Recag/C4_19 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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But the bigger news is President Rouhani’s very successful three-day visit to Baghdad last week. Rouhani was hailed as a national hero to the new Iraqi government, a government less in the thrall of its U.S. occupiers.
Rouhani met with every major political and religious figure in Iraq this week. The two countries agreed to new economic projects set to swell bilateral trade to $20 billion from the current $12 billion.
They signed deals to invest in energy as well as increase sales of Iranian gas and electricity to Iraq. The big issue being that Iraq will be a major source of dollars for Iran, still needed as it winds down domestic use of our currency.
Iraq is in no mood to knuckle under to Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s bloviating about the evils of Iran.
Remember it was Trump who made a secret visit to Iraq at Christmas and left after three hours because the Iraqi Prime Minister refused to be summoned like some lackey.
According to Elijah Magnier there are two factions now in Iraqi politics.
Iraq today is divided between a large faction of politicians calling for the total withdrawal of US forces from the country, and another which wants to maintain a reduced US force in charge of training and intelligence exchange.
Both factions want to see most US forces leave the country, and can likely reach an agreement on accepting a small specialized force on the ground. The Iraqi government would like to strike a balance and maintain both a fair relationship with the US and excellent ties with Iran.
But a fair relationship with Iraq is not something the U.S. is interested in. There will come a point in the near future when our relationship with Iraq changes dramatically.
Iran and Russia are both playing for time for that to develop.
This is why Mike Pompeo is in Lebanon this week. He will threaten the Lebanese to give up support for Hezbollah or else they will be treated like Iran and Venezuela.
He’s also there to assist war criminal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu get re-elected next month. How Pompeo is treated by Lebanon will be telling as to where things are headed from here.
I suspect he’ll be treated with the same thinly-veneered disdain that German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed both Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence at the Munich Security Conference last month.
If maintaining this Empire of Chaos, as Pepe Escobar calls it, was so efficient the U.S. wouldn’t be complaining about its cost.
Lebanon can no more comply with Pompeo’s stated goals of excising Hezbollah from Lebanon’s state affairs than he can distance himself from the siren’s call of a Chinese buffet table.
So, expect after the visit the U.S. follows the U.K. in fully sanctioning Lebanon as a terrorist state, refusing travel, seizing assets. The whole nine yards. All in the name of human rights and fighting terrorism, of course.
Meanwhile, Lebanon is struggling with housing more than 1 million Syrian refugees while the U.S. actively blocks their return home.
Bolton keeps the military situation unsettled and the Treasury Dept. blocks aid through the threat of sanctions helping to rebuild Syria.
This heavy-handed strategy is obviously meant as blackmail to accept Jared Kushner’s idiotic, dead-on-arrival but still unveiled peace plan. The goal is advancing greater Israel in the face of massive opposition. It also paves the way for Genie Energy to take the oil and gas under the Golan Heights.
There is a limit to what sanctions and threats can accomplish. And the U.S. is about to find out what that limit is. Chaos only works in the short-term and it is expensive.
The costs are written all over the balance sheet of Pax Americana. The moves the U.S. makes today create tomorrow’s headlines. If maintaining this Empire of Chaos, as Pepe Escobar calls it, was so efficient the U.S. wouldn’t be complaining about its cost.
Iran, Russia and China understand this. Arrogant men like Pompeo, Trump and Bolton never will.
India may be the fastest growing telecom market in the world with the lowest tariffs, but latest government data show that the country's record in improving rural tele-density is dismal.
In large and populous states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Bihar, rural tele-density was less than 1 per cent of their population on October 31, 2005, according to data complied by the ministry of communications and information technology.
Of the 27 telecom circles that have been scanned by the ministry, 12 have rural-tele-density of between 1 per cent and 5 per cent, 3 between 5 per cent and 10 per cent and only 1 (Kerala) over 10 per cent.
The overall rural tele-density in the country is as low as 1.77 per cent against an urban tele-density of 32.16 per cent and a national average of 10.53 per cent.
The data also suggest that telecom operators (private as well as government-owned) have not done much during the current financial year to improve rural telephony.
While urban tele-density improved rapidly from 26.88 per cent on March 31, 2005 to 32.16 per cent on October 31, rural tele-density only managed to crawl from 1.73 per cent to 1.77 per cent during the period.
Between the two dates, national tele-density rose from 8.95 per cent to 10.53 per cent.
"If the present universal service obligation policy of subsidising individual connections and village telephones continues, then we will achieve rural tele-density of only around 4 per cent even after giving a huge subsidy support of around Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion).
Neither such low tele-density in rural areas nor such high subsidies to achieve so little can be acceptable," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Pradip Baijal told Business Standard.
Trai has recommended that the government give Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) in subsidies for infrastructure creation to all access service providers who contribute towards the universal service obligation fund.
"If this is implemented early, then we can achieve rural tele-density of around 15 per cent by December 2007 and this, combined with expected urban tele-density of around 43 per cent, will take the overall tele-density to 22.98 per cent, easily meeting the target of 250 million subscribers," Baijal added.
On their part, private telecom services operators have said that the government's failure to extend support from the universal service obligation fund and permit infrastructure-sharing are the main bottlenecks that prevent them from spreading their networks to rural India.
"Despite repeated recommendations from Trai and petitions from private operators, the government has remained silent on these issues," said an executive with a leading mobile service operator.
"The prime need is to create infrastructure in an expeditious and cost-effective manner. This can only be possible through the sharing of mobile towers and the backbone, an issue that is being discussed with the department of telecommunications," said TV Ramachandran, general secretary, Cellular Operators' Association of India, a body representing GSM players.
History will be made when the new Common Council is sworn in Friday: It will have the Council's first-ever black majority, and women will hold six of the 13 seats.
"This is a tremendous, historic window of opportunity," said new Council Member at Large Charley Fisher III.
In addition to incumbents James Pitts, Byron Brown, Barbara Miller-Williams and Beverly Gray, the other African-Americans on the Council are Fisher, Karen Ellington and Betty Jean Grant. The other women on the Council are Rosemarie LoTempio and newcomer Mary Martino.
In interviews this week, five of the six new members said they were all looking forward to going to work for their constituents and plan to focus on the stability of neighborhoods. And most said their major concern is helping residents to protect and improve the quality of life, including finding ways to protect citizens against those who destroy it.
Martino, South District, is already a driving force behind two new issues in the Council, the attempt to prevent a disposal company from turning the Hopkins Street recycling plant into a garbage transfer station, and the effort to secure testing at Hickory Woods, where residents fear that buried coke wastes may be causing health problems.
Martino's Council aides are her sister Bridget Corcoran and Jean Egan.
"They are loyal residents of South Buffalo and want to see the community advance," the Council member said.
Martino and Grant of the University District are active in many community groups.
Grant worked closely with her predecessor, Kevin Helfer, on the problem of absentee landlords -- including the University at Buffalo -- in the northwest part of the city.
"A lot of neighborhood destabilization is caused by bad landlords and bad tenants," said Grant, who won her post without securing the Democratic Party endorsement.
"Nobody gave me this election," she said. "It gives me the freedom to advocate for the people."
Grant said the university's effort to bring its houses into code compliance has fallen short.
Grant so far has appointed one permanent aide, Viola Soles.
Dominick J. Bonifacio Jr., Niagara District, and Joseph Golombek Jr., North District, both are taking leaves from their jobs.
Bonifacio said the second and third generations of youths he worked with during his 32 years as director of the Butler-Mitchell Boys and Girls Club helped elect him. He resigned that post to take a better-paying city Parks Department job, which he now is leaving to take over the Council post.
Bonifacio, who on Wednesday helped residents to appeal their assessments, said he will be concentrating on the problem of absentee landlords who allow drug addicts and dealers to destroy their properties.
"I'm not in a position to turn my back on any problem," he said.
Bonifacio's aides are Peter Savage Jr., son of the deputy mayor, and Margarita Cardona.
Golombek, a global studies teacher at Riverside Institute of Technology, will go on leave at the end of the semester. His focus will be on trying to arrange after-school activities to keep girls and boys off the streets, and he thinks he has at least one site lined up.
A former Common Council aide himself, Golombek has appointed Kenneth Kerr and Gayle Aikin to his staff.
Both Bonifacio and Golombek live in apartments in homes they share with their parents. Both say their parents were instrumental in getting them elected.
Fisher, 45, got a jump on the other new members. He was elected with the others in November but shortly afterward was appointed after the election to serve the remainder of the term of Barbra Kavanaugh, who resigned to become deputy state attorney general.
Fisher points out that some vital neighborhoods are split among Council districts but that he represents the city as a whole. He said Elmwood, for intance, is divided among four districts. He will ask the four district members to join him in meeting with leaders of Forever Elmwood and the Allentown Association.
"I'm going to try to be the lawmaker who provides broad-stroke legislation for the city," said Fisher, an ex-County Legislature aide.
Ellington is the new Council member for the Fillmore District, replacing David Franczyk who gave up his seat to seek the Common Council presidency. Because of other commitments, Ellington was not available for an interview.
Increases tax rates for individuals with taxable income above $125,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2009.
House Feb 12, 2009: First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk.
House Feb 17, 2009: Referred to Revenue.
House Feb 27, 2009: Public Hearing held.
House May 27, 2009: Public Hearing and Work Session held.
House May 28, 2009: Work Session held.
House Jun 4, 2009: Recommendation: Do pass with amendments, be printed A-Engrossed, and be referred to Ways and Means.
House Jun 4, 2009: Referred to Ways and Means by order of Speaker.
Senate Jun 10, 2009: Rules suspended. Motion to lay on the table carried.
Senate Jun 11, 2009: Third reading. Carried by Burdick. Passed.
House Jul 20, 2009: Chapter 746, (2009 Laws): Effective date September 28, 2009.
Rules suspended. Motion to lay on the table carried.
This is not me. My gym clothes are not nearly this fashionable.
Yes, I have tried to negotiate, and yes, I've looked into other gyms, but after joining my Manhattan chain on a corporate discount that was about $20 less than I currently pay, I couldn't bear to leave the gym when I went back to civilian status after changing jobs. I love the teachers! I know the schedule! The locations are so convenient!
That's how they get you.
Anyway, the price of my gym is what it is, and I paid for a year in advance just to get that rate. So I better make it worth my money. Every night that I "don't feel like going" means I'm wasting cash, and as someone who would be naturally well suited to those hover chairs from Wall-E, there are lots of nights I need to turn "don't feel like" into "can't wait."
How do I force myself to go? Below, I'm confessing the motivation tricks that get me off the couch and onto the spin bike. I can't guarantee they'll work for you — I can't even guarantee they'll continue to work for me — but this is what works right now.
I leave my gym bag at the office.
This is decidedly trickier if you're the type to work out before and after work, but I haven't yet reached that level of lunacy. As someone who exclusively exercises at night, I bring my gym bag home, empty it, refill it, and bring it to work the next day, whether I'm planning to go to the gym or not. On the weekend, I just bring it home and then back on Monday morning. This way, I'm never caught without sneakers … and I get an arm workout during my commute.
That screen looks like an excellent place to watch some Netflix.
I ask my gym buddies if they're going ... every day.
Because you can't ask and then go, "Oh, just wondering. I will not be joining you. I have some important Netflix to watch."
If someone isn't standing in front of me, barking out reps and making sure I do them, it's not going to get done. That's something I know about myself. As much as I admire those sneakered, self-motivated New Yorkers bounding through Manhattan at a brisk jog all hours of the day and night, I'm just never going to be one.
And I stand in the front.
You try slacking off when you're directly in the instructor's line of sight.
I make myself recognizable to the instructors.
When an instructor enters the classroom, I make eye contact, smile, and say "Hi." When I'm limping out the door, I make sure to thank them. This accomplishes two things: First, it makes me not a huge jerk, and second, it means they notice when I'm not there.
When an instructor waltzes into class and says, "Hi! Haven't seen you in a while!" it's ... extremely motivating.
I think of the money.
The brilliant thing about belonging to a gym, as opposed to those $35 boutique spin classes so many of my friends adore, is that since you've already paid, it gets cheaper every time you go. That's amazing! If I go to one class in a month, it's a $90 class. Two, they're each $45. Nine classes? At nine, which works out to fewer than three times a week, I'm paying only $10 per class.
I sign up in advance.
After three incidences of signing up and not showing up, you're barred from online registration for the next 30 days.
I talk about going to the gym incessantly.
If everyone in my office knows I plan to go, I have to keep my word. True story: I wrote a version of this story last year. A few months ago, I was whining in the elevator with some colleagues about how I didn't feel like going to the gym.
"Better go back and reread your article!" one joked.
I tell myself going to the gym is my reward.
There's no better choice I could be making at that moment for my health and well-being. It's a breath of fresh superiority.
I don't expect to enjoy every minute.
I had a revelation while shuffling down the street to the gym on a dark, rainy night after nine hours at the office: "You don't have to like it," I muttered to myself as I dodged umbrellas. "You just have to do it."

But the bigger news is President Rouhani’s very successful three-day visit to Baghdad last week. Rouhani was hailed as a national hero to the new Iraqi government, a government less in the thrall of its U.S. occupiers.

Rouhani met with every major political and religious figure in Iraq this week. The two countries agreed to new economic projects set to swell bilateral trade to $20 billion from the current $12 billion.

They signed deals to invest in energy as well as increase sales of Iranian gas and electricity to Iraq. The big issue being that Iraq will be a major source of dollars for Iran, still needed as it winds down domestic use of our currency.

Iraq is in no mood to knuckle under to Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s bloviating about the evils of Iran.

Remember it was Trump who made a secret visit to Iraq at Christmas and left after three hours because the Iraqi Prime Minister refused to be summoned like some lackey.

According to Elijah Magnier there are two factions now in Iraqi politics.

Iraq today is divided between a large faction of politicians calling for the total withdrawal of US forces from the country, and another which wants to maintain a reduced US force in charge of training and intelligence exchange.

Both factions want to see most US forces leave the country, and can likely reach an agreement on accepting a small specialized force on the ground. The Iraqi government would like to strike a balance and maintain both a fair relationship with the US and excellent ties with Iran.

But a fair relationship with Iraq is not something the U.S. is interested in. There will come a point in the near future when our relationship with Iraq changes dramatically.

Iran and Russia are both playing for time for that to develop.

This is why Mike Pompeo is in Lebanon this week. He will threaten the Lebanese to give up support for Hezbollah or else they will be treated like Iran and Venezuela.

He’s also there to assist war criminal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu get re-elected next month. How Pompeo is treated by Lebanon will be telling as to where things are headed from here.

I suspect he’ll be treated with the same thinly-veneered disdain that German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed both Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence at the Munich Security Conference last month.

If maintaining this Empire of Chaos, as Pepe Escobar calls it, was so efficient the U.S. wouldn’t be complaining about its cost.

Lebanon can no more comply with Pompeo’s stated goals of excising Hezbollah from Lebanon’s state affairs than he can distance himself from the siren’s call of a Chinese buffet table.

So, expect after the visit the U.S. follows the U.K. in fully sanctioning Lebanon as a terrorist state, refusing travel, seizing assets. The whole nine yards. All in the name of human rights and fighting terrorism, of course.

Meanwhile, Lebanon is struggling with housing more than 1 million Syrian refugees while the U.S. actively blocks their return home.

Bolton keeps the military situation unsettled and the Treasury Dept. blocks aid through the threat of sanctions helping to rebuild Syria.

This heavy-handed strategy is obviously meant as blackmail to accept Jared Kushner’s idiotic, dead-on-arrival but still unveiled peace plan. The goal is advancing greater Israel in the face of massive opposition. It also paves the way for Genie Energy to take the oil and gas under the Golan Heights.

There is a limit to what sanctions and threats can accomplish. And the U.S. is about to find out what that limit is. Chaos only works in the short-term and it is expensive.

The costs are written all over the balance sheet of Pax Americana. The moves the U.S. makes today create tomorrow’s headlines. If maintaining this Empire of Chaos, as Pepe Escobar calls it, was so efficient the U.S. wouldn’t be complaining about its cost.

Iran, Russia and China understand this. Arrogant men like Pompeo, Trump and Bolton never will.

India may be the fastest growing telecom market in the world with the lowest tariffs, but latest government data show that the country's record in improving rural tele-density is dismal.

In large and populous states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Bihar, rural tele-density was less than 1 per cent of their population on October 31, 2005, according to data complied by the ministry of communications and information technology.

Of the 27 telecom circles that have been scanned by the ministry, 12 have rural-tele-density of between 1 per cent and 5 per cent, 3 between 5 per cent and 10 per cent and only 1 (Kerala) over 10 per cent.

The overall rural tele-density in the country is as low as 1.77 per cent against an urban tele-density of 32.16 per cent and a national average of 10.53 per cent.

The data also suggest that telecom operators (private as well as government-owned) have not done much during the current financial year to improve rural telephony.

While urban tele-density improved rapidly from 26.88 per cent on March 31, 2005 to 32.16 per cent on October 31, rural tele-density only managed to crawl from 1.73 per cent to 1.77 per cent during the period.

Between the two dates, national tele-density rose from 8.95 per cent to 10.53 per cent.

"If the present universal service obligation policy of subsidising individual connections and village telephones continues, then we will achieve rural tele-density of only around 4 per cent even after giving a huge subsidy support of around Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion).

Neither such low tele-density in rural areas nor such high subsidies to achieve so little can be acceptable," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Pradip Baijal told Business Standard.

Trai has recommended that the government give Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) in subsidies for infrastructure creation to all access service providers who contribute towards the universal service obligation fund.

"If this is implemented early, then we can achieve rural tele-density of around 15 per cent by December 2007 and this, combined with expected urban tele-density of around 43 per cent, will take the overall tele-density to 22.98 per cent, easily meeting the target of 250 million subscribers," Baijal added.

On their part, private telecom services operators have said that the government's failure to extend support from the universal service obligation fund and permit infrastructure-sharing are the main bottlenecks that prevent them from spreading their networks to rural India.

"Despite repeated recommendations from Trai and petitions from private operators, the government has remained silent on these issues," said an executive with a leading mobile service operator.

"The prime need is to create infrastructure in an expeditious and cost-effective manner. This can only be possible through the sharing of mobile towers and the backbone, an issue that is being discussed with the department of telecommunications," said TV Ramachandran, general secretary, Cellular Operators' Association of India, a body representing GSM players.

History will be made when the new Common Council is sworn in Friday: It will have the Council's first-ever black majority, and women will hold six of the 13 seats.

"This is a tremendous, historic window of opportunity," said new Council Member at Large Charley Fisher III.

In addition to incumbents James Pitts, Byron Brown, Barbara Miller-Williams and Beverly Gray, the other African-Americans on the Council are Fisher, Karen Ellington and Betty Jean Grant. The other women on the Council are Rosemarie LoTempio and newcomer Mary Martino.

In interviews this week, five of the six new members said they were all looking forward to going to work for their constituents and plan to focus on the stability of neighborhoods. And most said their major concern is helping residents to protect and improve the quality of life, including finding ways to protect citizens against those who destroy it.

Martino, South District, is already a driving force behind two new issues in the Council, the attempt to prevent a disposal company from turning the Hopkins Street recycling plant into a garbage transfer station, and the effort to secure testing at Hickory Woods, where residents fear that buried coke wastes may be causing health problems.

Martino's Council aides are her sister Bridget Corcoran and Jean Egan.

"They are loyal residents of South Buffalo and want to see the community advance," the Council member said.

Martino and Grant of the University District are active in many community groups.

Grant worked closely with her predecessor, Kevin Helfer, on the problem of absentee landlords -- including the University at Buffalo -- in the northwest part of the city.

"A lot of neighborhood destabilization is caused by bad landlords and bad tenants," said Grant, who won her post without securing the Democratic Party endorsement.

"Nobody gave me this election," she said. "It gives me the freedom to advocate for the people."

Grant said the university's effort to bring its houses into code compliance has fallen short.

Grant so far has appointed one permanent aide, Viola Soles.

Dominick J. Bonifacio Jr., Niagara District, and Joseph Golombek Jr., North District, both are taking leaves from their jobs.

Bonifacio said the second and third generations of youths he worked with during his 32 years as director of the Butler-Mitchell Boys and Girls Club helped elect him. He resigned that post to take a better-paying city Parks Department job, which he now is leaving to take over the Council post.

Bonifacio, who on Wednesday helped residents to appeal their assessments, said he will be concentrating on the problem of absentee landlords who allow drug addicts and dealers to destroy their properties.

"I'm not in a position to turn my back on any problem," he said.

Bonifacio's aides are Peter Savage Jr., son of the deputy mayor, and Margarita Cardona.

Golombek, a global studies teacher at Riverside Institute of Technology, will go on leave at the end of the semester. His focus will be on trying to arrange after-school activities to keep girls and boys off the streets, and he thinks he has at least one site lined up.

A former Common Council aide himself, Golombek has appointed Kenneth Kerr and Gayle Aikin to his staff.

Both Bonifacio and Golombek live in apartments in homes they share with their parents. Both say their parents were instrumental in getting them elected.

Fisher, 45, got a jump on the other new members. He was elected with the others in November but shortly afterward was appointed after the election to serve the remainder of the term of Barbra Kavanaugh, who resigned to become deputy state attorney general.

Fisher points out that some vital neighborhoods are split among Council districts but that he represents the city as a whole. He said Elmwood, for intance, is divided among four districts. He will ask the four district members to join him in meeting with leaders of Forever Elmwood and the Allentown Association.

"I'm going to try to be the lawmaker who provides broad-stroke legislation for the city," said Fisher, an ex-County Legislature aide.

Ellington is the new Council member for the Fillmore District, replacing David Franczyk who gave up his seat to seek the Common Council presidency. Because of other commitments, Ellington was not available for an interview.

Increases tax rates for individuals with taxable income above $125,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2009.

House Feb 12, 2009: First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk.

House Feb 17, 2009: Referred to Revenue.

House Feb 27, 2009: Public Hearing held.

House May 27, 2009: Public Hearing and Work Session held.

House May 28, 2009: Work Session held.

House Jun 4, 2009: Recommendation: Do pass with amendments, be printed A-Engrossed, and be referred to Ways and Means.

House Jun 4, 2009: Referred to Ways and Means by order of Speaker.

Senate Jun 10, 2009: Rules suspended. Motion to lay on the table carried.

Senate Jun 11, 2009: Third reading. Carried by Burdick. Passed.

House Jul 20, 2009: Chapter 746, (2009 Laws): Effective date September 28, 2009.

Rules suspended. Motion to lay on the table carried.

This is not me. My gym clothes are not nearly this fashionable.

Yes, I have tried to negotiate, and yes, I've looked into other gyms, but after joining my Manhattan chain on a corporate discount that was about $20 less than I currently pay, I couldn't bear to leave the gym when I went back to civilian status after changing jobs. I love the teachers! I know the schedule! The locations are so convenient!

That's how they get you.

Anyway, the price of my gym is what it is, and I paid for a year in advance just to get that rate. So I better make it worth my money. Every night that I "don't feel like going" means I'm wasting cash, and as someone who would be naturally well suited to those hover chairs from Wall-E, there are lots of nights I need to turn "don't feel like" into "can't wait."

How do I force myself to go? Below, I'm confessing the motivation tricks that get me off the couch and onto the spin bike. I can't guarantee they'll work for you — I can't even guarantee they'll continue to work for me — but this is what works right now.

I leave my gym bag at the office.

This is decidedly trickier if you're the type to work out before and after work, but I haven't yet reached that level of lunacy. As someone who exclusively exercises at night, I bring my gym bag home, empty it, refill it, and bring it to work the next day, whether I'm planning to go to the gym or not. On the weekend, I just bring it home and then back on Monday morning. This way, I'm never caught without sneakers … and I get an arm workout during my commute.

That screen looks like an excellent place to watch some Netflix.

I ask my gym buddies if they're going ... every day.

Because you can't ask and then go, "Oh, just wondering. I will not be joining you. I have some important Netflix to watch."

If someone isn't standing in front of me, barking out reps and making sure I do them, it's not going to get done. That's something I know about myself. As much as I admire those sneakered, self-motivated New Yorkers bounding through Manhattan at a brisk jog all hours of the day and night, I'm just never going to be one.

And I stand in the front.

You try slacking off when you're directly in the instructor's line of sight.

I make myself recognizable to the instructors.

When an instructor enters the classroom, I make eye contact, smile, and say "Hi." When I'm limping out the door, I make sure to thank them. This accomplishes two things: First, it makes me not a huge jerk, and second, it means they notice when I'm not there.

When an instructor waltzes into class and says, "Hi! Haven't seen you in a while!" it's ... extremely motivating.

I think of the money.

The brilliant thing about belonging to a gym, as opposed to those $35 boutique spin classes so many of my friends adore, is that since you've already paid, it gets cheaper every time you go. That's amazing! If I go to one class in a month, it's a $90 class. Two, they're each $45. Nine classes? At nine, which works out to fewer than three times a week, I'm paying only $10 per class.

I sign up in advance.

After three incidences of signing up and not showing up, you're barred from online registration for the next 30 days.

I talk about going to the gym incessantly.

If everyone in my office knows I plan to go, I have to keep my word. True story: I wrote a version of this story last year. A few months ago, I was whining in the elevator with some colleagues about how I didn't feel like going to the gym.

"Better go back and reread your article!" one joked.

I tell myself going to the gym is my reward.

There's no better choice I could be making at that moment for my health and well-being. It's a breath of fresh superiority.

I don't expect to enjoy every minute.

I had a revelation while shuffling down the street to the gym on a dark, rainy night after nine hours at the office: "You don't have to like it," I muttered to myself as I dodged umbrellas. "You just have to do it."