NWFlyer

This is true. There's definitely a lot of people who don't come close to getting their money's worth out of their memberships. Of course, it's one of the many reasons I haven't belonged to a true gym in a while. Instead, I work out outside on my own, or workout with my trainer who is at a private studio. Right before I hurt my knee I had moved from 1:1 sessions with my trainer into his boot camp classes, but for now I'm back at 1:1s because I need to modify workouts for a little while longer while I finish up rehab. I like my trainer's approach. Personal training sessions are per session. No contracts, you're not locked in, and as long as you don't cancel a session last minute, you won't be out any money if you stop working out. With his classes, he charges a month at a time, again with no long-term commitment. He figures if he and his staff don't make it something you want to do, then they're not doing their job. It's not about milking you for a ton of money for something you don't use ... it's about actually getting you in great shape. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep, but I've found that annoying people at the gym come in all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels. I was at a hotel gym a few months ago where a guy who by all appearances seemed to be very fit and in great shape, and he sat there reading the Wall Street Journal for five minutes at a time, interrupted by about 20 seconds of working out ... repeated for the whole time I was in there (about 30 minutes). I wondered why he didn't take advantage of the nice lounge chairs in the lobby instead. I get the frustration with the resolution crowd - I get annoyed at the crowds, too, though knowing that it'll be back down to normal levels in a month makes it easier to deal with. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I went off on some horrible opinions I have about the overweight people at my gym. My brain had absolutely no filter. Sorry. Yes, I still think it but it was something I should've kept to myself. You know, overweight people are fucked either way. Don't go to the gym and everyone gets all judgy and says "get some fucking exercise, fatty." Go to the gym and everyone says "don't make me look at you exercising, fatty." So glad I didn't let the assholes get me down when I started going to the gym at 350 lbs several years ago to regain my life. Maybe because I started in March I was allowed to work out while fat. Glad I continue to work out regularly even though some people out on the running path or at my boot camp class might not consider me acceptably skinny. I consider my health more important than anyone's opinion of how I look working out.

Alix was only 16 when I joined the forums, so I haven't been around all that long. But if you want to have a glass of wine or two next week, I'm game ... since I'm lame and can't skydive but will be in Florida anyway. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Hmmm... I've been in my current apt for 2 1/2 years now and I can't recall if I've cleaned mine (it was brand new when i moved in so it was definitely clean then). Though I cook a lot, I probably use my oven to cook once a week on average. And I guess most of what I do cook in the oven is pretty self-contained... but I definitely don't want sparklers in my oven! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Most of my roommate situations have been with one or two other people. The biggest house I lived in (just after college) had 5 women total. The best decision we made was to pay for a cleaning service every 2 weeks. We rotated through who had responsibility for prepping the house for the cleaning service (basically making sure there weren't dishes on the counter or in the sink so that they could actually clean our kitchen) and paying. So basically, every 10 weeks each of us had to cough up $65 and do a very minor amount of housework and there was peace in the land. Granted, we still had to keep things functional in the interim by washing our own dishes or at least loading the dishwasher, but not having to argue over who would do the serious cleaning really made a huge difference. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yeah, I guess she's still a bit young for you to explain those lines about the special seat. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I only have one but I have to agree - no car payments is a great feeling. To the OP - you know you're going to be unemployed soon, in a shit economy. Not everyone gets the luxury of that information when they're making financial decisions. I had a similar situation when I was starting graduate school - knowing that was coming up, I paid off my car a couple months early while I was still working so that when I started school, I had a 3-year old car with no monthly payment. Since the car was still very new, it was still reliable and had predictable expenses, so I didn't have to worry about a huge maintenance expense on a grad student's budget (in a town where a car was pretty much a necessity). I also didn't have to carve car payments out of my limited budget. Even now that I could easily afford a new car every few years, I am driving a 10 year old car because having money for other things is more important to me, and though my car is old, the mileage is still fairly low (under 80K) so it's still pretty low-maintenance. I now have more money available to 1) do stuff 2) put away in my retirement account and 3) put away to my rainy day fund. Each of those three things is more important to me than a blingy brand-new car. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

We are talking about an accident, on a beginners slope. Rational people don't consider that a justification for a violent attack regardless of gender. I'm not a parent, but I'd imagine that a rational parent who was concerned that their child was seriously injured might tend to the needs of that child immediately - if the kid really was seriously hurt he probably needed dad's assistance more than he needed dad to go vigilante on the person who he believed to cause the injury. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

He also said he'd repeal DADT. And he did. Yet I don't see you over in that thread cheering him on for keeping his promise. [Note, this statement should not be considered my endorsement of the FCC's decision on Net Neutrality, but merely pointing out an inconsistency in turtlespeed's reasoning re: Obama] "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/let-it-dough/ Maybe I'll divide my assets into stocks, bonds, and sprinkles. Wonder what the rate of return is on sprinkles? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Well, in his defense, maybe he was actually *moving* somewhere. That's the only reason I can come up with for *that* much luggage. I'm a firm believer that (disabilities aside) if you can't handle all the luggage you're bringing by yourself, you're probably bringing too much. Also (again, disabilities or extreme shortness aside) if you can't lift your own carry-on into the overhead bin, you probably ought to be checking it. There are probably a few exceptions to these rules, but otherwise it's just people who don't know how to pack light. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It's not, but it's rarely very difficult. Most common scenario I find is that they'll take it out to swab it and you can go about your day with a 2-minute delay. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Or you could: 1) Not charge for checked luggage and 2) Have your flight attendants actively working to help people with carry-on bags so that you can turn planes in under 30 minutes and 3) be consistently profitable. But, since no one but Southwest has figured out how to do that, I don't see that happening anytime soon. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Hassle free travel! Flying from California to Virginia on Christmas Eve and hoping for easy flights and a safe drive from Dulles to my parents' house (3+ hours). Other than that I'm just looking forward to spending the holidays with all my loved ones. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I haven't but here's what one of my FB friends had to say: Post at 6:32 PM: "Tron Legacy: I highly recommend it for anyone needing to cure insomnia. Wait for it on network; not HBO, network." Post at 6:39 PM (same guy): "Sorry, let me be more clear: Tron Legacy SUCKED." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

A straight guy can talk about his wife or his girlfriend, and how much he misses her when he's deployed. A straight woman can bring her husband or boyfriend to the holiday party when she's stationed stateside. Lesbians and gays are asked to lie (either explicitly or by not saying anything) about this part of their life or risk losing their career. A gay man in a relationship has to make a decision to lie every time one of their coworkers makes casual conversation "Hey, Joe, you got someone special back home?" If Joe dares say "Man, I really miss Jim right now - I wish I could call him" he risks losing his career. Straight guy John, on the other hand, can say "I wish I could talk to Emily right now" and he'll get a sympathetic nod, not a threatening glare. Sounds like unequal rights to me. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Good luck with that, there are millions of openings for female drumers! See, this is the bullshit I have to put up with in this band. I'm not your fucking drummer. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Y'know, fuck all y'all. You hacks are just holding me back anyway. I'm off to start my solo career. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

... for stepping beyond partisan politics and doing the right thing: voting to allow the vote to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell to move forward. Now, Senate, let's not screw this consensus up before the actual repeal vote next week. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121801729.html Re-edit to add that DADT is officially repealed with a vote of 65 for 31 against in the Senate, following a 250-175 vote in the House last week http://www.npr.org/2010/12/18/132164172/-dont-ask-dont-tell-clears-vital-hurdle&sc=fb&cc=fp "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Noice. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://hipsterhitler.com/2010/11/eastern-front/ NOW it's over. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3033162 Start with that thread. Focus on the questions that discuss why having 200+ jumps is a good idea. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

For sheer randomness and humor you can't beat this one (and it's generally work safe). http://www.cracked.com/ "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Check here (I've made an assumption you're in the U.S., but if not, you'll likely find that training methods aren't all that different in other countries). http://www.uspa.org/BecomeaSkydiver/tabid/54/Default.aspx "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke