Nifty Widget

Thanks to Daily Mile, I now have a widget to track my daily workouts.  The site will also tell you your caloric expenditure.  It's always more fun to see how much I burn on a bike ride than running.  You'd think that I'd be losing weight like crazy with the riding, but last night I offset the caloric outlay by going out to dinner with Amber and splitting a BJ's pizzookie (a big, warm cookie with a scoop of ice cream on the top).

Pretty Amazing

I went to bed on Saturday with just $86 in donations, a mere 2% of my total.  Today, I'm at $1,456.  Pretty cool.  Only $3,000 to go.  That's only 300 people donating $10 each.  That's not really as daunting a task as you may think.

Join Me In the Fight Against Crohn's and Colitis

Dear Readers,

You have no doubt learned over the course of your perusal of my blog that my sweet husband, Rowdy, has an insidious inflammatory bowel disease called Crohn's.  What you may not know is that one of my oldest friends, super-mom of seven Jenny Schow, also has Crohn's.  And what I may not know is that you or someone you love has it. Crohn's also has a mean sibling named Ulcerative Colitis.  Rowdy's biological dad, Larry, was the lucky winner of that lottery.  UC is just as nasty as Crohn's.

You may also have divined that I really, really hate Crohn's and wish that it could be eradicated from the face of the earth.  One of the things that pisses me off about that rotten disease is that I can't fix it.  I have no control over Rowdy's flares and I can't heal him.  But I found something that might just one day lead to much-improved treatments.  I am running the Las Vegas Rock-and-Roll Half Marathon on December 5th with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's Team Challenge.  As part of this endeavor, I have made a goal to raise $4,400 towards research into cures and treatments, as well as support systems for sufferers of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, which is the catch-all term for Crohn's and Colitis.

I realize that this is a lofty goal, especially in these economic times and with so many other wonderful organizations and causes to which you can donate your time and energy, but every little bit helps.  Your employer might even have a gift-matching program, so that your charitable dollars are doubled.

So, do it for Rowdstar...

or Supermom Jenny...

or Larry...

or someone else that you love, like,or just are acquainted with,  or just because 1.4 million Americans suffer from IBD.  Click on the hyperlink above, or you can click on the link in the upper left-hand corner of the blog.

Thank you!

Tenacious D

Biker Chicks Part the Second

Amber and I rode down along the Strand in Coronado on Monday afternoon.  It was lovely and cool.  We did about 18 miles.  Amber had already ridden about 25 miles, from our neighborhood to Sea World and back.

If you look closely, you will see that my shirt says, "Otter Pops".  The front has all of the Otters on it, labeled with their names.  That shirt and a belt that I bought at Target for $11 get me the most compliments out of all of the clothing I own.

The belt in question can be seen in this photo.

Biker Chicks

Yesterday morning, I rode with the Development 3 group at the San Diego Bicycle Club ride.  Development 3 is where you start learning how to really ride with a big group on the road.  We went 35.87 miles, from La Jolla -->Rancho Santa Fe-->Cardiff-By-The-Sea-->Solana Beach-->Del Mar-->La Jolla.  It was so fun!

In the two weeks that I've had my bike, I've ridden it over 100 miles.  Can you believe that?

For those of you who don't ride (or have a rider in your life), it is customary to wear shoes that attach to your bike pedals.  The confusing terminology of this is using "clipless pedals", and yet the rider "clips in".  Anyway, I tried that with my mountain bike a few years ago, and it only ended in pain and humiliation.  You see, if you're clipped in, you have to clip out in order to put your foot on the ground.  If you can't unclip fast enough, over you go onto the ground with your bike on top of you.  Not fun.  I totally stopped even trying to do that and sold my nice Sidi bike shoes, since they sat under my desk at work for an entire year, gathering dust.  But being clipped in improves the efficiency of your riding by A LOT.


At least five people hassled me yesterday about using flat pedals, so I guess I will be trying again sometime soon-ish.

Three quotes of the day that just amused the heck out of me--

1) " You must be pretty strong to be able to get up Torrey Pines Hill on flat pedals."--random "real team" biker guy.

2)  "I can't let the gal with the flat pedals beat me up the hill.  Aw, crap!"--Group leader, when I beat him up the hill.

3)  "Oh, you're a runner.  That's why you're so strong."--Group leader (I think that he must be from Utah originally, because he pronounced "roots" as "ruts" and told me that he used to do ballroom dance.

But anyway, those things amused me because of all of the years I spent not being thought of as strong or athletic and because I haven't been a consistent runner.  What I wanted to say was, "I'm strong because I'm strong".  R says that I've finally found a sport that I'm naturally good at.

Last night, we went to dinner at some new friends' house.  The wife is a professional mountain biker.  Her particular skill is riding a single-speed bike in cross-country races.  I have always thought that she's one of those people who has always been sporty and naturally-talented.  But she told me that she hasn't been mountain-biking all that long, and she never really was that athletic.  She played collegiate basketball, but she's quite tall so that was kind of a given that she'd play basketball.


But anyway, she just kind of stumbled into being a champion mountain biker, and she totally rocks at it.  She's grateful to have found her niche, but she laments that her major talent is to be a long-distance rider.  She wishes that she could have found something that doesn't take 12 hours to complete.

Read Kathryn's blog at  "Crash Test Mommy".  It's linked here and also in my "Look Inside" list.

A Day To Count Blessings--With Updates

News of the week:

My friend who kept trying to teach me Swedish, Brother Pehrson, passed away somewhat suddenly on Monday.--I am so grateful to have known him.  He was so kind to try and try to get me to say something in Swedish, anything!!  He and his wife also were "extra grandparents" to the Overfelt children. 

My brand-new niece, Keira, was diagnosed with a cardiac defect.Sounds like she's doing fine and they're just going to monitor her with echocardiograms every three months.

Cousin Laurie's grandson, Skyler, started chemotherapy for leukemia today.  He's...4?  5?  He's just a little guy.Well, Sky's not doing very well as of this writing.  Thank Heaven for a large, strong, loving, extended family that is praying their hearts out for Sky and his mom.  I know that, whatever happens, it will be fine.  "Fine" doesn't always mean what we think it should mean at the time, but that's okay.

SuperMario told me that he could schedule R's surgery for "sometime in September".  If he marks the case as "somewhat urgent", he could operate as soon as two weeks from now.  Keep praying that the endoscopy tomorrow shows a Crohn's-free duodenum.Yahoo!  Good job on the prayers, everybody!!  The EGD demonstrated just a little bit of erosion from heartburn, but nothing in the duodenum.  So the surgery will just be to take out the short, diseased segement that has been bothering him for two years now.  Annnnd...Rowdy interviewed for a new job today, here in my own department!  Funny about the timing of that, but it is what it is.  R and I would work just fine together, and it's not like he would be over my exact section and techs.  And I know he would be wonderful at this particular job.

Sublime

I eat two Oreos in the morning
I eat two Oreos at night
I eat two Oreos in the afternoon
It makes me feel all right

I eat two Oreos in time of peace
And two in time of war
I eat two Oreos before I eat two Oreos
And then I eat two more

Daddy he once told me
"Girl, you be hard workin' girl"
And momma she once told me
"Girl, you do the best you can"
Then one day I meet a man
He came to me and said
"Hard work good and hard work fine
But first make sure you're fed"

Whoa rock me to the night
Ja say

Getting a Grip and Letting Go

I was awake this morning between 2 and 5 am, thanks to cramps and thoughts.  At about 3, I gave up lying in bed and came upstairs to get some pain reliever and heat up the "cornbag".  Then I laid down on the couch and turned on the TV, happy to find that Cheers is on the Hallmark channel in the wee hours of the morning.  Then I set about weaving.

A talent you may not be aware I have is tapestry weaving.  Yes, I come from a long line of masters at weaving what my dad calls "A Tapestry of Doom".  Take one little thought, one little fear, and from them make an intricate design of misery and worry and woe to hang on the walls of the mind. 

So I had plenty of raw material to work with in the middle of the night--starting with Rowdy's illness.  His surgeon, Doctor SuperMario, has created a tapestry of doom of his own, certain that R has need of considerable rearrangement of his digestive system.  To support his plan, he ordered an abdominal ultrasound, that I was able to arrange for this morning (and was 100% normal, thank you very much).  But, I was stewing about that (I also make a great stew, to eat while I weave), and that lead to fretting about how everything was going to get done over the next couple of months--getting Keiler back home and settled and feeling loved and appreciated and motivated, doing my part in the Stake Primary's upcoming inservice and other activities, work, making sure that all of our family members who are going to chip in some way to help us out (my folks, R's folks, SIL Super T) all feel appreciated and loved and that their needs are met, training with and fundraising for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's team that will run the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll half marathon....

But anyway...the phrase that came to mind somewhere in the midst of this sleepless night was "get a grip and let go".  There have been times in the past where I have felt overwhelmed or beaten down or lost much worse than I felt in the middle of last night.  Those experiences were navigated with Divine help, and things always turned out much better than I could have imagined.  I KNOW that Heavenly Father is watching over us, and we have the strength to get through whatever is coming up.  I also know that we only have to approach these things one day at a time, one second at a time, even.

Anybody want to buy a used loom?

A Very Merry Un-Birthday To Me!

Rowdy couldn't wait to give me my birthday presents.  He's worried that he will be recuperating from surgery on the real day, about five weeks from now.

So, after a very nice day at work, I came home to this surprise...

A gorgeous, carbon-fiber road bike...a Trek Madone, as well as a perfect-weight cycling jacket.  I think I have to call the new bike "Black Beauty". 

Yes, that is my natural bootie.

Then I went on an 18-mile ride with awesome biker chick, Amber.

American Ninja Warrior Expo 2010

A handy placard to indicate the terminus of the queue.

Rowdy signed up to run the "mini" course.  I missed seeing him run it, because I was in line to get autographs from Ninja Warrior (Satsuke) All-Stars

 

 

While I was in line, I was interviewed by a Japanese television network.  They asked me who my favorite Ninja Warrior was and why.  I said, "Makoto Nagano, because he is humble, strong, a good competitor, he always is able to conquer the course and he is supportive of his fellow competitors."

This is Brian Orozco, one of the American Ninja Warriors, sporting an ironic handlebar mustache.  He was super-nice and signed my shirt.  Another American Ninja Warrior, Levi Meeuwenberg, also was signed my shirt and was also super-nice.  He asked me if I was going to run the course today.  Ummm...naaahhhhh.

For those of you who don't follow Ninja Warrior, Makoto Nagano is the guy in the center.  He is the first person to conquer Mt. Midoriama.  His day job is being the captain of a fishing boat.  Each of these guys was so gracious, shaking hands with each and every one of the people who came through the line for their autograph.

And here is my signed shirt!

We followed it up with French-dipped sandwiches at Philippe's.  They were delicious, but the LA traffic is enough to drive a person insane!  It took us an hour to go the 15 miles from Venice to Downtown LA.

The Genesis of Childhood Dreams and Their Realization

My grandparents gave me this book when I was 4 or 5.  It made me want to travel.

It is now out of print, sadly.  I bought a copy off of exlibris.com several years ago.

When I grew up and was able to see some of the places Richard Scarry introduced to me, it was so thrilling.

I Love A Man In An Iconic Uniform