The Gym

February 17, 2011
3:20 pm
2 treadmills, 2 stationary bikes, 1 elliptical, free weights, 2 leg machines(nautilus), 3 arm machines (nautilus), 1 bench, 1 cruncher --> small gym
four others in it & it seems crowded
3 females, 1 malefemales all knew each other & kept looking at me --> made me feel uncomfortable, what were they thinking?
male was checking out females --> what was he thinking?
male was overweight and listening to the TV
2 tvs, 1 on sports center blaring the current sports
smells of sweat and cleaning spray1 treadmill spinning quickly
lights were off --> relaxed feeling
comfortable room temperature



Today I went to the gym at my friend's condo complex. It is a small gym with about 6 Nautilus machines, treadmills, bikes, elliptical and free weights. The gym was free to go to and there was a relaxed feeling. The male showed up in a business suit and changed in the restroom. Judging from his clothes, he was coming from work straight to the gym. He was walking slowly on the treadmill. The females were all together. I think one was a trainer because she was telling the other two females what to do. They were preforming sprinting exercises. I think they were training for a spring sports season at their high school because they were both wearing Braintree High Track and Field t-shirts. Everyone there was sweating and showing signs of working hard, even though I think the two genders were working out for different reasons.

Lay of the Bowling Alley

While reading Nicole's Lay of the Land essay, I was immediately drawn in to the lively hood of the bowling alley. I was hooked by the second sentence when Nicole said, "The sounds of shoes sliding against smooth wood lanes and bowling balls rolling like thunder then slamming against multiple pins rings in my ears". The vivid imagery made me feel like I was at the bowling alley. This essay was very descriptive and allowed me to have a clear mental image of the bowling alley. One of the images that stuck out the most to me was about the stain covered red rug. I could easily picture drinks and pizza being dropped all of the carpet on a busy Saturday night. Also, when you discussed the man wearing the HHH shirt, I thought it was interesting that you inferred he was going to go home and watch wrestling. I thought this was an excellent example of Land of the Lay essay.


This essay has been very helpful for my project on the Abington Police Station. Now I have a good understanding of how much research I have to do. Also, the more detail the better. I want my audience to have used all five senses by the time they are done reading my essay. When I accomplish each of these areas my audience will know exactly what the Abington Police Station looks like. Lastly, I will also feel very awkward at the station at first because the officers are very intimidating.

Abington Police Station

For my ethnographic project I have choose to step into the foreign world of the Abington Police Station. The Abington Police Station near the center of town across the street from Island Grove. I decided to pick this as my research site because I am a Criminal Justice major. Also, not that I am complaining or anything but I have never been in the police station before so I am curious to see what it is like on the inside. The station is fairly new and I think it will be very interesting to see all of the state of the art equipment that is in it. The station tries to get involved with the community by hosting a fishing derby each year. On the public access channel the police Chief Mjenski hosts a show to give the community an update about the different activities going on in town. Aside from the distant look I get at the police station as I drive by it every now and then, my knowledge does not even begin to scratch the surface of the inner workings of the station. All I really know is that from the outside it is HUGE and it looks way to big for the little town of Abington.

There are many things I would like to know about the Abington Police Station. First of all, I want to know what the inside of the police station looks like. My reasoning behind this vast curiosity is because I have had to listen to my parents complain about tax dollars paying for this station. I want to see what all the tax payers paid for. Also, I want to know what time of the day, year, and week the police station is the most busy. Is it on the weekends? at night? Or during the week in the middle of the day? What is the most common age of people being arrested, and what is the most common reason for being arrested? How does the dispatching work?  Was this new state of the art police station really necessary? This is just the beginning of the many topics I will dig deep into to be an insider of the Abington Police Station.

This is the Abington Police Website, check it out.