current storage that's more idealistic for past, present, and future needs. I will not be uploading the photos I already have stored on CD's, but anything I currently have on my computer will be uploaded to + and stored there. Then, I will eventually delete the photos from my computer so I can have optimum space and it will not be clouded with endless photos.

Google+, I've decided, is a great option for storing photos because you can practically upload as many as you want (including videos), they are housed on the internet (shared or unshared), and easily accessible anywhere. One downside: you cannot access them unless you have an internet connection, which is ultimately fine by me. Everyone has a smartphone nowadays anyway, and they can be probably be pulled up that way.

I just had a thought! I wonder if there's a Google+ app? New search here I come.

Update: I found it! WOO! So awesome. Technology has come such a long way.

In addition, I am also going to be doing a backup (again, just my recent and any future ones) to a flash drive for an extra backup. You never know!

Sidenote: I also just bought a new camera. The Canon Rebel T3i. More to come on that later but I am so excited!

Gotta go see if Levi is up. I've been awake since 5:30 a.m! Not sure if it was the excitement of my new camera, the finishing of my book, or my ever-odd excitement for organizing and getting stuff done but I should probably start the day.

PS - the sun is shining and it's SATURDAY! Yipee!

In my uploading frenzy - here's a photo I just pulled (so easily) from Google+ straight to my blog. Love the efficiency! This photo was taken November of 2012. Keeks and Leaves. :)