The Workout for People Who Hate to Work Out

I used to exercise a lot.  Back in the day.  Before arthritis made life so painful and slow.  One of the things I looked forward to after my surgery was getting back into shape.

But I'm out of the habit of getting up at 5 o'dark and going to the gym.  And I'm self-conscious about being out of shape.  I needed something I could ease in to.

And then I found the most fun workout I've ever done.  Disguised as a game.  It's called Walk It Out and it's made for the wii.

The cover image is awful, so let's ignore that.  This is serious sweaty fun for grown-ups.  You can play alone or walk with a partner using the balance board, a dance dance revolution mat, or putting the nunchuck in your pocket.

After a brief tutorial, the game places you on a virtual island.  There are sandy beaches, forests, farms, a shopping district, suburbs, etc.  As you walk, your steps are tallied up and you can spend them to unlock new areas of the island, trees, buildings, fountains, windmills, and even an airship.

Does all that walking and clicking sound boring?  There's a catch.  You have to walk to the rhythm of the songs in the game, like "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas, and "Holiday" by Madonna.  What starts as a 10 minute stroll ends up being an hour-long workout as I try to unlock one more flower shop or cherry tree.

I can't wait to get on it every morning.  My legs, and especially my new hip have gotten so much stronger and toned up.  I selected to use mostly the slower songs, but I'm inching up the speeds.

There are active fan communities on facebook and at Amazon that offer a lot of support.  USA Today did a great review.  Do you have a wii?  This game's worth a try.

This review was not sponsored by Konami, the makers of Walk It Out.  I purchased my own copy.

I'm an Electronics Genius

"Mo-om! The wiimotes don't work!"

"The what?"

"The remotes for the wii. They stopped working!"

"Put in fresh batteries."

"We did. They still don't work! What should we do? Can you fix them?"

"I don't know. Ask your dad when he gets home. He set the whole thing up. Maybe you have to re-sync them or something. Are you sure you put in fresh batteries?"

"Yes mom, it's not like we don't know how to put in batteries! Sheesh!"

***************
Later that evening.

[husband] "Honey, I've tried everything! I've reset the system, re-synced the remotes, unplugged the tv, the wii, restarted it, reinstalled it, and called customer support where I waited on hold for them to tell me they were not available because of the 4th of July holiday. We'll just have to wait and call customer service another time. I've tried everything."

***************
One week later, I finally got around to looking into the whole remote dilemma.

[husband] "Honey, I'm home. Oh wow! You got the wii working! What did you have to do?"

[me] "You'll never believe. I was on the phone with customer service for an hour and a half. I had to take apart the wii to check something inside, then I had to go to Best Buy and get a new sensor strip to put on top of the tv. Then I had to call customer service again and do some more troubleshooting before I figured out that we needed to switch out one of these cables. I had to go to 2 different Radio Shacks to find the right kind of cable, then I had to splice it in because it didn't have the right kind of connection. . ."

[at this point, my husband had his mouth open and stopped rooting around in the refrigerator to listen to my story. He closed the refrigerator door.] "Whaa?"

[Wasabi girl, who can't stand it any longer and is giggling uncontrollably] "DADDY! Mommy's lying! All she did was put in fresh batteries!"


Yep, that's me. Electronics genius. Apparently the only one in the house who knows how to put batteries in a remote control.

Another Voyage to the Inner Sanctum of EA

Jungle Boy got to test another wii game over at Electronic Arts this morning. I love going there and seeing the nerd beehive. Sounds like it would be such a fun job, creating games, but I'm certain there's a fair amount of tediousness involved.

The campus itself is pretty cool. There is a grassy labyrinth that the kids love running through, and a lawn that looks like a full-sized soccer field. Each of the public buildings that I've been in has game stations set up in the lobby to while away the time while waiting for appointments. We moms sat back while our sons played this morning. Then when the boys were called into the secret room for the top secret testing, the moms played on Boom Blox.

He loved the game he tested, which I can't talk about, and when it was finished, he got to pick a free game to pay him for his time. He says we've got almost every single game they offer for free now. I guess we'll start collecting PC games from them next. What a deal. And I love a deal, especially when it helps me justify my own game habit.

The cartoon is just a bit of silliness. I discovered a new way to suck hours out of my day over at toonlet.com. Go check them out, if you have nothing better to do for the next few hours. They're great. In fact, one of the creators of the Sims just commented on this little cartoon I made over there. Too funny.

Haiku Wednesday IV

Needed a racket

Husband bought the whole outfit
Overkill, daddy.

************
It's called risotto
That delicious creamy rice
Not "bunch of maggots."

************
Can't stand wii "Boogie"
Daughter always sings same song;
"I'm Fergalicious!"

************
Ballet recital
"Hurry up mom! Have to change!"
Only got one shot.

How to Get Free Wii Games

We have six new free wii games in our house today.

Before last Christmas, the only game system this family had was an Atari Flashback 2.0 that I got my husband for a joke.

Then Santa brought us a wii and our lives haven't been the same.

We live near Electronic Arts, in fact my husband used to do some contract work there. A few months ago I found an ad on Craigslist asking for game testers. I finally signed us up and yesterday we went to play.

We had to sign lengthy non-disclosure agreements so I'm not going to tell you about the game we tested. I will say it was fun to noodle around with a work in progress and find bugs for them. After an hour of play we completed questionaires and discussed what we liked and didn't like. Once they got kids talking about games it was impossible to shut them up. Some kids (and adults too) thought up all kinds of wild and funny enhancements. Drama Girl went on and on.

Then we were paid for our efforts -- in our choice of wii games! We each got to take one. The kids are ecstatic. Drama Girl got Boogie (Microphone Included) Jungle Boy got Boom Blox Wasabi Girl picked Playground I grabbed Smarty Pants: Trivia for Everyone and my husband took The Simpsons Game. That should hold us for a while!

The sad thing is, I'd saved up our member coupons from Best Buy to get my husband a Father's Day gift: We Ski. I've had it hidden away for a few weeks. I think we might have actually reached the point where we have too many games.

Anybody want to come over and play?

(If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to participate, watch Craigslist. EA runs these testing sessions all the time.)

That's Me: Lone Beacon of Reason in a Sea of Ridiculousness

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

*snort*

I'm Elizabeth Bennet, if Miss Bennet was known for wielding a big honking leaf blower to clean all the oak leaves out of the rose beds.

I'm E.B. if she tended to kick her shoes off and have a beer by the barbecue at the end of a Saturday spent gardening.

I'm E.B. if she wore a tee-shirt all day that said "Walt Disney Internet Group" on it.

I do take great pleasure in many things, and I am proficient in nearly all of them, to wit; Bejewelled, Diner Dash, Zoo Tycoon, Mario Kart. . .

I am certainly not one to prejudge, although I am of the opinion that every other driver in the parking lot of the middle school must have learned how to drive within the last fortnight at most. I can only hold their lack of deportment and good judgment as proof of their inexperience in the matter.

I'll own that my family can be a 'sea of ridiculousness' but the rest of it is not like me at all. Very funny little quiz. Who are you?

The Honeymoon is over, Wii-Fit

That's it. I'm done.

Wasabi Girl stepped on and clicked on her profile. While she was getting assessed do you know what that Wii Fit said to her?

"Have you heard? Mommy's not getting enough exercise."

Well, we all heard *that* thankyouverymuch wii fit! What a blabbermouth! And here we had just spent some quality time together today! What kind of a jerk are you, talking about me behind my back?! What genius in game design thought up that strategy?

And not only that, you have some definite weirdness to you that I'm just beginning to discover. My son has a virtual personal trainer who is male. At one point, Jungle Boy went to do a yoga move and the female trainer showed up and said "I hope you don't mind, I'm filling in for your regular trainer." Whaaaaat? Was he on a virtual coffee break or something?

My son has learned to override the running game by sprinting whenever he sees a dog. Then the dog becomes his guide and they sprint together, until another dog shows up. But if he runs too fast, my virtual son falls on his face on the screen, which is hilarious to the rest of us but is starting to make him mad.

One time my son was running, and as he passed a bunch of miis running different directions, he tripped me! er, mii! um my mii - oh you know what I mean. What the heck? I don't think it's very nice to have him trip his mom.

So really, I'm just about ready to throw you out the window, wii fit. The only thing that saves you is that you told me today that I'm 33. You sly dog you. Flattery works for me every time. I'll let you hang around a little while more, but you really have to keep your mouth shut and behave when we're not together, ok?

Wii Fit: Love It.

Santa got us a Wii last Christmas (which is proof in itself that there is a Santa, because the kids know that there's no way on earth we would have bought one). I've had a lot of fun playing various titles but this one is by far my new favorite.

I pre-ordered it at our local Toys R Us and wandered over there yesterday to pick it up. There was a line of people waiting outside the store for it to open. Hardcore gamers. Asserting their place in line. All of them mommies! We were all laughing. Some told stories of long lines and assigned numbers to buy game systems or titles in the past for their kids. Some had grown kids and could speak at length about product scarcity and overnight vigils. One woman told a Cabbage Patch Doll tale that left us all wide-eyed. We were all there for the same reason. We were getting Wii Fit for ourselves. We bonded in that way mommies can, just like kids at a playground.

When the doors opened, we walked in an orderly fashion to the game department and lined up. All those determined moms must have looked a sight, because the clerk picked up his phone and called for backup. He had some reason to be nervous though. He had a huge stack behind the counter that were pre-orders and about six out on the floor that weren't spoken for yet. I'm sure it got ugly when that last one sold. I paid for mine and left, declining his offers to buy a coordinating towel and travel case. (Seriously Nintendo, a towel?)

Then the fun began. It took all of about a minute to pop the batteries into the platform, sync it up with the wii and start the software. I stepped on the platform. It *groaned* at me! It asked me all sorts of personal questions. Then, in a gentle voice it told me that I am - are you ready for this - out of shape. Go figure. If ever you want to hear someone tell you all the ways you are out of shape/off balance/clumsy, I think the only acceptable way is if that voice is a soulless piece of electronics that speaks gently to you in the privacy of your own home. Nobody else needs to know. It even told me what age my body acts, which is not the age I really am, and certainly not my mental age. Shhh shhhh. Let's just keep this between ourselves wii fit. Then it casually asked if I wanted to put a password on my data. Very caring and sensitive, that wii fit.

On to the exercises. Yoga 1: How to breathe. Nothing like getting positive reinforcement right off the bat. The personal trainer I picked acted like I was some sort of prodigy. (You have your choice of a male or female trainer. Unfortunately you don't get any choice of face. I think it would be even more fun if you could get, say, Johnny Depp, to talk you through your routines, but I digress.)

Once I showed the wii what a great breather I was, I tried out nearly all the exercises. What a blast. I have a severely arthritic hip which leads me to limp most days, but I could handle everything. Many moves have you try to keep a small red dot within a larger circle as you work, to show that you are staying aligned and in balance. It's this feedback that makes it like a game. I think I probably used better alignment and positioning (and breathing! let's not forget breathing!) than when I used a live personal trainer in the past.

To add to your sense of accomplishment and feed your competitive side, it gives you scores and puts you on a leaderboard like any other game. It sets up charts and reminds you often to work daily towards your goals. It counts every minute of every exercise and adds them up in a bank. How fun is that? After you reach certain levels, you are rewarded with more unlocked exercises.

I'm in love. Let's see how long the honeymoon lasts.

How to be active without actually being active

I see over at Amazon.com that there's a new game coming this fall for the Wii called Active Life: Outdoor Challenge

Now there's an idea: Create a video game to show kids how fun it would be to actually go outside!

I love the bullet points;

• Intuitive Gameplay: Simple controls allow for quick pick up and play.
  

As opposed to real life, where one wanders outdoors and cannot think of what to do.

• Track Character's Fitness Progress: See your character's body change according to how you play!

Thank heavens you don't have to actually exercise yourself and see your own body change.

• Tremendous Replay Value: Over a dozen games, each with multiple levels of play

Wow, more than 12. You wont find that kind of variety at a playground.

I really shouldn't make fun of Amazon. They didn't write the copy. I just find the whole concept ironic. And yeah, I'll probably buy it for our Wii when it comes out.