Dad's Living Room Gym

One of my simple but special pleasures, ever since the '81 baseball strike, has been watching the Wimbledon finals. I never played tennis, but once I had a taste of the incredible touch, court intelligence, and unruly passion with which McEnroe played, I was hooked. When the men's game became too much about big, unreturnable 130 mph serves, I began to favor the women's game, moving on from Mac to a succession of Martinas and, later, Williamses.

So a nice thing about being here in my own new digs has been watching the brilliant all-Williams women's final yesterday and Nadal's effort to dethrone Federer today. There has been plenty of drama and amazing tennis in both matches and, today, the obligatory rain delay. Even though I am watching on a little 13-inch set on my L-shaped desk, I have not been cheated. I've even done a little work between points. One remarkable factoid about all this is that Venus Williams' 1st serves are consistently bigger – over 120 mph – than Nadal's.

I don't watch a lot of TV. I'll watch a DVD several nights a week – I'm currently making my way through the seasons of The Wire that Netflix is shipping me. Otherwise, the Celtics, a couple or three Red Sox games each week in season, and that's about it. Sometimes when hanging with Danny we'll watch the brilliantly produced Hannah Montana, iCarly, or the latest descendant of Pokemon. I'll probably watch some of the Olympics

But over the years my time watching my teams on the tube has not been the healthiest time I put in. If I sit in a comfortable sofa or chair or at my neighborhood bar and watch the Sox, Celts, or Pats, my body immediately begins sending "Feed me" signals to my brain. Anything in the kitchen is then at considerable risk. Take away all those sports-attentive feeding times over the past 40 years and I'd probably be back at my high school weight of 158 to 162. Last winter I dealt with this phenomenon reasonably well by joining Mike's Gym and spending a fair amount of my Celtics-watching hours on the elliptical machine.

Then I noticed something positive the past couple of days. Put the TV on or near my desk, and let me work at my computer while I am watching a game (or anything else, it seems) and I'm not hungry. More to the point, since I'm sure I was seldom actually hungry during the times I described above, my body does not send those "feed me" signals to my brain. Or my brain, otherwise occupied, does not manufacture such signals.

So, that's information I'll keep an eye on and try to make use of in this ongoing, lifelong campaign to live in a healthy fashion.

The further step that I am intending to take is to get an elliptical machine in here and place it in front of the TV. There seem to be some sturdy, quality machines for under five bills, and between the money I spent on my health club and at the Newtowne Grille last winter, a well-placed elliptical machine should pay for itself within a few months. Danny has already asked if he could use the elliptical when he is here, and I was happy to inform him there is no age requirement at Dad's Living Room Gym. The next step, of course, will be to see how comfortable I can get reading on my trusty Amazon Kindle while I am using the elliptical.