In addition to today being May Day, let us not forget that in the USA it is both Law Day:

The right of ordinary men and women to determine their own future, protected by the rule of law, lies at the heart of America’s founding principles. As our country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Law Day, we renew our commitment to the ideals on which this great Nation was established and to a robust system of ordered liberty.

… and also Loyalty Day:

Americans believe that every man, woman, and child has unalienable rights, dignity, and matchless value. Advancing these ideals was the honorable vision of our Founders and the mission that helped shape this great country. On Loyalty Day, we celebrate the legacy of freedom and the shared ideals that bind us together.

I think I’d rather go frolic around a Maypole.

I’m giving up my daily trip to Starbucks… I must be insane, right? I was playing around with some of the trends and graphs in Mint yesterday and for fun I looked at what my spending at Starbucks was over the past year. It was about enough to buy a new 2.0Ghz Super Drive Mac Mini, more on Minis later. Still, I got in today and made a cup of moroccan mint green tea and got a little breakfast. So far, so good.

I’ve given up coffee and/or caffeine in the past, usually with the support of co-workers whether it was for eating better, or for solidarity with a pregnant office mate, it doesn’t always affect me. I might feel the craving for caffeine, but I don’t normally get the headaches and other withdrawal symptoms. I think that I shall most miss the standard routine of going to Starbucks, the baristas remembering my order, smiling at the cute long-haired, soft-spoken ditzy boy behind the register and of course knowing that I was one of the movers and the shakers. Financially, it’s a much better move, healthwise it can’t hurt and as far as being a foodie, I can brew much better tasting things on my own in the office, I bet.

I am trying to take a much more active (less whiny) approach to my health and weight. While I still enjoy my comfort food moments, I realize that they are becoming more often than not and I need to do what I can to cut back, make more fresh food, keep better snacks around, etc. The farmers’ market down the street opens this weekend and I’m already planning a trip over there and then perhaps a walk through the zoo. I’d really like to pick up some fresh ingredients to make salsa for a weekend snack. Time to break out the “healthy” cookbooks and practice some better habits. Not that I have a beach trip to slim down for, but it’s gotten to the point of not being comfortable in my own skin and I have the power to change that.

I think I’ve sorted out what to do with the leftover Mac Mini. I’ll hook it up to the HDTV and use either a VNC or a KMS application to control it. I’d even like to get a Windows partition on it so that it truly serves as a media server or perhaps just a media gateway since there’s not really enough space on the Mini to keep things on it. Unless I send it away to have more diskspace and memory added to it which isn’t such a bad idea, really. But getting that whole setup started will be another weekend project. I may be hitting gadget overload, but I think that messing around with stuff I already have around the house is a lot better than heading out and buying new stuff.