Keeping up with this thing is hard

This is why I stopped in the first place. I cant seem to write anything for weeks at a time. I guess I am not that interested in it right now. Too many things on my plate? Maybe. Nothing interesting to say? That too. Really though its just a simple lack of intertia. Back when I used to write regularly it was an everyday thing where even if I did not post every day I started something that I could post the next day. It was nice back in those days because I had plenty of down time to sit around and concentrate on things to talk about. Now I am spending my free time doing other things.

Actually, I just do the same things I did back then but a little more of it and find less time to write about it. I work a lot more hours these days than I used to. Not that I like it but I cant remember a week recently that I haven’t put in 45+ hours. I sleep a lot less too. I am up between 6 and 7 almost everyday. And if I am not headed straight to the gym I am usually jumping on the computer checking my email and getting to work. Thankfully, life isn’t all work, I have combated the extra hours with plenty of fun stuff and some very domestic ones as well. Between my usual chill out activities and plenty of stuff with the girl I keep really busy.

I have fallen into a pretty nice little situation with my girl, spending most of our nights together each week. We try to make dinner together at home more than we eat out which has become a lot of fun. It is also a lot of work, finding new recipes, preparing all the ingredients. Totally worth it if you ask me but when you are working til 6 and it takes you forever to prepare dinner you don’t have a lot of time to sit and chill. On a given week I am probably spending only 1 or 2 nights by myself. And those are the only nights are really have time to just sit and do nothing.

On nights like tonight when I am alone and have plenty of time I find myself doing a lot of nothing. Tonight and other nights like it would seem to be the perfect time to write something, yet I rarely do. Instead, I usually end up playing video games, reading books, watching DVDs or TV shows or just messing around on the computer. All things that are great ways to avoid work and give myself a rest away from this laptop of mine.

Still, I am trying and would really like to get that momentum going to write more often. I am writing elsewhere on a group blog and sports message boards. I just need to refocus here so I am not writing once every three weeks.

Enough with the excuses already

I like to pride myself on being pretty dedicated to my workout routine. And most of the time I am very good about it. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t have an internal battle going on every day to just get myself to the gym. It starts from the moment I wake up, one after another as I begin my day I rattle off excuses. “I’m sore, I’m tired, I have a lot to do today, I will go tomorrow, its just one day not a big deal.” This goes on and on throughout the day sometimes continuing while I am getting dressed for the gym and on the really bad days this thought process will stay with me on the drive there.

Once I get there though, its gone, and the focus is there. I flip gears and my thought process becomes, “Write down your exercises, pick a good song, rack your weights, lift, rest, repeat, next exercise.” And before I know it my workout is over, I wasn’t too sore or too tired and I still have plenty of time to do everything else I need to do. And this got to me to thinking about how often in life its really that simple.

For a lot of people we have this constant stream of doubt and excuses running through our heads telling us no. And it is hard not to listen to them, but once you start ignoring it and start down the path you will no longer be hearing those excuses. Even better once you have accomplished something not only will you know the excuses were silly but you will know that you were capable of doing what you wanted to all along. So, I consider these excuses as a fun little mental warm up now as long as I can keep overcoming them I think they will only make me better and hopefully beating my excuses to skip a workout will lead to me beating excuses when I have doubts in other areas of my life.

Stuck in the middle with Favre

As a Vikings fan yesterday was one really long day. At first I just hoped it was all wrong and that the rumors were just not true. But, this is Brett Favre, of course they were true. Even though my TV was on ESPN all day following the saga I still wasn’t sure until I saw JD Booty run out to the practice field wearing #9. Shortly after that Favre was out there in a red #4 and it all became official. This signing has officially put me into a sort of limbo as a fan as I find myself both defending and attacking the signing.

On the one hand amongst my fellow Vikings faithful I choose to express distaste with the signing. The reasoning is simple, I don’t think Favre makes us that much better, if at all. I was beginning to hope for Rosenfels to achieve a caretaker like level with the offense and let the rest of our pieces get us to the playoffs. And it seemed like that was entirely possible. The defense remains a strength, Adrian Peterson is still the best RB in the league and the receiving corps is a bit improved with playmaker Percy Harvin now in the slot. So why sign Favre at all? He tanked down the stretch last season and threw the most INTs in the league. There is no reason to bring in a QB with a hero complex when all we need is a distributor.

Then there is the stance I take with rivals and outside observers that says this Viking team is still poised to make a run. I still express my reservations with the signing but I don’t think it makes us worse. We are still certainly a playoff team so I have to defend that belief with fans looking in that claim we wont win the division and that Favre actually makes us worse. I saw the Vikings as a 10-6 team with Sage, in my opinion Favre makes us no worse than that given the schedule. Maybe he gets us a win or two along the way. We aren’t NFC favorites or anything but should be the favorites in the North.

So, here I am excited for football and completely conflicted.

Adopting an allergy (How my life is now mostly Gluten free)

I do not have Celiacs disease or a gluten allergy but I now make almost all of my food choices based on that reality. My girlfriend was diagnosed with Celiacs 6 years ago and is one of the unfortunate ones with an extreme sensitivity to all gluten. So, she has to entirely avoid all wheat, rye, oats and barley. That is even worse than a lifelong Passover diet. At least then I can still eat Matzo turkey sandwiches. Even though I had actually heard of this rare disease before I met her I did have to take a lot of steps to fully understand what it all meant.

The first thing I did, as I would do with anything new, I did some research. Thanks to google and a number of cooking sites I found out what to look for in the foods I was purchasing and the meals I was making. Did you know that most Soy Sauce contains wheat? What about the use of bread crumbs in hamburger meat? I was shocked to so often look at a product label to see the little contains wheat at the bottom. So, for any prepackaged items that we are going to eat together I have to read the labels thoroughly before purchasing or just eat it all myself.

After boning up on what she could and could not eat I began to practice. I switched from regular pasta to rice pasta, used cornstarch instead of flour to bread chicken and started saving more and more gluten free recipes to my bookmarks. Then, I took stock of the things I already knew how to make and made sure that none of my ingredients had gluten in them. And thankfully my number one primo BBQ sauce was safe, good thing too, because everyone loves it. Now, most gluten free cooking focuses on baking, since I don’t bake I do not have to really worry about that, I leave that to her, but it did mean going out of my way for the Teriyaki sauce that does not contain wheat and a lot more purchases from Whole Foods because they sell the largest selection of gluten free bagels. I am told Kinnikinnick is the best. In the fridge we keep separate condiments so I don’t contaminate the butter or cream cheese. All in all the homefront while not entirely gluten free has become a celiac safe zone.

The same can not be said for many restaurants and so the choices we have for dining out are a bit limited. Still, it’s hard to go wrong with many Asian and Latin American foods where they predominantly use rice or corn. Though I think the best thing is finding a place that caters to the gluten free crowd. We are still searching for great ones in DC but ended up planning an entire weekend in New York City around the gluten free places we could eat. At Friedman’s Deli in Chelsea market they even had a separate fryer dedicated to GF French fries. At Petit café they sold GF sandwiches and French toast; we actually ate there two days in a row. In the local area the only place that sticks out is Wildfire at Tysons corner with their gluten free menu that includes a GF beer. But that does not mean I am not still looking.

It’s amazing how over the last year one person has so completely changed the way I think about food.

Life without roommates (shh, no one will read this either)

In May I finally moved into my own place for the first time. That put an end to 28 years of suffering the presence of others. Family, friends, fraternity brothers, random Haitians, there was even a few of those hit or miss Craigslist finds.

But, now I am finally free. I may never go back. It’s seriously great, I never get upset about other peoples crap being in the way or finding dirty dishes constantly filling the sink. Well, that’s not true, only now the dirty dishes are mine and I swear I will get to them tomorrow.

It’s just very peaceful, even if I haven’t spent a night alone in weeks. To anyone considering getting their own place, do it. The only drawback I could think of is that since the area I live in is quite expensive I had to sacrifice location a bit to afford a place of my own. However, I would not trade being over a mile from the metro and living alone to be closer and having a roommate.

No one is going to read this

Can you return to your blog after 13 months off? Probably not, so this may just be a one off post. And if so it is probably just going to be read by one person. Anyway, here goes.

A little over a year ago I was still in my sling and stitches from my shoulder surgery and put up the first post I had written in over 6 months. Clearly, I was not doing much writing even before I gave it up. And its not that things were not happening but more that my life had taken on a cyclical nature. It is hard to get excited about writing a post about something you did last summer or last fall. Still, in that lack of enthusiasm to write about the things that seemed to keep recurring in my life (Gator football, beach trips to Delaware, boring work travel, trips to Vegas, weekends in NYC…) I did miss some new stuff that maybe deserved a nod from me.

So, in hopefully not too many words here is what has been going on since that one liner from June 08.

I had a Bankhart Repair and capsular shift on June 8^th, 2008. It was a relatively quick arthroscopic procedure that left me with three tiny scars. I spent the following three weeks in a sling and living on percocet. In July, I got to take the sling off and began physical therapy. Then for the next 12 weeks I was in the PT clinic 2-3 times a week. But, that doesn’t mean I left PT behind in September when my time there was done. No, I was given a nice home workout program and just for good measure decided it would be a good idea to have my own physical therapy aide, so I started dating one.

I don’t know how common or cliché starting a relationship like this is but I imagine it isn’t rare. The details, well not details, but a little background goes like this. My surgeon works a few floors above the clinic I ended up going to, so a week after my surgery during my first check up he sent me downstairs to set up my appts for the following month. As cheesy as it sounds I noticed her right away, it was just a quick glimpse while I was up front setting up appointments and she was walking around the back working with patients. Then I left, went about my life for three weeks and finally returned for therapy. Becoming friends was easy, and trust me it is better to have your therapist and aides on your side than not. After all, their job is to push you to get better and sometimes that sucks. One of my first memories of the girl was her sarcastically mocking my range of motion. After that the next 10 weeks played out pretty low key, she went to work, I went to do my exercises and I noticed that I definitely looked forward to seeing her and was upset on the days her shift and my session did not overlap. With only a few weeks left we ended up at a happy hour together with some other people from the clinic and things took off from there. A week later I was done with therapy and we had plans to hang out again.

The next six weeks played out like I’m sure most new relationships do. We weren’t really sure if it was going anywhere or if there was more than just a fleeting attraction there. After Halloween though, we were definitely dating and seeing each other regularly. Now, I rarely go a day without seeing her. We spent 4 days camping out at Bonnaroo and survived. We spent a weekend in New York City. She met my sister in Las Vegas (btw, my sister lives in Las Vegas, you can find her bartending at Lavo). I got her an awesome Albert Tshirt for Christmas and though she could care less about football she did watch the SECCG with me on my birthday and sent me text messages cheering on the Gators during the BCSCG.

Sorry this post has turned into a “Me and My Girlfriend” story but that has really been the past year of my life. Ask me what I am doing today or what I did yesterday and my responses will inevitably go something like this, “We are going to a party” or “We are having dinner” or “We went to a show”.

Everything else is pretty much the same as it was a year ago, but it all seems so different.

Been a long time

Just checking if this place is still here. I might start writing again, a little slow while I recover from shoulder surgery but writing none the less.

My Fandom

There are so many reasons to choose whom you root for and they are all valid. Whether it is bandwagon or the team of your parents, the school you went to or where you grew up. I root for both the teams where I was born (Minnesota) and the teams where I grew up (South Florida) and my college (University of Florida). And while I would never root for another college my professional fan allegiances have worked out well. The teams in Miami and the teams in Minneapolis all fall into different conferences and rarely have I had to choose one side over the other. If I had to I would take Minnesota because those were the teams I loved first. I will never forget my trips to the Metro Dome to see the Twins as a little kid or my Mom taping me the final innings of the 1991 World Series for me. I still have my Homerun Hanky. My rooting interest in Florida sports came somewhat later and has never held the passion that the Minnesota teams get. But, when Florida got a baseball team I was a fan, same with the Heat and the Panthers. So, the majority of my sports attendance took place in South Florida and while I do not live and die with those teams I do care about how they do. Of course, none of the pro teams even come close to how I feel about the Gators.

 

I have an unhealthy obsession with University of Florida sports. I remember times in college when instead of going out on a Saturday night or afternoon after a loss I would just go to sleep. In 2001 when we lost to Tennessee at home and subsequently lost our chance at SEC and National titles, I sat in the stadium until we were forced to leave. I was physically unable to get up and believe it was over. Of course, a month or so later I would be in Charlotte when a Vol told me that Steve Spurrier was quitting. The following three years have made the losses easier to handle. And the past two years have made winning almost routine. And when I look back on all the losses and all the wins, not just for the Gators but for all the teams I follow, it adds up to one pretty special life of fandom.

 

In my nearly 27 years I have celebrated 9 Championships. That is quite a lot and even if you take away my secondary allegiances in South Florida I have still enjoyed 6 championship seasons. And it’s the Championships that is why the Minnesota Twins are my first love, how could they not be, I was 6 when Kirby Pucket and Kent Hrbek were beating Ozzie Smith in the World Series. I was 10 when they won their second and even though it has been a long time since they have won another  I still root for them and watch them every chance I get. Even through the down years I found something to get excited about. But, this isn’t about being a fan through the downtimes, every real fan goes through those times. This is about how fortunate I have been in my fandom and really I have done nothing to earn it. I was born into a small market that overachieved in baseball but has been disappointing in hockey, football and basketball. I moved to an area where the favorite team, the Dolphins, have not done anything my entire life, but the upstarts basketball and baseball franchises have won championships. The only fan allegiance I actually had to choose or try to get into was UF and even there all I did was apply, get in and go to class. Not that being an alum is even necessary to being a college athletics fan. But, I did apply to one school and one school only, I got into that school and joined the thousands of other students in becoming a member of that community. So, I had the time of my life there for five years and in return I have cheered on 2 basketball championships and went to one BCS title game. Even in a season where the Vikings are not looking great outside of AD, the Dolphins are terrible, the Timberwolves are playing for ping pong balls and the Heat look like they are slipping, how can I complain about a down year? The Gators are rebuilding and reigning Champs and since I am averaging a Championship every 3 years I am fairly certain that the down times will be outweighed heavily by the good ones.

My fitness plan

I see it all over the place, people are very concerned about health and fitness. So, the amount of info is immense and overwhelming and even more what works for one person might not work for another. In what follows I want to describe how I keep up the fitness habit, stay motivated, bounce back, ride the highs and lows and manage to still enjoy some of the less healthy pleasures in life.

I am no expert but in my quest to leading a healthier life I have made it a point to read as much as I can on the subject from experts and regular practitioners. With that said here is my philosophy on fitness. I begin by focusing separately on the two major factors and applying similar techniques to each: Nutrition and Exercise.

 

Nutrition:

 

Have a stated goal and time frame. At the beginning of this year I returned from the National Championship game in Arizona weighing a lot more than I liked. 211 pounds actually and it wasn’t the good kind. So, I made a short term goal to lose 20 lbs. in 3 months. This is a little less than 2 lbs a week. A range that is perfectly healthy.  

 

So with that goal as my starting point I knew I had to make changes and study myself to find out what was working. I became very neurotic about what I was eating. At first I had cut out all but minimal carbs and was actually under eating. After a week I had lost 4 pounds, more than I liked. So, I reworked my eating habits and did a little research into a more balanced diet.

 

Track your progress. I tracked both my weight and dietary intake every day. Weighing myself first thing every morning and using www.fitday.com to track everything I ate. I still do both today though my goals are different.

 

Stay on schedule. For me eating well is not a problem as long as I stick to the plan. The plan being 6 meals a day. As long as I do this I have very limited cravings and those that I do have are easily overcome with little tricks. However, when I get off schedule and go more than three hours without eating something during the day I begin to lose focus and tend to get caught up giving in to unhealthy options. Once I take that path the rest of the day usually ends up being shot. But on a day where I plan ahead and have 6 meals scheduled it is not hard to go the 2 or 3 hours between without snacking or eating something I shouldn’t.

 

Remove temptations. Simply put if I want to eat something that is not good for me I have to go out to buy it. I do not buy junk at the grocery to keep in my house so anytime I go off course it is a one time purchase such as a restaurant or something I purchase to have just that once.

 

Allow free days. Or free meals if that is all you need. I try to eat healthy all week but come Saturdays when college football is on I allow myself to enjoy bar food and some drinks. Or if I am going to the movies I get the buttery popcorn. In the end its not going to kill your progress. I like to take 90-10 approach to eating; if you eat well 90% of the time the 10% when you don’t is not going to stop you.

 

 

Exercise

 

 

Have a stated goal and timeframe. Just like with nutrition you need to have goals with exercise, they usually go hand in hand. When I was in college I took on a position in my fraternity that required me to be a little bit stronger than I was at the time so I spent the summer getting stronger and putting on weight. Over about 8 weeks I gained 15 pounds of muscle and got a lot stronger. Back then it was a lot easier to do. This year with the goal of losing weight I worked out knowing that my goal was to burn more calories than I was taking in.

 

 

So with my goal of losing weight I molded a program at the gym that would help with my progress. In truth it was not much different than it would be had I been trying to gain. I still lifted weights, but my focus was less on increasing the amount of weight each week. And I added more cardio to my routine.

 

Track your progress. Again the same principles apply. When I go to the gym I bring a notebook with me and record what I have done. It helps me see what is working and what isn’t, what I like and what I don’t. And it helps me shape my next workout.

 

 

Stay on schedule. I have experimented with many different splits in the 12 years I have been working out but the one that continuously works for me is a 2 on, 1 off split. Anymore than 2 days in a row and I feel like I am overdoing it, any less than 2 and I am likely to not stay motivated. So, I work out 2 days, then rest 1 and repeat. Within this structure I change the actual workout once every four weeks or so just to keep it interesting.

 

Lift weights and use Intervals. I am not someone who likes cardio, never have. But I do understand that it has value. Though, if I only had time to do one I would lift since lifting weights is the only real weight to change body composition. Still, after pushing myself through a difficult medium paced lifting routine I usually get in some cardio. I have done the slow steady state and the high intensity. Doing long bouts of moderate paced cardio may work for some but I get so bored I am likely to not get a whole lot of benefit from it. However, with high intensity intervals I can do a warm up, do a bunch of sets and a cool down before I have time to lose focus. I also usually feel like I could die afterwards which for me is the sign of a good workout.  

 

 

A few other things to note:

 

Fake it till you make it. I am not sure where I read this motto but it is a good one to use. A lot of days the gym is the last place I want to go. It could be rainy outside and you don’t want to leave the house or you have just had a long day at the office and you have no energy. Go anyway. Just getting there is half the battle. A lot of times you will find that as you get into it you will end up putting in a good workout. Or even if your workout is half ass, its still better than no workout at all and chances are you will eat better afterwards.

 

Take breaks. This is similar to Free days in a way but its more than that. When I go on vacation or go visit my family for a holiday I leave my goals behind. That does not mean I am not mindful of the big picture, it just means that whether I am in New Orleans or at my moms for dinner I am going to enjoy myself no matter what is put in front of me. And I will not be worried about missing workouts. For a few days in a row its ok to get off track as long as you are planning to get right back into it once you return to your normal routine.

 

Do not constantly stay in one mode. A lot of people have problems with this. Amateur weightlifters stay in constant bulking mode and end up getting out of shape. People trying to lose weight will push themselves for too long and end up binging until they regain what they had lost and all progress is shot. Instead of such extremes ease from losing to maintaining back to losing or from gaining to maintaining back to gaining. This year, once I hit my goal of reaching 190, it was not in my original timeframe but I got there, I decided to try to maintain for a while. I eat a little less restrictively and I am not as hardcore at the gym. My plan is to stay within a few pounds of 190 for a little while before setting a new goal and timeframe to do more.

 

Constantly readjust. Life does not happen in a vacuum and we are not science projects. Real life sometimes does get in the way of progress. When this happens adjust to it, do not let it stop you in your tracks. When March came and I was close to my 12 week goal but had to stop exercising and was away from home for two weeks I knew I would be set back. So, I changed my end date and kept at my goal. And eventually I did make it and now that I reached my goal I am trying to decide what my next one is while I maintain the progress I have already made.

 

 

 

There you have it, not sure if I wrote this to help anyone or just give myself something to look at and remind myself what I need to be doing. Either way, I think this will help motivate me and maybe it will help someone else. There are a ton of other little things that I do and other people do to keep up the habit of living a healthy lifestyle, so I know I can not put it all into one post. So to all those who are gym rats good luck and don’t hurt yourselves.

Thank you DVR

Now that we are a couple of weeks into the Fall TV season I feel the need to share a few thoughts on the season so far. But, first I really need to thank the makers of the Scientific Atlantic 8300 HD because mine has been working overdrive. Before adding the digital video recorder to my cable plan a couple of years ago I hardly watched any television at all. Mainly because the only show I could remember to watch was Smallville and even when I knew others were on it was hard for me to put aside other things to just sit down and watch TV all night. Since DVR however, I have become a full on junkie, to express this point I offer this example. Last week I spent 5 days in Louisiana and returned to a DVR full of shows to watch, since I have been working from home I was able to catch up on everything I had missed by Wednesday morning, by Wednesday night my DVR had 8 new recordings, in one day. So what exactly have I been watching this season? Here is the breakdown:

 

Sunday night:

Family Guy – Still funny, it’s not spectacular but enjoyable for it’s off the wall humor and seeming lack of direction.

 

Monday night:

Heroes – Through three episodes the show is teetering right around average. I forgave that in the opening episode as they have a lot of storylines to set up but I think this show would really benefit from having a story arc that comes to conclusion in about 6 or 8 episodes. Keeping up interest for a 24 part arc is very hard without the momentum from a good side story to push you along. So far its all build up and little action, I have faith though that it will get better. I also happen to hate the new characters of Alejandro and Maya, their powers suck and their little adventure to become illegals bores me to tears.

 

Chuck – So far I really like it. Even gift shop girl who plays Chuck’s sister is entertaining though I have hated her in most of her other appearances.

 

Tuesday night:

Bones – I never got into the CSI thing but I am guessing that this is kinda similar in that they are all medical mysteries. The storylines themselves though are not as big a draw as the characters and the actors that are playing them. Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz are great as the leads and the supporting cast all fits very well.

 

House – By now who doesn’t recognize House as one of the best shows on television. Count me as one of the people who really likes where they have gone with the search for a new team and finding a way, if not completely realistic, to keep the old cast still on the show. I wonder where Forman lands?

 

Wednesday night:

Pushing Daisies – Of all the new shows this is my favorite. Both of the episodes have been great. Visually it looks fantastic, sort of like the movie Big Fish in that in looks like a larger than life world. And the stories are great; right down to the voice over that kind of makes me feel as if we are watching a Dr. Seuss story.

Gossip Girl – I could go either way on this show. On one hand I can not relate to a single character, on the other I really need a fix for trashy television and Josh Schwartz does it well. So what if it is based on books for teenage girls, I can still find something to enjoy, right? Well, I have watched three episodes so far and the first two were pretty subpar, but the third one actually had me quite entertained. I still have to watch last nights but I could see myself either becoming hooked or just giving up before they hit the halfway mark.

 

Bionic Woman – Fading fast on my radar, the pilot was so-so and the second episode was a mash up that seemed disjointed. I hope last nights was better or this is getting dropped from the DVR before the 4^th episode.

 

Thursday night:

Smallville – I have watched every episode, own the first 5 seasons on DVD and can hardly believe I am now watching the 7^th. I like where they are going this season and you can totally see the show coming to a close as Clark Kent gets ever closer to being Superman.

 

The Office – I was so reluctant to watch this until I rented the DVDs over the summer. Now I love the show. I do not like the hour long episodes however. Still, I think we are in store for a good season and even though many people did not like Michael driving into a lake I found it funny.

 

Grey’s Anatomy – I think this show is going downhill. The spinoff siphoned away a good character and left a void that the new characters are not filling. Through two episodes I am the least excited about this show of all the returning shows. Shame really because that second season was great and it has not lived up to the hype since.

 

Friday night:

Friday Night Lights – My favorite new show from last season also came back with a great first episode. It could be my love of football or small town America but this show is great. I might even buy a “What Would Riggins Do?” Tshirt.

 

Moonlight – I have a soft spot for Vampires and even though this show is clearly a rehash of so many shows that have come before it. Whether you are thinking Angel or just about any other PI plus reporter solves crimes show you would be right. Still, its Friday night and you cant expect too much.

 

Las Vegas – Possibly the most ridiculous show on television and that includes those mentioned above. Repeating that point, the most ridiculous show I watch is about a Las Vegas casino and the people who work there, not the one about the Mutants, or the guy who had government secrets downloaded to his brain, not the guy who can bring people back to life by touching them or the girl with weird robotic parts. Nope, it is even more ridiculous than the show about the Alien who gets powers from the yellow sun and the Vampire PI. Still, the show is entertaining and the cast is hot. Again, it’s Friday night TV.

 

So there it is, my rundown. Where I realize I watch a ton of television and feel bad about it for a few seconds before coming to terms and realizing there are worse things I could be spending my time doing. And thanks to my DVR I get to watch it all on my own schedule without having to give up other more healthy pursuits like working out or spending with actual real live people.