Precor Elliptical, 15' gluteal and 15' interval program. The incline varies in these, unlike in the manual one which is my wont but I kept the resistance at 12/20.
On the first Monday of a new year, I expect I should be pleased not to have had to wait for a machine. Two ellipticals in the main area were abandoned but still claimed, as if the gym permitted reservation. I went first to an empty machine and was told "Oh that's Robin's," as if Robin were someone I should know, or owned the machine, or some other sarcastic thing that I didn't say.
The next machine had a towel and headphones on it. Was I being assertive, or was I being rude? I went with assertive for now. I had begun exercising when a man walked up to reclaim the equipment. I had looked around for scuttlebutters and seen none, and this man approached from outside the room. He was polite, also assertive. But you left it, and you can't reserve one, and it's a crowded time of day. He acknowledged that, and it was his acknowledgment that allowed me to yield the machine. I do think he was wrong to think that his headphones rather than his presence and usage gave him claim, but my desire to be accommodating and willing to compromise is more important than my judgment of his behavior. It's important to me that I could yield without resentment--though maybe I could do so because my disregarding his claim, however specious, was wrong.
And anyway, in the less popular because cramped and hot other room I used the last available elliptical. This also helped me not to resent.
Another reason this other room is less popular might be that it still has televisions suspended from the ceiling rather than individually. I was too much to one side to read the closed captions on the set closest to me, which is a fine thing, because it was tuned to Fox News. I recently watched a segment on Fox News because a Dot Orgerista was interviewed in it. I think one reason the Dot Orgger got only seven seconds of a two-minute piece is that what he had to say wasn't adequately skewed to its bias. I watched a blank green wall instead of people shooting hoops--which is yet another reason this other room is the last resort.
Afterward we got massive salads during a big shop at Whole Foods. Blueberries were available. Spinach and shredded carrot and diced zucchini and sliced cucumber and crescents of celery and whole grape tomatoes and a sprinkling of cheese and a little wedge of heart of palm and a wee strip of red pepper and a few chunks pineapple and blueberries blueberries blueberries blueberries.