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."