other meaningless awards
Our health insurance provided the college employees with MovBands, which are inferior knock-offs of the fitbit. Our HR office issued a challenge for both May and June. In May, every one who averaged 3 miles per day for a set part of the month (May 1 -28; a total of 84 miles) was awarded a $5 Subway gift card. There were 36 people who completed the challenge. This month, the challenge is to average 5 miles a day, or 140 miles before June 28th. With 3 days left to log miles, it looks like there may only be 14 people who complete the challenge - and I move from the middle of the pack to #1, logging the most miles. Go, me! My prize, and every one else's, is a new band for the device - wee haw!
The burning questions now are: 1) Will there be a July challenge, given this low participation? and 2) What exciting and valuable prize will they offer us next?
Despite the sarcasm here, I am sort of enjoying having the stupid thing. It has been fascinating to see what activities gain the most miles (mowing the lawn and trying on clothes) and what activities gain me the least miles (bicycling). Two and a half hours of bicycling is apparently equivalent to 1 hour of clothes shopping and to 40 minutes of mowing the lawn. Also, walking the dogs on leash earns me significantly fewer miles than walking them off the leash (less arm movement, apparently).
The burning questions now are: 1) Will there be a July challenge, given this low participation? and 2) What exciting and valuable prize will they offer us next?
Despite the sarcasm here, I am sort of enjoying having the stupid thing. It has been fascinating to see what activities gain the most miles (mowing the lawn and trying on clothes) and what activities gain me the least miles (bicycling). Two and a half hours of bicycling is apparently equivalent to 1 hour of clothes shopping and to 40 minutes of mowing the lawn. Also, walking the dogs on leash earns me significantly fewer miles than walking them off the leash (less arm movement, apparently).