Was just reading this article about tracking software for pets. Is it wrong that I now want one of these? Not sure it's my best use of $149 to watch Moxie sleep all day. . .

and generally a good philosophy, V-Day or not. Spread love, y'all.

It's amazing how quickly one's thoughts about winter in NYC can shift from "the snow makes everything look so lovely and serene — it's a winter wonderland!" to "how am I expected to get around with these massive piles of filthy snow and ankle-deep puddles of nasty slush, especially when the damn trains aren't functioning properly!?!?" Deep breaths.

As you may recall, I was the lucky recipient of a Fitbit One this year (thanks, Mom & Stephen!). One of its features is sleep tracking — it tells you how many hours you slept, how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up and how many times you were restless during any given night. Looking at this information has been fascinating to me. Since I got it, I learned that generally I might wake up once during the night, and am restless from one to three times per night. During the time that I have been sick (including the night before I started to feel crummy), I woke up at least three times and was restless upwards of ten times, including one night when I was restless twenty six times and one night when I was awake five times. No wonder I've felt so exhausted. Last night I didn't wake up at all and was restless nine times — an improvement at least. Here's to hoping for less restless sleep going forward.

*when you're talking in your sleep.

2014 isn't treating me well so far — although New Year's Eve was lovely and filled with friends, food and laughter, I've been hit by a cold that keeps me up coughing all night. This was fine when I could lounge about and nap during the day, but it doesn't work so well when I have to go to work. Definitely ordering soup for lunch.

Happy and healthy 2014 to you all (and to my body, which didn't get the memo about the "healthy" part)!

I'm a New Yorker — I walk. A lot. I walk to and from the subway, up and down the stairs, I walk Moxie several times a day, I walk to do my errands — grocery shopping, dry cleaners, and I often walk to get to restaurants or bars, movie theatres, or anywhere else I have to be. I recently downloaded Noom Walk, a pedometer app for my phone. I had been exploring fitness monitors (think I've settled on the FitBit One), and figured this might be a good place to start experimenting with tracking daily activity outside of workouts.

You may have heard that 10,000 steps per day is the ideal target recommended by health authorities. I was certain that I'd hit the target with no problem given how much walking I do. I was so wrong. On a fairly active day, I was hovering around 5,000. I was stunned. I'm now figuring out ways to walk even more than I already do (in addition to getting back to the gym), including getting off the subway several stops early on my daily commute. I'm determined to hit 10,000!

If I, as an active pedestrian, can only hit 5,000, I can only imagine that a car-bound suburbanite who also sits at a desk every day doesn't even come close to that. Yikes. Don't be surprised if the next time we get together, part of our plans include going for a walk . . .

I've been spending time today reflecting about my experience during Superstorm Sandy, which took place a year ago today. I was lucky. For me, it was an inconvenience, but it was also an adventure. As someone who has lived in NYC through 9/11 and a blackout prior to Sandy, it was yet another illustration of how the city comes together in a crisis and how people take care of each other. Although I lost power, I cooked, saw friends and neighbors, made it to work, and generally made the best of it. I was also able to help determine where my law firm devoted financial resources, as well as legal resources. I helped get attorneys trained so that they could help the law firm staff who were impacted most severely by the storm in addition to helping those outside of the firm. 

I'm sure this wasn't the last time NYC will see such a disaster or other crisis, but I have no doubt that we will get through whatever comes next. To Karen, Nannette & Richard (and their family), Dan & Kathryn, Jesse, & Anthony — thanks for helping me weather the storm.