Gadget Geek

Today, as Diesel and I headed out for our walk I found myself doing things, that 5 years ago, I never would have thought to do.

I pulled out my phone just about as soon as Diesel was attached to his leash, turned on the GPS function and started the Noom app.  This application on my phone then started recording my time, distance, speed and kept a map of the route I had begun. Soon after that, I found myself checking into Foursquare to reclaim my title as "mayor" of the Clinton River Trail. As the check-in was posted to Twitter, I informed my followers that I would be posting a new blog soon using the hashtag, #DieselStomping.  Along our walking route I snapped a few photos of the sunset.  All the while, the little voice from Noom reminding me that I had to step it up if I wanted to make it all 3 miles in under an hour. WTH?


Yes, this is what gadget geeks like me do.  There used to be a time when we valued and protected our privacy, but things have changed with my generation and younger. A friend and I were talking about the use of Foursquare one day and about how when we had first discovered the App, we were checking in everywhere we went. The gas station, the gym, the grocery store, the gastroenterologist. Everywhere. So for a lot of people the allure to check in was lost. The whole purpose of the app when it first was created was to make a game out of going out. And by "going out", I mean hitting the night clubs, bars and other cool-to-be-scene-at places, the person with the most points wins and is thereby considered "the coolest."  My friend went on to say that he now views the check-in process as more an advertising tool.  We are essentially selling ourselves to our friends, family, and strangers.  By checking into new, cool, or unusual places we are telling people "Hey, look at what I am doing, I like it, and I hereby endorse it."  I completely agree.  I have started checking into places again, when I think its something that people will find interesting. I hope.

And then of course there is Facebook and Twitter.  I enjoy both of those applications for different reasons.  I like that I can keep up with my friends, family and favorite celebrities (I must know what Wil Wheaton is up to, something funny could happen!) Plus, I like that I can shamelessly plug my blog to all those same people and hope that they start reading. That reminds me, I also have a Google+ account but I really haven't gotten into that one yet.

While we were out on our walk today, we were passed by a guy on a bike that had a camera mounted to his handlebars and he was capturing video of his ride down the trail and that got me thinking about what other gadgets are fun to have while out on a walk/ride.  I used to carry my iPod, still do occasionally, but sometimes I use the Pandora app on my phone for music instead.  I have thought about figuring out a way to carry and record using my Flip camera during a walk, but it would be better suited to a bike ride as I have a tripod I could use to mount it.  And speaking of going on bike rides, I recently impulse purchased a Bike Computer made by Schwinn to record my speed and distance.  I'm pretty sure my Noom app could have handled that, but what can I say, it looked neat.  And I have to be honest, one of the reasons I joined Burn Fitness was because I could plug my iPod and a jumpdrive into the cardio machines.

Something I would love to own one day, and totally do not need to spend the money on, would be this: The DogTek Eyenimal Videocam for Pets. If I had the $100 bucks to spare on something I would probably only use once or twice, this would be it.  I would be so interested in seeing what Diesel sees for 8 hours while Mikey and I are away at work. Oh, and capturing the trail from his view, that would be all over YouTube in a heartbeat. Chances are though, I would end up catching 8 hours of the dirt spot near the fence where Diesel is usually laying when we get home. But, you never really know until you get one! For anyone that is reading, this is now on my Birthday/Christmas list.

So that's my nerd list of gadgetry I bring with me and wish I could bring with me.  What kinds of gadgets, apps or toys do you bring on your walks?

A Long Walk

Yesterday was a day off from work for me and it should have been for Mikey too but he ended up having to work.  After running some errands in the morning, I decided that the weather would be perfect for walking up to the park with Diesel.

I gathered up our usual necessities; water, bowl, sunblock, sunglasses and put them all in my little backpack and Diesel and I proceeded on down the road.  I don't think Diesel and I have many walks together where we don't talk with at least one person while we're out and about.  And sure enough, we hadn't even made it to the CRT yet when we were stopped by a fellow neighbor who had recognized us from walks the previous summer.  We stopped and chatted for a bit, and he offered to trade Diesel for his dog.  Poor thing!  We eventually got back to walking again and made it down to the trail.

New flowers behind the Dentist office along the trail

Along the Clinton River Trail we passed quite a few more people, surprising since it was noon on a Friday.  I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it would be a great day to have off of work.  We made a brief stop to get some water, but then we were right back on our way again.

We made it downtown and headed over to Riverside Park.  For 1) I thought it would be nice to sit and enjoy the river for a bit and 2) I really had to use the restroom!  Again I have to mention how awesome Diesel's new leash is, when we made it over to the restrooms, I was able to just clip Diesel's leash around a close tree and I didn't have to worry about him getting away. Not that I really think he would go anywhere...  Another thing that was refreshingly nice was that the bathrooms at Riverside have really improved since I was a kid.  I haven't had to stop in there much over the years, but it was nice to see that they had changed out all of the manual facilities with those handy automatic sensors.  And they have replaced the paper towel with one of those high-powered hand dryers.  The place was exceptionally clean.  It's a restroom I won't be afraid to use in future.

Auburn Hills Riverside Park

After our bathroom visit we headed on back down to the riverside and chose a nice shady spot to sit and chill for a bit.  There were a few people in the park that day enjoying their lunch or reading a book.  Not too many kids at that point, no one on the playground equipment.  The river was running pretty low and slow on this day, we haven't had much rain since last weekend.  The ducks seemed to enjoy its lazy pace for a change.  However this completely bored Diesel. He was ready to walk again, but where would we go from here? As we made our way back out of the park it was nice to see a small group of seniors from the local American House were settling in to have a picnic.

We exited the park on Squirrel Rd and headed north.  My sister lives on that end of town and maybe she would wank to take her dog for a walk in the nicely shaded River Walk Park across the way.  We made our way over to her house and stopped for some water. Unfortunately, she had a hair appointment in a few minutes and wouldn't be able to go.  We had a nice visit anyway and said we'd try to plan the next one better.

After refreshing for a bit, Diesel and I made our way back to Squirrel.  It was starting to get quite a bit warmer now, and the look on Diesel's face made it clear that we should head back home.  We crossed the street and entered River Walk Park.  It's a little known fact that you can walk the trails all the way through the park and end up in the Adams Ridge Sub.  That's a nice little shortcut back to the trail and then back on home again.

The boardwalk at River Walk Park - Auburn Hills

We were gone for about 2 hours and managed to cover about 4.5 miles.  Not bad on a pretty warm day.  I took quite a few photos and have started posting all of my pictures to Picasa.  Now my most recent photos will be displayed along the bottom of this blog, along with a link to view the gallery all together.

As always I welcome your feedback!  Feel free to follow @DieselStomping on twitter.  Also, feel free to leave comments, let me know what you would like to see in future posts.  Diesel and I are always looking to see new places, meet new people and participate in what ever we can!  If you like us, share us with your friends and family who may be interested too!

Sunny & Breezy!

First, Diesel and I would like to thank the Rochester Patch website for featuring our blog occasionally.  I have been granted access to blog for the site, but I haven't yet decided if I should move over there or stay here.  I sort of like the control I have here, though it could open me up to a larger audience.

Today, Diesel and I had the most perfect weather for walking.  Partly cloudy with a fantastic breeze. Okay, maybe more windy than breezy, but it still felt great!  Temperatures were in the 70's which made it perfect for some shorts and a t-shirt.  Usually I don't go for walks much before 6 o'clock, but today I had an appointment at 7 I couldn't miss.  This meant getting out on the road at 5 and having to deal with the traffic. Yuck.  Thankfully the worst of it was crossing Auburn to get to the CRT after that we stayed on the trail for most of our walk.

View of downtown Auburn Hills facing West

After walking down the CRT, we cut through beautiful downtown Auburn Hills.  I love the way the streets are lined with the old fashioned light poles and flowers hang from baskets and are planted in stone gardens along the street. Add in the brick accents on the street and the new building fronts, downtown Auburn Hills is starting to look exceptionally nice.

Once we got back on the trail we continued west while enjoying the seclusion from the road.  We passed quite a few people and made some new friends as they stopped to pet Diesel.  He sure is a handsome dog and are frequently told so!


Unfortunate for us, I remembered to take a peek at the time and realized we had only a half hour to make it home and had already walked for an hour.  We got to stepping and raced home without taking too many unnecessary stops.  We were forced to take a short-cut and follow Auburn road home, but that wasn't to horrible as the traffic has started to mellow out by then.  Our complete walk took us an hour and a half and was almost 4 and half miles round trip.

Our walk today (image provided by Gmaps Pedometer)

And one last thing, I recently created a twitter account for the Diesel Stomping blog so that we can live tweet any pictures or events that may be happening while we are walking but before I have a chance to write.  Tweets will appear on the right-hand side of this page, or you can follow us by clicking here.