I'm such a slacker! (but not enough of one)

Wow, this is only my 5th post in September and likely to be the last for this month! I haven't been living up to my Chatterbox handle.

Every time I start a new job, I promise myself I will try to take all my vacation every year. And, somehow I never seem to be able to live up to that. We were hoping to get on a cycle of a two week international trip each year and one week domestically. I just finished 4.5 years at my job last week and had 4.5 weeks of vacation cashed out. So, that means I wasn't making my goal. Oh well, I bought myself a nice watch to make myself feel better. And, I'm taking this week off before starting the new job.

So far with my week off I've done laundry, watched 2 movies with the boy, written 6 sections of my thesis, helped coach a cycling clinic, had dinner with a friend, did a JavaScript assignment and went on a MTB ride. Phew! Tomorrow I start slacking for real! We'll be hitting the Big Sur coast for a few rides we've been meaning to do. And, we'll be joining the mamma on her first metric century. How exciting!

Hopefully we'll have some great photos to show when we get back - either that, or we'll have some nice shots of the fog!

sorry for the silence - Track FUN!

So, I've been pretty much mired in masters' thesis work and wrapping up things for my last week at my current job. But, I did get 4 out of 14 sections signed off by my adviser on Friday. So, I was able to join in the fun at the track on Saturday!

We joined Olaf and Velo Bella, PAB, xbun, panda, & merkeleybike for the festivities. PAB headed off for a road ride to Morgan Hill. Olaf took pics and gave out tactical advice. We had a great session this time. In the warm up, the pacelines were tight and smooth. We followed with bumping drills and 2x and 3x pursuits. The day ended with a 5 lap scratch race. It was a happy day because I finally got a bike that fit me reasonably well and didn't have me longing for a shot of demarol in my sciatic nerve after the first 5 minutes! Cyclistrick had a bummer day because his chain broke (again) and he blew out a tire in the scratch race. But, he still had fun!

This photo is of me after attacking from the rails on lap 2, turn 2 of the scratch race. I would have had a nice gap and someone to work with....


If this guy behind me would have bridged instead of bringing the whole, darn pack up with him. But, the girl in green on his wheel appeared to be his lady friend, so he probably didn't want to ditch her to work with me....


I didn't really expect that this was a winning move, but wanted to see what it would take to get a gap on the track. It is a great deal harder than on the flat, open road.

WAAaY too busy!

Well, big change is afoot for me. Decisions have been made and balls are rolling. More updates forthcoming. Meanwhile, I'm waaay too busy to compose anything witty, or really anything much at all.

We rode through north and east San Jose to watch the Saturday morning festivities at the Hellyerdrome. That was pretty cool. Then, we got home in time for me to spend about 7 hours on my thesis project. I think I'm going to need to cut back the socialization in the near future for a while (but still hoping to play hookey long enough to get my 3rd beginner session this Saturday).

Sunday, I had breakfast with a couple neglected friends and then hit the thesis again for about 4 hours before going to the memorial for my friend Lou Sunday night.

Last night I hit it for about 3 more hours after work and finally got caught up to where I wanted to be by the end of the weekend. Now, it's a wait and see until the adviser returns the work with comments. I did get to see the fabulous end to the Niners' game! Mike Ditka was slurring his speech by the end. I think he must have been hitting a bit too much of the sponsor product or something.

Well, that's my unexciting life update. Later, ya'll!

Update 9/12/07:
My adviser just wrote that she is approving 2 sections! Wooo hoo!!!! I get to go to the track on Saturday. Yipppppeeee!

school girl

Sitting at home on a Thursday night working on JavaScript assignments and reading the first round of feedback on a chunk of my thesis project. Sigh. I'm such a goodie-two-shoes nerdy one. Hopefully I'll survive to be a fun-party-girl come December!

Introverts' weekend of socialization

Despite the fact that I'm chatty on my blog, I'm a bit of an introvert. Cyclistrick is an utter and complete introvert. And, we spent pretty much the entire weekend socializing. I think we've done so much socializing, we're probably done for the year.

Saturday, we went out to the Hellyerdrome. I mostly went because I wanted to see all the other bloggers who were alleged to be coming (had yet to meet PABcid and Xbunny). But, I also needed to get one more high-intensity workout in, according to my coach. And, I want to finish up my 3 sessions so I can race next season if I want. We hung out with VeloBella, Ippoc, Marscat, Xbunny, PABcid, Olaf, Alicat & Merkeleybike, lil'ninja and Natasha. We all huddled together in a small patch of shade created by the Bella pop-up. It was HOT out there. The whole lot of us retreated hastily once the session was done to go have lunch at a salad bar. Mmmmm.

Later in the afternoon, cyclistrick and I met up with one of my teammates (also a blogger), kim. We played mini golf and melted ourselves in the sun. We then headed over to a little cantina for some refreshment.

Sunday, I spent most of the day working on my thesis project. But, we did get out for a couple hours on the bikes and ran an errand while we were out.

Yesterday, cyclistrick and I got up early :( to go spectate the Giro di San Francisco :) We cheered on kim and evan in the W4 race and then cheered for Anna and Alicat in the W3 race.

We headed home after the W3 race to make a brunch with my former roommate and a couple of her friends.

Phew! That was a lot of socialization. Time for a nap!