( 9:11 AM )
New Year's Resolution
Well, three weeks into the new year, and I’m doing pretty good with one of my New Year's resolutions. I ended 2002 by quitting my gym. It wasn’t that I didn’t use the gym. The gym was in my building and I managed to get down there 2-3 days a week during my lunch. It was just getting too expensive. So, when New York Sports Club told me my monthly dues were going up to $85/month, I told them to screw off, and quit.
So, my New Year’s resolution was to start using that “Total Gym” sitting in my basement. You know, the Chuck Norris/Christy Brinkley machine. It actually works very well – when it’s used. So, two days a week I’ve been getting up at 5:30am to work out. I know what you’re thinking – “that’s ridiculous”. It is ridiculous, but mornings are the only time I can find to be alone.
I’ll admit, it’s difficult. My alarm goes off at 5:30am, and it takes me a good 15 minutes just to pee, throw some water on my face and stumble downstairs. I then struggle with the coffee machine (swearing each morning that I’ve got to get one of those automatic timer coffee machines, so the coffee is waiting for me in the morning) and stare at the drip-drip-drip during the five minutes it takes to percolate. Once I get a couple of sips of that sweet coffee-flavored nectar, I head to the basement and start my workout.
It was a little strange at first, working out alone, without other people around to try and impress or to be intimidated by – muscle heads, women, etc. But I’ve got a TV tuner on my computer and a CD player – so I can watch SportsCenter or listen to music or both, while working out, so that helps.
I’ll tell ya – the first half hour is absolute hell. I can talk myself out of getting out of bed anytime I want. But once I get into it, and once I’m done, I feel like a million bucks. I go to work with unbelievable energy, and feel great all day. And it doesn’t matter if the rest of the day is a bust – I’ve already worked out and that’s more then enough to call the day a success.
At least that’s what I keep telling myself. I’ll keep you posted.
( 9:15 AM )
Cold
It’s so damn cold! We’re going on two weeks of frigid temperatures here in the Northeast. The temperature hasn’t really gotten above 20 degrees for the past few days, which isn’t as cold as it could be (recalling a 2 month stretch of temperatures below zero while schooling in Maine), but still too damn cold to just be standing around in.
I left the house this morning, running a bit late, and forgot my hat. By the time I walked the half mile from the train station parking lot to the platform, I didn’t want to touch my ears for fear of shattering them into a hundred pieces.
As I stood like an ice sculpture on the platform, listening to the PA announcement about my train being “10-15 minutes late”, I thought about my recent trip to Houston and the pleasant daytime temperature of 70 degrees, or the evening temp around 60. Hanging out near the Gulf of Mexico, in shorts and t-shirt, drinking beer and eating crab legs. What I wouldn’t give to have that right about now!
My walk from the train station to my office is even more brutal, because of a cold wind coming off the Long Island Sound. As I walked in frozen distain, I tried to conger up the feelings I had last summer, while making this same walk during 98 degree temperatures, cursing the sweat pouring down my back and accumulating in the crotch of my pants. I couldn’t imagine it being worse than not being able to feel my digits.
Is there any place on earth where the temperature is always 70 degrees?
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