Blizzard Epic Black Friday Sale

Blizzard's black friday sale has Diablo III and StarCraft II for 50% off the base games. (and 75% off on World of WarCraft, if you are into the subscription game). Sale ends December 2nd.

Cross Country Snowboarding

Get your skootch on and join the extreme sport of Cross Country Snowboarding.

It's a powerful thing, and you really feel connected to MM (Mother Nature).

"This is an outsiders sport of an outsiders sport (snowboarding), plus we do it outside.  We are rocking a triple entendre."

"One thing about us is when we do go Cross Boarding, we never step out. No way! You're in from sunup to sundown. Stepping out is sacrilege in Cross Country Snowboarding. You just don't do it."

"If you don't switch it up and go goofy every once in a while, you're going to get skootch leg.  You'll know the guys in the chalet, with skootch leg, because they are going to be walking in circles."

Cross Country Snowboarding brings you these excellent moves:

• Skootchline Blunt
• Frontside Skootch
• Backside Skootch

It's all about moving forward, turning around and moving forward.

"We know it's never going to be the big thing. That's the great thing about Cross Country Snowboarding. It's impossible to for it to sell out."

Matchup.io and Fitbit

So you have received an invitation to participate in a Matchup.io step challenge.  Now what?  The following are directions to configuring and linking your Fitbit with Matchup.io.

Fitbit Settings

1.  Purchase a Fitbit.  (eg. Fitbit One from Fitbit / Amazon ~$99)

2.  Create a free account at Fitbit.com.

3.  Setup your Fitbit and Sync with your Fitbit account.  Sync by downloading the Fitbit application for Android / Apple / Windows / Windows Desktop and connecting to device through Bluetooth.

4.  Be friends with your friends.  This is a social activity, so connect with your friends.  Everyone can help track everyone's progress and help motivate each other to reach their goals.

5.  Be friends with the creator of the step challenge.  The step challenge creator should have already sent a friend invite to you.  If they have not, send an invite to them.

6.  Change your profile picture.  Don't be the anti social friend.

7. Configure your Fitbit privacy settings to share your step count with friends.  Again don't be anti social, allow your friends to at least see your step count, activities and primary goal.

Matchup Settings

8.  Create a free Matchup.io account.

9.  Join the Matchup challenge.  The challenge creator should have sent you an invitation or the challenge URL.  If you haven't received this yet, ask the challenge creator again.


And that's it.  Now you just need to wait for the challenge to begin and remember to stepSTRONG^TM.

75K Fitbit Award

Woot Woot!

You've walked 75,000 steps today!

What an overachiever!

75,000 steps in one day?

We bow down to your awesomeness.

BlizzCon 2014 - Virtual Tickets

BlizzCon begins tomorrow (Friday, November 7th - Saturday, November 8th). For those who are unable to attend in person ($200 sold out), Blizzard is also providing remote virtual access to the convention. BlizzCon Virtual Tickets can be purchased for $39.

"The Virtual Ticket gives you a front-row seat at BlizzCon from the comfort of your own couch."

The Virtual Ticket Includes:

• Panels, Interviews, and Exclusive Content
• Contests
• BlizzCon In-Game Goodies
• Closing Ceremony - performance by Metallica
• On-Demand Replays - available for 2 weeks past the event

Go and Vote

Make sure to vote today

Stride Length vs Step Length - Stop the Confusion

Stride Length

I think the term "Stride Length" should not be used.  It appears to have morphed from being one's "gait length" now into one's "step length", which leads to confusion.  Poor Pedometer documentation (made in foreign countries?) I think is to blame.

Having been a boy scout and earned my Orienteering merit badge long ago, we all had to calculate out our "stride length" ("pace count", "gait length") and "step length" ("step count").  This is what I have always known these terms to mean.

Google dictionary definitions of "stride length", and they all tend to say:

"stride length: The distance between 2 successive placements of the same foot, consisting of 2 step lengths"

But then you look at calculating your stride length for a pedometer and all of a sudden "stride length" is now calculated the same as "step length".

Even fitbit appears to perpetuate this in their FAQ: How do I measure and adjust my stride length.

This is why I think the term "stride length" should no longer be used.  Thoughts?