impending autumn

the maturing fields of corn with proud stalks still standing tall, their only concession to the impending harvest a slight yellow curling of their edges

the lone scarlet leaf blazing on the emerald lawn, its sweet scent barely imagined beneath that of the freshly cut grass

the sun, snapping to attention after its lazy summer journeys across the sky, suddenly impatient to reach the western horizon

the mellow breeze, unhindered by oppressive humidity, still warm yet somehow sharper, refreshing, a promise

Final Race Results

Yesterday was the last mountain bike race the the MMBA Championship Points Series. It was at Pando, a little ski area in Rockford, and I won! There was only one other competitor in my age/skill level, but she and I had a very competitive race. We switched places about half a dozen times over the eight-mile course, and I only beat her by about 30 seconds. Mitch is trying to let his leg heal, so he didn't race.

Though official series results aren't officially posted yet, we know that I got first overall, as I was the only woman in my class who signed up for the whole series. Mitch ended up second overall; his perpetual competitor, Rick, won first. It was a good, close season up until Mitch's injury, and they'll continue to push each other next year when they both move up to the sport class.

I should have some cool photos to post in a couple of weeks, as Mitch was using his dad's good camera to take some pictures of my race. He says there's a series of me passing someone on a climb, though he promises you can't see the misery on my face.

Thanks for reading!

Back to School Musings

I've explained my grad program on here a couple times, but let me go through it briefly again: most of my coursework is done online. For this term, my Interpersonal Communication work involves reading chapters, posting responses to discussion questions on Blackboard discussion boards and writing a couple papers (some individual, some group). My Financial Management work involves teaching myself a chapter of finance per week then taking a test on that chapter, again via Blackboard. We also have one group project, which includes a case report and a presentation.

During each 12-week term, we have two residencies. A residency is a two-day on-campus experience where we spend eight hours per day in class. This term, Finance is in the morning and Comm is in the afternoon.

So, since I have a bit of time between my classes and my brain needs a break from all the Finance lecturing, here are some observations:

1. Prof. Lemmon was awesome. Our Finance prof is a nice guy with a neat, Mauritian accent, but he's nowhere near the teacher I had at Alma. Had I known this, I would have audited a finance class at Alma prior to this term. The material probably would have made more sense.

2. I know why I wrote so many notes to my friends during high school: I have to work harder to absorb information from a lecture than from simply reading, taking notes and attempting to answer problems or questions on my own. So why strain my brain on both? (No, I did not write love letters to Mitch during Finance...I just wanted to.)

3. Even though I may zone in and out during lecture, I'd never spend the entire four hours on eBay. Thank goodness that woman is not in my group!

Thanks for reading - see you next time!

Race Update

With grad school now cluttering up my schedule, and the deep muscle bruise on Mitch's quad that's hindering him a bit, neither one of us has spent much time in the saddle. Until this weekend, I hadn't been on the trail since the Maybury race three weeks ago. So, while we were registered for the Addison Oaks cross-country race last Sunday, we weren't even sure we'd race until Saturday afternoon.

Why did we decide to race? Mitch bought a new bike on Saturday afternoon and his leg felt relatively strong, so he couldn't resist the idea of showing off his Trek Fuel 98, which is one badass bike. It has an all-carbon frame, full suspension, amazing components...Mitch says it almost pedals itself!

But bad news: he had to give it back to the friend from whom he purchased it because it had a crack in the frame. It's fully waranteed and is currently getting fixed, but he had to ride the Haro instead. I had a good race - finishing second - but Mitch's leg wasn't up to the 14 miles and he got fourth. We're anxious to see whether that has impacted his series standings, but it doesn't matter at this point: he's in no shape to ride the final race this Sunday, so we'll just have to see where everything falls. I haven't decided whether I will race the last one or not...

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from the race. Thanks for reading!

Another Record Year!

The official count is in: 458 new Alma College students! That's six more than last year, resulting in a new first-year enrollment record.

Go Scots!

SNL Skit

To borrow a line from Larry the Cable Guy...

"I don't care who you are, that's funny!"

Testing

So, remember college? Or the latest standardized test you took? You're sitting there, methodically working through the exam questions, feeling pretty decent about your progress, when BAM! You hit a brick wall. You attack a problem from every possible angle, wracking your brain for reasons why you continuously get the wrong answer. You may grimace. You may sigh impatiently. You may gnaw the eraser off your pencil. But you do all this subtly, because you're crammed in a room with a host of other students who don't want to hear you do what you really want to do. Which is scream. Throw things. Maybe cry, just a little bit, out of sheer frustration.

Behold, the glory of online exams:

Today I took my first finance exam, which will be a weekly trial. On three separate questions, I was SURE I was doing everything right. I mean, this stuff is open book. The formulas are right there. My calculator does all the work. But my answers would NOT match up with any of the choices. So yes, I screamed. I almost threw things. I most definitely cried. Then I guessed, because there was nothing else to do.

By sheer luck, I got all three guesses correct and aced the exam. And then I cried again, out of relief.

Imagine those reactions in a real classroom. I'm sold on this online learning stuff!

Quickest Update Ever

Work: Busy as heck. New class is probably roughly the same size as last year's record-breaker. Final count will be official next week. Coworkers still annoy me but the actual work is fulfilling.

School: Grad school online classes started this week. Financial Management is no good. Interpersonal Communication feels like busy work and forced, unstructured forum conversations. Glad to be doing it, but hope it improves!

Fitness: Alma has free fitness classes at lunch. Kickboxing and strength training are my favorites. May try step aerobics. My body hurts. Still have two mountain bike races to go, but training efforts have been weak.

Faith: Went to church with a friend and realized I really like Northpointe. Looking forward to being home on the weekends and starting a small group. Trying to be a better Christian.

Music: Please tell me you've checked out Third Day's new album, Revelation. Love it. Want to marry Mitch for a second time and dance to Born Again for our first dance.

House: Offer rejected. Didn't dampen my spirits. The right one is out there. Don't have time to pack up the apartment right now, anyway.

Politics: Is the election over yet? Campaign ads are annoying. McCain/Palin 2008.

I love: Fall. My new sweaters from J. Crew. My strangely affectionate cat. Marching bands. Alma's new student section, the Cole Mine (it's named for Coach Cole). Fresh apples. Erwin's doughnuts. Hot apple cider. Cold nights. Cuddling with that guy I married. :)

Girls Day with New Friends

I am really looking forward to Saturday. Yeah, I have to work and attend part of the Alumni Board meeting, but after that I am getting together with some super-fun girls for an afternoon of shopping, an evening of dinner and a night of movies and drinks!

As an introvert masquerading as an extrovert, making friends - good friends - always feels more challenging to me. This year, however, I was blessed to make the acquaintance of Amanda, a fellow Alma employee. She is so friendly, outgoing and welcoming that she's made it easy for a friendship to grow and, in the process, I've met other women she's charmed and drawn together. So, while Mitch heads down to Matt's for a guys' day, we've planned our own girls day. I'll join Amanda, her twin sister and two other colleagues from Alma, and we'll shop for fall clothes, chow down at P.F. Chang's and eventually head back to my apartment to relax for the rest of the night. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Mitch just asked if I was writing about him and was disappointed when I said no. So now I'm writing about him. Today, he made me burrito casserole for dinner and then used the fajita shells to give himself giant elephant ears. He even made elephant sounds. Then he took me to the library but said I took too long picking out my books. I love the library, though; why would anyone want to rush through such a wonderful place? He says I don't need to write about him anymore, so I guess that means he wants to rub my feet now. :)

Welcome Back to the 21st Century!

After almost a year of watching no more than four fuzzy channels thought the rabbit ears, we finally have cable TV. And wahoo, we got it just in time for the season premiere of Bones!

Actually, it never really mattered whether we had TV or not. We still don't have any fun channels, like Discovery or History, but we got what we needed: a real Internet connection. Since grad school officially begins on Saturday, this was a must-have. Now we can return to buying songs on iTunes, too!

In other news, we put an offer in on a house last week. Yeah, I know I should have written about it earlier but the chance of us actually getting it is slim to none. It's a beautiful, amazingly priced home but our offer is most likely too low (as our realtor has felt the need to tell us multiple times). Still, we tossed it out there and expect to hear within a few days. I'll be sure to post if, by some miracle, the news is good.

The logistics of the house thing and my duties with the Orientation Committee took most of my attention last week. Yes, Preterm is over and the entire student body has returned. How are things looking? Well, we have virtually the same size incoming class as last year, which, if you remember, was a record-breaking event. The College is handling the numbers quite well - one of these days, I'll post about Dr. Tracy's vision for 2012...it's interesting.

OK, now I'm just typing for the sake of typing. I'll spare you any more rambling - good night!