chuckography

I'm really wired....

So, I have a neat little exercise room downstairs in my dad's old workshop.

His huge shop fan is pushed in front of the open double doors to suck in a torrent of cooling wind when I am doing my 3x or 4x a week exercise routines.

The shop is not air-conditioned and summer temps make it a challenge to head down there.

Lots of sweat as I do about an hour of strenuous routines on the machines.

I am really serious about my diet, my weight and muscle tone.

My doctor was concerned about a slight rise in my blood sugar and sent me to see a dietician, a delightful nurse at East Cooper Hospital.

She explained I could continue to eat most of my favorite foods but less frequently and in smaller portions.

Well, there is more to it than that.

The new emphasis is on fruits and vegetables. "good" fats, protein and  less "empty calories."

Fortunately, I had several cans of salmon which are high in what I need and I enjoy making a spinach salad with a boiled egg and chopped tomatoes.

My "gym" is set up so I can stream Netflix and Amazon Prime movies to watch on a tv monitor as I do 30-minutes on the treadmill.

I don't "run" but do a steady walk at 3 mph for a half hour.

I can gradually increase the "incline" of the machine to add more stimulation and actually spend a shorter time walking.

The images on the tv make the time pass faster and I recently signed up again to have Netflix send me several DVDs a month.

 These would add some of the newer action films, ideal for exercise time.

BUT, I did not set up a VCR to watch them.

I had a small screen DVD/CD player and tried using it. but "small" was not a great solution.

AHAH! My laptop has a nice size screen but was a low-end machine and lacked a built-in  DVD player.

A quick trip to Wal-Mart and I came home with what I thought was an external DVD player.

Hmmm, it seemed to be missing a connecting cable.

Rather than going out again to buy a cable with a USB on each end, I rummaged through an old - but massive - collection of cables and connectors I had stored downstairs.

Wow, there were cables here not needed for over a decade.

All had been bought when required but later assigned to the rubbish bin.

Well, actually in an old piece of soft luggage.

I pulled up a chair and started untangling cords and putting similar ones in small stacks.

Amazing how many different power sources had accumulated.

I found some that were difficult to even recall what they powered!

Well, the search was not fruitful. These all were pre-USB and useless for this project.

I went online and specified I wanted an external DVD/CD player to attach to a laptop. Amazon came through with a unit that included an attached  USB cable and cost half of what I had just paid for the unit I am returning to Wal-Mart.

An interesting journey down memory lane when items changed quickly and old methods were replaced with newer versions.

Uh, that is STILL happening!

Labels: Amazon Prime. Netflix and ROKU, bike and treadmill, Butterfly chest exercise, external DVD player for a low-end laptop, HDMI, tv monitor., USB cable

posted by chuckography @ 11:12 AM