Did anyone else think that Elizabethtown was a really bad rip off of Garden State?

Read Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston. Loved it loved it loved it! Though I am not as sure as my sister is that it’s better than the first novel in the series, Caught Stealing. It certainly is more action packed, but one of my favorite things about Caught Stealing was that despite the fact that the main character is morally reprehensible and his actions seem less and less justifiable as the book progresses, you can’t help but like him (kind of a pseudo-Tony Soprano effect). In book 2, he is transformed into someone who is a bit more accustomed to his situation. While he is still ill prepared for what will happen to him, he has nonetheless become a different, less sympathetic character. Still an excellent book though.

Some of you may know that right before my senior year as an undergrad (Summer of 2000), I decided to get in shape. Between the summer of 1996 and that summer, I had steadily been gaining weight. That summer, I went to work in a lab in San Diego. This was the first time that I was really away from everyone I knew (since I went to college with my sister). There was one person I knew that was also spending the summer in SD (Austin), and we had some great weekends . . but the long weeks alone were miserable. So I had a lot of time on my hands and decided I would try to get some exercise. I started by buying a video tape called “ABS of Steel.” The first of those tapes I bought had about a 25 minute abdominal workout (others I bought since had 3×10min workouts). Well that was the beginning of kind of an obsession and I have pretty much spent an hour or more a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. . .exercising. .. I could probably count the days I have missed in the last 5.5 years on one hand.

Anyway, the thing that really got me going wasn’t Abs of Steel, but rather another tape that had gained much popularity around that time. In the fall of 2000, that was Billy Blank’s “Tae Bo.” It was a fantastic workout that really got me to sweat and have fun at the same time. It was such a hit with me that I got my older sister, and both my parents on it.

Since then, I kind of moved on to gym memberships and got into aerobics classes, running, and then eventually weight lifting . . .

This weekend, I was in Walgreens just browsing around for some Prachee Tax (a not so impulsive impulse buy) when I saw it. $40. 3 DVDs with resistance bands included. It was the “Billy’s Bootcamp” exercise kit. While I did do a double take, I eventually passed it by and went home. Well, my motto is usually that if you pass up a purchase because you’re not sure you should buy it and spend the next couple days thinking about it, you should go back and pick it up. Now this would NEVER work for many people I know, including my sister and many of her technophile friends. . they would go broke on that kind of strategy. But I am pretty conservative with money. . . . Anyway, so with Billy on the brain, I went back and bought the Bootcamp exercise kit.

I am happy to report that as always, Billy Blanks pushed me to the edge. I was exhausted. After doing the most advanced Tae Bo workouts, doing the exercises “the hard way,” and still feeling like I could still burn some more calories (since there were warm up, cool down, and stretching parts of the video), I thought that I could do more than one of the Bootcamp workouts on a day when I wanted to mix it up and not leave the house. Well I was wrong. I started the “Basic Training” and was really really feeling the burn within the first 20 minutes. It was great. . .while I did move on to the “Ultimate Bootcamp” workout and do part of that to burn some extra calories, I was thoroughly exhausted by the end and know I cheated on lots of the exercises.

I firmly believe that something like this can change peoples lives. It gets people to exercise that never thought they could and continues to challenge people that have already spent some time getting into shape. I highly recommend any of Billy Blank’s products. These DVD’s are less than $15/ea and are worth every penny .. especially for those of you who aren’t regularly getting as much exercise as you’d like. . it makes you feel strong and energized. . .

Check it all out on Billy Blank’s website.