Do you ever...

think something is ridiculously complicated? So much so that you're ready to throw it through a wall or flush it down a toilet in order to avoid trying to figure out how to use it? Well, that's how it is in life for me with nearly all things mechanical. The bigger the book of instructions, the more likely it is to bring me to tears and/or screams of rage.

So, you can imagine the fear that was brought about by my dear, sweet hubby buying me a BODYBUGG for my birthday. Remember my noble (but unsuccessful) attempts to set the loaner up while I was at fat camp?

The new BodyBugg is prettier than the loaner. Its monitor is shiny and silver and has a bright turquoise light. And it beeps when you push the buttons! I'm enamoured. I do love the idea of being able to use all of its exciting features.

But, once again, I open the box and find not one, BUT TWO giant instruction books...one for the Bugg and one for the display...and then, of course, there's a whole other set of instructions on the internet for setting up the online program.

Tears and screams of rage again?? Of course! For a little while, at least. But guess what?? I powered through it!! I didn't want to hurt my hubby's feelings. He always thinks long and hard about gifts for me. (I really am the luckiest wife in the world. I'll never begin to guess how he puts up with my crazy nonsense!) He would have been devastated if I'd given up and stuck the Bugg on a shelf in the closet or ran it over with my truck.

So...after many hours of frustration, I managed to set up my online account...and then, miraculously, it only took me a few minutes to figure out which end of the black cord/plug/thingy stuck into my laptop and which stuck into the Bugg. I was able to charge it successfully...and even more miraculously, I was able to get the information I'd typed into the computer to travel through the black cord/plug/thingy into the Bugg so it would know important things like how fat I am and how big my ass is and how much I'm trying to shrink it!

I was also able to figure out how to get the Bugg off of the black cord/plug/thingy and install it into its arm strap AND get the pretty silver monitor thingy installed into its watch band. Are you impressed yet?

I've been wearing it for nearly two weeks now. It's keeping track of all the calories I'm burning...hopping back and forth to the bathroom with my cool walker. I've even had my coaching session with the BodyBugg professional that taught me how to use all the online features. (You know if they would just have a real person come help you get set up from the get-go it would save people like me a lot of grief!)

For the past couple of days, I've been using the BodyBugg program to log my food instead of Fitday.com. It is easier to log food on the BodyBugg program...only because it seems to have more foods in the database. My understanding is that if you upgrade on Fitday.com and pay their membership fee (instead of being a cheapskate like yours truly and just using the freebie membership) you get a bigger database of foods. I just don't see any purpose in paying for both. I'm still staying on Fitday.com to use some of the other features though...especially the forums. The people on there are great and very supportive.

So, what's my point? Well, I'm proud of myself for gutting the BodyBugg setup out. Normally, I would have given up or smashed the damn thing with a hammer...but I didn't...and I've found it to be quite useful! Go me!