I made two nerdy discoveries about a couple of programs near and dear to my fitness-tracking, number-crunching soul:

1. Wordpress 2.0 has a toggle to turn off the extremely annoying and totally unnecessary so-called “visual rich” WYSIWYG editor for writing posts.

   Go to Admin > Options > Writing > Formatting and uncheck the “Users should use the visual rich editor by default” option so this absolutely crappy piece of slow-loading, format-wrecking code can be disabled.

   I got so tired of the slooooooooooooooow loading time for the rich editor every time I wanted to write or edit a post that blogging honestly became a chore and the thought of regressing back to the last 1.x version of Wordpress was becoming more and more appealing. It also did strange things with line breaks that just drove me crazy.

   Pure HTML all the way, baby!

2. Microsoft Excel has a lovely Autofilter data tool that lets you filter the data displayed based on entries in the same column. This is extremely handy for turning my all-inclusive grocery list into a weekly shopping list that includes only the items that I plan to buy that week.

   :claplow:

Okay, nerdy interlude complete.

Let’s take a look at today’s grocery bill now–a paltry $15.11 since I got so many staples last week:

All right, that’s all I’ve got for today. I didn’t get home from work until 1:30 am this morning, and I am beat. Off to (finally) try Turbo Jam’s Learn and Burn DVD, chug down meal 6 with some lovely l-glutamine, and then I’m crawling into bed for the night.

See ya tomorrow!

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YESTERDAY’S EATS

1. 1/3 c. oatmeal, 3 T. raisins, 1 whole egg, 3 egg whites
2. 2 oz. turkey breast (free leftovers from Toojay’s sandwich platter at work), 1 apple
3. 2 small Wendy’s chilis (authorized cheat meal–440 cals total)
4. 1 unsalted rice cake, 1/2 T. peanut butter, 2 oz. turkey breast
5. 4 oz. turkey breast, 1 c. mixed vegetables, 1/3 c. (dry) oatmeal
6. 1 unsalted rice cake, 1/2 T. peanut butter,1/2 c. light soy milk, 1/2 scoop whey

Water: 16 cups

Supplements: multivitamin, calcium 600+D, EAS l-glutamine

Calories: 1507 calories (44.9% carb/38.8% pro/17.6% fat)

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YESTERDAY’S WORKOUT

* REST DAY?

Calories burned: 0 calories

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DEFICIT: -181 cal (Target: -632 cal/day)

BUDGET NOTES: Add $1.50 to final grocery total for turkey breast provided by the company. Add $0 for the Wendy’s chili because cheat meals are outside of the Cheapass Challenge budget.

Good running shoes are a must if you are serious about getting into shape. Sure, you can buy crosstrainers, but running shoes can be worn for any gym activity even if you don’t decide to take up running for cardio.

The only problem is that good running shoes are appallingly expensive at full price.

Here’s my little secret for getting $110 running shoes for under $45.

I research what kind of shoe works for my build, running style, and gait online and at a local specialty running shoe store, then note which models I like best. I note the sizes I need in both womens’ AND mens’ sizing. My size 8-8.5 feet are pretty standard in womens’ shoes, but they are also just big enough to fit into the smallest mens’ sizes of 6-7.

There’s nothing wrong with getting shoes from the mens’ department. I have a wider foot that sometimes requires an 8W (or D width) in chick shoes, but guy shoes are already D width standard. They usually have more kickass colors, too.

Next, I sign up for sales emails from stores like Footlocker.com and Roadrunnersports.com, then wait for them to send me a lovely 25% off (or higher) coupon code that can be used on any purchase, including sales items.

Then I hustle over to the online store and check to see which shoes on my list are available in my size in both mens’ and womens’ departments.

To maximize savings, I’ll buy 2 or 3 pairs at a time and stock up on the ones I really love and go through a rebate site like Ebates.com or Fatwallet.com to get an additional 2-10% kicked back to me.

That is how I obtained these top-of-the-line $110 MSRP Asics Gel-Nimbus VI kicks for $45 for this Cheapass Challenge.

If you are a female with a neutral running gait, they might work for you, too. I usually wear an 8W in womens’ shoes as I said above, and I got these in size 6.5 mens. They are a bit snugger than I like at the toe, so I’m getting a spare pair in size 7 instead. They have mens’ sizes 6, 6.5, 7, and 7.5 on sale currently for $49.99.

By the way, there is a 25% coupon code that expires tomorrow, 7/11/06. Enter coupon code EMCP6736 at checkout to get the discount. Ebates is another 5% off.

There are lots of other shoes on sale, too. :wig:

Happy cheap shoe shopping!