My Drug of Choice: The Gym

I was up at 6 a.m. this morning and on the elliptical machine by 6:30 a.m. I watched 10 minutes of the morning news before switching over to the treadmill for the last 15 minutes of the news program. I focused on upper body weight strength before hitting the showers and getting ready for work. Was plugged into my computer by 7:52 a.m. So far, so good.

I'm feeling good - energized. Although, let's be honest, if someone offered a nap I would take it -- I'm still not sleeping well and fighting with my REM cycle. While I waited for my computer to boot up this morning, I thought of the reasons why I love my new gym:

• The towels for the shower are bath towels, not skimpy handkerchief-sized towels that are scratchy and barely cover your bare butt.
• The TV monitors are not only flat-screen, but you can watch the TV and read the closed caption without having to plug your headphones in. In other words, if you want to work out to music but also read the news scroll at the bottom of the TV, you can do that. (At Boston Sports Club, you couldn't watch the TV unless you plugged your headphones in, which means you couldn't use your iPod).
• I didn't have to wait for a machine. The gym is small but even during the peak hours (pre-work) I wasn't waiting to work out.
• The bathrooms are clean. There is no mold in the showers and the shower mats are clean (unlike the above-mentioned gym).
• The staff is so friendly. At BSC, they virtually ignored me when I walked in the door. A mere glance and a towel thrown my way was the closest thing to a greeting I got at the gym. This morning, I was greeted with my name, and on my way out I was asked "How was your workout?", and told to have a nice day. It was very pleasant.

That's it for now. The new gym is my current drug of choice and I'm happy to be addicted to it. Let's hope this addiction lasts.