But, I really want to get back into a semblance of shape other than a circle.

So, I did some research on DVD fitness programs.

At first I thought of the P90X program. It was a bit pricey, but seemed like it could get some results. After doing some research, I concluded that it is not for me (yet, perhaps). The guy on there sounds like he’d be annoying after the first week. If I get a chance to buy them on craigslist, I might spring for them later, though.

Then, I thought about Bob and Jillian from the Biggest Loser. After doing yet more research, I figured that I wanted a set of Bob’s DVDs. I may go to some of Jillian’s earlier DVDs later. I hear those are much better than the latest set.

In any case, I started Bob’s day 1 workout for beginners today. It was only 25 minutes, but I am definitely feeling it. I couldn’t even get through all the exercises. Maybe I shouldn’t have used any weights this time

It was a nice routine though. Pretty simple and easy to do. I liked how he walked through some potential problems and encouraged as we went. I also liked his interactions with the other people on the video. Since I have had a trainer before and been to the gym, I was pretty sure that I was doing the exercises correctly, but it would be nice if there was some way to identify bad form. Maybe the Kinect for XBox will come up with something that can do that.

In any case, my legs are wobbly and my arms can’t go above my head right now, so I’m betting I’ll be pretty sore tomorrow. Should be interesting!

I was talking with my mom recently about our youngest, who had H1N1 last week (he’s much better now, thanks!).

My parents live in California, where the H1N1 stories in the news are fairly common and tend to highlight cases that seem to be people who are not in the “high-risk” groups, providing details about this pandemic. While, here in Utah, I really don’t hear very much on the news, and the stories tend to be about ways to stay healthy and about how this is just another flu and the death rate is as expected.

So, while we weren’t too worried, I’m sure my mom was kind of freaking out.

It got me thinking about why a Democratic state would focus on the negatives and a Republican state would be more optimistic. (This is where the “party” lines comes in). After all, I am a fairly optimistic person.

I’m not so sure this has to do with pessimism versus optimism as a nature of certain parties, though. While some may argue this, I think it goes deeper, into the world view of those in each party.

Democrats tend to be more focused on the poor, the downtrodden, the under-represented. Republicans tend to be more focused on free markets and improving from the top, keeping government out of our lives. These are simplistic definitions, obviously, but I feel they are useful here, if not completely black-and-white.

In California, the focus seems to be on these suffering people and how bad this is, how we need help to fix the problem. In Utah, the focus seems to be on how we can handle this problem ourselves and reassuring us that we can do it.

In some ways I think these world views tie in with how people take on the “global warming” issue, even. From the, in my opinion, exaggerated sky-is-falling outcries on the left, to the nothing-to-fear-but-fear-itself, we-are-not-the-cause anti-response of the far right. The answer here, and for H1N1, is somewhere in the middle – a complex, problematic issue that is not easily solvable, nor should it be ignored.

Now to remember all the things my mother told me – don’t read in bad light, don’t sit so close to the tv, don’t stare at the sun, and so forth.