Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Celiac PSA and Polar Watch

Two nice things happened today - I got my new heart rate monitor from Polar and the NFCA sent out an email about their new public service announcement for Celiac. Yesterday, I was tired from staying up late, I didn't get yesterday's swim in, and I've not done so well with the diet lately, so this was a nice pick me up.

I've looked at the PSA and it's good, factually correct, and attention getting (starring Heidi Collins of CNN). Personally, I think it would be better with louder music running in the background, but WOW! Now we can actually pester television stations with a high quality PSA. Not that the conditions are at all similar, but I was struck by the news today about the new drugs to manage AIDS. I remember the crisis and AIDS activism back in the 80s -- and I sure hope it doesn't take 27+ years to bring this condition into a mainstream medical resolution. The PSA will go a long way, and every little bit helps. You rock, Heidi!

Playing with my new tech toy was fun, but initially quite time consuming. It turns out Heart Rate Monitors have changed a bit in the ten years since I bought my last one. The most frustrating point is that I can't get it to use my laptop's IR port to exchange data. How dumb is that? It's also hard to snap together. All that said, I used it on my bicycle, and the "ear-clippy" pulse monitor is way off from the HRM, at times by 10-12 beats per minute. I can't use the software yet (kudos for making it looks worthwhile to use - major thumbs down for using Active X garbage in the software.) Good workouts - getting faster.

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