Everyone knows that you’re supposed to walk some 10,000 steps in a day. For those of us who have jobs that require us to sit in one spot in front of a computer all day, that number can be hard to reach. Well, last week I took some 75,550 steps (according to my pedometer). I’ve been recording my steps for the last three or four years (can’t remember exactly), but the most that I’ve ever had in a week before is something like 72,000+ and that generally happens when I go to Nashville and walk around the city. So you can see, this is pretty good progress.

Again, even though I don’t want to make a regular routine out of this, I’m looking forward to getting up early tomorrow to get my workout in before I go to work. Not only are there not that many people at the gym, but I get to do a lot of reading while I’m on the treadmill (look for some more book reviews coming soon). Stay tuned for the latest and the greatest gym stories as they occur…

By the way, speaking of landmark achievements – Mother’s Day marked 14 days in a row that my Mom has gone without smoking. Unbelievable! My brothers and I are so incredibly proud of her. The last time that she didn’t smoke for 14 straight days was before she started smoking as a young girl. Amazing achievement, Mom! Good work!

Sure, it’s not worldwide news and yeah, it’s only six days, but I was surprised at a few things over the last few days. First, I was surprised that it has been two years since I worked out for five days in a row. That’s crazy and it’s really amazing how, once you stop working out regularly, you don’t realize that so much times goes by without a sustained workout program. By the way, I distinctly remember those five days in May 2007 because I walked around Deal, NJ for the first three of those days (which were 3 – 4 mile walks in the evening each time) and I spent the next two days at the now-closed Ocean Fitness Center on Route 35 in Ocean Township, NJ.

Second, I was surprised at how quick the past six days went by. Since I started working full-time in August 2006 I’ve stated over and over again that the 40 hour work week and the 10 hours of commuting each week have been disastrous to my working out. Anyone who tries to get a good workout in when they spend at least 50 hours a week away from home will agree to that statement. Yet, now that I’m a member of a gym that is located a mile and a half (or so) from where I live, there is almost no time spent getting to and from the gym and it’s easier to fit a good hour’s worth of working out into my already strained schedule.

Finally, I was surprised at myself for waking up at unGodly hours during the work week and arriving at the gym between 5:45am and 6:15am each day. That’s crazy. I hate getting up early – hate it! No, I don’t mean that I hate getting up at 6:30am to get ready for work – that’s normal. But getting up between 4:30am and 5:00am is just aggravating. I’ve also been going to bed a little bit earlier around 10:30pm or 11:00pm. That’s a big change from the normal time that I was going to bed, which was around midnight.

I don’t think that I’ll keep this streak going much longer (who knows), but I am pleased to know that when I start teaching at nights again this summer (hopefully), in the fall, and next spring that I’ll be able to keep my workouts going by just going to workout early in the morning!

And, as always, the credit report is an interesting thing. I should note that I didn’t ask for my credit score because 1) they charge you for that and 2) when I moved into the new apartment in the summer they ran a credit score on me and it was 790 – I’ll take that number any day! However, there were two discrepancies in my credit report that needed immediate attention.

First, the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA) once reported that I paid 30 days late on one of my student loans (back in 2006). The problem, though, was that the loan was still in deferment and was not due for payment at the time. Back in 2007 when I pulled my credit reports, I noticed this problem and called NJHESAA and while they agreed that this was a mistake on their part, they also said that they couldn’t contact the credit bureaus to have it fixed. So I contacted Experian to get the mistake removed from my report and they took it off without any problems. My mistake in 2007, though, was that I didn’t ask TransUnion or Equifax to remove the discrepancy. So when I pulled up my reports the other day – guess what was sitting there staring at me on those two reports. That’s right – the NJHESAA mistake strikes again!

I sent messages to both TransUnion and Equifax and as of today, Equifax removed the problem and TransUnion is still investigating. I pulled up my Equifax credit report to confirm that they fixed the mistake and I can confirm that they, in fact, did fix the problem. They were very quick and very efficient at addressing this problem.

The second interesting thing that I found on my credit report was an open credit card account that was actually a sub-account off of one of my mother’s credit cards from many years ago. This account was only reported on two of the three credit reporting agencies. Since this account was closed and replaced with a different sub-account (not for me), I submitted disputes with the two agencies that still listed it as open. To date, both agencies are still looking into this one.

The reason for this post is to encourage you to go online and check your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com. Even if you have excellent credit and a perfect credit history like I do, you may be surprised at what you find.

Pike said that the original, early pavilions along the boardwalk were wood and shuttered after the summer season was over.

She said the present pavilions were built during Mayor Clarence Hetrick’s tenure and later in the decades after the great hurricane of 1944 destroyed many of the older ones.

“They were modern for their time but weren’t open for the holiday season. Walter Reade even closed the Paramount theatre in the winter despite the pipe that ran underneath the boardwalk from the heating plant at the Casino,” Pike said.

It’s pretty cool that there are historians that study this type of stuff. I plan on getting over to the boardwalk at some point before Christmas to see what’s going on and how the shops are coming along. I know the last time I was down on Cookman Avenue (which was a few years ago), many of the shops were too pricey for my taste. I wonder if the current economic climate has had any impact on the prices down that way…

Christmas ceremonies are fun and I wish that I didn’t miss the Asbury Park tree-lighting this year. I have to remember to mark my calendar to head over there next year to see the lights turn on the tree.

I’m being held hostage by Verizon Wireless.

The problem this time around is that my touchscreen seems to work on all parts of the screen, except the middle. So this means that any time I put the stylus on the center of the page, the phone doesn’t recognize it. And what’s so bad about that? Well, the obvious – I can’t get this thing to work the right way and I spent over $600 on the package when I purchased it.

But through some no-good online help, I’ve managed to reset my phone and gotten it stalled out where it asks me to “Use stylus to tape center of target one last time.” And where does this target appear? That’s right – the exact middle of the touchscreen!

So I have a stalled out, piece of garbage phone. Not only is this the worst phone that I’ve ever purchased, but I am going out of my way to dissuade other people from buying this piece of shit. I’ve already gotten two people to stay away from this phone (and the now-tarnished Palm brand) – here’s hoping that this post gets more people to stay away from this brand.