The Search For The Perfect Gym Continues...

My May was a quiet one......not too much going on, what I had scheduled was just predictable social time. Getting caught up on some bills and trying not to spend too much recreational money, so close to paying stuff completely off. I did splurge this weekend and went to the movies to see "Now You See Me", it was an "OK" movie with some action, but I think the cheesy predictable romance portion of it could of been kept out. But, it was just an ok movie and I won't have to see it again. I'll be looking for new movies coming out over the summer.

I bought a domain name over the weekend (yes, another one) and those are never expensive, you just hope to make something out of it that will recoup some of the $14.00 you dropped into buying it. So I'll be playing around with that over the next few months.

Like I said June is here and I have a few things going on to pre-occupy myself. I have a few educational clinics coming up, along with a few free classes at gyms I'm looking into. Over the past few months I've been scoping out different gyms and taking advantage of their "free one class" and "free two week" classes. Every gym has it's promotion going on and I've been hopping around using the promotion to find a gym that fits me and what I'm looking for to suit my fitness needs. Let me stop and explain what I'm looking for so we are all on the same page: I'm looking for a hands on self defense class to learn street level defense moves to protect myself in a dangerous situation. I'm also looking for a class that would keep me fit and in shape. If this is two different gyms, then so be it, but that's the nuggets that I'm looking for. And another thing I've learned by doing this is that when you talk to a gym and they explain (with the best of intentions) that they have what you are "looking for", you still have to take the time to try the free classes to see for yourself and judge for yourself if that class's technique and structure is what you are looking for.

So over the last few months I've been taking advantage of about 7 different gym promotions, STILL not happy with the results of the class. One of the gyms was a CrossFit box gym, I was very excited about the CrossFit frenzy until I saw the trainers were on their cell phones texting and typing something out vigorously and not paying attention to the students form and execution of the exercises, also giving "blow off" answers to any questions the students had to and answer of "Just do what's on the white board". Very disappointment in the attentiveness of the trainers there.

My next free session of classes was at a kickboxing class. I liked this class and their hours fit into my schedule and also the price plan weren't too bad either. The problem? Too far for me to go. Yep, it was way out of the way for me between my job and going home. I would need something on the route home so the search continues.

I found a gym that was convenient to my route home. Great location and offered great classes including the infamous "TRX" class which I was hoping to try out. The guy that hosted my tour and gave me all my info on this gym was nice, but you know those people who "show" off what they know trying to impress you on what they know and when they teach you, it's more talking and less teaching. Well, simple put, the teacher talked more than he trained. I understand that he has to explain it to us, but getting comfortable on the floor to watch him demonstrate it over and over in more of an advance level instead of a beginners level, just wasn't my pace of learning. If that wasn't enough of me the leave, the price sure was because I wasn't paying $145 dollars a month to learn a few basic formatted moves and exercises that wouldn't help me on the street to defend myself. Moving on......

Next stop was at a Martial Arts Kempo school. They were having a two week free trial and I jumped on board to learn what Kempo was all about. Again, this is what I'm talking about when I say talk is nothing compared to what actually happens in class. So Kempo was explained to me verbally and I was showed a few preliminary moves. Then they put me in the class setting. Whoa! Can you say "kid friendly". This program is designed around kids ages 7 years old to 15 years old. There were so older people in the classes and if they liked to be talked to like a 7 years old and do 10 push up (and no more), then the class is coddled for them. It was too elementary for me and the price after the two weeks (which I did use up the entire two week trial) was way too high for my budget coming in at about $42 dollars  a week for a 45 minute class twice a week. No thank you, I left after my two week trial.

Next stop was a MMA class, (I thought "Now this is getting exciting!"), so I contacted the MMA school right down the street from my house, I could walk there in 30 minutes. So I stop by and the classes are from 6:30pm to 8pm. Grrrrrrrr, I get out of work at 6:30pm and couldn't make it to class until 7pm on the nose. The teachers said he didn't mind having a class interrupted with a late student due to my circumstances, but I felt funny about it. Walking into a class half way thru and finding a partner to train with and then playing catch up with what I learned the last half hour......I just don't know.....so no. The price wasn't too bad here coming in at $99 a month for unlimited classes. (Note: no morning classes at all). So all there was for me was for me to interrupt classes and play catch up. I'll pass.

Now, this brings me up to where I am now. I've found two gyms that are relatively (no complains on location) close to my work and my home. So far, so good. Each gym (separate gyms) are offering a one class for free which I will be going to one of the gym's free classes on this coming Thursday 7pm to 7:50pm. Did you get that: 7pm to 7:50pm - I can do that!! And also the price isn't too bad either sitting at $85 dollars a month for unlimited classes. The other gym closer to my house is all about self defense (as they put it "on a street level") but I don't know the hours of the classes yet nor do I know the price of the classes to continue after the one free class. I did email them today to find out this information, I'm hoping to hear back from them sometime this week or I'll be stopping by and paying a visit on the way home from work. Both of their websites looked like women friendly and encourage no experienced students to sign up, that's a plus :)

So my quest for the perfect gym is still underway and we will see what this week brings to the table. Have a good night, I'll be back to update you! :)

Money and Snow

Again, I didn't know what to title this blog posting so instead of wasting anymore time on it, I just called it as I saw it......

I saw a little TV report on the dollar bill this week, how it costs 7 cents to make a dollar bill and the dollar bill only lasts 36 months in circulation. They were saying that they are eventually going to take the paper dollar bill out of circulation completely and replace it with a dollar coin. Well, the first coin dollar was minted in 1794, but it either hasn't caught on or is not too popular today (or both).....but what I'm thinking is that people are just set in their ways and have a hard time adjusting to major changes like switching over from a paper dollar bill to a coin dollar after all these years.

If you want my opinion on the whole thing, I like the dollar coin. So in my effort to switch over from one to the other, I went to my bank yesterday and gave the teller a $5 dollar bill and asked for some $1 coins. The teller told me to hold on while she gets some for me. No wonder these $1 coins are not getting around, the teller had to "go get them". Okay, *tap tap tap* I waited. She came back and said "We only have three, do you still want them?" So I said "Sure". She passed me the three coins and two dollar bills. How are we suppose to get these coins into the public cash flow if they aren't easily accessible? Do you like the dollar coin or would you prefer to keep the dollar bill around?



Well, we got snow today......I was hoping it would just come up to Massachusetts and turn around and head south again (yeah, I know, wishing thinking), but the storm showed up on our front door step with heavy snow. There were a fair share of accidents on roadways and 100,000 people lost power by before 9pm. It started snowing around 3pm and I got home around 4pm and stayed home. It's crazy to drive in this weather condition and if there's not a need to go wandering around out there, then just don't.

Now, speaking the snow. Jake is not too crazy about the snow. I brought him downstairs to do his duty around 6pm and I put him under the stairs where it was dry and he was happy. Now, this little 8 pound baby has a game he likes to play when there's snow on the ground. I don't know where he learned it, but he's gotten good at it over the last few years. So anyways, when he's done doing his business, he'll step in the snow and stop. He then pulls up one of his front paws slowly and look at me and acts like he has a broken foot and can't walk. That front leg is raised with paw dangling down and he has this pitiful look on his face. So, of course, sucker me, walks over to him, picks him up and carries him up three flights of stairs. Now, he doesn't do this in the other 3/4 of the year, just when there is snow on the ground and he just doesn't like walking, or standing, or crossing over it at all. Now, I forgot about this little game of his until he reminded me about it today. So, sure enough, once again, he did his business and the second his paws hit the snow, the front paw comes up and he's goes into this "frozen" mode like he's stuck with a "broken foot". I call this the "broken foot" game. And, of course, after I carry him upstairs, his runs in the living room all happy again. Funny how all four paws work the minute then he hits the living room floor.

So, I think I yapped enough for today. Have a good night! :) I'm gonna put "broken foot" to bed now. LOL!

Thursday July 14, 2011

Okay, still on my mission to max out my health benefits from my company. I went to the dentist today and I got 5 x-rays and a cleaning. After the cleaning from the dental technician, the doctor came in and (I don't hide anything I told everyone there that my insurance was to expire on the last day of the month) the doctor came in and check things out with my teeth and told me that I needed two restorations (deep cavities) and two wisdom teeth pulled out. Ugh. Okay, okay. So I made an appointment for Monday at 11am for this "major surgery". I asked the doctor if he thought I needed any more follow ups after Monday's appointment and he said, "Once we get that done, you are good to go for a long time". I was happy about that, but Monday isn't here, and I just dread going to the dentist, but I'll survive.

I cleaned out my car today. 8 years of company crap built up inside my car. Old log books, training material, employee handbook, more rule books, sweatshirts, t-shirts, baseball caps all my the company name on them. All went into a trash bag today. Actually I tried to stuff it all into one trash bag, but didn't succeed, so two trash bags it was. I just accumulated so much stuff.

I didn't really do much after that. Mom and I went out for lunch this afternoon and taking advantage of lunch specials at restaurants are alot of fun :) I think I have to curb my spending just a tad, but I haven't been that bad about spending money; today's lunch for two came to $17.17, and that's all the money I leisurely spent. The dentist cost me $100 today due to a deductible, and I was told for everything that will be done on Monday the bill shouldn't be higher than $150. I can't complain about that.

Tonight I'm having corn on the cob at home and watching TV. I'm trying to be a little productive everyday this week with the more serious stuff (medical, dental, employment securities claim, etc.), next week I'm bound to have some fun. Have a nice night.