Spending those ten thousand steps

Body

Wrapping up my week's theme of "diversity", with posts on a diverse set of topics,today I will suggest ways to spendyour time while you are walking 10,000 steps per day, as recommended by the authorsof the book "You: On a Diet".

(If you thought this was about the 10,000 steps it might take to implement a storage solution, you should switch over to IBM as your storage vendor. For example, the DS3200 and DS3400 can beimplemented in as little as SIX steps. That's pretty cool.)

Blogs like Lifehacker are an excellent resource for neat littletips and tricks to help you throughout your day, like how to use your iPod, cell phone or computer better, for example. These suggestions are based on the idea that you can walk your 10,000 steps with access to an iPod and cell phone.

Learning a language

... or refreshing yourself on a language you might not have spoken in a while. In addition to formal audio-based lessons from Pimsleur, there are podcasts you can get for various languages. In preparation for my upcoming trip to Japan and China, I have been listening to JapanesePod101.com and ChinesePod.com which have quick lessons that complement the formal training.This Lifehacker postindicates there are similar ones for French, Spanish, Italian, and Brazillian Portuguese.

 

Practicing your presentation

Walking while practicing your 30-60 minute presentation would be good exercise.MicroPersuasion explains how to turn your iPod into the ultimate PowerPoint accessory, and this article in PlayListmag.com providesthe steps to get a PowerPoint presentation onto your iPod. I did this, and the slides are found underPhotos->Photo Library. The images are small, but heck, they are your charts and you should recognize themwell enough to remind yourself what to say on each slide.Also, I am able to record my practice sessions using MP3 Recorder and listen as I page through each slide. (In theory, you can use your iPod to present your slides to your audience, plugging the iPod directly into the laptop projector, instead of a laptop, using cables available at your local Apple store, and use the iPod controls as your forward/backward remote.)

 

Working your To-Do list

You can download your to-do list to your iPod. I use BackPackIt from 37 Signals. You can sign up for a free account, or upgrade to a paid account, and have anamazingly simple browser-based tool to develop your to-do lists, one for each project or aspect of your life. Oncedone, the list can be emailed to you as plain text. Enable your iPod as an "external disk drive" and copy this text file to your NOTES directory on the iPod drive. Voila! You can now read your to-do list! (I could also send it to my cell phone, using aaaxxxyyyy@tmomail.net, but I find the iPod easier to read and navigate)

Think of something to add? Send an email from your cell phone. With BackPackit, I can send an email that will directly add my text as a note or todo list item. On my phone, this is simply sending a text message to "500" with text like:

"myname@myaccount.com todo # buy bread".

The hash mark (#) separates the subject line from the body of the email, and this is how Backpackit knows its a todo item or a note. If you pre-program the huge email address in advance on your phone, then it isn't as bad as it looks. It will be on your packpackit page the next time you log in.

Well, that's three suggestions. The next time you complain that there is no time to walk, you now have no excuse.

technorati tags: walking, LifeHacker, MicroPersuasion, IBM, DS3200, DS3400, PowerPoint, iPod, Backpackit, tmomail