Last year, I purchased the Tony Little’s Gazelle from someone off of Craigslist. It was a good deal but a bitch to take home. Its advertised as being easy to store, but I’d beg to differ. It folds up nicely, yes. However, trying to move it anywhere is very awkward and cumbersome. If I just had to slide it under a bed, it might be easier to put away, but I highly doubt it.

Not only is it a pain to store and set up, it is the least motivating piece of exercise equipment I’ve ever seen. There is just no excitement in it at all. At least with an elliptical or treadmill, something keeps you moving. With this contraption, you have to do all the work and if you slack just a tad, you might as well stop altogether. You really have to concentrate hard to get any good out of it. Some may say this is better for you, but I disagree if it means you will probably stop earlier than you would with another piece of equipment that does some of the work for you.

A little help goes a long way.

Now, if I have any complaints, the first would be the gas. I know I chose to drive an SUV so I should’ve been prepared to pay the price of gas, but that 16 gallon tank cost me about $150 in gas. Ouch!

My other complaint, well, its not really a complaint, but it was kind of an annoyance in that I was driving a rental car and didn’t have enough time to get used to it, is that the window controls are all on the center console. It took me about 5 minutes to find them at first. I was sitting in the car rental lot thinking, “Surely there are automatic window controls”, but I couldn’t see them. I even tried saying “window” out loud, just in case it was voice activated. No, I didn’t, but that would’ve been funny. Anyway, more than once, I put down the wrong window because I hit the control for the back window instead of the driver side. I can see the benefit of having the controls there if you have the car long enough to get used to it, but for me, it was just a bit confusing.

Cargo space was very nice, except that the back seats, which do fold down, don’t fold down flat. So you have the back cargo area, then you have a raised portion with the flattened seats. I don’t see much purpose in that. Especially when there was space under the seats. It seems like they should’ve easily slid into that space.

It also took me a little time to figure out the remote control lock device, but that’s only because the car came with two of them and only one worked. I didn’t realize that for a while, I just thought I wasn’t hitting the buttons in the correct order.

Overall, I was very impressed with this car. It rode well, I never felt unsafe, and I had a really good time driving it.

I’ve always had problems with my knees. Due to genetics, due to careless treatment as a child (meaning I played soccer with gusto and skiied my heart out….not that someone hit me with a bat in my knees…but you probably weren’t thinking that anyway), and due to repeated abuse by running on pavement. About a year ago, I saw an orthopedic surgeon told me I should try “Superfeet” insoles, even though I’d tried prescription orthodics for years.

After a short period of adjustment, I saw an immediate difference, especially when I was playing soccer or running. No knee pain, no foot pain, just pure enjoyment. Well, minus the bruises from being slammed into on the soccer field. Anyway, I just recently tried wearing them at work, in my dress boots, and found that they made the day much more bearable and I don’t spend the whole day thinking about ripping the boots off my feet the second I get home.

I wrote them a while ago about how much I loved their product and they actually asked me to send in some pictures cause they wanted to use my story on their promotional stuff. I thought it was cool, but couldn’t find a picture I was willing to send in.

I will give them one thing. They last for quite a few windows. They were still moist after doing all the windows down one side of my car. But who cares if I have to follow up with something else? I might as well use glass cleaner and paper towels.