Thank you to those who have sent good vibes and good feedback. I’m so grateful for your support.

The nature of the blog has also served well to keep me motivated to stay engaged with other intentions for 2010 – I’ve continued to Move More, and even Eat (a little) Less, resulting in net loss of a few pounds, and supporting a general net gain in positive life satisfaction. I like this math.

Even though February is a short month, which might make daily posting seem easier after a 31er, I’m going to ratchet down the posting days this month to just 4-5 posts per week on weekdays. This should allow me to focus on both casting my net a little further via other social media and improving the quality of my posts.

One of the more surprising revelations this month has been the tremendous amount of spam comments I’ve received. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve received but one legitimate comment. Although, I’m actually quite fascinated by spam and spammers and their relentless creativity for finding new ways into our inboxes, just once I’d like to check those comments and find something real.

So this leads to my “special favor” to ask of you: If you are true friend or fan, or if you even just happened to “stumbleupon” this post and you happen to know the name of the band and/or song from which I’ve borrowed the title of this post – please leave the answer with a real “comment” for me.

It would be a sweet and beautiful Karmic Coincidence if I could get 31.

Yipes! I’m late for Hoop class, and it’s a bit of a walk. I must publish and run.

I’m in a quandary over whether I should allow myself to skip today and post two tomorrow because my BFBeth is coming to town, and I must leave toute suite.

I’m electing to reprogram this apparent Kobayashi Maru and make a simple post of one of our last days together here in DC in 2008 before she up and left me for some bright lights and a big city.

For the nine years we’ve known each other, we’ve celebrated our birthday together eight times. We had an awesome surprise on this last one. Look who was sitting next to us.

B. Stan Lee and Me!

I’m not one to like to bother the celebrity types when they’re out living their lives, but I’m a huge Stan Lee fan.

He could not have been more kind or gracious. Good karma.

One...

Two...

Three...

Tea!

Special appreciation to Jen Consalvo for inspiration and “permission to play”. Sometimes it takes a professional to tell you something you already know before you’ll believe it yourself. I am, indeed, thankful.

When you’re a small, start-up “homepreneur”, intentionally or not, if you’re lucky enough not to be wearing that hat yourself, the ITG is probably your husband, wife, partner or roommate. If that’s the case, chances are at some point you’ve experienced moments of domestic discontent when technology at the ol’ SoHo isn’t quite as quick and easy As Seen On TV.

Perhaps, you’ve secretly wished you could either fire the entire department or hire a customer service intermediary trained not to mock, smirk, roll-eyes or talk to you like you’re a child. Well, the VP of IT @viciousyoga, who has held the position for almost twenty years, has undeniably earned his tenure, so firing is out of the question. However, during a recent prolonged and bumpy total Snow Leopardization of the Hoffman-Ingber household, there were definitely a couple of days when I would have paid a significant sum to avoid a few of these scenes with my own beloved resident Nick Burns.

That’s why we both laughed so hard while we watched the most recent episode of our new favorite TV show, Modern Family. (You can watch the full episode there on abc.go.com. However, ironically, if you’re on a Mac and use Safari and have survived your own Snow Leopardizing, abc.go.com does not support OSX 10.6 at the moment, but Firefox will work.)

Raining on the Snow Leopard Parade

Like Phil Dunphy, the love of my life has recently expressed an interest in purchasing a souped up home theater. Since I can see 2 broken DVD players, an AIWA mini stereo without functional CD or cassette, a VCR (that works!) from 1985 and about 7 remote controls from where I sit, I can only imagine how much fun that project will be for me.

On the other hand, I also could not have imagined the ultimate customer service excellence I experienced after my last post. I was truly surprised and delighted to discover that between hitting the “publish” button and brushing my teeth and jumping into bed with him, my dear ITG had worked his ninja hacker magic on the interwebs, logged in to my computer and stealthily placed in my iTunes full MP3 versions of all of the Lullaby Renditions of Nirvana, even though I was once again barely making my self-imposed daily deadline of posting by midnight.

Like he’s done a zillion times over his long career as my CIO, co-CEO (Experience Officer), co-CPO (Parenting Officer), best friend and, yes, Head Cheer Leader for all of my endeavors, he set that box around my heart on fire. I didn’t even have to ask.

So, even if it’s legally ill-advised to make out with your IT Department, consider sending them or him or her a thank you note next time some random upgrade that you think has nothing to do with you seems to go off without notable disruption to your day. Or maybe just because most days you can get most of your work done most of the time.

They’ll love you for it, even if they won’t marry you. It’s a hell of a job, and it’s harder than it looks.

Thank you, ITG. You’re the best. Even when it’s complicated.

“Last year the government spent less on the Ministry of Silly Walks than it did on national defense.”

Typically, I don’t believe my posts will be of a political nature, but this one’s been on my mind for a while. For me, one of the most discouraging and disappointing aspects of the current debate on healthcare reform is the total lack of discussion about personal responsibility in healthcare. For the record, I’m for universal healthcare, but I see no reason why it shouldn’t come at the expense of some “personal freedom(s).”

For instance, if you wanted to use a (non-existant) “public option”, you  wouldn’t be allowed to smoke, and you’d have to be a card carrying member of – a gym! or otherwise be able to prove you make a reasonable and regular effort to get off your butt for a while each day.

Why are we talking about requiring health insurance when we could just as easily require gym membership with better longterm results. Why isn’t the Plastics Lobby rallying for mandatory ultimate frisbee team participation or for buying everyone in America a hula hoop!

I’m perfectly willing to contribute my share of taxes so others who are uninsured can get healthcare coverage. However, if you’re going to to use my hard earned dollars for your healthcare, you better take care of yourself!

Are you a smoker? Yes? Not eligible! Do you walk 30 minutes a day? No? Not eligible!

And yes, I realize there would have to be all kinds of exceptions for people who can’t walk and, blah, blah, but let’s face it, for the vast majority of us, “sitting disease” happens in a deskchair not a wheelchair.

And to that, I’m no exception.

Here’s how I know. About nine weeks ago, I started using this new gadget and website, Philips DirectLife. I’ll write more about it in the coming days and weeks, but during my Assessment Period, sitting at my computer for most days, most of the time, here’s what it showed: Me = Less Fit. Gross.

I sit on my butt for a living

Since then, I’ve been sometimes more, sometimes less successful meeting my gradually increasing activity goals each week, but to illustrate my point of the efficacy of a Hoopin’ Healthcare Plan, check this out:

I bought my hoop yesterday!

But even if we can’t afford the hoops, an amazing free and easy solution to our nation’s activity deficit has been proposed by the MSW. You can’t tell me that we wouldn’t burn a ton of extra calories each day under this administration.

And while I was on my BIG walk home earlier today, I was debating about whether or not I actually wanted to keep the trend going by trying a few inexpensive Exotic Dance classes, or Exoterobics thanks to today’s Living Social Deal of the Day.

My health, wellness and, dare I say, beauty kick lately has been greatly bolstered thanks to Living Social Deals and Groupon, sort of a Michelle 2.0.1.0 upgrade plan with hot-stone massage and IPL treatments at Back-to-Health, aVitalize Peel at SKIN in Georgetown, and some yoga classes at Spiral Flight Yoga. (I won’t mention the couple dozen cupcakes from Red Velvet.)

As the steps accumulated up the hill, I realized I had a Groupon/LivingSocial Wellness and Weight Loss plan on my hands. I decided I’ll go ahead and try the Chair Work/Strip Aerobics/Floorwork/Body-licious combo – for the blogging material. Besides, “Chair Work” sounds like a great ironic treatment for “sitting disease“.

I also decided to check out what was happening on Groupon today. Turns out it’s a deal on house cleaning – also tempting, hmmmmm….

However, “Today’s Side Deal” at Groupon – 58% discount on “Weight Loss for Tired People”. Hahaha. Awesome. Made me laugh. Okay, I chuckled.

Either way, the website made me more tired. (Tired-er?)

I hate these long infomercial-style web pages. I’m sure there must be some research out there on the effectiveness of selling this type of service because you see a lot of them, but despite my connection with the content, I’m passing on this one. Just makes me feel how much I’m being sold to. Plus thinking of 12 weeks of something -anything- makes me feel really, really tired. (Tired-er-est.)

And it’s kind of bugging me that “tired” looks like it was colored with crayons. Wouldn’t that be tiring? Is it supposed to embody tiredness just because some kid did a shitty job of coloring between the lines? I don’t know, it probably only bugged me after I had to read that 30 foot long page.

CHC, Eve Colantoni does get bonus points as a Betty Paige look alike, though.

Eve doesn't look tired - she looks like Betty Page

I would definitely take a weight loss class from Betty Page. Hell, I’d probably take any class from Betty Page, especially for 12-weeks.

However, weightlossfortiredpeople.com earns rather disappointing SEO (search engine optimization) especially for a unique business name. Doesn’t make it to the first page of Google results. Perhaps my links will give her a lift even if I’m too tired to sign up for her program, which actually sounds quite interesting.

On the other hand, I’m going to go ahead and pony up the $19 for the Exoterobics, despite The P Spot sporting quite possibly the worst website I’ve seen in a long, long time. A brilliant example of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” web design.

• doesn’t work in Safari
• all those crazy fonts – perhaps I’m not the intended demographic, but even reading glasses didn’t help!
• too many media formats
• a really long list of WTFs from the usability, design and architecture perspective.
• to tell the truth, this site made me tired too…

But it’s only three classes, not twelve weeks.

Besides, momma needs a new pair of shoes. Wish me luck.

.

The feature list sounds very cool. I was particularly excited about being able to set up your own session from 1-36 minutes, and especially enjoying thinking about 1-5 minute sessions because, um, I’m lazy and distractable if you haven’t figured that out yet.

However, I have to admit I paid my $0.99 mostly because I like the look of it. It’s really a beautiful app.

I think they should make a YogaRelax/Bejeweled mashup.

Then I might be more inclined to spend 55 minutes working at it.

Is nirvana the ultimate high score for yoga? I’m sure it takes a few more levels and more than 41,270 points.

I better get my ass up and move it some. So far today I’m working on a very high score for relaxing.

The solution should have been obvious, of course. So naturally, I sat down at the computer to start this blog.

I’ve been thinking about starting this project for, geez, way too long. Yes, sitting on my butt, thinking about it. Well, not always sitting and thinking. There have been plenty of times where I’ve actually been on the mat thinking about writing it. Plenty of poses and pondering over the last two years. But I’m declaring the new decade shall be one of Action! Will you join me?

I’ve realized for a long time that some of my most creative insights and ideas come precisely when I’m trying to clear my mind on the mat; when I’m inside out and upside down; when I’m trying to think of nothing – good things come to mind. Then I love yoga, and I want to jump up and work on my new ideas right then, but you’re “supposed to” stick with your practice…

So I stick to it for a while, and then when I’m trying to ignore my pain, my inflexibility and my lack of “progress”; when I’m trying not to compare myself with skinny yoga chicks, or trying not to laugh at sweaty yoga dudes; or just trying not to be a wimp and hold a pose for more than 2 freaking seconds without wanting to do something else; or when I’m trying not to reprimand myself for thinking un-yogic thoughts, well because you’re not “supposed to” think of stuff like that when you’re doing yoga… But I do. Then I feel bad. And I can’t concentrate. And then I think I suck. Then I hate yoga, and I quit. For a while.

And so it goes back and forth, off and on, yin and yang, sun and moon, love and hate…

But when I think about it, I guess I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with yoga. When I say “always” I bet it seems like an exaggeration to some of you, but we’re talking just shy of 40 years. ugh. That’s kind of depressing just writing that. So, wow! you say. How could you possibly be loving and hating yoga for that long?

Well, while the idea for this blog has been floating around in my head for a mere two years! or so, it was just last month, the week before my birthday, when NPR was telling me in the car, and CNN was showing me on television and Google was reminding me every goddamn day for a week that I was over 40 years old that I realized that I first started hating and loving yoga while waiting for Sesame Street to come on.

Back in the day,  Sesame Street was the only thing to watch in the afternoons. It came on at 5, followed by The Electric Company, at 6, then Zoom, then some crap PBS news show (hey, I was 7, and it wasn’t Walter Cronkite). In the early 70’s I was a little old for the direct Sesame Street demographic since I actually already knew my ABC’s and 123’s, but there was nothing else on, so I had to wait until 5 for anything kid related.

But as often as not, I’d turn on the TV a little early, and there she was, the original Tele-Yogini, Lilias! Yoga and You on PBS. I hated that she was the only thing between me and Ernie with a banana in his ear, but I loved doing the poses along with her.

Man, if only I’d known what a gift it was then to just effortlessly roll my feet back over my head (Plow Pose) or pick my own butt off the floor with my hands (Candle Pose). I also loved that big crazy braid. I had one just like it. She was the only grown-up I knew with a big crazy braid.

So there you go. I’ve been loving and hating this yoga thing for a long, looonnng time. But in the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions or Yogic Intentions or whatever your thing is, here’s wishing that in 2010, this irreverent look at yoga, movement, humor and fitness gets at least one of us moving more and laughing more on a regular basis, and hoping that new technologies can help dig us out of the hole that we’ve let ourselves fall into.

By the way, I did take a break while I was writing this and did 10 minutes of Sun Salutations, a couple Triangles, and some twists. What did you do today?