Regulating life with the Fitbit Charge HR

For Christmas of 2016, I got a little gift for myself. A fitness tracker. It wasn't because I believed it would change my habit of getting off the couch more or the fact that I'm not moving enough. I know all these already.

The reason I got the fitness tracker was because it was free. I had collected enough loyalty points to redeem it. And to be honest I have been curious about what all the rage was about. So I traded in my points and redeemed myself a Fitbit Charge HR.

I will have to confess, I wasn't particularly interested in moving more. But I am a data junkie. A data junkie in the sense of hitting those optimal numbers and seeing how to improve myself. Now I have a method of actual quantification that doesn't require manual data keeping or entry (which often boils down to guesswork and half-truth).

Here's a machine that once strapped to my wrist will tell me all the stats I need. My heart rate, my sleep cycle and amount of sleep, the number of steps I took, how hard I actually worked out. It's a marvel in technological innovation for nothing more than a self-glorified self-quantification device. And it was glorious indeed.

[embed]https://youtu.be/A7Y3kUl0N2Q[/embed]
Over the course of the last half year I have learned some interesting things about myself with this Fitbit Charge HR. I wasn't actually as lazy as I thought I was. I required at least 7 hours of sleep to function. And apparently my heart rate spikes when I am under the weather or about to get sick.

This isn't to say that the core function of tracking my fitness was not useful. It was. I have been able to let it automatically track the intensity of my jogging and of my home body-weight workouts. Especially with the latter. I am now able to not just feel the burn but also quantify it with the fact that my heart rate has risen accordingly. Or conversely when I have been too lax with the intensity of my workout and thus need to push it up a notch. There is no hiding anymore.

But for me, the main takeaway from this device was the heart rate monitor. The monitor has been able to log and pick up on situations where I have been stressed or when emotions have been running high. It has been able to pick up on whether I was coming down with a cold. Although unfortunately, the device does not inform of these things ahead of time, it does allow me to check the history or and to check it real time while in the situation with a quick tap on the device. This has allowed me to step back from situations before they escalated and also allowed me to take preventive care prior to getting sick.

The last function that I have been pretty dependent on is the silent vibrating alarm on the Charge HR. It has been a key way for me to wake up in the morning now without waking up theWife or the Little Girl (that may have made her way into our bed). I found the gentle buzzing of my arm has been enough to wake me out of deep sleep without the noise associated with a normal alarm and this has been a plus for everyone.

Overall, the Fitbit Charge HR has been a keeper for me. It may not have revolutionized the way I live life but it did help me regulate it and help me maintain productivity in a core way by keeping a log of and watching over my body.

What about you? How have you been using a fitness tracker in your life? Got any tips to share?

Look out for a post on my review and thoughts of the Misfit Flash for helping to regulate life in the near future.

*feature photo and youtube belongs to Fitbit.com

Regulating life with the Fitbit Charge HR

For Christmas of 2016, I got a little gift for myself. A fitness tracker. It wasn't because I believed it would change my habit of getting off the couch more or the fact that I'm not moving enough. I know all these already.

The reason I got the fitness tracker was because it was free. I had collected enough loyalty points to redeem it. And to be honest I have been curious about what all the rage was about. So I traded in my points and redeemed myself a Fitbit Charge HR.

I will have to confess, I wasn't particularly interested in moving more. But I am a data junkie. A data junkie in the sense of hitting those optimal numbers and seeing how to improve myself. Now I have a method of actual quantification that doesn't require manual data keeping or entry (which often boils down to guesswork and half-truth).

Here's a machine that once strapped to my wrist will tell me all the stats I need. My heart rate, my sleep cycle and amount of sleep, the number of steps I took, how hard I actually worked out. It's a marvel in technological innovation for nothing more than a self-glorified self-quantification device. And it was glorious indeed.

Over the course of the last half year I have learned some interesting things about myself with this Fitbit Charge HR. I wasn't actually as lazy as I thought I was. I required at least 7 hours of sleep to function. And apparently my heart rate spikes when I am under the weather or about to get sick.

This isn't to say that the core function of tracking my fitness was not useful. It was. I have been able to let it automatically track the intensity of my jogging and of my home body-weight workouts. Especially with the latter. I am now able to not just feel the burn but also quantify it with the fact that my heart rate has risen accordingly. Or conversely when I have been too lax with the intensity of my workout and thus need to push it up a notch. There is no hiding anymore.

But for me, the main takeaway from this device was the heart rate monitor. The monitor has been able to log and pick up on situations where I have been stressed or when emotions have been running high. It has been able to pick up on whether I was coming down with a cold. Although unfortunately, the device does not inform of these things ahead of time, it does allow me to check the history or and to check it real time while in the situation with a quick tap on the device. This has allowed me to step back from situations before they escalated and also allowed me to take preventive care prior to getting sick.

The last function that I have been pretty dependent on is the silent vibrating alarm on the Charge HR. It has been a key way for me to wake up in the morning now without waking up theWife or the Little Girl (that may have made her way into our bed). I found the gentle buzzing of my arm has been enough to wake me out of deep sleep without the noise associated with a normal alarm and this has been a plus for everyone.

Overall, the Fitbit Charge HR has been a keeper for me. It may not have revolutionized the way I live life but it did help me regulate it and help me maintain productivity in a core way by keeping a log of and watching over my body.

What about you? How have you been using a fitness tracker in your life? Got any tips to share?

Look out for a post on my review and thoughts of the Misfit Flash for helping to regulate life in the near future.

I got the power! As in Powerline Network

Cables. I don't know about you but at one point in time I had them everywhere. This was in the days when WiFi was not as prominent and wired network was still the main way to get stuff done. I would have wires hanging on the edge of the wall and ceiling and over door frames. It was a mess. I remember when The Wife and I first got married, we had an ADSL modem from AT&T hanging on the wall along with a wireless router not too far off. It was all on the wall. I even had a friend come over and comment that I seemed to have a bomb mapped out on the wall. It was a mess.

The advent of WiFi saved the wires quite a bit and I was able to essentially get all my computers, phone and tablets connected. However, this all went out the window when I found that WiFi wasn't getting the speed I needed to stream media on the Roku media box. So a wired solution was needed again. But the problem is that I live in a two story house now, with the modem/router being upstairs and the TV/Roku being downstairs. There was no way I was going to have cables snaking through the house with two toddlers on the loose.

I needed another solution. Originally I started off with a more complex solution of using an extra wireless router that I had sitting around as a bridge point to bring the cable to the media room. But it wasn't elegant and I still encountered the WiFi issue. So on to looking for another solution. My in-laws of all people suggested that I should try out the powerline LAN adapters as a possible solution. And to get me on the right path, my over zealous father-in-law already bought four extra adapters that he wasn't using at home as he only needed two and found them good enough for him. So I now have four of these things to play with, from two different brands.

I'm not sure where everyone is with their network or wireless vs wired solutions either at home or in the office. But for me, I needed a consistent and stable speed for both the streaming media box and also our file and media server. And with the way the house is, these two things are not always able to be near the router/modem at the same time. For the rest of my devices, WiFi does fine enough. So for me, the powerline LAN adapter is fully for solving the issue of creating network without the need for wires galore and still maintain a faster speed and stable network than WiFi may provide otherwise.

So on to the solution. I was gifted by my father-in-law with a set of TrendNet 500Mbps Compact Powering AV Adapter Kit (TPL-406E2K) and also a Tenda 200Mbps Powering Mini Adapter kit (P200). Being the typical guy, I did not read instructions and decided to just do the plug and play pray option. Surprisingly, it worked right out of the box for me. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be this way or if my father-in-law already set it all up for me (but I doubt it, he is very tech illiterate). And surprisingly, despite the fact that the two sets were of different brands, they were able to work together. It just works.

But the question is, as always, how well does it work. I will say straight up, the speed on these things are good and consistent. However, the issue arises with heat.

The Tenda units tend to overheat easily and just stop working. A quick unplugging and replugging does the trick but can be annoying since it can happen anytime. I have gone for as short as 15 minutes to as long as two days. So it's not what I call a reliable source of plug-it-in and leave-it-be type of tech.

The TrendNet units functioned a lot better. It seemed to have been susceptible to heat only once when we experienced a heat wave and the room in which it was located rose to a blistering 29C/84F. Aside from that one fateful day, the units have been humming along great with no slowdown or hiccups.

Overall, the idea of running your network over your powerline is a pretty decent idea. It gets the job done. It minimizes the mess of wires in the house. It provides a more secure environment compared to WiFi. I would say it is a good mixture of helping to minimize and simplify your house and technology and also allow for better organization of your devices.

I would definitely recommend it to family and friends. However, I would also caution on buying too cheap of a unit as it seems like they are susceptible to heat failure.

What about you? How have you managed to organize the mess that comes with a more digital lifestyle that requires multiple devices? What is your experience with various solutions? Would love to hear about what you have been doing.

So long Evernote, thanks for the all fish.

I'm one of those guys that use several note-taking and digital scrapbooking methods and programs to keep myself productive and organized. I've used them for everything from school, projects, work, church, personal life or just keeping a tab of interesting things. Evernote was one of those programs that I have tried and used. Evernote was simplistic yet powerful as a tool especially with its tagging and search features. (As a disclaimer, I have used and still use OneNote since the early paid versions till now and Google Keep on and off depending whether I was using an Android smartphone, as well as abandoned Apple Note and Palm's note)

Evernote for me was the middle ground of the full featured titan that is Microsoft OneNote and the simpler note-taker that is Google Keep and Apple Note. It filled a nice niche. It scratched an itch. Simple enough to make notes but powerful enough to database and search.

All this time I have been a free user since I wasn't ready to commit to one particular platform and as such I had information littered across various systems and apps. However, in the past month I have been working on transitioning and simplifying my usage to only key apps with little to no overlap in function and features. And Evernote made the cut as my default notetaker and key productivity tool. I was in the process of transitioning the rest of my notes in Google Keep over to Evernote or Onenote depending if it was for gathering of thoughts, ideas and lists or for gathering larger project information. It was also with the idea that I may possibly subscribe for the paid mid-tier as needed in the future after consolidation.

This decision to consolidate over to Evernote is now under heavy review as of June 28, 2016. On this fateful day, Evernote announced that they will be reshuffling their price structure and also the benefits for each tier.

The free tier that I have been a part of have now lost the ability to sync with unlimited devices down to only two designated devices which is a kick in the shin for someone like me with multiple devices and often sharing the same account with my wife for our family and home management (on a side note, their web-based interface does not count as a device). The paid tiers also took a substantial price hike, close to 40%, which makes me less willing and wanting to upgrade to a paid tier now until it has proven its true worth.

So in essence, Evernote, you have been a good app and system but your restriction and long term cost is too much for me to possibly want to continue my experiment with you. It's just too hard to experiment and tell whether something works well with my workflow when there are restrictions and costs with the experimentation.

For me, I will most likely be consolidating all my notes over to OneNote and my lists to Wunderlist. But for the time being I may try a month or two using the web-based interface on my laptop and desktop while maintaining the two device quota for my phone and for my wife's. If it works, I may stay, but I'm already halfway out the door.

I'm not sure how all of you are affected by this but I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings. How have you found Evernote to be in your life? Or have you found something better to help optimize, organize and simplify life?

Why I use a Windows Phone

Often time people see me pull out my phone and they would ask me what it is, and I would have to explain to them that it is a Windows phone. And then they would ask why compared to either an Apple iPhone or the various Android phones available.

When you think of your smartphone, what is it that you think of? Apps? Email? Social media? Media? A tool to get the job done? Or a combination of them? I would think that for most people it would be a combination of various functions and various problems that they are trying to solve. I know for me, the smartphone has been an invaluable tool for information, communication and occasionally relaxation.

I have been one of those guys that have been trying to optimize my workflow or just the flow of life in general. I have tried various phones and systems with different results. For those interested I have been with Symbian, iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7, 8 & 10. Of them all, I found that they each serve differing purposes or what I like to call 'problems in life that they are aiming to solve'. Out of all of them, I have found that I keep returning back to the Windows Phone platform.

The Windows Phone experience ain't perfect and I don't expect them to be able to compete head-to-head with the other two titans in the mobile space. iOS from Apple has a definite advantage with their massive library of quality apps. Android is flexible from the start but I found that the experience varies a lot depending on the manufacturer of the phone and whether it was a low-end versus a flagship or somewhere in between. The Android experience in essence is a pick your feature and poison experience.

Like I said, I have been able to try various iterations of the modern Windows Phone experience and it is important to note this for the fact that each iteration was a distinct move and transition in how Microsoft saw and used the smartphone. However, what initially drew me and still holds me is the fact that the platform as a whole throughout the three main iterations have been built with communication and quick information capture as a premise. Their premise and philosophy is to give a system and a phone that requires you to use it less, to look at it less, so that you can focus on the important things in life, as in your real life, your family, your job and your hobbies.

I can't say that I didn't miss the multitude of apps that both iOS or Android have within their app stores but at the same time, the Windows experience has all the key apps for me to communicate and to keep in touch with the things I need on a day to day basis for living and for work.

For me, Windows Phone provided a system that can give me a quick glance at what is happening in my life with the ability to either respond or move on with life without the need to start apps or to pull down notification menus etc. All it requires is a wave of the hand or a tap on the power button and I could either have the basic notification or a more detailed list of what is happening, all presented within the main screen. I know, some of you are probably thinking that the usage of widgets on the Android system can do the same thing, and this is partially true, but it comes with a cost. A cost of extra resource on the phone that cuts into the experience. A cost of needing extra swiping motions. Either way, it is not as optimized as having a system built on this premise as a cornerstone.

Overall, Windows Phone is not right for everyone. It is a spartan experience. It is an experience where productivity and efficiency is key. It is a place where you don't need the multitude of apps but rather a key handful to get life done. It is an experience and a lifestyle choice that frees you more to live real life. For me, it has freed me from the temptation of playing or looking at my phone and allowed me to focus on my wife, my kids and my job. It has decreased the need to look at my phone for long periods of time and still able to accomplish the same thing with a glance.

If you are curious, start your exploration here. It is a journey down the rabbit hole. A journey to turn your back on what is popular in life. A journey of discovering what is important in life.

For those wondering I use a Microsoft Lumia 650.

A week with the IKEA Nordmarke (wireless charging pad)

I have always been fascinated with the idea of wireless charging for the cellphone. It seems so easy and nice to just plop the phone down on the desk and it just feeds the battery and when I need to go I just grab the phone and run. Seems like such an ideal world. A world without fiddling with wires (or at least visible wires), a world where your phone is perpetually being topped up with power when you are not actively using it. This is the dream.

So while I was walking through and browsing wasting time at IKEA with Baby Girl, I noticed the IKEA Nordmarke triple wireless charging pad on sale, for a very good price of just over $20 down from $80. I jumped on the deal without a thought in the world. OK, I did have a thought, how I was going to explain to the Wife on my indiscriminate spending spree. But my urge to buy overtook my fear (and besides, they have a lenient refund policy).

Anyhow, I bought the Nordmarke and home I went. Got it all plugged in. It came with the pad, an AC adapter and some pieces of paper (that I assumed were the instructions). In a true guy fashion, I didn't read the paper and plugged the thing in and plopped my phone down on it. And the phone started to charge. A delight to the heart. There appeared to be a status light right under the phone that was barely noticeable (at a later point, after reading the forsaken manual, I found that there are three statuses: solid = charging, blinking = error, none = not working). The light was barely visible under these modern smartphones with a barely manageable size of 5 inch. So I'm not quite sure why they even have it there under the phone and not at a more visible locale.

Overall, it seemed like it was a delight to play with the QI charging pad. However, upon further interrogation by the Wife, I had to admit that there is only a limited number of phones carrying the QI wireless charging standard and thus only certain phones would work (the iPhone being one of the major players that doesn't work without an add-on). That wasn't the only downside, the charger was pretty darn slow. It was more like a trickle charge than an actual charge. When compared to charging the old-fashion way, via a wire plugged into a wall outlet, I would estimate the time to charge was about 2x longer at the very least. Either way, I found that throughout the week, my phone was not getting enough juice and it was still running low despite the consistent trickle charge. And to top that, the USB port on the Nordmarke had a hard time sustaining a charge for my Fitbit Charge HR.

In the end, I had to say goodbye to the IKEA Nordmarke. It was a good idea but the current practical outplay of it wasn't all that great. If only it could charge faster. I guess if you are just plopping down your phone for the night while you sleep, it would be fine, but for that, how hard is it to just wire it up? Either way, the product was nice and thoughtful but the practical aspect of it was lacking. Maybe when they improve on the tech some more in the future it can be more useful.

A disclaimer, I was not paid to write this or review this.

iOS4 for the iPod Touch 2G 8GB MC-Model

As the title clearly states, this is a personal reflection and review of iOS4 running on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen 8GB MC-Model.

For those that didn't know this is the current 8GB model that is available. It is virtually identical to a normal 2nd Gen model except for the bump to "MC" which is generally designated as a 3rd Gen device. However, Apple still view this as a 2nd Gen device despite the MC-model moniker.

In a previous post, I had mentioned that I had jailbreak my iPod Touch with the Spirit Jailbreak Tool. With the update to iOS4, this jailbreak was automatically uninstalled.

The download and installation of iOS4 was pretty smooth. There wasn't any issue with downloading from Apple's servers roughly an hour or two after it was released. The installation went smoothly (I presume since I was actually not there to physically monitor the installation process but there wasn't any error nor issues afterward). The re-installation of all my apps, files, settings, etc. went off without a hitch. It was a pretty smooth upgrade process.

iOS4 gained some notable improvement over iOS3.1.3. The first is the ability to have folders. For someone like me that have about 300 apps in iTune and generally having about 7 pages of apps, this was a God-send function. The second most important new function in my view was the new email app. The unified inbox is awesome and the ability to tweak your personal preference of archiving email or actually having the delete command equal to moving the email to the trash. This works out pretty well overall for my accounts synced with Gmail. An interesting new function was the ability to create notes on IMAP servers (like Gmail). Aside from these named new features there are quite a number of other ones that aren't named but those didn't quite standout as much.

Now the question is whether it was worth the upgrade, considering that my device is a generation old. I would have to say, Yes. The upgrade was definitely worthwhile, if not only for the ability to have folders or even just the unified inbox. An added bonus to the upgrade to iOS4 is the ability to use iBooks and its corresponding online book store from Apple. Although I have had previously been a devote user of Stanza as my ebook reader, I do not mind having another one that has a large online store behind it. Especially a store that stock more of the newer books.

Overall, the upgrade to iOS4 was worthwhile. So far there hasn't been any major issues with the new o/s. There has been occasional 'glitches' but I'm sure those will be work out in time.

Bear Apprentice (Ready-to-Hunt) Bow

Recently I bought a new hunting bow. It is a Bear Apprentice. The specs on it are as follows:
- Draw Weight range of 20-50lb
- Draw Length range of 15in-27in
- Let-Off at 70%
- Weighs 2.9lbs
- Brace Height of 6in
- Axle-to-Axle is 27.5in

Additionally it comes with some extras:
- Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit
- Trophy Ridge 3-pin Fiber Optic Sight
- Bear 4 arrow quiver

The bow itself it relatively light weight when compared to other hunting compound bows. However, it needs to be noted that this bow was made to serve the capacity of new hunters/archers, young hunters/archers and female hunters/archers. This helps to explain the wide range of draw-weight while at the same time being able to achieve the 40lb that is generally needed to hunt in most US states and Canadian provinces. Additionally, the range of draw length is well suited for the range of people that are smaller in stature. Overall, it is a very well fitted bow for anyone that is 5'5" or shorter and may not have the ability or wish to pull the higher weight of other bows.

The price of the bow is very well priced and is quite competitive in pricing against similar hunting bows. I purchased the bow for roughly $300USD including tax. So after the inclusion of purchasing 6 carbon arrows and its associated field point and broad-heads, the price come to being about $400.

The Apprentice shots very well. The accuracy of the bow is comparable to that of higher end bows. Especially once the sight and peep-hole has been properly calibrated. Although, the arrows do fly slower due to the lower draw weight. There is very little vibration after each shot, so I have not found the need to purchase a stabilizer. The noise on the bow is very low which was surprising. Often times when I shot, all I hear is the impact of the arrow upon the target and nothing from the bow or string itself. The bow does come with a D-loop for a release however I have been shooting with my fingers instead and I have still been able to achieve consistent clustering of shots. This in itself speaks of the forgiveness of the bow since I'm certain my form is not perfect. The draw is a very smooth draw most likely due to the duo-cam system. There is not too much resistance in the draw thus allowing for fluid and quiet drawing in a swift motion. This coupled with the 70% let-off helps to builds up the confidence of the shooter and allow for more time to aim and correct their form. Hence helping with better shots overall.

The cosmetic of the bow is on par and comparable with other bows. The one that I purchased was APG-HD Camo pattern. It can also be found in a pink camo option.

The construction of the bow is pretty solid. This is despite the low weight of the bow itself. The adjustment of the draw length is as simple moving a screw on each of the cams appropriately. The increasing and decreasing of draw weight is easily done my tightening or loosening a bolt connecting the limbs to the riser. All these adjustments can be easier done at home without additional equipment like a bow-press, apart from the appropriate hex screw drivers.

A side note, the arrows that I purchased to shoot with this bow are Carbon Express Thunderstorm with a spine of .449" and a weight of 8.3 grains/inch. This is coupled with 100 grain points. The arrows are custom cut to 26". This gives me roughly 350 grain per arrow. It is a bit on the heavier side however since I will be hunting with this bow a heavier  arrow weight is warranted even for practicing. Anyhow, I have found that this model of carbon arrow and head combination works pretty well together with the bow.

Overall, the Bear Apprentice is a very good bow. Especially for someone that is new to the sport or someone wanting a cheaper investment price without forfeiting some of the necessary tools or higher quality of a higher end hunting bow from a brand new. I would highly recommend everyone to take a look at the Bear Apprentice. It is a good entrance bow or a bow that will allow for growth while still allowing for hunting.