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Moves: An iOS app to keep track of how much you move…

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moves app moves app

Moves is an iOS app that tracks your physical activity through the course of the day. It keeps track of mileage, steps, and the amount of time you are engaged in a particular activity. It can also determine the type of activity you are engaged in, for example distinguishing between running, walking or cycling. No need to turn it on say before a run or bike ride, it just runs in the background and figures out the type of activity you are engaged in and tracks it. If by chance it doesn't quite get it right, you have the option to change the type of activity logged.

I've been using it for a few weeks and am finding it useful to keep track of my activity and somewhat motivating too.

Uncle Joe

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Road Trip

My Uncle Joe, my dad’s brother, passed away on Sunday morning. He lived a remarkable life. He and his family have always been welcoming and generous to me and to my family. Tonight I am posting a photograph from July of 2008. It is of my youngest daughter, Margarita, my mom, and my Uncle Joe. It was taken on our way back from a few days up at Lake St. Germain in northern Wisconsin, a place that he has visited with his family for the past 50 years. It is not a great picture of my Uncle Joe, (I wish I could of captured more of him) but I think it captures who he was. Someone who waited for others, someone who always held the door, and someone who always went out of his way to make others feel welcome… and someone who always tipped the busboy (that is a family joke). He took care of people. He made them feel special, and cared for them

On that trip my Uncle Joe and Aunt Pam shared many stories of their early life and how they met. I learned quite a bit about my family and was very happy to be able to share that trip with them and my daughter. I am thankful for the opportunity to spend that time with them.

I can’t be there on Wednesday for his service and to properly say goodbye to him, or to express to his family how much he means to me, but if I was there, I would thank his family for providing me with such a great man, such a thoughtful and caring man, to aspire to be like.

My thoughts tonight are with my Aunt Pam, my cousins, Bob, MaryJo, Thomas, and Margaret and their extended families. Joe was a great man, and these words don’t do justice to the mark he made on the world.

Thank you Uncle Joe…

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nwitimes/obituary.aspx?n=joseph-charles-lauer&pid=158459460&fhid=14650

Dark Sky Weather App

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The allure of a weather app is something that I never thought I'd be writing about, but the iOS app Dark Sky appeals to me. The main appeal is the promise of localized forecasts that predict precipitation. Currently the app attempts to do just one thing, predict precipitation within the next hour. As someone who gets to decide (based on the current weather conditions) if our students are going outside for lunch time recess, I find the promise of this app appealing.

The rain we get is mostly of the shower variety. Meaning that there are periods of rain that come and go. Because of this the call on inside or outside recess usually is made at the last minute. I usually check the Weather Underground map, and for the most part I get good information and can base my decision on interpreting their radar imagery. But there were quite a few times this past year that we decided to go out because the rain had stopped, only to have to call the children back in 5 minutes later because the rain had started again. I'm hoping that this iOS app can help me improve my rainy day recess decision making.

More about how it works can be found on the Dark Sky blog. I have a screen shot below. Since it is now summer in Oregon, (summer is beautiful out here…) I don't believe I'll be getting much use out of the app in the near future, but come the rains in the fall, I am looking forward to taking advantage of it.

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