Why is it that I feel guilty when I actually take a weekend off? Isn't that just a little crazy? Sure, it is, and I know that, so I'm not going to let it bother me. Everyone get's weekends, right? So I should, too.

I'm still getting over my cold, but it's mostly just an inconvenience at this point. Due to being ill, I haven't gone to the gym since last Sunday. I find that if I go to the gym while I'm sick, I only manage to have a poor workout and then become even sicker. I thought that exercise was supposed to bolster your immune system, but in my case it doesn't seem to work that way.

Tomorrow I think I'll start going to the gym again. Last week when I went to the doctor to get some cold medicine I talked with him for a while about my recent lack of success at losing weight. After running through what my typical workout is and what it's been in the past, he said it sounds like I'm doing everything I should be. The only recommendation he had for me was to do more cardio and watch my food intake. He reiterated what I've found in countless articles that I've read -- the body gets very efficient after a while of the same workout and it also gets very comfortable at a certain weight and makes it very, very difficult to get past that. That's where I am. He also said that other than being heavy that I'm in perfect health and that it's a misconception that just because someone is overweight that they're unhealthy.

So, there you go. No fear of diabetes. No fear of heart disease. No fear of high cholesterol. No thyroid problems. I'm just heavy and healthy. I'll keep going to the gym, stay healthy, and work on losing weight. It keeps me from doing things I'd like to do.

I received an amazingly nice compliment the other day. I was talking with one of the V.P.s at work and she was relating to me a story from a meeting she'd been earlier that day. One of the people in the sales area is leaving and the other members of senior management were asking him who could take his place. He responded that one of the people in his department could...or me. And someone else at the table said, "Yeah, but Jon can do anything," and apparently everyone else at the table agreed. Wow. That was cool.

The V.P. who told me this asked me why it was that I could do anything here and I could only reply that I've participated at every level of this industry, from fan to distributor to publisher -- and filled a number of positions at each of those levels. Part of me thinks it's exceedingly egotistical to think that I could do anything here, but another part of me thinks, "but I can." And I really think I can. There's no job they could give me here that I couldn't do well.

Regardless, I was very flattered and proud that other's felt that way (or is that the definition of proud?).

I already mentioned that I didn't do any work this weekend, but I didn't say what I'd done. Friday I went to dinner with Shane, Cathy, and Kian to a place in Seattle called Dragon Fish, then we went to see a late showing of Kill Bill. It was very entertaining and completely over the top. I think it was worth the price of admission and I look forward to seeing more of the series.

Saturday I slept in, met up with Shane and Cathy to go buy comics in Seattle, then I said good-bye to them and went to run some errands at the game store and at Target. I picked up Steve Martin's new book, The Pleasure of My Company, and a bamboo plant I liked along with some other things. Nothing too exciting, but I do that that plant. As I was driving home I got a call from Katie. She and her housemates were having people over for movies and whatever else we decided to do, so I grabbed something to eat and went over to Seattle again to spend the evening playing Pictionary, talking, and watching Saturday Night Live.

Today I slept in, watched some of my new Casablanca DVD and came in to work to straighten some things out, watch bunches of things at homestarrunner.com, buy something from the Monkeyfan Records store, and work on an article that will be posted sometime this week on the company Website.

Now I go for dinner with Kevin and Kim and then either to a movie or home to read.