I spent the weekend traveling, and when I finally got home on Sunday, put my stuff away, started laundry and paid the bills, I sat down on the couch where I stared uneasily at the pile of information which sat on the coffee table. 
It was too much. The stack was intimidating, and in my tired traveling state of mind, it appeared to be plotting against me. The sheer size of the pile was staggering. The information inside sat glibly waiting for me to devour it before it devoured me. But I didn’t even know where to begin.
The problem was that I had been busy the past few weeks at work, and then on the weekends, it had been even more hectic, which meant the pile had grown to its present threatening level. It’s easy to accumulate subscriptions – at least I’ve found it to be so. If you read anything 3 times a year or more, then it’s cheaper to just buy a year subscription versus paying for one-offs at a newsstand or bookstore.
Consequently, I currently subscribe to:
• Newsweek
• US Weekly
• GQ
• Details
• New York Times Sunday Edition
• Esquire
• Men’s Fitness
• Entertainment Weekly
• Wine Spectator
• Playboy
• Maxim
• Austin American Statesman
• Sherman’s Travel
• Travel and Leisure
• Consumer Reports
• Money
• Texas Monthly
• Dwell
This is a full enough list as it stands, but I wouldn’t mind adding Rolling Stone, Men’s Health, and Time to it. Maybe it’s an addiction, like those people who start with one tattoo and then end up with dozens. The pain of the needle might be worse, but I felt pretty lousy while I looked at the periodical pile which had sprung up on me when I wasn’t looking. 
The only reasonable thing to do would be to start with the lightest thing available – undoubtably US Weekly or Maxim – and start chipping away, but in the end, I turned on the football game instead and felt guilty because it’s a sad state of affairs when your brain is too lazy to comprehend the esoteric knowledge carried inside US Weekly.
-BDS
I keep hearing that lefty and fluffy print media are teetering on the brink. Now I know who's keeping them from bankruptcy.
Looks like you're missing:
Nintendo Power
Cigar Afficionado
MAD
&
Soldier of Fortune
I seem to remember you complaining about this (or a similar) magazine subscription list a year or so ago. Just looking at your list, I could easily slim it down to at least HALF, but that's just me.
Troll Y2K - We all have to do our part these days . . . Ha. Feel free to chip in yourself as I'm sure you were eyeing several of them carefully.
WIGSF - Do they still do a Ninetendo mag? I used to have a subscription to the orginal Nintendo a long time ago (or maybe they were free or I had my parents buy them for me). Solider of Fortune I read at the Dentist's office.
Heff - Yeah, I recall that too, although I couldn't remember if it was 1 or 2 years ago. Some left as I think I had a FHM subscription back then (which is really better than Maxim, but went out of business). It's generally fine with me, but when you get behind, the crap just piles up. I really hope 'Playboy' stops going downhill - that is a good mag and they need a cash infusion and to get back to coming out monthly.
I used to have a ton of magazines flowing into my house and I wasn't reading many of them. Now I buy what I read, because that means I really, really want to read it. When I travel, I always buy too many, but they're great for airplanes. You do have an interesting list. I buy Men's Health every year for my biz partner and he brings it in to the office. It's good and since you have such a huge pile, I'd throw it into the mix.
Austin American Statesman?? Really??
holy crap. You don't need to add any more to this list, unless you replace new subscriptions with old or least favorites.
But, Rolling Stone is usually always good, so get rid of Maxim, because it's really gotten lame.
Replace Men's Fitness with Men's Health. It's all around better. Besides, Men's Fitness seems to be the same magazine every month, with different titles for the stories. And there aren't a lot of new workouts that haven't been in there before.
Boxer - Yeah, traveling is a great excuse to buy pretty much the whole rack. I much prefer magazines to reading books on airplanes. And Men's Health is a good gift because it's always got some good stuff every issue and they rarely pad it with crap. I have to get a local newspaper as I like to have it and I generally read it at lunch at the office. Like now. Ha.
Kmwthay - I know. I usually read 'Rolling Stone' where I get my haircut, but I might add it into the mix. And you're spot-on about Maxim and Men's Health verus Men's Fitness. The only reason I have 'Fitness' was because it was a gift that someone got real cheap. I keep meaning to get 'Health' because it is way better, but I've been to cheap to do so. Ha.
Good God! That is a lot of mags. I get one and can't keep up with that...
What do you think of Newsweek's new format? I HATE IT. I've been kind of disgusted with Newsweek for a while, but I'm definitely not renewing, even if they offer it for practically free, which they usually do.
I used to read tons of mags but when it started getting out of control and I wasn't even reading them, I thought of all the money I had wasted and gave it up pronto. (I think I added it up once and it was around $400...gulp).
I like to have a mag handy in the loo though for those occasions when a little time is needed. If I took a book in there I'd never come out :)
If you already subscribe to Men's Fitness then why do you also think that you need Men's Health??
That list is like my TV show list Ha!!
Jlee - Surely you can keep up with one . . . Ha. Might I recommend US Weekly or Maxim for something light?
Wendy - I hated it at the beginning, but now I've accepted its lameness. But I know what you mean as I really didn't care for the change. As you mentioned, however, they generally offer it to me for dirt cheap so I will probably stick with it.
Gypsy - I hope I'm not up to $400. I need to re-check my figures though . . . Ha. Most of the monthly ones I get for about $15 - $20 a year. The weekly ones, however, are pretty expensive. And I never travel with anything into the loo as it just means I might stay there longer, so I figure no reading material will prompt me to leave soon. Ha.
Miss Ash - I need to trade 'Health' for 'Fitness' when the latter expires. 'Health' is much better, but someone got me for 'Fitness' for a gift. And I try to limit my TIVO shows to maybe 5 per season. I try.