the Walking Fat

If you remember way back at the beginning of 2017, I started tracking my walking on a map just to see how far I'd get with my daily steps. I changed it up a little after I started and decided to walk to all the MLB and Big Ten stadiums and if I go by others I'll log them. Well, the last stadium I was at was in Colorado and from there I went to Seattle, there is a whole lot of nothing between those cities which is why I haven't really posted about it much. I'm finally in Seattle so you finally get another stadium post. Sadly, it really didn't look that impressive from the ground.

Only thing I know about this stadium is the retractable roof and when I watch games there (on TV), I always hear horns in the background because of the train tracks next to the stadium. Oh, and the Mariners play there.

I also noticed the Seahawks stadium was next door so I went around it as well. So let's see where that puts us on our tour.

1. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox - MLB)
2. Soldier Field (Chicago Bears - NFL)
3. Ryan Field (Northwestern Wildcates - B1G)
4. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs - MLB)
5. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers - MLB)
6. Camp Randall (Wisconsin Badgers - B1G)
7. TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Golden Gophers - B1G)
8. Target Field (Minnesota Twins - MLB)
9. Kinnick Stadium (Iowa Hawkeyes - B1G)
10. Memorial Stadium (Nebraska Cornhuskers - B1G)
11. Coors Field (Colorado Rockies - MLB)
12. Pepsi Center (Denver Nuggets - NBA)
13. Mile High Stadium (Denver Broncoes - NFL)
14. T-Mobile Park (Seattle Mariners - MLB)
15. Centurylink Field (Seattle Seahawks - NFL)

So that's my 6th MLB stadium and my 3rd NFL Stadium.

Day 928 - Seattle, WA (3108.2 miles)

2019

Goal - 1,500 miles (4.1 miles/day)

Currently - 719.8 miles (3.64 miles/day)

As you can see, I'm below my goal pace but I don't really go "walking" anymore. Most of my steps come from work and a little around the house. I have already matched my days with 10,000 or more steps from last year and we still have 4 1/2 months to go. I don't know what all that means, but it is what it is.

2017 trip concludes

Before I get going on the New Year's post later day. I still have a post from last year but since I don't update the numbers until the day after, you get it today. What am I talking about? Well walking of course. Yes, I'm still keeping track, it was just a long trek of nothingness from Iowa to Nebraska.

Day 365, Lincoln, NE (1178.8 miles)

Last time I posted, I was only at 885 miles so as you can see, that would be why there wasn't to much posting until now. Almost 300 miles later, I made it to Lincoln, Nebraska. Home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and my 5th Big Ten stadium.

This will be the last Big Ten stadium for awhile as I head out west to hit the MLB stadiums.

1. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox - MLB)
2. Soldier Field (Chicago Bears - NFL)
3. Ryan Field (Northwestern Wildcates - B1G)
4. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs - MLB)
5. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers - MLB)
6. Camp Randall (Wisconsin Badgers - B1G)
7. TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Golden Gophers - B1G)
8. Target Field (Minnesota Twins - MLB)
9. Kinnick Stadium (Iowa Hawkeyes - B1G)
10. Memorial Stadium (Nebraska Cornhuskers - B1G)

As you can see, this is the 10th Stadium visited.

The nice thing is, with my new job starting last September, I'm getting my step average on work days pretty consistently so I have a much better shot at hitting my 1500 miles goal that I set for this year. As you can see above I was 321 miles short this year. To much time sitting on a forklift which I don't hardly do at all with the new job.

Big Ten Stadium #4

A long time ago, but not probably very many blog posts ago, you may remember that I'm tracking my steps on a map and I'm doing a stadium tour. I'm mainly hitting Big Ten schools and the MLB stadiums but I may hit others along the way. I'm out west on the map so posts are pretty far between each other but on a positive note, I get a couple of thousand more steps a day with the new job so maybe it'll go a little faster. Although, once again, I forgot to take my Fitbit off the charger this morning so I have to guess my steps again.

Day 277, Iowa City, IA (884.5 miles)

Well if you know your Big Ten stadiums, then you know where I'm at. I finally made it to the Iowa Hawkeyes stadium (Kinnick stadium.)

I'm already on to my next stadium as I actually got to this one yesterday and forgot to post it. The next stop is another Big Ten stadium further west. Can you guess it without looking?

While I'm definitely not getting the 1500 miles like I had wanted (Sundays still kick my ass) but I'm moving right along now. I average a couple of thousand more steps at my new job then the past, plus I work 2 out of every 3 weekends so my weekend steps are way better.

I was already up around Chicago when I started the stadium tour but this is still my 9th stadium so far.

1. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox - MLB)
2. Soldier Field (Chicago Bears - NFL)
3. Ryan Field (Northwestern Wildcates - B1G)
4. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs - MLB)
5. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers - MLB)
6. Camp Randall (Wisconsin Badgers - B1G)
7. TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Golden Gophers - B1G)
8. Target Field (Minnesota Twins - MLB)
9. Kinnick Stadium (Iowa Hawkeyes - B1G)

The above map is a general route. When I get to a new city, I add it and it maps the most direct route and not necessarily the actual route I had mapped myself out.

Stadium Tour continues

Day 193, Minneapolis, MN (605.35)

I haven't posted about my walking in awhile. I still don't really go walking but I do still keep track of my steps and such and still track it on a map. I'm in the process of hitting all the MLB and Big Ten stadiums but I didn't start until half way through the tracking so I have some backtracking to do. Anyways, as you can see above, I'm in Minneapolis which is home of the Minnesota Twins as well as the Minnesota Golden Gophers. I passed them both earlier this week just hadn't gotten around to posting them.

I went through the Minnesota campus first and walked past the TCF Bank Stadium. I believe it was Monday of this week. Then just a couple of miles up the road I walked by this.

It look much nicer than that domed stadium they had before. Let's check out what we've seen so far.

1. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox)
2. Soldier Field (Chicago Bears)
3. Ryan Field (Northwestern Wildcats)
4. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
5. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)
6. Camp Randall (Wisconsin Badgers)
7. TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Golden Gophers)
8. Target Field (Minnesota Twins)

I'm heading South, mainly because there isn't crap in the North West states until you get on the coast. I'm going to head a little back to the East to hit a spot that I missed before I decided what stadiums I was going to do.

Prompt #2 - Listen to your mother

I've got some time today so I figured I'd do another prompt. I plan on working on my cards most of the day but I figured I'd take some time to do this before I get going on that.

#556 - A time when you should have listened to your mother.

I could probably make a huge list for this one but I don't really remember one specific time as in her actually telling me not to do something. That's probably because I generally did things and then she told me why I shouldn't have because like most teenagers, I didn't ask my mom for help because I knew everything.

I can give you all kinds of instances where I should have listened. Quitting basketball tryouts would be number 1, because I still hear about that to this day.

She always told me that my skipping school would reflect on my working career. Technically she was right, I used to skip work all the time as well. That has changed though, pretty much when I started having kids, funny how that happens. Now I get a certificate every month at work for perfect attendance. I usually have to fight my group leader to throw it in the trash because she likes to hang them on the wall. They are my certificates however, so I win that battle every time.

I don't really have a ton of regrets, because I'm one of those the journey that got you there. The only thing I would really change about my life right now would be if I didn't have to work. I hate going to work everyday and if I could afford not to, I wouldn't.

Do I regret my first marriage? Yes and no. Yes, because I feel like I wasted a lot of years with someone who I'm not sure ever really loved me. On the other hand, she gave me 2 great kids and those 14 years we were married was building me up to who I am today and that person won over my current wife, whom I love. So by that logic, you can see why I have little regrets.

Even the whole quitting basketball thing. Do I regret quitting tryouts for the high school team? Yes, because I could have at minimum, gone to college for free. But would I have ended up with my wife or the kids I have without it? Probably not.

To sum all this up, I asked my mom why she didn't tell me to not get married the first time, she said, you wouldn't have listened to me if I did. She was right.

I don't know if I ever really answered the question, but I got a post out of it, so there is that.

Day 119, Tomah, WI (391.4 Miles)

I'm making my way across Wisconsin but I'm really not close to anything and won't be for awhile. It's cold and rainy today so I doubt I get much in. I'll be lucky to get 1000 steps today.

A long (sorta) walk

I was sitting around this morning, playing around on my laptop and trying to catch up on the DVR and was thinking, I really should go for a walk. I also decided that I was hungry so I figured I'd throw those together and walk somewhere for some lunch. I Googled a few places to make sure they weren't to far, I'd hate to have to call the wife and say, um, can you come pick me up? I picked 7-Eleven, which for those who don't know what that is, is a convenient store. They have great hot dogs (3/4 pound) as well as Taquito's but I was really wanting the Hot Dog. I Googled and the closest was down by the Walmart but the road there has a little bit of a hill which on a car you barely noticed, but walking is a different story. As easy as it is for me to get out and walk, I still have leg and back issues to where walking up and down a hill is a problem. So I chose the second furthest location and set out.

Part of my walk is down a fairly busy road, actually most of the walk was and I passed someone who acted like they knew me. She got excited and waved. I have no idea who it was, I didn't recognize the car and being as they flew past probably doing at least 50 mph, I didn't see her either. I haven't heard anything via text or Facebook yet so I wonder if it was somebody from work. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I walked all the way there and I really didn't want to stop, I felt like I was on a groove so I went in, grabbed a dog and a Gatorade and ate it on my walk back. It was a little difficult being as I have breathing issues through my nose and it's a little difficult to breathe and eat, both with your mouth, at the same time. I did manage though.

About 3/4 of the way back, I was getting tired. I was starting to feel it in my legs and just wanted to get home. I also noticed that my hands had swollen up. I wasn't sure what to make of that and what it meant. I was a little worried that it was a medical issues but my wife Googled when I got home. Apparently it is common and has to do with blood flow not getting to your hands as well because it's pumping harder. Common, maybe, but it's never happened to me.

I set a new high for miles for a walk, not for total steps in a day or anything but the longest for getting out there and walking. I actually blew my old high by quite a bit.

Not to bad considering I hadn't walked in 3 weeks. What's funny was when I got home and looked at my phone, my mom had invited me to a daily showdown on Fitbit. Little did she realize that I just did this walk so I clicked join and bam, I'm up already by 9,000 steps. She picked the wrong Sunday for that.

Day 112, Mauston, WI (364 miles)

Maybe I can keep walking this week and get out of the middle of nowhere so I have something to share of.

Prompt #1 - Something I made by hand

I have a list of writing prompts bookmarked and I random them all to see what I write about.

#239 - Share something you made by hand.

Well if you know me, then you know this will be a short post. I am not handy, at all. Sure, I can use tools and figure stuff out, I'm not a moron. Contrary to what some people think. If you sit me down and show me how to do something, I can probably do it. The question is, do I want to do it?

I was taught how to do an oil change and even though I never did one one on my own, I'm confident I could probably do one if a gun was held to my head. The difference is, I would rather pay someone else to do it. It's not something I enjoy so why would I want to do it?

I can and have used many power tools but to this day, if family sees me using something, they are shocked. I've worked in factories for years, I drive a forklift for a living now, but if it comes to working with my hands. Nope, nobody thinks I can. Even though I have helped family put up roofs and siding, put up fences and put down flooring, poured cement, put together shelves and other such things. Oh, I also used to work in steel construction but I can't use a wrench, oh, okay. Do I know how to do any of those things? No, not really, but all you have to do is show me how and I'll go to town.

As far as something I created by hand, I can't really come up with anything. I'd rather purchase something then make something. I get that from my mom. I don't have the patience to put something together. I don't really have the patience to fix things either. My wife usually does things like that just because she gets mad at me because I get mad at whatever I'm fixing. People, all the patience in the world. Things, no patience what so ever.

Day 111, Mauston, WI (362.5 Miles)

I haven't been very good at walking this week. Some overtime at work but mostly just lazy. I didn't even really have any good days at work. I think the only day I hit 8,000 was yesterday and I hit that right before bed.

I'm out in the middle of nowhere at the moment so nothing special to show. I'm still around 200 miles from my next destination so nothing definitely going on that's to exciting.

I was going to go walk today but I got roped into doing some yard work, it got me some steps but not many. I really need to get in the habit of walking again. I take one day off and I'm done, it's rather pathetic.

Stadium Tour #6

As I said yesterday, I got a walk in yesterday and ended up with over 3.5 miles for the day. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but it was a Sunday, usually I'm lucky to get a mile and a half on Saturday and Sunday combined.

Day 90, Madison, WI - 293.8 Miles

My stadium tour continued. I'm not hitting every stadium out there, just the ones I happen to think of at the time. Mainly MLB and Big Ten college stadiums.

1. Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox)
2. Soldier Field (Chicago Bears)
3. Ryan Field (Northwestern University)
4. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
5. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)

I didn't show Ryan Field so you'll just have to trust me when I say I walked past it. Today, I'm adding this to the list.

Camp Randall (University of Wisconsin)

I have an idea where I'm heading next but I'm not positive. After passing the stadium, I headed South so we'll see from there.

I made it to my 3rd ballpark

I've been walking a little more, even if I haven't been posting about it. I'm trying to stay motivated to do so but it doesn't always happen. The last couple of days it's been in the 60's and I got out and walked after work for a couple of miles. Today, it dropped to the 50's, which wasn't bad, but it was windy as hell which dropped the realfeel temperature way below that. We were supposed to get gusts over 60 mph so I decided to nix the walk.

I was a little bummed because I had over 12,000 steps the last couple of days and it's supposed to be a lot colder the rest of the week. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I've debated on being a mall walker on the cold days but none of them are all that close.

Day 63, Milwaukee, WI (204.1 Miles)

I made it past my 3rd ballpark yesterday. Miller Park in Milwaukee. I'll be heading to the next one tomorrow.

An aeriel view of the ballpark. It's supposed to be a very nice ballpark and I would love to actually see a game there at some time. This would have been my view though.

Good movie, not so good weight

I complained about having motivation, well I got some today. I've noticed that I feel bigger plus my wife has mentioned that I look bigger. I really noticed that in the mornings at work, before I eat, that I had already felt bloated, which I normally feel after I eat. So I decided to take the plunge and got on our industrial scale. It's probably a good thing it's an industrial scale because I might have broken one of those little bathroom scales.

Good movie, not so good weight.

I used to sit right around 275 lbs. I wasn't happy with it, but I was okay with it. I am 6'3" so while I consider myself fat, I'm not completely round, yet. After getting on the scale and noticing just how close I was getting to 300 lbs, consider myself motivated. It was a tad chilly when I got off work to go walking. Not to mention rainy, which has now turned to snow, that should tell you how cold it is. I've been trying to think of things to do. I would love to shoot basketball again, I love playing but just don't get the opportunity to do so very often. Maybe this spring when it warms up, I'll run down to the local school and shoot some hoops. Obviously I'll probably start walking more often after work and I really need to on the weekends. I've even thought about running to the mall after work and maybe do a little walking there while it's cold out. We'll see, I just know I need to do something because I am the heaviest I've ever been.

I've considered changing my eating habits, for about 20 seconds. I like food to much, I'd rather exercise.

Day 57. Wind Point, WI (177.7 Miles)

As you can see, I crossed over into Wisconsin a few days ago. I haven't come across anything real exciting to show you so I haven't really been posting but I am still keeping track. It's been my usual walking 6500+ steps during work days and lucky to get 1000 on non-work days.

My son

My son and I don't have much in common, very little at that. We share a middle name and that's about it. He's 12 and his interests are video games, YouTube and reading, in that order. He plays video games so much that we have had to set time limits because otherwise he'd play them 24/7. What's worse is it's really only one game, Minecraft. Now when I say he's obsessed about the game, let me explain. Remember those 3 things I listed as his interests? Video games (obviously, Minecraft), YouTube (he watches other people play Minecraft) and Books (Not all, but some Minecraft here as well.) There's been times when he comes out of his room and I say "What'cha up to?" He says "listening to music." At first I'm shocked, because that would be one of my interests so I ask "what'cha listening to?" His reponse, "Minecraft music."  Ahhhh

He has been getting into Pokemon Go as well now. At least it's something different. It gets him out of the house as well. His friends will come over and they go Pokemon hunting. They used to just stay in the neighborhood but they have ventured further. There is a church and school down the road and they have been walking down to it because it has Poke stops. Yeah, I don't really know what that means but he's out of his room so I can't complain to much.

He came home the other day from one of his hunting trips and I stopped him and we actually talked a bit about Pokemon Go. I started making comparisons to what I do a lot of, collecting (organizing) my baseball cards. That's one of the first times he seemed to "get me" and I understood some of the game, or at least the collecting part of it. It was a little bonding, at least as much as I've had with him so I count that as a positive.

Since this post is about him, I'll throw out a couple of Tweets I posted this week about him.

Apparently he needs re-taught how to do his laundry.

This happened at the end of our bonding talk. It made me laugh.

Day 50, Zion, IL (154.6 Miles)

As you can see, I'm still in Illinois. That's partly because we just came off the weekend which as you know, means I didn't do much of anything. 

I'm currently in Zion, I haven't seen much as far as anything spectacular to show you, I'm right outside a church at the moment. I'm still fairly close to the lake, a little more over a mile and I plan on following North for awhile before heading west.

I had fairly big day yesterday, I came home with around 7,000 or 8,000 steps and it was so nice out (mid 60's) that I decided to take the dog for a walk and added another 5,000 or 6.000 steps. I ended up with over 12,000 steps for the day. I had planned on going for another walk today, but I ran by my mom's after work and hung out for awhile. By the time I got home I didn't feel like going. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not.

Valentine's Day? Is it Really?

I've been battling a little bug for a couple of days. That;s not an excuse for not walking much this weekend, because I rarely do anyways. Technically, I didn't get sick until yesterday so it's definitely not an excuse for Saturday.

I got an early Valentine's day gift from Spotify last night. I was checking my email and they sent one saying they added Prince's music. There are a few artist who refuse to put their music on streaming services, and one (that I know of) that took hers off. Generally, I try to find some cover bands and hope they are at least close to the original. I did that with the Beatles, Garth Brooks and AC/DC off the top of my head. The Beatles and AC/DC have since added theirs, I'm still waiting on Garth Brooks because I love his double live album and I would probably add most every song to my playlist. The artist who took her music off was Taylor Swift, I never heard an official reason, just rumors. I heard that she was trying for the all-time album sales, my guess is she's taking some kind of stand. She likes to do that. Anyways, back to the subject. I never went to find cover songs of Prince because I figured his music was just to hard to duplicate. Well, a couple of weekends ago, after hearing one of his songs on the 80's music channel on the TV, I took a shot at it and only found a couple that were decent. Mainly the 80's ones but I really liked some of his 90's stuff as well. I probably spent 2 hours trying to find songs. Had I only waited a couple of more weeks, I could have just added his songs.

I was excited when I went to bed and told my wife that I can't wait till the first Prince song comes up. The playlist I listen to has 2,841 songs so it could have been months before I heard one, really, it's on random so I could never hear one. I got in the car this morning, hit play on the song I last left on, it finished and was followed by, you guessed it, a Prince song. Kiss to be exact.

I figured I must be living right because on top of that, you all know what today is?

You thought I was going to say Valentine's day didn't you? Valentine's day doesn't mean much in this house, we share the love everyday, we don't need a specific day to celebrate. Of course, nobody in this house loves baseball but me but their opinions don't matter.

Day 43, Highland Park, IL - (135.6 Miles)

As I said above, I didn't do much this weekend but I did get 10,000 steps yesterday. I'm out of Chicago but it still feels like kind of a suburb of it. A rich one at that, lots of big houses and golf courses. I'm basically heading for Milwaukee as I don't really know where else to go. I'm sure it'll take me awhile, unless I actually start going outside and walking when I get home from work. Otherwise, it'll take me over a month (probably).

North Side

38 Days. Chicago, IL (118.9 miles)

I'm still in Chicago but I'm on my way out. Of course, as huge as it is, I'm not sure how long that will take. I went by one attraction today.

Even though I am a White Sox, I've been to plenty of Cubs games as a kid. My grandparents lived outside Chicago and would take us to games. I was going to walk by their old place but I had no idea how to get there. I know we used to ride out bikes into town so I looked over the area to see if anything was familiar and nothing was. I kind of vaguely remember them telling me the church was no longer there and that's mainly what I was looking for.

I got soaked

I woke up to thunderstorms this morning, it was raining pretty hard all the way to work. So when I get out of the car to head into work, I put my glasses (I wear prescription safety glasses to work) in my hoodie pocket so I don't have to wipe them off. Problem is, I'm blind as a bat. I'm walking up to the building and I hear splashing so I look down and there is a small river flowing towards the building and I'm walking in it, so I move over to the left, closer to the cars where it's not flowing. It is all flowing towards the drain by the fence. So I keep walking and the next thing I know I not only hear splashing again, I can feel the water on my feet. I walked right into a huge puddle that was a few inches deep and my feet got soaked. I never thought to look for a flood because the drain has never backed up before. I think it got backed up just because it was raining so hard and coming so fast that it just couldn't keep up. So basically, I get punished by having to wear soaking wet socks all day. I explained what happened to my boss and she actually got permission for me to run home and change socks but I didn't really see the point when I just had to put my wet, steel toed shoes on again. It felt so good to peel them off when I got home.

37 days, Chicago, IL (114.8 miles)

I only went about half a mile on Sunday so I didn't bother posting. I did walk my Buckingham Fountain though.

Yesterday, however, I walked 4.5 miles and pretty much walked myself out of downtown. We'll start at just after the fountain. As a matter of fact, I made the next left and headed downtown to see some sites that I always enjoy to go to when I'm in Chicago. I walked down to Willis Tower (used to be Sears Tower), it's now the 2nd tallest building in the US. Back when I last went up it, it was the 1st but that was many, many years ago. I really need to go back up, last time we were there, it was really foggy and would have been pointless to go to the observation deck (103rd floor). We did stand at the bottom, up against the building and look straight up which is something we always do, you should try it.

I left there and headed back East to Michigan ave. On the corner of where I turned on to Michigan ave, I ran into this.

The Art Institute of Chicago, in my mind, it's more famous for the lion statues on the outside. When I hit this building, I turned left and headed for downtown but made a stop at what we call the Bean. Technically, it's called the Cloud Gate.  

It's one of the many sculptures in Chicago but this one is cool because it looks like liquid metal and it reflects everything.

I continue on to downtown, or what is known as the Magnificent Mile which we pretty much hit anytime we are in Chicago. It's the upscale section of Chicago and has a ton of shopping. It's really great in the winter when they all have their Christmas window ads going.

I like to visit the Water Tower as well when in Chicago.

This was built in 1869 and was one of the few structures to actually survive the great Chicago fire. It used to be a water pumping station but I don't believe it's used for that anymore. It's right downtown and looks out of the place but as you can see, it just looks cool.

As I headed out of town, I ran by the John Hancock building as well, just to say I did. Originally, it was the 2nd tallest building in the US but is now the 8th tallest in the US and oddly enough is the 4th tallest building in Chicago.

That's most of my stops in Chicago, I do have one more to go by and may possibly hit it tomorrow but I'm finished with downtown. Any suggestions as to where I should head to next? Where ever I go, it won't be as in depth as this was because I know and love Chicago, from hear on out, I won't know anyplace all that well.

Over a mile, on a Saturday?

Spent a lot of time on the laptop working on my cards today so don't expect a post tomorrow, or at least one bragging about my steps. However, yesterday I did a little walking.

Day 35, Chicago, IL (109.8)

I didn't walk a lot compared to my work days but I did considering it was a Saturday. I tacked on almost 1.2 miles which just basically moved me up Lake Shore Drive a little further. I did pass a few things though.

Soldier Field where the Chicago Bears play. 

The Field Museum. I also passed the Shed Aquarium but it was to far away from the road I was on to get a decent shot. I did end up a little closer to the city though.