A few observations

• It's worth the money to have a Personal Trainer to instruct, motivate and oversee. I work harder than I would have on my own, and more importantly, when I'm doing an exercise incorrectly I can count on the Personal Trainer to give me immediate feedback and correction. For the same reason, the better exercise class (from boot camp to Pilates) is the one where the Instructor leads the class without participating. I've recently started attending Pilates group classes. In one class the Instructor paces the floor in our small exercise room and will stop and physically reposition a foot or other body part when one of us has gone astray. I believe I'm twice as effective in this class as the class where the Instructor is over on the floor going through the exercises with us.
• Our government at work is actually sometimes at work for us. Recently I thought I was making an online payment to the City of Dallas water department, but accidentally transmitted it to a traffic division. Oops. Although the City failed to find the payment (we finally cancelled the payment today with the bank), I was delighted (and astounded) at the number of polite and helpful employees I spoke with as we tried to sort it out. I even left messages for people and received return calls. Wow!
• We used DFW Freecycle this weekend to give away a refrigerator and it was a completely pleasant, pain-free way to "pass along" an item we no longer needed. The list serve allows members to list items they would like to receive, or are willing to give away. I think there are Freecycle groups in most major metropolitan areas.
• I haven't yet figured out who the financial crisis is impacting. Our 401k accounts are down a bit but nothing awful, and I haven't heard from anyone else who is getting pinched in all of this. Is this going to be a situation where people in their 20's won't be able to buy a home as easily as those who are a bit older?