Downsizing my body and blogs

My official run with Weight Watchers has officially ended, and so I'm putting the Gotta Get Fit blog into hibernation in favor of consolidating my personal blogging efforts here. 

Although weight loss is a lifetime effort - from 180-156.4 lbs. I feel like I've gathered enough knowledge and reference information to go on without paying the monthly fee just so I can use their website when I could be using a notebook to track my meals for free. 

Just more than 10 lbs. to go before I'm at my adult-fittest.

Plus I need a place to house my Supernatural ranting. The TV reviewing didn't go over as well as I'd hoped.

Resistance is Futile: The New Facebook is Coming

I was listening/watching the live feed from Thursday's f8 conference, and I was genuinely impressed with both the new Timeline and Open Graph applications - so when I popped on over to my Twitter feed and read the sheer number of paranoid people throwing fits about the change, I was actually surprised. 

Except for Andy Samburg's lame opening act, what unfolded onstage that day was pure genius - and I think most people will eventually agree - even if it takes a little more time for some people to see it than others.  

People are naturally resistant to change - I get that - but the internet is an ever-changing entity. It has to be, in order to stay relevant these days. We can try and try to maintain consistency in some parts of our lives, but the internet is, and always will be, an arena in which those efforts will fail.

Thursday night I unlocked the developer preview on my own Facebook profile and set out to prove why the naysayers - screaming the death of Facebook, a mass exodus to Google+ and the end of privacy online - don't know what they're talking about. Today, I noticed people are a little more positive about the whole thing. I suspect they're actually unlocking their own profiles and seeing for themselves that change isn't all bad. So here are my initial thoughts after playing around a bit:

Timeline is Going to Be a HUGE Time Suck - At Least At First... 

The first thing I did when I unlocked my timeline was scroll back to 2005 to see who was posting what on my profile back in the early days of Facebook. So far, I've only removed a few of those things from my timeline, but I may hide a lot more in the long run. Not because I want to hide that content, but because it doesn't fit into the new timeline setup, my profile as the story of my life. They're from an earlier day, and a much different version of Facebook. 

See, back then, it was a college-only website, and there were no "status updates." There was only a profile, limited pictures, and a "wall" that served the same purpose as the dry-erase board on my dorm room door, where people could leave me messages. Later, they added the status update - only it was in the form of a sentence "Laura Griffith is ________", during which time all my updates were "-ing" phrases. Those were all good and fine then, but how do they fit into the story of me? Some do, and some don't.

Furthermore, I understand there are some bugs right now, but lots of my photos are out of order, and I feel the need to fix them. Long ago, I hit Facebook's album quota (which I'm not sure exists anymore) and deleted lots of photos only to reload them in "Best of" collections. Now they're showing on my timeline where I re-uploaded them and not where they were taken, which is unfortunate. 

As Mark Zuckerberg said at f8, people feel a strong sense of propriety over their personal profiles, a statement that has never been more true than it's about to be thanks to timeline. I suspect I won't be the only one taking the time (and it's going to be a lot) to go through my old posts, and load new ones along my timeline to "curate" the story of me, exactly the way I want it. 

Prediction: People will be more careful about what they're posting. Or they should be. Moving forward, I'm going to be asking myself this before every post: "Does this fit into the story of my life, or is it just meaningless b.s. I'll want to hide later?" This should weed out a lot of posts (though not all I'm sure) about people's infants' bowel movements. I hope anyway. Too long, people (including myself) have posted too much nonsense and used Facebook as more of a broadcasting tool than anything else - but they've lost track of the whole point, which is the personal profile. Facebook was built for PERSONAL interaction - that's why it was so exclusive in the beginning. I think it's just getting back to its roots, in a good way.


People will LOVE Timeline, because they love to talk about themselves. The whole point of going through my profile and "curating it" the way I want is so that it will be a better reflection of me - like a resume, only with my personal likes and dislikes, etc. Whether  my audience is me or people who know me can be controlled using the new privacy options (I'll get to that later). People, by nature, enjoy talking about themselves - or at least thinking other people care about what we're doing, who we are, and what we care about. The Facebook profile is just a less annoying way of tooting your own horn - and the best part is it's perfectly socially acceptable, unlike bragging into a megaphone - but almost as effective.

More than that, Facebook is a museum of people. My friend mentioned the other day that her girlfriend's husband kept her Facebook page running after she died so that the people who knew her could see pictures of her, thoughts and interests that she had shared, and more. The whole concept of timeline makes that even more interesting because now, with her password, he could potentially go in and organize her entire life on that one profile page by adding photos and milestones and letting her own previous content fill in the rest. Instead of seeing only what she posted shortly before she died, friends could share memories from throughout her entire life on that one profile page. 

Sound like a lot? Don't be paranoid. The new Timeline has MORE, not fewer, privacy controls. The privacy controls and circles that Google+ launched with (and Facebook used to not have) are now on Facebook as well in the form of lists. Users can control a separate privacy setting for each post as they make it, and share with specific groups rather than the catch all, Facebook classic "friends." On the timeline, each post from your past can also be hidden, left alone or featured individually. You can be as private or as public as you want to be, and you can make that call from post to post. 

Realtime feed is news feed 2.0! Same deal, new look. One of the funniest things I stumbled upon when I unlocked my FB past was a note I wrote in 2006 when News Feed first came out. People were freaking out that this information was being pushed out to friends' home pages, even though that same information had always been available to friends who came looking for it. Last week, when I so rabidly defended Facebook (not because I care, but because it seemed like people were being ignorant about change like they were with news feed, which they eventually grew to love), it was total deja vu. 


Realtime is the news feed - in real time (or Twitter, as some people call it). It takes some of the less significant/more time sensitive activity (so and so signed someone's wall; so and so changed their profile pic; so and so is listening to... etc. ) out of the timeline, where it would previously have sat and become old news. I noticed that my profile no longer lists every time I comment on someone's post or when I like something new. Instead, those activity updates run through real time and filter out before too many people even see them, which is fine with me. Those posts always clogged up my old profile and have no real place (except when grouped) on my new timeline as far as I'm concerned. 

Top news stories aren't new, and recent stories aren't gone! They just look different. I don't like top stories either - I always clicked "most recent" before. If you are the same as me, there's good news! Even though more emphasis has been placed on "top stories" recently, the "most recent" functionality is not gone. Instead of tabs, it's just a link you click now, that will take you further down your homepage to recent stories rather than to another view of the homepage. 


I do think the idea of top stories is cool, if they can get it right. Clicking and unclicking stories in the meantime to let Facebook know what's interesting and what isn't is kind of a pain in the butt, but it's not at all different from what Pandora does with songs it plays on its custom radio stations. (If you mark that you hate it, they won't play it. If you mark that you love it, they'll play it more often along with other songs like it. It's a learning process.) One day I hope top stories can actually show me what I want to see so I don't have to wade through 600+ friends' and pages' updates to read the good stuff.

Open Graph applications aren't stalkers - they're just better for us lazy people.

Personally, I like the idea of allowing an application to access my profile for posting whenever. I am one of those people who like to share anyway, which before required me to allow access every single time I wanted to post something, and a lot of manual posting. This way, I can give an app I like permission one time, and then it's out of my hands. I've done this already with Spotify. The great thing is that if I decide later that I don't want every song I listen to posted to my profile, I can revoke Spotify's access at any time. I plan to do the same with various running apps, entertainment apps, news apps and more. They'll make my profile look cleaner in the long run, and my content will be better organized. And then one day I can look back at 2011 and see what I was listening to/doing/interested in then.


G+ doesn't stand a chance. Except for Hangouts, which I still think would be cool if everyone had a webcam (and you'd be surprised how many people nowadays don't), Facebook now has everything G+ does - not to mention the fact that people have networks on FB with hundreds upon hundreds of people and pages that they would have to completely rebuild if they migrated over. This is not to say no one will migrate, but I'm guessing that as long as Facebook keeps up with the times (and since they've been a leader up through this point I'd say they're in good shape in that area), and doesn't grow stale like MySpace, Facebook won't be going anywhere anytime soon. 


Those are some initial thoughts... I'm sure I'll have more as I play with this and learn the ropes. Anyone else have the new profile yet? Anyone have any thoughts on the issue?


Mostly, I love that they're going back to the root of the social network - the personal focus - along with the new, impressive imagery and clean layout, and the way the application content looks on the timeline (see Spotify in my screen shot above). It looks very modern, and it's so easy to have everything you love all in one place. 

Biggest Loser: A Competition for the Ages

So this year's "Biggest Loser" is not about couples - it's about ages. This could get interesting - this show already makes me cry and now there are a bunch of senior citizens competing! I am such a sucker for seniors. How cute. 


Premiere night opened with the contestants in a desert, and the introduction of the two new trainers - Anna Kournikova and celebrity trainer Dolvett Quince. No more Jillian Michaels (although I just started watching last year, so I wasn't all that attached in the first place).

Tear jerker moment #1 was when the contestants did a mile run/walk to choose their trainers. The seniors were way behind after the other two teams had already crossed the finish line and chosen - and the trainer they were left with, Anna, ran out to meet them.... and then everyone else followed suit. I think she's going to be really sweet - I just hope she doesn't get taken advantage of. (BTW, right after typing this, not even an hour in, the seniors had already started trying to get sympathy from her, and she wasn't having it - you go, girl!)


As always, Bob was awesome. I have a feeling he might get a little mean this season though - kind of like Randy after Simon left American Idol. I'm not sure what I think about Dolvett yet, except that he's going to be hardcore. ("Why are you holding onto my treadmill?!?")
It's still too early in the game to keep tabs on all the contestants and their names - especially as a casual viewer, but I do have a few thoughts about the ones who stood out: I see Anton as this year's Rulon - but I hope to like him a whole lot more - and I think that I will. 


My heart absolutely broke (tear jerker moment #2) when a contestant named Becky got a call about the death of her father from congestive heart failure. Knowing the struggles these people are already facing, and then this? I almost expected her to break down and drown her emotions in food (like I probably would - but instead, she did the show proud hit the gym. Good woman.  


I have a feeling my favorite contestant though is going to be Ramon. He seems like a cool guy, and he really struck me as genuine talking about how he wants a girlfriend and to go on dates. No one deserves to be that unhappy with themselves, so I hope he does well. 


Last chance workout was kind of hilarious, (Bob just loves it, and it seems kind of evil), and then it was time for final weigh-ins:  

• Johnny, who almost walked out the first day, lost 17 pounds!
• Bonnie, one of the seniors, only lost 4 pounds. Not a good showing the first week.  
• Mike, another senior, lost 12. Good showing, but nothing special.
• Debbie, of the senior team, lost 6. Maybe Anna needs to step it up. 
• Becky, who spent part of the week at home at her dad's funeral, lost... oh wait, a commercial break! .........Ok we're back! She lost 10 pounds, and I was so happy for her!
• Joe, a 40-something, lost 22 pounds!! Holy crap! In one week, he trashed his blood pressure medication. What a start!
• Anton (started at 447 lbs.) put up an ENORMOUS 32 pounds!! Bob got just what he wanted for Christmas. 
• Sunny, who I didn't see at all until the weigh in, lost 16. Bob, apparently, was the proper choice. 
• John (445 lbs.) lost 37 pounds (37 pounds!!!!) 
• Jennifer lost 19!!!!!!! 
• Vinny, the first of Dolvett's team, lost 21 pounds :) Apparently Toby Keith (on Twitter) was saying to watch out for this dude. Maybe he knows him?
• 17 pounds for Ramon. After Bob's team's showing, I could see why they weren't happy with their numbers, but are they crazy?! They did great!!
• Jessica lost 15. 
• Patrick, who showed a complete lack of self confidence (I felt so sorry for this guy), even got kicked out of the gym at one point this week, but he ended up losing 20 :) I really like this guy! Maybe now he can gain some confidence. 
• Courtney dropped 16 lbs. 

Unfortunately, someone had to go home. Johnny was safe as the biggest loser on the senior team, but the sun set early for Debbie. 


I thought, "GOOD RIDDANCE!!"


I wanted to smack that woman for saying Bonnie was annoying, and I don't even know Bonnie! That was just rude. Since Debbie only lost 2 more pounds than Bonnie, she pretty much sealed her fate by opening her big trap. No one needs that negativity, especially on this show. 


It is worth noting that there were some pretty hilarious tweets being posted tonight. Gotta love the #fattweet #fatshow and #fatfatfat hashtags...

HIMYM and 2 Broke Girls: Good Start to Premiere Week/Month(s)

So I didn't liveblog last night - that much is obvious. But I'm here to tell you that last night was a really good start to my personal premiere season, and I'm super excited for the rest of the week!

"How I Met Your Mother" saw the return of BEERCULES! Of course, I didn't remember Beercules in the first place, but that doesn't make him any less awesome. 

Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!

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We found out that Barney DOES eventually get married, that Robin still loves him, that Marshall is going to start his dream job soon, that he and Lily are becoming parents and that Victoria is back!! But I'll get to that. 

First, I love when TV shows give nods to pop culture - I thought the whole "autotune Ted's wedding toast" idea was genius, and the YouTube theme of the night, which included Marshall's streaking escapades as "Beercules," was equally entertaining.

Moving onto relationships, I loved finding out that Robin still has feelings for Barney, but it broke my heart when the whole Nora dilemma came into play. Of course, it wouldn't be a television show if everyone fell in love easily and lasted forever. I admire Barney's efforts, and his attempts to change, but it kills me that they're clearly aimed in the wrong direction. 

Finally, I really truly thought Victoria might the mother once upon a time, and now I have a glimmer of hope that it's still possible. I can't say much more about that... I just can't wait to see where all this goes this season.  

Anyway, moving on - 

I always wonder when a new show starts if it's going to be able to keep my attention. There's always a chance, of course, that it keeps my attention but not America's and it gets canceled before its time, but that's none of my concern just yet. 

"2 Broke Girls" came out swinging last night. My first reaction was shock at the vulgarity of some of the jokes, but I really settled into it quickly, and it definitely kept my attention. 

The main characters are witty - but not annoying witty like the "Gilmore Girls" were - and are, for the most part quite likeable. "Max" is played by Kat Dennings, whom I remember fondly from "40-Year-Old Virgin."

I can't say much else because I have a terrible memory and should have done this last night - except that I'm intrigued by the concept of a running "cash total" at the end of the episode. 

TV Premiere Season Starts Tomorrow!

Television premiere series starts tomorrow with How I Met Your Mother at 7 p.m. on CBS. I am not entirely sure what's supposed to go down this episode. All I know is there's a wedding, and that Barney has apparently not cut his fingernails in 36 years.

I am hoping to do some liveblogging during the commercial breaks of most of the season premieres on my calendar, but I'm not making any promises. I keep a pretty tight schedule these days. Anyway, you can keep up with that on Twitter @lauranette. 

My Fall 2011 Premiere Calendar

Here is my Fall 2011 Premiere Calendar. Will be back to add details, but for now, here's my list (CST):

Mon., Sept. 19 HIMYM | 7p CBS Tues., Sept. 20 Glee | 7p FOX Biggest Loser | 7p NBC The New Girl | 8p FOX Raising Hope | 8:30p FOX Wed., Sept 21 Modern Family |8p ABC Thurs., Sept. 22 Big Bang Theory | 7p CBS Grey's Anatomy | 8p ABC The Office | 8p NBC

Fri., Sept. 23 Supernatural | 8p CW11 Ashmore Estates on Ghost Adventures | 8p Travel Channel  Sun., Sept. 25 Pan Am | 9p ABC Mon., Sept. 26 Terra Nova |7p FOX Wed., Sept. 28 Suburgatory | 7:30 ABC Thurs., Sept. 29 Private Practice | 9p ABC

Wed., Oct. 5 American Horror Story | 9p FX Sun., Oct. 16  The Walking Dead | 8p AMC Fri., Oct. 21 Grimm | 8p NBC Sun., Oct. 23 (will be at Supernatural Convention in Chicago) Once Upon a Time | 7p  ABC

What are you looking forward to?

A friend got me into Google+...

...and after reading several articles and exploring a little myself, I have some initial thoughts. Most have to deal with the question I'm seeing all over the internet - Can Google+ Beat Facebook?

If that's even the right question, I think it's too soon to tell.

I don't remember where I read it, but one blogger suggested that while Google is obviously a web giant that employs extremely talented programmers with fantastic ideas - they aren't really a social network company, are they? I mean, look at Orkut.

Now don't get me wrong - Google+ has a plethora of pretty awesome features, including Circles, which will allow users to share with certain social circles instead of with everyone they know, and Huddle, instant group messaging that sounds super awesome but somehow not all that different from services like GroupMe (correct me if I'm wrong). The two that stand out to me the most are Hangout - a video chatroom of sorts that appears to be a lot more user friendly than, say, Skype, and doesn't involve downloading a program onto your hard drive - and Instant Upload for photos (and I assume videos), which as a photography enthusiast, is quite a draw.

Possibly even more exciting is easy integration on the web browsers and Google services I already use, especially for sharing (+1 is kind of like Digg and StumbleUpon), privacy defaults that aren't as obtrusive as Facebook's, and the ability to download everything you've ever shared on + in one neat little zip folder if you choose to do so. Also kind of nice - thanks to my Google profile, my + profile setup was already 75% complete when I signed up. All these things put Google in a nice position, even if Facebook has a head start.

Still - even considering the masses of people who migrated from the (formerly) immensely popular MySpace to Facebook, I think most are naturally resistant to change without a damn good reason. In the case of MySpace, at least for me, there were so many reasons it seemed like a no-brainer - Facebook was cleaner, people used their real names, and it was somewhat exclusive at the time (i.e. I didn't get spammed all the time) to name a few. It's going to be a question of whether these Google+ features outweigh Facebook's, and whether they actually make that big of a difference for the majority of people.

While sharing with specific circles sounds enticing, I think that despite the moaning and groaning, most people LIKE broadcasting their every move to everyone they know. They like growing their social networks as big as they can go. I can see people creating circles and still sharing the same stuff with all of them.

Two more things to consider - 1. Facebook Connect. While Google certainly would have the ability to do something similar with + in the future, there's not a similar service built into the current version. Even when people aren't on Facebook, they're using Facebook these days. 2. Facebook has been around something like 6 years and we've seen almost as many versions already. Even if Google+'s features outweigh Facebook's now, that's not to say Facebook won't come out with something just as useful in future versions. As much as I love Google products, the people at Facebook know what they're doing. As long as Mark Zuckerberg is around, I don't see Facebook going down anytime soon. Even if the "cool" factor shifts to Google+ (which is probably inevitable, at least in the beginning), Facebook won't be any less useful - and it's because it's useful, not cool, that it does so well.

My friends, and coworkers especially, know me as the girl who pushes Google services at every turn (i.e. as a web editor, every time someone has a problem viewing something online I always push them to switch to Chrome, anytime anyone moans about slow e-mail and full inboxes I push them toward Gmail, and I've even converted a few iPhone devotees to Android lovers). I would suggest everyone check it out, and I'll certainly be on it - but I don't think it's going to "beat" Facebook per se.

Bonnaroo Craziness

Justin is over here right now and we're getting ready to put some CDs together. I just came up with my list of priorities (at least how it looks today). Keep posted on my Roo Rants via http://bonnaroovirgin.blogspot.com.

May 27 Update

Just dropping in. 
Here are some things I've been up to lately:

• I graduated from Lewis and Clark Community College this month. I didn't walk because I already did that when I got my bachelor's from EIU (that, and I shot photos for work at the ceremony instead ;)), but I did earn an Associate in Applied Science in Web Design. 
• I'm in my fifth week on Weight Watchers online and actually, I love it. The last couple weeks have been slow going, but I'm down about 12 pounds, and I'm feeling good while eating the things I want to eat (but better portion sizes) and still learning to be healthier overall. Cravings for the bad stuff come and go, but as long as I have some form of chocolate (even tiny amounts) I'm usually good to go. 
• Two weeks from today, I will be at Bonnaroo enjoying its best day (the one with the most stacked schedule for me). I haven't decided how I'm going to cover it this year. Maybe just on Twitter. It's my first year with a smartphone after all. I've really neglected Bonnaroo Virgin, but the week after next I'll probably be posting a lot more since I'll be off work and getting pumped.
• Tonight I'll go running with my Bonnaroo crew for the first time, as we are preparing to run the Warrior Dash in Missouri in October. I ran the St. Patrick's Day 5-Mile Parade Run in March and it was a lot of fun! Only thing is I had shin splints days later from overdoing it - so I really want to prepare well this time. It's a shorter race but its off-road and there are obstacles ;) Follow my training or friend me at DailyMile.com!
• In July, we're going to Pitchfork Festival as well. I'm only going on Saturday, but the boys are there all weekend so I get some quality time with Brian. We're going to see Harry Potter 7!

I think that's about it. See you next time!

What would you do if caught "Between a Rock and a Hard Place"

Hey there, it's been awhile. My mind has totally been occupied by other things lately - mainly, work, school, and this.

It's the story of Aron Ralston, a great outdoorsman who becomes trapped in a canyon with his right arm crushed under an 800-lb boulder and must amputate that arm using only a blunt multi-tool as a surgical instrument and climbing gear as an impromptu tourniquet, just to survive.

It's truly an inspiring story. Even though Aron was an experienced mountain climber and canyoneer and in better shape than the average American at the time of his accident, the whole incident begs the question - what would you or I have done to survive in a similar situation? Or would we?

David and I had been wanting to watch the movie "127 Hours" since the Academy Awards a few weeks ago, so when Family Video was all out on the day of its release, I opted to go to Wal-Mart and just buy the film instead - and I'm glad I did.

The music (A. R. Rahman and various artists) is brilliant and director Danny Boyle somehow manages to make a movie that's mostly one actor stuck in the same place the whole time play like an exciting, nail biting action drama - but the real magic for me is all about actor James Franco's amazing portrayal of the main character, Aron Ralston. You can't help but connect with the guy, and feel what he's feeling, and I think without that - this movie wouldn't have been so successful.

Knowing the story going into the film for the first time only adds to the experience - you cringe as he feels around his home cabinet and brushes by (but leaves behind) his Swiss Army knife, you see the beauty of the canyonlands as he takes it all in, you feel his pain and fear as a boulder traps him in the wilderness with limited options, and you anxiously await the moment when he's freed, half excited to see him walk out of there alive, and half afraid because you know what he does to make that happen.

Yes, the amputation scene is gruesome, but totally crucial to the storyline. Some people can't handle it, and should probably look away for those three minutes (although, fair warning - the sound is almost as bad as the visual). I, on the other hand, am used to watching crime dramas and hospital dramas so the sight of blood and guts are not so physically debilitating to me. I will say, however, that knowing this is based on something that really happened, paired with great sound editing and cinematography, this scene is emotionally stressful, for lack of a better way of describing it.

I watched the movie twice, but I still could not stop thinking about Aron Ralston. So yesterday, I visited the library and took out "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," which is the same story in book form, told by the real survivor himself. I'm currently to the part where he's just gotten trapped, and I can't wait to get home to read on. Even though I know what happens, and I've seen Boyle's genius interpretation, just to read the real Ralston's own words describing the unthinkable is... exhilarating. It's almost as if you're there with him as you're reading, living it and cheering him on, even though most of us will (thankfully) never find ourselves in any situation like it.

Here's the "127 Hours" trailer. If you haven't seen this movie or read this book, please do. You'll be doing yourself a favor.

Top 10 Songs of 2010

I just wanted to share this list on my personal blog, since it's originally posted at Music Togetherness. Here are my favorite pop songs from 2010:

Let’s face it, the world of music can be quite intimidating. Outside of a good review website with similar tastes, which I’ve never been able to find, most of my exploration is limited to Music Togetherness, what David is into these days, and what’s rumored at Bonnaroo. Mostly, I like someone to tell me what to listen to – so I turn to pop radio. It’s easy. It’s catchy. It’s fun.

Whether these songs came out near the end of 2009 or in 2010, they’ve enjoyed much of their rotation within the past year. And since not every song has the staying power to endure pop radio rotation without causing listeners to want to tear their ears off, these are the best of the best.

10. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has often turned me off with her meat suits and her “performance art." If you've ever seen her perform on YouTube as Stefani Germanotta (a Vanessa Carlton-esque performer), you can see where this whole thing might come off a little fake. Judging by the name of her upcoming album, "Born Like This," my guess would be that she would fight this accusation to the death, but whichever side of the argument you end up on, the fact is that this woman can put out some damn catchy music and is no doubt one of the biggest things to hit pop culture in the past decade. After smashing onto the scene with the upbeat “Just Dance” she went a little wayward with “Love Game” and “Pokerface,” but really came back on my radar with“Paparazzi" and especially "Bad Romance,” which is her best song to date. It's great club music.

9. OMG – Usher featuring Will-i-am

While I chalked up "Bad Romance" to great club music, it really just doesn't get better than this in 2010. I love how Usher has progressed over the years from a crooner I couldn’t help but fall in love with as a young teen, to a dance club staple I could get boozed up and dance to in college ("Yeah!"). He’s continuing this tradition with "OMG" by wrangling in the help of the enormously successful Black Eyed Peas' Will-i-am (although for the life of me I cannot figure that one out, I don't mind him on this track - maybe it's the lack of Fergie...). It’s never been about the lyrics on this one ("Honey got some boobies like wow, oh, wow?" Ouch, Usher), but the beat grabbed me in the beginning and has never let go. The chorus is the best part, with it's tempo buildup and release. Omy gosh, indeed.

8. Secrets – OneRepublic

Although it’s not my favorite track on the band’s sophomore album, it is one of the band’s best singles to date. What I love about the band it its blatant use of violin (and clapping) and its need to sound big for every chorus. I mentioned it before, but frontman Ryan Tedder just knows pop music, and I think it shows.

7. Hey Soul Sister – Train

With “Hey Soul Sister,” a lighthearted little ditty with rotation power like you wouldn’t believe, the band formerly only really known for “Drops of Jupiter” (2001), made a major comeback. Out of all the songs on my list this year, I have no doubt heard this one the most over the past year, and it has never once started to get old. I’m a sucker for the ukulele, and even know the lyrics can get really ridiculous at times ("left-side brain?"), it’s the organ that really gets me and sends shivers up my spine. And it’s totally fun to sing, even with bad voice.

6. King of Anything – Sara Bareilles

Ever since she came on the scene with "Love Song" I have loved Bareilles’ voice – it's shades of Adele, which I've always meant to try and get into... The chorus “who cares if you disagree, you are not me, who made you king of anything?," is incredibly empowering. The whole song is feel-good, so beautiful and liberating at the same time, and I love that - "oh, oh, oh oh, oh" thing she does with her voice following the chorus. I'm a sucker for a voice used as an instrument and not just a method of delivering lyrics.

5. Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars

It’s rare that a song catches my attention the first time I hear it, then commands that attention every time I hear it for months and months on end, but this is one such tune. I think it’s got a great message – it’s classic stuff chicks love to hear (from classics like “Wonderful Tonight” to cheesier bits like “Your Body is a Wonderland”), but it’s sweet in a world where female (especially teen female) self esteem has gone wayyyy down. You also can't deny this guy's voice. Bruno Mars is probably my favorite male vocalist on the radio today.

4. Firework – Katy Perry

It took me a little while to warm up to a slutty pop star who went from singing Christian songs to “I Kissed a Girl” and who looks exactly like Zooey Deschanel with a boob job, but I’ve warmed up to Perry as one of the best pop stars of this decade. “Teenage Dream” is a solid album, as is the title track, but Katy really hits her energy and stride on “Firework.” I think it shows off her voice in a way that makes her sound more unique than I could have imagined of her.

3. Fuck You – CeeLo Green

When I first heard this I was sure it was some sort of joke. I mean, it was fun, but it seemed kind of absurd. Months later, “Glee” featured it in the episode in which Gwenyth Paltrow guest starred and I watched David’s jaw drop when he heard Glee was doing a CeeLo song. Once he explained who CeeLo was, and that I might like him if I gave him more of a chance, I really fell in love with the song (obviously). It’s incredibly groovy and the lyrics are actually kind of endearing despite the cursing. (I even think the radio edit “forget you” version is pretty good.) “I guess he’s an Xbox, and I’m more an Atari...” - classic. Please God, bring CeeLo to Bonnaroo.

2. We R Who We R – Ke$ha

Like it or not, Ke$ha isn’t going anywhere - she's in it for the long haul, and I'm not mad at it. In fact, I'd consider her one of the big 3 in female pop these days (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha). Aside from the fun factor in this song, the beat has incredible high energy, and the song’s message is really great too. Like a lot of other uplifting songs on this list, Ke$ha's point is that it's cool to be unique and quirky, so be yourself. "We are who we are" says it all. She wrote it after all the bullying resulting in suicide that kept hitting the news. And she's a good one to send the message too, because she is so unique. I think it's cool that in a pop world where plenty before her have used their ghetto pasts to become famous, she's using her trashy past for the same end (and it's working out). Plus for some reason, I've always been interested in that culture (i.e. Rob Zombie movies).

1. The Only Exception – Paramore

Probably my favorite of the year, this song is a sweet Coldplay-esque ballad about a girl who learns to believe in love. Aside from being a better role model than most singers in pop, Hayley Williams’ voice is beautiful, and the video is nice too. Mostly, though, I think the song speaks for itself better than anything I could say about it.

11 Resolutions for 2011

Every year I make multiple resolutions - more like goals I'd like to work toward/look forward to in the new year. This year, I've decided on 11, for 2011. Here we go:

1. Do some form of yoga every day.

2. Join a recipe website and become a better cook.

3. Find a fitness routine that I can be happy with.

4. Build endurance to run a 5K in 2011.

5. Take a Photo-a-Day (365) and post to www.flickr.com/viewsfromlalaland

6. De-clutter my house and life.

7. Rebuild my savings.

8. Be open to trying new things.

9. Read more books.

10. Listen to more new music in 2011.

11. Learn to spike a volleyball (and win another championship).