*whistles* ...I'm sorry, what?

well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I'm kind of going through one of those times where I have nothing interesting to say, and writing about anything is a struggle. For those of you waiting with bated breath for the Urban Dare report, it's about 1/3 done. So, at that pace, I should be able to post a recap of the race by the end of the year. Sigh.

I know.

So what have I been doing when I'm NOT writing here? Working, keeping my house sort of clean, experimenting with various crockpot recipes (roasts, mostly...beef has been good, pork has been bad), trying to negotiate the details of my impending move and how I'm going to pay for it, trying to decide (yet again) whether I'll ride in the MS150 since the company team still has openings, riding my bike, slowly getting back to the gym more than once a week. And getting both inspired and appalled by The Biggest Loser every week.

I'm really conflicted on this show...I just started watching it this season, and there are a lot of things I hate about it--the unrealistically fast weight loss, which makes them disappointed when they "only" lose 2 lbs, the fact that they make 300-lb people run, the unnecessary drama, the gross food challenges like that donut one this week*, the incessant product-whoring, and even some of the people (Amy, Neil, Kim--I'm looking at you).

But then there's the parts I love--Kae, with her iron will and strong opinions and Julie with her down-home personality (though I suspect that both would get tiresome in person), the little triathlon this week (even if it was in the wrong order), and most of all, the "after leaving the show" reveals.

Looking at those lists, it's pretty obvious that the bad outweighs the good for me. So why do I keep watching it? Because realistic or not, it's inspiring. Every time I watch a show, I want to run out to the gym right afterward. Even though I know I'll never have the same results they do because I just don't have the time, it makes me believe that I am capable of getting my results eventually. And hey, anything that motivates my ass to the gym has gotta be a good thing, right?

I mean, if that whiny, conniving drama queen Amy can lose 100 lbs, I can totally lose my 60. Though I suspect it's going to take me a bit longer...like, years longer. Hell, it already has. :) So the bottom-line reason I keep watching this stupid, kind of insulting show is that it makes me believe that I can do this, and that it's worth doing.

*right after "green week", too, when they waggled their fingers at all the waste produced by junk food. Then they make a challenge out of smashing about 100 lbs of donuts to find a $5000 chip...how did those donuts get there? Boxes? Trucks? Not to mention the food waste...not that donuts are at all nutritional or something that you would feed to starving people instead of grinding them into the carpet...but still. For all the bitching they do about how much food Americans over-consume, it seemed supremely wasteful and kind of mean-spirited. But hey, fat people + a huge stack of donuts = comedy gold, right? Ugh.