January 14, 2008

I am renewing old ties

Today was interesting. In addition to the kinda crappy 3-miler this morning, I spent the afternoon renewing old ties.

The first tie is to my old gym, the Manhattan Plaza Health Club. Though they have done away with union rates, they graciously accepted me at the renewal rate, even though I wasn't even in their database anymore. I want to publicly thank my Mom for picking up that tab as a late Christmas gift. I have always appreciated my mother's fervent support of my health-oriented activities - I know not everyone is as lucky.

Walking around the facilities and seeing what's changed and what hasn't was very interesting. The weights room is about twice as crowded as it used to be - with a lot of people doing work with exercise balls and weights in low-weight, high-rep modes. Evidently, modern thought on what is better exercise long-term is taking hold. So I'll be in good company. (I do plan on doing some bulk/strength weight training, esp. in the upper body, but not too much; not good for a runner.) The pool has been resurfaced and the climbing gym has between 75 and 100 marked routes. Pre-marked routes provide new challenges all the time and prevent boredom. I look forward to getting back to climbing. The cardio mezzanine has a LOT more elliptical machines than it used to - and only four treadmills - clearly another sea change in modern exercise thought.

The second re-connection was with the New York Public Library. I needed to renew my library card so I could check some research out of the Picture Collection. Like many other institutions, including my grocery and my gym, they've gone to the keychain-size scannable ID card. I have five of these now. Ugh. Better than full-size cards, I guess.

All in all, it feels like I've stepped back in time about seven years.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cris: It really is Dad's money. He makes it - I spend it! It works for us! Enjoy the gym, be careful! Love ya, Mom (the money spender)