Draw Scramble with Friends

Is anyone else, like, mildly to moderately obsessed with Draw Something, Scramble, or Words with Friends? Do you find yourself texting people or messaging them through the game, Play me back! I'm guilty of all of this... When real friends aren't available or don't play me back quickly enough, I have the computer hook me up with cyber friends so I'm never left without an opponent. Addicted much?

I've been wracking my brain to think of something I could challenge myself to stop doing or to do more of when it hit me yesterday afternoon as I was attempting to study -- duh! Put down the cell phone, dust the cobwebs off the textbooks, and get to studying! Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I do need to take fewer game breaks these days. With just 5(!) days left in the semester, it's decidedly crunch time. Due to extensive preplanning, crunch time this semester does not mean cram time. In any event, I need to focus my creative energies on getting through the next week, taking 2 final exams, and submitting a well-done videotape... not trying to score above 1600 in Scramble or use all my tiles in one WWF maneuver.

Thus, my self-challenge is to reward myself for every hour of productive work with 10 minutes of cell phone gaming. If I get sidetracked and take longer than an hour to complete productive work, it'll take me that much longer to earn a Scramble break. I won't be able to challenge myself for a week, because my semester is unexpectedly ending Monday evening after my last exam, as opposed to Tuesday evening after my last class. Hey, you don't hear me complaining! The challenge isn't much of a challenge... more like a productivity booster. You know, there's nothing wrong with applying classic psychology to daily life :)

In other (fitness-related) news...
I have discovered that I love the stationary bike! I used to feel like it was a huge waste of my time, because my legs were pedaling so fast that it didn't feel like a workout. It just felt as if the bike was propelling my legs without expending any effort on my part. I decided to give it another go on Monday because I was "resting" my knee, so I set myself up for 10 minutes of Fat Burn. That went by in no time, but I still felt like I was getting exercise. Yesterday, I ran 4 miles, which is my greatest PDR accomplishment to date, and which I nearly thought would kill me. Needless to say, my knee was quite sore last night. I knew I needed to take another respite from running, so I hopped on the bike for 25 minutes of Fat Burn this morning. I coupled that with some free weights while on the exercise ball. Rational A.K. knows I need probably 3-4 days of alternating heat and ice with no running whatsoever. Competitive A.K. wants to complete those last 3.07 miles within the next four days so I can finally accomplish my goal of 50 miles in one month. This is the closest I've ever come, so knee pain be damned!
I'll let you in on a little secret... I typically include miles worked out on the elliptical as part of my monthly "running" accomplishment. Elliptical miles account for 12.74 of the 46.93 miles this month thus far. The elliptical places far less stress and pressure on my back and my joints, plus it gets my heart pumpin' and my bod sweatin'.

So, here's to productivity, accomplishing my goal(s), and capping off the semester the right way! Happy Hump Day, blends!