I'm famous!

Check it out.....I'm famous!

(and by famous I mean the Storck crew put up pictures of their visit to Village CycleSport, and there is a picture of me with my dream bike :) )

Must we teach you everything???

Here are 2 sure fire ways to NOT make a girl feel special:

When she asks you why your attention has changed from just friends to something else, you respond with:
“I’m a guy, I’ll grope anything”
or
“Why not?”

Guys, neither of those is an acceptable answer….

Never again...

Last night I found a sure fire way to ruin any evening: go shopping for a baby present at Babies R' Us. Here is the recipe for such disaster:

• Add in lot's of nauseatingly happy couples and some screaming children (how the couples manage to stay so excited seeing what was in store for them was amazing)
• Add in the most annoyingly confusing registry list ever (I eventually decided their registry list was boring so I was a rebel and picked out some other stuff)
• And to top it all off add in an employee (male employee who works in a baby store...really??) who tries to convince me that i should have a baby because they are "really cute and fun, and they're a great tax credit" Seriously, I'm not making that up!
• Said employee then gets disgusted with me and decides I'm a terrible person when I inform him that I really don't want a baby right now

So to cheer myself up I went over to REI and it was sales time!! I got 2 new skirts and found a pair of shoes I liked but couldn't decide which color to get, red or brown, so I got both! Still haven't decided if I will keep both, but we'll see.

Oh yeah, and I'll still pumped out about my interval performance on Thursday! Yea!

I believe in Storcks...

Yes, I do mean Storck, with a "c". Storck bikes that is. Today was demo day at the shop so I went over to check them out and then took one out for the intervals. I wasn't even planning on doing intervals tonight since I have been feeling run down and generally crappy all week, but on this bike, I had the best interval night ever!! I had to go fast...the bike wanted to! I hung right in the pack all night, bridging gaps and staying on really fast guys' wheels. It was awesome! Tell me that this bike isn't beautiful.....if only I had an extra $5,000 lying around....

Such a good night!!! Now maybe I should think about gettin some sleep so I can wake up at 2:30 in the morning to ride around in a delivery truck.....awesome.

The things I do for a paycheck.....

So last week my boss asked me to set up a ride along with one of our delivery drivers. (I still haven't figured out why that's important). So I talked to some people and got it set up, and then I find out that the truck leaves the warehouse at 4am......yeah that's right....4am! Which means I will be waking up at 2:30 am so I have time to get up, piece together some sort of outfit and then drive the half hour to the warehouse and make sure I am here on time for the 4am departure.... Expect me to look something like this tomorrow.

Life lessons from Naperville....

Ok, so I promised an explanation of Friday night’s events so here it is. My good friend Maren was in town from LA where she now lives, so I drove down to spend the evening with her. We headed out to the bustling metropolis of Naperville, IL and started with dinner at a spot called Rizzo’s before we moved on to try out some other places. Rather than bore you with all of the details….here are a few highlights:

• I never knew that I could feel so old at a 21 and up bar, but apparently when it’s summer break and the bar is full of barely 21 college kids then I do feel old.
  
• I really think that some girls just don’t own a mirror in their house. Note to these girls: please don’t wear short shorts if you don’t have nice legs….and if you do insist on wearing those short shorts, then please don’t get up on the speaker in front of the DJ booth and dance….ummmm let’s call it enthusiastically….
  
• If you have a size DD chest, then I’m sure guys have already noticed it….you don’t need to wear a top that you are about to fall out of and then store your phone in your cleavage and constantly check it throughout the night….
  

And finally some rules that guys should learn to follow on the dance floor:

1. Just because 2 girls are out dancing doesn’t mean they want you to come over and invade their personal space (yes, I know there are some exceptions to this rule….we’ll call that the skank exception)
   
2. If these girls continually turn away, move away, and walk to the opposite side of the dance floor you should not follow them incessantly and keep trying
   
3. If these girls then turn to you, after trying to evade you for 5 minutes, and yell “No, not going to happen, stop” then it really is time for you to give up! DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, KEEP TRYING AT THIS POINT!!
   
4. It is never ok to just walk up to a girl and completely wrap yourself around her without any sort of glance, smile, or invitation to do so….
   

So there you have it, the things I learned while out with Maren in Naperville. Fun times…

Another weekend done...

So this past weekend was kind of a whirlwind, some good parts and some bad parts. It started on Friday with a little bit of a family issue. My grandma (Oma) went into the hospital. Unfortunately we didn’t really know what was going on though because a neighbor of hers called my mom and only knew that she was taken to the hospital. (We later found out that it was a minor heart attack because one of her arteries was blocked – she’s doing ok now though, just needs some rest) Unfortunately this also left my grandfather (Opa) at the house by himself, he’s still fairly healthy but can’t move around all that well and does need some help with things. So this provided a problem because they live out in California near Yosemite in a pretty remote area. My mom sprang into action though and worked some things out and she and her brother flew out there Saturday to try and figure out the situation. We all know that it is time for Oma and Opa to move into some sort of assisted living situation. They should still have their freedom and their own place, but they need to be close to care and not 30 minutes from town up in the mountains with very few neighbors. Unfortunately they are both stubborn. Opa is starting to open up to the idea, but Oma does not want to give up her house where she has a great view and can feed the deer and raccoons and cats, etc… She has also realized that this could be her time finally to do what she wants; she has been married to Opa for 60+ years and has always done what he wants. So she kind of likes the idea of having him live in a home where she can visit him for a few hours every now and then and have her own place at home. Strange, I can almost see where she’s coming from, but it’s still incredibly sad. So I’m hoping my mom and Uncle can somehow find a solution to this problem that will work out for everyone.

And now for the good parts of the weekend. Friday night I went out in Naperville with my friend Maren who was in town from LA. Maren is awesome and we spent the night dancing away. There are a few good stories from this night that I will share in a different post. Saturday I had to sleep in for a while, staying out until 2am in Naperville and then having to drive 40 minutes to get home will have that effect. So after sleeping in and then watching the Olympics for a while I realized that I had a ton of stuff that I needed to get done around the house, cleaning, brushing the animals, running to Lowe’s to find a way to block the gaps in the fence to keep Ginger in the yard, hanging pictures, etc… So that’s how I spent the entire afternoon. I then headed out to Ravinia, which is a large beautiful open air theater, to see the Joffrey Ballet with my friend Chrissy. It was a great performance. One of the pieces they did was a little too modern for my taste, but the rest were beautiful. Sunday was the typical work at the bike shop day, although I ended up working at the new shop out in Barrington. Interesting thing about Barrington is that you get really nice people or really rude people. One of those really rude people was a guy who was very disappointed that we had mostly Trek bikes (dude it’s getting close to the end of the season!) because he didn’t think Treks were that good. Ummmm ok……did you miss the part were they made Lance’s bikes that won 7 Tours??? Plus I should add that they were looking at a $400 sport Hybrid for his wife and Trek is pretty much the leader in that area. He also came back later insisting that I sold him the wrong tube even though everyone in the shop tried to confirm for him that it was the right one, he eventually just ended up saying that we weren’t listening to him and he was very disappointed in the service and stormed out of the shop. Awesome. I finished off the night by picking up some food from Whole Foods and cooking a fantastic dinner. I invited my sister and her friend Paddy over to share and then we sat out on my back patio for a while with a few beers. Not a bad way to end the weekend.

Don't go there....

So just a quick rule that I wanted to throw out there after a recent phone call I received:

If I have ever seen you in any (or all) of the following situations I probably don’t want to go over my finances with you:

• Dressed as a pumpkin a.k.a. “Humpkin”
• Running around in your Santa boxers
• Dressed as a Crown Royal bottle
• Doing a keg stand
• etc.... (I could go on, but I think you get the idea)
  
  
  

Frog Blog

This picture was taken from Natalie Dee: "America's Favorite Cracker". Her stuff is hilarious, and if you would like to waste some time, then go visit the archives.

And yes I know, telling you to read my blog now that you are already at my blog isn't very helpful, but oh well.

Just another day....

Another day at work....and it's going by VERY slowly... Can't believe I still have at least another 4.5 hours to go. There is really only so much AutoCAD work I can do. Luckily I was given a Sprint card so that I can get off the corporate network to do some internet surfing and catch up on Velonews (seriously why would a company that promotes health and wellness block all sites that have anything to do with sports and recreation??)

I had quite a weekend, but unfortunately it wasn't so good athletic wise. On Friday, my sister and I joined a new friend from work for the Arlington Heights "Mane" Event. (There is a horse track in the area and they had a big race this weekend) It was basically a big block party and my sister and I may have had a few too many drinks. When we got ready to go home, she tried to get on my mountain bike (to ride back to my house) and promptly fell over. I then had to convince her that she was not able to ride, even though she insisted she was. So it was a long fun walk home, with a very creepy guy who "helped" us get home, and then proceded to walk right into my house, take his shirt off and say it was too late for him to go home. I quickly assured him that he would not be staying at my house because I had no idea who he was. (He tried to comfort me by telling me what high school he went to - no buddy, that doesn't help) So I grabbed my dog and offered to walk him back into town where his car was. He said he wasn't able to drive home and would just sleep on my couch. Nope sorry, your inability to drive home is not my problem. Finally, after enough arguing, I was able to make him angry enough that he started walking down the street in the direction of town. At which point I went into my house and closed and locked all of the windows. Scary, but problem solved. So at this point it is very late, so I finally crawled into bed realizing I probably wasn't going to make it out to the Barrington ride in 3 hours....

Saturday I woke up, tired, but felt ok. I relocated to the couch and turned on the Olympics, and that is pretty much where I stayed for the rest of the day. My mom came by at one point to watch the opening ceremonies since I had recorded them because we all missed them Friday night. Gotta say, they were pretty spectacular, but not sure if that's worth $300 million. I did find some time somewhere in the day to get the house cleaned and take a shower, and then it was back to Olympics. I thought about going out for an evening ride, but after only about 5 hours of sleep, I was still pretty tired. So I stayed on the couch and got to bed early.

Sunday, I was up early and took Ginger for a walk in town and then headed into work at the bike shop. Nothing really noteworthy happened, except for getting to work with Christine, one of the new sales people. She's nice, but knows absolutely nothing about bikes. When I first met her, I asked what she rides....her response, "I haven't been on a bike in years!!" So why are you working at a bike shop?? I guess she is the friend of one of the managers, but I still don't get it. If a person came off the street with absolutely no cycling experience we wouldn't hire them, so why is she so special? Oh well. Sunday was capped off with heading over to my mom's house for a fantastic steak dinner and, you guessed it, watching more Olympics. Oh yeah and keep an eye out for the Illini competing this year! Justin Spring on the men's gymnastics team and Deron Williams on the basketball team! Go Illini!

Sorry that was long, I'll try to create some more entertaining moments in my life sometime soon...

TGIF....

It’s Friday, which means I have almost survived an entire week at the new job. So far, it’s not bad, although it is stressing me out. Early in the week my boss asked me to do some AutoCAD work, making changes to our trans-ship facility out in California (B44). Well somehow, from there, other people got wind of the fact that I was on the B44 project, so my responsibilities have somehow spiraled out of control to not just making drawing changes but also developing the solutions and managing the changes. All of this happened while my boss was out in Canada I might add. Oh and I should probably also add that this currently is the most visible project in the company, and the owners are constantly checking in on it. So for the past few days, I keep getting pulled into the President of Operation’s office where he explains the changes he would like to see. Unfortunately these are very different ideas from what my boss explained to me before he disappeared out of the country. So I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on. My boss seems to be back in the office today before he heads out of town again next week, but I can’t seem to track him down to sit down with him and get some direction. Oh well, all in a day’s work I guess.

Last night was interval night, and I think I learned a few things. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I have to leave work earlier, or find a new route. I got stuck in traffic for an hour making me miss the main roll-out, meaning I missed the “warm-up” interval and got thrown in on a double.

2. Dan, the service guy at the shop is wonderful. He got my bike all fixed up with a new chain and got the rest of the drive train nice and clean even though he had plenty of other jobs he should have worked on. Thanks Dan, the bike felt so much better!

3. I need to learn to do my own interval work-out instead of trying to do what the boys do. Last night, they were all trying to show off, which meant we did double after double after double, etc… I finally reached the point where doing doubles wasn’t really doing me a lot of good because I didn’t have time to recover in between. Luckily John dropped back to ride with me, explaining that if you aren’t recovering between the intervals then you aren’t getting the full benefit. He also reminded me that the point isn’t to keep up, it’s to make it hurt. So from now on I will focus on pushing it as hard as I can during the interval (and probably doing more singles until my fitness improves) and also focusing on getting my heart rate back down during the recovery. And if that means I don’t ride with the guys at all, then so be it.

4. Forget buying a new car, mine is still running. Instead I will be saving up for a PowerTap and some coaching services. I think my training will be much more effective if someone can lay out a plan for me, and I can put specific number goals for each ride. Telling me to do hard intervals is one thing, but telling me to do 10 minute intervals at 200W is something that I can figure out much better. Maybe it’s the engineer in me….

A day at the races!

This past weekend was the Tour of Elk Grove. I missed out on Friday because I couldn't get out of work early enough, and Saturday I opted for going for a ride and doing some car shopping (i don't see a new car in my near future). So Sunday was the day.....and it was crit day, my favorite! Instead of working at the shop I volunteered to work the Village Cycle Sport tent at the race. (best decision ever!) Working for the day meant hanging out at the tent, talking to people, and taking frequent breaks to watch the racing. Not a bad way to get paid! :) Here are a few highlights from the day:

1. I met a guy who organizes races in the area and he has asked me to be a podium girl for his races next year....hey it worked for George Hincapie's wife! :)

2. Saw some guys wearing the San Jose team kit. Went up and introduced myself as a fellow Austinite. I ended up hanging out with some of the guys later that night and learned that one of the guys is actually on the Velossimo team. Gotta love having an Austin night even when I'm in Chicago.

3. Saw some amazing racing including a fantastic sprint finish in the Pro race which included Tyler Hamilton!

4. Ran into the Get a Grip team manager again, reminding him that I'm really looking forward to a possible opportunity to race with them next year!

Definitely wish I could have weekends at the races all the time!

Good times....

What a strange and fun day I had today....hopefully I will find time to write about it tomorrow while sitting at the "stupid freaking job"

Good night all! :)