web analytics

JerseySmarts.com

Funny Folks at the New Gym

Posted on by

I’ve been attending Gold’s Gym in Pier Village for a few months now (since August). One of the best parts about going to the gym, for me, is the humor involved with the whole trip.

However, since I generally go to Gold’s between 5:30am and 6:00am and stay until about 7:30am, there really isn’t that much to laugh at. Unlike my old gym, there are no creepy old men walking around naked in the locker room nor are there a bunch of yentas sitting around gabbing about their maids. It’s actually a nice change!

This past Monday and Tuesday (yesterday), though, I went to the gym for the first time at night. Oh boy…there were some good laughs at night!

The funniest thing that I kept seeing at night were guys walking around with severe cases of ILS. What is ILS you ask? Imaginary Lat Syndrome.

There is absolutely nothing funnier than seeing some guy walking around the weightlifting area with his arms all blown out as he constantly looks down at his chest and gazes at himself in the mirror. I mean, I’m not against guys or girls who are jacked to show off their bodies a little bit. Go for it. My body isn’t made that way and I’m a big guy anyway, so I’ll never have the opportunity to do that, but if you’ve worked hard to build up your body, then sure, pop a muscle pose in the mirror once in a while.

But when guys with just the smallest bit of definition on their arms are walking around with ILS and constantly looking for the valley in their chest – it’s a fucking riot! I was looking down at the weight room from the treadmills on the second floor on Monday night and I almost laughed out loud looking at these two douchebags who were so completely about themselves that I’m surprised it wasn’t “gay night” at the gym or something.

Seeing something like that almost knocks you square off the treadmill! Ah…gotta love the funny folks at the gym.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Posted on by

Mainly at my GGL’s urging I started reading the Harry Potter series of books. I have to admit that I read the first two books months ago and now that I’m ready to begin the third one, I figured I might as well post book reviews on the blog about the previous books.

The thing that really strikes you in terms of content in the first Harry Potter book is how badly he’s treated by the Dursleys. On top of that, the utter fear that people in the book have of Voldemort is well portrayed by author J.K. Rowling. I also think that as far as content goes, this book seems very elementary – which is OK! Whenever I hear some of the fraternity guys that I advise talking about Harry Potter, I always have to remind myself that today’s 18 – 22 year olds grew up reading this story. So it’s only natural that these guys would be talking about it like it’s second nature – just as it’s only natural that I would read this book and think that it’s written for young kids.

As far as the writing style, again, it’s elementary. That’s not a knock on Rowling, though. She wrote it VERY well in an elementary style and focused on details and character development like not many elementary books do. Overall it was a very well-written piece of literature.

And no one can deny the impact that this book had on the populous. People read this and went absolutely bonkers over Harry Potter and the entire world he lives in. It spawned successor books, movies, merchandising, and a ton of other Potter-related things. I enjoyed reading this book probably for the same reasons that many readers around the world enjoyed it – it was a nice, quick read that had a good story to go with it.

I’ll get some reviews of the movies up here on the blog at some point – be on the lookout. I recommend anyone who hasn’t read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to go out and get a copy (chances are any little kid on your street has a copy that you can borrow). You’ll enjoy it!

A Clean Inbox

Posted on by

You know what’s exciting? A clean inbox.

I just cleared out all of my Inboxes from my work e-mail address, my Gmail address, and my Yahoo address. It’s more exciting than that because my Gmail address also catches all of the Usable Web Solutions, LLC e-mails and my Yahoo address catches the huge number of SigmaPi.com e-mails that come flowing in, in addition to the large number of Yahoo e-mails that obviously flow there.

And yes, I know that I’m the biggest nerd on earth because I just blogged about having clean inboxes for the first time in six months. But remember that I can now – and always will be able to – kick the shit out of you. 🙂

Book Review: The Good, the Bad & the Mad: Weird People in American History

Posted on by

Sometimes you get a book because it’s on the $2 rack at Barnes and Noble. This would be one of those books. That being said, I think that it was an interesting read, if not necessarily a fun one.

The author, E. Randall Floyd, does an absolutely magnificent job of finding some of our American weirdos. Most of the nut jobs are from the 19th Century (that’s 1800 – 1899 for you historically inept folks out there) and it’s great reading about what they used to do and then thinking about how they could have possibly fit into society back then! There is one great story about the widow of the guy who invented one of America’s most popular guns and how she was haunted by the spirits of those who were killed by that particular gun.

So what does she do to ease the spirits?

She builds a monster of a house that has hundreds of rooms, bathrooms, hallways, windows all over the place, random doors leading to no where…absolute insanity! Come to think of it, I might have worked for a lunatic that did similar things in Monmouth County at one point…

In any event, the book was definitely worth the reduced price. It was a great read while I was on the treadmill at the gym. I’m not really sure what it retails for, but if you like American History, you’ll enjoy reading this book. Above I said that it wasn’t necessarily a “fun” read. I say that because I like to read a lot about a person and I sort of get agitated when I get a little tease about their life and times.

But that’s just one of my literary quirks.

Again, for those of you who like American history and especially aspects of American history that aren’t covered too much, this is a great read for you.

DVD Review: Smallville, Season 5

Posted on by

It’s unbelievable that the last Smallville Review that I wrote was back in February. Seems like such a long time ago…

If I had to categorize Season 5, I would say that this was the “growing up” season of Smallville. One of the biggest complaints that I always hear about this show is that some of the show plots are high school-ish and juvenile. Well, I agree with that going back a few seasons – you can’t really deny it. However, Season 5 was really the season where the writers obviously had enough of being labeled a preteen show and wanted to prove that they could write stories at a more mature level.

So did they succeed?

Partly.

Sure the season was a lot more mature-minded, but I think that they forced themselves into growing up in areas where it wasn’t really necessary. The most obvious example was killing off Jonathon Kent. I don’t know if his contract was coming up and they needed him off the show or if something outside the “Smallville” world pulled him away, but his death was poorly written at best and leaves a gaping hole in the overall plot of the show.

Now, I’m not going to completely write off Daddy Kent’s death because the writers can prove that there is something bigger going on. They could continue to use him in the occasional episode and he can continue to be a positive influence in Clark’s life. However, if that doesn’t happen, then I see very little redeeming value in getting rid of Jonathon.

Almost as confusing was the beginning of the awkward relationship between Lana and Lex. And the way Season 5 ended left no clues about where any of that is going (which is a good thing). Actually, let me say that the final two episodes of Season 5 were fantastic. Oh, and good for the writers for not ending the season with a meteor shower or some other “bleh” scenario. The coming of Zod and the abolishment of Clark leave a nice opening for the first episode of Season 6…which started the other day and I missed!

As if you even were wondering…I highly suggest watching Smallville Season 5 and tuning in on Thursday nights to see Smallville on The CW.