I arrived home late from work last
Monday morning (I work nights) at about 9:00 a.m. By the time I went to the
front gate to pick up the newspaper, it was gone and most likely stolen. I
requested a replacement but it never arrived. Since I also get the online
version of the paper (the pages are arranged exactly like the hardcopy), I had
no choice but to read the news on my computer.
If you
have read this blog before, you know I like reading the newspaper while riding
the stationary bike, using the elliptical machine, or walking on the treadmill.
Well, I’ve never tried doing that with a computer so this was going to be a
first. Monday was a spinning bike day, so I fired up my netbook, logged on to
the Press Telegram website, mounted the wide open netbook on the book rack of
the bike, then started pedaling. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. For
sure I wouldn’t be able to do stand ups or the computer might fall over. That
was fine with me because I like to do high cadence spinning anyway which
simulates breathing like running. Reading the print wasn’t a problem even with
darkening skies outside because of the computer backlight. If I was reading the
paper version, I might have had to turn on the lights in my living room.
So
anyway, reading was not a problem. The difficult part was using the touchpad to
turn the pages because of the movement of my body and the pedals. It took
several tries to smoothen the movements of my fingers before I could turn a
page. I never liked touchpads in the first place and I always use a mouse. That
wouldn’t have worked on a book rack mounted netbook. You know what? I think
coordinating the page turning with pedaling actually made the workout a wee bit
more challenging. I was able to do 40 minutes on the spinning bike and did 10
minutes on the recumbent bike just to see if it was easier to turn the page
while semi-reclined. It wasn’t. This is probably better done with a table PC which I don’t have. It would have
been easier turning pages with a swipe of a finger.
If I don’t
receive the newspaper next time, I may have to try this netbook technique again
on the treadmill. Not only will I wish that the computer doesn’t fall off, but
that I wouldn’t either. Oh, boy, what I have to do just to satisfy my endorphin
cravings!
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