Miscellaneous Walking Updates

It has not been a good week  for going on walks. The temperature's been in the upper eighties to low nineties - which is bad enough, but even that I could deal with. It's the humidity that's the problem. The humidity has been through the roof - the last couple of days, especially. Everything feels damp -  my clothes (even when I'm not dripping in sweat), the bedding (even when I'm not dripping in sweat), the furniture, etc., etc.

I managed to walk Sam to and from work, both Tuesday and Thursday, and we went on walks together both Monday and Tuesday evenings, but they were a chore. We skipped our "regular" walks both Wednesday and Thursday.

When Sam and I manage to go on our walks, we begin (if we remember) by both of us turning on our "Google Fit" apps. This is to keep track of how far we walk. If it does anything more than that, it's news to me.

Anyway, I'm not sure why, but when we're done, the distance reading on Sam's phone is always a little bit different than the reading on mine. It's not off by much - maybe a tenth of a mile or two, but still, I can't figure out why it would be off at all. We have different models of phones, but otherwise, we turn the apps on at the same time, we always walk together, we have the same phone service. Seems like they should read the same.

Also, because we use this app (I'm assuming), at the beginning of every month, I get an email from Google telling me all of the places I went the month before. I got another email just the other day. Last month, I apparently went to a grand total of twenty-eight places. This includes the grocery store (a couple of times), a couple of pizza places (a couple of times), and the comic book store (once). These are the highlights of the exciting places I go. Google is reminding me how boring I am. I'm not insulted by this.

This also means that Sam (who is not boring) went to a total of twenty-eight places last month. Since I was working out of home last month, I don't think I ever left the house without Sam coming along with me (though I do leave him at work- only to walk back later to get him and walk him home). I'm not saying this is good or bad - but this somewhat amazing fact just occurred to me as I was typing this.

Another fact (also thanks to Google keeping an eye on me): Last month, I never traveled further than forty miles away from home. The thing is, even when I'm not working out of home, when I do "more" driving, the furthest away from home I travel is seldom more than maybe triple that amount. More testimony to my boring lifestyle.

Google also tells me that I/we walked a grand total of eighty-three miles last month. This sounds like a lot - but I think it must be right. Our app(s) keeps track of how far we walk every day (assuming we remembered to turn them on) and at the end of the week, I read off the figures to Sam and Sam adds them up. I never remember what the totals are - because I'm usually doing this for the exercise of having Sam add something up - but it seems to me, the past few weeks have been in the mid-twenties or so, mile-wise. This new world's record won't happen this month though, not unless the humidity lets up.

Despite the humidity (did I mention it's been oppressive?) Sam and I squeezed in a walk at the college this afternoon. Supposedly, there's a storm on the way so, in order to miss it, and because we missed out on walking the last couple of days, we figured we better go for now - or forget it. With the weather looking bad for the next few days, it might be a while before we get the chance again. Needless to say, we were drenched (and not by any rain), just getting out of the car. But still, we went. That's how committed (or should be) we are.

Occasionally, very occasionally, when we're on our walks, I'll stop and take a photo of the two of us (some would say, "a selfie", except I hate the word "selfie"). These photos never come out well. Sam, aside from being a handsome guy, has a sensitivity to light. No matter how shady a spot I find, no matter where the sun is, more often than not, he ends up squinting. And me, unfortunately ... it always ends up looking like me - except even older (though that's probably due to my poor eyes). I am loathe to look at myself, whether in photos or reflections, but here, for an extremely limited time, is a sweaty photo (subject-wise) I took of the two of us on this afternoon's walk... 

"Enjoy" it while it lasts. I'll be replacing it shortly.