I feel good

Months after leaving MBNA, I finally have started to work out again. I used to be able to work out daily for free there, and when that privilege ended (something about taking a severance cutting off my use of the gym … got me), I pretty much stopped working out. The first two months kept me busy around the house, but when I started working – and working long hours – the whole eating well and keeping fit thing started to fly out the window. I gained weight, I stopped sleeping well (although I’ll find out more about the sleeping thing next week) and I started to just not feel as well.

So, I joined a gym near where I work. Today was my first workout, although it was an abbreviated one considering my lack of cardio training all summer. I also discovered that while the Bally’s King of Prussia is a beautiful facility, they don’t supply towels. They might have mentioned that when I signed up. I used my clean t-shirt to dry off instead. Other than that, I like it … if first day impressions count for much. It’s got everything under the sun in terms of equipment, a pool, a track, aerobic and spinning classes, 2 racquetball courts – pretty nice. I think I’ll actually be motivated to haul my butt out of bed before work because it saves me time in my commute. And if I sleep better, so much the better.

In other news, we’re still waiting to hear about the damage down south due to Hurricane-Tropical Storm-Hurricane-ad infinitum Ophelia. My parent’s beachhouse is in N. Topsail Beach, which took a nearly direct hit. I’ve heard some scattered stuff but nothing concrete. Hopefully the house weathered it okay.

I forgot to mention this, but I actually got to read 3 books over vacation. I reviewed them, and would highly recommend picking up A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks. It’s a great book about the author’s assignment to write about the scientists studying these sharks off of the Farallon Islands, and how she gets much more involved. You can read my reviews below:

The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Unusually Stupid Americans by Kathryn and Ross Petras