New Year, Old Me

It’s already started. Madison Avenue has been bombarding us with ads this week, promising a “new you in the New Year.” Diets, weight loss drugs, and fitness clubs all try to entice people to spend more in January. ‘Tis the season of New Year’s Resolutions.

We will see stories of resolutions made (and forgotten) in the next month. The ads will subside mid-month and be replaced by ads for Kay Jewelers and 1-800-Flowers hawking Valentine’s Day merch, which is already on display at Kroger.

I will not be making any resolutions this year, but I shall be resolute, i.e. “admirably purposeful, determined and unwavering.” In other words it’s a New Year, but I’ll be the same old me.

People used to join gyms, but now they’re almost extinct. Everything today is a “Fitness” club. Orange Theory Fitness, Crunch Fitness, ACAC Fitness, American Family Fitness etc, etc. There is a Gold’s Gym, but it’s more like a Muscle Club. The fitness clubs are absolutely slammed in January, but go back to normal by March, when everyone has quit their sudden yearly urge to trim down.

I grew up with “the Y.” It was short for YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association). It was a gym and also a non-profit and it had a pool, so we learned to swim there. It was also pretty reasonable cost-wise. I re-joined after college, then as a young adult in California and again as a middle-aged dude when we moved back to Virginia. But then we had the bright idea to join a local brand of fitness clubs – as a Family, in America. #HintHint

A few years ago I tried to re-join the downtown YMCA, but it was crowded, the people weren’t very friendly and every single locker in the place was taken. I went about 3 times and never returned. It was not the place I remembered so fondly. Maybe they were having an off-month.

I will not join a fitness club, but I think I’ll give the Y another try, but I’ll definitely wait til March. 

However, I will be making my annual predictions list next week – and I’ll give you the scorecard from a year ago.

What predictions did I get wrong? Rainfall totals were just under the average and I predicted higher.

What did I get right? Inflation dropped and so did the Fed Funds rate. I was spot on with my 3.25% prediction.

Disclaimer: I cannot be held legally liable for my predictions that do not come true, just as you are not obligated to keep your New Year’s Resolutions.