One thing I don’t understand: why are we still watching Catelynn? OK yeah she’s a mom without a baby, and that’s pretty rough. But it’s not what I signed up to see when I put on the show. I want to see train wrecks. And that’s what I see when I watch Amber or Farrah. Maci has it relatively together and it’s comforting to see that pulling it together against the odds is possible. But mostly, the train wreck scenarios is what keeps me coming back.

And children: use some birth control. As they say on commercial breaks, “pregnancy is 100% preventable“

Over the past few months I was blessed to have a friend who felt the same way. Coincidentally, he lives a mile away from me. So a couple of times a week we go get pumped at the gym. It’s awesome. Sometimes you just need that little bit of motivation (a person coming over) to get you started. And I know once I’m started, it’s all good. Get me TO the gym and I will workout.

But then summer came. My gym buddy works for a school, so his lucky ass gets summers off. So he surfs all the time, and doesn’t have the time or desire to come to my janky apartment gym.

What have I been doing since summer vacay started? Well, lots of things. But sadly, not one of them has been “gym time”.

Then I saw some tweets from @itsKrust about C25K. What is that? So I google it, and it’s pretty awesome.

Basically it’s a running program designed for the person who is 100% completely out of shape and is literally starting at 0. Hence the name “Couch to 5K”

3 workouts per week for 9 weeks and you’ll be off your couch running about a 10min mile pace for 30 minutes. This is my cup of tea. I did the week 1 workout 1 yesterday and found it quite easy. So I mixed it up a bit. Added a 1.5 incline and sped up the walking portions. Also ran the last 5 min. Not too bad. I think I’ll skip ahead to week 2 next time.

The only potential setback I might have is that my current workout schedule is 2 days a week. This means I’m going to have to actually get off my couch on Saturday or Sunday to do the 3rd one each week. J said he would do it with me on Saturday. For him, this really is couch to 5K.

Wish us luck!!

WTF? What are the changes? Is it hazardous? This sign tells me nothing, except of course “photograph me”

Happy mingling!

The post was both refreshing and kind of saddening. I took the Schwab Financial Fitness Test, and like Michele, my score is definitely lower than I would have though or hoped it would be. I scored a 68.

It was definitely awesome to see all the things I’m doing correctly: have health insurance, contribute at least 12% of my income to my retirement account, etc. But seeing the things I don’t do well made me sad. Do I have enough money to cover me if I become unemployed for several months? Nope. I haven’t quite rebounded from my “I finished grad school but still can’t find a job and have to start paying back loans” blow to my savings account. I mean can I get partial credit for knowing that I should have something like that?? lol

But seriously, it’s never too early or too late to get started on managing your finances. These are some easy tips I can recommend:

• Make a budget and stick to it. I was introduced to mint.com a while back and I LOVE it. It tracks your spending for you, reminds you of upcoming bill payments, and makes charts and graphs of your spending trends. And it lets you know instantly if you’ve overspent in any of your budget categories.
• A book I really enjoy is Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner. My first boss gave me this as a graduation gift when I finished undergrad. It was truly eye-opening, especially since I was literally scraping by on the salary I was making at that job.
• Contribute to your retirement account starting the day you get your first job. Even if you can only afford $100 a month, the amount that you’ll make off that is better than nothing!! And if your employer matches contributions, take full advantage of that. Seriously – it’s FREE MONEY. And it has your name on it. Take it!
• Don’t carry a balance on your credit card. NEVER. You’re giving away money, and right now interest rates on those things are abysmal.

And that’s all. Thanks Michele for the awesome financial quiz!

I had the distinct pleasure of watching the Mexico-France game LIVE online courtesy of espn.com. I didn’t think my computer could handle it, but I decided to give it a shot. While it wasn’t 52″ HD quality, it worked.

And Mexico WON!!

I’m really pretty happy about this. And France lost, which is an added bonus! It was also the first 2010 game I’ve been able to watch that involved a penalty kick. As a former goalie, these are particularly fascinating. Guessing which way to dive was NEVER a strong point of mine, and I love seeing how many times keepers are actually able to do it correctly.

Anyway, it was a lively game and a good one to watch, if you’re still interested. Either way, I highly recommend watching games live online. There’s an option to have it subtitled too!

Happy world cup-ing!

Typically I am anti- all things that tweens are into. These things tend to be so incredibly sappy, unrealistic, and generally extremely terrible. To top it off, I can’t stand large groups of twelve year old girls squealing together and thinking they own the place. It obnoxious and it drives me out of my mind.

Then Twilight came out. Not even going to give this a chance. It’s all the things that I just described.

Then New Moon came out. I kind of was interested from the previews. A lot of my friends are super into the whole saga, so eventually I broke down. I saw Twilight, then a week later saw New Moon (in theaters, and sweet Jesus there were SO MANY squealing teenagers!).

I’m not even going to try and closet my feelings. I <3 Twilight. I’m genuinely happy I gave it a chance, and I’m actually pretty surprised I liked it so much. I could watch it over and over (well maybe no more than twice a month lol) and not tire of it. Edward? Yes please.

But we also have to talk about the fact that it’s all of the things I traditionally hate. I’ll give the sappy, unrealistic-ness of it all a pass, since that’s part of what makes it enjoyable. But the acting is abhorrent and there is no excusing that. And I can’t get past the Morman undertones/subliminal indoctrination. To top it off, we’re talking about a SUPER unhealthy relationship here. Edward is kind of a stalker and Bella needs some self-esteem stat. I haven’t read the books yet, but I have a feeling that the quality isn’t going to be that great so I’ve been putting it off.

And then MZ introduced me to Alex Reads Twilight.

OMFG I haven’t laughed this hard in years. He points out all the nitpicky things that I would find problems with and makes fun of them. Whether you love or hate the Twilight Saga, I really think you’ll appreciate this series just based on his sarcasm, wit, and British accent.

So here it is: Chapter 1

Click here to view the embedded video.

(note: he seems to only do ~2 chapters a month, and as of today he’s only up to ch. 14. it’s completely worth the wait)

I just discovered this great idea by Meg. Basically she started a story and it continues in the comments. What a fabulous idea for finding new blogs and getting more traffic to your own!!

Thanks for the innovation Meg. I just started following your blog and I already LOVE it!

For some great entertainment, check out the [Life of Meg] here

• Techy guy who wants to create his own “gadget”
• A modern recessionista – let’s face it: buying 3 new tires is cheaper than buying 4!
• Someone who wanted to ride a motorcycle but was afraid of being hit by a car
• Old guy who decides he wants to go back to the “good ol’ days” when real cars didn’t exist

I cannot think of a single other reason why someone would drive this

Also, the state of California requires that all persons riding in a vehicle with less than 4 wheels wear a helmet. I mean you look ridiculous either way, but adding a driver with a helmet to this equation just makes it a million times better.

Product highlights include:

• Each capsule has 200mg of caffeine and dishes it out in steady doses throughout an 8 hour period
• Vegetarian capsule! (Super important – can’t cut out an entire demographic of potential customer! lol)
• Pure, unprocessed (non-synthetic) caffeine from Colombian Green Coffee Beans (unprocessed and direct into your capsule?)
• Special coating to reduce the potential of an upset stomach (none of those pesky ulcers coffee can give you LOL)

Next thing you know there will be an injectable version of this product. Injectable caffeine: the gateway drug to heroine. Purchase yours here for only $8.99 (box of 12)!