When Five Guys opened in Ithaca, it was as if Jean Georges had decided to open up shop in Ithaca or Bobby Flay had decided to bestow his food on us. Hailing from Boston and thus unaware of the new chain, I decided to stop by to check it out. Upon seeing the line, I left and returned a few days later. And repeated the same steps until finally, one Monday night at about 9 p.m., the line seemed reasonable. That was, until I ordered my food, and proceeded to wait about 25 minutes for it to be ready. When my number finally was called, I was pleasantly surprised that the burger was good and the fries were better. However, the burger was just that — good. And only made so by the fact that I had chosen to put just about every topping they offered on it (except green peppers, ew). And, for fast food (albeit the slowest fast food I’ve ever experienced), it was downright pricey. — About $11 for burger, fries and soda

Meanwhile, right down the street is one of my old favorites — Friendly’s. The food there is consistent and delicious. While some may disagree, many of Friendly’s burgers are just as delicious, if not more so, than Five Guys. Granted, every trip there will set you back about 3,000 calories, but Five Guys isn’t much better health-wise. And one of the best parts? The ice cream! While it isn’t quite up to Cornell Dairy standards, and I say that with all seriousness, Friendly’s has delicious ice cream that, get this, more often than not comes free with a meal. They currently have a recession special (well, a promotion) where you get an entree, drink and an ice cream sundae for $9.99. Seriously! And, for the same price as Five Guys, you get sit down service with a smile. — $9.99 plus a small service tip

The Verdict: You may have to tip there, but choose Friendly’s. Trust me, it’s just as good as what you remember from childhood.

Then again, if you’ve eaten a few too many hamburgers and need to work off the pounds rather than gain them, you might be interested in hitting the mall for some fancy new sneaks. Whether you’re a treadmill or an elliptical type of guy, you need good, supportive sneakers for your trips to the gym. A pair of standard Asics or Adidas won’t break your budget. However, they also aren’t anything special and will blend with any other pair of generic gym sneakers — this is generally not a positive thing. — $40-70

On the other hand, there are NikeiD sneakers. The smart people at Nike realized that people like to personalize stuff. Like, say, sneakers. So they let you go on their website, choose your style, colors, and choice of monogramming, and voila, a few weeks later your perfect pair arrives at your doorstep. Not only that, but all of their sneakers also come with a convenient little slot if you use the Apple / Nike tool that tracks your exercise through your iPod (I don’t use that yet, so I can’t really speak to it). But seriously, these are some stylin’ sneaks. In anything from metallic gold to bright pink, you can match your sneakers to your mood, favorite sports team, basically anything. And after a few months of NikeiD sneaker ownership, the novelty still hasn’t worn off. — $120-150