Allez!

Well, here I am - slacking again. I took a brief break to check out yesterday's results of the Tour of California and now I feel compelled to put some pictures on the blog. The Tour of California is the biggest bike race on American soil this year featuring some of the most important names in cycling - Paulo Bettini (the current world champ), Ivan Basso (who is now the leader of Lance's old Discovery Team), Levi Leipheimer (an American who is currently leading the race), etc. etc. etc. It's kind of a big deal. And our itty bitty little Grand Rapids pro team - Michigan's ONLY pro team - is there and making a pretty good showing among many of the current protour names. The race is a stage race which means that it's run over a series of days and for the first three days, one of the Priority Health riders (Ben Jacques-Maynes) was in third place in the overall standings. Not too shabby, although sadly he fell to 38th yesterday and lost three minutes on the leader. Ah well, I'm still really proud of these guys and wanted to post a few pics:The guy on the far left is Brian Sheedy, a local from Rockford (and a super nice guy) who took the King of the Mountains jersey in the prologue of the race. The other jersey colors are the same as they are in the Tour de France - green is points leader, yellow is overall race leader (Levi Leiphiemer) and white is leading young rider (under the age of 25).The results of a nasty crash - this is Emile Abraham, a new team member and the highest ranking Trinidad/Tobago - born cyclist in the world. Unfortunately, he was not able to finish yesterday's climbing stage within the given time limit and was pulled out of the race.

Go to either Cycling News or Velo News if you want to slack off like me and follow along with the race.

Happy Pills

Ever since I had a nasty bout with poison ivy last spring, I've been trying to figure out ways to get back on steroid pills without having to deal with itchy, blistery patches of skin. Who knew it was as easy as having excess fluid in your ear? I've been dealing with an annoying ringing in my right ear for the past month. Actually, the word 'ringing' doesn't really do it justice. It's more like the sound you hear when you accidentally dial a fax machine.... Anyway, after convincing myself that I had a brain tumor, I finally went to the doctor today to have it checked out. They did a few crazy tests in my ears, found some fluid, and fifteen minutes later I was on my way to pick up my beloved steriods from the pharmacy. What's so great about steroids, you ask? Well, the last time I took them I was able to sit at my desk in my office for three straight days without getting pissed off at anyone. For those who know how much I 'loved' my old job, that was a major accomplishment. The doctor who prescribed them told me that some people experience a 'heightened sense of well-being' while on the pills. I'll say! Although now that I'm not really angry about anything anymore, I wonder how this round of steroids will affect me. Hope I don't crush the Step Mill at the gym in a 'roid rage......

For Sale

Well, fortunately the owliness has dissipated. For now.

As many of you know, I am currently raising funds to support an organization called Big City Mountaineers (BCM). BCM works with several national youth organizations to provide positive mentoring experiences - via the outdoors - for at-risk urban teens. In exchange for raising money, I will be participating in a climb of Mt. Rainier in September. With a goal of $3500, I have a lot of work ahead of me. But I know I can do it - and if it means shameless solicitations on the blog, so be it! Here's the first.....

I currently have six pairs of earrings up for grabs for a minimum donation of $10 (each pair) made to BCM. All of the earrings are handmade (by me) and have sterling silver earwires. They're all pretty small, although the pictures don't really show that. I will be making more, I just wanted to see how these go over first. Please let me know if you're interested and I'll provide the donation details. Thanks for the support!

Owly

Owly - an adjective used to describe an overall malcontent of the mind, body, and spirit. Also defined as "pissy."

I'm owly. I'll write more once I get over it....

Woo Hoo!

Yay! It snowed! A lot! We actually got the blizzard everyone was talking about. It started snowing and blowing on Saturday morning and didn't stop all day. I attempted to go to my class (which wasn't cancelled) and was all ready to spend the day finishing up my clinical skills lessons but just as we were settling in, the GRCC campus police came by to tell us they were shutting down the campus and we all had to leave. Arg. Good information to have had a few hours beforehand.

So I walked back home and met up with Steve so we could walk downtown to the MMBA meeting. It was a brutal walk into the wind that was steadily getting colder. And I'm so smart - only wearing jeans for a 2-mile walk in subzero wind chill. I thought I was going to lose a layer of skin on my legs. Good thing my husband is so nice and let me wear his long johns for the walk home.

Once we got home, we sat on the couch and watched the on-going news report about the weather and all of the multiple car pile-ups on the highway. After about 45 minutes of hearing the same story several times over, we decided to bundle up and go back outside. Our mission was to walk to the post office to mail a birthday card to Steve's grandma, who will be 101 years old on Monday. Wow. Our walk was great - here are some pictures:

We were pretty worn out once we got home - it's a lot of work to walk through snow up to your knees! We basically vegged out the rest of the day and had a wonderful dinner of pork tenderloin, risotto, and spinach salad. I took a picture of it but it really didn't turn out well so you'll just have to take my word for it - I was pretty impressed by myself :)

Today was a lot of catching up on school stuff and grocery shopping. We went to Margo's yoga class and I think I'll be lucky if I can get out of bed tomorrow. Hopefully the brownies that are baking in the oven at the moment will chase away the pain. We've been fighting with our TV antenna for the last hour, trying to get the Superbowl station to come in clearly. So far, we've moved the TV and the antenna into several configurations and have added some tinfoil accents to the tips of the antenna. But it still pretty much sucks. Anyway - here's to a week of great snow ahead!

Slackmaster Sue

Hi. My name is Sue. I'm a slacker.

I really should be doing some schoolwork at this very moment but I'm really having a hard time buckling down. The half hour break that I took at noon today has now officially been extended to over two hours. I say, what's a few more minutes spent catching up on the blog?

I'm happy to report that this week has been a little more eventful than the past few. Kind of like a rollercoaster, but still better than the same old same old. The good/bad balance worked itself out to be pretty much even. Like on Monday, I skipped the gym (bad) to catch up on some classes, grocery shopping and laundry (good). I got a notice in the mail that my Visa card had been switched to "fraudulent status" since someone had tried to buy a bunch of passports with it last week (bad) but I'm not liable for the $300+ in charges (good). I went the the gym on Tuesday night (good) and then met up with an old friend from high school (even better) but ended up drinking several glasses of gin (good at first, then bad) and was flat on my butt all day Wednesday (very baaaaaaad). I spent all day Thursday catching up after my over-indulgent bar night (good) but skipped the gym (bad again) to go snowshoeing with Steve in the new pristine snow (good). So here's Friday - I actually made it to class this morning (good) only to slack off on the internet all afternoon (bad). Not too shabby, eh?

I'm so excited for this weekend since it will be my last Saturday in class and it's supposed to snow like a mofo. I'm going to be one angry American if we don't get the blizzard that everyone's been promising. I'm hoping to get all my school stuff done today - ha! like that's going to happen - so I can enjoy the weekend and play in the snow and cook lots of good food like pork chops and risotto. Mmmmm.....risoooootttttooooo.

K, back to it. Later!