Read, Read, Read

I have not picked-up a book in almost 3 months! I am so behind in reading. The last book I read was the 6th book in the Harry Potter series: "Harry Potter and 1/2 Blood Prince". A great book, as most of the books in the series have been, but alas I have been so out of the habit of reading lately.
When I was travelling, I finally started getting caught-up on my Mens Health magazines. As of today, I am up to the December 2005 issue. That puts me about 3 issues behind. Not bad considering I have had about 5 issues sitting in my car for several months.
I have a list on my dressor of books I would like to read including "The Purpose Driven Life".
I think I have to blame myself for letting too much tv get in the way of my reading! During any given week, I can watch Gray's Anatomy (something I did not start watching until a month ago), parts of Desperate Housewives (I have a weekly Sunday evening meeting I go to that gets me home around 8:30pm), 24, WWW Wrestling, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Wife Swap, CSI: New York, MASH, Alias, What Not to Wear ( I know, that is more of a chick show, but I guess I am exposing part of my femist side), and I am sure there are a few other shows I catch a few minutes of here and there.
For years I got away from watching tv. When I was in college, I was so busy with activities and studying that I had no time to watch tv, including movies on the movie channels we got in our apartments. After I graduated, I was still very busy with work, lifting weights, martial arts, and getting together with friends. Then I got married and I started watching a few shows that my wife got me hooked on. Then we had a baby and now I find myself watching parts of shows in-between moments of playing with our daughter. After chasing her around, I am often times too tired to do anyting, include pick up a book and concentrate on the words.
It felts great to get caught-up on the Harry Potter books and started feeling good when I was reading some of my back issues of Mens Health. I think when I am behind on something it weighs on me until I get caught-up. It's like housework: you hate to do it, but once it is done, you feel good about doing it.
One last point, I do read the Chicago Tribune everyday. I only read the Tempo Section and the Sports. It is reading, but it is not intense reading nor do I do it for any long lengths of time (about 15 minutes a day). Yes, it is something to exercise my brain, but nothing huge.
So I hope that somewhere, somehow I manage to get back into my good habit of reading again. I do enjoy it and do not just do it because I should. My great-grandmother read everyday, getting books mailed to her, and she died at 104!!! If I get started with reading everyday, I could see 95!
***One side note to this post is that I have picked-up a book since Harry Potter: it was a book my wife got me called: A Father's Guide to Toddler Years. I read the chapter I am suppose to read for this segment of my daughter's life, so I am caught-up, but it was only maybe 15 pages and I have to wait until my daugher hits 15 months old to read the next section.