2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge -- 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

Yesterday I finished my first book in the 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge.  I started the challenge by continuing to read down my Nook queue and this was the next in line.  There are so many books and so little time that I have to figure out a way to get all the reading done in some orderly manner -- gone are my days of just reading for fun -- I now have to have a plan.

So, I have to say that I picked a very painful book to read.  It is an account of a man, Don Piper, being involved in an horrific auto accident, his death and trip to Heaven and his return to tell the tale.  I have to say that I was a bit disappointed because the time spent on his account of Heaven.  There wasn't much there but I don't really know what I expected -- I just expected more.

The account of the accident was graphic and painful.  The account of his recovering was long and grueling and he was honest about his depression.  Toward the end he did discuss how the accident had affected his faith and how he realized that he was allowed to live so that he could use his experience as a ministry.  However, the whole book has a depressed tone to it.

Would I recommend the book?  I don't know.  I read it, I didn't find it boring but I didn't find it uplifting either.  It was simply painful, beginning to end.  

To Fitbit or Not to Fitbit


A huge part of a successful marriage is patience.  My husband had to test his patience first thing this morning.  Now, I go to bed early and get up early -- generally earlier than him -- so I have lots of time for my brain to work before I see him.  I can formulate honey-do lists, grocery lists, places to go lists -- in multiples -- before his feet ever hit the floor.  I am raring to go and he only has one eye open. 

Today was the ultimate test.

I handed him a math word problem.  I completely expected him to break into the Tammy Wynette song "D-I-V-O-R-C-E". However, being the gentleman that he is he simply begged ignorance -- like he didn't quite get what I was asking. 

Well, what I was asking was -- how long (in time) do I have to walk a predetermined path to total 10,000 steps.  I got THE look -- the blank look so I sat about doing the math myself.  My path is 100 steps.  Clearly I would have to walk it 100 times.  I timed myself with my trusty Timex and it takes a second or two over 1 minute to walk it so......drumroll....I would have to walk it  1 hour and 40 minutes.  Yes, I know that is simple arithmetic but in all fairness to me, I adjusted the path.  My original path was a bit longer and wasn't as easy to calculate so here I am.

So, here is the next consideration.  In the last six months I have had major surgery and I have arthritis but I need to exercise.  My exercise of choice is walking.  No, I don't have room for a treadmill and while walking outside would be preferable it is too cold or too many allergens or too hot -- most of the time. We have a Tony Little Gazelle

 but it just kills my back.  After I got the go ahead from my doctor to exercise I climbed on it, walked for 30 minutes and felt great.  Repeated the next day I sent my back into all sort of discomfort -- not to mention my hip which hurt all the way through me.  So, I rested.  I did the same thing, half the time, night before last and the back was zinging me again so I have now given up on the Gazelle. I don't have any problem walking through my house, however, and the way the floor plan is laid out  I have almost a track like path to walk so that will be my exercise of choice.

Now, after all the math is done and the decision to wear out my floors has been made, I have to decide whether to do it the frugal way by just timing or do I buy some sort of a tracker to wear to track my steps for me.  I have been looking at these

but other than the pink color catching my eye and noting the price differences, I have no clue which one would be the best.  I think I can link it to myfitnesspal on my Nook so that would be good if I were wanting to count calories which I don't really want to do particularly but it would be a good feature. 

My thought process is that by using a tracker of some sort I could track all my steps throughout the day, not just the 100 laps around the house and maybe I wouldn't have to walk all 100.  Of course, I don't expect to make that goal immediately, maybe never, but it is just that -- a goal -- and any activity toward that goal is a plus.

So, any thoughts?