Okay, so I "weighed" this decision for a long time. But last week I took the $19.99 plunge and bought a scale for my home.

This would seem like a no-brainer for someone trying to lose weight, right? After all every other article I read seems to suggest that to achieve and maintain optimal weight, one should keep track of what their weight is - once a day. And therein lies the rub. With me, it's more like once an hour. When I used to go to the local 30-minute fitness place, I would weigh myself before and after. Because surely enduring a half hour of that mind-numbing X-beats-per-minute music alone means I should have lost something! I weigh myself before I get weighed at my semi-annual doctor appointment. And for years now, I have been "testing" my mom's "new" digital scale at least once a visit.

So I was concerned whether having a scale would be a help or a hindrance. But for 20 bucks I figured, hey, I can always give it to Goodwill if I drive myself insane.

Sure enough, I got the scale home, popped in the batteries, and within 20 minutes I knew the weight of half a dozen household and clothing items. My sneakers - 1.4 pounds, jeans - 1.6, ipod - didn't register. At least I didn't try to compare the difference in body fat percentage! Of course, this information will come in handy when I weigh myself somewhere when I'm not barefoot and half naked and can subtract those pounds. Although I reckon the days of telling myself that my clothes weigh 20 pounds are over!

Am I the only one with this affliction? Please tell me that eventually I will only weigh myself twice a day. It does get better; doesn't it? Oh, well, gotta go now. I'm dying to know the weight of that Ken Kesey novel.