April 2007 Archives

I survived my 40-mile bike ride on Saturday. It was hilly and it was kind of hot, but I felt like I had accomplished something by the time it was over. The following statistics are from my El Cheapo bike computer, so it might be a wee bit off. However, because I use the same computer for my training, I can guage progress using the same margin of error.

Distance: 42.92 miles
Time: 2 hours, 52 minutes, 21 seconds
Average speed: 14.9 mph
Maximum speed: 37.4 mph

I enjoyed passing so many bike snobs on their expensive, light-weight bikes (some male riders had even shaved their legs) on my 11-year-old mountain-bike-turned-road-machine (and my hairy legs, thankyouverymuch). I stopped at all the rest stops to reload on liquids and grab a light snack.

Only had one problem, and it was at the crest of the last large hill ... about four or so miles from the finish. I upshifted and the cable connected to my rear derailleur snapped loose. This meant that for those final miles, my formerly 21-speed bike was suddenly a 3-speed. Had there been large hills yet to be climbed, I would have had to bow out and take the wimpy way out with a ride on a SAG wagon. I'm going to have the local bike shop take a look at my bike today.

After all, if I'm going to ride 100 miles in a single day in August, I'm going to have to do at least one long-distance group ride per month to get ready. I want all 21 of my gears, that's for sure!

The Petite Filet and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary on Tuesday. For some of you, that's no time at all. For others, it might be something worthy of an Olympic medal. We've had good times, very good times, bad times, very bad times, but the good always outweighs the bad. Some of the valleys were hard to get out of, and seemed to take forever to escape. But looking back, it was nothing I wouldn't go through willingly again. Especially with such a great partner.

The Beatles weren't exactly right ... you need more than just love. But love is necessary.

For those aspiring to become Marital Olympiads, I'll offer a few tips that can help you along the way. These are things that can make any union a better one. Most are common sense, something unfortunately that is becoming less common:

Payday is a-comin'. This is significant because it will be the Petite Filet's first real paycheck in several months after taking unpaid maternity leave. We survived, people! It wasn't easy. Our savings will need rebuilding. But now we'll be able to buy things like bread! Woo hoo!

If you ever find yourself facing financial adversity, here are a few tips to keep you solvent during the rough patch:

Like anytime something unbelievable and tragic happens, our modern media inundates us constantly with updates and horrific images, video of grieving survivors and the like. More eloquent and heartfelt words have been written elsewhere, on mainstream sites and blogs alike, about the murderous shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus. The effects, I imagine, will be far reaching for college students everywhere who once felt blissfully safe. I know I never thought of such a thing happening on my college campus.

The news is weird for my parents, I'm sure. Both of them attended Virginia Tech, my dad in the late 1950s/early 60s, when it was still called Virginia Polytechnic Institute. My mom took classes there but did not complete her degree.

Blacksburg is a beautiful town. The thing about Virginia, no matter at what point I have crossed the state line or where I go, it always feels like home. Texas is the same way now, but different.

Anyhow, many thoughts, prayers and love should be directed to the students, faculty and staff at VT. And God be with us all as we try to make sense of something so senseless.

I hope to update this entry tomorrow with a photo of the Cutlet holding some hail. In the meantime, I'll just say it hailed on Friday, it was big, and in my 24 years of living in this state had never seen any quite this big.

We usually park both of our cars in the garage, but when the storm blew through we were out in the Petite Filet's new vehicle. It appears to have gotten only a couple shallow dents. They are so shallow I can probably fix them myself. The roof of our house, however, did not fare as well. It wasn't in great shape to begin with, but now several of the shingles have new knicks caused by the devil ice. We have called a roofing company to inspect it and determine if, in fact, hail further aged it to a point making an insurance claim worthwhile.

The severe storms sparked a few tornadoes, one of which dropped to the ground about three or four miles southeast of our neighborhood in Haltom City, Texas, just north of Fort Worth. The 'nado damaged several homes and businesses, and killed one person. Puts things in perspective, and makes our storm-related damage petty and ridiculous.

That's tornado No. 4 for me. I've had a few brushes with the big black clouds, but have always come out relatively unscathed.

• Mother's Day 1992: Was going to college and working part-time at a grocery store. Went home for lunch with my parents, and while I was gone the storm blew through the parking lot, damaging the store, many buildings around it and homes to the north. One man died when his mobile home rolled, with his own furniture crushing him.

• Some spring day in 1997: Sitting at home with my long-haired chihuahua and my roommate, SkinnyDude, listening to my police scanner while the sky turned green outside. Storm spotters saw a funnel cloud right over the college next to our duplex. That would explain the high winds and whooshing noise. It didn't touch the ground, thankfully.

• March 28, 2000: Working at newspaper office in downtown Fort Worth that evening. Photographers on the roof ran down to the newsroom and declared there was a tornado headed right for us. The desk I was using was on a "bridge" between the old building and an annex, and all of us there were ordered off the bridge. By the time we exited onto more solid ground, everyone was ordered into the basement, in the old pressroom. We waited out the tornado among a bunch of long-unused press equipment. When we emerged, the war zone that was Fort Worth told the story of a powerful storm that destroyed several buildings and killed two people. Downtown wasn't the same for several years, but the bruises have just about healed.

Out on the prairie like we are, you'd think springtime would plant the fear of tornadoes in our hearts. But really, modern tech lets those who keep an eye on the weather reports know if such storms are likely. The system isn't perfect, but plentiful warning sirens are sounded when conditions are right, which means it's time to go inside and wear your mattress. Otherwise, the weather is warm most of the time here, the little tradeoff we've got.

So, what's worse? Hurricanes, with lots of advanced warning? Tornadoes, with advanced warning but sometimes surprise appearances? Earthquakes, where warnings hardly ever come but the earthquakes hardly ever come, either?

I find it interesting when someone says they’ve lived their lives with no regrets. Don’t they ever get out of bed? Go outside? Say something dumb? Is having no regrets a reflection of living a timid, vanilla life, or an attitude that says, “Fast forward! I shall not dwell on life’s little beasties that get me down.”

Some days, I regret three or four things before breakfast.

My goal is to minimize regrets based on Shouldas. “I shoulda done this, I shoulda done that.” I would rather not have regrets based on things I should have done but didn’t have the time, courage, focus, aptitude or recognition that it was something I should have done. If I were listing them, many of the regrets would center on my early dating life, at which point I was an idiot. And then there would be not going on one of the water slides on Paradise Island, The Bahamas, because of my nagging claustrophobia. It’s no fun to drown in unrealized dreams.

And yet the people who say they don’t have any regrets are a lot like people whose best years were in high school. I’m not exactly sure why they are the same, except that many of them are the same people. Maybe I should have joined a few more clubs in high school.

As for regrets, I don’t dwell on them … but I have them. They are a part of life. As long as we learn from our regrets they can be positive things. As long as we don’t let them take the wheel, there’s nothing wrong with being at least a little sorry.

We have reserved use of a beach house in July near Galveston (but on the cheaper side of the bay). It is awesome ... beautiful view, washer/dryer, quiet neighborhood ... nothing fancy. Just what the fam will need for a nice break. Most of our time will be spent just chillin', marking the slow tick-tock of "island time."

For unTexans, Galveston is on the Texas coast, south of Houston. The beach isn't the best in the world, but it's an awesome island city that holds special memories for the Petite Filet and me. We honeymooned there for a week, and have made several trips back, including for our one-year anniversary. I've also gone down there on business trips twice; not as fun, but I still got in lots of beach time.

Sand and surf, just what my toes need. July can't get here fast enough.

Have you ever filled out one of those warranty-card surveys? You know the ones, where you put in the day and place you got whatever-it-is, then there are a series of questions to find out more about you.

How many adults are in your household?
Depends on what kind of mood I'm in.

Are there children under 12 living in your home?
No, we just like buying diapers every week and stepping on toys in the living room!

Then there's that section that asks what types of interests you have. I usually find myself wishing I did certain things on there.

Overseas travel?
Heck yeah. And all I got was this weird sunburn, infectious disease and T-shirt! But, oh, the memories. No matter what happens, we'll always have that rash and some dim memory of the Eiffel Tower.

Web design?
Um, yeah. You should see my blog design. It never changes and was created by someone else much smarter than I am. Plus, I'm hosted graciously by the site's owner for free and she's also much smarter than I am. How come there are eraser marks on my computer screen?

Canoeing/kayaking?
I had the chance to go to a large outdoor outfitter's "demo day" this past weekend in Dallas (which is about 45 minutes away). After storms of biblical description the night before, and really not wanting to be so selfish, I opted for family time instead. Doesn't make me a hero; maybe I'm lazy. But I know I made the right choice. I can't afford a kayak now anyway, right?

Bicycling?
Well, yes. My training for that 100-mile ride in August is going fairly well. But I made another choice over the weekend, and it involved riding slower over fewer miles. We bought a small bicycle trailer and a helmet for the Cutlet, and I towed him around the neighborhood Saturday afternoon and again Sunday after church. I logged about seven miles total on both rides (I usually shoot for at least 17-25 miles per ride on weekends). Was it worth it? Yes. He absolutely loved it. My bike made a creaking noise with the added weight (maybe it was just my knees), and I may have lost the chance to get my distance up, but I know I made the right choice. There will come a time when he's way too big for that trailer, a time when I'll be easier to tow than he will.

So yeah, there are things I'd like to do in my "spare" time, whatever that is. Does anyone remember when we had spare time? What did we do? Nowadays I just want to take a nap. I think any time spent with my family is among the most worthwhile seconds and minutes I can spend.

The survey may not tell a story of excitement, of contentment, of looking forward to every day. But my life's story does, and that's what really counts.