Once again, the amazing company I work for is having a FitBit competition. meltmedia provides a FitBit, a product line of wearable fitness tracking devices, to every employee to encourage a healthy workforce. Many meltmedians join in the competitions throughout the year. It's lots of fun and also builds a little camaraderie. At the end of the competition, prizes are given for the top steppers.

The past two competitions, I was injured and could not participate, so I built a couple iterations of a machine to run my FitBit 24/7. I also entered those machines in the meltmedia FitBit competition. Everyone was fully aware that I had a machine running my FitBit, so it was clear that it was a joke. (Funny side note: There was also an incident of dumb on YouTube: A guy in the comments on a video of my first version missed the "it's a joke" memo and got upset.

This time around, thankfully, I'm injury-free and kicking butt in the competition. Here is a screenshot of the leaderboard as of 2 PM, April 21, 2016:

We currently have something like FIVE Andy's at meltmedia, so the "OG" differentiates me as the original Andy (there is an Andy who has more tenure than I do, but he goes by, "Drew"). The 2nd-place Andy is keeping up with me fairly well, but I've been diligent about keep a day or two of steps banked as a safety cushion.

Also, there was a lady on the Facebook page of a news station here in Phoenix who trolled the comments on a news piece about my Office Chairiot. She felt compelled to assume I was a lazy turd. Friends and family who knew me quickly put her in her place. To that lady: 211 miles (388,452 steps) in 15 days (final leaderboard tally). SUCK IT!

I'm amazed at the popularity of my fitness tracker cheating machine (latest version pictured above). People are emailing me constantly, asking if I am selling them. I am happy to sell them, just need time to get the design finalized. It's a super-simple contraption that simply moves the fitness tracking device up and down at about the pace of an average walk. That's it. There's a power switch and a power supply jack, Not much else to it. I may still add a pace setting feature.

There are people who will use the machine to deceive their health insurance company to get added benefits or discounts. That's their own business, responsibility, etc. It's possibly fraud. I dunno. I'm not a lawyer. Some people flat-out do not care about being healthy and that is their prerogative. I'm not a health nut, myself. I'm pushing the 50-year mark (little over two years from now) and the number of aches and creaks is increasing, so I do try to stay as active as possible. I find exercise annoying because I'd rather be doing something else, but the feeling of being even medium-healthy definitely outweighs the annoyance of actually having to exercise. I sympathize with cheaters if they just rather do something else. I don't think it's cool to get extra benefits from your insurance provider by cheating, for what it's worth.

End of non-traditional (for this blog) blah-blah-blah.

UPDATE: I won the competition! All told, during the 15-day competition, I put down 388,452 steps by walking 211.57 miles. I averaged 24,278 steps per day. I had TWO days with over 40,000 steps each. And those totals are with two days of relatively no walking due to injury.

Never. Doing. That. Again.

My legs were killing me the last half of the 15 days. Those two days off in the middle of the competition...? Shin splints and a slightly twisted ankle acquired during a shortcut hike through the park between home and the office. Ridiculous competitive spirit. On top of that, I have to go to New York the next week and walk my arse off there, as well. Luckily, my legs had a few days to rest between.