Thanks to everyone who has sponsored my upcoming 5K race so far. I’m about a quarter of the way to my goal of $3000. If you’d like to become a featured sponsor and get your link in the right rail, you can donate at least $20 here until race day, August 15, 2009. All donations benefit the National Headache Foundation.

Run Lazy

My Basement Gym

Airplane Extenders

ResuMAYDAY

Yogurt Beats Cake

…Things are going to start happening to me now

Gravel and Rust

Booth or Bust

Fat Girl, Thin Dress

Cupcakes Take the Cake

Why the Weight?

This morning I completed the first day of week 3 of my Couch to 5K training. I like using the Podrunner Intervals MP3s while I’m running because they make a beeping sound when I’m supposed to switch from running to walking or back again. I’ve done interval training in the past by using my watch, which only makes me focus on the time. I’ll be huffing and puffing and look at my wrist to see I only have 30 seconds left…and then I check again and I have 20 seconds [...]

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I would like to avoid the bakery section of the grocery store all together on my weekly shopping trips, but it lies directly between the produce section and the meat freezers. Thus I have to roll my cart briskly past the baguettes and cupcakes and cookies and donuts and buttercream cakes, thinking, “Go, go, go!” like a child running past a cemetery at night, afraid the ghost of jelly filled donuts will grab me and force slices of chocolate cake down my throat.

Last week though, something caught my eye, something so completely WRONG, all caps, font weight bold, kind of wrong, I just had to whip out my camera and photograph it like the pathological blogger that I am.

Would you eat this cookie cake? On the one hand, there are sweet, gooey chocolate chip morsels scattered within the cookie batter. There is creamy frosting coating the entire top. On the other hand, ew, ants. ANTS! For real, ants? Not just ants, but mutant monster ants the size of tarantulas. Who would want to eat an [...]

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The 2009 BlogHer Conference is coming up in about a month, which means I need to figure out what the hell my blog is about. This will be my third BlogHer, and I can well remember the question, “So, what do you blog about?” which is repeated over and over in elevators and corridors and frequently at lunch right after you’ve taken a big bite of salad. I can also remember trying to figure out how to give a stranger an impression of the tone, style, and topic of my blog in just 2-3 sentences as I chewed that salad slowly.

At BlogHer 2007, I said, “I’m a weight loss blogger,” which made people give me curious looks because I wasn’t fat anymore and they had no idea how big I used to be because I only wave my fat pants around at special occasions. At BlogHer 2008 I said I wrote about health, fitness and weight loss, trying to place less emphasis on the weight part, since I was personally focused more on fitness and [...]

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There are only so many times I can listen to my favorite CDs in the car before my mind wanders and I get bored. I’ve taken lots of long car trips lately, and I find that podcasts keep my mind engaged in a way music fails to over long periods of time. It’s fun to have people chatting over your speakers, talking about interesting things. Below are some of my favorite podcasts that have kept me company over the past year.

RadioLab

When I listen to RadioLab I feel like my skull has opened up and my mind is as large as a star-filled sky. Hosts Jad and Robert explore a different theme each show, showing how science and curiosity lead to exciting answers about the universe, but usually end with even more questions. The audio of the show is expertly produced, integrating interviews, sound effects and narration in an innovative and enthralling way (though some might also find it exhausting). I’ve learned a lot listening to their archives for the past few months, some of which [...]

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“London or Paris (choose one). Which city did you like better? Why” – Mary Jo

Hmmm, this is like asking me which piano-based musician I like better: Ben Folds or Tori Amos. One is a flame-haired, kooky, piano goddess and the other is a charismatic, geek, rocker. I like them both for very different reasons.

I like that they speak English in London, or at least some variation of English. Despite the fact that there are no trash cans downtown, London seemed cleaner than Paris. I found the London tube to be easier to navigate and prettier than the Paris Metro, which was grimier and not as well labeled. I also disliked the little rectangular paper tickets you have to use in Paris, which littered the ground at many stations.

However, London was much more expensive than Paris. By the time I was ordering my first lunch in French, I was relieved by the much lower prices. The French food was better, allowing me to sample tarts, chocolate bread, crepes and other naughty carbohydrates. Paris was also home [...]

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