Quarterly Post

That seems to be what it's come to, huh? Perhaps I'll be better. Actually, it's occurred to me that November is NaBloPoMo, which I almost successfully completed last year, so perhaps I'll do it again.

So, since our last episode, I think all of the effects from my bike crash have healed. I went to Chicago (pics), visited with the fam, ran the Chicago Triathlon (pics), saw some peeps. Emily and Josh visited Chicago also while I was there. We went on a boat tour w Sarah, Tomas, Janna and some others. Stayed w George the day before my tri. Marty came down from Milwaukee a couple times. Saw Harold. Hung out w Christine, Matt and Owen. Owen is seriously cute. Also hung out w Gillian, Mark, Ellie and Jen. Ellie is seriously cute. My dad and I went to the Shedd Aquarium to view things, and University of Chicago to buy a book. Attempted to fly a kite w dad and Alexis, but not enough wind. That's the gist of the trip. Busy.


My bike was apparently tousled around a bit by UPS during its trip back to DC. The box was beat to shit, and some tubes were sticking out of the box and such. This after they told me I couldn't insure the bike unless it was surrounded by 1 inch of cardboard. Kind of bullshit, because when I shipped the bike from the Alexandria bike store to Chicago, UPS insured it, picked it up in the same box I used to ship it back, and it arrived in pristine shape. Seems like they take care of your stuff if you're a bike company shipping a bike, but refuse to insure it and beat the hell out of it if you're just a civilian shipping a bike. Of course, I only have two data points, but that's never stopped me from drawing conclusions before.

Started school. Just when I thought work couldn't reach any insaner levels of insaneness, it has.

Before all of that school and Chicago craziness, I went with Amanda, Gordon and a posse of others to stay in Doyle's River Cabin in Shenandoah.

It was pretty much awesome. The group was all of my biking buddies, and they all wanted to bike Skyline Drive, but I had just crashed my bike and hadn't fixed it yet, so I went on a long hike by myself instead. It occurred to me in the middle of the hike that maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do, when I ran into an enormous rattlesnake, and saw lots of bear tracks. Although I wasn't completely alone... I brought Charlie's dog, Mojo, who was a pretty awesome hiking partner. We did a not un-difficult 8-mile hike. I'm not really a dog person, but he nearly changed my mind.

I could go on and on about the trip. Super fun. But I won't.

Also, Doug, Kim and Sidra are moving to San Francisco. Doug is gone already and started his new job, and Kim is here with Sidra until the house sells and such. But should be gone within a few weeks. Before Doug left I went with all of them to the Potomac Boathouse so I could watch Sidra while they went out rowing for the last time before the move. Sidra is seriously cute, and that's even after considering that she yacked on me a couple times and came within inches of pooping on me yesterday.


Well, that's enough for now, don't you think?