Wii-kend (+ Introducing Phone-Ga)

May is big birthday action month at our house. Our two older girls turned 9 and 11 (OMG, I’m getting old!), so over the weekend we thought it might be a nice idea to invite 12 giggling, shrieking schoolgirls over for a backyard campout in tents with snickerdoodle birthday cake and roasting s’mores and glow bracelets and teeny-bopper films on DVD. What joy! It was just too calm around here apparently (NOT).

On top of that, my husband quite excitedly purchased and installed a Nintendo Wii. For the kids, you understand (NOT). We happen to own a large-screen television, so the putting green looks rather expansive, and those little Mii avatars are big enough to feel right at home in. We have not stopped playing with this jingling, jump-around-the-room video “exergaming” system since it came out of the box.

Apparently I have found my true talent in TV bowling. I rock. Stttrrriiikkkeee!! Apparently David Archuleta is getting at second chance at victory, as his Mii avatar created by my No. 1 fan 9-year-old is really quite good at TV baseball and tennis.

The point I was trying to make, however, as a PWD (person with diabetes – don’t you forget it!) was that we’ve never been so active in our own living room. I whacked down more than one BG high this weekend while working on my Wii-based backhand. My 11-year-old (the ultimate girlie-girl) must’ve knocked out ten guys in Wii boxing. Some of them even wore glasses. She actually broke a serious sweat.

And I kept thinking: Physical Activity. Yes. This is good. Why do we just sit still in front of our TVs and computers most of the time?

With my @#$! carpal tunnel syndrome acting up, I need to get up from my work chair more often. I need to stretch my shoulders more. I need to flatten out my back on the floor now and then.

Light bulb on! I work from home and make lots of phone calls (and mercifully, video conferencing has not yet become mainstream). So I dug an old exercise mat out of our garage and plopped it on the floor of my office. Introducing Phone-Ga: yoga positions and stretching during conference calls. I shall combat the sedentary lifestyle, even as I scour the Internet. And why doesn’t everybody do this?

Ah yes, the workplace. The office. I watch that show. Still, if you happen to have a corner office with a door that closes, try this. Or hook up a Wii. Try it, you’ll like it.

Hey, they even have web sites dedicated to weight loss programs based on the Wii.

And this guy says he’s working on a site called Wiiabetes.com, “coming soon to show how Diabetes relates with the playing Nintendo Wii!” So there.