On Issue #2:
My wife (Shari) recently joined "Curves", an area women's fitness center. It is a program gym (you do what they tell you) and each workout is only 40 mins long. It is cheap too....80 to join, 30 a month)
You go from station to station with short breaks in between. Resistance is offered by your effort, so there is no pin changing, unclamping etc.
Shari likes it (she is not an athlete by any means) and has lost 9 pounds in a month, plus some inches (can't remember what).
Edit: I quick web search reveals it is a national chain, not an "area" thing. Perhaps there is one in your neck of the woods?
I know I'm not much of a motivator (of my wife). Working out with her creates more problems than it resolves....for what ever reason (I suspect I'm too intense, but she has other names for it
).