By far my favorite holiday, Halloween came and went a bit too quickly this year.
In truth, life seems to have sped up in general over the last couple of years. It seems like just yesterday I was in my 20s, contemplating life as an adult. Now, I'm moving closer to 40, enjoying my life as an adult, but still feeling like I'm in my 20s (except for the day after a visit to the gym, when my body reminds me that I'm not a bouncy-trouncy 24 year old!).
There is a lot going on 'round here. I've been holding off on saying too much on the blog because I wanted to be sure that things were going to turn out as I was hoping before I went spewing them about the interwebs. But, as things have, in fact, begun to settle down, I suppose that I can share some exciting stuff.
The Italy trip in May 2015 is a GO! My colleague and I have begun the process of information sessions on campus. Our first session brought in 15 students. This is great... and bad. Since we can only take a maximum of 8 students, the fact that nearly double that showed up for our first (of three) info sessions suggests that we will have to disappoint quite a few students by not selecting them. Unless, of course, their financially solvent enough to pay their own way in full. (Highly unlikely).
I was granted a sabbatical for 2016. I'm not sure yet if I will take it then or push it off for another year. But, the fact that I got it is pretty awesome. Most of my colleagues applied several times before getting it... I was awarded one on my first shot. Pretty awesome. I'm hoping to use the time to get my dissertation published. :)
The team is undergoing some pretty dramatic changes, too. Some of the gals have decided to retire from racing. This makes me personally sad for me and unselfishly happy for them. I know that it's the right move for them, but knowing that I won't see them as much during the summer definitely makes me sad. With their departure from the team, we were faced with a crisis of sorts. With no riders down in the Maryland/DC area, what would we do? So... we decided to move the whole thing north. In short, the team is continuing to soldier on. We'll be quite a bit smaller in 2015. But, we'll be housed in the Philly area and we'll start making a name for ourselves up here. I'm quite certain that we will be able to grow the team and recruit new riders for the upcoming seasons. So, keep an eye out for the women in Wasabi... we'll be rocking and rolling at a crit near you come March!
That's it for now... I leave you with some photos of my Halloween adventures...
Axel Rose, Slash, and a Viking Princess walk into a room....
Crossfit Zombies are very scary...
MINIONS!!
Mountain biking on Halloween with Death and She-Ra! What more could a witchy Porkchop want?
