Not enough time

I have been too busy to post anything for a couple of months.  I started a new hobby photography this year with a new blog, Persimmon Tree Photography.  Guess what the new hobby is?

I've done the entire Wii Walk It Out program at least 5 times now and I'm ready for a new route.  I don't know why somebody hasn't come out with another walking program.  Look how many different dance games there are by different companies. 

As to the Gold's dance program - I can't dance.

As to the Biggest Loser exercise program - they want me on the floor too many times.  I will say that it does push me harder than Walk It Out does without pushing me too hard (since I have it set on light).  I can set up my own exercises so I don't have to get down so to speak.  So I should use it more.

2 new Wii Games

As the price went down after Christmas, I bought 2 new exercise type games for my Wii.
Gold's Gym Dance Workout and The Biggest Loser Challenge.

I tried Dance Workout yesterday.  I may have told you that I have the Gold's Gym Cardio Workout game which I like but it  hurts my knee when I box.  I don't know why because it's not kick boxing, but it does  and I feel it for several days after.  Anyway, if I did Dance Workout the way it's suppose to be done, I'd probably hurt everything.  Luckily, I'm not coordinated enough to follow the instructor who does everything fast, then speeds up.  If you're younger and/or can shake your hips and move your feet and arms at the same time, you'll probably love this game.  Since there will be nobody watching me to laugh at my gyrations, I'll try the game several more times to see if I can catch on.  At least until I throw a hip out of place.  I did do one mini-game which involved dodging bulls.  It was rather fun and I caught on to that quickly.  (The trick is in the arms.)  One of the things I like about this game is that you can use 2 remotes instead of a remote and a nunchuk (The connecting wire on the nunchuk is annoying at times.)

I did the Biggest Loser Challenge this morning.  First I took a test to see which level of fitness I should do.  One of the good things about the test is that it stops when you've had enough and recommends you start exercising at the level, but another good thing is that you don't have to accept their recommendation.  They thought I should start at medium and I thought light would be less painful.  I'll tell you in the morning if I was correct.

After the test, I got to chose how long to exercise - less than 20 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, etc, more than 60 minutes.  I chose 20 minutes which was plenty long enough for the first day.  The exercises were short so I didn't get bored or exhausted doing them and I kept up with most of them.  I don't do push-ups off the floor - even if I can get down there on purpose.  One thing I don't like is switching the remote from left to right to left to right all the time and moving the balance board into position, out of the way, into postion and so on.  One thing I do like is the frequent water breaks.  Now if you feel like you don't need a water break just keep moving while the game is paused - trust me, it's not paused long enough for you to run into the kitchen and get a glass of water so you should have that handy before you start the game.  You can select which of the trainers you want - I selected both.  Jillian led the exercises while Bob talked.  A "contestant" exercises along with Jillian, but she didn't keep up very well.  I tried to tell if she was following my movements or just going it on her own and I think she just did her own thing, which was a little disconcerting but then again it made me feel better about not keeping up sometimes.  Though I did pretty well.  I'm not sure but I think they may have slowed the pace when I began to tire during an exercise.

Also have a tape measure handy.  You can create your own avatar after you do the exercise.  It's one of the activities you can select.  Others include exercise and nutrition tips and recipes.  Some of the recipes looked really good.    Some, not so much.

Let's Race

In the past 6 months I've got two racing games for my Wii: Indianapolis 500 Legends and Madagascar Kartz

I give them both a thumbs up, even though I'm not very good at either of them.

I have a really hard time staying on the road and not bouncing off the wall in the Indy game or hitting boulders, diving into the ocean, and smacking a palm tree in Madagascar.

Madagascar is crazy fun, while the Indy race is just going around in circles in classic race cars, like they dove when I was a kid.

A stadium tip

I just finished another tour of the island.  I'm not sure if I remembered to tell you that there are many capsule inside the stadium that don't show up on the map until you enter the stadium!

The magic clocks for 12 PM are in the stadium and will only appear at 1 AM, 3 AM, 6 AM and 8 AM.

When you enter the stadium it will ask if you want to review the basics again.  Be sure you say No to that question, but Yes to do you want to walk in the stadium.

Something New Every Day

I'm going around the island again and just found something new.  If you click on the "portable player" in the lower right you can check how many capsules you have found for the magic clocks and zodiac signs.

Go to the Portable Player
Then Records
Then Status
Then Events (middle tab on top)
Then click on the Info icons to the right of the Magical Clocks and Zodiac signs.

The zodiac uses symbols so you might have trouble interpreting this screen if you're not all that interested in astrology.

You can use this information to find when and where to find the missing clock and constellation pieces by going to Konami's web site. Look for question Where can I find X capsule -has schedules for constellation, music, and magic clock.

Around and Around

I'm going around the Island one more time with Walk It Out.  I only have a little more than 200 buildings, trees, streetlights, etc to go and 1 magic clock.  I have looked and looked for the magic clock and can't find it.  I have changed the time on the Magic Clock widget thingee to every single hour (except the missing hour, of course) three different times and still can't find it.

This evening I went to the Konami web page and found when and where the missing clock part should be.  It's available at 4 different times during the day so I don't know how I could have missed it all 4 times.   Especially when I looked for it 3 times which makes 12 opportunities to find it.

All that going around in circles is making me batty.

Around and Around the Island

I completed my trip around the island twice and have started again since I last posted.  It was much faster the second time.  Partly because I've built up my stamina and can "walk" much farther at one time now.

Here are today's tips.

Before you leave the island for the day, click on the little box in the lower right corner of the screen to save what you have built.  Konami refers to this box as the "portable player".  Inside the portable player is the Pause Menu where you can do things like view your game records, change the song list, select a new time, change the settings, or play some mini-games as well as save the game. 

1. You may want to change the settings for your game.  I played the game with the default settings for a month or so, but have since changed them to EASY.  On the Settings selection, you can make things easier or harder just by clicking on the little buttons on the right.  I think the instructions in the game manual adequately explain what each selection does.  I set the Miss Penalty to Off and the capsule value to Very Easy.  (The values placed on the capsules are not logical.  For example, on the ranch a hay bale is worth more than twice as much as a house.)
2. You will probably want to remove some of the songs from the play list because they are just plain awful. 
3. Also you may want to remove the songs with slower beats because you can collect points faster when you walk to faster beats.  You can always add the songs back to the list if you want.  Or maybe you want to stick to slow songs and go
4. You can select only one certain genre of songs to play.  I did that accidently so unless you only want to listen to Japanese Pop be sure you are on the All button before you select "play in order listed" or "play random"
5. There are different capsules available at different times of the day.  If you want to finish the island you will either need to exercise at different times of the day AND night or use the magical clocks to change the Island's time of day.
6. Some of the capsules are hard to find.  There is a map on the portable player that shows you where you are and where the capsules are.  At the bottom of the map are icons of each type of capsule with the number of each type availabe at that time of day.  If you click on one of those icons it will remove them from the map (click on it to bring them back).  This is helpful when you have over 3,000 capsules and you want to see where the rainbows are.
7. If you click directly on your avatar, it will change directions. Sometimes a capsule is visible when you turn around and approach it from the opposite direction. 
8. If you hold down the A button on the Wiimote you can see different views (left and right, up and down).  If you hold down the A button while holding the cursor on your avatar you can move it.  Click both the A & B buttons at the same time to return the avatar to the default position.