timers - advice from Commenters - THANKS!

on the subject of "interval timers," timers that can be set to beep every 5 minutes:

from James:

we have a simple digital kitchen timer. you set the time you want 5 10 15 minutes, hit start and it counts down and beeps at 0. then reset and go again.

nothing fancy.


from Matthew K:

Yep, digital kitchen timer, very small, under $10.



from Steve H:

My mother has one of those timers even though she is in her 80's. It's going off all of the time. If it were mine, I would stomp on it.

[yup. that's my problem with the kitchen timer concept. have I mentioned I've been making heavy-duty use of our new StressEraser?]


also from Steve H:

Remember, hard work pays off sometime in the future; procrastination pays off right now. Stop and smell the roses.


and:

I find that a lot of my programming work gets done in fairly short times of intense concentration. The hard part is getting started. The way I try to deal with this is to leave off at "easy spots". I don't like to leave off at the end of a big task. It's too hard to get started on something new. If I leave off at an easy spot, then my brain doesn't have to work hard the next time I pick up the work. Once I get going, I find it easier to deal with more difficult problems.


me again:

This is great advice, which I normally try to follow. Unfortunately this chapter of the book I'm writing with Temple doesn't have any easy spots (true--not ironic).

It doesn't have any easy spots BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN THE SUBJECT I'M TRYING TO WRITE ABOUT.

When you have to look EVERYTHING up on Google (or, now, on NYU's Bobcat system), you're in hell.

I am a living exemplar of the 21st century lifetime-learners scenario the ed schools foresee for all citizens, across the board: I am attempting to produce a large & complicated project based not on knowledge I acquired through study and SAFMEDS, but through my powers of logic and my ability to look things up.

That's doing things the hard way.


from Eric:

The Timex Expedition wristwatch has a timer with a "flip the hourglass" repeat mode. Mine is set to 6 minutes and enabled when I barbecue.

It's also useful if I find myself posting at blogs instead of crafting educational reform.

Oops.


Eric!

Get back to work!


prices said:

These types of timers are also used for yoga practice. They tell you when you should change poses. Now & Zen makes an expensive but pleasant sounding chime. (got one for the wife)


Perfect!!

I wasn't going to think of that one.

question:

Why am I a person who, when trying to figure out what an interval timer is & who sells them, does figure out boxers use them but does not figure out people who do yoga would use them, too?

Somebody should have sent me to military school when I was young.

I can see that now.

...............................

THANKS!

..............................

Speaking of the StressEraser, we've had it for a couple of days now, and it's pretty cool.

Ed bought it because he's been going through a wicked phase of insomnia; that's why the kids' psychiatrist recommended it. For sleep.

I was skeptical it would work for sleep, but darned if it didn't put him to sleep last night. He said he almost dozed off a couple of times before he'd reached to the requisite 100 "points." He had to rouse himself to carry on de-arousing himself.

So we'll see.

For me, the effect is subtle but great. I'm not sure what it does exactly; I assume it's something you do in yoga and/or meditation. (And definitely not not something you do in boxing).

You breathe in and out to a count of four while the StressEraser takes your pulse. If you breathe "correctly" (I don't know how the machine defines correctly) you get one point each breath. During the day you're supposed to go to 30 points; you go up to 100 points at night, before bed.

I'll keep you posted.


help desk - timers
you heard it here first (possibly)
StressEraser on YouTube
a possible case of buyer's remorse
gadget of the week