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As long as I'm entering everything I eat, and all of my exercise, I become more aware of my daily activities, and that alone is a powerful thing.

I wasn't perfect this week...I snacked more than I should have, and I've indulged in a nightly martini on a regular basis. But overall, my behavior has been a lot healthier this week, and I'm hoping I can keep that up.

If you're an iPhone user, and want to friend me on LoseIt.com, or become part of my "street team" on Runkeeper.com, I'd love to have you join me!

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At last week's social computing symposium, I saw a lot of really wonderful projects that used visualization of "hidden" data to shape behavior. Most of it was urban and/or architectural, but it got me thinking about how I could better track and visualize data that's important to me personally.

Today, I started using one of my favorite free iPhone apps again--LoseIt. I liked it before, when it was only on my phone--it's a relatively friction-free way to track daily exercise and caloric intake. But they've improved it now by adding great visualizations on their website. I can see daily and weekly summaries of my activity, progress towards my goals, charts showing my favorite foods (and the ones that I'm getting the most calories from), and more. They've also incorporated a social component, so that I can track my progress against that of one or more friends (Weez, you need to sign up :).

Because I'm going to be getting most of my exercise by trying to take the dog for more walks and runs around the neighborhood, I also wanted to find a way to track that activity. I thought about the Nike+ system, but it won't work with my iPhone 3G, which is annoying. Then I considered a Fitbit, which I'd seen Caterina tweet about, but they're not shipping for another month. Finally, I took a look at Runkeeper, an iPhone app that tracks your location via GPS, and calculates your speed and distance. I'm starting with the free version of the app tomorrow to see how it works for me, but I've seen people in my Facebook feed reporting their runs using it, and the reviews seem good.

Now I find myself coveting the Withings WiFi Body Scale, which does the same thing for weight and BMI--transmitting the data wirelessly from the scale to the server, and from there back to your iPhone/iPod. I think that if I stick with the other tools between now and April, I'll ask for that for my birthday :)

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(rod.davenport on Jan 19, 2010 8:18 PM) Just picked up a Withings scale over the weekend. Am only on the 4th day of use so I can't provide a deep comment but early indications are good. Scale works well; the wifi and iPhone integration is smooth. Now I just need to get back into my regular gym schedule (and away from my Holiday Gluttony) and watch the weight melt away ;)

(Liz Lawley on Jan 22, 2010 10:04 PM) Yeah, I'm starting to covet one in a big way. My birthday is only 3 months away, so if I stay on track with my weight loss efforts, I think that would be a perfect gift. :)

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(The lists aren't in order of importance; some are random, some are chronological.)

Ten Wonderful Places I Visited

1. Featherdale Wildlife Park
2. Shanghai
3. Tokyo
4. Dubai
5. Vienna
6. Lucerne
7. Yellowstone Park
8. Mount Rainier
9. Mount Pilatus
10. House on the Rock

Ten Games I Spent Too Much Time Playing

1. World of Warcraft (PC)
2. Katamari Damacy (PS2)
3. Dance Dance Revolution (PS2)
4. Animal Crossing (GameCube)
5. Sudoku (web, iPhone)
6. Solitaire (iPhone)
7. Bejeweled (PC, iPhone)
8. Snood (PC)
9. Zuma (PC)
10. JewelQuest II (PC)

Ten Life-Changing Events

(I'm focusing on personal events rather than world events, which is why 9/11 doesn't appear on the list...)

1. Gaining Weez as a friend (2001)
2. Starting my blog (2002)
3. Acknowledging my depression publicly (2003)
4. Getting tenure (2003)
5. Being asked to speak at Supernova (2003)
6. Getting invited to the first Social Computing Symposium (2004)
7. Going to my first Al-Anon meeting (2004)
8. The death of my first husband, Dave Tudder (2004)
9. Spending a year at Microsoft Research (2005)
10. Playing WoW with an amazing group of colleagues and friends (2005)

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(kellyinkansas on Jan 3, 2010 7:33 PM) Thanks for sharing, Liz. Happy New Year!

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please don't make me too happy
because if you do
my songwriting will suffer
from the bliss you put me through

I think perhaps that's at the root of my drop-off in blogging. I'm just too damn happy. Life is good, and I spend a lot of time just savoring it. Which makes me...well...boring. I don't go out a lot, because I prefer being at home. I don't blog a lot, because I'm not dealing with many problems or challenges that I feel I need to work out publicly or get input on.

I know, that's a lousy excuse. And it hasn't stopped me from twittering, or posting to Facebook. But both of those are really just about lighthearted, newsy updates. What am I thinking right this minute, what did I just read that's worth sharing with others?

I think I'd like to try to find a way to get my blogging mojo back without the angst that originally fueled it. I'll be working on that over the next couple of months, so perhaps you'll see an increase in posts (if you're even bothering to follow the blog any more!).

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(Frank Pape on Dec 13, 2009 10:08 PM) Meh, I'd rather see you less frequently in the RSS feed, knowing that you're happy and well someplace else! Best wishes, Liz.

(Ted on Dec 13, 2009 11:23 PM) That's a great reason for not posting. I must say from my own experience that I don't think you'll actually start posting more. Sometimes life just changes and you move on to other things...

(walt crawford on Dec 14, 2009 11:26 AM) I'd guess most of us follow you via RSS, so infrequent posts are still "Hey, Liz has something to say" and welcome. OTOH, having completed another study of library-related blogs, I must note that "I'm going to do more blogging" posts after absences seem to be kisses of death for too many bloggers--they're never heard from again. (Not always, but often.) Hope that doesn't happen in this case.

(phoenix on Dec 20, 2009 5:36 PM) Would much rather you be happy than posting brilliantly! May your joy continue and multiply throughout the coming new year!!