Then I got majorly antsy this past week, and then I got a good recommendation for a gym whose locations are all either near work or near public transit, and then I saw that they currently have a pay-as-you-go, no-contract membership deal. No contract! So the option exists to cancel it when springtime rolls around and I've got enough light to go running outside before and/or after work. I'm hoping I won't, for that whole "cross-training" benefit, but I won't be locked into a $70/month gym membership if I find I'm not using it. Then, when I went in there to inquire about pricing and whatnot, I discovered that my employer has a deal with them that gets me an extra 10% discount.

Sold. I filled out the paperwork and signed over some money last night after work, and this morning celebrated by getting up at 5 so I could be on a bus by 5:25 so I could get to the gym in time to work out before work. (Until I move, it works out better with the train/bus schedules to go in before work. After I move? AFTER WORK, BABY.) I'm feeling the early wake-up call now, but it felt good to move around.

Don't worry - no running yet. I'm still saving that for tomorrow. Instead, I spent 45 minutes on the Coolest. Exercise Bike. Ever.

It's a standard looking recumbent exercise bike, but it's got a really big screen on the front of it. It's a touch screen, which you use to control the resistance, workout program, etc, etc. But that's not all it does. It also works as a TV, so you can watch whatever you want, and it's got a headphone jack so you can actually have sound, instead of trying to read the closed captioning from across the room. You can also pop a CD in and listen to that. Your very own music, instead of whatever urban/hip-hop/top 40 remix the gym is playing over the sound system.

Pretty cool, eh? But wait - I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.

It also has internet access. Yes, internet. On an exercise bike. So instead of spending 45 minutes trying to find something on TV to capture my attention and get my mind off the fact that I was sitting on an exercise bike and pedaling and yet getting nowhere, I played on the internets. I checked my e-mail. I checked the news and weather. I checked my message boards. I read blogs. It was the quickest 45 minutes on an exercise bike I've ever spent in my life. It was awesome.

OK, so I was a little lost when I got to work and didn't have any new e-mails or blog entries to read, since I'd already gotten through all of them, but that's OK. It was probably better that way, since I actually had things to do today.

But internet + exercise? Absolute GENIUS. To whoever out there invented such a wonderful, wonderful thing? I think I love you.