A Brother's Love

When you look at photos of me and my brother, you can definitely tell we're related. We share a lot of the Eccles genes:



In some ways, we have similar personalities and act very much like each other. For example, we are both the "cuddlers" in our respective relationships. Before the boys took their work trip to Ohio, Mitch and I were snuggling in my old bedroom and Bobby and Andi were doing the same in Bobby's. Mitch was lying on his back and I was on my side with my head on his shoulder and my arm wrapped around his torso. When it was time to leave, we went into Bobby's room and found him and Andi the same way, only role-reversed. We both take family responsibilities very seriously and we share a lot of the same likes and dislikes.

In other ways, though, we're very different. Much of my personality seems to come from my dad. My parents never worried about anyone taking advantage of me; they sometimes worried that people (especially girls) would take advantage of Bobby's selfless nature. I'm independent and ambitious; Bobby is more laid-back about almost everything. We both like to be generous, but I'm more conservative with my money whereas Bobby seems to love surprising those he loves with gifts. (He bought me my clipless pedals and mountain biking shoes "just because he thought I should have them.")

Our current situation means that Mitch and I are separated for most of the week, spending time together only on the weekends. It's hard...I miss him so much and I live for the moments we have with each other. But it's doable. I'm not distraught or totally unhappy, and I recognize this as a temporary hurdle from which we will learn and grow. Life isn't always easy and actually, I feel we are blessed that Bobby has given Mitch the opportunity to work - even if it's just painting lines in parking lots and patching potholes - rather than trying to fill his days while he searches for a permanent position.

But my brother confessed to my mom the other day: "I feel like the worst employer in the world, because I'm making Mitch and Laurie be apart. I'd be miserable if it were me." Wow. That really underscores his good heart and shows how we see the situation differently. I consider Bobby a saving grace for us right now: by providing Mitch with a job, he's actually helping our marriage because Mitch would NOT be happy if he didn't have work to do. And I would not be happy because Mitch would not be happy. Neither one of us is thrilled to be apart, but it's better than the alternative and it's something with which we just have to deal.

Memorial Day Weekend

We weren't really supposed to have any plans for Memorial Day Weekend: just spending some much-needed time together, plus setting aside some study and exam time for me. Turns out, we were pretty busy!

Jon and Mim wanted us to come up to Lake City for a day or so...the weather was supposed to be nice and we've all been wanting to ride the motorcycles together, so Mitch and I rode up Friday after work. We did a little cruisin' on Saturday, but I was a good girl and studied while Mitch helped with various cottage projects. The best part of the weekend was our Saturday night bonfire - started my Mim and me, with one match!

Unfortunately, I had volunteered to work on Sunday morning when we thought we weren't going to have any plans, so we woke up at 7 am on Sunday and rode down to Alma. It was cold, windy and pretty uncomfortable by the time we got there, but I had my breakfast with a group of students there to perform at the Highland Festival and then we were on our way to Mitch's parents' house for a belated Mother's Day lunch. For some reason, I was exhausted when we got home, so we put on Shrek and promptly took a nice little snooze on the couch. We woke up in time to see the Wings smoke the Blackhawks (ouch!), but the game was such a blowout that we walked downtown for ice cream during the second period.

We also wanted to hang out with Matt since he was up in the area, so he came over for dinner and then he and Mitch went to see the new Terminator movie. I stayed home and studied...all for naught, really, because frankly, my operations management final exam did NOT go well this afternoon. But it's done and I will pass the class!

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch listening to Mitch play guitar...I just love World's Apart, and he's playing really well. He gets to stay one more night with me before heading back downstate for work. I'll miss him, as always, but this week is a blessedly short one.

On the menu for this week: study for and rock my business and society exam, effectively finishing my third term in grad school; getting back to the gym; going for at least one road ride; and continuing to pray for the right employment opportunity for Mitch!

Rockin' the Beer Gut

Mitch gave me some afternoon laughs by having me listen to this song...I made it even funnier by finding the video. Enjoy!

Trailer Choir   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

Zoo de Mackinac 2009

For the third year, my family rode the Zoo de Mack, a 51 mile trek from Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City. Here's how the day went:


It was cold and drizzly for the start. Dad, Andi and I were in first group to start; Mitch and Bobby were about half an hour behind, because Mom had to make multiple trips to get us all to Boyne Highlands. For the first half of the ride, I cruised along with Andi 'til Bobby caught up with us. Then Dad and I picked up the pace for the last eight miles or so, until lunch.


Mom met us at Cross Village with lunch. It was so cold that all six of us crammed in the Explorer to scarf down our sandwiches. Cold and sore, Bobby and Andi drove to Mackinaw City while the rest of us (plus Mom!) continued on.




We finished the day at the Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City. Foregoing the ferry ride to the Island, we had our drinks there and retired to the hot tub for the rest of the evening.


This is my favorite photo of the weekend - don't we look great in our Alma Scots jerseys?!?!

Appreciation

In Admissions, the reps get all the credit. We are highly visible on campus and when we bring in good classes, we get most of the credit and praise. That's nice, but there is a group of people who are essential yet under-appreciated: our support staff.

In our office, support staff run the front desk, schedule complicated individual campus visits, handle the incessant mailings, run complex data reports, process applications, and do all the little things required to keep our office functioning. Without them, we'd be up a very large, fast-flowing creek without a paddle.

So this week, all us reps spoiled the support staff with daily surprises. We wrote them each little notes telling them what, specifically, we notice about their work. We gave them flowers, brought in a masseuse to do chair massages, took them to lunch, bought them car wash gift certificates and made them breakfast. They were so surprised and loved everything!

But the best part was a comment from our sweet, conservative data specialist:

"Flowers, massages, lunch...are we going to have to put out at the end of the week?!?!"

My Mom is SO Cool!

We like to do nice things for my mom on Mother's Day. Breakfast, dinner, maybe a trip to the zoo. Last year, we were supposed to go to the Toledo Zoo but it was raining, so we went to the Kensington Petting Farm instead. It's fun to spend time with her and show her how much we appreciate all she does for us.

But this year, Mom gave ME a gift: when we asked her what she'd like to do, she said, "I think I'd like to try mountain biking."

Imagine my delight!

So we put a set of Pythons on her cruiser and took her to Island Lake, where we rode the blue loop. Mitch and I rode ahead, waiting at the tops of hills to cheer her on, and Dad rode behind her to coach. She did AWESOME - made it up most of the hills (though we picked blue so she wouldn't have to tackle too many) and was smiling at the end.

And the bow on the top of this beautiful gift? Mitch and I rode TOGETHER, which never happens. Since this was a family ride (and because he was going to be out striping lots all night long, so it was best for him to not use a ton of energy), he took this opportunity to watch me in some of the more technical sections and provide me with pointers and compliments.

Back to my mom...she's the kind of woman society tells us it's impossible to be - at least without a Ritalin habit. Without ever seeming overwhelmed or stressed, she excels in her career but was always completely involved in whatever Bobby or I were doing. She still makes a lunch for my dad every morning (and one for any "kid" who happens to be there, which currently includes Mitch and Bobby) and puts home-cookin' on the table each night, no matter how trying her day has been. Her house is always clean and put together - and so is she, except when she's outside, sweating and operating a jackhammer on the patio. In short, she's Super-Woman!

Teenaged Angst and Facebook

Or: Why I'm Glad I Went Through High School without Facebook

So I've gotten to witness, over the past couple of months, some standard high school drama between my little cousin - a sophomore - and her former boyfriend. Thanks to Facebook's practice of showing me what everyone is writing to everyone else, I've seen their embarrassing wall messages and their angsty status updates. It all looks cringingly familiar...

Like most high school girls, I had crushes on boys who didn't know I was alive, felt neglected by girls I thought were friends, proclaimed my undying love for a boyfriend or two, and just had those days where I thought no one understood me, blah blah blah. And like most girls, holding all that craziness inside just wasn't going to work: so my friends and I made up code names for our little crushes and doodled their names on our notebooks. I kept a copious journal and poured my little angsty heart out on paper. I started journal entries with cheesy song lyrics about love, which I thought I understood as a teenager (and about hurt, which I also thought I understood).

In short, I did all the same things as my cousin and her friends - and all high schoolers, probably - but I didn't do them for the whole world to see. It just wasn't that way. If I wanted to (and sometimes I did), I could destroy the mortifying evidence of my immaturity. Notes burn and names can be scratched out on folders. But these public Internet messages are there for all to see and comment upon! Oh, the horror! Thank goodness I was spared...

Fort Custer

The evening after a race has a distinctive feel. I get home dirty: dried sweat on my face, dirt on my legs, maybe a scrap or a bruise or a bump here and there. Crawling out of the car after a (usually) long drive, my legs remind me how hard I've worked them. After a few groans and grunts, Mitch and I get the bikes and gear up the apartment stairs. Showers are the number one priority; then it's time to unpack our leftover food, put everything away, make some dinner and retire to the couch for the evening. If we do have to get up for something like small group, we float through the evening with a sense of tired euphoria.

And so went tonight. The race at Fort Custer was another great time, and rather successful, too. The weather was perfect...I might even be a little sunburned! For this race, I had to do two nine-mile laps. The first lap went all right, but I got abdominal cramps and fell behind within the first couple miles. They only lasted for a mile or so, I think, and even though I thought I was probably too far back to catch anyone from my class, I kicked it up a notch. About three miles into my second lap, I caught the racer in second place (there were only three of us, and Nichole was long gone!) and passed her in a tricky section called Granny's Garden. She passed me again a short while later and tried to pull away, but I kept her in my sights and overtook her when we got back into the woods. From there, I just put the hammer down and tried to stay ahead. I ended up finishing fifteen seconds before she rolled in, both of us exhausted but happy with the race.


On the podium, with our pint glasses!


Mitch did extremely well, too. He also finished second and was happy with his time. To his left and in fourth place is Rick, his friendly competitor.

Full results for our team are as follows:

Expert Men 40-49:
14th - Karl Grieve

Sport Men 19-29:
2nd - Mitch
11th - Brad Potter

Sport Men 30-34:
7th - Jake Pangle

Sport/Beginner Single Speed:
8th - Aaron Osburn

Sport Men 35-39:
13th - Rich Marr

Sport Women 29 and under:
1st - Nichole Baker
2nd - Me!

Beginner Women 15-29
4th - Nicole Daugherty


Here's part of the team at the end of the day. We all have a lot of fun together!

Hills

I've found that taking half a day off during the week leading up to a race and heading downstate to hit some trails really helps me out on race day. Since I'm fortunate to have a boss who doesn't mind my last-minute vacation requests - which are always dependent on the weather - I got to make a trip down to Poto yesterday afternoon to ride with Mitch, Nichole and Aaron.

I was totally intimidated by the Potawatomi. In my mind, it's always been this unattainable, killer trail. A couple summers ago, I rode it and struggled miserably through the whole thing. The second time I attempted it, I broke my chain three miles in and had to walk out. Mitch loves it; I fear it!

But Nichole rides it all the time and convinced me that it should be my race-week training run. So the four of us met up yesterday and to my surprise, I had a great time! Sure, the first four miles we're pretty rough. But after than, my legs remembered how to work and I started to enjoy the trail. Some of the hills were still pretty challenging but I made it up most of them!

Of course, my legs are nice and tired this morning. I'd like to get down to the Rec and work out over lunch, but a few friends and I are going out to bid farewell to a coworker who's moving on. I might get some good stretching in this evening, but I have lots of homework and a neglected apartment to tend to. Since Mitch has been staying with my parents and working with Bobby all week, basic housecleaning is falling by the wayside!

Speaking on Mitch and jobs, I don't have any real updates. He's done a couple more apps this week, but his schedule with Bobby has kept him pretty busy. It's so nice that he can go down there and actually work, because he hated sitting around the apartment...still, I miss him terribly and hope he can find something permanent soon.

The Cat and the Computer

I really like how Chip keeps me company while I sit on the couch and write papers. He curls up next to me and snoozes while I type, and sometimes I reach over to scratch his soft ears or kiss his furry little head. It's a nice little presence to have.

Often, though, the cat is not content to simply sit near me and accept scraps of my attention. More than likely, he'll end up on my lap, pushing my computer from my thighs to my knees and causing my arms to jut out at odd angles in order to reach the keyboard. If I rest my hand on the mouse touchpad, he'll nose at my hand until I relent and scratch his head. Then he'll purr louder and louder, until his little motor gets s squeak in it. By the time I stop, he's lying half on the computer and obscuring the touchpad that steals my attention away from him. Eventually, he makes it so difficult to work - stretching his paws out on the keyboard - that I either have to kick him off or take a break from typing...which is the stage I'm at right now...if there are typos in this post, blame the cat!

Again, they ache!

Had another great ride with the On 2 Wheels team today! We went to Fort Custer in preparation for the next race and did both the red and green loops. Green was all new to me, and such a blast! Unfortunately, we got caught in a thunderstorm at the end of our ride...but that didn't put a damper on our after-ride festivities: grilling! Instead of hanging out at the trailhead, we just found a picnic shelter.

But oh, after our harrowing motorcycle ride to Lansing last night (I was clinging to Mitch for dear life!), the ride was tough on my legs. Right now, they're pretty sore. I need to drink water to flush 'em out, and then get back on the bike ASAP. Or I could go eat homemade popcorn and drink Captain and Coke for dinner. Sounds like a plan to me!

Joy and Happiness

I am not happy. Mitch lost his job earlier this month...yet another casualty of the economy. He has some temporary work lined up for the summer and potentially into the fall, but of course he's diligently applying for permanent positions. We've made the appropriate budget cuts and have essentially limited our recreation to mountain bike racing, but even that will have to be cut down from what we initially planned. These are difficult circumstances.

Yet I am joyful. What? Joy, at a time like this? Joy, when there's so much uncertainty? Joy, though so many of my plans are on hold?

From a sermon at our church last winter: "Joy is a state of happiness, a state of delight, a state of gladness that is not based upon my current circumstances, where happiness is based on my circumstances."

I am joyful. I felt like the world was caving in on me the day Mitch came home from work with the news. The floor spun, but quickly righted itself. And we prayed together, right away. Before we update the resume, before we adjusted the budget, before we started scouring the Internet for job postings, we prayed. And I can't even tell you what we prayed about: maybe strength, maybe for an opportunity to present itself soon, maybe just for God's presence. And though we had our moments of fear over the next few days, we both felt God's presence and his comfort.

Sometimes I want to slip into that initial despair. When something is going wrong in our lives, we tend to think that everything is going wrong. But when I feel that little twinge, I remember that I have this amazing personal relationship with the God of the entire universe. He loves me and cares for me; how could that realization not make me joyful? It does. It fills me with joy, and that joy keeps me from wallowing in my circumstances. And I can be happy, too: hugging Mitch makes me happy, riding my bike makes me happy, being with friends makes me happy. But I am able to experience that happiness despite our current unfortunate circumstances only because I first let God into my life and let him make me joyful.

For awhile, I've been trying to figure out how to write about our circumstances. I don't feel the need to wallow in them; at the same time, I feel like people think you're trying to get them to believe everything is rosy-perfect in your world if you don't acknowledge the struggles. So here I am: I acknowledge our struggles and our need for love and support (and possible job leads!) from our friends and family. I'm not trying to sugar-coat it and make you think we live this perfect, charmed life, nor am I trying hide from the circumstances by not dwelling on them. But my life is joyful and I am blessed, not because of my situation at any one time but because of my Lord's love.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jer. 29:11

Yankee Springs Time Trial

Race season has officially begun! This past Sunday, Mitch and I joined six of our On 2 Wheels teammates at the Yankee Springs Time Trial. It was a huge race...something like 400 racers were registered. The weather was not ideal, but you could barely feel the sprinkly-misty rain out on the course. I think it even made some of the hills easier for me, because they weren't dry and gravelly.


Me and Nichole, before the race.

My lap started pretty well, but I quickly got passed by the faster sport women and my teammate, Nichole. Throughout the course, I battled back and forth with two other racers; in a time trial, you're just racing the clock so your position with regard to the other racers doesn't matter. In this race, I also didn't know which racers were in my age bracket since they grouped all the sport women together for the start. So even though I had no idea where my time stood in relation to my competitors, I used the racers who were close to me as motivation to go faster. As I said, the uphills weren't too bad and the downhills were a ton of fun! I was shooting for a time of 1 hour, 20 minutes (because that would have been a top-three time in my class last year) but I finished just under 1 hour, 13 minutes. That was fast enough to earn me a second place out of four racers. Nichole smoked us all, finishing in 1 hour, 6 minutes.


Podium finishes for the sport ladies!

The rest of the team did really well, too:

Sport Men 19-29:
Mitch - 4th place (53:45)
Brad Potter - 6th place (54:13)

Sport Men 30-39:
Jake Pangle - 8th place (59:56)

Single Speed Sport/Beginner:
Aaron Osburn - 9th place (57:27)

Expert Men 40-49:
Karl Grieve - 10th place (1:44:28-two laps)

Beginner Women 30+:
Andrea Davis - 7th place (1:27:51)

Mitch was hoping for a faster time but he lost precious minutes getting stuck behind large groups of riders. That was a common complaint for most of the guys, and it's one of the downfalls of time trial races. But Andrea gets some special kudos for finishing 20 minutes faster this year than last year!

Next up: a cross country race at Fort Custer. So excited!

Should...but I'm not!

I took the afternoon off work today.

What I should be doing:
Studying for my two midterm exams
Working on problems for Operations Management
Researching for my Business and Society paper

What I'm really doing:
Mountain biking
Riding the motorcycle
Having dinner with my parents

It's all about priorities, right? Like I keep saying on Facebook, I think this year's race season is going to adversely affect my spring and summer grades...

Behold, my burning quads!

Well, they've stopped burning by now, but they were certainly on fire Saturday afternoon when Mitch and I joined our team at Yankee Springs for a pre-ride. Unless you count our Friday attempt at riding a kind of wet Anderson Park, Saturday's adventure was my first trail ride of the spring. It really was a blast; the weather was perfect, the trail was in great shape, and our teammates seem like really fun people.

My personal takeaways from the ride: I'm glad I spent so much time this winter strengthening my whole body. My bike handling skills seem just as solid as they were at the end of the season last year, and I attribute at least some of that to having a good, strong upper body and core. I remain confident in technical sections and need to continue refining those skills. Climbing will still be my biggest challenge, however. I need to spend some time riding challenging singletrack hills to build up endurance in my leg muscles and get better at choosing my lines amidst roots, rocks and gravel. One of my teammates, Nichole, suggested a grueling weekend at the Potowatami. With dread, I will probably take her up on that sooner rather than later. As the Yankee race is next weekend, though, and there's quite a bit of climbing, I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and grind through it as best I can, making up precious time by going balls-out on the downhills. Wheeeeeee!

(I also learned, much to my relief, that the back problems I've been having shouldn't hinder my riding. I've been seeing a chiropractor and it appears to be paying off. I also gave myself a good dose of ibuprofen before the Yankee ride and was feeling no pain! That was one of my greatest fears regarding the upcoming race season, and I'm glad it shouldn't be an issue.)

Mitch had a phenomenal ride at Yankee. This was one of his first trail rides with his new bike, and that combined with all his training helped him improve his previous Yankee time by 8-9 minutes. Now, he rode the trail backwards last time but he said it's still probably comparable. After the first lap, he and the rest of the guys went out for round two and Mitch was still well ahead of last year's race time. I think he's going to have a great season...he sure has worked hard!

As this weekend was Easter, we didn't spend the whole time riding. On Sunday morning, we went to Mitch's family's church for an 8 am breakfast, followed by worship service. Then we hung out at his parents' place, eating and talking, until about 3 pm. Somewhere in there, I almost dozed off in the warm sunlight streaming through the front windows! But no time for napping when we got home: I had a case analysis to finalize and submit for Operations Management. These things are supposed to be team assignments, but only two of us have made real contributions to the efforts so far. If we get a good grade on this one, though, we only have to turn in one more. Here's hoping...

In other news, the weather is just about nice enough for us to get the motorcycle out of storage and start riding! I'm thinking of taking a half day off this week so we could get the bike from my parents' and maybe go for one more mountain bike ride at Brighton or Island Lake before Sunday's race at Yankee. Maybe I'll go ask the boss right now!

I know what you're doing, Mother Nature.

And it's not going to work. You're using this little blast of cold weather to distract me while you sneak spring in the back door. I'm on to your game...you did it this fall, giving us sunshiny days while ripping the leaves from the trees and paving the way for winter. I didn't see it 'til it was too late and I missed the whole transition. Now I'm paying attention. I'm going to catch that sweet moment when green brushes over the brown grass, when buds appear on the tree outside my window. I'm going to hear that first morning when the birds start their chorus, not belatedly realize they've been singing for weeks already. Spring flowers won't be in full bloom before I run my fingers lightly along their petals; no, I'll watch them slowly open. I'll take it all in, Mother Nature, moment by moment, despite your best efforts to hoodwink me.

Aches and Pains

I went for a quick ride after work yesterday, while the lasagna was in the oven. It should have been awesome: the sun was shining, temps were just below 50 degrees and there was practically no wind. But just a couple miles in, my legs got really tired (presumably from the hard leg workout I had done at lunchtime) and my stomach reminded me that I hadn't fed it much that day. I did about 10 miserable miles, managing to keep my typical pace but struggling the whole way. This morning, I am paying for the lifting and the ride with super-sore legs!

On the plus side, though, I might finally be making some progress with my back problems. Physical therapy, which I did for about six weeks, didn't really do anything at all, so I decided to try the chiropractor. I've only been twice, but things seem a little better. I am skeptical (will a few back cracks really do the trick?) but I've heard good things from many people so I'm giving this a shot. Honestly, I don't know what else I can try.

On 2 Wheels Update

Just wanted to send a public congratulations to my teammate, Andrea, who took first place in her division at the Barry-Roubaix cyclocross race on Saturday and captured the first win for our team!

Mitch and I are getting pretty excited for the first mountain bike race of the season, the Yankee Spring Time Trial. In addition to the fact that it kicks off the much-anticipated race season, it's also the first competitive event we'll do as part of a team. Should be AWESOME!

Better, but Baffling

I had my first residency (on-campus class session) for the current term of my MBA program, which you'll recall includes classes in Operations Management and Business & Society. The sessions actually provided some added value to the courses, instead of last time where (for one class) I felt like I was wasting my time.

My instructors still baffle me, though. They make comments about how undergrads can't be expected to do serious research, or discuss complex topics, or write well; but frankly, 9 out of 10 of my undergrad profs demanded more quality from me than any of the instructors I've had at U of M-Flint. Very few of my group presentation at the MBA level would have passed muster in Prof. Lemmon's Global Business Strategy class, and some of the surface-level research we've written would have sent Dr. Payerhin into a fit of disgust. (Have I mentioned I hate group work?)

I'm not trying to sound like a snob or anything...but I've seen undergrads from lots of schools do really phenomenal work. Maybe the expectations just need to be set higher, and maybe they can take the grad school expectations up with them.

Using the Crisis

I haven't done a political post in awhile, but this article was really too interesting to pass up. Credit goes to Ryan for sending this my way.

No, he can't

Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts:

"Education, energy and healthcare policy in the US, as almost anywhere, all need help. But are America’s flaws in these areas really the causes of the housing bust and the paralysed banking system? What about the cyclical contractions that follow all economic booms? What about a decade and more of absurdly cheap money? How about all that Fannie and Freddie-fuelled lending to inappropriate borrowers? What happened to lax oversight? What about greed, that comforting straw man? No, according to Obama, we are losing our jobs and being kicked out of our excessively mortgaged houses because America lacks universal healthcare, federally sponsored nursery school, university for all, and a progressive emissions-oriented energy policy."

"Now the real Obama has stood up. The moderate and sustainable version of the Democratic party personified by Presidents Kennedy and Clinton, based on personal responsibility and low tax, high growth economics, is under the bus with Reverend Wright, Obama’s 20-year religious mentor. Ideology is back. Coming from the most radical presidential candidate in the history of either party, this is no surprise. But to practical Democrats in a politically moderate country that is still based on a philosophy of robust individual freedom, this revolutionary expansion of the federal government is very worrying. Obama’s seizure of so much money and so much decision making in such basic areas of everyday life implies too much debt, too much inefficiency and too much control for a corrupt and distant political class. This is not the change that we sought."

And no, this is not from one of my favorite conservatives-only sites. Here's what Prospect Magazine's Web site says:

"Prospect has acquired a reputation as the most intelligent magazine of current affairs and cultural debate in Britain."

Limited Wardrobe

Today, since we really need to do some laundry, I'm wearing a shirt made for girls with skinny upper arms and pants made for girls with nice, slim thighs. My biker quads and emerging biceps are complaining: "Why are we packed into these pants?" "Every time we move, we think we're going to pop the button on the sleeves!"

We must get some clean clothes tonight...

Guitar Battling Ted Nugent

I'm waiting for Mitch to finish playing Guitar Hero, one of his birthday presents from my parents. Then we're going to watch part of The Ten Commandments...have I written on here about how I've never seen all these old Charlton Heston movies, and how it's now one of Mitch's missions to show them to me? I think so...anyway, I've finished up with homework for the night and am due for a little relaxation with my favorite guy.

Today was really nice. We went to an MMBA meeting and heard about all these awesome projects that are on the horizon. I kept wanting to volunteer to work on some of them (besides trail days, which we'll of course do as many of as possible), but I had to keep reminding myself that between work and school, I would just let people down if I tried to do more. Next year, next year...for now, I'll just have to be a grunt!

After the meeting, we rode a rail trail in Jackson, which was about 24 miles long. I think we were out for a little over two hours, riding at a pace very conducive to conversation. I can't remember the last time I rode and talked at the same time...it's usually me and my iPod, with visions of a uniquely designed home library floating through my mind as I grind away on the mid-Michigan roads!

Well, Mitch is now done playing his crazy Uncle Teddy song, so it's movie time. Have a great evening, friends!

Yesterday

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

Yesterday it felt like God kept giving me amazing gifts. Treasures, really: such an outpouring of love, shown by all the little things I can forget to cherish. So why was yesterday so wonderful?

*I was HOME! When I left for Colorado, I needed to get away. When I left for New York, I was ambivalent. But almost immediately, all I wanted to do was come home to Mitch and normalcy, to go through the everyday routines of my life.

*The weather was lovely. As soon as I got out of bed - I got to sleep in and skip work - I opened the windows and let the fresh air permeate the whole apartment. Every time I went outside, I could feel myself literally absorbing the sun and the warmth.

*I went for a ride. Though a strong wind from the southwest made half the ride pretty tough, the 20 miles I did felt amazing. I felt the breeze on my skin and smelled the onset of spring, which lifted my heart with each pedal stroke. My average speed went up from the last time I did this route and I finished 5-7 minutes quicker than before. With the first race a month away, I feel on track to perform well.

*Lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a big glass of milk: something I really miss when I travel.

*When I had to go out of the house for errands, I slipped on my Teva sandals for the first time since September. My feet still tingle, remembering the sensation of settling into the familiar grooves and the feel of the warm air on my bare feet.

*Mitch and I sat down for dinner together for a veritable feast of venison tenderloin roast, mashed potatoes, corn and a nice bottle of pinot grigio from Leelanau Cellars. After being away from him so much recently, I bask in his presence; after eating so many meals in restaurants, I relish homemade food. This was also a make-up birthday celebration: his was Monday, but I didn't get home until 9:30 pm after the long drive from Syracuse.

*While I was doing homework, Mitch and Kruse seranaded me with the real guitars (not Guitar Hero!). They played and sang a piece I love but hadn't heard in forever, because somehow it missed the iPod loading:

I've heard a tale that a man would climb a mountain
Just to be with the one he loves.
How many times has he broken that promise?
It has never been done.
Well I never climbed the highest mountain,
but I walked the hill of calvary.

And just to be with you I'd do anything,
there's no price I would not pay, no.
Just to be with you I will give everything.
I would give my life away.

I've heard it said that a man would swim an ocean
Just to be with the one he loves.
But all of those dreams are an empty emotion.
It can never be done.
Well I never swam the deepest ocean,
But I walked upon the raging sea.

And just to be with you I'd do anything,
there's no price I would not pay, no.
And just to be with you I would give everything.
I would give my life away.

And I know that you don't understand the fullness of my love,
how I died upon the cross for your sin.
And I know that you don't realize how much that I give you,
and I promise I would do it all again.

Just to be with you I've done everything,
there's no price I did not pay, no.
Just to be with you I gave everything,
Yes I gave my life away.

Just to be with you
Oh, just to be with you...

That's Love Song by Third Day...wow.

*At the end of the day, I crawled into my comfortable bed and snuggled under the covers with the man I love. Perfect.

My Trip So Far

Since it's my last night in New York, I thought I'd do a quick update. I've spent most of my time here at these huge national college fairs. Basically, each school pays a rather large fee for an admissions rep to stand at a booth for two three-hour sessions, silently willing someone, anyone, to come and talk to her. Oh wait, that's just me. No, it's not just me. There are plenty of schools with minimal name recognition at these fairs, but it's frustrating to watch the big state universities talk to tons of kids while I am approached by very few.

So the first fair was in Rochester and the second was in Syracuse. Each fair consists of two days: one is a weekday morning, and local schools bus students in; and the other is a weekend afternoon for students and their families. Tomorrow is the final part of the Syracuse fair, and then I get to come home: just in time to catch the last few hours of Mitch's 27th birthday!

Save for one lazy afternoon, I've kept busy when not at the fairs. Obviously, I had to keep up on my work emails and my homework, but I did some window shopping at a mall and had some pretty good meals. The cable TV programming quickly lost its shine; I haven't turned it on since coming to the Syracuse area. I also went to dinner with one of our Trustees and his family; this time, they spared me the sushi!

Recreation-wise, though, the best part has been the awesome ride I did this afternoon. When I got back from the fair, I set out along the west shore of the lake near my hotel. It was cool and sunny, with only a little wind...but A LOT of hills! Climbing is most definitely not my strong suit, but I found myself kind of enjoying the rhythm of my breathing and pedal stroke as I went up...and up...and up. I rode for 45 minutes, then turned around so I'd be back before sunset. My bike computer is mysterious missing (probably buried under the clothes and jackets all over my bed), but I think I did about 18 miles in just under an hour and a half, with an average speed of 12.5 mph and a max of 30.2 mph.

All right, friends, it's time for me to get this place straightened up so I'm ready to head out bright and early. I hope you all got to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Harumph

It was supposed to be almost 40 degrees today, which is just warm enough for me to ride. Instead, it's barely clearing 30 degrees. So, alas, my bike remains in the trunk of my car and it looks like I'll have to go down for a swim or something instead. Perhaps tomorrow?

Back to Reality

Lots to write about today...let's start with Colorado! The skiing was amazing; it was pretty warm the first day, when Adrienne and I skied at Beaver Creek. I've never skied in such few layers, nor regularly removed my mittens on the chairlift. It's amazing how different the snow can be, depending on how high you are on the mountain. At the bottom, it was slushy, kind of like mashed potatoes. Mid-mountain, it was still soft but didn't grab my skis, and at the top it was hard and a bit icy. But this Michigan gal can't complain: the runs were long and fun, and by the end of the day my quads were screaming at me. Of course, I just yelled back, "You like this! You're having fun!" and they grumbled a bit but continued to function.


Me at Beaver Creek. If you look closely, you can see that my pit zips are undone and I'm only wearing a thin long underwear shirt. By the end of the day, my face and neck were sunburned, despite the sunscreen I applied.


One of the views from Beaver Creek. Breathtaking!

We took a day off skiing and did some snowshoeing, which was pure torture for my tired legs and oxygen-starved lungs. It wasn't a particularly nice day and we weren't anywhere spectacular, but it was still nice to get out. Later that night, we hit up the Gore Ridge Brewery for dinner, and I bought a growler of "Biker Stout," their darkest micro-brew, for Mitch.

Skiing at Vail on Wednesday was almost overwhelming. It was significantly colder and much windier, and because they hadn't gotten any new snow for awhile, some of the runs Adrienne wanted to show me were rough and icy. We started out on the front of the mountain, but quickly tired of lift lines and headed toward the back bowls. There are tons of areas to ski at Vail, and I bet you could ski for a few days without doing the same runs more than a time or two each. Anyway, we spent most of our time back in an area called Pete's Bowl, where it was a little more protected from the wind. Our favorite run was really neat because it started out sort of flat, but let you carve around little stands of evergreens. Then it narrowed and got steeper, letting you build up speed and really work for your turns before dumping you out at the lift. The overwhelming part? Back there, were were SEVEN MILES from where we had started the day!


One of the many peaks surrounding Vail.


Me and Adrienne trying not to get blown away by the frigid wind.

Aside from the awesome skiing, my trip really made me appreciate two things: my marriage and my friends. Adrienne and Kyle, though only married since June, seem to have some things to work out. She can be demanding and critical; he, impatient and moody. It was a little awkward to listen to him raise his voice to her and to hear her pester him about inconsequentials while he worked. I am blessed to have Mitch and see that all the work we put into our relationship is priceless.

We spent each evening hanging out with Adrienne's friends from her work, which was fine and fun. But they are horrible gossips, criticizing other friends and constantly running down their student intern. I'm trying hard to recall another topic of conversation, but all I can come up with is a brief exchange about the Wings and the Avs. By the end, I was both weary of it all and uncomfortable with their lack of compassion.

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Back in Michigan, I spent a fantastic long weekend with my family. Mitch surprised me by showing up at my parents' on Thursday night, and had even brought my bike so I could go for a ride the following day. I hit the roads at Island Lake and it felt wonderful! Though the rest of the weekend was a bit dreary, we kept ourselves occupied with a trip to On 2 Wheels (got our team jerseys!), a couple games of Scrabble and the six-hour movie Lonesome Dove.

While I would have loved the relaxation to last for longer, reality beckoned. Sunday afternoon brought the start of my third term of grad school; this semester, I have a class called Business and Society, and another one called Operations Management. Both require substantial group work...I hope I don't get stuck with an incompetent slacker like last time...

Which brings me to tonight. After only two days back in the office, I packed up my car and drove to New York (State, not City) to spend five days recruiting new Alma students. The bright side of this trip: weather conducive to biking and new places to ride, and cable TV in the hotels (I'll get my fill of Fox News and CMT). But really, I would rather be home with Mitch.

Well, it's about time to wash off the smell of Red Lobster - my dinner choice for tonight, for those awesome biscuits - and relax for the rest of the evening. I'm sure I'll blog more throughout my trip!

Feels SO good!

As of about five minutes ago, I'm one third of the way done with my MBA program. The term ends in three days, but all my assignments are complete and my course evaluations are turned in. This means a solid WEEK of NO STUDYING!

And what am I going to do with that week? I'm going skiing in Colorado - what else?!?! I've been waiting and saving my pennies for the trip since the fall and I'm SO EXCITED! The funny thing is, I think I'm equally looking forward to the skiing, etc. AND just relaxing without the demands of work and school hanging over my head. When I return, I'll definitely post photos for everyone!

All right, friends, time to finish packing. Enjoy the sunny day!

Yet another reason...

...to look forward to the upcoming race season: Mitch and I have been invited to join a small group of mid-Michigan riders on the new race team for On 2 Wheels, a bike shop in Jackson! We loved the camaraderie we developed with other riders during our first season and anticipate it will be even better as members of the team.

I'm definitely a bit apprehensive about my impending move to the sport category, but I think I've been building a good strength base this winter and am committed to more riding as soon as the snow clears. I hope to get my back all healed up within the next few weeks, too, having resigned myself to the idea that I might just need to take a little time off lifting. While I hate the thought of losing even a little of what I've worked so hard to gain, I'm comforted by the fact that this is a convenient time to back off a bit. Between trips for pleasure and work, I won't really be able to stay consistent anyway. But I'm hoping to take my bike on a business trip in a couple weeks and have already identified some places to ride, provided the weather is decent.

Affirmation

This weekend was particularly nice. As usual, I spent a good chunk of Saturday doing homework. My final paper for O.B. is on the organizational culture and structure at Alma College, and my research involves interviewing some of the members of our executive staff. I have a good shell to work with now, based on speaking with my VP, but on Wednesday I'll get even more viewpoints from the Academic and Advancement sectors. Does the fact that I am REALLY looking forward to putting this together make me a super-nerd? Yes, probably...

Aside from homework, I also managed a stint on the trainer and was pleased to see that my average speed for an hour-long mountain bike workout is increasing. I was also surprised at how tired my legs were, even at the beginning. It seems our lunchtime workouts are becoming harder and harder as we push each other to do more. I will need to remember that, on race weeks, my leg work should probably be limited to some easy riding.

I'm not always very confident when I meet new people; in fact, I'm very self-conscious about whether they'll like me, so I don't always have the best, most relaxed time at first. But on Saturday night, we went to Jon's to drink some wine and had a fantastic time with him and two other couples, whom I had never met before (Mitch knew one of the guys). We stayed way later than we were supposed to, but we all agreed that Jon needed to have another get-together so we could all hang out.

And then there was the MMBA Expo on Sunday (which is why we were supposed to get home at a decent hour on Saturday night!). The best part was getting to see all the folks with whom we share our summer weekends and talking about the upcoming season. I think it made everyone anxious for the races to begin! We didn't even spend too much money: Mitch got a great deal on aerobars for his road bike and on a new pair of shoes, and I bought a gift for Adrienne.

Well, my little work break is over. I have lots of projects to catch up on over the next week, so I better get back at it. Thanks for reading!

A Feel-Good Post

I'm tired, I'm stressed about school, I'm sick of the weather, I need a vacation and my back hurts. BUT, oh dear friends, there is so much that is good in my life. Let's recap:

With as stressed as I am about school and as challenging as I find Applied Quantitative Analysis, I took an exam on Tuesday and only missed one question. And I only missed 4.5 points on the 150 point Organizational Behavior exam I took on Sunday. This term is over in two weeks, and I only have one more test and one more paper. Wahoo!

We were bummed about having to pay in on our taxes this year, but a reexamination (thanks to the fact that I had to file the FAFSA to get more loans for next year) revealed that we get tax credit for my educational expenses so we ARE getting money back this year. Yes!

I may complain about "kids these days" as I work with needy Millennials and their helicopter parents, but I swear to you that we have the nicest students in the world. I am the Ski Team's advisor this year, and as a thank-you for doing the simplest things (like signing reimbursement requests), the team pitched in and bought me a Black Diamond soft-shell jacket with the team name and my name embroidered on it. I get a little teary just thinking about their kindness, and vow to bake them cookies for their races next year.

This weekend, we have the MMBA Expo/Annual Meeting. It's supposed to be just awesome, with lots of cool mountain biking-related vendors, advocacy speakers and just a general good time with other crazy people who love our sport. Mitch is going along for the pre-Expo ride (brrr!) while I help out with vendor check-in, nice and early in the A.M. I just love that we've gotten involved in such a fun activity and met really great people through it. Bring on the race season! (Well, not yet...I need a little more trainer time, though strength training workouts are going strong.)

In just a couple weeks, I'm heading out to Colorado to ski with Adrienne, a good friend from high school. Because I will be between terms for school, I won't have any homework to worry about. Other than calling home, I'm going to be OFF THE GRID and I cannot wait! I know we'll have some memorable adventures...

Alma-Ecuador

Since my life is excruciatingly boring right now (at least, it probably appears so from the outside because I'm not gifted like writer Joshilyn Jackson, who has a talent for making the mundane entertaining), let me try to inject a little excitement into this blog by highlighting a new initiative at Alma College:

Alma, Equatorialis Sign Articulation Agreement

This is a HUGE deal that has been in the works for a very long time. Alumni reading this should be very excited and extraordinarily proud of the College for embracing this innovative initiative! In ten years, I truly believe we'll look back on last Friday and consider it an historical event.

My Foray into Physical Therapy

After establishing that muscle relaxants and massage were not improving my back, my doctor sent me off to physical therapy. I had my evaluation and first session yesterday; here are the results:

• I did something to the part of my spine that experiences a lot of rotation. Not sure really what, but now I have exercises to do with a Thera-band.

• E-stim is pretty awesome...like a little mini-massage.

• My activity level is only mildly restricted. I can't do exercises like the plank because of the strain it puts on my spine, and I also need to avoid anything that hyper-extends my back. Other than that, I can do everything else.

Riding is most definitely not affected unless it starts aggravating the area. Since I still have quite awhile before conditions allow for anything but trainer and road rides, I don't see this being a problem even when I get out on the trail.

Other than dealing with that, I've been trying to stay on top of my coursework. I've been so bogged down for the past three weeks that, after last weekend's residency, I was ready for a little break. So I coasted for a couple days but now realize I need to get back on the wagon. Over the next two days, I need to learn two chapters from the-class-formerly-referred-to-as-stats-but-now-called-management-science, write a paper for organizational behavior, and do some serious studying for OB. Over the weekend, I have to take tests in both subjects. But after that, I just have one more management science test and one more OB paper, and I'm officially DONE with my second term of graduate school. Two down, four to go!

Freaking Awesome Ride

On most days, I would not classify my typical road route as any sort of awesome, much less freaking. But in February, any time I (as one particularly opposed to winter riding due to my inability to manufacture my own body heat) get out on my bike, it is usually freaking awesome. So yesterday's ride, despite the headwind, was FREAKING awesome. And FURTHER, my typical road rides range somewhere from 12-17 miles, but I willingly rode 20 miles! This gives me hope that, when the weather really breaks and the sun stays awake until the late evening, I WILL be able to ride my lovely little Scott home from the office. She is excited already.

Let me share something else riding-related, while I'm on the subject: I had my first real racing dream a few weeks ago. Now, it was pretty weird because there was a climbing wall in the middle of the course. Think about the big starting hill at Pando. Now make it super steep but pretty short. Now add both a climbing wall and a chairlift. In my dream, you dismounted your bike at the chairlift and some nice volunteer took it up the hill for you. In the meantime, you scaled the climbing wall (maybe 25-30 feet with NO ROPE) and topped it out, then got back on your bike and continued the race. In my dream, I was also racing with one of my friends who rides in real life but doesn't race. She broke her bike and our "resuce crew" assumed I would not be finishing the race, either, and dismantled my bike. I was TICKED and made them put it back together, but then I couldn't find my shoes. Thinking I would get reprimanded for not having my shoes, I grabbed my slip-on Teva fli-flops and quickly pedaled away into the darkness (because we had been on the trail FOREVER). Sometime shortly thereafter, Chip's efforts to expel a hairball woke me up.

By the way, can you tell I'm making up for the fact that I haven't really blogged much over the past few weeks? Grad school has been kicking my behind, but I'm now in the home stretch of this term. Just over one more year and I'll have my MBA! And no, depsite his fantasies, I will probably NOT be landing a big, fancy job and providing Mitch with the means to pursue life as a professional mountain bike racer (or even as a bike bum). Sorry, honey. :)

Hungry

I've been waiting for my church to post this sermon for a week, and it's finally up. We're doing a series on the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, and the one I've really liked so far was on Matthew 5:6:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

If you want to listen to it and have the time (it's over 40 minutes), here's the link:

Are You Satisfied?

Basically, he talks about how some people see this verse as an admonishment and think they are not hungry enough for a relationship with God because of the things they fail to do. They don't go to church all the time, they don't read their Bibles all the time, they don't pray for hours and hours. They think that doing those things shows hunger for a relationship with God, and if they're not doing them, they're not really hungering and thirsting for God.

Instead, he says, we all have this hunger inside. Somewhere, sometime, we've all felt this aching for something that maybe we couldn't define. We need to be satisfied, so we go searching for satisfaction in life in all sorts of ways. It could be by pursuing a challenging career, having a family, engaging in hobbies, traveling or all sorts of other really positive things. We could also try to fill it with negative things like unhealthy relationships, alcohol, gambling and other destructive behaviors. It stands to reason that these negative things won't ever really satisfy us; they'll fill us up for awhile but still leave us feeling empty, sometimes even more so than before.

But, he says, even the positive things won't really satisfy us permanently. Only a relationship with God will truly satisfy that hunger, will finally fill us up. And when we realize that we need that relationship with God, then we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We shouldn't feel as though we need to fulfill certain obligations, to do certain things, to meet the criteria of hungering and thirsting for righteousness; realizing that we need the relationship with God and truly hungering after it is enough. And yes, when you experience that realization, chances are you'll want to spend more time in prayer, to explore his Word and do other things that bring you closer to him. But it's not the actions you take - it's the realization that nothing but a relationship with God will satisfy you that means you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

At least, that's what I got out of it. And I do remember times, before I really knew what it meant to be a Christian, when this longing would just hit. I've always had everything going for me: I have an amazing family (including a wonderful husband), my friends are the best, and I generally achieve what I set out to do. There have been bumps and poor decisions along the way, of course - and I know there are more to come - but by mainstream standards, I should have been satisfied a long time ago. But I remember being in high school, driving my trusty Ford Probe, and getting this urge to just go. There's something else there, I'd think. And maybe if I just drive fast enough and long enough, I'll find it. And in college, I made a choice that I thought would make me happy. It was a popular enough choice and I thought it was a fine one, but in the midst of all of it, I found myself knee deep in Lake Michigan, on a cloudy, windy day, with that same urge to just go. There's something out there, I thought. And if I could, I'd swim far enough and long enough to find it.

To sum it all up, I guess, all my advantages and achievements made me happy but not satisfied, not filled. When I finally realized I needed and could have a relationship with God, I felt like I was just brimming over. Like the song I've Always Known You by Ten Shekel Shirt says, "Maybe I've always known You, I just didn't know it."

I want more days like today.

I slept 'til I felt like getting out of bed. I got up and around, talked to my mom and started doing homework. Mitch went for a ride outside and returned in 45 minutes, exclaiming, "It's cold as BALLS out there!" We ate lunch and I hopped on the trainer for an hour-long climbing session with Chris Carmichael & Co. My legs felt great! While I stretched and messed around on iTunes, Mitch rode the trainer while playing Wii. Yes, he's multi-talented. After a nice hot shower, I put heat on my back and Mitch massaged my healing muscles. I finished up my homework for the day, and then we went to Outback to use our Christmas gift cards. Now we're back at home and as soon as I put my PJs on, we'll curl up on the couch and finish watching Prince Caspien.

And now Chip is on my lap, purring contentedly. Life truly does not get any better than this.

Back Pain

While I think the strength training routine I adopted back in October has a lot of benefits, it also came with a side of back pain. For the past few months, I've had nagging muscle soreness is my mid- to upper-back, and it finally started curtailing my activity a bit. I can't, for example, do "supermans" without big-time pain (they used to feel good), not can I do "V-ups" and similar exercises that require me to lift my shoulders and legs at the same time.

At the suggestion of a friend who is a physical therapist, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and was disappointed that her solution was a prescription for muscle relaxants. I asked her about alternative therapies but she insisted I take two of these per day for the next two weeks, then see her again.

So now I've added something new to my days: Laurie-brand back rehab. One muscle relaxant, followed by a series of yoga-like stretches; a hot, wet towel on the back; and a focused massage, all right before bed time. That way, I don't really feel any drowsiness that could go along with the medicine and I'm not relying on drugs to fix what I don't really think they can fix.

Worst Cyclist Ever

At least, that's what I've been for the past two weeks. It started so strong around Christmas, with better dedication to the trainer...but for the past two weeks, I've been buried in grad school work. I still get down to the rec for strength training three days a week and we're pushing ourselves harder, but I haven't done a good trainer workout in way too long.

I want to have a successful race season, and I think I can. But I realize that the priority has to be my degree - for which I'm paying $760 per credit hour - so some weeks, I'm just not going to be able to work as hard as I'd like. It's frustrating, though! When the weather turns, I'll probably cut down on the strength workouts and ride at lunch...that should help.

And speaking of bikes, there's a cop outside my office window trying to load a bike into the trunk of his police car, without success. Should I go out and offer to give him a hand? Dressed in high heels and a suit, that could be pretty funny! He's still sitting there, puzzled...

Photos from Searchmont

Here's the gang getting ready to hit the slopes. It was so cold in the morning that this was the only photo I took before lunch!


Like last time, we brought all our own food so we didn't have to pay ridiculous resort prices for lunch. Here's Jon and his enormous sandwich.


I think I might have the weirdest husband in the world...


Me and Kristy are not messing around as we venture back out into the cold. We will stay warm!


The girls are ready to go!


Jon is cool, even though he's on a snowboard. Since he can keep up, we'll forgive him this transgression.


Matt had some spectacular crashes in the morning, but fared much better in the afternoon. The man loves to ski and never gives up!


And who is this sexy snowbunny? That would be Ray...make the pic big and look at the bottoms of his skis, and tell me what you see!


Back in the woods, we visited out favorite little cliff. Jon landed in a puff of powder.




The most essential part of the night: drinks in the hot tub!

Yummy, Yummy Treat

I've recently gotten into the habit of eating frozen dark chocolate. I buy a Hershey's bar, break it up and put it in a plastic sandwich bag, then toss it in the freezer. When I need a little something sweet, I grab one and bite into its frozen semi-sweet goodness. It makes a delightful, dull little crunch and doesn't even have time to melt. Mmm mmm mmm. Frozen Andes mints are extra good, too!

What I'm Reading

I'm not quite sure why I decided to list the book I'm currently reading on my blog, but I supposed if they're going to be up there, I should make a practice on commenting on them once I've finished. So, let's play catch-up:

The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein was a pretty good read. It's a memoir told supposedly from the view of a 4-8 year old boy, but it definitely didn't have the voice of a young child. While reading a narrative that mimics the thought process of a kid can take some getting used to, I think using that tool and then showing development as the character ages makes a book more authentic. Aside from that, I found the relationships between the Jews and the Christians in this World War I-era book fascinating. Most of the time, you think about prejudice going only one way; but in this book, the Jewish families (especially the adults) held just as many negative stereotypes about Christians as the Christians held about Jews. Almost everyone was equally unyielding in their beliefs that the two groups should not mix, up until the end of the book.

I also finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb last week, and loved the first half of the book. It dealt with the challenges faced by a fictional survivor of the Columbine shootings, but did so from her husband's point of view. Unfortunately, the character development stalled about halfway through and the author introduced all these crazy, distracting plot lines. I've heard that his other books were amazing, so I'd be willing to give them a shot sometime.

Now I'm rereading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, because I received his newest book for my birthday and I understand that, while it's not a sequel, the two are related. I do reread books multiple times; I can't even tell you how many times I've poured over Gone with the Wind or some of my other favorites, but even when I don't like a book, I usually give it another chance. Maybe it will mean something different to me at a later time, or maybe I just wasn't ready to understand what the author intended.

Someday, when I have a house, I will have a room designated as the library. There will be no TV and no computer - just expansive bookcases, comfortable chairs and soft lighting. And it will be my home sanctuary.

Mad Dash

That's what last week felt like: a mad dash to the weekend. On Sunday, I smacked myself upside the head and finally realized that I had a ton of homework to do and not nearly enough time in which to do it. After lounging away my Saturday and a good deal of Sunday, I had until 7 pm on Friday to learn two chapters for stats and turn in a set of corresponding homework problems; find, read and summarize about fifteen journal articles on job training; and outline the group paper on job training. This doesn't sound like all that much, but with work all day and two celebratory dinners inducting me into my late twenties, I was pretty strapped for time. So I took the day off work on Wednesday and spent it camped out at the kitchen table. I slogged through confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and analysis of variance (we'll see how well I've mastered the material when I take my exam tonight) and learned all about behavior modeling training, the impact of age on the effectiveness of training and that there is something known as Pygmalion management. By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I was able to shove all that out of my mind and focus instead on my long-anticipated weekend plans: skiing in Searchmont!

As always, we had a grand time. Six of us stayed in a cottage about half an hour from the resort and skied all day on Saturday. It was cold, but the snow was great. I'll post some photos when I have them uploaded! We learned a very important lesson, though:

The best place to buy alcohol in Canada is Michigan.

Suffice to say, we ran out of booze at 8:30 pm on Saturday night. So we went to bed at 11:00 pm. So much for an all-night party!

And unfortunately, all of the above is another way of saying that I did not get on the trainer all week. I did strength training (excessive lunges before a day of skiing is not advised) but it's hard to do power intervals when your nose is stuck in a book! This week will be better...

Learning from the Girls

Amanda is a perky, put-together gal who loves to cook and wants to look great on the beaches of Mexico this spring. Melissa is a slim, pretty bride-to-be who wants to look her best on her summer wedding day. Dena is a no-nonsense, efficient mom trying to get fit and healthy.

These girls are my team. The four of us work out together three days a week in the Rec Center's multi-purpose room. We grab weights, steps, fit balls and mats, blast some music and take turns concocting exercises for the various muscle groups. It's not focused. It's not systematic. But we work our butts off for almost an hour, offering encouraging words and commiserating when someone brings a particularly torturous exercise to our workouts.

I never would have chosen this team, and I've never worked out like this. As a high school and college athlete, my workouts were not about feeling good or looking good: they were about performance, and everyone doing the rills or running the ladders was intense. We were focused, determined and not in need of encouragingpats on the back. The reward was the place, the medal, the personal best, the trip to States. I did any outside-of-practice training with either guys or other intensely competitive girls.

So I was a loner in the weight room last year, when I started getting ready for my first season of mountain bike racing. I'd ask coworkers if they wanted to come down to the Rec with me, but if anyone had taken me up on it, I'd do my thing and they'd do theirs. My training didn't carry the gravity it did in high school but I was still focused. Needing both internal and external motivation, however, my best intentions didn't always pan out. Then I started going to a strength training class in the Rec with Amanda and Melissa. I'll admit, I did it more to build friendships than get a good workout, but it turned out to be a really good class that often made just the process of getting out of bed a bit tricky.

The class ended right before Christmas, but the three of us felt we could keep going on our own. Dena joined after the New Year and, even with the varying levels of athleticism, coordination, fitness and strength, we're all seeing some tangible benefits. We're even signing up for a team-based weight-loss competition; only two girls have real weight-loss goals, but part of the battle is motivation and, as a team, we can provide a healthy dose of that!

Because of these girls, I've learned that I don't have to be so intense to get results; that you can train effectively even when everyone's out there for different reasons; and that challenge and competition isn't the only way to interact in training. Maybe it's more realistic, at this stage in my life and athletic career, to find this kind of camaraderie rather than the "push it" mentality of my former teammates and friends.

These girls are my team. I might not of picked them but I sure wouldn't trade them. They'll never ride with me - except maybe on the rail trail - but their friendship and support motivates me. We usually attribute parts of our success to effective coaches or strong teammates who are striving for the same goals as we pursue. As for me, I'll give a good deal of credit for any success I have on the trail to an aspiring chef, a former cheerleader and a Wii Fit devotee.

Three Fun Things I Did This Weekend

1. Spent quite a few lazy hours reading in my parents' living room, with a roaring fire and my favorite man.

2. Went on a short, snowy hike at Island Lake with Mitch, Mom, Dad, Bobby and Roxi the Amazing Trail Dog.

3. Stuffed myself with potato pancakes - a childhood favorite - for my almost-birthday dinner.

Lazy Cat

Get on the trainer. Start spinning. See cat on the couch. Think how nice it is to have company, even the passive type.

Keep spinning. Increase intensity and cadence. Realize all those lunges and squats did tire the legs, after all. Recover. It's only the warm-up.

Grind through power intervals. Glance jealously at cat sleeping on the couch. Say his name to wake him up. Take that, lazy cat. Oh, now you're sleeping again.

Keep doing power intervals. Finish water bottle before cool down. Throw empty bottle into kitchen. Cat doesn't move. Wish he could get more water. Will him to grow opposable thumbs and some motivation. Fail. Swear to exact vengeance on cat species later.

Detroit

My dad grew up in downtown Detroit. When he was a kid, he and his friends rode their bikes through their neighborhood with an abandon not present in even today's most safe communities. Fast forward a generation: my dad's childhood home is a crack house, smoldering on the evening news after a fire destroys it.

I definitely grew up in the suburbs but I've got some great memories of Detroit. We'd attend church with my grandparents; hit up a Wings game; go to Cobo Hall for the boat show; stuff ourselves with goat cheese in Greek Town; get dressed up for a performance at the Fox Theatre; pack a picnic and spend hours in Hart Plaza, waiting for the fireworks to blaze over the Detroit River. Every time we went, my dad navigated the streets like he belonged there, just as he once had.

So I think you should read The Courage of Detroit by Mitch Albom. The column romanticizes a lot of things and parts of it grate on me politically because the very citizens of Detroit who love the city so much have a hand in its downfall. But it also conjured up some memories and, dare I say, feelings of pride?

Returning to Reality

Having such a nice break for the holidays sure was nice, but it's strangely nice to get back to work and have some more routine. I learned that, if I were to ever work from home, I would have to be very disciplined and stick to schedules. I thought I'd be much more productive between Christmas and New Year's, but I really just finished some good books. OK, that's not strictly true: I did a bit of homework, housework, reorganizing and training. Two workouts on the trainer, to be exact. It's nothing like Andrea's level of commitment (You rock!) but it's better than last year at this time.

Now that I'm back to work, life looks like this: no lunch break, just training (MWF) or studying (TTh); after work, more studying and at least two trainer rides a week (three, ideally); some time for Bible study (the goal is to not have to cram the day before small group anymore!); and regular efforts to keep the apartment neat and tidy. Oh, and Mitch is starting a class at LCC this term! He wants to earn an engineering degree (this is a long-term goal) but has to start with some math and science basics, since he did business at Alma. I'm helping him navigate requirements and processes, since it's kinda what I do all day, anyway. As I told a friend, this means we will be even more boring than before!

And with that, it's time to go home. Stats test tonight...wish me luck!

Grad School Status

I definitely neglected to update about this because I was so caught up in the loveliness of Christmas, but I am now in the second term of my MBA program. Final grades were good last term, so I'd like to keep the streak alive. However, this term I have Applied Quantitative Analysis (stats) and Organizational Behavior. O.B. is similar to my communication class last term: read chapters, participate in discussion board and write papers. The biggest differences are that the emphasis is more on the papers (including some interesting self-assessments) than on the discussion board; and my instructor is not a complete twit, as was the case in communication. Suffice to say, this class is not all that hard.

Stats is another story. Like last term's finance class, I have to teach myself "numbers stuff," which is challenging. But I only have to take exams every few weeks instead of every week, which means remembering more material for each exam. In fact, if you've seen my Facebook status over the past few days, you've probably noticed that most of my life is currently revolving around my stats book. An exam is imminent!

Oh, the dryer is done! Must get duvet cover out quickly and iron it before it wrinkles terribly! Darn you and your persnickity fabric, Calvin Klein!

2009 Race Schedule

Once again, Mitch and I plan to focus on CPS races for 2009. As a natural sprinter, endurance racing holds no appeal for me; and Mitch says he doesn't really have the time to train for them, either. So here's the schedule for the DeYoungs:

April 19: Yankee Springs TT
May 3: Fort Custer XC
June 7: Hanson Hills XC
July 11: Boyne Marathon XC (Mitch only; I'll be there as a supportive spectator)
July 26: Stoney Creek TT
August 22: Maybury XC
September 13: Addison Oaks XC
September 27: Pando XC (probably Mitch only...I hated that race last season!)

Looks like good times, eh?

Happy New Year!

We had a great night in Lansing with our awesome Alma friends, ringing in the New Year (thankfully sans Mim's version of Auld Lang Syne from last year) at Jon's. One of the best parts of the night, though, was figuring out that we'll actually be able to get a good group together for a weekend of skiing in Searchmont this month. Last time, only Jon could go and I had bronchitis. It was still awesome, but a bigger group will be even more fun.

No 2009 resolutions for me; I think the professional, educational, spiritual and physical goals toward which I've been striving should keep me busy enough. I'm happy to report that training has been going rather well. I did trainer workout on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon, and both went well. I have a few questions, though, if anyone would care to weigh in. They have to do with insensity and cadence.

I've found that there's a really fine line (like, one gear) between low, medium and high intensity for me. When my intervals are shorter (for example, 30 seconds in the first half of the Train Right mountain bike workout), I can usually hit the proper cadence in my high intensity gear. When the intervals get longer (2 minutes in the mountain bike workout), however, I can't maintain the proper cadence in my high intensity gear and have to drop down to my medium intensity gear to keep my cadence up. So, here's my question: should my high intensity gear be my high intensity gear no matter how it affects my cadence? Or should I drop down to an easier gear when necessary to keep my candence up?

I also struggle with keeping my cadence up during recovery periods, even though I get to drop down to a low intensity gear. It's getting better, but I can totally tell I am a sprinter. Fast twitch muscles, baby! In high school and college, I never ran a race over 200 m! Training for greater endurance is a new experience for me.