Call within the next 17 minutes.

Usually when I go to the gym I bring along a book on my ipod.  I have found I can be there for much longer periods of time that way.  I listen and stretch, and pull and walk and push, etc while listening to an interesting book.  Nice combo.   The ipod also makes those 30 minutes on the Treadmill fly by.

Yesterday I got to the gym and realized I had left the ipod sitting with my knitting.  sigh...  I had a fleeting thought of "Oh now I have a good excuse not to exercise."  but overcame myself and went in.   I decided to use one of the treadmills that are in front of a TV instead of in front of a big glass window overlooking the inlet from the lake.

  

I am not a TV watcher.  I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and watched TV, let alone enjoyed what I was seeing.  Yesterday I decided to live dangerously and allow the TV to amuse me.  I carefully looked at my choices and decided to try the one in front of Sitcoms and TV series.   The only other free treadmills were in front of news or sports.

Boy howdy did I choose the wrong Treadmill.   Whatever was on was real dreck.  Not only did you have to read the closed captions so as not to disturb others, but the plot, if it was that, was so stupid.   Something about a resort or a casino that had a chef contest.  The chefs were nasty to each other from the get go.  Not nice, and then somehow there were cops involved who were interrogating a Middle Eastern man because he looked Middle Eastern.  I was confused and not at all intrigued.  Of course there were the obligatory half nude women.

However on the TV to the left of me, which said NEWS, was an infomercial.  A woman was showing a guy how to cook a whole lot of dishes in this nifty electric  contraption that somehow combined a panini machine, with an electric frying pan.  Quick easy meal preparation.  Of course she used spray stuff instead of oil or butter so it looked like she was cooking healthy, even though she was using a great deal of cheese and meats.

I don't usually eat before the gym.  I eat afterwards relishing the calories I have used up and thinking I am doing good for myself.   Yesterday was no exception.   

So there I was looking at panini's and pizzas, and wraps, and cinnamon rolls and tortillas with great fillings and omelettes and franks in pancake batter and stuffed french toast.   I was walking.  I was using up calories and I was getting very hungry.

Periodically in this infomercial they cut to how one could order this 'not sold in stores' miracle machine and all the extras one could get plus the low low price and if you only called within the next 17 minutes they would reduce the price from 3 to merely 2 payments of $19.95

I found myself memorizing the phone number.  I noticed that I would not be off the treadmill within 17 minutes but thought they might be just as happy to hear from me in half an hour as not at all.   So I completed the treadmill, clocking in 1. 3 miles and 122 calories.

I went down to the locker room, got myself dressed in record time. I leave my cell phone in the car while I am working out.  On the way to the car I began to question my urgency.  By the time I got to the car I was wondering just why I 'needed' this gadget.   When I got the cell opened I realized my 'have to' was now "Do I really want this?"

I am proud to tell you I did not buy this piece of economic stimulation.  I went across the street instead and order a chicken sandwich with fries and iced tea.   I sat on the dock of the restaurant and enjoyed the inlet floating by since I missed that nicety in the gym.

So today I went to their website to get a pic of the machine and here was what I saw.