Capturing the Flags

By cliopatra

Oct

22

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 02: Exhibitor Carrie F...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

My workout partner cancelled on me last night, which I didn’t let excuse me from working out.  I decided to Go For It with the Wii Fit Plus ultimate cycling, which is actually called “expert”.  Whatever.

I was relieved to see that there were only 20 flags that had to be captured, but they were spread out much farther apart.  This means more hills and other surfaces (like the beach) to explore while hunting for flags.

Usually with the advanced cycling, the Wii will remind me at some point that I can press the B button, which will end my current game, and save my Fit Credits.  I never do it, but it’s nice to know the option is there.

During this session, it reminded me THREE times that I had that option.  I also paused it 3 times to take drinks of water.  I finally gave up with 3 flags left to go, because I simply could not figure out how to get to them from where I was.  They are either up on the mountain on some trail I haven’t found yet, or IN the mountain in a cave I haven’t found yet.  I got the ones on the beach and in the ruins, but those last three, I can watch my arrow passing them on the map, but cannot actually see the flags on the screen.  There is no panning function for the camera (that I am aware of) and the map in the manual is no help.

So I gave up, pressed B and was informed by the system that I had been cycling for 43 minutes.  It really did fly by.  I thought I might have done 30, but I wasn’t sure.  I’ll probably try it again this weekend.

 

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Getting Sucked In

By cliopatra

Oct

21

I will admit that on the healthy living front I have failed miserably for the past couple of weeks.  I haven’t been feeling motivated, and I have somehow even made the Wii somewhat of an enemy.  I’ve been treating it like going to the gym, which is to say “I don’ wanna!”

When my brother got it all hooked up correctly to the tv last weekend, I lost the excuse that “the dvr has control right now” and can now use it whenever I want.

I did manage to make it to a workout with a friend yesterday after work, 30 minutes on the stationary bike, in air conditioned comfort, while watching Cash Cab and watching the neighborhood kids out riding their actual bicycles.

When I got home I stayed in my workout clothes, and after dinner decided to do a couple of things on the Wii Fit Plus, because why not?  I was dressed for it.

I did the Perfect 10 (adding to 10 using numbered mushrooms you bounce off of your hips), the basic step, and the advanced step.  Probably one of my favorite games on the Wii Fit Plus is the cycling.  Here’s a clip of the basic cycling:

To play this game you hold the Wii remote horizontally like a handlebars and you stand on the balance board and either lift your feet or heels to simulate pedaling while you follow the trails and the roads to collect a set number of flags.

I did the basic cycling and collected all 13 flags in about 4 minutes.  Then I did the advanced cycling, which requires you to collect 22 flags.  That may not seem like much more, until you are trying to track down those last two f&*king flags that you can’t seem to find.  I found them and returned to start/finish line in 25 minutes, dripping in sweat.  (Total Wii Fit workout time: 45 minutes.)

As a reward, I “unlocked” the Ultimate Cycling.  Now, the Island View cycling (which is the next step up from Advanced) has 27 flags.  I shudder to think what Ultimate Cycling requires of you.  I think I may set aside a couple of hours this weekend and find out.

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What I’m Up To

By cliopatra

Oct

8

Linus awaits the Great Pumpkin.
Image via Wikipedia

We had a small taste of fall here in SWFL last week, and I fell in love with it all over again.  This week, summer has returned with a vengeance, and reminds me once again why there are such things as snowbirds.

My brother will be in town starting tomorrow for OU-Texas weekend.  He’s already planned our menu for the whole weekend, and we’ve got a few fun things planned besides the game (no trash talk this year, we just want to survive the game without looking like complete amateurs).

There will be fishing (not I) and probably a trip into town to see Zombieland, which we are all pretty excited about.  There will also be lots of Wii playing, since I expect the Wii Fit Plus disc (I don’t need the one with balance board since I bought the older version) to arrive today or tomorrow.  

We’ll also try to Skype in our other two male siblings and their families for the football game so we can make a party of it.  Irish married into a family of mega-nerds.

In other news, I am currently researching an article for the folks over at I’ve Tried That.  I’ll be testing a new money making program and I will definitely link you over to it once the article is up.  In the meantime why don’t you read my blog post about things you can do right now to make money online that won’t cost you a cent!

I’ve got many more things to blog about including Facebook, Twitter, my magazine obsession, and exciting new career opportunities, so come back soon!

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Is It Working?

By cliopatra

Sep

5

Fruit Bowl

When I got up this morning I decided to do the body test on the Wii Fit – first time since Tuesday.  I’ve been avoiding it because it annoys me, but this morning it was fine.  Astronomical gain had turned into astronomical loss, and my balance has improved.

So does it work?

If I look at the numbers on the scale, I’d have to say “no”.  My weight, according to both my regular scale and the Fit is around where I started when I got the thing 17 days ago.  That’s been a little frustrating.

If I don’t look at that number, then my answer changes to “yes”.  I’ve been on the thing every day since Monday (including today already), and I’ve also worked out with friends two days this week.  So the 6 days working out this week is 3 more days than the prior week, and 6 more days than the weeks and months and years before that.

I used to not be a worker-outer.  I guess now I am.

My balance has improved.  My ability to work the games has improved.  I’m really enjoying the yoga poses.  I find myself doing the advanced step routine “just one more time” to see if I can improve my score (and one more time turns into two or three more times).

I’m running.

That’s probably the most interesting development for me.  I realize it’s just sort of jogging in place, but I did 2 minutes, and survived.  Then I did 4 minutes, and survived that, too.  Then I did the island lap, which is 12 minutes.  About halfway through I wondered why I had chosen to do the lap, but I survived it, too.

It’s working.

Wii Story

By cliopatra

Aug

22

Wii Fit

Image via Wikipedia

I preface this post by saying that I am not a gamer.  I haven’t ever, as an adult, owned a video game system.  The last time I played a gaming system was a Playstation maybe 6 or so years ago.  It was fun, but it’s never really been my thing.

A few months ago I took on an assignment with I’ve Tried That, writing about a moneymaking system (they call it system, some people call it scheme) called Project Payday.  I spent a couple of months working the system and wrote about it first here and then here.

I didn’t really make any money with Project Payday, but by the time I worked through the system I was about halfway finished meeting the requirements to get a “free” Wii from YourNintendoWii4Free.com.  I’ve wanted a Wii for a while, and I was close to getting it, so I decided to finish getting referrals and get the Wii.

It was far from free.  I estimate I probably spent $100, not to mention that I first signed into the site in January, and didn’t get my last referral completed until the end of July.  The wait was excruciating.  Once I met the requirements and placed the order for my “free” Wii, it took nearly a month to get it, since they said they tried to deliver it once and my address was wrong (even though it wasn’t).

Last Thursday, though, I got my bundle.  Included was the Wii game system, an extra controller, and an additional game, EA Sports Active.  All in all I got $335 worth of products for about $100 (plus 7 months of hassle).

On Wednesday, knowing that the package was going to be delivered the next day, I bought a Wii Fit.  Thursday night Irish and I got it all set up and bowled a game from Wii Sports before we went over to have dinner with his parents.

Since then I’ve played it every day at least twice.  I think I’ve finally hit on something that is going to help me stay active.  I’m a very competitive person, and this helps me compete against myself.  I love mastering the activities, beating my own scores, and unlocking new levels.  I also love how the Wii Fit tracks my progress and talks back to me.

I know it’s been around for a while, and to some people it’s no longer groundbreaking, but I am really enjoying it.

Wii Menu

Image via Wikipedia

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