Thank You Massachusetts

Thank you Commonwealth of Massachusetts: we got our huge state income tax return today. One dollar. We'll try not to spend it all in one place.

The weather here is finally warming up - hopefully for good. I'm dying to get out and run (but alas, the hip...)! I joined a gym a few weeks ago. I am now up and out early in the morning to go do some form of exercise. The worst part is sitting on a bike and watching terrible morning news (traffic, weather, teaser for a story that won't be played for another half-hour - replayed every 15 minutes) and that awful, slow calorie counter that's always on exercise machines. The best part is the people-watching. The gym is a great place for people watching! Some of my favorite observations:

• The other day there was a 30-something-year-old guy flexing his muscles in the mirror. I always thought it was a stereotype that perhaps wasn't true, but this guy had no shame in gritting his teeth and flexing until his veins popped out (and he wasn't lifting anything).
  
• A few days ago I saw a hardcore "gym rat." She was about 5' and probably weighed about 90 pounds. Ripped. And she wore those little fingerless gloves.
  
• I've seen zillions of the other kind of "gym rat." Tons of 20-something-year-old girls carrying around their trashy magazines and hogging the ellipticals listening to their iPods.
  
• Earlier this week I saw a guy in his 60s who was mostly bald and had that wispy "professor" ring of hair around his head. He was wearing a nice button-up white-collared shirt complete with pocket protector, a permanent marker, and two pens. He was also wearing tall black socks with gym shorts and sneakers. Excellent look for him. He also happened to be doing some sort of high-speed tai chi or something.
  
• On my way home from the gym, I saw a lady in her 70s wearing a maroon velor jogging suit and cruising by on one of those little razor scooters!

It is getting lighter in the mornings so hopefully soon I'll be able to bike outside. Last Saturday I went for a ride during the day, but I hadn't been on a bike since college and felt like I was going to fall over half the time (I have no coordination! Doggone shoe clips!).