October 22, 2009 - Bicycle ride
Yesterday at work I was asked if I wanted to help build a website for a personal trainer named Panther, in exchange for personal training for myself. I said that wasn't for me. But not before my coworkers could see Panther's photo up in my browser, and ask what was going on.
"You have to do it," said R--, drawing a picture of a muscle-man on my whiteboard labeled "Paul--A.K.A. THAJAKATTAK!"
"Your blog is so boring," said C--. "You have to do this. You have to. You have to call back right now and sign up. He has a tattoo of a panther. I just want to see it. I want him to train you. Maybe he could train you at the Y."
I said no; continued to say no. Because despite their fantasies of my body stretched to its corpulent breaking point, working with a trainer when you're big as I am is a serious disappointment; the trainer simply puts you on an exercise bike so that he can make phone calls, then charges you $90.
"I looked at his website," said R--. "He went to a better college than you did. I think he got better grades. Why don't you talk to him?"
Then this email, this morning, from C--.
Paul, isn't the joy you would bring to me and R-- reason enough to do it? Do you remember 4 or 5 years ago when we were strangers and no one in the office would talk to you and I walked up to you and said, "Hi. I'm C--"? You were the new guy, a new chubby guy, a new chubby web guy, and I still made an effort. Do you remember when R-- xeroxed that picture of you so I could decorate my cubicle? Sure, the photo was terrible, but didn't it make you part of the office? I'm just saying, it would be nice if you did something special and difficult for us now. Something that said you cared, you really, really cared.
| Food | Qty | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Bicycle ride, 1 hr. | 0.7 | -333 |
| Total | -333 |
Weight: 307 lbs