An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

Our theme at the Wednesday Weight Watcher's meeting was, I don't know, something about exercise and fitness. I tuned most of it out because exercise is soooooo boring. However, I did pay attention to the discussion of tracking our activity. In theory, people are supposed to take at least 10,000 steps a day. For a desk jockey, that's a lot. You could track with a simple pedometer and they were promoting a Weight Watchers product that would not just count steps but also tell you how many points you've earned. One of my compadres said she used a doohickie called Fitbit. She said it was tiny and accurate and you could sync your results online for free. Free! That was unlike the Weight Watchers product which required a monthly fee if you wanted to store your results online. So, I checked it out and what sold me on the Fitbit was that it also records your sleep patterns. How? I don't know, maybe magic. This Is Not A Chew Toy The nice thing about having an Ama...

It's already started. The folks against further gun control are talking about the recent Texas stabbings at Lone Star College. Their comments are along the lines of, "So, where's the demand to outlaw knives now?" The folks for further gun control are also talking about the stabbings but with a different view. "Fourteen stabbed but none dead, imagine if he'd had a gun?" The folks against further gun control make the argument that, if someone is determined to wreak havoc and cause injury, they'll find a way even with further gun restrictions. Those folks are correct. Someone can use a knife, a car, a baseball bat or a chain and hurt a lot of people. Unfortunately, guns are just a much more effective way to kill a lot of people in a short period of time than those other methods. What keeps getting lost in this huge, often vicious debate, is that it's not the guns, it's not the knives, it's not the baseball bats that are to blame fo...

If I ever went back to school, I'd be all over studying human behavior. We're just not rational, y'all, and I think it's fascinating to know why. Since I don't have the funding to go back to school, I read up on the subject. I loved Made To Stick by the Heath Brothers and I'm on their email list. Last week, I got an email from them about an online course to be taught by Dan Ariely called A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior . I've already read Ariely's book, Predictable Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and thought it was great. The science was presented in an understandable manner and the dude is funny. I would love to sit next to him on a plane for a long flight. The class is six weeks long, has about two hours of video lecture that's broken down into manageable chunks and some heavy reading. Psychological abstracts ain't for the weak hearted. But, it's FREE! There are two quizzes each week, one on th...

I've had a paint sample card up on the cupboards that face into my dining room for, well, years. Literally. I originally put it up so I could look at the four different shades and decide which one I liked. Then, I kept it up there hoping it would inspire me to actually paint. Clearly, it wasn't very effective as an action inducer. However, a few Fridays ago, I was sitting at home and clearing off my DVR when I sent Steven at text message. "I'm thinking of painting the dining room tomorrow." His response the next day was something like "That was the wine talking, wasn't it?" Guilty. But, without wine I decided on Saturday that I actually had some free time on Sunday. Why I thought that since I had to work and also go to my parents' house for dinner, I don't know. But, I got up early and headed to Lowe's for paint and supplies. While I was in the "make things nice looking" mood, I decided to replace the hardware on my cu...