June 2006 Archives

Well just like a new girlfriend it wasn’t her first time around the block or my first tryst with a piece of cardio exercise equipment. This however was the first time for me and this CXT970 elliptical trainer’s sweating, huffing and panting together.

I guess I kinda took a few flirting stabs as I got things in order in my gym/garage to see if this elliptical trainer I purchased from the Salvation Army in Downtown Sacramento was truly functional. I even called and spent several awkward minutes getting acquainted after my traditional workout to see how she was.

Well today I plunged head first into the world of elliptical training and took a nice fragmented 30 minute voyage. The first 5 minutes were truly painful for my thighs which I noticed yesterday when I took my test spin. The burn was deeper in my quadriceps than when doing my sitting leg raises specifically designed for my quads.

I figured that there is no way I could get any cardio benefits for a long time if I had to deal with that type of burn in my cardio routine! I do not have your average pain threshold I can hang with a little pain, so I knew something was wrong. I then adjusted the pedals forward and this had the affect of placing the pressure more on the balls of my feet for a push off and that was the key to allow me to really get into a nice rhythmic workout routine with the elliptical trainer.

I just went with the manual program and the CXT970 counted off the time I worked out for me. I took a few breaks which I will not do once I’m used to the trainer and in my type of cardio shape and the trainer paused at these moments and kept track of the time.

I’m replaying that lucky day I purchased this nice used elliptical trainer over and over and it just shows you what happens when you give I guess. I gave a few truckloads of goods and found a treasure to help further my goal of staying in physical shape which helps the mental and emotional state in my personal experiences.

I think I will keep this CXT970 elliptical trainer around she can really take a guy on quite a trip and bring a smile of satisfaction!

Once again I’m reorganizing the gym setup in my garage after getting new furniture and having to place furniture out of my house into the garage temporarily and also getting a few new pieces of work out equipment. I’m still making changes since I still have quite a few things to move out of the house and of course the garage will be the temporary storage until the time I have to sell or otherwise dispose of it. This time though the purge of equipment will not once again interrupt my garage gym setup to the point I will not be able to work out.

Ok I love gadgets & technology so is it a big deal that I finally got me a PDA/phone? Well let me answer that for you the answer is yes to me it’s a big deal because for me to get some of this technology it has to have a practical application almost right away. The other criteria is it must be affordable

So what was my latest portable pickup? Actually in the last two weeks there have been two additions. About a week and a half back I took advantage of a sale and bought a “Creative Labs” “Nomad Zen Xtra” “40gb” mp3 player. Last week I purchased online an HP Ipaq HW6515 pocket PC which arrived today. Along with my HP R717 Digital camera and my CompaqNW800 laptop I appear to have all of my various portable electronic and computing needs covered.

For the NW8000 laptop I have my hard core computing or multi-media I may need taken care of and with the various peripherals I have for the NW8000 I can do quite a bit. Actually thinking about it I probably should include the laptop as items that make my portable electronics a complete package. I have the “Hercules DJ Console” which allows me to treat mp3’s as vinyl records. I also have an HP external DVD640 Lightscribe DVDRW and an 80 GB Western Digital USB drive. I can put together some serious music without lugging around a bunch of CD’s or records and still have the same affects and more!

Now it may seem like a duplication to have all of these devices but it really depends on what needs to be done and how long you may be on the road and for what purpose.

The digital camera just gives me the ability to have good resolution on picture I really care about and helps me since I’m not a very good photographer.

The laptop and all of those peripherals I have mainly for the musical purposes but also for those long trips when I may to do some PowerPoint or heavy computing at a hotel or resort.

The Zen mp3 player I couldn’t pass up since the price was so good at less than ½ price. With the mp3 player I can plug into my car stereo and not worry about switching from music to phone to handle a phone call. Plus at a small get together or in a resort I can easily setup a nice little mood and not have it interrupted by calls.

The HP IPAQ is first of all a phone and organizer always at hand but can also perform some very general low horse power computing chores. This will be very nice when I’m out looking at auctions liquidations etc where a laptop will be a hindrance. I can also use this as the one device I will not leave behind if I can only take one it can do everything in a limited way. Also the price was less than 1/3 of the normal cost with warranty still.

Anyway all these electronic items I have purchased help me expand the things I like to do already and enhance the experiences. I have been actually looking at these various devices over the past years as they developed and waited for my needs and cost to come together before purchasing them.

Now I have to look at a few accessories!! Well come on I have to have 1gb of flash RAM in my IPAQ if that’s what’s in my camera sine they are interchangeable! Plus I need a car kit and an underwater case for the camera.