Day: August 26, 2006

Like the Don Knotts character in the 1964 film, my boy dreams of being a fish. I recall seeing the film as a child and was mesmerized when the live action feature gracefully swam into animation when Mr. Limpett fell from a dock. I’m sure the meaning eluded me back then, but I found this cute dialogue about “being friends” on the Internet Movie Database:

Henry Limpet: Do you suppose that we could just be more or less friends?
Ladyfish: Friends? But wouldn’t that be more or less nothing, Limpet?

As for the incredible Mr. Daley, he has been living his dream for the past 24 hours or so as “Jaws” in his new Playstation2 game. It’s taking him a while to learn the game and at first he got frustrated as he struggled to eat a few seals, “I’m sick of seals. I want to eat people.” Yep, it’s good wholesome fun, and though I may not get to watch the plasma for awhile, nothing warms my heart more than to hear my son shout with glee, “Dad, I just ate the guy from the boat!”

Yesterday I ventured to the gym for the first time in about two months. Attendance was sparse at 3-ish when I showed up, so I had unfettered access to all the contraptions in my usual routine. After two months of slacking though, the routine was not usual. I stretched my calves as I methodically inserted the orange foam earplugs that carry noise cancelling music into my head for sixty minutes. Yeah it had been a while since I’d heard Bruce and the band fire up “My Love Will Not Let You Down” and “Prove It All Night” from NYC to commence the strenuous proceedings.

After stretching for 10 minutes or so, it was on to the abs thingy which is a bench with one of those ab roller things built in. Anyway, prior to my self-imposed stint on the DL, I could easily burn through 3 sets of 100 (25 x 4) crunches in between stops on the Nautilus circuit. Not yesterday, as crunches 251-275 and 276-300 were really tough, with 295-300 being quite brutal. On to the Stairmaster we go… Again, the two-month sabbatical cost me as I managed only 20 minutes at the 5.0 setting when pre-slacker vacation I was able to crank for 30 minutes no problemo. So, I have some hills to climb, but I’ll get there.

One thing about the gym I don’t do is spend time flexing in front of the many mirrors surrounding the exercise floor. Oh yeah, I occasionally do catch a reflection of myself while walking, and yeah, I throw myself a wink, but jeez, I’m not obsessive about it. It’s not just the muscleheads admiring their physiques either. Yesterday as I scanned the floor for something worth looking at while I did a cool-down stretch, I saw this guy really examining his triceps’! The funny thing was, this guy looked about eleven months pregnant, but he wanted to make sure his tri’s looked rock solid. On second thought though, maybe the triceps is the key muscle for reaching into the drive-through window at McDonalds.