Ok, so it’s been a bit of a break here at WRN.  Fulsome has apparently given up the bloghost (I don’t even see him on GMail anymore) and Chuckles has got his commitments to freelance geniusing  so I guess it is up to me to Frankenstein this baby.

I’m sure part of the reason that Fuls gave up on the blog have to do with the non-rounded nature of the posts by some of us (me).  Part of this has to do with the fact that I don’t have the philosophy or science background that these other guys do.  I’m a programmer who likes video games and dumb movies, proving that I’m not actually as well rounded as these other guys.

Still, I guess I have my niche.  Besides posts about crap I want to buy (what have we covered so far in that category?  video games, tv’s, cell phones, pizza, oompa loompas, etc.) I talk about going the gym.  Since I haven’t been going to the gym lately, it’s been a little bit harder for me to post exciting stories at the YMCA.  Well, no longer hopefully.

In the past several weeks I’ve begun a campaign to return to regular YMCA visits.  My girlfriend has joined with me (Hint: that means no more hitting on me while I’m on the elliptical machine) and we’re going and having fun.  Now that the weather here in Wisconsin is getting nice enough to leave my apartment we should have some good times ahead.

I have gotten a little fat the past year and a half as I’ve tried to deal with moving, working from home, being a lazy bastard, and acquiring an obscenely large TV so (partially inspired by the blogging on 3Bulls! and partly as a desire to document either my success or failure), I may try to collect data samples about my progress in either losing weight or injuring myself at the gym.

Also, this YMCA I now go to may have different inspirational posters.   A full investigation will definitely be required.  So YMCA and Internet, take this as notice.  I (potentially) am not going to be ignoring you anymore.

P.S.  If this post is not followed up regularly for the next 3 months then this latest endeavor has resulted in failure and you’ll be more likely to find me on the PLAYSTATION Network as dontEATnachos or on Xbox Live as imSERIOUSguys.  With GTAIV coming out next week, you’re bound to find me on one of them so feel free to friend me, just mention WRN in the request.

Since about 85-90% of my waking hours are spent at either work or the YMCA, I will yet again post interesting observations about my time at the YMCA.

Holding Hands at the Gym
Are there laws preventing this? Should there be? If so, can I ask the cop I see at the gym (at least I assume he’s a cop, he’s got a cop mustache and haircut) to arrest the offenders. The latest instance that I’ve witnessed was a couple that were running on treadmills (not holding hands then) but then when they got off the treadmills and were walking around the track, they were holding hands.

For me, this raises several questions: First, why would you want to hold some other sweaty persons hand, even if you do find them attractive (cause sweaty hands are perhaps the grossest thing ever - EVAR!), secondly, why do you need to hold hands at all when you’re 40ish and at the gym? What is the purpose of holding hands? Are they having trouble crossing the street? Do they forget which direction they’re supposed to be going? I don’t know … it’s just weird.

Thirdly, when I’m trying to run on the track and 2 of the 3 lanes are occupied by people holding hands, it makes it quite annoying. All it takes is one more person to join hands and it will turn into an impromptu game of Red Rover. Something I’m not sure they’ll appreciate.

You Should Try Taking HGH
Excerpt of an actual conversation I heard in the locker room:

Person A: “I tried steroids once, they were not a good scene. I use HGH now, it’s much better.”
Person B: “Really? Isn’t HGH illegal?”
Person A: “No, not at all. You can get it at GNC. It’s great you should definitely try HGH!”

I don’t know if you can get HGH at GNC (for some reason I suspect not) but I don’t think you encourage people to take crazy things that will f’ up their body. That’s just me though.

I distinctly remember this one time a guy I work with came into the office I share with The Clipper and he was asking us if we had ever taken steroids. He was totally considering it and wanted to know if we had an opinion. This from the same guy who bought one of those get-fit-without-trying-because-the electrical-current-will-cause-your-muscles-to-involuntarily-spasm devices. Not only did he try it though, he started talking about having tried it during a little bit of downtime right before a meeting with like 10 people in the room? Choice quote from the whole incident, “You really have to use a lot of the gel on the conductors to feel anything and then it just hurt!”

Ok, I have a few more exciting observations but I don’t have the time or inclination to relate them at the moment, you’ll just have to wait I guess.

Spent some time at the YMCA again this past weekend and I got two pieces of inspirational wall art for your perusal. I have included them below.

Does respect really tie us all together? If we’re tied together, does that mean we’re shackled to one another if we ‘respect’ them. I certainly don’t want to be tied to a certain president, which is why I choose not to respect him I suppose.

I also have to raise issue with this one, is honesty really the best thing to do here? I mean, look at the kids on the right, they’re apparently dealing drugs behind the back of Straight-Arrow Johnny who is busy being the patsy for having broken that dude’s window. Now the good kids going to juvie while the little drug dealing kids will find another guy to replace him. It’s sad really.

So I’ve been spending a fair amount of time at the gym lately. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the money to hang out at one of those ‘fancy’ gyms. Instead, I spend my time at the YMCA. It’s actually not a bad place … besides being a little cramped. And I’ve been going there long enough that I actually know people.

Still, it’s not without its quirks. Something that I really enjoy though, is a nice collection of ridiculously positive messages they put up for the teenagers who play basketball there or something.

I’ve included two with this post. Sorry about the quality though, the camera on my Motorola phone is ridiculously bad.

The first has a picture of two high school aged basketball players walking into a room with some kids sitting at a round table and writing. Underneath it says, “Responsibility: Doing What’s Right.” From the picture, I’m not sure what that means. I don’t know why having a guy who is obviously much older and wearing basketball gear sitting at a table with children is an example of “Responsibility” but OK, we’ll go with it.

The second picture is of a mom or teacher with a bunch of kids at a hospital visiting another sick child. Underneath it says, “Caring Feels Good.” This one’s a little straight forward. Still, I don’t know exactly what they’re saying we should be doing. Going to the hospital and spending time with children? Taking random children to the hospital with us and visiting other sick children? It’s just not really clear to me.

I still think there is a valuable lesson in these images though. I don’t know what it is, but I do believe it’s in there somewhere. There are more sprinkled throughout the Y so if I have time in the future I might try to snap a few more pictures.