Productivity, True Confessions

The Inaugural Smart Swim

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Following up on last week’s post, I took the plunge. I’ve used my new smart swim goggles for two swims! I have to confess I was feeling a bit dubious after fumbling through the set up process, but the results were impressive. Admittedly, there was some user error involved getting the goggles to sync with my phone. After a few failed attempts and some internet searching, I discovered “location” needed to be activated on my phone for the sync to work. I also didn’t realize that features, such as the workouts, requires a premium subscription. Almost everything requires a subscription. Even so, there are still plenty of cool features for a newbie like me to explore.

After figuring out the setup I headed to the pool. I wasn’t sure what to expect toggling through the goggle’s options before landing on “open swim”. This is basically the only option available without a subscription. I started going through the same warm up I’ve been doing for about 10 years. Before the goggles I suspected my times were slower. The goggles confirmed that I’m about three minutes slower. For swimmers, a few seconds can be a big difference so three minutes is huge.

My warm up is 20 laps. I alternate between front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke. While swimming, the goggles projected the total time and distance by default. I felt vaguely disappointed that I didn’t have more details during the swim. However, once the swim synced with my phone everything changed. Somehow the goggles accurately detected when I changed strokes and calculated a whole bunch of information about them. The results surprised me. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be so accurate.

The stroke statistics offered measurements on the time spent at each stroke, the distance per stroke, and a few other things. They also measure something called “SWOLF” which is a combination of the time and number of strokes. Below are some examples of the statistics from my second swim. There was some user error on my first swim and a few things didn’t record correctly.

I haven’t figured out what everything means yet. I also haven’t figured out if having the stats will affect my relationship with swimming. For the moment I’m enjoying the new perspective, which is definitely giving me some new energy after 25+ years of lap swimming. This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite gifts.

True Confessions

Taking the Plunge

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After resisting all kinds of tempting offers to track anything, and everything, about my body, I finally caved. I have to confess seeing a pair of Form 1 Augmented Reality Smart swim goggles won me over. As an avid swimmer for over 20 years, the appeal to see swim metrics in real-time while I’m swimming was too hard to resist. The discovery of these magical goggles also coincided with a few key events. I’m overdue for a new pair of goggles. The coating on my current pair is chipping and peeling off. A very nice black-friday discount sweetened the deal and pushed me over.

Admittedly, they are not yet close to the Augmented Reality (AR) goggles I dreamed of ages ago. My fantasy (AR) goggles allow me to swim in any setting I choose. In this way I could magically transform the boring and somewhat dreary indoor pool to something fantastical like the Galapagos Islands, Great Barrier Reef, or Antarctica. One of the things I enjoy most swimming in open waters is the incredible scenery, including the way the sunbeams dance and sparkle in the water or create cool rippling patterns on the sand beneath me. My fantasy AR goggles made a cameo appearance in this year’s installment of technombie.

Even though these goggles won’t transport me to distant waters, they do have some pretty magical features all on their own. The Form 1 goggles provide me with metrics about my swimming. In my early years of swimming, I used to calculate these kinds of things in my head to stave off the tedium of doing laps. Now, much slower in math and swimming, I feel good about being able to finish my sets. However, I have no clue about the basic elements of my strokes. Since I rarely take lessons and often swim solo, the goggles can offer me valuable insights for self-improvement.

At a minimum they track time spent swimming, distance covered, pace, stroke rate, stroke count, calories burned and distance per stroke. However, spending a little extra for a subscription offers workouts and tips, no doubt fueled by an AI coach. The display appears on one of the goggles eyes. For starters, I’m going with the base package. I’ll need time to figure out the settings and find my pace!

Stay tuned for results from the first swim session.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

The Plight of Punctuality

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When I lived in NYC, punctuality was essential. Everything, and everybody, there was competitive. Somebody else might win your spot if you weren’t on time. Or you might be perceived as unreliable and not get a call back. Time is valuable to me. I assume it’s also valuable to others. Therefore I do my best to be on time.

With the introduction of the smart phone, I’ve noticed punctuality standards slipping. This applies to both my own standards and those of others. Before the smart phone, being late meant waiting, wondering, and worrying for the other person. Getting in touch could be challenging. Finding a pay phone (and the right change!) to call someone for an update or check messages remotely was difficult. Options were few.

Now that almost everyone has a smart phone, we have a way to get in touch. A quick message to explain you’re running late, but will be there. Map apps can give accurate ETAs. Maybe some of us feel assured that if we leave someone waiting they can entertain themselves with their phone, thereby absolving some of our own bad feelings about being late and making someone wait.

However, none of this is a substitute for learning the skill of being punctual. Though some people might not realize there’s a lot of planning involved to make it somewhere on time, or even a bit early. It teaches valuable skill building in time management while encouraging a healthy respect for one’s schedule, but also others.

In most social situations, I find I’ve adapted by planning buffers. Or making plans where it doesn’t matter if people are right on time or rolling in later. Although when there is a timed event, such as tickets to something, it can feel daunting to have everyone arrive on time. It also seems that another adaptation is for people to relax their standards about being on time. After all, the smart phone is there to message and save the day.

Is being on time an old-fashioned skill, soon to lose against instant, dynamic, right-now culture? Or is there still time for us to slow down, respect time commitments, and rely on ourselves to get there on time instead of messaging “running late”?

Productivity

Orthotic Advancements

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Last week I got fitted for a new pair of orthotics. I haven’t had a new pair in about 10 years. When I got my first pair, around 2011, the experience was very different. I remember stepping on some kind of squishy, memory foam pad to create an imprint of each foot. Presumably a technician filled the imprints to create the mold of the orthotics. I honestly didn’t think much about it at the time. Though I did have some problems with the first couple of sets and had to repeat the process at least three times before I got a decent pair. This is likely why I haven’t gone back for a new pair in so long.

Flash forward into the future. This time, the chiropodist took a few pictures of my feet. I had to stand still while she moved her tablet around at different angles to get the right images. She took photos from the front, sides, and back. At the end, I kneeled on the exam table with one foot propped up, then the other, so she could image the underside. Based on the 2D images, the app created a 3D rendering of my feet that will be used to make the new pair of orthotics. It would be super neat if the orthotics printed in 3D based on the renderings.

I enjoyed several things about this experience. First of all, the chiropodist took images of my feet. This was more enjoyable than stepping on something squishy and weird feeling. The new, modern approach generates less waste. I’m guessing after the previous companies completed my orthotics, they tossed out the foam imprints. I felt confident about the handling of the images. The images attached directly to my electronic patient file (hopefully) eliminating mix-up errors.

On the flip side, the new technology advancements don’t seem to have brought the price down. Though I don’t know for sure, I’m guessing there’s still a considerable amount of skill, experience, and effort required by a human to make the orthotics properly. Naturally, the materials also cost money.

I’m excited to get the new pair to compare how they fit and the comfort level with the new, modern method of creation. Maybe in 10 years, when I get my next pair, the process will be even more modern. I’ll have images taken at the appointment and orthotics printed before I leave.

Human Archives, True Confessions

Royal (Icing) Pain in the A**

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This past weekend I decided to decorate cookies for a fun activity. I ordered cookie dough ready made from a bakery I like. They included a packet of merengue powder, a link to an instructional blog post for royal icing, and 8 piping bags. Luckily the baker was there at pickup. I asked her lots of questions which definitely helped me through some of the tougher moments.

My first challenge, aside from my non-existent baking skills, was I didn’t have a go-to person lined up. Though I didn’t realize this until things took a turn in the process filling the first piping bag. Attempting to stuff a thickish, sweetly sick-looking pink goo into the bag I had a hunch something was amiss. But what? No blog post, or instructional video, covered this exact scenario. I needed a human to guide me through. I would also add that getting to this point hadn’t been easy.

First of all, I had no idea about how far in advance I could make the royal icing. It didn’t seem like a last minute task. I was definitely right about that because it took me 1.5 hours to make 3 colors and fill 8 small piping bags. Secondly, I only had a whisk attachment for mixing. Though some instructions covered hand mixing the first part, it seemed only a proper mixer could do the second part. If you have not had the joy of making royal icing, it’s thick and gooey. All my whisker attachment did was spin helplessly around an unmovable mass of dense, clotted sugar spraying tiny chunks of icing everywhere.

I persevered and figured out most of the challenging parts by the third piping bag. Initially, the consistency had been too thick. Not that I had any clue what the ideal consistency should look like. In my mind, this is information you get from a person, i.e., somebody with experience and skills. After some sticky errors, I figured out how to hold the piping bag to load it.

I’m not sure what possessed me to do (mostly) everything from scratch instead of buying ready-made icing. However, throughout the whole frustrating process, the real challenge is how we rely on connecting via disconnected methods. We lose wisdom in the process. I’ve learned all my best cooking tips from being in the kitchen helping and connecting with one another.

Digital Photos

Aggregating Digital Photos

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One of the my biggest challenges with digital photos is aggregating them. This doesn’t even include time spent to review, delete, and organize. I recently went on a 3-week trip to India (trip posts coming soon!). Even from that short trip I have photos in at least four distinct places. Naturally I have photos on my phone. However, this also includes photos sent to me through social media from other people. Although all of them reside on my phone, they are not all stored in same place. We also took the digital camera, which has at least 300 photos we haven’t even looked at yet. And then there are the photos stored on other people’s devices when my camera or phone wasn’t readily available. In other words, aggregating is going to be a project.

A friend of mine recently showed me a beautiful photo album she made through Shutterfly. I’ve also made several albums with the same company, but I was curious to hear about her experiences. Without any prompts from me, she thought finding and aggregating all the photos from disparate sources was the hardest part. She worked on the scrapbook over a period of months, diligently chipping away at it. The photos, she explained, came from phones, email attachments, other people, etc. In other words, finding and accessing the pictures was almost a separate project. Then came the hard task of selecting which ones to include in the photo album. After that is creating the actual album. It’s almost like three mini-projects to produce one thing!

However, there are technological conveniences to make some tasks easier. For example, Shutterfly will place your aggregated photos into an album. Although you do have to be mindful if you want photos arranged chronologically. Sometimes moving photos from one place (device) to another, results with the move date rather than the create date. In some cases, this can be a significant difference. Though I have yet to explore the apps, I know there are some available to clean up photo collections. This will deduplicate photos. Some of the apps can also organize photos based on location, faces, or objects.

While there are some ways to make it easier, I still find aggregating the photos I want for my albums the most tedious part of the process. So far I haven’t found any good ways to make this faster.