Pain, The Good Kind

Your Sis bought this yoga-prop inflatable ball for exercise. It's low-impact. I tried it for the first time Wednesday, and holy crap, it makes you work. You don't feel the effort during the workout, but you do when you try to stand up.

I've done some yoga before while at MetroBEAT. In one of those decisions that lead to its demise, the paper ran yoga-studio ads in exchange for yoga sessions. The office was given a limited number of sessions, during work hours, in hopes of us paying for more. I liked those sessions, but not enough to continue it after the freebies. I couldn't make room im my schedule, especially since one never knew how long to expect the workday to last.

I woke up Thursday with a bum elbow from the ball workout, and went to the gym last night where I susprised myself by cruising through 3.5 miles. Of course, those are treadmill miles, but I have increased the treadmill speed beyond my ground-run speed, so I think it's close to evening out. I got home to discover I had a tender tummy. The ball exercises targeted my sides, and I really felt it after the run. Even today, I'm feeling it. This may finally erase the love handles.

Picture of the Day
Earth as seen from the orbit of Saturn. We're the speck above the rings.



In the News
Scientists say our hands emit light, and this can be measured to possibly aid diagnosis.

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The Senate has debated Bush proposals for new detainee legislation, specifically to make legal what Bush wanted but was denied by the Supreme Court. But there are concerns that the new bill, if passed, will again face Supreme Court cancellation becuase it removes the writ of habeus corpus from detainees. In other words, they don't have to be told why they're being held. That's a Western notion stretching back to the Magna Carta. The bill also naively demands the president publicly list any extreme interrogation procedures he may approve for specific detainees.

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Variety reports Robert Downey Jr. (late of the you-must-see-it Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is going to play Iron Man. The character is Marvel Comics' alcoholic mechanical genius, and much is made about Downey (an infamous addict) playing the role. But Iron Man (real name Tony Stark, and this will be my last parenthetical aside) is also a humorless hard-ass with an intense focus on his work. I don't know if Downey can do that for what should be a straight-up action film. Iron Man isn't like Spidey or the X-men. He doesn't brood over his abilities. He revels in them. Imagine Sir Richard Branson fighting bad guys. That's Iron Man. Downey is a magnificent fop and dandy, but is he an action hero? Will Iron Man be an action movie, or will they steer the film toward ponderous banality as with Hulk and Superman Returns? Unlike Ghost Rider or Elektra, I do want to see an Iron Man film. A good one, anyway. I've read the character since I was a tyke.