Biking

I realize that there has been one or two or six blogs already about biking but it is one of my favorite activities. I think we have become obsessed! Ems, zlionsfan and I are able to talk about it for hours on end several days a week. I am not sure anything ever really comes of our talks except that we like biking and all of the accessories associated with biking.

I went on a biking adventure last night after work. When biking with friends I usually don’t care where we bike or if there is a specific aim involved but when I go by myself I like there to be a destination. When I went riding last weekend I went to the grocery store to purchase items to bake brownies. BTW…they were horrible because I am not a good baker…but that is for another blog.

My monthly book club was scheduled for Thursday evening so earlier in the week I decided that I would like to bike there from my work. I had a friend look to make sure that there was a sidewalk the entire length of 82nd/86th Street. I also did a map on my phone and it told me that it was exactly 7.2 miles each way. I decided that it was a doable amount of biking, so I told my friends of my intentions which cemented the idea in my head.

Thursday’s weather was dry but a bit cold, so when I set out I had wished for a longer pair of pants and a jacket but I quickly got warmed up. As I was leaving the parking lot I got several waves, honks and positive comments about my dedication to biking. I also think there were a few head shakes. I proceeded down the road listening to “The Cat Empire” and enjoying my quiet time as I was looking forward to this ride all day. I encountered my first problem at the fashion mall. The sidewalk ended. I stood there for a few minutes contemplating what I should do. Should I turn around and go back to work, should I try to find an alternative root or should I forge ahead. I decided to act tough and ride on the road. I had to ride about a ½ mile on the side of 82nd Street in front of the section where you enter and exit Keystone Avenue. I turned off my music and increased my awareness of my surroundings and proceeded forward. I tried to make eye contact with drivers and I made it safely to the next section of the sidewalk.

I was ecstatic that I had made it. Hurray for me…no one tried to run me over. The rest of the ride was nice and there were a couple obstacles, trees so overgrown that I had to duck to get by and hedges encroaching on the sidewalk so I had to ride in the grass. The ride there was athletically tough as I think that it was a very slight grade uphill and the wind was blowing against me. I was breathing hard often. I was very excited when I arrived because my phone told me I was 7.2 miles from my destination and my bike odometer said exactly 7.2 when I arrived. This means that it was probable calibrated correctly.

The ride back to my car was uneventful and I was able to coast a good portion of the time. These are my stats:

Time 1:40
Distance: 14.5
Average Speed: 8.6 MPH
Max Speed: 17.7 MPH
Total Odometer Reading: 88 Miles

Ems, zlionsfan and I were planning some of our summer biking goals today and we decided we needed to do a bike marathon. We think that we are ready to bike 26 miles in a row and with my average speed of 8.5 mph it should take us about 3.5 hours to complete. I think that we will need to make specific plans for this soon.

Some of my other goals include riding up the hill at Crown Hill Cemetery without walking and getting my total bike odometer to read 500 miles.

Food Responsibility

I took a small step in food responsibility today. I had plans with several friends (the several turned out to be two because some people canceled) to go and see the new "Angels and Demons" movie on Tuesday evening. I have been feeling fairly poor since I have returned from my European trip and I have been trying to spend responsibility. So when I was planning for Tuesday on Monday evening, I packed my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I ate the hot food at work for lunch so I could heat it up and I took my turkey sandwich, Doritos and Sprite inside of my purse and ate them while I watched the movie. Two snaps for me for trying to be more money and food conscious. I don't have the ability to do this every day but at least it was a step in the right direction. I am glad that my movie going companions were not embarrassed by my picnic.

Beware...expect more of this frugal behavior in the future!

Ballas Hough Band

I went to the Race Party last night at the Conrad Hotel and it featured the Ballas Hough Band. The ticket said it started at 8:00 so we arrived around 7:30 to make sure we were on time. I was annoyed to find out that the concert didn't actually start until 10:30.

We arrived and spent some time mingling around the different rooms and eating the free food. They had some pizza and passed around trays of hors d'oeuvres. Most of them were pretty good and it was included in the ticket price. They also had sample drinks that included some of the slenderize wine and some type of the Bahama Breeze drink. It was nice that it was free as I was fairly hungry and I didn't want to spend much money.

We ended up hanging out in a side room talking for an hour and a half while we waited for the band to start. I think that it is funny that none of us wanted to mingle with the other people. We were alone in this side room having a good time by ourselves. At one point a VERY drunk man came in to talk to us and began to hit on Nicole. We told him she was married but that didn't stop him and he continued to try to talk to her. Casey had to make a rude comment to him to make him go away and he practically ran out of the room.

We watched the concert and it was fairly mediocre and ordinary. I didn't feel the vibe from Mark and Derrick. Their voices were just OK, not horrible, but just OK. Derrick had some terrific energy and he was jumping all around the stage the whole hour they played. He brought up some girls on the stage and danced with them a couple times and that was fairly entertaining. He even got on top of a speaker to jump around and then we got a real good look at him. He is so tiny. He is like the smallest man I have ever seen in person. He is tall enough but just very slim, and the man had no But!

After the concert they were going to the back of the room to sign autographs and Casey wanted one so I went with her. We got there fast and were very close to the front of the line. She asked me if I would take a photo of her and I said no. It embarrassed me. I didn't want to take any photos. I was just standing in line with her while she got to meet them. I think she was kind of mad at me for not doing as she requested. She ended up asking a stranger to take a photo for her. She got to give Mark a hug and got a photo of herself with her arms around each of them. She was very excited that she got so close considering she is such a fan of the show.

I didn't try to say Hi to them or anything when I was in the front of the line. I guess I just don't care that much about celebrities. Am I missing a gene? I was happy for her that she was excited but I just wasn't. I would just rather talk to regular people who might have an interest in me. I remember when Princess Diana passed away I had a friend who was practically devastated over her death. She talked about it all of the time and was very affected. She just didn't understand why I didn't care. I asked her why would I care so much about a person I have never met and I know never cared about me. It was a tragedy but why mourn for weeks for a stranger? I guess this is the way I feel about most celebrities. They don't know me or think about me so why would I put so much energy into caring what they do?

After the concert we were talking and Casey asked me if I was going to blog about the concert. I said I didn't think so because there was not much to say about the evening. But after that it began to get interesting.

The DJ began playing again and the host of the event, Carlos Diaz from Extra TV was up on stage. OK...he was up on the stage acting like a fool. He was dancing with a myriad of girls. There was a lesbian couple up there dancing and at one point Carlos takes off his shirt and the girl pours her beer on his chest and licked it off. Then he lifted up the girls shirt and did the same thing to her. I admit that I don't go to clubs much so I was fairly stupefied at this behavior.

Now this is where it gets bizarre. Casey decides that she wants to dance on the stage with Carlos. She takes her hair down from her ponytail and hops up there and dances with him. I think she gave him a hug and had a good time up there. I was shocked again because this is something that I would NEVER do. I don't like to put that much attention on myself. But she did, so kudos to her for her balls. She stayed up there for five minutes and then came back down to us.

We laughed about it and stood there next to the stage watching the antics and I thought that was the end of it, I was wrong. Casey and moorewrites disappeared off to the bar for a few minutes and I wondered what they were up to, as it was past midnight and they were no longer serving alcohol. She came back with a white towel. She decided that Carlos needed a towel to wipe down his sweat and she took it onstage and started wiping down his back and chest. Again my mouth was agape in shock and surprise. I had never imagined that Casey was so bold.

Casey, my hat is off to you and your ability to seize the moment and have a good time. You so made that $30 worth it for me.

Europe 2009 - Sunday May 3rd 2009

While in Europe I felt that every day was an adventure. Every day felt like a week back home. I always tried to pack in as much fun as I could.


Our group left Indianapolis on Saturday evening about six pm. It was nice to leave later in the day so I wasn't so stressed about leaving and I could take care of last minute items. As usual I didn't sleep on any part of the plane journey so I was very tired when we arrived in London on Sunday.


We were transported to our crappy hotel and were given an hour to freshen up and eat lunch. Since our room wasn't ready we decided to eat lunch at a pub attached to our hotel. I started out my London experience with the classic Fish and Chips with a pint of Stella beer. It was all tasty and delightful.


After our break the group headed out on a bus sightseeing tour of London. We had a very funny Scottish tour guide that often called out the back portion of the bus for talking and not paying attention. He was also obsessed with kittens and referenced them all through the tour. He was a very odd character.

This is the famous London Bridge. Do you see how the road is going directly through my head.



I couldn't resist trying to drink from the water fountains. BTW...it was fairly cold at this time and everyone else is shivering and huddling together for warmth and I am playing in the water.


This is GH and me in front of Buckingham Palace. We couldn't get any closer to the building.



This was a sculpture that was in the square outside of Buckingham palace. We were going for our inner foot fetish.

After our city tour we had a group dinner at the hotel and we had two guests come for a visit. They were a married couple from Finland and working in England. The lady was an exchange student in Indianapolis and had lived with the a mother and daughter that were in our group. They told us a bit about their jobs and positions as well as some of their work benefits. They get an incredible amount of vacation as well as a huge amount of maternity leave. I wish the US would emulate this bit of the European culture.

After dinner I went promptly to bed only to awake at 1 am and stay awake for the rest of the night. I wish that I didn't have such a hard time with the sleeping and jet lag when I travel. I have never been able to beat this on any of my international trips. O well...I just tried to get over it. Gretchen did wake up and talk to me for about an hour, but she went back to sleep so I laid there trying to sleep but I never actually managed it.

This concludes my first day in Europe...Look for upcoming posts for more fun stories of my travels.

Dogs and Soccer

I went to the White River Christen Church this morning to see Sarah, Paige and Taylor play in their weekly soccer match. They were very cute running around on the field and playing the game. The three girls play on two different teams. Sarah and Taylor on one, and Paige on the other. During the second game while Sarah and Taylor were playing, Paige was making friends with the family sitting next to us on the field. It was a mom, dad, six children and two dogs. The family was very nice and friendly, as is Paige. At one point Paige asked the mom who was her favorite president. I was shocked...why would the six year old ask such a loaded question. She responded George W. Bush. Now I was double shocked that she actually answered the question and by her response. I don't hear too many people admit to liking GWB as well as elaborating on the question. It was a rather interesting conversation.

The second part of this is about their dogs. They had the most adorable dog and it was a Maltese. I have never heard of this breed and I have never seen one in person, but he was SUPER CUTE! He was six months old and only 3.5 lbs. I wanted to take him home with me. I don't think I have ever liked a dog as much before. But the dog thought fades quickly since I am never at home. Upon further consideration I do have Joanne and I bet she would love to help me take care of a cute dog.

I did some quick research online and the average price is $1000. I don't think I could allow myself to purchase an animal for that much money. It seams obscene. But I guess you never know where impulse will take you.

Moderation

I was talking to a friend on the phone on Sunday night and I was explaining to her how tired I have been since I returned from my European vacation. I fall into bed exhausted every night by 11:30pm, (I know that sounds late, but it is early for me) even Friday and Saturday nights. I went to Conner Prairie on Sunday for four hours and when I returned home I needed a nap.

She diagnosed my problem with one word...Moderation....as in I don't have any ability to utilize any. She said this in a soft and quiet way as to not offend me. When conversing with a true friend I usually have the ability to listen to my faults without being angry or at least too angry. In this case I wasn't at all angry as I am fully aware that I go to excesses in many areas of my life.

Examples:

Social Activities: I like to go out almost every night of the week. I always prefer social interactions to staying at home alone with the TV and the Internet.

Reading: When I really enjoy reading I go through at least two books a week. This usually means that I am sacrificing my much needed sleep to finish so many books.

Eating: I LOVE eating out and often eat lunch out every day and dinner multiple times per week. Remember how much money I spent eating out in 2008.

Eating: I just love to eat and this has caused me to be obese my entire life.

Vacations: Exotic vacations each year...Mexico, China, India, Dubai and Europe all in four consecutive years.

This list could continue but I think you get the gist of it. So I think that my friend has got it right, the reason I have been so tired is that I never slow down and stop. I just keep going and going and going until my body YELLS at me to rest and sleep more. I have been thinking about it and I don't think that my excesses are all that horrible for me...except for the eating one...and I am working on it. I think it is important to live my life to the fullest and have fun every day. It is one of the things that makes me a happy person.

So I now feel sufficiently rested from my trip and I ready to have loads more fun at home.

Biking anyone?