Happiness is riding a bicycle

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."- Ernest Hemingway

This has been an incredible weekend, and I honestly feel happy. Not that "yeah I've having a good day" type of happy, but actual happiness. It all started with a trip up to Yellow Springs to get some breakfast with my friend at the Sunrise Cafe. Though I frequent the ' Springs often, I realized that I usually only eat pizza and ice cream when I go up there. To say that my breakfast was delicious would be an understatement. Everything was cooked from scratch with organic, local products, and you can definitely tell that it's different from the usual "oatmeal from a box" that I eat for breakfast each morning. I will definitely have to make it up there for breakfast again! It was also great to get a chance to hang out with someone I've been fortunate enough to meet at my favorite coffee shop in town. You can't beat great food, an awesome atmosphere, and wonderful company. After breakfast I got a chance to find out some secret spots in Y.S. that I didn't know about before, and have some interesting conversations. I love getting to learn about other people, you can learn so much from other people that you may never learn otherwise.

Saturday was another awesome day that included an awesome bike ride to get tea. Why I had never biked to get my tea before, I don't know, but I think I'm going to try to do it more often. It was great riding down there, got a chance to start re-reading Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (I forgot how awesome that book is), and of course enjoy some delicious tea. When I travel places, even when its a shorter ride such as my ride to get tea, I feel empowered by what I was able to do (even if its only a total of 20 miles), and it makes me happy. After I showered, I decided to treat myself to a wonderful dinner of BBQ and Virgil's rootbeer (aka the best rootbeer in the world). I also stopped back at the coffee shop on the way to get my food to say goodbye to my friend who is leaving for South Africa for a trip (and pick up a drink for my friend). Saturday was filled with spending time with great people. I truly am blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, and I hope that they know how much I appreciate having them around.

Now we get to Sunday, which has been a day of reflection (and working on homework). Though I spent the first part of the day being lazy at home, I ended up heading to the coffee shop to work on some homework. I managed to get some of it done, but I will probably be spending a good portion of the evening working on the rest. After doing some homework, I came home, and picked up my bike and rode out to a park in Kettering to do some more reading (for pleasure, not homework). The ride was fun, though the way to the park included a very big hill (which I slowly, but steadily climbed up), and hanging out at the park, cooling off with my feet  in the water, and just reading and relaxing was very nice. I've also heard from some friends from the trip, which always makes me happy.

This has been an incredible weekend, and I think its going to help me get through the long week of classes I have ahead. Not only do I have the class that I've been going to for a while now, I am also starting another class this week. I'll be commuting about 45 minutes- an hour from Monday through Thursday this week. My Tuesday Thursday class is three and a half hours long, and I'm not sure how it's going to go yet. I just keep reminding myself that taking these classes now will lead me to graduation in May. Less than a year to go! The finish line is just ahead, but I have to climb a big hill to get there.

On this day in B2SB'10 History

Day 6
North Hampton to Pittsfield

Ride to Pittsfield:

• Hilly/Mountains for 40 mile ride
• Started at ~100 ft. elevation, maxed at around 2000 ft. 
• 40 mph downhill
• Tough ride, but did pretty well
• Learned to lube chain
• "donation magic" dinner
• MA Dance Party! 
• Last day in Mass., tomorrow NY! 
• Stayed in interesting church
• Town fairly boring, not much around. 
• Tomorrow sweep with Steve

Miles Rode: 40

Sleeping in: Chapel

Cue Sheet

Furry Friends

Well hello there! 

Inside of Church we stayed at in Pittsfield. 

On This Day in B2SB'10 History (for June 23rd)

Day 6- (June 23rd)

Fitchburg to North Hampton

Bike to North Hampton: 

• Pancake breakfast
• Stop for Ice Cream
• Very frustrating ride until lunch break, though Brandt and Kristine (sweep) were very encouraging. 
• Great view at lunch and during ride. 
• Lots of major hills, slow climb better than frustration with trying to push too hard. 
• staying in awesome church that Rev. Jonathan Edwards preached at. 
• Great dinner at Ali's house (former B2SB leader)
• Good info from Ali (painful, but worth it!)
• 2 more days until next build day
• Gigantic slice of pizza
• nice talk with Susan outside. 

Miles Biked: ~60

Sleeping In: Chapel

Cue Sheet

Break at the Park

Of course we stopped for Ice Cream

Gorgeous view for lunch

Largest slice of pizza I've ever eaten... and it was delicious! 

On This Day in B2SB'10 History (for June 22nd)

Day 5- June 22nd

Ride from Andover to Fitchburg

Bike to Fitchburg: 

• Lots of hills and valleys (some tougher than others)
• Stopped at woods for a few.
• Made pit stop at park for photos
• Rode a lot with Susan and Anne
• Saw Puppet Theater
• UPS Truck Parade
• Neal Anderson- former teacher- talked about science of "bonking" (not enough glucose for your brain), religious affiliation of early Presidents (Unitarian Universalism), and everything else. 
• Celebrated Kelsey's birthday. 
• Candlestick Bowling. 

Miles Biked: ~45 + detours

Sleeping In: Sanctuary

Cue Sheet

Hanging out at Groton Woods

The Puppet Theater! 

Apparently Red Riding Hood was the performance that day

Agreed. Sign outside of church we stayed at in Fitchburg. 

On This Day in B2SB'10 History (for June 21st)

Day 4- June 21st

Build Day: Andover

First Build Day: 

• Built with Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity at old convent that is being turned into a 10 family space. 
• Demo galore! Took down plaster and wood for 2 rooms. Covered in plaster but we did a lot of work overall and really helped the group out. 
• Long, cold shower (I was covered in plaster)
• went back to Webbers for Thanksgiving dinner, literally. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. 
• Talked as a large group with family about why we are doing Bike & Build, and about Chris. 
• Ate cake
• came back to Pike to chill and get ready to ride tomorrow! 

Miles Rode: ~ 0

Sleeping in: Library

Group Outside of the building we were going to work on that day. 

We did that. There used to be old drywall and tiles. 

No more old drywall. 

On This Day in B2SB'10 History (for June 20th)

Well... I am already behind on this... but I am going to catch it all up.

Day 3: Boston to Andover, MA
June 20th

First Official Ride Day!

• Dipped our tires in the Atlantic at the beach. 
• Headed out for a short 24 mile ride to Andover. 
• Ride turned into about 30 mile ride with lots of hills. (got very, very lost)
• Slightly frustrating ride, but made it through. 
• Got to Pike School (K-9). Best school ever! 
• Showered, played with parachute, kickball, Bball, and watched Brasil vs. Ivory Coast in World Cup Soccer in huge theater. 
• Went to Chris Webber's parents house, and had the best food yet! Great time filled with lots of games! I think we have an awesome group... things are looking good. 

Miles Traveled: ~30

Slept In Library

1st Official Cue Sheet! 

Group at the Wheel Dip Ceremony (Photo Credit- Michael George)

Parachute! (Photo Credit- Michael George)

One of the First Group Sing-a-longs (Photo Credit- Michael George)

On This in B2SB'10 History- Shakedown Ride

Entry for today:

Boston
Day 2
June 19th, 2010

More orientation stuff:
- got to have our first breakfast together
- learned new bike maintenance tricks, though I still need practice
- learned bike safety stuff
- went bike shopping after few missed turns in a hot van
- got new tires on the bike
- sleeping in the chapel of the church, interesting
- Also, had awesome shakedown ride to Deer Island and Water Treatment Plant. Absolutely gorgeous!
The Big Day is Tomorrow!

Miles Traveled: ~10.4
Slept in Chapel of church

Group Photo near the Water Treatment Plant. 

On this day in B2SB'10 History

Today is the one year anniversary of the beginning of my Bike & Build trip last summer. As a way to somewhat relive the magic, I've decided to post a recap of what I wrote in my journal (which I usually just did bullet points to make it easier) for that day, as well as the cue sheet for the day. It's a really happy, yet sad, day today, because though I'm excited that today is our anniversary, I wish I was spending it with the group... and preparing to start the trip all over. Anyhoo... happiness abounds in the rest of this post. ENJOY!

First Day of Orientation:

- Meet and greet, lots of ice breakers

- Fun game of "Cowboy, Princess, Spoon" (mingle, mingle, "cowboy"= one person plays horse, other plays cowboy, "princess"= one person jumps into the arms of another, "spoon" = 3 people on the ground spooning).

- Also played game of "HA" that turned into lots of loud crazy noises and some fake vomit sounds.

         -Big circle- one person starts, points arms at other person and two people next to point arms at                

         center person. This will probably be a popular game this summer.

- Dinner was good- Spaghetti and cupcakes... can't beat that.

- Overall, everyone seems great! Lots of different personalities with lots of different stories. Summer looks like it shall be FANTASTIC!

- No riding today, tomorrow is shakedown

Chalking for Christina Genco

As any Bike & Builder knows, sidewalk chalk is just as important as a well tuned bicycle and chamois cream when you are on the road. Though we had cue sheets for each ride day, we would use chalk to mark turns, reroute riders if there is a change in the cue sheet (BBRRWAWA- that's for any B2SB'10ers who may read this), and also leave messages to fellow riders to help keep them going on the long ride. In a way to truly show our appreciation and love for Christina Genco, the Bike & Build rider from SC2SC'11 that passed away while on the road this summer, the Bike & Build community came together and created a memorial in the best way we know how: sidewalk chalk drawings. Not only did members from other trips that are currently on the road chalk for Christina, but Bike & Build alumni from all around the world also participated. We are truly a family, and we share our love from different parts of this wonderful world. I'm posting a link to the facebook page that has the photos of the chalk drawings done for Christina, because I think it is a great way to remember an incredible person. Christina shall live on in the lives of all those who she touched during her time on this Earth, and all of Bike & Build shall ride on for her. B&B lives loves rides for Christina.

Link to photos: Chalk Memorial for Christina Photos

Great Article about Christina Genco

Another Bike & Builder from my route posted this article on Facebook, and I wanted to share it with everyone who reads this blog. I really enjoyed hearing more about Christina's life, and how much she was loved by her family and friends. Though I never met her, she sounds like a truly incredible person, and I know she has touched the lives of many. Please check out the article, and share it with others. Thanks!

Here is the link:
Life Well-Lived

More Information About Christina Genco

Information about the memorial service for Christina Genco has been posted on the Bike & Build site as well as on their Facebook page. I'm hoping that by passing along this information, people who would like to celebrate her life and all the things she accomplished during her time here on this Earth will find a way to make it to the service or will donate to one of the funds that are being set up in her honor. Though I never had the chance to meet Christina, I still feel a connection to her because of Bike & Build. She may no longer be in this world, but I know her spirit will live on in all the lives that she has touched. Here are links to more information:

Information about Services and Donating to Fund

Jeremy Story's account of Christina's Last Day

Please continue to keep Christina's family, friends, and the Bike & Build family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you!

Bicyclists Want Greater Protection From Drivers

This article was posted on the Bike & Build Facebook page, and apparently the organization discussed in the article had a scheduled meeting to discuss this issue the same day as Christina Genco's accident. I thought I would share the article with everyone, to hopefully encourage people to keep this discussion going. Here is the link to the article: Bicyclists Want Greater Protection From Drivers.

Also, I encourage everyone to be aware of the laws in your state involving cyclists and sharing the roadways. You can find a wealth of information from the League of American Bicyclists website: State Bike Laws Center. I can't emphasize enough that people need to be safe on the roadways. Be aware of those around you, and be smart about what you are doing! Whether you are driving or cycling, make sure that you are smart about what you are doing, and SHARE THE ROADS!

B&B Lives Loves Rides- RIP Christina Genco

Today has been filled with mixed emotions, and it's only 1pm. Last night I found out that a rider on SC2SC'11 passed away after being hit by a car while on the road. Though I did not know her personally, Bike & Build is a giant family, and we all feel a connection with each other no matter if we've met or not. Since I've heard the news, I have had it on my mind, and members from my group are finding ways to send our love to the riders on that trip to show that we are thinking about them during this time. The news of this accident reminded me of last summer when we found out about another Bike & Build rider named Paige who was in an accident and passed away. When you ride on your bike, you realize that it is dangerous to be sharing the roads with drivers, but you don't really think that an accident could happen until it does happen. After Paige's accident, members of another group sent out bracelets for the riders to wear in her honor, and I haven't taken that bracelet off since I got it in Arizona last summer. It's hard to think that now 2 members of the Bike & Build family have passed away while participating in the trip, but I know that they will remain in my thoughts and in the thoughts of other members of the Bike & Build family. For information about the accident involving Christina Genco's accident, please visit Bike & Build's webpage, or follow this link: Information about Christina Genco's Accident. Please keep her family, friends, and the members of Bike & Build in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time, and I'll be posting information about how people can help once that becomes available.

In some sort of cosmic fate or who knows what, I came to Boston Stoker today, and I met a man named George who had actually participated in a ride from Cincinnati to North Dakota. Though I had never met him before, we started chatting, and we got on the topic of riding bicycles (because I tend to sway topics in that direction probably). When I found out about his ride, which he did on a tandem with a friend, I was immediately intrigued and excited to meet someone else who had accomplished something of that nature. Apparently he was able to make it his honors thesis project, and used the experience for writing, photography, etc. to support his thesis. I find it really neat to be able to share stories with other people who have accomplished similar things as to what I did on Bike & Build. We are able to automatically build this connection as cyclists, and it's also interesting to hear how their experiences were compared to my own.

Even in times of great sorrow for the passing of a Bike & Builder, I am able to see the love that unites us all. My family in B2SB'10 has come together to help those who are on the road right now for Bike & Build, and we continue to share our love even after we have completed our journey. Though I don't think I'll truly ever understand how much Bike & Build has changed me as a person, and how incredible the feat of cycling across the country really is, I do know that I am truly grateful for my new Bike & Build family and all the love they bring into my life. They are truly some of the greatest people I have ever been fortunate enough to meet, and I'm constantly inspired by all the great things they do for others.

B&B Lives Loves Rides. RIP Christina Genco.

Wheels- Fields on Fire

 For those of you who aren't located in Southwest Ohio, you may not have had heard of this wonderful young band out of Yellow Springs, OH named Wheels. These fellows have created a folksy sound reminiscent of The Avett Brothers, and their debut album "Fields on Fire" is out now. I was instantly hooked to their music when I heard one of their songs on WYSO's (the local NPR station based out of Yellow Springs) indie rock show Kaleidoscope. The lovely harmony on the vocals, the stand-up bass, and fantastic mandolin playing, it had all the makings of a great sound. The next morning, I was lucky enough to catch their live performance on another WYSO music show before I headed into class, and after hearing their live cover of an Avett Brothers song, I was ready to buy their cd. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't make it out to their cd release party (though it was ok, because I was in CT), I went up to Yellow Springs this weekend and picked it up from Toxic Beauty Records. Usually when I buy a new cd, I listen to it once or twice, and then switch it out for something else. I haven't done that with this album, it has been fantastic music to listen to and sing along with as I drive around with the windows down to enjoy the nice summer air. Though most people who check out this blog probably aren't from Yellow Springs, or anywhere near there to drive and pick up the album, I highly suggest checking out their facebook page and purchasing a copy of the album. You will not be disappointed. The well crafted lyrics will draw you in, and before you know it you'll be singing along as you listen to it. Check out their facebook page here: Wheels Facebook Page, and then head over to their website to purchase the album: Wheels Website.

Here is a live video of Wheels performing "Sticks & Stones" from their album live at Newport in Columbus:

Enjoy!

El Chupacabra esta en Yellow Springs!

Ok... so it probably wasn't El Chupacabra, but I have never seen bones like this while out hiking. It was kind of creepy... partly because I'm not sure what the animal was... and partly because I'm kind of afraid of what ate the animal since the bones were a decent size. I also found a wounded butterfly on the path and moved it to a safer spots so it didn't get trampled by some unsuspecting hiker who wasn't looking down while walking along the path. Needless to say, it was an interesting hike at John Bryan today. It had been a while since I've hiked there, but it was pretty relaxing. It's still as beautiful as ever, but there were a ton of downed trees probably from all the crazy weather we've had recently. Anyhoo... below are some photos of "El Chupacabra" and my butterfly friend. If you know what kind of animal the bones probably came from, let me know, because I am curious. The photos aren't great, but I'm posting them with hopes of finding out what it is. Thanks!

CT Reunion Recap Part Deux: Shovin' It Down Their Throats!

As promised, I shall continue to describe the wonderful CT Reunion happenings from last weekend. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the previous blog, but one of the fun activities from Friday evening was making signs for our fundraising for Joplin plan. Now, we are a pretty creative group of individuals, and we have a ton of fundraising experience since each of us had to fundraise $4,000 in order to participate in Bike & Build. Though we had a variety of ideas of ways to fundraise while we were in CT, we ended up taking signs out to a street corner in the town that Adam's parents live in, and fundraising that way. I'll get to that in Part Tres of the Reunion recap, but I would just like to mention how hilarious people can be when they are trying to think of creative ideas while sleepy from traveling all day. Let's just say there aren't many words that rhyme with Joplin, and that makes clever slogans hard to come by.

Onto Saturday! We all eventually woke up after a nice nights sleep on various floor locations in the apartment. A group of people made the group a lovely breakfast of pancakes (traditional and chocolate chip variety), bacon, and fruit. Allison and her awesome boyfriend Charlie came in from Boston, and though we all kept telling ourselves that we would finally get up and leave, we decided that we should first watch a show involving rival gangs of monkeys called "Street Monkeys" that was narrated by the one and only Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame. The show was hilarious to say the least, and the special commentary we added made it all that much more delightful. After watching an episode of that, we finally decided to head to Hartford for old timey baseball.

If you've never seen old school baseball games, I highly suggest checking it out. Essentially there are baseball games setup where the teams play with the rules from the early days of baseball (no gloves, no helmets, etc.) and they even wear the old types of uniforms. The actual rules of the game are different than modern times, but we were lucky enough to meet one of the players who explained things to us. It was great to see them play, and then we managed to get some photos with one of the teams. At one point, one of the players from a team who was about to play asked us if we would be interested in actually playing. I could barely contain my excitement about being able to do this, but after we started pondering who would play what position, we found out that we couldn't do it due to waivers and insurance reasons. It was quite a bummer, but I understood why they said that. Some of the group had gone out for a run earlier in the day, and they met up with us at the park later in the day. Since we didn't get a chance to play 1860s rules baseball, we decided to play ultimate frisbee.

At this point, we had managed to make a new friend named Adam. Apparently he was going to be a part of our baseball team, but since that didn't work out, he came and played ultimate frisbee with us. Though a lot of us had never played this before (including me), it turned out to be a pretty competitive game. My team got ahead by two scores (I have no idea how the scoring works in Ultimate Frisbee, so instead of saying 2 runs, 2 goals, or 2 touchdowns which would make me sound like I'm not sure what sport I was actually participating in, I'll stick with the scores), and we were about to throw off to the other team to start things back up. The other team stopped for a second to have a group huddle to plan their strategy, so my team decided to do the same though we really had no strategy to discuss. We pondered the idea of throwing the frisbee down the field, and then doing miniature tanks down the field just to confuse them/ be funny. Then someone suggested that we should hold off on that idea so we could score some more points and make sure we didn't lose the game. One of my teammates, who shall remain nameless, said with a very confident bravado "Let's shove it down their throats!", and then we broke up the huddle to start the game back up. After a few tosses, we ended up getting the frisbee back in our possession, and the person who said what would become one of the quotes of the weekend got the frisbee and tried to throw it down the field to a teammate. Well... he ended up "shoving it down their throats" because he hit Adam (our new friend who is not a Bike & Builder) who was on the other team and got him square in the nose. Though it looked like a nasty hit, Adam appeared to be alright, minus the bruise on the bridge of his nose, and we decided that it might be a smart idea to stop playing Ultimate Frisbee for the day.

After all the excitement of old time baseball, ultimate frisbee, and almost breaking a stranger's nose on accident, we decided to get some lunch at a local Hartford brewery. Adam ended up coming out to lunch with us, and we all got a chance to eat some really delicious food, and talk and have fun. It was cool to get to know Adam, and I think he enjoyed hearing about how we all know each other from Bike & Build. After we ate our delicious food, we departed from Adam and Hartford, and a group of us went to the bike shop to visit our Adam at work. In true B2SB '10 fashion, we decided to organize a cheer for Adam that we would shout when we went into his shop. Luckily no customers were in the shop when we did it, otherwise they would have probably been very confused. When we came into the shop, we did our special cheer for Adam, and somehow he wasn't completely embarrassed by our obnoxious entrance, but we got a chance to see all the cool things he has at his shop. There were some really awesome bikes at the shop, and some folks tried out the unicycle to see if they could do it. I think we are all going to need some practice before we decide to do Bike & Build: Unicycle Edition, but people really had fun checking out the shop.

We had to figure out dinner plans after all the excitement of the day, and we decided to relive one of our favorite meals from Bike & Build, TACO NIGHT! With the help of Kelsey and the "dinner crew", we had a wonderful feast full of tacos, fruit salad, chips and queso, and other gloriousness. This was the beginning of what would be a wild and wonderful evening!

In CT Reunion Recap Part Tres: Rubik's Cube Party- Teeth or Toes, I'll fill you all in on one of the greatest party ideas I've ever heard of/ participated in. If you are thinking about having a big shindig in the future, the next part of this recap will help you prepare for what could be the greatest party ever!

Hooray Bikes!

Today I decided to throw on the spandex and go for a nice bike ride to celebrate not having class or having a ton of homework to work on this weekend. Though I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go (like always), I ended up heading north on the bike path and ended up going to Sinclair Park and then bike. I decided to make a few pit stops along the way just to relax and enjoy the scenery so I hung out at Riverscape for a bit and also closed my eyes for a few while laying on the wonderful grass at Carrillon Park. As any Bike & Builder knows, it is important to find good grass for napping when you bike, thus I decided to make the pit stop. Of course the bells started to ring right as I closed my eyes, so I didn't get a nap in, but the grass was delightful none the less. Overall I got in a nice 30 mile ride, and I hope that I'll get to ride some more this weekend. I have been slacking on the whole physical activity thing lately, so it will be nice to get back in the swing of things. Tonight I'm not sure what I'll end up doing. Of course a stop for tea will be in order at some point, but I'm not sure if I'm going to check out the festivities for First Fridays or not. We shall see.

CT Reunion: Return of the Rowdie

And now to get onto the greatest thing since I've posted last... the CT Bike & Build Reunion! To say that I needed this to happen would not really give a clear idea of how much I missed my Bike & Build family. I haven't had the chance to go to a B&B reunion since New Years, and that is too long to not see my family. After a few flights involving sitting next to multiple crying babies and minor delays, I arrived in Hartford, and was greeted by my favorite sweet tea drinker Suso (aka Susan). It was so nice to see her, and of course I gave her a big hug immediately when we saw each other. Though I hadn't seen her since January, it was like no time had passed, we immediately jumped right into talking about things and laughing. We hung out at the airport for a bit until Adam was able to come pick us up and take us back to his apartment. Again, it was great to see Adam, who I hadn't seen since the Bike & Build Thanksgiving reunion. The excitement of seeing more and more B&Bers made my jet lagged body feel reinvigorated, and I knew it was just the beginning of an incredible weekend. Once we got back to his place, I was greeted with even more B&B love, as I saw Max and MG who had already been hanging out in Hartford, and Kate and Mack had just rolled in from their journey via bicycle from Boston to Adam's place in CT. Apparently their ride was a lot tougher than they were expecting, but like true B&Bers, they kept on pedaling and made the whole hilly, hot, and horrendous 97 mile trek without giving up. Brava Kate and Mack! Anyhoo... we all hung out that evening, had a nice cookout of burgers and hot dogs, and waited for the rest of the folks who were coming in to arrive. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my good friend Gillian (who didn't announce to the group that she was coming) walk through the door with the group who drove up from the DC. We managed to get 15 people of the 32 into Hartford, and some of these folks I hadn't seen since we landed in Santa Barbara! It was like an amazing family reunion... except these people were actually happy to see each other and were not forced into going because other family members were guilting them into coming! Now... because this blog post will get incredibly long (too late), I'm going to finish up the recap of the CT reunion in my next blog post. If you thought that all of the excitement has already happened, we aren't even close to reach the maximum excitement level from the trip. We still have Rubik's cubes, Ultimate Frisbee, Jumpin' for Joplin, and of course Flip 'n Slip to discuss along with other exciting things to come! Keep your eyes peeled for CT Reunion Recap Part Deux: Shovin' It Down Their Throats!

Recap on Life

I honestly have no idea what my last real blog post was about, so I'm not sure where I should start off this wonderful new blog post to catch folks up on the goings on of my life. I've decided I'm going to arbitrarily pick a point within the last month and go from there. So... since May 15th-ish... my life has been crazy busy. I have started back up at Miami (well... their more affordable branch campuses), and I am glad to be back. My professor right now is the wonderfully delightful Mike H, who I was fortunate enough to have a few of his classes back in the day. Though he is an art professor, he is teaching my first class for the BIS (Bachelors of Integrative Studies) degree, and it is actually going really well. I've always enjoyed his teaching style, and we actually get to do things that require some creativity, so I can finally kick start the right side of my brain after a year and a half of being focused on Bio and science courses. I'm kind of worried that the whole "if you don't use it, you'll lose it" principle has taken its effect on my creative side, but hopefully there is still an inkling of creativity left in this ol' brain to save me.

While I've been going to MU for summer classes, I have also been finishing up the spring quarter at WSU. Since I have classes at MU in West Chester on Monday and Wednesday evening and on Tuesday and Thursday at WSU in the morning, I always wonder if I'm going to get confused and head in the wrong direction on I-75 while trying to get to class. Luckily I haven't made that mistake, and I think I am done with WSU now, so I will have one less thing to worry about. The final in my Bio class is optional, so if I did decently well in the class without the final, I'm not going to go on Tuesday. I took my last exam in there this morning and did alright, so I think I should be good. It will be nice to not have to commute there twice a week and to West Chester another two days. I actually enjoy traveling and driving, but the commute has been kind of crazy and I'll appreciate not having to pay for gas as often. This will also give me more time to ride bikes. Andre and I have not been spending enough time together... so it will be nice to rekindle my relationship with him... though he is a bit worn down and needs to fixing up so he doesn't give up on me.

Speaking of riding bikes... I purchased a new book today called Major and it's the story of Major Taylor who had an amazing cycling career in the late 1800s and early 1900s... though not many people know about it. I honestly only know of his name, because there is a cycling group in Dayton named after him. As I'm starting to read his story, I'm learning a lot about him and it's pretty interesting stuff. If you are interested in cycling, you might want to check out the book. Major: A Black Athlete, A White Era, and the Fight to be the World's Fastest Human Being.

So... that's what has been going on in my life... except for the greatest thing to since New Years in Chicago... but that will be posted in the next blog. It's so great that it will require multiple posts to recap. Prepare yourself!