Groovymarlin.com

Sometimes I’m glad I’m not a “professional” blogger, with sponsors to make happy and PR flacks to please and news releases about celebrities and products to flog. Sure, I’d like to write and read blogs for a living, but there are times when I think being a full-time blogger who relies on her blog for her livelihood would suck. The release of a movie like “Sex And the City 2″ is one of those times.

See, if I was relying on this blog for my livelihood, I might have to publish stories that tie in with SATC2′s marketing campaign, like “How to Get Carrie’s Hair” or “Charlotte’s Perfect Makeup” or “Samantha’s Still-Active Va-Jay-Jay.” (OK, maybe not the last one.) That would kill me, because the Sex and the City franchise sucks in general, and this latest movie very specifically.

I haven’t even seen it. I don’t have to. I can smell that shit from miles away. I find the whole concept of it shallow and offensive. But just in case you don’t believe me, there are lots of honest reviews you can check out. Like this one. Or this, this, and this. Or, most hilariously, THIS, which is the best of all. (That last one, by Lindy West at The Stranger, is getting a lot of press and link love, so it may take a really long time to load.)

I used to watch SATC on HBO. The first few seasons were fun. By the last two or so, it was getting old, or maybe I was just growing up, because I didn’t find it compelling anymore. I think by the time the series finally gasped its last, everyone was pretty much ready to be done with it. Then they came out with the first movie, which I didn’t see until it was on cable. I was not impressed. It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of thing I’d get dressed and leave the house for either. I think we can all agree that a sequel was COMPLETELY unnecessary. Seriously. Come on.

The big problem with movies like SATC2, and similar fluff like “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” is their tone-deafness. The country is in a recession, for Christ’s sake. Some people have been unemployed for two years now, and everyone is making sacrifices. Somehow, watching two hours of shallow, logo-flogging, conspicuous consumption just doesn’t make me feel any better, and it seems to not be helpful to most other hard-working folks either. There was a lot of talk about how in the Great Depression, Hollywood produced lots of lavish musicals and entertainment designed to help people “forget their problems” and “escape into a dream world.” But I don’t think it works anymore. We’ve moved on as a society, and most of us can’t relate, and don’t WANT to relate, to the shallow old hags of Sex and the City.

Have you ever taken a look at your spam folder? I have. Most days, I review my spam folder in Gmail once or twice. I quickly scan all the messages that Gmail has wisely shunted directly into spam, making sure nothing that I actually wanted to read got put in there by mistake. Then I delete everything forever.

I’ve noticed a pattern.

Almost all the spam is about Viagra. Seriously! OK, a few for World of Warcraft gold sellers, fake Rolex watches, and diet supplements, but mostly Viagra or “herbal” Viagra or some other product that supposedly does the same thing as Viagra (give dudes boners). If I made a pie chart of what the distribution of my spam folder is, it would look something like this:

Why?

The other day,  I got lunch from Five Guys. I had a “Little Hamburger” all the way, and it was divine. I showed some restraint by not getting fries (*sniffle*). In the afternoon, I felt some heart palpitations, but I assumed they were psychosomatic.

I haven’t eaten at Five Guys in a really long time. If you read the nutritional info, it’s easy to see why: the burger I consumed was over 600 calories and comes out to some ridiculous amount of Weight Watchers points like 19 or something. So it was a treat – I had just signed some papers at the credit union next door, and decided to celebrate with a burger from Five Guys.

What really freaked me out about Five Guys was just how many gigantically obese people were in there. Yes, there were some average-sized folks, and even some slightly-overweight people like myself, but there were a LOT of really, really obese people. More than you see just hanging around the mall, or Target, or even in other restaurants. It’s like Five Guys is a magnet for really big people.

Now I know you’re thinkin’, “Wow, Groovymarlin. Judgmental much?” And to be honest, I thought that to myself, even as I was waiting for my order and noticing the high proportion of plus-sized patrons. What right do I have to judge, after all? None! And for all I know, every single one of the fat people in there was only treating himself or herself, just like I was. The next day, they all went back to counting calories and eating a balanced diet and drinking lots of water and making sure to get five servings of veggies a day.

Right.

I don’t know what my point is, maybe I don’t really have one. I just wanted to describe how that experience made me feel. And what it made me feel was as if I had made some kind of discovery. To be honest, it helped strengthen my resolve to keep following Weight Watchers, keep working out, and keep trying to get healthier.

Image from fitbit.com

So, I bought a Fitbit. Check out the very good website for lots more detailed info, but in short: the Fitbit is a little clip-on device, about the size of a USB thumb drive, that you wear (nearly) 24 hours a day. It has an accelerometer inside (like what makes the Wii controllers work), and it keeps track of how active you are, how many steps you’re taking, and how many calories you’re burning.

It uploads all that data to a web server, where you can access it on a very well-designed (even though there’s some Flash involved) dashboard. Here, you can also enter what you ate to track your calories consumed, as well as entering specific activities (like swimming or showering, which you can’t wear your Fitbit for; or biking, which it’s not so good at tracking).

So far I like it a lot. It’s very small and convenient. During the day, I wear it clipped to the center of the front of my bra. It’s quite secure there and I never worry about it slipping off; plus it’s well-hidden. When I first got it, I wore it on the waistband of my underpants or sometimes my jeans, but then I had to worry about it every time I went to the bathroom etc. Front of bra is better, but you can also wear it on a bra strap, in your pocket, or on your belt (it comes with a belt clip for thicker belts). At night, I wear it in the soft cuff that was included, and where they recommend putting it for sleeping.

I think it’s too early for me to say whether I think it’s a really helpful tool in weight loss or fitness. I know my first week, I was pleased with how active I was (it really brought home to me how everyday activities also burn calories, not just going to the gym). I was burning about 500 calories less a day than I was consuming, and anyone familiar with dieting will know that should result in about a pound of weight loss in one week’s time (5oo calorie deficit per day x 7 days = 3500 calories, you must expend 3500 calories more than you eat to lose one pound). Unfortunately, I weighed myself the following Monday and had gained two pounds.

WHAT?!?

Well, as it turns out, I was retaining water or something on Monday, because when I weighed myself on Tuesday it turned out that I actually had lost about a half pound. But still, that morning weigh-in was a little discouraging. Which is why I want to wear the Fitbit longer and collect more data before I start drawing any conclusions about its effectiveness as a tool for improving fitness and health.

One thing that is VERY enlightening for me already is the sleep monitor. Let’s take a look at how I slept last night:

Not bad. About seven and a half hours, which is a little less than ideal for me, but there were few interruptions, which means it was restful (efficient) and that’s why it was easy for me to get up at 6am (aka “buttcrack of dawn”) this morning.

Compare that to the night of May 2-3:

Quite a difference. Although my sleep “efficiency” is still in the 90s, and I still got about seven and a half hours of sleep, I can tell you I felt a lot different on the morning of May 3 than I did this morning, and it’s easy to see why. I woke up, at least partially, 21 times that night. Ouch.

So in this respect, so far the Fitbit is very helpful in showing me why I feel like crap some mornings, and not so much like crap other mornings!  One change I’ve made because of this is, I’ve pretty much stopped taking Advil PM before I go to bed, and I’m sleeping better because of it. While my broken arm was still healing, I really needed it, but since my arm is mostly better I was still taking it on weeknights because it helps me fall asleep so quickly. The problem is, I tend to wake up more in the middle of the night when I have taken it, than when I don’t. Why? I have no idea, but the proof is there.

More updates on the Fitbit as I use it longer. But now for the bad news.

If, after reading this, you’re convinced that the Fitbit is the greatest thing since sliced whole-wheat bread, and you just HAVE to have one, I have something discouraging to tell you: it takes FOREVER to get one. They are so back-ordered it’s not even funny. I ordered mine on January 11, 2010. I received it on May 1. Yep, that’s almost four months of waiting, four months of my “expected ship date” being pushed back farther and farther. Every time I’d log into the website to look at my order status, there would be a new, later “expected ship date” and I’d get more frustrated!

All that being said, I do think it was worth it, especially for the price, which is extremely reasonable ($99 plus shipping). But be prepared to wait, and wait, and then wait some more. Unless you go to eBay, where you can take your chances and pay $150 or more for one.

Note to the FTC: I did not receive a Fitbit for free (if only!!). I paid for it all by myself and this review is only my opinion.

The scene: family reunion of sorts, in honor of my father’s 80th birthday. Hubby is quizzing my vegetarian niece and her vegetarian boyfriend about what things they like to eat.

Hubby: What about seitan, you guys like seitan?
Niece & Boyfriend: Huh?
Hubby: Sei-tan. Uh, not Satan. Seeeeei-tan.
Me: Yeah, you guys like Satan? We just love him.

Vegetarianism comes with a side order of blasphemy in our house.