Crunch Gym

Crunch Gym
Crunch Gym, River North, Chicago

When I lived in East Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park I used to go to the Cheetah Gym on North Avenue. When Dallas and I moved to Roscoe Village there wasn’t a gym in the neighborhood except for Curves, which I wasn’t interested in. Nobody must have been interested in that gym because it closed while we lived in the neighborhood. There was the Lakeview YMCA, but I have to have something close or I won’t go. In Logan Square there isn’t a gym, but there are rumors that Cheetah is going to open this summer. I would like to join Cheetah, then, but decided that I couldn’t put off not exercising any more. In the winter I am just a lazy couch potato. In the summer I will ride my bike every single day, but it’s not a complete work out.

On Friday I joined Crunch Gym at a location that is near my office. They were having a promotion where I got $150 off my enrollment fee (it was $49) and got my monthly membership reduced to $49/month. That’s $10 off the normal membership fee. I also get 2 free personal trainer sessions. I’m especially interested in these PT sessions because even when I did go to the gym all I did was walk and try to run on the treadmill. I say try to run because I actually hate running. I thought a PT would be able to teach me some new things and get me psyched to be at the gym. Start me off on the right foot. If I decide I like it Crunch is also having a special on some super cheap PT sessions. My membership at Crunch is month to month so I can stay a member as long or as little as I like. And if I decide to move to a different gym, I’m not tied into a yearly membership.

Last night I met Eric, my new personal trainer. We talked for a bit about goals and stuff. Then we got going. I did a lot of step exercises, squats, lunges, ab exercises, push ups, jumping jacks, and squat thrusts. Not anything I’d normally do, but definitely was interesting and challenging. I was sore last night. I’m not going to lie. Walking down the red line steps, transferring up and down steps at Jackson to the Blue Line and walking down the California Blue Line stairs were a challenge. Plus the gym is in a basement. It’s a lot of stairs to do after a tough work out! Today, I expected not to be able to move, but I’m ok. A bit sore, but manageable. Still looking forward to my next PT session on Friday, which is good. Eric says he is all over the place doing functional exercises like the ones we did last night, stuff on the trampoline, with weights, and in the boxing ring. Looking forward to the variety and working out different muscles. Instead of legs on my bike or legs on the treadmill every single time.

The T


The T, Cambridge, MA

MBTA is Boston’s mass transit system, but it’s better known as “The T.” The branding and signs for The T are so bold and simple. No wonder Dallas and Jess called the El and the Subway The T for so long after they moved from Boston.

This is the inbound MIT/Kendall stop on the Red Line as seen from my hotel room –


MIT/Kendall T Red Line T Stop, Cambridge, MA

Soul of Chicago Express

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Chicagoist snacks, Roscoe Village, Chicago

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Rem Koolhaas designed, IIT, Chicago

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Wilson Red Line Station, Uptown, Chicago

Last weekend Chicagoist sponsored the Soul of Chicago Express tour. We provided snacks and beverages for the 50+ people that attended the CTA tour. Tony Coppoletta arranged the tour and it was pretty great. We went to stations on the south side and the west side that I’d probably have never gone to on my own. Plus I learned a lot about routes and stations that I frequent. Great info, great music, great snacks! Also, surprise!, the CTA people were really nice.

See also:
» Chicagoist post on the tour
» Photos I took for Chicagoist
» Everyone’s photos of the tour on Flickr

Something Annoying

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Washington Red Line Station, The Loop, Chicago

What bothers me about this ad for Something New (even though I heard the movie might be good):

1. At first it looks like the names of each actor are above their heads, but if you stand there and look at it for a while while waiting for the train, you realize that they’re not. I don’t know a lot of the actors in the movie, but Blair Underwood‘s name not being above his head was my first tipoff. Then when I looked up the movie online I realized that the two stars of the movie, shown in the center, are actually the first two names listed on the top left. Somehow this doesn’t sit right with me.

2. There are 8 people pictured in the ad and there are 9 names. I went crazy trying to figure out who the extra name was but gave up when a bunch of them didn’t have their photos in IMDB and it became to hard.

3. The ad is supposed to look like a group shot, but it’s obvious from looking at it and looking at other ads online for the movie that they were photographed in groups of 2 or 3 or singly.

I don’t know why these things were grating on me so badly, but don’t get me started on the Dr. Phil ad next to it.

Jackson Tunnel

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Jackson Tunnel, The Loop, Chicago

I always forget that there’s a tunnel between the Jackson Red Line Station & Jackson Blue Line Station. I got on there a few days ago and was thinking that I needed to go up to Washington then transfer but was happily surprised to be reminded I could transfer right there. I wonder if the red & blue criss-crossed tile is representative of this or if it’s just a coincidence.