the little blog that could

I have my blog, and most of my online presence locked down pretty tight. This blog is only open if you have the address. Try as you might it will not come up in a search engine. Partly, because it's just meant for a select group of people. Partially, it's too keep the haters away.  My FB page is a little loser because I administer the LBW's page, and I need to certain leave things unlocked. But at the bottom of my emails is a line that says "Walking Blog: gfhendricks.blogspot.com". I never actually expect people to click on it.

About a week ago I saw on the AVA FB page:

Well that's right up my alley. And look, I'll actually downloaded an app for my iPhone. (It's pretty much still fresh from the box!)

 I downloaded the app with ease, did the pre-screen, consent and whatever else I needed to do.

I opened the app and it ask if it could access my "Health" app. I don't use that because I rarely have the phone with me. I use my FitBit. So I wanted to link that. (Yes, the iPhone is a tremendous waste of money. But try buying a flip phone. You'll have better luck finding a T-Rex. So if I have to have a smart phone, I'm having an iPhone. I'm an Apple girl.) So I clicked no, and of course I couldn't figure out how to sync my Fit-Bit. So I had to write to them. Confess I'm stupid, and how do I fix it.

I received a reply in a few hours from the co-founder, Chintan.

    Hi Gayle,  Thanks for signing up for the study!

    You can open the iOS "Health" > Health Data >All >Steps>Share Data

    Here you can provide America Walks access to the steps data

I did that, and went on with life. When I checked later it didn't sync my data.  Tried the next day. No sync. Puzzled, I wrote again. Later I decided to try the old Mac trick. If it doesn't work, just shut the whole thing down and reboot it. Of course it worked, but I already written Chintan. Shoot. Egg on my face moment.

A reply awaited me this morning:

Hi Gayle, Do you see step counts within the Health App itself? if the permission is given then the steps will/should show up on dashboard.

Alternatively, you can delete app and sign up again.

You can also use this app to get your fitbit data into Health App - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1071544839

Thanks for your patience!

I replied and told him thanks, but rebooting worked. I'm now in the study. The sociologist in me was happy. (Remember, that was my major in college. I was going to save the world. That worked out well, didn't it?)

When I returned  from the mobile farmer's market and the Russian Food Festival (the kielbasi was amazing!) a final email awaited me. Apparently at some point in the correspondence they clicked my blog link.

You have a great blog! We would love to hear your experiences as a participant of the study. I have CC'd our Scientific Media Editor—Priya. Who will reach out to get your thoughts/feedback towards the end of study.

Kind of cool. Right?