Where In The World is Ken?

Cold. Will add snow.

Ken Snyder — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:58:57 +0000

The weather has been unseasonably cold in Europe since the end of Jan. The UK has been no exception although probably not nearly as bad as other continental locations. While I suspect no one is a fan of cold weather, one of the side effects is the possibility of snow which tends to get a warmer reception. With that intro, I’m pleased to announce we have some of the white stuff. Not only do we have it but it’s actually stuck around for several days; typically it melts almost as quickly as it falls.

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Getting My New Years Shit Together

Ken Snyder — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:56:39 +0000

I try a lot of different software for running because I like to see what’s out there but the downside is that the data is a bit scattered around. Today I decided to move it all into RunKeeper and to my surprise (not shocking surprise) I had a big drop-off in running miles in January (the right most month) rather than the nice trend line I was building into in 2011. Now that is partially due to throwing my back out for a week but it must also be said that my rigour of 2011 is not quite as strong, I don’t feel quite the same purpose, I probably feel a little too content with my weight loss already achieved.

Well this is just a post to say … no more. Watch out February. Admittedly the first week has only one run in it (8.5miles) and there are only 28 days in it (where’s leap day when you need it). Still, no excuses, I’m going to blow it out from here onward.

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Nike joins the accelerometer party

Ken Snyder — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:27:39 +0000

Nike is now sporting a functional equivalent to the FitBit. Well maybe it’s a superset and one would hope it is at 50% price premium ($150 suggested retail price in the USA). On the surface it’s benefits seem to be:

Network connectivity via bluetooth; which really means it talks to your phone versus a base station; a really nice twist if you ask me
The feel good factor of it being Nike (not a company that runs the risk of going out of business)
Possibly that the instrumentation that Nike provides is better; this will be subjective and I haven’t seen Nike’s yet so no opinion here

Aesthetically, however, I think it does quite well. The FitBit is a charmer too but this one might look even nicer. That said, my experience with wrist based sensors (e.g., the UP) has been that this is NOT the ideal location for sensors. It interferes with typing on a keyboard, it can compete with your watch for space, etc. This may turn out to be a matter of personal preference but my suspicion is that others will experience this too. Remember, this kind of device works when you wear it ALL THE TIME, not just when you’re out exercising.

One last thought … the attached article makes a point that Nike’s stock went through the roof right before the press release. That’s interesting. I think all of us who are plugged into quantified self related matters see that there is growing excitement about personal data and it’s no surprise that Nike would want to be part of that as they’ve led from the athletics standpoint for years. What is a little surprising to me is how much this has been marketed by Nike and how much the marketplace is ready to respond to this message. For people doing business in this space it’s probably good news but it does smell like a little bubble is developing too. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as bubbles almost always leave new capabilities in their wake.

Nike’s FuelBand: Game Changer or Slickly Marketed $150 Monitor?.

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Survey | The Magnesium Effect

Ken Snyder — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:57:06 +0000

I have personally found Magnesium to be a great tool in getting better sleep although I believe a more common use is to help get more sleep. In any event, I thought it would be interesting to hear from the community IF and HOW they use Magnesium. The survey will only take 5 minutes if you can spare the time (and less than a minute if you’ve not tried Magnesium):

The Magnesium Effect

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WhenIsGood looks good

Ken Snyder — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:59:52 +0000

On first blush this little tool looks like a pretty effective way to coordinate a good meeting time between people (especially cross-company): WhenIsGood.

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Weight and Body Fat at Odds?

Ken Snyder — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:01:10 +0000

Was noticing that my weight over the past month has been slowly decreasing but at the same time my (reported) body fat has increased. What up? During this period I would say I have been spending more time at the gym with weights so if anything I’d expect more lean mass; I have a hard time believing I’m loosing lean mass. Anyway, I have no answer to this so open to any suggestions. It may just be that body fat measurements aren’t that great in the short term but a month is longer than just “short term”.

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New Years 2011

Ken Snyder — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:56:57 +0000

New Years was spent at home with friends this year. I have to say I greatly prefer this to some noisy club or waiting for a “ball to drop” on crowded streets. Here are the pictures from the evening:

Kabuki

Deige and Kabuki

Deige
Bubbly

Dinner Prep

Hot Peppers
Pork … Yum

Ken and Oscar

Ken
Ken and Oscar

Bex and Kabuki

Desert
Deige

Scott

Bex and Kabuki
Bex and Kabuki

Kabuki

Deige
Kabuki

Bex

By the Fire

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Christmas 2011

Ken Snyder — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:19:53 +0000

We’re back in London for the new year, the jetlag is (mildly) fading and I figured it was about time to post the Christmas pictures from Connecticut. As is always the case, certain moments were experienced without camera in hand and as an unfortunate consequence some people whom I really enjoyed seeing didn’t make it into the album (Dylan, Anduin, John, David, and Sarah immediately come to mind). Oh well, what can you do?

All the pictures (and more) are available in their full resolution, downloadable versions on my SmugMug site: http://kensnyder.smugmug.com/.

Bird at the Feeder

Duet

Katie plays Violin

Half Marathon

Christmas Candles

Coloured Stars

Christmas Tree

Rand in the Kitchen

Doug in the Kitchen

Mary

Deep Thoughts by Katie Snyder

Katie

Kabuki Relaxing with Music

Doug

Katie plays Violin

Kate in the

Kathy in the

Brad in the

Matt at the Bar

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The Mattcave (in B&W)

Ken Snyder — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:56:36 +0000

Sometimes B&W is a better medium than colour and when you’re drinking near a pool table and American football is playing in the background you should at least consider the B&W option. With that preamble, here’s the Mattcave pictures again but this time with less colour and more character:

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In the Mattcave

Ken Snyder — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:07:15 +0000

We got together at Matt and Kathy’s house with Brad and Kate for a holiday get together. First time I’ve seen the “Matt cave” … full bar, pool table, wall sized television … very nice.

Here are a few pictures from last night:

Happy holidays folks and best of luck in the new year.

- wise words from ken.net