Since joining the Y last week, I’m in the walking mode and thinking about adding some sort of exercise while working to my daily schedule. Right now, my blog time is what’s taking the cut when I go to exercise. I wonder how many bloggers walk on the treadmill and blog at the same time?

Saw that you can pick up one of those treadmills for a couple hundred bones that will track calories, distance, pulse, etc. Might be cool to have one of those near the computer so that one could walk and blog. Would this be called treadmill blogging? I just did some Googling on the term: treadmill blogging and you can count the results on one hand.

Anybody try something like this? Walking on a treadmill and blogging at the same time? I bet this would work best on a slate, perhaps even in conjunction with the speech recognition. Or would the heavier breathing while treadmilling screw up the recognition?

Just thinking aloud. Really, the biggest challenge for me incorporating a consistent fitness schedule is finding the time. Right now the time is coming from the blogging category and in the long run I’d like to find a way to do both somehow.

I’ll have to try this one the next time my wife complains that I’m not listening to her:

The research shows men decipher female voices using the auditory part of the brain that processes music, while male voices engage a simpler mechanism.

Seriously, my real excuse is I attended one too many rock concerts as a kid without using protective earplugs. Just try standing 100 feet or less from a blaring Marshall stack.

Today was the first morning since we signed up for a family health club membership at the YMCA. Total cost $212.50 USD for the first month and it runs $100/month for our family of five thereafter. Seems a bit spendy if we don’t use it, so that’s the goal: use it.

The whole family went last night for a couple hours and this morning from 8:30 - 10am Jowl and I went and rode 4 miles on the bike and jogged/walked 2 miles on the track. It wasn’t easy getting Jowl up and ready but once he got to the facility he was good natured about it and worked hard.

Some of these new exercise machines have some pretty sophistocated computers. One of the bikes we ran kept track of our time, heart rates, calories, distance and more. Unfortunately, they don’t have Wi-Fi at the YMCA facility (some do). I’m thinking about taking the Tablet PC and catching up on my reading while riding the bike.

During our Webmaster Cookbook podcast yesterday Jowl and I talked about NATS 2.0 Nutritional Analysis Tools and System, which helps folks determine how many calories are in the food they are eating. For example, a couple Mickey D cheeseburgers and large french fry is over 1,000 calories! Yowsa.

This has been a wild week for studies! A couple days ago I read a study that found having 14-28 drinks a week increased brainpower and today I read that those who masturbate more often decrease their risk for prostate cancer.

They found those who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to develop the cancer. The protective effect was greatest while the men were in their 20s.

The downer study was the one that suggested that PHP use was declining, but hey, 2 out of 3 isn’t bad.

Ok, so we’re trying to decide which of these two fitness places to join — or maybe to buy some exercise equipment and skip a club membership. Ballys seems to come with a fitness trainer and actual focus and training plans/purpose whereas the YMCA is more open-ended and flexible with lots of events. The price and amenities for the two services are about the same (YMCA a bit newer) for a family of five (Ballys is a little bit more expensive). Also, YMCA is a month-to-month committment whereas Ballys is a yearly committment.

If you already belong to either of these two then please share what your experience(s) have been like in the comments. If you’ve thought about joining then share why/why not.

Finally, which of these two would you recommend and why?

I’m sure alcohol in moderation has positive benefits. A new study has proven 14-28 drinks a week — considered moderate drinking — can actually make for better thinkers:

A study of 7,000 people in their early 20s, 40s and 60s found that those who drank within safe limits had better verbal skills, memory and speed of thinking than those at the extremes of the drinking spectrum.

I try and drink a beer once in awhile (maybe one a week on average). I’m not much into wine or hard liquor though (ok, I’ll have a screwdriver once in a great while). The article indicates that the safe consumption level is 14 to 28 drinks a week, so I guess I’ll have to kick it up a notch to get to that level.

In China, internet addiction is a very real problem. via Netscape with CNN:

“All the children here have left school because they are playing games or in chat rooms everyday,” says the clinic’s director, Dr. Tao Ran. “They are suffering from depression, nervousness, fear and unwillingness to interact with others, panic and agitation. They also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands.”

Nothing in excess, whether it be sleeping, eating, working or yes, even the internet, is healthy.

Ok, I like reading my horoscope once in awhile. Is it ever right? Not really. Horoscopes are often so vague that they could hold a scintilla of truth for just about anybody on any day, but I still don’t like reading horoscopes like this:

Someone is trying to come between you and your goals, and their tactics are less than aboveboard. It’s up to you to face them, get it out in the open and take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Should I blog today’s goaltender? Hmm.

The wizard of the Starship Enterprise, Scotty (James Doohan) has died at age 85. Doohan died of pnuemonia at his home early this morning. His remains will be shot into space, per his wishes. Scotty was one of my favorite Trek characters.

Also Gerry Thomas, creator of the TV Dinner died at age 83. Thomas got the idea when confronted with what to do with the post Thanksgiving turkey surplus. The first TV Dinner was eaten in 1954. Cancer took Mr. Thomas from this earth.

Tribute ideas: TiVO a Star Trek episode tonight that’s bound to be on some channel somewhere or buy one of the seasons on DVD, or perhaps eat a TV dinner.

Those goldenpalace.com folks will buy ad space on anything, including a permanent tattoo on a woman’s forehead:

She went through with the tattoo this week, reportedly after employees at the tattoo parlor she selected spent seven hours trying to talk her out of it. PRNewswire is hosting video of the tattooing taking place as well as some crowd reactions after Smith exited the parlor with her newly decorated noggin.

The last goldenpalace publicity move was to name their own monkey, and no, not kidding, there really is such a creature as the GoldenPalace.com Monkey!

This forehead thing seems like major desperation to me and is not funny or cool but pathetic and sad. Somebody should have paid this lady ten grand not to do this. It’s for her child to get in school which is a very noble cause, but aren’t there any scholarship possibilities or grants? What about entering the armed services? How long before the auction to burn this tat off?

Ouch.