Bets and John in NY

Bets and John came to the Big Apple for a whirlwind visit. Much tasty food was prepared and eaten, even though it seemed to be about 110 degrees in my apartment. John is now an expert on food shopping on the Lower East Side (and the Union Square Farmer's Market). We also went to the Met, looked at a historical photography show and visited the roof garden. Kate came by for dinner Saturday night- we had a 6 or 7 course meal- I forgot to take pictures. As I said, it was hot.

I also tried to convert Bets to the cult of Wii Fit. She excelled, particularly at Wii yoga and strength training.

Stephanie and DDR

Calvin and I had breakfast today with Stephanie Studenski, my best friend from high school, and her family who are here in the New York area for a couple of days. Naturally, I started talking about Wii Fit (I am sure no one is surprised about that) and I found out that Stephanie is conducting research on the benefits of Dance Dance Revolution for women our age and older (Stephanie is a gerontologist). She is an obsessive practitioner as well, she has danced 50 pounds away. Stephanie was called "the high priestess of DDR" in USA Today.

Here is a link to a story about her research. She gave me advice on which games to start with and which pad to buy- you can get one that works with both the Wii and Playstation 2! (Her kids had a familiar expression I've seen on other people's faces when I start going on and on about some aspect of technology and its benefits)

Updates on potential new obsession to follow.

More about Wii Fit

I have really been enjoying Wii Fit. Combining video games with working out is brilliant. Here is an article about the designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. I have used it every day since I got it.

A couple of things- I seem to be much better at learning the stuff I already know a little bit about in the non Wii world. I guess this could fall under the category of stunningly obvious observations- but it is a little weird when I get really low scores at some of the easiest activities and high scores at stuff that is actually kind of hard to do. Also, I have found it difficult up to this point to get a really hard workout. I think this may change as I unlock more reps and also figure out which activities I want to combine. As it is, I am still spending a lot of time watching demos on activities before trying them.

I am spending more time every day, and more on yoga, strength training and aerobics. There are a lot of charming balance games, which seem designed to make you better at Wii balance games- I am not sure they actually help your balance all that much.

Calvin has not spent as much time as I have on Wii Fit, but he uses Wii baseball for batting practice before his softball game. He and I continue to play Wii golf, bowling and baseball after dinner. His golf and bowling have improved, I cannot say the same for my hitting.

Anyway, thank you Eric! More pictures to come.

Wii Fit!! MOCCA!!

This weekend for the first time I waited outside an electronics store for hours before they opened to buy stuff- a Wii Fit. It was a bonding experience and typically New York- a mixture of very different people lining up on Sunday morning in 90 degree weather to get a game for some one or other in their family. All the other fanatics seemed a little puzzled by me, since I think I had 20 years on the oldest one of them, and I was not buying it for my grandchildren.

And the instant review is... it is fun! More to come later.

Also this weekend, MOCCA- the indy comics New York festival. As always, it was fun and I bought a whole lot of mini-comics. This year was marked by extremely hot and humid temperatures, medical emergencies and a visit by the fire department. Despite the crises, a good time was had by many. Kate and I got to hang out a little bit.

Norwegian comics creator JP Ahonen

Wii!!!!!!

For the few people out there who don't already know this, Eric gave Calvin and me a Wii.

I set it up yesterday after getting all my grades in. Last night we played Wii baseball and Wii bowling (actually, I had obsessively gone through all the games earlier in the day and created many Miis). Calvin was better at baseball, I wasn't a bad bowler.

It was incredibly fun.

Unpacking the Wii.

Here is Calvin (and his Mii) taking a few swings.