Should I do it?

Should I revive my blog? I became really lazy with the invention of Facebook. Instead of going on and on about my crazy life I began finding clever ways to condense my current state of mind into a single sentence. But, sometimes I might like the option to expound. We'll see. . .

WTF?

This sign is a good warning to people that try to ride without a front wheel. Your fork will get caught in a perfectly square hole and you will endo, especially if you're wearing your strap on turtle shell.

Bear Lake Road Race

Why can't more races be like this one? Instead we have a ton of races with lots of climbs and strung out fields. I guess I should move somewhere flatter?

The race was fun and remarkably no one went down despite the constant battle for second wheel. The first flat 20 miles were pretty uneventful. There were a few short lived attacks from Ski Utah and two even shorter attempts at a paceline. As we neared the rollers the "other Stephanie" (not THE pirate hooker ICE Stephanie) went to the front and set a hard pace. I kept up with her and attacked on the hill. This managed to break our field from 20 down to 10. Unfortunately, I lost all of my teammates and a few good allies in the effort.

The Other Stephanie continued to keep working her way back up to the front and was very content to pull and even resisted offers to take a break- that woman is an animal! ICE Stephanie launched attack after attack on the downhills. I covered each one but everytime I caught her she'd slow down and the rest of the field would catch us. This continued throughout the rollers. Other Stephanie pulls, ICE Stephanie attacks and I chased.

As we headed toward the finish the pace slowed and I had a feeling that ICE Stephanie was going to give my last year's early break and solo finish a try. Sure enough, when the turn was in sight she took off. I once again chased but couldn't hold on. Finally another girl took up the chase and soon I was caught by the pack. With nothing left I gave a meager attempt to sprint but gave up when I realized I had been passed by all 9 women in our pack.

So I'm not too happy with my placing. In hinsight I realized I should have hung back and waited for someone else to go after ICE Stephanie and saved myself for a better sprint finish. But overall I am happy with my racing. I managed to stay up front all day, pull a few hard attacks and chased down several attacks by a kid half my age. The bright side is that ICE Stephanie will likely upgrade and instead of working us over she'll be getting worked over.

5 Mile Pass

I have this great teammate that is always willing to work and sacrifice in road races for everyone else. I've seen her launch attacks and set up her teammates for the win. She's awesome! So when she wanted to mix it up and do some mountain bike racing this year I was happy to support her and give it a go. She's super tough on a mountain bike and so even though this was her first race she bypassed the beginner category and went straight for Sport. I've done a few mountain bike races and I am usually a bottom feeder in the beginner category so I happily stayed in the beginner category.

Due to the rain they shortened the loops and delayed the race. I was happy with my hard push up the hill. On the way down I did my usual and try to stay out of the way of the fast guys that were lapping me. (Thank you to everyone that tells me you're coming and which side. If you don't tell me then don't expect me to even try to stay out of your way. And if you buzz by me without a warning only to crash right in front of me don't expect sympathy.) Despite some stupid tip overs in the mud and some walking with my bike I managed to hang onto second. Kara did awesome! She finished 5th in the sport class on her heavy, old Gary Fisher.

Since yesterday's workout wasn't the physical blow out I expected I'm hoping to get in some miles today on the road bike. So far I am unmotivated to ride in the rain again. Aaaaaagh! Crazy weather!

Never dull

As I stood outside the hospital in the sunshine, cursing the weatherman for saying it was going to rain, crabby because I chose to leave my bike home, I saw the man. He was staggering down B Street propelled forward by the combination of slope and gravity. When he reached the bus stop sign he reached out, grabbed the pole and stopped his forward momentum. He swayed, lurched once, and somehow managed to land on his back on the lawn. I left my post at the bus stop across the street, knowing that as soon as I left my ride home would come. I crossed the street and hovered above the man and asked if he were okay.
“Are you an angel?” he asked me, he was laying face up, his arms outstretched, fly wide open.
I told him no and again asked if he was okay. “Are you trying to get to the hospital? Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?”
“I want to go see my friends. I can’t see your eyes.” He replied. It was then that I realized I might have had a bit of an otherworldly glow with the sun behind me shining through my blonde hair. He told me his friends were at the Veterans’ Memorial and he just wanted to be with his buddies.
I was at a loss for words. I wasn’t an angel and I couldn’t take him to see his friends. I helped him find his feet and told him that bus 11 would take him to the Veterans’ Memorial to see his friends. He was likely drunk and I probably should have called the police to pick him up for public intoxication but I just didn’t have the heart. The man thought I was an angel after all.

A little break from the norm

I spent the weekend "recovering" by officiating the collegiate race. Holly failed to mention that the prerequisite for collegiate races is that they are only held in really crappy weather conditions. This weekend more than filled that requirement. Saturday I kept warm in the rain by dancing and thinking about how happy I was that I wasn't racing EC. Thankfully, a good friend let me thaw out in her hottub last night so I was ready to spend today freezing again but this time with a little snow added into the mix.

Despite the cold, the races were great and I had a lot of fun. It was a nice weekend with a little excitement thrown in for good measure. Now I can return to my regularly scheduled program of working and working out.

Love it

Check out the new tabloid blog under cool links. Can it really count for a tabloid though if it tells the truth? Looks like Women's Cat 4 racing even got some notice, not that racing with a potty mouth is anything to be proud of. I'm looking forward to the update tomorrow after EC.

I'm baaack

Yes, I know. I've been a huge blog slacker. Much has changed in my life since my last post. Mostly I've just spent my time becoming queen of Word Challenge on Spacebook instead of rambling on about things here.

Since my last post I've changed jobs, classes and have lost 20 lbs. All good stuff. I love my job! The work is interesting and I have no employees. No one has complained to me about what their coworkers are not doing, I haven't had to call a plumber or clean up blood droplets left in the waiting room. It is fantastic! There have been a few challenges from people that think I'm trying to make their lives difficult by making sure we're compliant, but overall things are good.

Another thing to like aobut my job is the commute. Work pays for my bus pass so between the bike and bus I rarely have to drive anymore. The bus takes longer than riding my bike but the entertainment is fabulous. The bus gives me enough material for its own blog!

Despite a plethera of bus anecdotes, plan on the usual bike racing adventure stories. So far I've done one race this season (not counting the solo riding I did in Vegas.)I raced Hell of the North. I whined and complained and threatened to keep my butt in bed but Kara was so excited that I showed up. It was freezing! I chose to ride my cross bike due to the long section of mud that each lap promised. Right off the start my brakes were dragging onto my rim and I had to stop and fix them. I watched the field ride away. Cussing and swearing I put my head down and hammered into the wet snow that was blowing sideways. To my surprise I looked up and saw I was catching someone. I hammered some more and managed to catch and drop a few more. I felt good and managed to sprint for 5th not bad for starting out dead last and with a 48 up front.

Last weekend I missed Tour of the Depot for a rainy weekend in Colorado with Backcountry.com. This weekend I'll be missing East Canyon to officiate the collegiate race, I can't say I'm sad about that! I am looking forward to the downtown crit in a few weeks.

Random Thoughts

I was just thinking how things change. When I was a kid it was such a treat to go to McDonalds. Usually it was too expensive for us to get Happy Meals so we just had to go with a burger. I thought how when I had kids I'd have enough money to buy them Happy Meals. My kids got plenty of Happy Meals growing up- probably too many. Now they love it when I actually take the time to cook. It is a treat for them if I take time to prepare a meal and we stay at home and eat it together. I guess it is one of those "be careful what you wish for things".

Happy New Year!!

I'm finding that I'm moving very slowly today. No, I'm not hung over. I really didn't drink much at all last night. I've found over the past few years that I don't really need alcohol to give me an excuse to be uninhibited. I also don't really need the horrible hung over feeling the next day. I'm moving slowly I think because I am afraid that once I get going with my chores I will be off and running and will not slow down for quite a while. It will be full steam ahead into the new year.

Christmas was great! I think I am finally learning to manage my expectations better and am okay with change. Don't get me wrong, I still miss the days when my kids were up bright and early and would race each other down the stairs to see what Santa had brought. But, things have changed. This year on Christmas Eve my kids and I negotiated wake up times for the following day. I really wanted to be up at 5 so I could spend some quality time with them before heading off to see my nephew and nieces. They made it pretty clear that wasn't happening and settled for the still ungodly hour of 7.

At 6:45 I had already been up and had drank half a pot of coffee. I couldn't wait anymore so I knocked on their doors. Instead of the patter of little feet stumbling out of bed in their new pajamas, I was greeted by the moans of disgruntled teenagers. I waited 5 minutes before knocking again this time adding, "come see what Santa brought!" I could hear the eye rolling through their closed doors and through the covers that were likely pulled over their heads. I finally threatened to leave them and go in search of children that actually wanted presents when they managed to make it downstairs.

It isn't that my children are ungrateful, they just really enjoy their sleep, they always have. My kids have always slept very deeply and been near impossible to wake up. While I've always regarded sleep as a necessary evil, my kids bask in it.

Once up my kids enjoyed opening their presents. Santa brought the family Rock Band and a blender and we spent a wonderfully long weekend making smoothies and jamming out in our family room. I managed to make it out to see the little kids on Christmas Day and got to enjoy a little time playing Barbies with the girls and listening to my nephew play Jingle Bells on his new guitar. My sister and her husband looked tired by 8:30 am as they sat in their living room scattered with wrapping paper, dolls of various sizes, and horses in pastel colors.I had forgotten how exhausting Christmas is when you have little ones and had only remembered the excitement. One day they'll look back and miss those days.

A bit of contrast

I woke this morning to my HR guy calling me. Hard to believe anything could be such an emergency on not only my day off but on Christmas Eve. I guess if you bring enough drama into your life then you can make anything seem like a true emergency. The fact that I got this call while I was still in bed just confirmed the fact that I've made the right choice in leaving my current job for a new one.

My second confirmation came when I was reading Fatty's blog this morning. There is a beautiful family suffering from a horrible disease. Fatty's optimism and love for his family is in sharp contrast to the silly drama occuring at my clinic over a small sum of money.

In four weeks I will no longer manage the South Jordan clinic for Intermountain. Instead I will be working in the Office of Research. Through research and clinical trails there will hopefully come a day when cancer can be cured and families like Fatty's will be able to once again take having a healthy mom for granted.

Winter fun

Here's my little angel getting ready for her Christmas performance at the school. She danced so well and as you can see she is beautiful! I have to admit having a teenage daughter is harder than I thought it would be. Over the past few weeks I've realized how nice it was when she was little. I miss the days of knowing she is home safe and sound with me and not out there in the big scary world. Recently she fell in love for the first time. I have had to resist the urge to follow her around 24/7. But I've come to the realization that she is old enough to make her own choices, to a certain extent, and I cannot be there for every decision she'll have to make. However, if I could afford to, I think I'd hire someone to follow her around for me.



Sunday Tara and I went up Millcreek for a nice ski. I love going up there. Sometimes I complain because there are too many people and dogs, but once we get up past the elbow there are fewer people and it is peaceful and beautiful. Besides, I can't complain too much because it is so close! I can get up there, get in a good workout and be done by lunch.



Getting out in the winter is good for me! I get some good cross training in and I appreciate the winter beauty and I appreciate being able to ride my bike when I can. I'm sure that variety really is the spice of life!



Today is Christmas Eve. My house is quiet because the kids are at their dad's. I'm heading off to meet the family for some bowling action and tomorrow I'll get to spend the whole day playing with my kids. Austin gave me my present from him last night. He gave me a set of glasses. He is always teasing me because I have more water bottles than actual drinking glasses. He also made me a book. He took all of my favorite cycling pictures and some of my quotes from my blog, did some photoshop work and had them made into a book that he titled "Tour de Shanna". I love it! I also love the fact that I have such a wonderful, thoughtful kid! I'm so blessed!

Busy, busy, busy

Alisha pointed out I've been a bit MIA. Life has been crazy! That is not a complaint though. It is good. I like busy and when things get slow I manage to fill up any free time I may have. I thought I'd graduate and have lots of free time to become a TV addict. Fortunately it didn't happen. So here's what I've been up to. . .

November 11th I finished my Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration. Since then I've been applying for jobs. Funny thing, once you graduate it is time to start paying on those student loans. Fortunately, I've landed a new job! This news is so new that my employees and physicians don't even know yet. I guess I'll find out Monday if any of them read my blog. Anyway, I start my new job in the Office of Research as a clinical billing analyst at the end of January. I'm excited to learn new things and take on a new role. A bit more money is going to be nice too. I have also seen the end of my "boss" days. I will no longer have employees! Don't get me wrong, I have some great employees. It is just that the few that aren't so great suck up a bunch of time and cause plenty of headaches.

Since October I've also been on a diet. So far I'm down 15 pounds! Yeah! To answer the common question of "how are you doing it?" Well, I am burning more calories than I take in. No, there is no magic pill. I have to say no to some foods that I really want to eat, I have to stop eating when I want more and I work out HARD. Sometimes I'm hungry and sometimes I'm cranky but I'm looking good and loving it!

So with all of that big stuff I still have the usual things going on. I've been teaching my classes, playing with friends, shopping with my sisters, baking goodies with the family, watching my daughter dance and sing and helping my son with his college classes. Overall I'm living a wonderful life full of wonderful people. Right now the bikes are hung up but tomorrow I'll hit Millcreek for a good ski and enjoy the beautiful snow. I'm working on keeping a good winter attitude because sometimes I get SAD because of the dark and the cold but I have to remember cycling season is just around the corner!

Overload?

Well look at me, actually with the group. That was the most energy I had all race, it was a backwards slide for me after that. I've been doing two races a weekend for a few weekends now. Usually I feel pretty good during B flight and pretty good for about the first 2 laps of A flight. Then I bonk hard and suffer through the rest of the race. This week though I felt sluggish and miserable for all of B flight. My HR was flat and so were my legs. I'm sure it is my body's way of telling me to recover.



If it looks like I'm going in slow motion it is because I was! I swear my legs and bike were full of lead.



Oh well, it was still beautiful. As you can see from this picture, Wheeler is always amazing and even in slow motion I couldn't help but be glad to be out there in such a pretty venue.

Last week was a bit insane. Tuesday I went up to Logan to watch the Aggies basketball game with an old high school friend. It was fun but it was also the beginning of my slide into sleep deprivation and overload. Wednesday night I taught my usual two classes at the gym but my paranoia about gaining back the 12 lbs I've lost over Thanksgiving made me work extra hard. Thursday morning I was back at the gym for another two hours maintaining just below lactate.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Mom is awesome and did a wonderful job as usual. Thankfully though she did forget to let the rolls rise soon enough and they ended up being hockey pucks that the kids enjoyed throwing over the fence. I say thankfully because they are my weakness and without them I was able to not go too overboard on the calories.

Thursday evening my sisters and I browsed through the Black Friday ads to plan our attack. My anal little sister, who is also pregnant, made me call Walmart twice to ensure that we could get in the store before 5 am even though they are open 24 hours. I'm sure the lady on the phone thought I was a complete idiot. "Yes, because we are open all night you can come in the store any time!" was her trying to be nice while dealing with idiots reply.

I was in bed by 9 so I could meet my sister at 4 am at Walmart so she could get a big screen TV. At 10 I was awakened by the sound of elephants coming up the stairs. It was really only my son's friend and his size 14 feet clomping up to use the bathrom. About 12:30 I made it back to sleep. I awoke again at 3:30 to an overpowering smell of spray paint and a huge headache. I stumbled downstairs to the basement to find the walls spraypainted dayglo, 4 fans going, and a space heater going. I called Austin and scolded him for trying to blow up the house and for trying to kill his sister and I in our sleep with the fumes. I had to leave to get to Walmart so I told him he needed to get home and make sure his sister wasn't dead and to get her to a safe place if the house still smelled. (I tend to be overdramatic when sleep deprived.)

My sisters and I survived the mob at Walmart and then Kohls. I managed to almost finish my Christmas shopping. Shelley missed getting her TV but Casey managed to score the Kitchenaid after hours of pushing our sale items around the line at Kohl's. After shopping I headed home and put up the tree with Ashley. We decided to go with completely non traditional colors on our tree. The ornaments are mostly fuschia and purple and the lights are LED blue and white. From outside at night the tree looks like an alien craft has landed in our house. It is awesome! I think if we get one more strand of the LED lights you'll be able to see our tree from space.

I was in bed by 7 pm and slept straight through until 6 am, then it was time to get up and get ready to race. As previously mentioned the race didn't go so well but it was a fun day anyway. I think I'll be glad to get back to work tomorrow and get a little sitting on my rear end time.

Cyclocross State Championships

Yesterday was the State cyclocross championships at the Weber county fairgrounds. It was another dry day but very cold. My first lap flat problems continued. 16 ladies started out in B flight. I was towards the back first lap but once we hit the long gravel road and pavement stretch I started passing people. My legs felt great! I thought that if I could hold my position through the barriers and on the grass I may be able to continue to move up on the asphalt.

As we crossed the horse racing track and headed for the barriers I realized my back tire was totally flat. I dropped several F bombs and pulled out of the race. Canyon Bicycles was nice enough to loan me a wheel. I was still feeling good and wanted to race so I waited for the lead pack to come around and since I had left the race behind teammate Kara, I jumped back into the race right behind her. Her and I went back and forth for the remainder of the race. Again I would gain ground on the asphalt only to hear the women coming around me as I worked the barriers.

On the last lap I slowed letting the other ladies pass me since I really was not in contention. Stephanie and Megan fought it out for first with Megan pulling it out in the end. These ladies are awesome! Congrats to all of us for having such an awesome field of competitors this year.

After the B race I went and told the officials what had happened and got my self put into last place. Kara and I found some food, changed my flat and got warmed up for round two. I told her what great training and how fun it is to race A flight. Her and I always manage to talk each other into crazy things. . . the voice of reason as Lacey would say.

The heavy hitters showed up for Women's A flight and soon it was Kara and I off the back and duking it out for last place. Kara made it through 2 laps before blowing herself up and pulling off. I made it through the 3rd lap when I hit my wall. Fortunately, I can ride my bike completely blown, I guess I've done it enough that turning the pedals is now just instinct. However, the barriers are a different story. They were getting sloppier every lap. Getting on and off my bike seemed to be some kind of algabraic equation and I just wasn't getting the formula right. On my final lap I managed to drop my chain and struggled to get back on my bike. I couldn't figure out who raised my seat during the race. The final two barriers were maybe 20 yards apart. My brain decided that instead of the effort of getting back on my bike I should just run (okay a very slow jog) between the two. Thankfully by this time I was lapped and done!

Overall it was a great day. Lousy placement on the results but I'm hoping more for the long term result of improved fitness and higher LT going into next road season.

007 Heaven

Now that is a beautiful thing! I'm so glad Bond is back in a hot and sexy way. I was so disappointed when "Remington Steele" became Bond. He is way too pretty to be a hardened assassin. I saw Quantum of Solace on Sunday and loved it! Although Casino Royale had a better story line, I'm glad Bond is done with that mushy love stuff and is pissed and ready to rock.

Double the fun!

Yeah! Thanks to Rios I have pictures. Speaking of Rios, that girl rocks. She did her first ever cross race on Saturday. This is a big leap for a dedicated roadie that confesses to only riding on dirt 2 times previously. But she did great and I think she'll be back!



It dawned on me the other day that the road season is right around the corner. I'd really like to go back and do a lot better than the 22nd place finish at VOS that I did last year. I have also realized that I never go as hard as I do during a race. So I've decided to use cyclocross racing to get my anaerobic training in. I've also decided that 40 minutes isn't quite enough so for the rest of the season you'll see me in both A and B flight.



The B race started off with another front flat out of the gate. Nancy flatted too and after getting her flat pumped up, I pulled out the goathead and Matt and Bart pumped mine up too. Nancy flatted again but I managed to stay in the race and even catch two people.

I drank my recovery drink, went to the bank, cheered for Kris as she raced and then it was time to get warmed up again. I tooled around on the Moab and warmed up with Nancy. She decided that carrying her bike around the course for B flight wasn't as fun as racing so she was headed back out for more.

As usual the speed demon women in the A's were off the line and down the road leaving me chasing. The course was very different from the morning's race since the dirt had thawed to soft sand and mud in places. I felt pretty good for the first two laps but then I was cooked. Nancy must have been feeling the same because she got off course and was coming towards me. I made myself finish though, pushing as hard as I could. I knew I was tired though because I was making stupid bike handling mistakes but I managed to stay up and finish.

It was a beautiful day! I had lots of fun and got in two really great workouts. I also got to spend quality time with really cool, fun bike people. I can't wait to do it again next week.

Wandering aimlessly?

I've been feeling a bit lost this week. Monday was my last class at University of Phoenix. Once my grade posts I can apply for my diploma. Yeah?! I know I am supposed to be excited but really I'm feeling kind of lost. I sat down the other night and looked at a magazine then I had a nice dinner with my kids. The entire time I kept feeling this nagging, like I should be reading, or taking a test or attending class online. I'm sure I'll soon adjust to my free time but for the moment you may see me a lot on Facebook. I seem unable to pry my computer from my lap.


I'm also feeling excitement and the fear of the unknown as I now look for a new job. While my current job has got me through school with lots of flexibility, it wont be enough to pay back my student loans.


I'm also quite apprehensive about letting my daughter grow up. I know I don't really have a choice in the matter but it is still proving to be quite difficult. I envied my sister the other day when her biggest child stress was her two year old cutting her own hair. Aaaaagh, the easy days. My fears have been compounded because my gorgeous C cup daughter seems to have fallen in love. The signs of this newfound love are everywhere. She's spending more time doing her hair, spending hours with her cell phone pressed to her ear with no real conversation going on and there is the dirty jacket of his she's constantly wearing.

I'm quite proud of myself. I've resisted the temptation to call in sick to work and follow my daughter everywhere and have just resorted to compulsive calling and texting her. I just know how easy it is to see only a nice pair of legs on a bike and overlook a million red flags. (Okay the nice legs on a bike part would be my downfall, but I'm sure she has her own blinders.)

So I guess I'll do the only thing I can do. Pour myself a glass of wine, lube my chain and go attempt to race my bike tomorrow. . .

Living in the now

So I was sitting here looking at my bruised legs, some bruises a day old and some a week, and wondering why I am already looking forward to next week's cyclocross race. I'm not particularly good at it, I usually manage to hurt myself or my bike and I end up exhausted and lots of dirty clothes and bike maintenance to attend to, but still I love it.

So, aside from the fact that lots of really fun, cool people show up to race cross, I've decided that during a cross race you are forced to live in the present. You hear it all the time. . don't dwell on the past, don't obsess about the future, live for the moment. During a cross race (or any other kind of a race for that matter)everything else goes away. For 40 minutes yesterday I didn't think about my bills, my work stress, my family stress. I thought about trying to catch the person in front of me, I thought about not getting caught by the person behind me. I thought about the best way to negotiate the mud. I thought about breathing deeply and pushing harder. I truly was living in the now. I'm guessing my fellow racers were doing the same because there were lots of smiles!

Yesterday started out a bit hectic. Pre race was spent in a foggy Heber swapping out Kara's tires and adjusting her brakes. We collided hard on a warm up lap and went down on the asphalt. Kara felt so bad I think she was actually trying to catch me as I flew through the air. We were banged up but no serious damage us so we spent the next 10 minutes readjusting brakes and wheels once again. Then it was time to start.

I had a terrible start. My shorts, which are becoming a bit baggy, snagged on my saddle and I didn't get clipped in. I caught up to the bottle neck at the barriers only to get dropped on the grass. I worked hard and tried to settle into a rythm. I managed to pass a few people but then lost some of them as I bogged down in the mud. I thought the way to go was to gear down and spin through the mud. Apparently this is the way to go if you want to get the absolute most mud on your bike and tires. I finished toward the bottom of my field, mud covered but happy.

I hung out and watched the rest of the races. It got warmer and drier and the races became faster and less muddy as the day wore on. I had fun cheering for Kara's son in his first ever cross race. He did really well but is still feeling bad about the little kid that finished last. While he was racing I took Kara's other son up to the top of Mt. Heber (the giant mud/poop hill that serves as the run up). I turned around just in time to see his little head disappear over the edge. I ran over and looked down and was relieved to see him laughing happily as he rolled and slid down the muddy embankment. He was covered in mud and wanted to do it again. Sorry Kara. I forget you have to watch those little ones all the time.

I finished out the day eating yummy lasagna at Teresa's and enjoying good company and wine. Be sure to check out Two Wheel Lovin ladies for all of the racin ladies action.

Next week will be better. . . right?

I'm in the process of finishing up school. . . finally. At 38 years old I'm finally getting my BS in Health care administration. Yeah! I think. Now I'm finally qualified to do the job I've been doing for the past 6 years and I have lots of debt to pay back.

I'm in the final week of my last elective class, the psychology of personality. It is pretty interesting but to be honest I just don't care. I just want to be done already. I really wanted to email my teacher and ask him what the bare minimum of work I could do and still pass. Instead I decided to do my work and finish strong, or so I thought. I got an email from my teacher last night asking why I had not participated at all in my learning team. I thought this was weird since I had done my part of the work assigned to me in Learning Team A. Turns out I am not in Learning Team A I'm in learning team D. Great! Now I get to help on a second project. Aaaaargh! So much for skating through this class. Instead I'm doing twice the work.

So I've had all of this school drama on top of all of the work drama. I guess since I've finished employee reviews everyone has decided to worry about what everyone else is doing instead of worrying about themselves. It really reminds me of my kids. You know how it is, "she got one more piece of pizza than me waaaaaaaaaaa" and "I cleaned the bathroom last time, waaaaa". The only difference between my employees and my kids is that my employees are adults getting paid to do a job- and I can get new ones!!!

Whew! I got home tonight and was eager to slip into my sweats and cozy slippers and enjoy a little bike maintenance. As I was taking off my shoes I realized that I had been wearing two different black boots all day. It is so nice to see some weeks come to an end.