The answer, by the way

Wire in the Blood (Seasons One through Five)
Firefly (Complete)
Serenity
Ashes to Ashes (half of season one and counting)

is the list of everything I've watched while working out on my elliptical machine, since acquiring it back in April. It adds up to over 44 hours of working out, which isn't bad, really, considering I was barely able to do 12 minutes a day when I started. (Am now up to "at least 20," and have been known to go as high as 28 when the show is interesting and I'm not late for work. Which, by the way, pretty much comes down to Firefly on a weekend.)

I do work out when I'm late for work. I work out when I'm sick, too. The only things that would prevent me from doing my 20 minutes on that thing every morning are: (1) not being here; (2) having a plane to catch; or (3) court. (And, so far, I've woken up early enough on court days to fit it in there.) There's a very good reason for this -- I'm pretty good at starting habits, but I find they're very easy to break. And if I let myself get away with an excuse even once, they'll keep snowballing until the elliptical machine turns into a very expense clothing valet.

The TV helps immensely. I have the elliptical aimed directly at a television, with a (region-free, bless it) DVD player hooked up. And since I'm watching programs I really want to watch, I actually look forward to the exercise portion of my day. This is key. In fact, since I'm almost done with Ashes to Ashes (another week ought to do it), I've gone ahead and ordered more TV dvds to watch. Which I'm actually looking forward to so much, I may actually increase my workout time, just to get to them already.

I also enjoy the results. Not to say I've lost a ton of weight -- I've rather annoyingly plateaued and am struggling to get my body back into weight-loss mode. But it has definitely helped with my endurance. Indeed, when my folks were out here, we went for a walk to the top of my street (where you pretty much hit mountain) and I was quite pleased that I didn't have to stop for breath nearly as often as they did. (As for why I'm pleased that I'm in better shape than people in their seventies, well, I guess the desire to exceed one's parents' accomplishments is eternal. Even when it's petty.)