Sewing machine madness & Nike+iPod

About... let's say four months ago, my mother-in-law bought me a sewing machine. I wanted it... so, she bought me one. She's good like that...

Anyway, the presence of its "nobs-o-plenty", plugs, pedals, and bobbins galore had successfully intimidated me... that is, of course, until today. I bought a pattern... tons of fabric, thread, needles, and pins, and I just went at it. It took me about an hour to locate a manual online (I lost mine), and then another 30 or so minutes to thread the damn bobbin, but after I successfully stitched together the outside part of the bag... I was psyched (enough to walk across the street barefoot to show my neighbor)!

So, after a long day of bending over the machine of a million stitch designs, I have produced a messenger bag. It was quite an undertaking for a beginner such as myself. But, I must say, I've done quite a job. The best part, you ask? Well, a pretty yellow lining, and one of husband's old BDU (battle dress uniform or better known as fatigues) sets constructs the piece.

Pictures soon.

Next, as the title indicates.. Nike+iPod is a really cool (also really expensive way) to track your running/jogging workouts. What is needed: iPod Nano (any generation), Nike+ shoes, Nike+iPod transmitter/receiver kit. The kit is only about $30, but to get a decent pair of shoes you have to spend at least $ 90. Then, there's the Nano. The cheapest one bought new would be the 2GB,and I believe it runs about $150.00. Luckily, I got most of that for Christmas. :)

So, a small transmitter fits beneath the left shoe of the Nike+ shoe (already cut out holes)... and the receiver goes into the port at the bottom of the Nano. It tracks your pace, distance, and calories burned (based on weight). It doesn't do heart rate... which is probably already in the works. It has male or female voice encouragement (so they call it; all she/he really does is give you a progress update... pace, distance left, etc.). After loading your workouts up to www.nikeplus.com , it displays your whole run on a grid (sort of)... showing you where you slowed down, sped up, etc. Today, I could point out on the grid exactly where the wind started to pick up. It's pretty sweet, and makes me want to run farther each day... and, well that's because the other day when I completed my longest workout today (using the Nike+ system), Lance Armstrong congratulated me! Seriously, here I am, huffing and puffing, and in my ear I hear, "Hi, this is Lance Armstrong. Congratulations, you've just completed your longest workout yet!" It was cool. I'm waiting to see who will congratulate me next... that's a tough one to beat.

If you are interested, I'm "MrsMcGraw" on nikeplus.com. I think you can see my stats.