Kids today...

...have no clue about the Dark Ages, when details about their favorite band were not available at the click of a mouse or the swipe of an iPhone touchscreen. Forget the whole "I had to walk to school in the snow five miles uphill both ways" thing. This lack of information was serious!

The first band I ever luvvvved was ABBA, in like, the 5th grade. There was no MTV back then, let alone the internet (although I'm sure Al Gore was hard at work on it). I remember pathetically trying to watch "Abba: The Movie" on a pre-HBO movie channel that we didn't even subscribe to (think audio and nausea-inducing wavy video).

I cobbled together whatever shreds of information I could find on that fab Swedish foursome and recorded it in my diary (which had a gold lock and an ethereal pastel fairy princess motif). Those lovingly written words probably make up 1/1000 of what I can find today in the band's Wikipedia entry. Sigh.

Heck, they broke up decades ago, and they even have an official Web site. Do you know what I would have given to have this information 29 years ago. Do you?!

Anyway, my current bout of Abba-mania started a few weeks ago after we watched the trainwreck of a movie that is "Mamma Mia!" (I do have it on reliable authority that the stage version did not suck, however.) Let me say this: Pierce Brosnan should not sing...EVER!

So I let my fingers do the walking to my library's Web site, where I find not one, but THREE DVDs featuring the pop superstars in their 1970s-very early '80s glory. Really, did any band make better use of spandex?

Even though their costumes make me giggle, there's no denying that ABBA produced some insanely classic pop songs, performed in voices so lovely that any Hollywood actor or karoke enthusiast who dares to attempt replication will suffer mightily by comparison.

Monday, March 30
Morning workout: "Beautiful Technique" DVD; "Baladi" DVD (maqsoum drills).
Breakfast: Leftover quiche; 1/2 c. fresh pineapple; cafe au lait; 2 0z. fresh squeezed orange juice; 32 oz. water.
Snack: Apple + 10 almonds; 16 oz. water.
Noon workout: 30 minutes free dance; "Baladi" DVD (various drills).
Lunch: Green salad w/oil & vinegar, 4 oz. turkey breast, 3 oz. yellow pepper, 3 oz. cucumber, 1/4 avocado, 1 oz. walnuts.
Snack: 4 oz. 2% cottage cheese; 4 oz. fresh pineapple.
Post-work workout: "Body Fat Solution" workout B.
Dinner: 2 oz. pasta (dry weight) with 1 c. leftover veggie/meat sauce; green salad w/ oil & vinegar; 4 oz. red wine.
Snack: Cafe Americano; olive oil/yogurt/lime loaf cake.