So keeping your promises is really hard. I’m basically not promising anyone anything anymore in order to get my track record on point before this next week is over. Writing for an hour and 20 minutes everyday is also hard, but I managed to do it all this week, and on Valentines morning, I hit page 200. That’s when I realized not only am I about 2/3rds of the way through with my second novel, but also if I continue to go at the pace I’m going at, I’ll be done with my rough in like a month. So there’s that. Still, I’m barely finding enough time to knock out an hour and 20 minutes worth of writing every day. I’m becoming rather fearful about being able to handle 2 hours and 40 minutes a day. But as always, fear is a really good thing. It means you’re moving in the right direction. In other writing notes, I haven’t kicked the Writing Demon’s ass yet, but I have gotten rather good at ignoring it. Right now, it’s kind of like living with a parent who’s constantly putting you down. At first it gets to you, but eventually you learn to tune them out. Last but not least, I found this interesting: an article on Anne K. Yoder’s tips on how to become a brilliant public intellectual by emulating Susan Sontag. Here was my favorite quote from the aritcle: Be confident, ambitious, and cultivate your ego: “Good writers are roaring egotists, even to the point of fatuity.” I have a theory that unpaid writers are either extremely over-confident or extremely under-confident. And I’m jealous of bad writers with huge egos, because I think they’ll have a better chance of making their living as a scribe...

So ’tis the eve of another successful 21 day challenge. I skipped a few days of writing — not out of laziness, but b/c I honestly ran out of time. Also, I did spend money on non-necessities. A friend had a birthday dinner and it felt too miserly to eat beforehand and simply drink water at the event or refuse to take part in the group present or even turn down the invite, since I do consider her a dear, dear friend. Also, we ate out to celebrate Betty’s successful second trimester screening. However, I would still call this challenge sucessful in that I pulled it off for the most part. I’m at page 150 of my second novel — which means I clocked 90 pages. Not bad. As for never spending money on anything that’s not a necessity again, that’s not an option. However, I would like to keep the good habit of really thinking before I spend money. So I’ve decided to pick one day a week for spending money from now on. For example, if a friend invites me to her birthday dinner on Saturday, then I make Saturday my spending day and can only spend money on non-necessities on that day. I’ll keep a list of non-essential purchases that I would like to make, which gives me plenty of time to cross anything I don’t really need to buy off of my list. And if I don’t make it to the mall or remember to go online to buy everything on my weekly list, then I’ll have to wait until the next week’s spending day to purchase it. I’ll let you know how this revised habit goes. As for the writing habit, I’ve decided that I want penning my novel...

So as you may or may not remember, I’m on a 21-day challenge not to spend money on anything but necessities. After the first week, I decided that man cannot live on fresh & easy pre-prepared and frozen meals alone, and decided to volunteer my uniquely inept services to test a series of recipes from a cook book for singles that Delia Hauser from “Chic Geek” is currently writing. The 3 chicken recipes were designed to be  affordable, all derived from a simple list, filling and sophisticated without having a ton of stuff left over. Everything was super-tasty. Moreover, I’ve been making my breakfast and lunch more exciting thanks to the few leftover ingredients. I only had three complaints as a recipe tester. Two are useful for would-be cook book writers, the other is just me being trifling: 1.) When I was young, I asked my mother, who was not a good cook, when I might be able to cook myself. She answered that if I wanted to cook, all I had to do was read. “Anyone who can read, can cook.” For the most part, I believe this to be true. I’m a decent cook, b/c I can follow instructions. However, I do realize that anyone who can read can’t necessarily cook super-well. And people who write cookbooks are often really good and intuitive cooks. I don’t have an intuitive bone in my body when it comes to cooking. I don’t just follow a recipe, I do exactly what it tells me. Therefore any instruction like “cook until tender” or “salt and pepper to taste” or “a pat of butter” doesn’t work for me. I don’t taste anything as I go along, and I need exact measurements and exact times for everything. That’s...

So trying a new habit for 21 days, went MUCH better than only dedicating a week. I feel recommitted to exercising, and I also clocked over 60 pages on my new novel, which is pretty stunning. I won’t claim that all of these pages are good or anything, but like I was telling Gudrun from “Secret Life of a Nerd Girl” the other day, finishing the rough draft and having faith that you’ll be able to fix all of your project’s problems later is the hardest bit of writing a novel. Everything else is candy compared to that first long haul through the writing desert. But on to the next 21 days, which begins tomorrow. I’m getting a little burned out on writing every single day, so I think now is a good time to double up my efforts. The worst thing you can do in my opin is to take a vacation from a good habit that’s getting you down. If you really want a habit to stick, get grim about it, and recommit, I say. So for the next 21 days, I’m vowing to work on my second novel for 40 minutes a day, which wouldn’t have sounded like much to the more optimistic version of myself 3 years ago when I started Molly Ringwald Ending. Back then I would have  wanted to write for 3 hours a day, like Stephen King, who has a wife that took care of all of his kids and all of his needs and no other projects on his plate during his most prolific years, when he established the good habit of writing for three hours a day. However, 3 years ago, when I started my first (readable) novel, I was never able to keep up...

So if you’ve made it two weeks into your three for your tri-weekly habit, very good news: The hard bit is over and the last week should feel like a breeze. You’ll be wondering what took you so long to acquire this habit and you’ll be imagining your future life, even better now that you’ve required this habit that you’re going to keep forever. Either that, are you’ll be dying to finish with it already. I happen to be in the first boat with my 20 minutes of exercise and writing a day. I haven’t particularly liked the exercise bit. I don’t necessarily feel better physically — I am after all pregnant. But emotionally it’s really nice to know that I probably won’t die of a heart attack while trying to push out this kid. Also, prenatal yoga is super-gentle and relaxing and it’s helping me stretch all sorts of muscles I’ll supposedly want to be loose and limber which it comes time to push, so yea, for less pain. I’ll definitely hang on to the exercise for now. But the habit I really want to keep is the writing everyday. My 2009 goal is to get another novel fully written — this time in one year as opposed to three, so writing every day will be a huge part of that. A good way to seal in your habit after the initial 21 days is to run the habit again — but for double the time. For example, next week, I’ll start a new Tri-Weekly habit of writing for 40 minutes everyday as opposed to 20. As for my lifestyle-habit, for once in my life I don’t have a big project scheduled in the coming weeks, so I’m thinking about trying not to...

Now, I have no science to prove it, but I firmly believe that whenever you embark on a new 21 days of good-habit forming that some obstacle will get in your way. Something will need your attention, the weather will go insane, a big project will need your attention at work. So I wasn’t surprised when after a successful morning of yoga and writing, I woke up from a mid-afternoon nap on Saturday with what I could already tell was the beginnings of sinus cold. Still, I managed to pull off my 20 minutes of exercise and writing in on Sunday. The unforeseen obstacle is a great asset, because it allows you to double-down on your 21-day challenges. There seriously may be no better feeling than achieving your 20 minutes, even though you feel terribly or had to surmount some other obstacle. It also allows you get creative. I might not have been able to pull off 20 minutes of prenatal yoga or walking around my hilly neighborhood yesterday, but I did get 20 minutes of kegel exercises in and my pelvic floor will thank me for it as I get further along in my pregnancy. Another 21-day obstacle that you might want to prepare for is the 10 day hump. I call this the 10-day hump, but it’ll happen on the 10th, 11th, 12th, or 13th day. You’ll get lulled into a false sense of security and on one of these days you will just not feel like doing your 21-day challenge. The feeling will be very persuasive: you’re tired, you’re bored, you’re not in the mood. You’re already seeing results from the first 9 days, skipping one won’t hurt you. But let me tell you this, it is way more difficult to...

Well, after one great day of exercise, writing, and flossing, I managed to drop the ball for the rest of week, and I realized that drastic action needed to be taken. So back when I had a personal blog, I did about a year worth of taking on a two new habits (one practical, one artistic or meta) for 21 days. It was terribly successful and I managed to finish the rough draft of my novel, blog regularly, spend less money — right before my wedding no less — and lose a bunch of weight — again right before my wedding. Nice, right? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, weddings are the BEST excuse to get your entire life in order. And I’ve joked that I’d acheive total perfect-enoughiness if I had a big event like this to motivate me every year. Well, guess what? A baby is a pretty awesome reason to get cracking on a list of good habits, so I’m bringing back 21 starting with exercise and working on my novel every day for at least 20 minutes a day each for the next 21 days. Some good signs: I just cleared my 13th week, and my weekly baby-center email encouraged me to find a prenatal class during week 14. AND when I did some research on prenatal yoga, I found out that Silverlake Yoga, my favorite studio, has a prenatal class just about every weekday. And they encourage mothers-to-be to join after their 13th week. Also, while I was driving to Santa Monica yesterday to hang out with two of my fellow Smithies, “Make it Rain” by Fat Joe and Lil’ Wayne came on the radio. “Make it Rain” happens to be the them song for the...

For the second week in a row, I managed to totally not keep a new habit. Flossing didn’t even get off the ground and I’m a ton ashamed of myself. But I’ve decided that since my huge work project is finally winding this just might be the perfect week to turn over not one, not two, but three new leaves. The plan is to 1) Start exercising again for at least 30 minutes a day. The first trimester fatigue has lifted, so I no longer have an excuse for not doing this. 2) Start flossing. I mean it this time. And most importantly 3) Start a new novel. Now of course number 3 is going to be the most difficult. I’ve been a little depressed since last week, because I’m done with my novel. I mean done-done. No more book editor notes. The copy edits are fully in. I’m not sure I’d even be able to touch it again I’m so sick of it. But then at the same time I miss it terribly. Finishing a novel is a little bit like breaking up with someone after a long-term relationship. You’re sick of them and t’s time to move on, yes. But you did love this person passionately at one time and it’s just so sad. But both Stephen King and The War on Art suggests that you immediately begin a second novel as soon as you finish the last, so I’m heaving myself into the next one. What’s strange about this situation is that I was so excited to write my second novel while in the midst of my first. In fact, I often thought of cheating on our out-and-out abandoning A Molly Ringwald Ending for this much sexier prospect. But now that...

So I didn’t swim once over the past week — no time or energy. BUT I did walk a few times and that was pleasant, except when it came to walking back up our huge hill under the hot sun on a full stomach. I started feeling a little fainty, and CH had to go get the car and come get me. I’m slowly learning to be patient with myself, but I’m really missing not being strong. I loved being physically strong and I think it’s always been one of my best assets, so actually accepting that I can’t do certain things that I want to do is a bit of a hard row to hoe, but I’m working on accepting to stuff I can’t change and blah, blah, blah. This week, I’ve decided to tackle a habit that I’m a bit embarrassed about not having already acquired. Of course I know that you’re supposed to floss. My dentists throughout life have told me to do so on several occasions, and I’ve always wanted to be one of those super-responsible people with impeccable dental hygiene. To be fair, it’s kind of hard to take all of my dentists’ dire warnings seriously as I come from a family with excellent teeth. My mother never flossed and she went to her grave only ever having had one cavity, which she didn’t even get until her early 40’s. I’ve actually had two cavities so far in my life, but neither of them have been so alarming as to necessitate adding an whole minute or two to my night routine. However, my husband isn’t so genetically blessed in the teeth department. He and his dentist see each other 3 or 4 times a year, sometimes more in order...

So following-through was a very interesting experiment, in that I thought it would be pretty straightforward, but it was actually really difficult. First of all, I don’t quite have the patience levels to perform this experiment perfectly. Things like booting up my computer and waiting for pages to download were constant challenges on my patience. Furthermore talking on the phone and not doing in anything else was ridiculously hard. And iPhone’s are not exactly built for this sort of thing. Having to choose between either playing on my iPhone or talking to another human being — but not both at the same time — was perhaps the biggest obstacle to follow-through. Also, I still have about two more days to go on my novel. So though this habit hasn’t exactly been kept. I want to keep it, because the quality of my phone calls and interactions have been better than ever this week. Seriously, I had a three hour conversation with my best friend, found myself actually listening closely to what people had to say, and even interacting better with my boss, just because I chose to do one thing at a time. I recommend this experiment for everyone. So consider this habit In the Process of Getting Kept. But moving on to this week’s habit, which I blame on CH’s sister and mom. After 4 days of gorging myself silly on their wonderful food, I’ve decided that it’s time to actually start exercising. Though I usually put a moratorium on exercising during the holiday season, all of the pregnancy books and websites recommend it and you know, pre-natal health and all of that blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, my beloved Dance Dance Revolution involves more jumping than is strictly recommended for pregnant women. Most...

I decided on Saturday that I no longer wanted to be a morning person for a few reasons, the two biggest being that it 1) cut into my time with CH, who usually gets off of work around 9pm — you know, a half an hour or so before I go to bed and 2) caused my mornings to be jam-packed. I feel that I now “do more before 9am, than most bloggers do all day, blah-blah-blah” Anyway, being a morning person was not nearly as fun or sexy as I thought it would be, so on Saturday, I took a 2-hour nap, and was able to stay up all the way to 11pm and delay getting up on Sunday until 7am. Nice, right? … Until I feel asleep a little after 9pm last night. As it turns out, between baby fatigue and the new time clock that I’ve set for myself, I may not have as much choice about being a morning person as I thought I did. So consider this habit (reluctantly) kept. This week’s habit will be a lot harder to keep, though — at least for me. One of the things I have a ton of trouble with is follow through. For example, writing this post might take ten times as long as it should, because I keep on checking my email, or I migh not even finish it b/c I grow bored with it halfway through, or maybe someone calls while I’m working. And this has especially become a problem this week, as I’m trudging through the copy edits of my novel. This is basically the last step in the process before I send it off, but my follow through has been atrocious. Between trips to Europe, cooking experiments...

So I talked a little last week about how my jet lag, pre-natal state, and general racing thoughts are basically turning me into an (unwilling) morning person. And this week, I decided to roll with the punches, so to speak, and take full advantage of being an early bird. Without further ado, here’s my new Ideal Morning Person schedule: 4:30 to 5:00am: Wake Up — for whatever reason, it always takes me at least a half hour to realize that I am not only awake, but also not going back to sleep. 5:00 to 5:30am: Check email and go through my Google Reader for FaN ideas and general keeping-up-with-the-times. 5:30 to 6:30am: Work on the first blog of the day for FaN. I’ve been finding that doing my personal blog in the morning when my thoughts are fresh as opposed to late at night, when I’m just happy to be able to say anything coherently leads to (hopefully) more quality thoughts. 6:30 to 6:45am: Make a daily To-Do List 6:45 to 8:30am: Work on projects based on deadline: FaN first then everything else. 8:30 to 9:00am: Eat breakfast: Kashi Hearts & O’s cereal, toast, and pre-natal multi-vitamin with a little thank you to the heavens that I never seem to get sick of eating the same thing for breakfast. 9:00 to 9:30am: Take shower and try to find one of a dwindling number of shirts that don’t cling to my belly. 9:30 to 10:00am: Go to part-time editor gig on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Work on own projects on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What’s that you say? Oh, did I forget to tell you? Well, yeah, I quit my beloved, but incredibly stressful job during the whole IVF ordeal, and am now a part-time editor for...

So I was planning to talk about my Belgium and London trip like all week, but then I realized that no matter how I spun it, it was basically fun for me, and boring for you. In fact, the most fascinating bit of the trip (for me at least) was realizing how very boring I had become, and how even more boring I was about to become — and totally being okay with that. Though I don’t expect my life to revolve around my children — just not built to be that kind of mom — I do realize that my 8-day-jaunts-to-Europe-with-my-sister days are probably over for a couple of decades. I probably also won’t be going to any more countries where there’s a ton of beer and cheese and not all that much for kids to do anytime soon. And I probably won’t decide on Thursday to go to London on Saturday. From what I understand life doesn’t work like that after you become a parent. Then again, it might be exactly like that. Motherhood might bring out even more improv in me. I guess you really don’t know what kind of parent your going to be until you actually become one. That all said, yea, it’s Wednesday! Stay tuned for a bunch of great blogs that don’t involve Belgium, London, or me fretting over becoming a boring parental unit. Definite win for you, I’d say. . Photo Credit: Deann...

So keeping track of my spending last week went so piss poorly, that I don’t even want to talk about how poorly it went. Here’s a helpful suggestion from your friendly friend, Ernessa: Don’t vow to track your spending, right before your trip to Belgium and while you’re producing a webvella. Really bad idea, unless you’re trying to lower your self-esteem (which you shouldn’t be, b/c you’re great!). But I really want to take another run at this when I get back from Belgium and after we finish shooting Oh Merry Beaver! in mid-November. So check back for the revisit. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about what weekly habit I can keep while I’m travelling in Belgium and I think I’m going to go with a special two-week edition of something I shamefully haven’t tried in awhile — discovering new authors. I usually fall back on old favorites while I’m on vacation, but while on my honeymoon, I read the bittersweet, Sliding Doors-ish, what-if tome, The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver, and not only did I learn a ton about snooker (kind of like pool, but bigger stakes, larger tables, and way more British), but I also was treated to an engaging story by a brilliant author. So that’s my reading challenge for the next couple of weeks. If you want to join me, just pick up a book from someone you haven’t read before. And if you have any suggestions for someone that I might not have read yet, please let me know in the comments. Many...

So, the last Belly of the Whale column by Howard Leder really inspired me. He talked about dealing with and tackling debt, and I know debt is something that almost all of us have a history with in some form or other. To tell you the truth, I’ve only started handling money wisely in recent years. When I was in my 20’s it was easy come, easy go. I saved up for trips or other things, I most definitely didn’t save up for the far-off future. Also, I sometimes fell into the worst starving-artist-with-a-crappy-day-job traps, including 1. I need this now, I’ll figure out how to pay for it later. 2. I’m going to make lots of money someday, I’ll pay off all of my debt then. and 3. I deserve this. Needless to say, I got into a lot of trouble in my early 20’s thinking this way, but the best and worst thing about being a starving artist is that you don’t have any extra money, and after a few years, you often get sick of this and start forming a few good money habits, just so you don’t have to play guessing games every time you hit the ATM. I got rid of all my credit cards and didn’t apply for any new ones, because I couldn’t afford to have  the option of “extra money” lying around. I also started cooking (lots of pasta) for myself and pursuing activities that didn’t cost a ton of money. For example, Derby Dolls cost $80 bucks a month in dues, but it was a great workout, a free alcohol hook-up when you worked fundraising events and games, and some Doll was always throwing a party or knew of a party or something like that,...

So, I always make sure to take my prenatal pill, first thing after I get in to work with my breakfast cereal. Not just for the health of the dot in my womb, or because the side of the pill bottle says that you should take one a day with a meal. No, I choose to do this every morning in the office, because there are a lot of other people at work, and I’m fairly certain that at least one of them must know the Heimlich Maneuver. Is it possible to choke to death on a prenatal pill? No, seriously, I want to know, because I feel it’s just a matter of time before one gets stuck in my esophagus and I find myself in need of life saving measures. I  did find these lovely small ones at Longs Drugs, which I’ve been taking for almost a year now. But then after finding out, I was actually with dot, I did some research and discovered that these smaller pills don’t have quite as much iron as I’m supposed to take and no Vitamin K whatsoever. So we went to Whole Foods and found a 365 brand pill with all the Vitamins A,C,D,E,K, folic acid, and iron that I need (according to the all knowing internet). However, these new pills are huge, and I have to resist the urge to neigh like a horse before putting them in my mouth. Women, if you know of a prenatal pill that doesn’t make a chyck feel like she’s playing Russian Roulette every time she takes one, please let me know in the comments. Men, if you’ve made it this far, you’re awesome, and you will be duly rewarded, because Delia’s Chic Geek is all about the...

Now I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing that I always feel I’m failing at, it’s time management. But this week, here’s what all I have to get done: 1. Finish the copy edits on my novel 2. Attend tapings and recording sessions for the first Fierce and Nerdy webvella, “Oh Merry Beaver!” 3. Huge project at work. 4. Five days of Fierce and Nerdy as usual. 5. Actually finish a book by an author I want to meet with next week if schedules align — luckily it’s a really good book, or I might have to commit seppaku. Oh, and did I mention that my first pregnancy symptom has been not being able to stay awake past 11pm or get up before 7:30 anymore? Apparently, the dot in my womb, wants me to get plenty of sleep. I often start feeling seriously overwhelmed when faced with such an intimidating schedule, but I’ve found that there’s no amount of work that a good time management system can’t surmount. I’ve accumulated a few tips after the jump that you might find useful for really bad weeks. And if you have any tips to add, please, please, please let me know in the comments. I could seriously use the help this week. 1. Figure out how much you’ll need to do on each project in order to complete everything by the end of the week, then block out your entire week, including times to eat. Buy a bunch of snacks for between meals, so that you have the energy to keep going. 2. Cut TV. Period. You can reward yourself with a DVR layabout after your hell week. 3. Only carry literature with you that you have to read. Everything else should be...

A few months ago, I read an article in Esquire by Chuck Klosterman a few months ago that really stayed with me. It was about how London had recruited athletes for the 2012 Olympics. Answering a nationwide appeal for tall people with athletic potential, more than 50 prospective Olympic athletes have been placed in British training programs for the 2012 London Games. More than 3,800 people applied to be part of the “Sporting Giants” project. They were tested for their skills in four Olympic sports — rowing, handball, beach volleyball and indoor volleyball. Making the cut were 34 rowers, 11 handball players and seven volleyball players. They have been integrated into various British Olympic training squads. “There are so many people out there who don’t know how good they could be at sports they’ve probably not even thought about,” UK Sport talent identification manager Chelsea Warr said Thursday. “This was a mild shake of the tree. We looked under a few rocks and look what we found.” CK goes on to say that we might all have some untapped potential that was never unearthed after we self-selected ourselves into careers. This is something that I’ve always wondered about. Like what would have happened if I had taken an art class or voice lessons or learned to drive stick shift? Could I be good at something and not even know it? This week, I would like to propose exploring that possibility. Take a first step towards exploring your potential. If you’re tall, try playing handball. If you’re a good automatic driver, ask your friend to teach you stick shift. If you can sort of draw, take a class — or if you’re cash-strapped, order a book on drawing from the library (that’s actually what I’m...

So a mentor of mine once confessed that she didn’t go to her high school reunions because she wanted her classmates to remember here just the way she was. And she wanted to remember them that way, too. Though I plan to attend my 10th college reunion this year and mayhap my 15th high school reunion in 2010, I think I now understand how she feels. I decided to get back in contact with a few friends from my ESL teaching Japan days. It was alarming how many of them of were now married, some with children. It seemed the crazier the chyck was in Japan, the more likely they were to be settled down — including me! It’s the cycle of life, yes, but the romantic in me can’t help but wonder if it’s nicer to remember us dancing in nightclubs til 5am, singing karaoke, drinking way too much Asahi, eating incredible sushi, and “snogging” random boys, forever and ever. Know what I mean? So though I loved catching up with so many friends, I don’t think I’ll continue on with getting back in touch. Consider this habit UNKEPT. But I think this week’s habit is definitely going to be a keeper. Let’s talk about our dreams. Specifically, the thing you hope to do “one day.” The thing you think about every day on your way in to work. Have you been letting life and obligations get in between you and your dreams? I know I have. And this week, I would like to propose that we give our dreams 20 minutes of precious time every day. A lot of you took and successfully completed the reading challenge, and this is a lot like that. 20 minutes is a little inconvenient, but totally...

Guys! How frickin’ dope was that 20 minutes a day of reading? I don’t know about you, but I definitely I’m starting to feel smart again already. And hey, thanks for all the great recommendations in the comments. I’m planning a writing vacay to San Francisco in early October, and I’m going to load up my Kindle with all of your suggestions. Consider this habit a definite keeper. Now this week’s habit was actually sparked by the launch of Fierce and Nerdy. It’s funny, because I’m busier than I’ve ever been, but thanks to FaN, I’m also more in contact with my friends than I’ve ever been. And can I tell you, that I’ve just loved all the catching up? It makes me feel both guilty and sad that I haven’t done a better job of keeping in touch with friends in other places — like ever. And from what I gather, you’re all sort of feeling the same way. As we get older, it’s startling how many friends we haven’t talked to in years. I remember DYING to get out of St. Louis and into the world when I was in high school, but now it seems that my world has become incredibly small, and I’m ashamed to say that I barely keep in touch with my friends in Los Angeles, much less my friends all around the world. So let’s do something about that this week. Resolve to call or email someone you haven’t talked to in at least three months and catch up. Guidelines after the jump: This Week’s Habit: Email or call a friend or family member that you haven’t spoken to in at least three months What You’ll Need: A list of 7 friends. Up to date contact info....

So you know when you get dumped by someone who doesn’t really appreciate you and you both are like, “We’re still going to be friends.” But then you find someone who does appreciate you, and suddenly that whole friends pledge goes out the window? Well according to Entertainment Weekly, that’s basically what’s going on with Scrubs and NBC. After years of under promotion and time slot changes, NBC finally let Scrubs go, so that it could be with ABC, who vowed to love it for one last season, ending with a finale, in which every significant guest star from the past eight years was supposed to come through. But now NBC is saying no dice, and refusing to loan out Masi Oka (Heroes) or Sarah Lancaster (Chuck) for the final episode. Alas. Well, at least we still have E.R. — wait, what do you mean George Clooney’s not coming back for the final season??? Sniff....

So how did making your beds go? Though, I had read somewhere that a minority percentage of we Americans make our bed every morning, it seems that many of our readers already do. And their effusive praise for the making of one’s bed helped me stick to this habit for one full week, even though there were mornings that I woke up both rushed and exhausted. I never got to the optional mints portion of last week’s habit, but I did like coming home to a made bed. And funnily enough, it actually helped me get more work done, because I didn’t want to unmake the bed until I was ready to go to sleep. Hence, no more “I’ll just lie down for 5 minutes” — only to wake up hours later. Consider this habit KEPT. This week’s habit was inspired by Howard Leder’s “Belly of the Whale” blogumn from last week. Basically there are people that believe that our hours of internet surfing are actually changing the way we process information and making it more difficult for us to concentrate on reading. As a former at-least-two-book-a-weeker, this makes me sad for all of us. So this week’s modest proposal is that we all take 20 minutes out of our busy days and read a book. I know finding 20 minutes seems hard, but it is definitely doable. I waste at least 20 minutes a day, obsessively pouring over our FaN Google Analytics — a bad habit that I’ve forsworn in order to make time for this new habit. I’ve posted my top recommendations for good reads in Sidebar 2. Some other suggestions for other fierce and nerdy books: Garden Spells and Freakonomics. I realize that I’m low on suggestions in nonfiction and some...

As you may or may not know, one of my more random side hobbies is collecting good habits. How does one do that, you ask? Simple, you just decide on a good habit that you want to acquire, then charge yourself with practicing that habit for a certain number of days straight. So here’s my modest proposal: Why don’t we collect good habits together every week, and on Mondays we’ll check in to see how it all went. We’ll start off with something that’s light — but nonetheless hard for many of us: Making our Beds. I’m pretty much from the school of only making the bed when company is nigh, but I think that I might be doing myself a disservice. I love coming home to a made bed, but in the past a made bed has meant that either our housekeeper had finished his bi-weekly cleaning or that I was staying in a hotel room. But c’mon, it doesn’t always have to be like that. In the morning, you could make your bed and even leave yourself a little mint on the pillow for when you get home at night. And in the early evening you could turn down the covers, so that your bed is nice and welcoming when you climb in at night. Basically you’d be giving yourself five-star bed treatment. However, it doesn’t have to be this romantic. You could always just make your bed every morning. And after 7 days, bam, you’re done, good habit collected. This Week’s Habit: Make your bed every morning What You’ll Need: A Bed Optional: Some chocolate mints for your pillow. Start Date: Tuesday, September 9th End Date: Monday, September 15th Side Note Warning: If you’re coupled up, you might have to get...