The exercise routine I follow is running, abs, and light weights. The abs and weights I do in my home. And the running I do exclusively outside.

Lately it has been VERY cold outside when I go to run which tends to tighten up my muscles and joints, making it very difficult to run. So I have been considering joining a gym that is very close to my house in order to run on a treadmill when it is too cold to run outside.

This weekend I got a trial pass for the gym to see if I would like it. Yesterday I tried it out.

Normally I run in the morning throughout my neighborhood. I wake up, get out of bed, put on my running clothes and go. The whole routine only takes about 30 minutes. The gym, I learned, takes a lot more work; and a whole lot more time.

I had to get up and get dressed. I had to drive to the gym (because it was very cold and I didn’t have a lot of time to walk there). I had to check in with my pass at the front desk. I had to go into the locker room and put my stuff in a locker. I had to find a vacant place to stretch out. I had to find a machine that worked. I had to set up the machine. I used the machine. Then when done with exercising I had to go back to the locker room to get my stuff, then go out to my car to go home. This routine took forever compared to the normal one.

Not only did going to the gym take a lot more work and a lot more time; there was also a ton of distraction for my ADD (not diagnosed)  mind to handle:

One of the first things I noticed as I walked in were lots of guys strutting around like roosters trying to impress each other and the hens around them by the way they carried themselves, the clothes they wore, and how they looked at others- especially the belittling looks they gave to the other men. One guy even laughed at me for some reason while I was lifting weights??

Another thing that was distracting were the old guys walking around naked in the locker room- it’s been a while since being around naked guys (HS PE) and I’d like to keep it that way.

Once I finally got to the treadmills I as going to work on, I stepped on one to begin running only to find out that I could not get it to work. I had to go to another and attempt to figure out how to program it for the run I wanted to do. I began to run at a high pace to reach a goal of three miles when all of the sudden, about 1.75 miles into the run, the treadmill halted to a dead stop- almost throwing me off. I hadn’t pressed any buttons, it just quit working and I could not get it to start up again.

So with my heart rate soaring I stepped to the treadmill next to me in order to continue my run, only to learn that it would not turn on either. I tried another and got to running again but the speed kept lowering to a level I did not want it to be at without me adjusting it.

What a waste of time; I can’t spend the majority of my valuable workout time simply trying to get a machine to work.

I didn’t really like the treadmill either. There was no sense of going anywhere or accomplishing anything like there is outside. I got very bored.

The hand rails on each side of me on the treadmill were also very constricting. I felt like I was running inside of a box, unable to move my arms freely.

In front of me were 6 TVs playing various different shows. My ADD and OCD mind felt like I had to watch and know what was going on one each show. My eyes tried to scan the closed captioning to read what my ears could not hear all while trying to listen to a podcast. Many of the shows had sexual undertones and attractive women in the leading roles which did not help my mind stay focused on honoring God with my body while I worked out.

Then to top it all off; there were fit, young, attractive women in tights and tight fitting sport’s tops everywhere! How can I give the treadmill all that I have when a spandex enveloped perfectly shaped female butt bounces up and down in front of me the whole time?! I’m a man for Pete’s sake. This gym thing is tough!

So after over an hour of frustration and distractions I determined that the gym was not for me and for now I will stick to a shorter more focused and effective workout- even if it is 15 degrees outside.

I have always been in the school of thought that at a restaurant you provide tips to an employee when they take your order while you are sitting at your table, bring out the food and drinks that you have ordered to your table, and come back to check on you several times during your dining experience to make sure that your food and drink are satisfactory and to offer you more food and drink.

When this takes place, granted the service is satisfactory, you then give that employee a 15% tip. Tipping more than 15% is excessive because, afterall, they are simply doing their job and getting paid to do so by their employer. Tips larger than 15% should only be given when extremely good service has been provided.

While tipping less than 15%, even if the service has been inadequate, is considered rude because in most places a waiter or waitress is taxed on a 15% tax average.  However if service has been intentionally horrible on the part of the employee, then you may consider foregoing a tip or giving a very small one. A better option, though, is to give a normal tip for poor service, but leave a note describing the bad service or nicely attempt to tell the employee in person.

Questions come into play, though, while at establishments where you order at a counter, but someone comes to serve you at your table. Or nicer buffet-type restaurants where someone comes to take your drink order and services your table with those drinks, but you have to get your own food from the buffet line. In these circumstances, I believe a $1-3 tip is appropriate regardless of what your bill comes to.

Things get more tricky, and more irritating, at places where you order at a counter and your food or drink are prepared for you behind that counter until it is handed to you on the other side of that counter. Usually there is one person who takes your order and your money, several people who are involved in making and preparing your order, and another person who gives you your order. All of these people are simply doing the jobs that their employer pays them to do- nothing more and really no one-on-one service has been provided. Why should they recieve a tip??

Many of these places have “tip jars” out on their counters to guilt people into tipping. One place this really gets on my nerves is Starbucks: they are extremely overpriced as it is and their employees are paid decent wages and receive decent benefits for what they do, yet they try to guilt their customers into forking over even more money than what they have already paid for a service that their employees are paid to do in the first place.

Debit cards make this process more difficult. Many of these counter service places, when you pay with a debit card, make you sign a reciept for your card purchase and on these reciepts there is a place to write in how much you would like to tip- once again guilting you into to paying more than you already have. I am always afraid that after I leave, that the employee who rang me up will add a tip onto my reciept. So, I am always sure to write the total amount of my purchase down underneath the blank left for a tip to lessen the chance of fraud.

This weekend, at a snobby-posh-overpriced counter service sandwich shop I went to, the receipt that had to be signed actually provided you with suggested tip amounts to write in!? Give me a break!

So- How Do You Tip?

A well-to-do, beautiful, poised upper middle aged woman came into the establishment with a rather plain looking slightly overweight younger midddle aged woman. As they walked in together; fake laughter and smiles ensued. The well-to-do woman’s energy captured the attention of everyon at the Starbucks as she came in. She offered to buy the other one her coffee.

I came to find out right away that the older woman was representing a local church; and that the younger woman was someone who had recently began attending the church. After listening more, I realized that the older woman was a pastor at the church’s wife.

The pastor’s wife kept talking about church, church, church, church. Never once did I hear the word Jesus, Bible, or Christianity.

She told this woman all about her church and her husband- the pastor.  She wanted to know all of the intricate details of this lady’s past church attendance and exactly what her and her husband thought of their church. Once again, no talk about Jesus.

And then it happened. The deal became evident- the church membership application was taken out of a fancy leather bag and was handed to the younger woman. No talk about Jesus, no talk about spirituality, no talk about Christianity; just a 1 hour speal to nab another church member- sickening!

From experiences like this; I have developed the Jesus test. When I encounter someone who claims to be a Christian, but comes across as a little weird, a little too legalistic, a little too charasmatic; I try to start conversations that will naturally lead to saying the word “Jesus” or “Christ”. But usually it doesn’t happen, which leads me to conclude that the person’s Chrisitianity is either non-existant or very watered down. Either way is no place to be.

When you use the last of the toilet paper while going to the bathroom- and a new roll is within 3 feet of the toilet- it is your human obligation to get a new roll for the next person who will be taking your seat. And when you get this new roll, it is your most holy of duties to actually put it back on the dispenser- not to just set the new roll on the counter or to prop it between the old roll and the wall; but to actually put it on the roll. And once you complete these most precious of duties, you must then throw away the used-up role.

One who fails to perform these duties is not yet complete in his quest for a better humanity.