Okay, Jerry, Get with the program... I just ordered a 16 GByte Flash Drive, for about $12. Problem solved. It was just old fashioned of me, and easy for me, to want to do things the "old way", using those small capacity DVD disks. Then, I remember using floppy disk media, if I recall correctly the first one was 750 KBytes, then the high capacity came out at 1.4 MBytes... guess that was at least 25 years ago.

I won't even admit how many exercise DVDs I've tried. My very favorite is Karen Voigt and, in fact, I just bought her Ballet BodySculpt DVD http://www.amazon.com/Ballet-BodySculpt-Karen-Voight/dp/B00466G5XA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342028935&sr=8-1&keywords=ballet+sculpt+voight and I love it. I was worried it would be too easy, but it was a good workout. I have most of her other DVDs also. I also like The Method All in One http://www.amazon.com/Method-Pilates-All-One-Workout/dp/B000067J06/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1342029138&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Method+All+in+One, altho some people think it's too complicated. Sometimes, tho, I think that's better than multiple boring reps. I also recently bought Supreme 90 day http://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Day-System-Cal-Pozo/dp/B004S2YN5O/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1342029208&sr=1-1&keywords=supreme+90+day+10-dvd+set+workout for the Tabata workout, but you get 10 DVDs for $20. I also love Yoga DVDs. The reviews on Amazon really help me decide if a DVD is something I'd like.

I've used several of her tapes, and if you can do the workout, it's great. She is a little to perky for me, but after doing the tape a few times, I can mute the sound, and still follow along. I use them mostly in the summer when it's already 90 degrees at 6 am, and only going higher. I can't take that level of heat. Yes, lots of sidesteps and kicks. One can use hand weights or not, to increase the level of the workout. Overall, I'd say it't a good workout. Don't buy the 1-mile DVD. Go for the 4 or 5 mile one. Each workout is divided into 1 mile segments, so you can do any segment you want.

Thanks so much to all who took the time to read and comment on my post, and for the great warmth and kindness of your responses. I must say I was nervous about posting; while realising many of us are going through very challenging times with our and our loved ones' health, speaking about this always feels quite excruciatingly personal, like revealing an ugly scar in public... but I was determined to do something for awareness day this year, having failed for several years in succession to contribute. I'll try to respond to every comment, in order: KS: You're welcome, and I do hope the info will be helpful to your friend. S/he should definitely watch the movie! Re symptoms: ME/CFS has an enormous list of around 40-50 symptoms, involving every body system - someone once said ME seems to include just about everything you could possibly experience with any illness, or words to that effect. We each have our own selection of them, to varying degrees of severity, which, once we're sure we've got the hang of dealing with them, morphs into something else! Or so it seems... If s/he hasn't already, your friend may like to google the (most comprehensive) Canadian Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for ME/CFS and the (most up to date, I think) International Consensus Criteria, which between them have a full list of symptoms, and explain which ones are currently thought to be essential and which are optional for an ME/CFS diagnosis. A full set of blood tests, etc must be done too, to exclude all the other known medical and psychiatric conditions that could be causing that individual's symptoms. There are also some excellent websites/forums to visit for more support and info, such as Phoenix Rising and Health Rising. Please pass on to her/him my thoughts and best wishes. Fig Insanity: You're welcome too, and thank you for your kind remarks. I'm so sorry to hear of the frustrating time your sister went through for so long, just trying to get someone to even believe her. Unfortunately she was by no means alone in her experiences. The continuing level of ignorance and prejudice amongst doctors against this disease is actually really frightening, an actual, genuinely Kafkaesque situation, which is especially difficult to deal with when one is getting increasingly physically frail and cognitively wooly, and no-one will believe your story or take you seriously: thus the urgency of need for education and awareness, and MUCH more quality bio-medical research to help dispel persistent, popular myths of 'female hysteria' and other such bizarre, often misogynistic, non-evidence based psychiatric theories. (MS was similarly regarded, until the invention of the CAT scan (IIRC), which instantly showed the physical cause of the symptoms.) Some stunningly bad science in the UK, published in The Lancet in 2011, purporting to prove the psychiatric theory (heavily subsidised and enthusiastically pushed by the Government and big Insurance companies) set us back a few years, but has fortunately now been thoroughly debunked. However many doctors are not up to date with this, and still resort to offering 'encouraging' therapy aimed at dispelling our 'false illness beliefs', prescribing antidepressants, and forcing very frail sufferers to follow increasing exercise regimes, which have been shown time and time again to be at best ineffective and at worst, to have dramatically deleterious effects, rendering previously unwell but still mobile people bed-bound for years, and occasionally even killing us. Many of us eventually give up on the medical profession altogether. Unable to find or access knowledgeable physicians, we're forced to take care of ourselves as best we can, at home, sometimes for decades/the rest of our lives. Not uncommonly abandoned by disbelieving family, and friends with whom we're no longer able to keep up socially; invisible to the wider public; we use Dr Google and the worldwide online patient community, along with whatever inner resilience we can muster as our resources. In many cases, this is actually a far safer option than undergoing misguided treatment from doctors and hospitals. And this is not a rare disease; unseen millions of us are just coping, behind closed doors, with little or no medical care or basic social support. What this can mean in practice is too painful and embarrassing to go into. SunCoastFlowers: You're welcome, and thank you for committing to watch the movie! Do post a review (good, bad or neutral) should you have the time and inclination. Do you by any chance have a link to the series you mentioned, and the episode about making the garden for the little girl with ME/CFS? I did try googling it but didn't have any luck. Well, I've waffled on again for far too long and am going to have to take a break. Carol (PMR), my apologies, I seem to have jumped past you in order. Will come back and respond to you next, then Ingrid, Jin, Melissa and Sheila. And maybe, be a bit briefer... (unlikely). ;-)