Who knew the 71 year old owner of my gym was a die hard Mariners fan? I wonder if he gets as frustrated as my WA state friend’s do when the M’s choke… Probably. 

Speaking of which, due to ‘financial restrictions’, my gym owner seems to think he is perfectly capable of welding random pieces of metal together to recreate pictures of machines taken off the internet. Of course, I’m the guinea pig and with a frantic waving of his arms and a complete disregard to my forlorn look, I hop on his “machine” and give it a whirl. Although 1 or 2 have worked, I’m usually diving out of the way of crashing metal as I give him an “I told you so” look. Like a mad scientist, he grabs the parts, hauls them outside, and fires up the torch in an attempt to mimic the “oh so favorable” American weight machines. As I glance outside he turns around and gives me that “I’ll get it this time” look, although I’m sure we both know what we can expect the outcome to be.