Coming back from vacation usually means coming back to a messy apartment, because I never really have time to clean up before I go. I can usually put up with a low-to-medium level of mess for quite a long time (the exception being dishes; I can’t stand to leave dishes lying anywhere but the sink). But at some point, the mess goes from low-to-medium to I-can’t-take-it and I get very antsy and I can’t pay attention to anything else except trying to straighten up. Last night after watching another episode of Band of Brothers, Jose looked at me and said “one more?” I said “ok, but you must give me an hour to do some cleaning or my head is going to explode.”
So he did. And I did. In that hour, I updated my budget (which, I must admit, is less of a budget and more of a money tracker, but at least it keeps me from going completely broke) to account for all my Christmas spending, took a load of laundry out of the dryer, put a new load in the washer, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded it again, filed some papers, threw a bunch of stuff away, and straightened up the coffee table. And after that, I felt SO much better.
I only saw about 10 minutes of the BCS game, but my dad called me at halftime to ask if I was watching the marching bands. “The halftime show is marching bands? Really? It’s not some pop star?” That was pretty cool.
I tried out Motion Based last night, a website that takes the data from my Garmin Forerunner and plots it, maps it, etc. It listed my 8.3 mile run as 8.48 miles. Huh?? The FAQs say that the site doesn’t take the Garmin distance; it takes the tracks and calculates mileage itself. But 8.3 is right, and it’s self-calculated 8.48 is wrong! Then I tried SportTracks after remembering that Vic mentioned it. SportTracks also downloads the track as far as I can tell (because it gives you the ability to change it and/or correct it), and it calculated 8.3 miles. So what’s the deal with MotionBased? Anyone else notice this problem?
My next thought, of course, was that the Garmin might provide too much data, if that’s possible. It’s addicting. I could look at the maps and graphs all day long…
Vic says
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Motion Based. I don’t remember where I read it but either SportTracks or Motion Based does a bunch of nifty calculations and correction on your data that supposedly provided a more accurate reading. You can find all that inf in the FAQ’s and/or documentation. I started reading it and frankly, it got to be too much to be concerned with and not fun anymore. But the information is there if you are interested.
Me says
Yeah Vic — I read the FAQs and MotionBased says that it does calculations and corrections to be more accurate. But it’s significantly (by almost 0.2 miles) LESS accurate for the one route I’ve done so far. Hence my confusion.
Barbara says
There is a simple rule I use when trying to use #’s from Garmins training center, MotionBased, and/or SportTracks.
Go with the one that shows I ran the farthest. And if 2 of them show the same thing, then go with the one that says I did it faster.
Seriously though, Garmin bought out MB so you’ll see those 2 converge in their numbers for you I’ll bet as the year goes along.
I do like the map in SportTracks. I use MB for the weather update. So just go on overload and use all the stats!
Or something like that….
Jen M says
Most of the BCS bowls show the marching bands for at least a minute or two. The bands play at all the bowls, they just have abbreviated shows. The Fiesta Bowl showd more of the bands than normal this year, though. Almost long enough to see an entire song! *gasp*
txrunnergirl says
LOL, I like Barbara’s Garmin tips…I will have to remember that!
txrunnergirl says
Oh, and I’m in the green corral too!