Getting closer to Total LifeStats.

I wish somebody had invented foursquare thirty years ago, because I love knowing stats about my life. I love that something is tracking that information. There is not a day that I drive down the Interstate that I don't wonder if this would happen to be the 10,000th time I've done that. This is probably why I disdain arbitrary, state-sponsored holidays like St. Patrick's Day... I'm busy enough neurotically wondering about my own highly-personalized milestones.

Some time ago our credit card bill started giving a recap of our spending, breaking out restaurants, groceries, etc. I find that fascinating.

Here's what three weeks of foursquare says about my traveling habits:

Nice even distribution. Except for Wednesday. Guess I don't go runnin' around much on Wednesdays.

foursquare provides other stats, like the average number of checkins per day and the percentage of all-new locations. The real kicker, however, is the badges.

If foursquare can be said to be a game at all, those badges are the victory points. I don't know how you get half of them (and some I will never get, like the badge for checking in a dozen times in Brooklyn), but I do like when I randomly uncover one.

Then there is when you are awarded the title of Mayor for a given location. I currently hold 8 mayorships, most of which are at locations that I registered. So it's not like there's a local army of foursquare users in hot competition. Still, certain common businesses like stores and gas stations are regularly in dispute.

The high-minded goal of foursquare is to encourage people to see the world. Go to places maybe you have routinely overlooked. Break out of comfortable shopping ruts. I'm sure in bigger cities this angle is better explored, since there are more stores that have glommed on to the service (businesses can add coupons or suggestions related to their location... if you are near a tip, your app will alert you.) Most locations around here are blissfully unaware of foursquare. Last weekend I added a high school, for christ's sake. Don't these kids have iPhones?

It is pretty easy to trick foursquare, unfortunately, so there is a portion of honor system involved. The app has let me checkin to locations two miles down the road. It even let me checkin at Josh's house twenty minutes away, simply because I was looking at his online profile. So there's some tech issues that threaten the integrity of the game. The iPhone app was really crashy too, but they just put out an update that may address some of that.

Although there is something to be said for foursquare not being too granularly accurate. Snarky websites like pleaserobme.com and Twitter bots have already started collecting peoples' public foursquare notifications, presenting the notion that these people could be burgled or stalked or otherwise harmed. Which, although it makes for great alarmist material for luddites, it does not strike me as particularly valuable information from a professional thief standpoint. Number one, you can't quite trust the app (or the people) in the first place. Number two, just because I left home does not mean the house is empty. And number freaking three, most people have jobs. And all people sleep. That's when homes are robbed. Not on vague and potentially inaccurate weblog posts about people maybe being at Pizza Hut. Anyway, notifications can be made private; you don't have to broadcast to Facebook and Twitter... even if your feeds go only to people you think you know.

Me, I just like that I know how many times I have been to Target. And which Targets.