As a late gift to myself for Christmas ((and to see if I would actually make use of something like a Fitbit)), I bought myself a clearance pedometer from REI just before the end of the year. It arrived the friday before new year, and since then I’ve been using it extensively (6 days now, woo). I can say, it works. It’s pretty no-frills, but you can pretty much wear it anywhere (I have it in my jeans coin-pocket), and it seems to keep good track. It auto resets at midnight, but keeps the previous 7 days of logs.
The only weird thing about it is there’s really no guide for setting for gait. I found a useful page online that details several methods, which I just used the equations:
Males: Height (in inches) * .415
Females: Height (in inches) * .413
And, being the stats junky I am, I have created a DB table, and a simple form for me to input my daily distances. I hope to keep up on this, but we shall see. You can see that info next to my energy usage, and Prius mileage.
All and all, it’s a good product. I probably wouldn’t have paid the retail $50 (actually, definitely wouldn’t have), but for $18, it’s a great deal for a pretty solid pedometer.
[xrr rating=4.75/5]
Since buying our house, we’ve wanted to install track lighting in a few areas of our house, and it’s become more of an interest since my wife has been producing paintings, and photography. So when a local hardware store had a 12″ flexible track lighting pack on sale for half off, we picked it up and brought it home. This was a line voltage pack that used GU10 halogen bulbs. It’s not made anymore, so buying extra fixtures is something we’re having to wait for until the hardware store sells out their stock, and will part with their display unit. Install was kind of a pain on the 12 foot ceilings, and since it’s line voltage, the track is a bit stiff (it has what seems to be 14 gauge wire embedded in the flexible track). If we’d had more than one ladder, it would have been easier since one person could hold an end of the track while the other secures an anchor. As it was, I had to do all the anchors, then put up the track, then move two anchors. If you’re doing it yourself, USE wall anchors. Unless you hit a stud, the ceiling is not sturdy enough to hold the support in place once it’s holding the track. All and all, it went up well, and works well. At first I bought LED lights, but at 3050K, they’re a bit too “white”. I’m still looking for 2700K LEDs. What’s worked well otherwise are the Ikea GU10 florescent lights. They take about 100 seconds to warm up, but they’re nice and warm color temp wise. So, 120v track lighting, I’d give:
Then, we realize we want track lighting in the hallway. So, we pick up one that’s on sale that’s 
While at the coast a few months ago, I stopped by a Radio Shack and picked up a 22-812 Multimeter for the incredible price of $50 (the RS website doesn’t even list the unit anymore, and the local RS’s have it for $69-79 depending on the display). The unit appears to be out of production (may not be the case), which is a shame since finding a Multimeter with these features, plus a computer interface is nearly impossible for under $150 anywhere else. I’ve had the meter for a few months now, and it seems fairly solid, with a few complaints.