Steps - a guide to more steps

 

How many steps we walk in a day has become a “thing”. In fact, offices are having contests and worker-participants are the subject of negative gossip if they aren’t keeping up their promises. Here are some suggestions to increase your step production.

People with watches get more steps but I’m unaware of an Apple Rolex

Going through airport lose steps while phone is going through screening

Be sure your phone is on your person when on the treadmill and elliptical or you won’t get credit for steps

You get credit for doing bicycle kicks but not crunches

Always carry phone with you in the house or office. Put in back pocket but don’t forget it’s there when going to the restroom.

Take phone with you while walking in your sleep

You may get steps while marching in place sitting down

Actually the app also tracks stairs climbed. But I have figured out that you only get credit for going up stairs and not going down, which I think is unfair and I have complained to Apple.

If you take advantage of all these suggestions, and you still don’t meet your goal, there is a way to add steps without moving your feet. I leave it to you to figure it out.

 

Señor Toad’s wild bus ride

While on vacation in the Dominican Republic we took an all day tour to Samana. The tour included a 2 ½ hour bus ride each way and three ½ hour boat rides. The boat rides were great, especially when we saw a large pod of whales.

Anyway, as we started the drive, the tour guide, Papa George, told us, ‘Julio is our bus driver. He has a license and went to school to learn to drive. Five minutes later, Julio hit a cow. It was not full grown and got up and walked off the road. Papa said animals are always in the road and get hit. We worry about people on motor bikes and bad drivers.

Later in the day, we were riding in a safari truck when Papa, then driving, was careening through the mountains, passing anything he could. As we reached town, he did not slow down and BANG. We rear ended the back right side of a brand new van. Not sure what happened but there was much conversation and hand waving. Not sure if pesos changed hands but off we went again. Well at least we hadn’t hit a person.

Whew, we’re all loaded on the bus to go home, tired, sweaty, and in some cases VERY drunk. There are cars, people, pets, and scooters on the tiny streets as Julio charges through the square. Bump! Someone said the bus hit a woman. The police boarded the bus and had calm conversations. They left. We left. No problem.

Moral to the story: If you don’t want an E-ticket ride, stay safe on your all-inclusive property!

Jewels, fashion, and a little joke

Just came back from New York City courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue. Had a fun filled two days of jewelry and fashion. I tried really hard to be as upscale as the other people with me. I succeeded – well, sort of.

At dinner the first night I had a chance to meet Marc Metrick, president of Saks. He is an engaging man and has some amazing insight about how to maximize the growth of the company combining brick and mortar stores and online sales. Here’s where I may have slipped up, just a little. (I couldn’t help it.) He asked what I did. I said I was in the publishing business. As most people do, he responded, “What do you publish?” And I said, with a pause, glancing both ways before looking into his eyes and in low voice, I said, “Pornography”. He didn’t blink, just smiled. I said, “No, just kidding. I publish tax research. Kind of boring, but it pays the bills!”

I have to admit, I used the same line at Cartier and I could feel the gulp in the young woman’s throat but her smile stuck. I took the pressure off by telling the truth.

I also visited David Yurman's studio, where I saw and tried on some of the most amazing jewelry I’ve ever seen. The Yurmans, David, his wife Sybil, and son Evan were absolutely charming. Their jewelry is inspired by David’s early sculpting and Sybal’s painting. Evan is fascinated by stones and we spent quite a bit of time going over books and looking at some exquisite necklaces that he had created.

In short, it was a wonderful trip, finished off with a visit to the original Saks Fifth Avenue – 9 stories of amazing fashion and cocktails at the Rainbow room. And I will try not to use my story again, but I can’t promise.

Mere Poulard hotel: The challenge of the Mont

My daughter, granddaughter and I are doing the girls’ tour of France. Stop two was Mont San Michel, in my opinion, the most amazing place in the world. But it comes at a price!

I decided we should stay on the Mont to get the maximum benefits of not only the Abbey, but the quiet time in the morning and the amazing tidal events. So we stayed at the best hotel on the Mont: Le Mere Poulard. It’s a three star hotel. Whoever gave the stars was extremely generous.

To get there we took a train from Paris. Then we had to transfer to a bus taking us to the visitor’s center where we took a tram to the site. The tram drops you off about 1/3 of a mile through hardened sand and packed rock to the entrance.

We dragged our luggage into the site and found Mere Poulard. Whew! We checked in. Our room was on the third floor. This was a bit of a misnomer because it was on the third floor of the building up the side of the Mont, accessible by three flights of stairs, one of which was an outside narrow rock stairway. Then we went up two more flights of stairs. There is no elevator and the hotel does not have bell service. The kind desk clerk carried the two heavy pieces while we carried the rest to our room.

The room was sparse, but clean. There was very little light in the bathroom, no washcloths, and they took our dirty towels but did not leave new ones. The worst part was there was no air conditioning and it was in the low 90s. So window open! It cooled down at night to probably 75 and we listened to the noisiest seagulls you ever heard.

Undaunted we spent the next full day on a great tour of the abbey and nearby Bayeux.

I decided a taxi was in order to avoid the long trek with bags to the shuttle and bus to the train station. It was about $75 more than the bus. Well, unfortunately we were told we would have to go back via the tram and meet the taxi in the parking lot and there was nobody at the front desk in the morning to help us.

I asked, “So there is no way we can have a taxi pick us up here as we have lots of luggage and I’m elderly.” (Yup, I pulled the old card.) He replied, “No, only if you are a very special guest.” I wasn’t feeling special.

We cancelled the taxi, made it to Lyon where we stayed in a five-star hotel, Cour de Loges. This amazing place deserved 10 stars! Guess what: We didn’t have to schlep our luggage.

Suggested New Year's Resolutions

Suggested New Year’s Resolutions

People either believe in or complete discount New Year’s resolutions. I always have a resolution but I always make sure it’s achievable, like one year I decided to give up minding my own business. Another year I pledged to drink one glass of wine per day. (Notice I didn’t say ONLY one glass.) Here are some things I should resolve to do next year. What about you?

• Stop lying to the dentist about how often I floss.
• After I have finished working out on a machine at the gym I will no longer add 20 pounds to the weight before I get off so I look tougher.
• Come to a complete stop at the stop sign and avoid another California stop ticket.
• Take the dog shampoo out of the shower so I don’t accidently use it again.
• Double-check what bill I paid so I don’t send some large amount to the incorrect payee on my online bank account.
• File my 2012 and 2013 tax papers somewhere rather than have them stacked on the floor of my office.
• Learn to use my boat radio. It apparently is not used for playing music, which I discovered when my boat stopped for no reason in the middle of the harbor.
• Refrain from the eye roll when a passenger at the airport does something stupid like wear his Mr. T jewelry when going through the scanner.

I’m not sure if I will pick any of these as none are probably achievable. But I wanted to give you food for thought!

Happy New Year!

Last pleasure trip before hard work!

On the spur of the moment I decided to meet my friends in Rome. It was her birthday and she and her husband were kind enough to invite me. We had a wonderful time and I had a bloggable trip home. Here’s what happened.

I got to the airport at 5:10 AM. The cab diver drove 140 KM (about 110 MPH). I'm still alive so that's good.

I had to go to three different customs places before I got to the right one to get my VAT tax back. Here's how it works: If you are checking luggage you check your bag and bring boarding pass and luggage tags to the customs counter. I only found this out after I had visited 3 earlier customs counters.

Each is manned with one person, he/she is usually helping people who have some sort of issue that is handled with numerous shrugs and “no’s”. But I finally got mine taken care of and dropped it in the cute little mailbox.

They tried to make me check my bag in Rome and not let me carry it on. I sweetly begged and started to choke up teary-eyed and he got a supervisor so I didn't have to check.

On the flight from London to Denver, the guy in the seat next to me was a snot. The flight attendant thought we were together and gave me a customs form but not him. I called the flight attendant back and said he needed one. When she indicated one per family I said the man and I had only just met and weren't married yet. The guy grabbed his form and slammed up the window between us indicating marriage was not in our future. Grouchy pants.

But it worked out fine. They had a very fine sauvignon blanc that I indulged in prior to my nice nap across the pond.

For some reason, when I tried to check in online the site had directed me to Kenya Airlines for the Denver to LA part of the trip. In London they printed my boarding pass but when I got to Denver, it was missing info so I had to go through a number of different levels of TSA. I said nothing about Kenya or the “e” word.

When I got there I realized there was an earlier flight. No first class but I said it was okay. I ran to the flight and still had time to spare. It was a really small plane and the first class was separated with a curtain. I got a really good seat right behind first class that had more leg room than first class. At the last minute they had an open seat in first class and gave it to the last guy to get on. He was so excited and happy I didn't care. The only difference was free drink in first but I had had plenty of wine and just wanted ice water.

Anyway I got home 3 hours early which was great. Now I’m busily travelling up and down the state educating tax professionals about Obamacare!

Rental cars

I admit. I’m not the best driver. I have backed into saplings in a parking lot planter (one got stuck under the rear window washer), a giant rock, and many posts. One day my son asked me what I hit on the way to work. I looked oddly at him and asked why? He said there was a giant branch coming out of the grill in front of my car. HMMM???

I can personally attest to the fact that the Do Not Back Up – Severe Tire Damage is true! Not my fault. I was coming out of a rental car lot and there was an arm going across the driveway where the person is usually in the little house. But unfortunately the arm was broken off. There was nobody there and I went on through. The tires deflate within 20 seconds. Again, not my fault!

Well, I have just started my travel season and I picked up my rental car yesterday. I always rent the smallest, cheapest (oops, most economical) car as I just need wheels and simple is better.

But I hadn’t realized cars came so little. After going through the quickie line, I walked to my car. It was the little red roller skate of death! Tiny, but mighty. Well, not mighty.

I looked around the car for some other person’s dents and saw nothing but a giant bug of some kind stuck to the grill. I got in the car and headed away with my new dead pet bug.

On my way back to the airport, I stopped for gas at the station on the airport property. I filled the roller skate with the cheapest gas and then, guess what, before finalizing the transaction, they asked if I wanted a car wash! Are you kidding? You think I’m going to treat the rental car place with a car wash and premium gas? No, No, and No Way! So the bug is still on the grill. And it’s not my fault!

Happy travels!