I fit in 30 minutes on the elliptical machine last night and followed up with some ab work. I hate the elliptical. It's nice because I think it's less stressful on my joints than running, but I can never tell if I'm actually getting a workout. Part of me thinks that machine was invented to fool people into thinking they are doing something physical when, really, it's a waste of time. I also think it's the world's most boring machine. Anyway, I got it done.

I wanted to get some lifting in as well, but the weights were occupied when I finished and I had to get home to my puppy, who destroyed another part of our couch yesterday. Now that I'm working longer hours, we have to figure out some kind of system to keep her from acting out. She's been getting more walks, more play time, and Kong treats to occupy her during the day. I hope all of these calm her down in the next few days. I also need to figure out a better workout schedule because when I go right after work as I did last night, I spend the whole time feeling guilty that I haven't gone home to let her out yet.

Tonight is Valentine's Day and it turns out I don't have to work late. So do I stay home with the fiance even though we have nothing planned? Or do I go swimming? I'm leaning toward swimming ... is that bad? If I don't, I'll go on Saturday and see how it works when lap and open swimming overlap.

Valentine's Day is such a dumb holiday in my book, anyway. I don't know if this stems back to me not having a boyfriend in 7th grade or what; I've just always thought of the day as really cheesy and unoriginal. Well, there was a time when I loved it - in elementary school, we used to decorate empty cereal boxes and tape them to the sides of our desks to collect Valentines. I worked for days on my creations ... my mom would never let me go the generic, store-bought route (which I now realize was probably a cost-saving measure, but I gotta tell you, it's one of the best things she's ever done).

Anyway, all I'm sayin' is that I wish I had a cereal box on my door right now so someone could load it up with chocolate and Barbie Valentines.