My heart's desire

This is - or has recently become - my heart's desire. It is an indoor rowing machine. A machine which one "ergs" upon, when one cannot row on actual water. It became the key to having my head on straight in grad school, not to mention having muscles in places I hadn't imagined. Suffice to say that both felt like they were slipping a bit last fall, though my new running tights (thanks, Jen for the suggestion and Kolz for the prezzie) have made me an all-weather person, more or less. But rowing just does something all the other stuff doesn't do.

And this is the place that granted my heart's desire. The Humboldt's fitness center is, as they say here, "klein und fein" (little but fine), but by god, they have a rower. Gyms are super-expensive here, with a sign-up cost, maintenance fee, monthly fee, and sometimes something else just for fun. But this, oh, this is cheap! And close! And I am going to row toNIGHT!

First some work from home - I have my first talk/paper in mid-February, and am trying to get through one set of files in the archives in advance. The good news is, I'm finding good things; the bad news is, there will only be more reports each year, for th years I have left. So there are some long days in the archives ahead. The weather's so bad, though, it doesn't really matter!