Ben and Jerry's vs. the gym

Two significant events happened on the same day this week: I joined the gym, and a new Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop opened down the street from our school. Coincidental timing? I think not.

The gym is a small but very convenient facility located on the top floor of the same building that our school is in. The school occupies the second floor, and the gym is on the fifth floor, so all I have to do to go to the gym is head up a few flights of stairs (talk about taking away possibilities for excuses!). The gym basically consisists of one big room with the machines and weights, a small office, and men's and women's locker rooms. There are several treadmills, bikes, and stairmasters, plus various weight machines and free weights. The treadmills look out onto the street the school is on, with the mountains visible in the distance- an extra bonus, I suppose. It's not the nicest gym I've been to, but it's very adequate and will have everything I need. Plus, you can't beat the location!

The grand opening of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream store was a sight to behold. On Thursday morning we encountered a ten-foot tall man on stilts walking down the street in long, lemon-yellow pants. An arch of brightly colored balloons adorned the doorway of the store, and as music pumped out from large, booming speakers, girls gave out balloons to the children and coupons to their mothers. The sweet smell of waffle cones drifted out onto the street, inviting passers-by to enter ice cream paradise (in my opinion, that's all the advertising they really needed, but I suppose I can see why they did all the other stuff too). A large inflatable clown stood in front of the shop facing the street, his untethered right hand waving wildly at passing cars. And I have been sentenced to walk past this ice cream shop every day going to and from work. With the coincidental timing of the new gym membership, I feel like a character from one of those old Looney Tunes cartoons with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other! Let's hope that the angel is just a little bit stonger...