By William C. Altreuter and Catherine Berlin Yes, there is a fitness focus this month, but we can also anticipate what will happen to a few holiday phones during the first few months of the new year, and we never forget our pets. So learn from our experiences and read up on the latest in fitness gizmos. CellularTrendz Refurbished, Unlocked Cell Phones Is mine the only household where cell phones seem magnetically drawn to toilet bowls and washing machines? Do only my children lose phones before they’ve been able to text enough messages to drop a grade point? Enough. I’m not paying full price for a phone, and I can’t sign another two-year commitment—I won’t live to be 142, so I decided to surf my options on buying used. I found Cellular Trendz and liked what I saw. I found a few other sites, and visited eBay, but I kept returning to CT. Next I Googled the name. When something is a scam, word gets out fast. For CT, things were nicely quiet. Was this too good to be true? I asked around. “At our house, we buy the cheapest phones we can find,” WCA said. “And we have them forever.” This isn’t about you, Snotty McSnot Pants, I thought. “Brand new phones fail,” my husband said. “Can you trust refurbished?” When you go through phones like pantyhose, it’s worth a shot. Besides, how many computer crashes does it take to stop believing in an appliance ever after? I’m buying a used phone. This emptor is quite caveat, and chances are the phone will get a swimming lesson before wires fizzle, anyway. I’m so intrigued by gadgets. They are either useful or goofy, neither, or both, and because of that, always entertaining. But “intrigued” is not the same as “knowledgeable,” and when it comes to hi-tech devices like other people’s microwaves and my remote, I can be intimidated. Just as I learn to navigate a new city by getting lost, I best learn scary new technology by breaking and erasing, then starting again. “Just do it” is a phrase for lunatics. It is also a mantra for the documentation-challenged. At CT I found the perfect phone: a refurbished BlackBerry, locked for T-Mobile, for $65. “Great!” I thought. “We have T-Mobile. It’s only for us. We are so lucky.” I ordered the phone, and it arrived, looking barely touched by the previous owner. I charged the battery, and when I turned it on, the screen looked amazing. “Why won’t this accept your card?” my daughter asked a few minutes later. “I don’t know. It said it was locked for T-Mobile.” She stared at me with that look that makes a brain reshuffle the cerebral solitaire cards. Oh. “Locked for” meant not me. Cellular Trendz immediately sent me a return form. I’m ordering a phone that is compatible with my plan, and I’ll report back in the next issue. But everything about the purchase process, the delivery, and the phone worked smoothly. I was the hiccup, and I don’t mind exposing my blunder. We need this kind of purchase option and perhaps by nature we hesitate before buying refurbished, buying over the Internet, and asking questions. My advice? If you need a replacement phone or one that offers different communications options, visit this site. Then call their customer service people. I have so dropped their expectation level about customer sophistication. www.cellulartrendz.com. —CB Yamaha BODiBEAT Exercise Pod This is the best running pal ever. I cannot run without music. So, the music controls my pace. Finally somebody learned to control the music. Yamaha’s player lets my pace select the music! The synchronization technology in the BODiBEAT works with my steps in Free Workout Mode if I want it to, or I can turn it into other modes like Fitness or Training which push me based on my heart beat. Or I can set it to Music Mode and it acts like any other player. Whatever mode, it’s working from my library to motivate me. This one completely stole me. It’s $300, but if you really depend on your player for exercise, then your heart, lungs, muscles, and skin will all benefit hundreds of times over the purchase price. Watch out for traffic. yamaha.com/bodibeat. —CB Tanita BC568 InnerScan I haven’t had a scale in ten years. Jennifer Linde, from the University of Minnesota, claims that daily weighing helps people shed pounds. I found a Leifheit scale that promises to tell you your body fat percentages, water, and muscle weight. It also has a user ID function for up to eight people. Really. How many people have that many people in their house keeping tabs on their fat-to-muscle content? But it’s the Tanita Segmental Body Compositional Monitor that is the latest, with individual composition readings for each body segment—trunk, right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg. Something about “electrodes” and “in seconds.” I know two guys who said that the early BMI scales were not very effective. I can’t vouch for any of it. I use a pair of jeans that I put on once a week. If they are tight in the thighs, I adjust. Maybe. For those more scientifically focused, it’s $300 worth of info. competitiveedge.com. Tanita products are available at local retailers like Target; Brookstone; and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. —CB The Fitbit Tracker This one is getting a lot of hype, and it’s not even available until this magazine hits the streets. You wear a small monitor 24/7, and the info uploads to your computer when you get near a small base station. The software will tell you if you are a nervous twit, a workout junkie, or a load. I’m not sure I need a device to tell me what kind of week I’m having. I have those jeans. But there is something beneficial in discovering that we are not as active as we think we are. It’s only $99, and could help as a needed reality check. Then once you accept that you need more exercise, go retro and find a Charles Atlas Bullworker and Suzanne Sommer Thighmaster. You will be the coolest fitness person ever. Fitbit.com. —CB Wii Fit’s Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 If you have a Wii Fit and you’ve stopped using it, Ms. Michaels has created a reason to get back into it. Now, we think Ms. Michaels is really a man (tiny hips, deep voice, kick-ass attitude), but we’re not saying that’s a bad thing. When she promised we could pick out a workout type, we were hoping she meant like “easygoing” or “walker.” No, this is for punching and climbing and all things Marine. We’ve watched the promos and we need a nap. But if you want to earn the burn, just do it. —WCA K&H Pet Beds I have the best dog on the planet. She is friendly, happy, and noble in appearance. She also smells. I cannot shampoo her enough. Not petting her is hardly an option, and a smelly house is never an option. So, at a loss, I stopped in Steve’s Wonderful World of Pets and asked the assistant standing in the next aisle, whose head and shoulders above the top shelf were all I could see, “Do you have anything for pet odor, like body mints or talcum powder? I wash her and brush her, but it must be something about that breed, that’s what I’ve heard, but ….” He listened to me for a bit longer, then said, “I don’t work here.” “I was just kidding,” I said. “My dog is perfect.” I’ll save the pet odor solution for another column, but while I was looking for a real assistant (they are easy to find, actually, and know everything about the products), I spotted the heated pet bedding from K&H Manufacturers. There have to be a lot of pups, arthritic dog joints, and hounds around that spend at least part of their day outside. For them, these might be a nice break in the winter. The company also makes cooling beds for dogs that can’t get enough of a chill, and at least one combo. H&K’s All Season Snuggly Sleeper won a Dog Fancy magazine’s Editor’s Choice award for 2008. It holds cool water in the summer and a heating pad in the winter. I don’t know if Steve’s carries everything in the K&H line, but stop in and ask. Then ask an assistant. 5397 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, 634-3397. www.khmfg.com. —CB William C. Altreuter and Catherine Berlin are attorneys living in Buffalo. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top