Training Center Update

So, the training center has been slowly coming around since the initial whirlwind of construction began.  Once we got it up and running, the finishing details have been a bit slower in coming along.  Part of it is that I want to make sure that I make the right choices about things like floor finishing (do we get a big indoor/outdoor rug, do we paint/epoxy, do we get those rubber gym mats...oh, the choices!!).  But, the important thing is that the room is totally functional as is...even if it is not the most beautiful space (note, the abhorrent oil stain on the floor...sigh).  Hector and Chuck put on the baseboards the other day, and they look great!!  One of these days, we'll get the rest of it in proper order.

But, I've been working on the aesthetics a bit lately.  As you will note in the above photo, there are some collages and such hanging above my work bench.  I've put up my wicked awesome pendulum clock (I will take a post a photo ASAP) that's made of bike cogs and chains...and I've hung up my Irish flag in honor of U2 and Nicholas Roche on the north wall.

Finally, most recently, I completed the curtain for the window.  I found the best fabric online...it has citron colored bikes on it!!  :)  And, yesterday, I sewed up a curtain for the window!  It's very cute and I like the idea that folks can't just look in the front window anymore.  Yep...the training center is certainly coming around...

While I hate snow, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to that inevitable winter day when the center is full of my spandex-clad friends on trainers and rollers, watching the Tour (on a larger TV, I hope!!), playing Ms. Pac-Man between intervals, and enjoying this awesome space.

Quin...that's NOT how you steam a mouse...

So, our small grey kitteh has become the rodent clean-up man for the neighborhood.  He comes home in the morning with mice, shrews, and even a decent sized rat one day.  Not sure where he gets these, but I think it's the unoccupied place across the street.

Anywho...he strolled up to the front door this morning with a small mouse neatly held in his mouth.  I was like, "Hey, buddy...there ain't no WAY you're bringing that thing in here."  So, he took it to the flower bed and proceeded to start playing.  The playing continued into the driveway just in front of my car.  He was having a blast tossing the mouse into the air, batting it around with his paws, tossing it again...rinse and repeat.

Suddenly, I notice that the direction of his attention changed and he was very attracted to the front grill of my car.  Oh no...

Yep - in the joys of his mouse-tossing, he managed to throw the poor little deceased rodent INTO my car.  It had become lodged between the radiator and the front of the car with no means of escape.  I couldn't get it from beneath the car because of the plastic barrier.  I couldn't get it from inside the hood because there's no way to get around the radiator.  My only option was to figure out a way to pull the mouse out through this opening...

Not very promising, eh??  So...I got a wild idea...

I attached some duct tape to an outstretched wire hanger and, like a surgeon playing Operation, I reached down into the space, stuck the duct tape to the mouse, and gently pulled it out!!  Ta-DAAA!!  No more mouse in my car!

Quin, however, keeps looking at the front of my car like it's a mouse-dispensing machine.

Asheville...

Here I come!!

In the first of what I hope to be a series of "Happy News" posts, I woke up this morning to a very awesome email in my inbox.

My Nineteenth Century Studies Association paper abstract has been accepted!!  I will be heading to Asheville, NC this March to present a portion of my first dissertation chapter!

The NCSA is a rather LARGE conference.  I went to this one a few years ago in Miami, FL, where I presented a paper that I had written for class about Children and Cosmopolitanism at the World's Fair in Chicago.  It was fun and it was intimidating.  It was my first major conference experience and I was pretty freaked out.

This time around, I'm sure that I will feel much more confident in my speaking and my writing ability!  Not to mention, I'll be getting some high quality feedback on my dissertation and the whole conference is on Spiritual Matters!  Sweet.

On a side note, I also believe that this is the start of some really good CAWES team mojo.  Well, not really the start....the good mojo started with some new recruits (announcements soon), BChan getting an INCREDIBLE job offer in Baltimore, and now, this.  I have a good feeling about this...

Holy Busy Batman

Well, that title pretty much sums it up...it's been a bit like this lately...


yep...that's what I call a whirlwind!!

I could pull out all of the many great cliches in life:

Life never hands more than you can handle,
Good things come to those who wait,
Patience is a virtue,
When life gives you lemons make lemonade,
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,
Nothing ventured nothing gained,
You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet,
Keep your nose to the grindstone,
Every cloud has a silver lining,
She's burning her candle at both ends,
When the going gets tough the tough get going,
Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off,
or...
Hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut!!  


Not sure what the heck that last one means, but I like it.  All of these are, in fact, true.  However, that is little consolation when you're up to your eyeballs in fellowship applications, dissertation rewrites, exam grading, paper grading, committee work, writing letters of recommendation, and (oh, yeah) LIFE!


I'm now working on turning this...

into this...


Or, perhaps a better visual...
No more this...

Only this...

AWWWW, yeah....

Thankful

As we head into the Turkey Holiday...that would be the one that occurs in November, but is often overshadowed by the ridiculous commercial exploitation of innocent reindeer, snowmen, and Who's down in Whoville...I'd like to take some time to express my gratitude to some folks and some things.

1.  My Team
    I feel ridiculously lucky to be surrounded by an amazing bunch of women (and their significant others) who share my love for the bike.  These folks have become my family out here in my adopted East Coast home, and I am ever thankful for their friendship, understanding, support, and encouragement.  They basically rock.

2.  My Job and My Colleagues
    I love my job.  I absolutely adore what I get to do every day.  Sure, it gets frustrating.  It definitely gets frustrating...but, that's when my tremendous colleagues step in to make things seem so much better and to make the best suggestions about sprucing up a class, dealing with a problem, etc.  I know that I am fortunate to have a job that I very rarely dread going to.

3.  My Family
    Duh.  They are the bomb.  My family is a truly weird bunch.  We have our issues - for sure - but, I'm grateful that I can consider all of the people in my family my friends.  I know that this is a rare thing, and I am glad that I have it.

4.  My Friends (Near and Far)
    You know who you are.  The folks that I never get to see...I miss you.  Terribly.  It's not fair to love people that are so far away.  But, I'm very thankful that I can pick up the phone (or the Skype) and catch up with you as easily as if we had just had lunch yesterday.  I've always believed that true friendship doesn't come with rules or expectations...just understanding.  Thank you for understanding my quirks and my faults.

5.  My Hubby
    He's a good man.  And, he's damn lucky that he's so cute...it keeps him out of trouble an awful lot.  Are we perfect?  Not even close.  We're so wrong for one another that it makes everything right.  I'm thankful to have him in my life.  I truly believe that he's the ONLY one that could put up with me....for an extended period of time.

So...as we make our way towards the sacred holiday of "Stuffing Your Face," please do what you can to be thankful and to express that gratitude to those who deserve it.

That SAD time of year again...Sigh

A lot of people have come into and out of my life.  Some of those have left indelible marks upon me.  Some of them are still vital and thriving parts of my everyday life.  Others entered through one door only to walk across my existence and leave just as quickly.  In some very fortunate instances, those that I thought were lost have come back to me in some way.  Others never will.

About 17 years ago, my outlook on so many things was changed by the arrival and quick departure of a boy who I will never forget.  So many things in my life have drifted from my recollection...so many things that I can only partially recall or faintly envision.  And yet, Danny's face has been permanently affixed to my memory.  I will never forget that goofy smile that was captured in nearly every photograph of him.  And, though I didn't see it when I was 15, I will always notice the depth of sadness that swam behind his eyes.  Here was a boy who was lost...even before we lost him.

Depression is an incredible thing.  Having only extremely minor symptoms of it around this time of the year, I cannot even fathom the sense of despair that must accompany the full-blown depression that haunted Danny.  My feelings are dispelled by sitting in the sun, or in front of my "Happy Light."  They are pushed away by a goofy gesture from my husband or an email that I have been hopelessly awaiting.  They are made irrelevant by a 3-hour bike ride with precious friends.  They are eventually silenced by the elongation of days and the return of warm weather.

For Danny, there was no end.  There was no way to keep the sense of sadness at bay.  Or, at least, the only solution was one that was truly final.

I don't know that I will ever stop seeing Danny's face.  It seems to be one memory that I can conjure up at will.  One memory that I can call upon at any time.  It's always the face from my favorite photo of him...that grin upon his face, a silly wave, a boy full of hope and life.  That's the only way I want to remember him.