Glad to hear the gospel of the jump rope interval workout is spreading. Thanks Alice! Not so much luck on the China Study proselytizing. I told some people at work about it today and they looked at me like I was crazy. One person said, "so you don't eat real meals?" I said, "no, we eat meals. Last night we had brown rice pasta with broccoli." Uh oh, I thought, I'm sounding like a lunatic--exactly what I was hoping to avoid. But let's face it: we knew all along that I would fail on that score.
I enjoy checking out blogs where people take on various challenges for a year (seems that most of them ending up getting book deals--but why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?) Recently I was looking at the 100 things blog, where this guy started a movement of reducing personal possessions to... well, I guess that part is self-explanatory. Cara and I have been getting rid of at least one thing a day, and I'm really looking forward to a less-cluttered life. Of course, it's important not to replace the junk that disappears with new junk. Anyway, people really like getting free stuff, so it's been fun on both ends. But don't get the wrong idea; I'm not looking to getting down to 100 things; it's too subjective; how about 137 things; or maybe I just use semi-colons until the end of time.
Other things not mentioned: in addition to giving up meat, dairy and junk food, I've stopped drinking coffee (day 17) and I'm actually still pretty friendly. In the past when I've tried to give up the bean I've turned into an ogre!

--200 pull-ups
--200 push-ups
--300 sit-ups