Lunch time quick hit

One of the things I plan to get back in the habit of is a daily or almost daily blog entry. There will be some changes and I hope more photos like my old blogging used to be. I think a bunch of plain old text is boring too.

It has been another wet day. Not so much rain though it is predicted 70% t-storms tonight but it's just wet and heavy out. The girls have their walk/run class tonight so if it's too wet to ride then I'm making myself get on the trainer and ride while they are at their class.

I also have an appt tomorrow for a what I call "regroup" session with a coach. Ever since the River 2 River ride I have had this weird mental thing going on. I need to get past it and get back to being the rider I was. We will be talking about training times and plans, diet, stress and life in general.

I have decided that as much as I want to do an ACH ride I will pass this year. There is a ride that benefits the hospital on May 3rd and it's the north central Arkansas tour of wine country. I love this logo for them.

Yep, there really is a wine country in Arkansas. Post Familie is one of the big ones.

Well back to work....

Life is good!

Geo.

Oh wow...really?

Oh wow...has it really been since March 10th since I blogged? Sorry y'all.

Let's see... a summary... It has rained and flooded and just as the poor folks start to get out of the flood waters guess what? It's been raining most of the day. I plan to have tunes and indoor cycling later today.

Spring break was this week and Terri and Em headed off to Dallas for a girly shopping trip. They asked me to go but they only did it to be nice. They knew I wouldn't go to Dallas on a chick shopping trip. Shop all day long? Not me pal! They got home Tuesday night and boy was I glad! I was bored and lonely. I would never make a good single person. I love my home and down time but I'm sort of like our dog... I need to be near something else that breathes. HA!

And get this, our dog sleeps on Emmys bed and I tried to get her to sleep on our bed while the girls were gone but oh no, she stayed a few minutes then would jump down and go to Em's bed. One night I laughed when she jumped down and she got back up there. My first thought was when I used to have to lay down with the kids when they were little to get them to go to sleep. I think Sayde was doing the same with me. "Ok, I think he's asleep. I'll leave the room now." "Awww, no he's not asleep yet." HA! I used to hang half way off the bed when trying to sneak out when Em was little. Picture one of those movies where the red laser beams are guarding something. I think that was what was on Em's floor. If I dared touch the floor she would scoot closer. HA!

So the girls get home and Wednesday Terri was washing a load of clothes and then next think they know the back of the house is flooded! Something under the washer (gasket or something) broke and all the water came out. We had the carpet pulled up and drying and got lucky that it dried quickly and didn't mold or stink!

We headed down to Benton today to see my nephew who has a church in Fresno, CA preach. He was good. It didn't hit me until we were at my parents that I didn't even get to say howdy. They had a pot luck afterwards so he really had to stay. The rest of the family lucked out and my mom cooked a huge lunch. Oh my gosh! It was soooo good! There is a guy at my parents church who is a Youth pastor I think and he is a riot! His name is Jimmy and my mom calls him "Smiling Jimmy".

Another observation was that we (family) had the back two rows on one side and everyone who came by hugged my mom. I'm not joking...everyone. I could ony smile seeing the love they show her. I got to see several old friends (Hey LaNell!!). It's always funny when I see the number of hits on my blog and I'm always wondering who all these folks are. I would have never guessed long time friend LaNell was one of them. Her and her husband Roy are a hoot! Always keep us cracking up when we lived there. I got to see Brenda and Phil who seriously raised me in my teen years. They were the house where a lot of the youth hung out. I could tell them anything and if it wasn't right, Momma Brenda would let me know about it. Don't get me wrong, my home life was great. There were some great memories flooding back!

CI stuff: I had heard that folks who wear CI's and hearing aids soon come to realize that the hearing aid is more to balance sound out and that before long the hearing aid is just noise and you rely on your CI. That seems to be becoming the case with me. It seems the hearing aid is just noise. I have spazzed out a couple of times when I didn't have my CI extra battery and the CI would go out. It's crazy!

I bought a new book yesterday called Branding Faith. by Phil Cooke It's a book about marketing and church. So far I'm loving it. To my religious readers... It's not branding God but your church. So many folks think Church of Christ are boring. Not ours! We have an awesome pastor, a couple of song leaders that can rock the rafters a couple of pro's in the sound booth and then I use my creative gift on the graphics but even though my slides and videos are plastered up on the screen, I prefer to use say I just help tell the story, not entertain... even though I've come close to the edge. Hey, we have a generation coming in that needs visual to hold their attention. It's here so either you get it or you don't. Most seem to be getting it.

I know this was a long post... I had to catch you up.

Life is good!
Geo.

What happened at the demo stays at the demo...

Shawdawg and the new Tricross bike he picked up at the demo.

Oh, so Jenn does not know about this yet? Ooops...my bad!

Ironman and Ironmaiden looking on in complete shock that Shawdawg

picked up a high end bike without telling his wife (Shawkitty).

JMar

I'll have to get a photo of his bike... sharpest bike in town!

One of the time trial bikes at the Specialized demo.

After Friday's snow we had a good melt down on Saturday and Sunday afternoon we were smiled upon with temps in the mid 50's and lots of sun. Everyone came out to play! I lucked out and spotted the Carti training ride coming towards me and whipped around and chased 'em down and then played sissy and tucked in and rode in the back of the group with no headwind! I stayed with them to the regroup point and got to see a lot of folks I've missed since last summer. Many were the core group of the folks I started riding with a few years ago. Man, it was great seeing everyone. Even talked to Dr. Brent for a few. This guy knows how to dress for riding. Looking sharp as a tack! Meant to get a photo but was having too much fun listening to all the bike talk. Yep, you heard me right...LISTENING! I heard all the conversations going on and it was just too awesome for me.

On the way back to the start point we stopped at the Specialized demo trailer. Oh sweet jelly beans! After eyeing some of those bikes I needed to sit back and light a smoke! HA! Richard (bike shop owner) had the nerve to ask me to trade up. HA! Man, I'm still in the honeymoon stage with my bike. But I tell ya, I'm getting rid of the seat. Hate the thing! I rarely had problems with rubbing spots with my Allez seat but this has a couple of material patches and it seems to have caused me grief since day one.

This afternoon (Monday) I got over to the boat ramp and rode a down and back solo. Very quite out there. I was smart enough to take the tunes but man, I've got to get some new ones. Sometimes I wonder to myself why I would have downloaded some of the cheesy songs I do. HA!

(Note to Ironmaiden: remember our conversation about me being domestic this summer... forget the yard, I'm riding! Buh ha ha ha!)

Everyone keeps asking (trust me, they really do) about what big ride I'm planning for the year. I have a wild idea and it would be easy to pull it off... real easy but do I really have time to do the fundraising part again? I sort of got sandbagged last year with it and sort of thought about putting together a list and just send it out... just do it. There are so many things these days that folks are being hit up for donations. All are good projects and causes but you just can't give to them all. But in the back of my mind I'm wanting to do something for the Audiology group at Children's again this year. I almost feel like I h.a.v.e to because they have changed my life! Serious there are days I just stand in awe for the things I hear and I wouldn't have gotten to do that without them. Patti, Jordan, Krista, Steve, Mary Martha, Brenda, Dr. D, Dr. Bower and even Anna (she gave me a pre-cochlear implant test that I'm still going to therapy over! HA!). These wonderful folks are the best in their field and changing peoples life is just something they do everyday. The whole Audio/Speech team over there is like that.

Fast Girls Slow Guys has a 6pm ride tomorrow night. Can't wait! Two groups... the racers and the fat kids like me. Yep, I'll take the camera!

Oh and by the way... if you look and paid attention, Shawdawg really did "pick up a tricross bike", but bless his heart, that's all he did. Just picked it up... not buy it. I kind of wondered if Jen (his wife) even finished reading this blog or if she ran out to the garage yelling, "Chreee-us!!!"

Life is good... I mean r.e.a.l.l.y good!

Ok the "event" was a little later than forecasted

NOOOO, not the flowers!

Well we went to work like any other Friday and you talking about a sour mood among the coworkers! Then folks started talking about the weather again and how they are saing it's regrouoing for a snowstorm. Sure enough about 11 the snow really started coming down and by 12:45 Terri and I were heading home. I expected a gridlock traffic jam but I think for once we were smart and got ahead of it. The roads really didn't look that bad at the hospital but the closer we got to home the whiter the roads became.

More photos and stuff later...

A non-event

Can you believe this? It's like waking up with no toys under the Christmas tree! It's too warm (36 degrees) and the snow that is coming down is melting. I had put the chains on the Explorer and everything.

Bummer.... but life is still good!!!

Hit me again...

ANOTHER snow storm heading this way and they say it's a BIG one. Using words like 4 to 8 inches. I can log on from home!

Picture me sitting in boxer shorts with peace-frogs all over them, big bunny house shoes, a worn out robe ... no never mind... don't picture that! HA!!!

Watch for snow storm photos tomorrow....

Aww crap... I had a CI moment and it was a really good one but I forgot what it was...

You woke up to what?!!!

Yep folks, it was summer on Sunday and winter on Tuesday. We had a nice pretty heavy snow fall but it was the good kind where here in central Arkansas we were able to go on about our business day. About an hour north of here (the same places the tornados hit) they got 12 inches!

Most was gone here about noon or so.

Emily got the tummy flu and it's nasty! Ohhhh does that mean I can drive her hot rod to work tomorrow? Can I please! HA!

Sunday marks the return of daylight savings and he forecast is in the mid to upper 60's next week! Oh yeah baby! Countdown to those Tuesday/Thursday rides with friends.

I am still hearing new sounds! I was sitting on the patio in our new chairs and I could hear something pat pat pat pat and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was so like all the other times I had to get up and walk around until I figured it out and it was someone out for a run. Ok, I'm blown away that I could hear that. I still think it's funny to hear Terri and Emily in the den talking when I'm at the other end of the house. Fun to sit still and turn the CI up and listen in! Like the fly on the wall sort of thing. Yes, girls, I know more than you give me credit for... much more! HA!

Life is good!!!

What's been up???

I've been sort of busy lately. The Little Rockers Kids Marathon is over now so I can breath. We had a great time and the weather was perfect this weekend!

But yes, I have been riding my bike as you can see below as I was the "rabbit" the kids chased in the marathon.

This kid never went under 9mph for the mile they run.

Check the shirt

"Are you kid enough?"

It was for the kids... what can I say? HA!