My iPod was dead, long live my iPod

Good news this week around NOTM,Y, as my iPod returned to the land of the living. The good folks at Best Buy returned it in a hair under three weeks after submission for repairs, and all is right with the world. Flight of the Conchords, The Black Crowes, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, System of a Down, and the sultry sounds of "Run, Blake, Run" are back at my fingertips. Luckily for me, this means that convincing myself to get on the elliptical during the work day is no longer a chore, but a chance to rock out for thirty minutes, gone from the seemingly endless hours at my cubicle. We're a bit behind budgeted pace just over the halfway point in the year, and the powers that be are extremely concerned about the almighty bucks. This resulted in a mandate that I be in my career station and ready to work no later than 8am, which sucks for a night owl like myself. Most of my best work is done at night, or at least that's what I tell myself when I'm blogging before bed. Combined with a brutal graduate school schedule the past four weeks, this has led to some really long days. The bad news from this development? I'm pretty flippin' tired all day long, and would rather do about a thousand things than drag my butt over to the gym, work out, shower, and return to the office. The good news? About the only thing that sounds less appealing than that gym trip is staying in the office and doing some more work. So I've been exercising as catch can, which boils down to some prophylactic work on the elliptical instead of the hard core ninety minute workouts that seem to lead to serious weight loss. I guess I will take what I can get until school drops down to one night a week in ten days. That's my target date for a more regular gym schedule. I've got a nine week window where my only evening obligations, other than perhaps the occasional dinner out with friends, are Wednesday night lectures for Marketing Research Methods. Break out the party hats and the weightlifting belts! Woo hoo! I'll be sure to supply the tunes for this particular party.

In the meantime, thanks have to go out to Alex for passing along an article on an effective tip for weight loss from a recent study, the food diary. It sounded like a foodie's obsessive record of his favorite chefs and meals when I first read the title, but instead was a different, compelling reason to write down everything you eat. By keeping track of your calories, you can more easily monitor your intake and recognize bad habits when they start to occur. Not sure if I'm going to work this into the blog or not, but the idea is being utilized behind the scenes at NOTM,Y and hopefully will lead to some results in the near future. Thanks for the support, Alex. Keep 'em coming. Back soon with a new feature here on Not On the Moon, Yet. The Weekly Weigh-In! *dramatic descending piano chords* Get ready for the weekly-ish post that will be a core feature of this here blog, where the shit hits the road, the rubber meets the fan, and any other mixed metaphors you can think of that sound like they mean serious business. I'll be holding myself accountable for the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past week in my quest to lose one pound for every year of Cubs futility over the past century. Stay tuned, campers...

Uncle Blake