Why it must suck to live in Alabama…

Sex toy ban upheld in AL, adult gizmos = illegal devices
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/15/sex_toy_ban_upheld_i.html

So guns are still a-ok, but vibrators are a no-no? Can somebody please fly to Alabama and explain to these stuck-up hillbillies how to use their sex toys? Because for a ruling this asinine, clearly they’ve got the wrong thing up their asses…

Also…

Is it just me, or are eBay sellers getting more and more aggressive as the years go by? I won an auction Saturday afternoon for an SNES game – something pretty cheap, maybe five bucks – and today I got an e-mail from the seller stating that if he didn’t hear from me by tomorrow, he’d assume that I wasn’t going to pay and report me to eBay.

The auction only ended 44 hours before he sent his “Final E-Mail.”

The dude makes no mention in the posting of being a stickler for getting payment info directly after the sale. Was he expecting me to paypal him his $6 (most of it in “shipping fees”) two seconds after the sale ended?!

I love my Tivo, but…

…if there’s one “feature” that I really hate, it’s the one where it jumps back to the last channel you had selected if you leave it on the playback screen too long without choosing something.  I’m usually in the other room when it happens, likely in the bathroom, and since I never remember to mute the stereo before I get up, we get blasted back into the stone age with whatever stupid commercial happens to be playing at the time.  It scares the crap out of me every time…

I can leave it on the same HBO On Demand screen ’til the cows come home … what’s the harm in leaving me on my list until I finally come back two hours later?

exercise is hard

So I just got back from my nightly workout … boy, what a conundrum I have.  You see, as I put in my 45 minutes on the treadmill this evening, I had plenty of time to analyze and over-analyze my exercise habits, or lack thereof, and try to figure out why it’s so hard for me to keep a regular schedule.  I’m sure it’s the same problem that a lot of people run into, but here are my thoughts…

For me, it seems to be all about getting over that hump and actually physically getting myself to the gym – once I’m there, I’ve yet to want to wimp out and leave early, and usually I actually end up pushing myself harder because I’m finally there (as in tonight’s episode), but ultimately just getting there seems to be my big obstacle and I’m not sure what else I can do to motivate myself to take that initial step.  It was kind of bizarre because while I was “working it” tonight, with Eye of the Tiger blasting strong and no one around to critique my singing along (best workout song EVER!!!), I surprised myself by realizing that I don’t actually mind physically working out like I would think that I might.  I know that it’s something that I really need to do for myself and I feel good even during the act itself, but it’s getting that first foot out the door that’s been a killer for me lately.

And the problem is, my options are kind of limited unless I want to drastically change my daily schedule to accomodate this … which maybe I’ll just have to, I don’t know.  Right now I’m working 9:30am – 6:30pm (often later), so my day usually gets me up shortly after 8am and I try to be home by 7pm.  Sara’s been working afternoons this month, so if I can dodge the other distractions, my plan is always to get down to the gym as soon as I get home and get it out of the way before I get sidetracked.  Unfortunately, I usually end up getting sidetracked with Internet, housework, writing – you name it, and when the time creeps up to pass 10pm, if I haven’t eaten yet I normally fit that in and don’t have any time left to go exercise at all.  I suppose one option could be to get up earlier and go workout before I go to work, but that causes issues because obviously I don’t like getting up early, and I don’t really care for working out first thing in the morning in public anyways (I just feel “yucky” until I get my morning shower – the sweating from exercise makes it much worse…).

I think the obvious then would be to simply work on my motivation so that when I get home after work, I just get out and go do it before I do anything else.  This is hard because there’s always laundry to start, dishes to clean up, and of course, plenty of websites to read up on!  But I’m only asking for every other night from myself, so you’d think that I should be able to pace myself and make it happen.  I really have to make it happen because one night a week is just a bit less than what the doctor ordered!

Anybody got any tips to lend for staying motivated and actually getting the ball rolling???  I’m told that once you get two or three weeks into a full-blown routine, it becomes much easier because your body just expects it – just like shaking a habit – but I’ve yet to get three solid weeks of exercising every other day like I want to, so I wouldn’t know.  Aside from just making a bee-line to the bedroom to get my workout clothes when I get home and tuning out absolutely everything else, I don’t know what else to try, but I’m certainly open to new ideas!

life, in a nutshell

So where did I leave off???

Cold Snap
It’s been ridiculously cold here in Florida lately, but no matter how cold it gets, we never get any sympathy because it’s always much, much colder elsewhere. Fifty degrees here, two degrees in New York; 45 degrees here, negative seven degrees in Michigan – we just can’t win this sick, twisted, mind-numbingly cold game! Worse yet, I still have yet to actually buy myself a coat or jacket of any sort, so the best thing I’ve got when it gets this chilly is a few longsleeve shirts and my fleece four years after moving here.

Nonetheless, I did get the opportunity to make a nice, big mug of hot chocolate in my Mickey mug last week before work one day, and needless to say it made facing the freeze just a little more tolerable…

The Trials of Regular Exercise
This sucks. I’m doing ok, in that I’ve exercised more in the last month than I have in the last three months … combined … but it’s still nowhere near what I should be doing. Looking back at January’s calendar, I never managed to get past more than two consecutive exercise periods (I’m trying to do every other day) – the third always gets put off, and off, and off. Case in point – I haven’t exercised since last Monday, but before that, I also hit Saturday. Then subtract another week to get to my workout before that – it’s just really been ugly and I keep coming up with excuses and other stuff that I really need to get done first.

But tomorrow is another day – must show discipline!

Writing and Stuff
Things are coming along…slowly albeit, but still along. The website took a lot of shape last week and is just about ready to start taking content – the database just needs a little more tender loving care before it’ll be willing to cooperate. But after some three years in the making, I think I’m finally happy enough with this mock up to see it through to completion. It looks a lot more professional, I think, than some of my other attempts for comedic-genius.com and hopefully will do some part to help take my writing to the next step. It’s still kind of overwhelming to see how the content all lays out because it’s really setup for me to update half a dozen columns just about every week – I hope I can actually keep that schedule once I finally do throw the switch!

Also, my new Disney feature is really starting to take shape and although it might not be quite ready to launch with the rest of the site – whenever that is – I do think it’ll be a solid addition to my other columns and whatnot. It’s kind of interesting to truly focus on a website specifically highlighting my work and only my work because the other sites that I’ve done have always been a collaboration of some sort or another – this one’s all me, baby! So look for a new shine on comedic-genius.com just in time to be late for Christmas… 😛

Television Notables
I’m back to watching the regulars again, and then some…

American Idol — This is the first season that I’ve watched on a regular schedule and have really been enjoying all of the people that suck. Not so sure how the rest will be, though…
Studio 60Best show of the season, hands down! I’m begging for the next five episodes each time we finish the latest show – I would almost argue as good as Sports Night, which Aaron Sorkin hit out of the park, in my opinion. I just wish that I could watch the whole series on DVD in one weekend with this one like I did with Sports Night – can’t get enough!
House — Now that Tritter is gone, it’s getting kinda … well, boring. Meh.
The Office — I’m happy to see that they’re revisiting the Jim / Pam romance, and kind of wish that Karen would just disappear at this point. Also, it’s just not The Office without Dwight!
My Name is Earl — They really need to step this one up because I’m losing interest fast. But just how long can they push the stupid redneck mentality during primetime anyways?
The Apprentice — Still watching, but it just feels too much like The Trump Family with the kids on full time – I think I liked George and Carolyn better. Also, she’s a pretty girl, but please put some make-up on Ivanka during the Tent City Contest that she does each week – the poor woman looks like she just rolled out of bed, not walked out of the boardroom…
Dexter — And it ended a while ago, but I forgot to write about it then and really do want to help spread the word – this show was great. I didn’t expect it to be very good, but it certainly won me over and I normally don’t care much for the crime scene / murder mystery / lots of blood-type cinematics. You should still be able to catch the whole season on Showtime On Demand – Sara’s been working her way through from the beginning as of late – so if you need something to fill a good weekend, I thought it was one of the best new shows I’ve seen in a long time.


Travel

This past weekend, Sara, my Dad and I went down to the Everglades for a little getaway. It’s kind of become a tradition for Dad and I each year when he comes down and Sara had never been, so we thought it would make for a nice weekend. And aside from Superbowl traffic and hotel “No Vacancy” signs up the yin-yang, along with plenty of rain, it wasn’t too bad. Saturday we walked some of the trails off of the main road through the park and today we went on a boat ride out of Everglades City before making the trek home – we didn’t get quite as much done as we’d been hoping just because we ended up having to stay in Naples and commute each day (*I* forgot to get reservations before the football crowd swooped in…), but we all still had a good time.

It’s nice getting to spend time with my Dad like that on an extended basis because even when he’s here for a month or more each year, I usually only get to see him a day here and a day there after work takes it’s toll on my schedule. And I know that Sara enjoyed getting a chance to get to know him a little better, too – I can leave them alone in a room without worrying about coming back to silence, and that’s gotta be a good thing… 🙂