Goodbye, Goodlife

We've been Goodlife Fitness members for years. I mean, I joined in 2001 - back when the bi-weekly rate was $16 (it's now $23, or $21 if you sign up during a sale). I was always a big advocate of the club, too. I loved their Les Mills classes. BodyFlow was my favourite - a mix of tai chi, pilates, and yoga. I brought several new members into the club myself with my glowing praise and enthusiasm for it.

Over the years I was thrilled to keep my locked-in member rate as prices increased. In 2007, I moved to a location that was fairly far from a club, and terminated my membership. What a mistake that was. I ended up missing it enough to make the 20 minute drive and re-signed soon after at a higher bi-weekly rate. It was not ideal to pay more than I had been, but I recognized that I'd cancelled my membership and was considered a new member.

Then my husband's company started a corporate partnership account with Goodlife. We got a great rate by going with the corporate plan. Knowing their tendency to increase rates, we asked the club before we switched to the corporate plan if we could return to our current rates should we leave the corporate plan. "Sure," they said, "No problem." And with that sorted - or so we thought - we went ahead with it.

And guess what? A year later, my husband has changed jobs and provinces, and we are no longer eligible for the corporate plan. Fair enough. But when we tried to switch back to our old rates, we were told that was not possible, despite what we'd been assured of before.

We went to the local club to talk about it. The staff member disappeared several times into an office to "call the district manager" and every time came back saying there was nothing they could do. If we wanted to stay at the club, we could pay the sale price (ending the next day - no pressure!) of $21 bi-weekly each.

One staff member enthused about the Jump Fitness child care at the gym, as she saw that we had Mia with us - I found that ironic considering my recent, first and LAST experience with that - read my review of Goodlife's Jump Fitness Child Care to see why!

We were happy and loyal members and felt like we had just been treated like dirt. Broken promises, what a disappointment.

So goodbye, Goodlife.

We're going to spend the summer (if it ever gets to Calgary - it snowed today!) outside exercising and making the most of the beautiful parks, lakes and mountains around us. And in the fall, we'll look for a new fitness club. Hopefully one that honours its promises and has some interest in keeping loyal members.

If there are any co-ed fitness clubs in the south of Calgary that are interested in a review, well, my husband and I would be happy to test out your facilities :)

Game of Thrones!

Are you watching it? My husband and I enjoyed the first season of this HBO program so much that we have begun reading the book series by George R. R. Martin as well. The books are great - and make me realize how true the show is to the story. My husband says he's finding that reading the thoughts each character has adds a lot, as that is something that's harder to portray on television.

I love the sets on the show - so detailed, so large - and the costuming and casting is fabulous.

If you have a chance, start at the beginning with Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season and A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1). We are just over half way through the first book, and a few episodes into the second season of the show. It's super addictive! Highly recommended.

I'd love to hear your favourite character. It's hard to commit to one, because you never know who's going to die next! But I really like Daenarys - her transformation in the first series was remarkable. And I am rooting for Arya as well! Who do you like?