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Living in Wisconsin when you’re from Illinois usually gets you a lot of grief. While I’m not sure I could ever call Wisconsin home, there are many things about this state that I’ve grown to love. I even loved receiving my first bobblehead at the Milwaukee Bucks game I attended on Saturday. And that’s saying a lot for a non-sports fan who had to endure a halftime tribute to the Green Bay Packers.

There is, however, one thing that I cannot love about this state: the newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker. Last week Walker proposed taking away most collective bargaining rights of public employees, without ever bothering to actually negotiate with any public-sector unions.

As a result, thousands from across the state swarmed the Capitol yesterday, urging Walker to kill the bill. Further still, all Madison public schools are closed today due to a district-wide teacher sickout.

Mark Kauzlarich/The Daily Cardinal

Here’s a great piece on how the proposed bill would affect at least one teacher in Wisconsin.

Even the Madison school board urged Walker to reconsider and one columnist from the Washington Post compared Walker to the former Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, by calling him the ‘cheesehead pharaoh.’

So I guess the question is, what will make everyone happy?

I claim there ain’t
Another Saint
As great as Valentine.
-Ogden Nash

Some say Valentine’s Day is nothing more than a manufactured holiday. Did you know that this holiday alone will rack up close to $20 billion in sales? And they say we’re in a recession. Pssh.

But I say Valentine’s Day is all about the simple things. Here are five things I’m loving about today’s holiday:

1. Sweet treats that don’t even require any work – simply remove from box, place on cookie sheet, bake and enjoy!

2. My new Snoopy-themed lunch bag from my mom – perfect for sticking said cookies in!

3. A Charlie Brown Valentine – why stop with the lunch bag alone? Unlucky for me, I think I missed this year’s showing.

4. This book from Josh that I’ve been wanting for weeks – I can’t resist a good dog book, children’s version or not.

5. Getting valentines in the mail – who doesn’t love getting something in the mail?

Since graduating in December, my membership at the SERF (UW’s on-campus workout facility) promptly expired midway through January. At first, I was at a loss. Not only was the SERF just a five minute walk from my apartment, but I had finally worked up enough courage to do more than just the treadmill and the elliptical machine. I had finally ventured into the weight room and had become a regular at several of the group fitness classes.

With the mountain of snow and ice on the ground, and the temperatures barely hovering above double digits, the weather has not exactly been ideal for running and biking outside. Plus, my budget as of now won’t support a gym membership, at least not for a gym as nice as Lifetime Fitness back home.

So the answer was clear: exercise DVDs. I quickly invested in two five-pound and two eight-pound hand weights and decided that Jillian Michaels, the personal trainer from “The Biggest Loser”, would be my go-to girl. She’s had some controversy come her way and her voice can be slightly obnoxious most of the time, but so far her workouts are great. I now own four of her DVDs, and until I can stand to be outside for longer than 20 minutes, I think I’ll stick with her.

Here are the DVDs I’m currently using:

Jillian Michaels 6 Week Six-Pack
Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism
Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weights