Home, Sweet Home.

Holy Crap. It's already September 17th? Where the hell have I been?

Oh that's right ... home.

It's been nice. I've been busier than I thought I would be, but still it's still been pretty damn good. I've slept in almost every day. I've ridden my bike quite a few times. I've spent a lot of time on my couch. I had to spend my first two weekends home in Oklahoma because my best friend from high school got married, which was alright since I got to see my mom:

I did have to go to a karaoke bar, which I normally wouldn't do, but Reina really wanted to have her bachelorette party there. I didn't sing. I just sat there smiling smugly at how I was clearly a superior human compared to most of the people there. I also had to wear the following: a dress, lots of makeup, heels, and fake nails. It sucked. I mean, I was flattered that Reina asked me to be in her wedding, so that was great, but come on ... you all know me ...

It was actually a pretty cool wedding. It was really low-key and there wasn't that much fuss, but having those fake nails annoyed the living shit out of me.

I also spent two days at the Tour of Missouri. That was well worth my time. Brett and I got to watch George Hincapie take the sprint to win stage 2 in Springfield. It was neat to see such high-caliber riders racing right there in Missouri. That's gotta be a step in the right direction for American cycling.

This past weekend I had the bright idea to go race my mountain bike at Devil's Den. I didn't ride much all summer. Instead I was generally either driving or drinking beer. So I'm still not sure why I thought I'd have a chance at a race, but I went anyway. We did two laps and there were only two other girls in my class. One girl left us in the dust midway through the first lap. I managed to stick with the remaining girl until about halfway through the second lap. Then we got to a bitch of a hill climb and I was like, "this sucks." Needless to say, I let up and she took off up the hill. So, I finished 3rd. Which sounds great until you add "out of 3." Brett managed to finish 2nd out of 10, which is really awesome, so we stuck around for the awards even though I didn't care ... until I got my award which was $40 in a pint glass! My entry fee was $35, so even though I sucked, I still made $5! Bonus!

Last night a bunch of us went to a Bela Fleck show. Normally I'm not a big fan of the banjo, but this guy makes the banjo kick ass. The rest of his band can jam too. I wouldn't say it was the best show I've been to, but I felt like it was worth the price of admission.

Other than that, my time at home has been pretty uneventful. I've been sleeping, reading, and working here and there. I've had to box up a whole bunch of bikes, make some long phone calls, and write an ass-load of e-mails. Speaking of e-mails ... I forgot what is probably the most exciting news of the last three weeks. After one particularly frustrating day with my computer, I finally decided to pull the trigger and order a MacBook. I am SO over this Windows bullshit.

That's really all I've got for you right now. I need to get back to the shit load of stuff I have to get done before I leave for Interbike on Saturday.

I'm out.

I get by ...

With a little help from my friends.

So I've been home for almost a week now, and I have to say, it's REALLY nice to not have to be on my feet all day. Hotter'n Hell was really fun, but exhausting. I ran into a bunch of Arkansas peeps who used to be customers at the bike shop, so that was pretty neat. I also got to hang out with my pals Mimi and Jeff, who are always really great about feeding me, housing me, and giving me delicious beers whenever I'm in Texas. Or New Orleans.

Speaking of good friends, I completely forgot to mention the Fossens (Heath and Heidi) in my last post. These are some first-rate people who always take good care of me when I'm in Madison. After 10 days, staying in a hotel and eating the same food every day was really getting old. So when Heidi sent me a text message saying she was cooking, I bolted right over there. As soon as I walked in the door, Heidi poured me a glass of wine. I did some laundry, chilled on the couch, and then ate some hella good lasagna. Then I drank more wine and sat around some more. And I didn't talk about bicycles one bit. It was fabulous ... until I had to make an appearance at work. But it was a much-needed break and I did manage to make it back over there several more times. It's always a nice time checking into the Hotel Fossen.

I also got to hang out with Maggie, who is the funniest female I know. She's probably the third funniest person I know in general. We're going to have a talk show together someday and it's going to be fucking hilarious. So imagine how delighted I was to discover one morning that Maggie was going to be working the demo with us. I have to say, it really made the day much more enjoyable. As you can see from the photo, we were made to be friends with each other:


So, I got to see the Fossens and I got to see Maggie, but what was really awesome was kickin' it with all of them AT THE SAME TIME! On what I think might have been my only night off, we all went to eat tacos and drink beers. It was a magnificent time and as I sit here and tell you about it, I start to miss Madison. I mean, really, look how happy we were:

I didn't get to see Andrea, except for about five minutes. We just couldn't make our schedules work out. She's all busy getting ready for an Ironman and stuff, but maybe next time I come to Madison, she'll be all busy having fun instead of training.

So anyway, I'm home for a much-needed break now. I'm not actually off work, I'm just doing work from home. Although I plan to have a couple completely work-free days next week. I'll be doing a lot of this: And also a lot of this:
Yes, that's my (sort of) new sweet ass kayak. I'm planning on spending quite a few early mornings out on the lake catching the shit out of some bass. Fish fear me. And those chicks ... they are fantastic people who put up with my shit on a regular basis. Especially Helen and Teena. Teena is the one I always go to when I want to whine about something. And Helen ... well, I live with Helen ... that alone says enough.

Since this post seems to be mostly about friends, it would be wrong of me not to mention DANGER! She is the best dog EVER. She's been living with my parents since I'm never home, and I miss her all the time. So, I took a little detour through Oklahoma City on my way home from Texas to pick her up. Pictures really do no justice, so I've posted these videos for your veiwing pleasure:

That's Danger and Brett. Brett wins the prize for the funniest person I know.

Danger is still recovering from ACL surgery, so I wouldn't let her go on a walk with Helen and Gracie. She was pretty upset about it:



Alright. I'm gonna go pet Danger some more and then go to bed. I'm out.