I have been reading the Power of Habit and thinking about trying to replace my lazy sluggish habits with a working out habit. Since we've been back from vacation, I've been very careful about going to the gym and doing something, even when I don't want to. Especially when I don't want to. Then I make sure to reward myself. Yesterday's reward was a jambon sandwich (that IS what they call it) from the local french-ish bakery. Today, I made a thin mint milkshake which I mostly gave to Noah.

I hope I can keep it up.

A few times this week I've answered "How are you?" with "Full of feminist rage, you?" That always catches people a little off guard.

Is it good? How are the reviews?

Reviews should be out today and tomorrow. It's a mix of Mary Zimmerman style and Disney songs which can be odd at times. I think it would help if a known song happened earlier in the show. The music is amazing. All the traditional Indian instruments mixed with the jazz/swing band is tons of fun. I'm hoping they'll put out a soundtrack. Oh, and there is Andre De Shields who brings the house down every night.

Random question:

The french bakery near me has a sandwich board out front heralding, "iced cold drinks" which looks weird. Should it be "ice-cold drinks"? Do they mean the same thing or is their a nuance I'm missing?

I think it's always iced tea, right?

That's really interesting Kat. I've developed a good habit of walking home from work and taking longer walks (around 10 KM) on the weekend over the last year. It's good exercise and great for stress. It had gotten to the point where I was anxious if I couldn't walk home or go for a walk on the weekend.

Lately the weather has been crap and I've had other commitments after work the last few weeks, so I feel myself slipping and getting lazy. This weekend I didn't go for a walk at all. I had a serious case of the "I don't wannas". And I know I have to be more vigilant. Rewards may be a good idea.

Sue, the book is really great. It talks about how we establish habits (cue - routine - reward). My cue that I'm trying to change is feeling tired or stressed. I want my routine to be go to the gym, instead of sitting on the couch and the reward has to be big enough to override my usual reward of wasting time on the internet.

The book is great because it's not really self help-y, though there is plenty of food for thought. It just looks at some of the pscyh research around habits, individually, institutionally and communally.

I think it's always iced tea, right?

It's always *supposed* to be "iced tea," but I fear that ship has sailed. t /inordinately bitter about "ice tea"

I mean, ice tea is totally different than iced tea. Iced tea is tea which has ice. Ice tea is like a whole different flavor.

I have a hair question.

When we moved down here, and I needed a haircut, I looked at reviews on Yelp and went to a nearby place. I told her that I wanted the layers in my hair cleaned up, and my one request was that the pieces on either side of my face not be cut so short that they fell out of a ponytail.

I really liked the finished haircut, except -- it's at least three weeks later, and those pieces are *still* too short to stay in the ponytail.

Should I give her another chance or find a different stylist?

My current pet peeve is people who IM you with "hi" or whatever and don't tell me what they want until I respond.

All of the personality tests I've taken at work put me in the "wildly impatient for you to get to the point" corner. Which puts me at odds with people who approach everything with their feelings and their small talk.

A few times this week I've answered "How are you?" with "Full of feminist rage, you?"

God, yeah. I'm the Hulk all the time now.

I've managed to instil a drawing habit that results in anxiety when I can't indulge too, Sue. I need to stop getting obsessed with publishing pictures, though. That's not the point.

I'm using the art store gift cards to buy different art materials from the things I normally use. We'll see. I'm not very good with breaking patterns.

Sadly the art course I am taking is not what I wanted. Yes, I underestimated the amount of time required, but it is kinda random and less than half the things they settle on are of particular interest. I don't know if I have better general knowledge now, but I will keep accumulating.

The french bakery near me has a sandwich board out front heralding, "iced cold drinks" which looks weird. Should it be "ice-cold drinks"? Do they mean the same thing or is their a nuance I'm missing?

I think you can have iced drinks, so you can (and probably will unless extreme circumstances) will have iced cold drinks. It's not much extra information for the extra word, but it seems accurate.

I can't believe I slept without socks last night. First time this year.

I'm going to put socks on now, though. Chilly toes.

I thought I knew which of two t shirts I was going to wear tomorrow--either the Winchester Hell & Back Tour or Greendale Community College. But I just found my Get In Touch With Your Feminine Side WTA shirt, and...I get one t shirt to wear to work a year! I don't know what's most important! Well, okay, I know none of it is important, but I'm still me.

Trying to work out what low glycemic snacking looks like. Fuck, pistachios are work--is that part of the angle? At least they sell unsalted. Why bother salting them? They're no tastier...aw, you people are weird anyway.

Oh, and Wordnik is wrong to be case sensitive. I think it's more harm than use.