I ain't gonna do what I don't want to

The March 2006 Bon Jovi Challenge has officially begun. TJ has agreed to take me to the Bon Jovi concert in Seattle on March 6, with good seats bought from a ticket agency (as the show is mostly sold out now), if I work out 50 times between now and then. Those who are math-inclined realize I have about 75 days to complete those 50 workouts, so not a lot of wiggle room there. Workouts can only be counted once a day, and have to be at the gym, or with Maya, my XBox virtual trainer. Walking at the dog park or to work, though good for me, doesn't count.

I have officially completed 1/50 and am pretty motivated again. My love for Bon Jovi is coming back again, though I'm not sure I can match the crazy devotion I had to them when I was 11 years old :). The new album "Have a Nice Day" *really* rocks. Most of the songs are typical Bon Jovi, could have been recorded in 1988, stuff, but there are a few mellower songs that sound Gin Blossoms/Matchbox 20/random post-grunge band of the day-ish as well. So I really want to go to the concert, and an added bonus is that I might get to buy a cute outfit to fit my newly skinny self by then! (One can dream!)

Spike was quite the Beagleman about town yesterday. *Everyone* wanted to talk to him or pet him. Unfortunately this made him very nervous, and as a result, dandruffy, which made me look like a bad dog parent. I swear we just bathed him on Saturday! Of course, today, he looks fine. We made friends with another beagle at the downtown dog park, some friendly homeless guys, a dad and his daughter out for some Christmas shopping, a man who had a picture of *his* beagle tattooed on his arm (not kidding!), an Australian woman who really wanted a beagle, a sailor from the Navy, and the saleslady at J. Gilbert footwear, who gave Spike a dog cookie in the store. Spike didn't like the shoes at J. Gilbert, so we didn't spend much time there. I on the other hand, was drooling and vowed to return. I will surely celebrate my intermediate weight loss achievements by buying fancy shoes there. Spike slept like a beagle baby when we returned home, and Peanut got to go to the dog park with TJ.

I made a nice meaty pasta sauce called "Sandro's Ragu" from the Seattle Times and we ate it with farfalle and a glass of the $6 Snoqualmie sauvignon blanc I bought to make the sauce. The wine was pretty dry and not something I'd really want to drink again but didn't taste as crappy as one might expect for the low price. The sauce looks like it'll make a great lasagna so that's the plan for later this week.

Today I'm baking a low-fat pumpkin bread. Turns out Spike is fiendishly fond of canned pumpkin. Who'da thunk it?