Ok, so it has been a crazy week and it is only about to become more so...I am leaving work in a few moments (provided no further world shattering events occur - it seems this is the theme today). I will go home and pack my gear (because I had more important things to attend to last evening). Then I will ride my bike for a distance of 10 miles in one direction to run 3.5 miles in a circle to bike home an additional 10 miles to shower to get into a car and drive roughly 630 miles to the inner depths of Maine. This is my life. I have chosen to live it this way. I therefore must accept full responsibility for the fact that I might lose my mind at some point in the (very) near future. Have an incredible weekend! If I am sane, I shall attempt to recap the past few weeks sometime in the next week. If I am in an institution, however...well...the ramblings and writings might be more interesting....

Car Shopping

I drive a Subaru. When purchasing a vehicle I often look for several pertinent aspects in said vehicle. These include but are not limited to: good gas mileage, storage space and cargo room, compatibility with a roof rack, "dog friendly" interior, and all wheel drive (for those I-feel-like-going-off-road moments on the mountains during a snow storm).

Many years ago I found that Subaru provided all of these necessities in one shiny, affordable package. Now it is time for me to trade 'up' or just get a newer car because poor El Fuego is reaching the end-of-his-useful-life span. Doing more research lately on different car manufacturers and models, I am firmly standing by the Subaru. Their wagons offer me exactly what I require in a vehicle. Several of my friends however had pointed out when I purchased my first Subaru that it is "Unofficially the Official Car of Lesbians"*. Sweet! I didn't believe them at first, but upon further research their claims have been (unofficially) affirmed. Hmmmmm, well, I am a single, early 30's female with two dogs in tow....YIKES!

*(Just a disclaimer, I have nothing against lesbians, in fact I have several people very close to me that are lesbians, however I am not a lesbian! I am, however, comfortable in my sexuality therefore I really find this more amusing than anything.)

Chatting with C.B. about my car troubles (by the way he used to drive a Subaru, as well - does that make him a lesbian?!?! - oh wait....) he found it amusing that I wanted another Subaru after all the flack I got about driving El Fuego. In order to solidify my decision in choosing to purchase another Subaru, C.B. sent me the picture below for encouragement. Good times.

32 Flavors

squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
and I'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said

both my parents taught me about good will
and I have done well by their names
just the kindness I've lavished on strangers
is more than I can explain
still there's many who've turned out their porch lights
just so I would think they were not home
and hid in the dark of their windows
til I'd passed and left them alone

and god help you if you are an ugly girl
course too pretty is also your doom
cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
and god help you if you are a pheonix
and you dare to rise up from the ash
a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
while you are just flying back

I'm not trying to give my life meaning
by demeaning you
and I would like to state for the record
I did everything that I could do
I'm not saying that I'm a saint
I just don't want to live that way
no, I will never be a saint
but I will always say

squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And I'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you might find you're starving
and eating all of the words you said

- Ani DiFranco

Happy Friday!

Work hard.

Play hard.

Safely, of course!

Drink. Repeat.

Good Day

Today is a good day. Or so I have been telling myself that since about 4:30 this morning. I woke up at that time, well, for no reason other than I could sleep no more. Determined to not get up and be somewhat productive (at such an ungodly hour) I laid in bed until about 5:30 just letting my mind wander. And it did. But no matter what the scattered thoughts produced the ending conclusion is that today is a good day. I feel great today actually. Not that I don't feel great almost everyday (when I am healthy).

For some reason I have to keep thinking that thought today or at least I have been for the last four hours. Perhaps as the day wears on I will change my view, but I have a feeling that it is not too likely. So here I sit in my penthouse dungeon (that's what you call the top floor of a building that has NO WINDOWS - how evil is that?!?!) residing to believe that today is a good day.

Yesterday I had a crazy-busy-running-around-to-three-different-sites day at work. Which actually made the day seem quite short and very productive. No complaints there. Then I came home played with the dogs and decided the conditions were perfect for a run on the trails in Durand. Seeing as how I have been on my bike every day for the past I don't even know how many days, I thought a run was definitely in order.

The weather was hot and hazy (unseasonably so for May in Rottenchester) so I decided to run without Sonia. With the accompaniment of my iPod the soundtrack to my life resumed on the trails of Durand. The run was great - I felt strong and fast, even threw in a couple of sets of push-ups towards the end. Afterwards I decided I needed a pedicure*. Spur of the moment beauty treatments are the best! [*side note - I don't do girly things - I don't get my nails done (except the ones on my feet), or go shopping (unless it is for food or gear), or go to expensive hair salons (Supercuts, baby!) - but I do love my pedicures. As my feet take a beating due to all my sports/activities, I feel they deserve a treat once in a while.]

I set off to my regular, cheap, Vietnamese nail salon. The women are so nice and they always do an incredible job. So $25, I think, is more than justifiable to have my feet feel and look amazing after an awesome run! Then I went grocery shopping, not my favourite task, albeit more than necessary due to the barren state of my cupboards. All these accomplishing tasks got me in the mood to do more, so then I vacuumed my house - which isn't an accomplishment as much as a necessity as the dogs are molting, I mean blowing their coats, so it is required that I vacuum daily as not to lose the cat in the dust bunnies of husky fur. Finally a shower and bed - oh and dinner was thrown in there somewhere.

So today, I awoke to my mind racing, not sure about what seeing as how I really have no deadlines nor did I ride yesterday so I wouldn't be psycho analysing my riding. Anyway, back to the grind. I need to get a mountain of work done in a short amount of time, then run home play with the dogs for approximately two minutes, shove some food in my face and run off to the shop. Good times.

Whatever, this crazy life it is my norm and I am alright with it because today is a good day and tomorrow will be even better (and it will be Friday)!

Chalk One Up

Occasionally, I try and remind myself why is it that I still live on the East Coast...aside from adult responsibility, I think this picture is a fine representative of at least one reason.


Here's another one for your NH memories, B-H!

Tree Climbing (Not Hugging)

I just realized that I haven't posted in a while. So here it is Monday morning and I am going to write something regardless of whether or not it will make sense or be somewhat cohesive. For some reason I feel that my life has been going non-stop at warp speed for the past several weeks, but when I try and think about the specifics of it, I just can't seem to recall them. So I stop, slow myself down, and focus. Hmmmm still fuzzy...

This weekend, I do recall, was wicked busy. Between work, social outings, yard duty, Mother's day and whatever else I crammed in there, it just ended up being non-stop from 5:30am until I passed out from exhaustion at night.

Yesterday was another sweet ride in Dryer. The more confident I become on my mountain bike the more I begin to realise this is where I am supposed to be. I have been torn between road and mountain biking so much lately. I don't know why exactly, after all it is possible to do and enjoy both. I attribute this to my hyper-analytical psyche. Anyway, it's as if I have been keeping a mental tally on how one rates over the other. I liken mountain biking to trail running - when running on the road I get bored and tired so quickly where as in the woods I can run trails forever. I prefer to be in the woods, in the rocks, in the mountains (when they are accessible) not so much on flat roads. I talked to T about it yesterday during one of our ride breaks (in a tree - hell yeah, you can't climb trees when road riding, can ya?) he said that he prefers mountain biking because it makes him feel like he was 10. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for me as well.

So I suppose I shall keep riding in the woods. Hopefully getting better to where I can take those 5' drops and land them - not even close right now. So instead of hitting trees with certain body parts I shall climb them on my ride breaks. Besides if tree climbing is integrated into the mountain biking realm - how much more awesome can it get?

Ouch

My return from the sunny land of old people, bad drivers and alligators has been anything but enjoyable. A super stressful homecoming equals me trying to remain sane in the midst. Did I not just come off of a relaxing vacation? Yikes! So I escaped (temporarily) yesterday afternoon only to have my time to de-stress interrupted by a most untimely encounter with a tree. It wasn't even a hard part of the trail. Kind of flat and narrow, but not steep or technical. I suppose that's when I decided to relax my focus. Poor decision. As a result of my lax riding, on a turn I caught my left handlebar on a tree causing Boris to come to a complete halt. Most know that the laws of physics dictate that a body in motion must stay in motion. Well, my body was in motion while my bike had stopped forcing me to fly into a tree at probably 10mph. My left knee took the brunt of the impact. I sat for a minute and assessed the damage. No bruising, no bleeding, no bones tearing through the skin - so deductive reasoning dictated that I was fine. A little pain with each step or push of the pedal was nothing to worry about. So, I kept riding. Then climbed later...as a tripod. My knee looked pretty big last night and I couldn't bend it. Is this a problem? Today it's a bit less swollen and I am not limping as badly. I will try and ride again tonight...am I crazy? Or just masochistic?

Too Tired to Write

Gator Sighting!

Back from the land of blue hairs and gators...in one piece, I might add. Sorry, CB, for not posting while down there - it was just too busy and usually by night I just wanted to pass out. So now I am back to crazy busy work land - good times. More to come...

oh and that pic isn't from the trails. I actually had to resort to going to the Florida Aquarium in order to see an alligator. Eh, can't win 'em all.

Going Hunting for a Sweet Pair of Gator Skin Shoes

Gator Spotted Near Local School

"WINDERMERE, Fla. -- A 10-foot alligator that was spotted near Windermere Elementary has parents and children on edge Thursday morning."

More on this story here.

Just remember the following...