I’m not ashamed.  I have a bracelet on my left wrist.  It is called my “non-dominant” hand, given I am right-handed.   I am wearing what they call a “fitbit flex”.

This fitbit gadget tells me how many steps I have taken, how many miles I have walked, and how many calories I have burned, and…I am actually supposed to trust it.  Oh, and it also measures how much sleep I get, when I wake up, and when my sleep is restless sleep opposed to plain sleep sleep.  Again, I am actually supposed to trust this thing.

Do I trust it?  Well…I trust the process.  I am not denouncing the product here.  I would not do that.  Without this bracelet on my wrist I have my doubts that I would have walked a total of 10.58 miles today.  That was the total the last time I checked.

There is a thing I plug into a USB slot in my laptop that “syncs”…that is short for “synchronizes” the little bracelet I wear.  Speaking of bracelets, I have not worn a bracelet in decades before this fitbit thing came along.   I wore a bracelet with my name on it when I was ten.  Every kid that walked the streets of Gatlinburg, Tennessee had a leather bracelet with their name on it in 1978.

Anyway, this thing that “syncs” my bracelet from the USB port is called a “dongle”.  I must say I have never seen or heard that word before.  The spelling is something I consider awkward…and I think they could have called it something a little more physicality related…something like the “atlas” or the “strengthel”.  Dongle?

No matter what you call it, the thing said I walked 10.58 miles when I got home this evening.  Yes, many of those mile were based on some serious over the pavement hoofing.  I walked a great deal this evening.  Not many cool breezes are to be had in Southern Indiana in mid- July.  I wanted to walk and enjoy this atmospheric anomaly.

Newsflash…just checked my new distance.  I have not been running in place, but I did have to go to the bathroom a few times…my new distance, according to my dongle, is 10.82 miles!  Hooray!

What do we have here really?  Bottom line:  We have a healthy toy.  Is it real?  Who cares?  Is it accurate?  The company will say it will.  I do know the range of motion on the wrist may or may not be an issue.  I recently rode 3 miles on a stationary bike and my fitbit dongle said I had traveled 2.3 miles.  Just which one of these is correct.  Maybe I rode 2.3 miles and not 3…indeed.  Reminding myself…this is a healthy toy.  So, there is not much bad to be said about that…providing my dongle does its job!

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson