I am rather confused by a new advert for Microsoft Office. The ad, which I cannot find a link to – not even on GoogleTube, shows a young man starting out on his first day in a new office. 

People are very friendly to him... Perhaps too friendly. Once he has been walked through the other cublicle jockeys, he plonks down in front of his computer and starts IMing some bird he’s seen around the office. Or she messages him – I can’t remember. Either way, they have a little chit chat and then he swans off to meet her – all within five mins of posing for his security card photo, and being shown where the loos are. 

How’s that for your first day in the office… Where is he working? The Playboy mansion?

My Nike iPod combination gym bothering equipment turned up yesterday, causing a lot of excitement. Not only did the call from the postroom mean that the other people at IT Week stood a good chance of finding out where I had been all day, but a lot of people also wanted to know what the kit was all about…

So, I put them on and mooched around the office for a bit; clocking up an impressive 1km an hour. My first impression is that they are pretty cool. The trainers, or ‘kicks’ for you kids out there, earned a few “oohs” from some of the ladies, and they are comfy, light, and feel like they might make running a bit easier. Setting them up and linking them to the new Nano that Apple sent me was also easy. I had to install iTunes 7, but that’s not a big deal – I love Quicktime.

As with any fitness related activity, it was me that let the team down. So far I have only worn the trainers to wander the VNU corridors, and I have stuffed them with a playlist best described as ecletic. Although a nice American lady keeps telling me how far I have gone, and how slowly, I find it hard to get motivated to eat my goals when I am listening to Joy Division.

Perhaps I should spend more time choosing what songs to put on the pod before I go a whooping and a-hollering out of the office and up to the gym later on today.

I may switch it to “Eye of the Tiger” and the theme from Chariots of Fire. But, it is more likely that I will not.