Getting Around Columbia

So today I went to the gym and then to the library in the city.  By the time I was done with the gym there wasn't enough time to go to the Museum of Art downtown, so I settled for a half-hour visit to the library.  Little did I know, before going there, tho, how it is in the process of undergoing some changes.

The gym was good.  Did my usual workout - treadmill, weight-lifting, and rowing machine.  I saw this poster and just had to snap a photo of it, thinking that Heart Failure counts as something to be mad (at myself) about, too.

 

I brought along my swim trunks this time, and - for a "cool down" after the workout, put them on and dove in:

Met a couple of interesting fellas. . .  Bill, who has lived all his life in Columbia, and who - like me - has had stents implanted near his heart and has been told by his doctor to exercise as often as possible. And Tom, who moved here from Westchester NY 30 years ago and has been working for the state Department of Social Services here for all of those 30 years. Tom and I had a bit more in common than just having been born in NY, it turned out.  He, too, is a product of the SUNY system, having gone to Oneonta State 40 years ago.  I told him that I, too, had worked in Civil Service - and when he asked me what branch of it I gave him my usual comeback:  "Oh, you don't wanna know. . .  I could tell you, but then you'd want to kill me." Then I gave in and told him I'm retired from NY DMV.  He didn't tell me any horror stories about his visits to the South Carolina DMV, which tells me one of two possible things: either SC DMV is very well run, OR he's simpatico with a fellow Civil Servant, no matter WHAT branch. I think it's the former, not the latter.  ;-)

After gym I had lunch at Chez McDonald's.  I happen to like their grilled chicken sandwich, and usually I get it with a side-salad. Oops.  I forgot this time and wound up with fries.  First time I've had french fries in many months, but hey, I'm on vacation!

Continued on to the big library on Assembly Street downtown and was surprised by all of the construction activity going on there. Seems they're updating just about everything in the place, top-to-bottom, but are trying to do it all without shutting down the whole place.  Very disconcerting to be reading and hearing the sounds of power saws and the smell of sawdust. . . .

The main lobby looks very "rustic". . . .

  

Made my way to the third floor, where the newspaper reading area is, and read a bit for the half-hour I had before going to pick up Mikey at his job:

One side of the third floor was completely closed:

The escalator to the third floor and "stairwell" have always impressed me. . . .  But the plywood now surrounding it on the second floor kinda ruins the effect:

So it was another good day.  Maybe tomorrow I will make it to one or both of the museums.