Hypothesis: Cutting down on booze and adding 15 minutes of aerobic exercise every day (or thereabouts) will result in weight loss and all-around shape-up.

Controls: Overall diet to remain essentially unchanged. Laying-about time on the couch to remain at current levels.

Variables: Conscious effort to be made to reduce booze consumption. Specific parameters TBD, but general direction is “less than what Mandalyn drinks now.” Addition of 15 minutes of elliptical training (or comparable) per day.**

**Special notes on the variables: 15 minutes or whatever I can squeeze in before 6pm on a workday, whichever is longer. There is no way I can convince myself to do this every day without giving myself the 6pm loophole. And “comparable” does not include “randomly milling about the downtown area for an hour and calling it done,” which has been my exercise regimen to date.

Let the experiment commence!