The Best of Chelsea (and excuses for not posting a lot)
BlogChelsea published a directory of the “Best of Chelsea.” I agree with a lot of the choices (I love that he included Pier 63, Manhattan Kayak Company, and RUB). (Yesterday, the Best of Chelsea included websites, but not mine; today, mysteriously, the best websites are gone.)
I’ve been busy, settling in to the new job and the new apartment, cooking dinner every night with Brian, etc. I feel like I’m finally developing a new routine, so the details of life will become a little more automatic and I will hopefully have some more time to post. After all the insanity of the last month, Brian and I spent a quiet, unstressed evening at home. It felt like we’re finally starting to relax again. We’ve been bickering a lot less (it was getting pretty dicey for a while when we first moved in to the apartment). I’m remembering my cooking skills, so the whole process of cooking and cleaning up is taking a lot less time than it did three weeks ago. (Well, last night might be an exception. We cooked chicken on the stove. Brian got home before me and marinated it. I cooked it. Grease splattered all over the kitchen. It took an hour to clean it up.)
When Brian finally moves his stuff over, we’ll have two computers, and I won’t have to share, so that will also give me more time for blogging.
I’ve been posting so little, in fact, that friends have been emailing me asking what’s going on, since they’re not getting updates here. (It looks like Bonnie is making excuses, too.)
Tonight, Brian and I are going to the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America’s film series to see two films about city planning:
1. A Fantasy of Forgotten Corners
2. Cities of the Future
Nina Rappaport, co-chair of DOCOMOMO New York/Tri-State, architectural and urban critic, and editor of publications Yale School of Architecture, will offer insight towards the topic of these two films, which deal with then current and future city planning.
I keep thinking that at some mysterious point things are going to settle down, and then I won’t feel like I’m running on a treadmill.
Hey speaking of treadmills, since you are the biggest gym rat I know, I have a question for you - is there some mysterious gym etiquette involving something called a “power set”, during which the power setter is permitted to ask another gym user to step off a machine so that the power setter can do her thing — even when there are only 2 other people in the entire place and an entire roomful of idle machines and weights to play with? I said no, you can use it when I’m done.
Comment by bonnie — February 12, 2006 @ 3:37 pm
Depends on the machine and the gym. If you’re on a treadmill or other piece of cardio equipment, you are entitled to finish your workout, as long as you respect the gym’s maximum useage time, if such a limit is published. Even if the gym doesn’t enforce a time limit, if people are waiting for a piece of cardio equipment, it’s polite to limit your time to a half hour or so. It’s not ok to kick someone off a piece of cardio equipment in order to incorporate that equipment in some kind of “power set” or to expect a piece of cardio equipment to be available if you go away from it to do something else, then return. It’s also not ok to stake a claim on a particular piece of cardio equipment for any reason. You can’t walk in to the gym and say “I always use that treadmill” and expect someone else to relinquish it.
As far as resistance equipment is concerned, it’s polite to work in and let others work in. If you’re doing mulitiple sets, you’re going to rest between sets. While you’re resting, it’s polite to let someone else use the equipment. There are several things that can make working in a happier experience for all concerned. Don’t dilly-dally if someone is sharing the machine with you (that includes don’t rest too long or spend time talking to your friends, which is prevalent at David Barton). Wipe your sweat off the machine. If you change the seat or the weight, put it back for the other person. Don’t ask to work in if two people are already sharing the machine, and don’t walk over to a machien with your workout partner and ask to work in. In summary, use common sense and be polite.
Comment by Larry — February 13, 2006 @ 4:42 pm
Thanks. OK, it was a pull-up machine, there’s only one of those, she asked me while I was re-setting the weights to do one last set of 10 pullups with a little more help. I was kind of taken aback ’cause I’ve never been asked to get off of a machine I was using) but it sounds like she may’ve been doing something that the regular circuit-doing set just does. I’m so random about my gym workouts, it’s the only way I can keep from getting bored (it is irksome but to this day I have to admit that Eric was the one who actually taught me how to use a gym without getting bored). No catfight or anything, I told her I was only going to do 10 more & she waited.
Comment by bonnie — February 16, 2006 @ 1:08 pm