House Rented!

Thanks for the interest!

HOUSE FOR RENT!

Hey everybody-

Cozy 2 bedroom house for rent in NE Minneapolis comes with a comfy 3-season porch out front, hardwood floors throughout. Space in the clean and bright basement for ski-waxing, bike storage, etc. with washer and dryer to boot. It's essentially the definition of charming -- quiet neighborhood, situated up on a hill with space out back for bbq or one of those free-standing fire-pit thingers. There is also a park, a coffee shop and a general store within a couple blocks.

Rent is $1000/mo and utilities generally work out to about $150/mo over a 12mo avg.

Looking for renter(s) to move in a 'Juneish' time frame but there is flexibility on the dates.

contact: rkarbon@qbp.com

Pictures:

Happy days are here again!

So, the holidays are now over. Today was the start of a regular five day work week and it just feels wrong. It's been a only a few weeks since I had to string that many work days together and I feel completely out of practice. I will probably survive. Barely.

New years resolutions you ask? Hmmm. To be Nice(er). I know, I know, I can hear you now, "Bec, you ARE nice"... Well there is always room for improvement. Um, let's see what else.. Ah, hmm, well, mmmm, I suppose I should have thought more about ths post before I started typing.

I am listening to some music from a local musician right now. Her name is Tina and she doesn't really play around here anymore, but when she did is was great. "there ain't no place for a woman like me, my hands are dirty, but my soul is clean".. That's how I feel today, in the new year. I suppose it could be worse.

Here's to you Tina!

Motor City

Is it strange to be working selling bicycle parts in a city nicknamed Motor City? Not so much. This picture of Detroit, this is not the Detroit I know, but I'd like to see it like that. I see urban and the grit,grit,grittiness. I like gritty, but this is a hard working, not a lot of pay for that hard working, grit. It's tired. It's beat down gritty. Detroit is a don't-mess-with-me kind of grit. And I don't. I only observe and keep moving and flash my Kiss Army card in times danger. It keeps me safe.

Heading over to Lansing tomorrow. Will post pics of my journey this week. A photo journal, if you will. Stay tuned.

california and back (home) again

I am back home now. Home being defined at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

January will mark my 16th year of living here. Sometimes when I think about that I am amazed at how fast time has gone. I was young when I moved here (20 years old) and I struggled a lot. My folks didn't really think it was a good idea to relocate here and I did what any regular 20 year old does and didn't listen to them and pushed ahead with what I wanted. I packed my rusty old Dodge Omni, my cat, and drove in a snowstorm to an apartment I found in the newspaper, that was occupied with my new roomates, whom I had never met. My dad followed me with a minivan with the rest of my belongings and what should have taken us 6 hours to drive, took us nearly 10 with the bad weather. When we did arrive (at around 9 pm) no one was around to help me move into my third story apartment that did not have an elevator. For the next two hours, I would pass my father either going up with a load of boxes and me going back down the stairs to grab another load, and the dozens of times we passed each other on the stairs, he was sure not miss one opportunity to tell me what a stupid idea it was to move to Minnesota. I remember struggling a lot with that and the only way I got through it was that I knew he'd be gone in the morning and I just needed to get to tomorrow and I'd be on my own.

We finished unpacking the vehicals and he went to stay at a local hotel and I went to bed. The next morning he came by and he met my roommates (the ones I had met only hours earlier) and before he left he opened his wallet and gave me a handful of cash and said if I changed my mind and wanted to come home to just call him and he'd come back to get me. I remember thinking 'not even if my life depends on it."

I remember that night so clearly that if feels like yesterday. And here I sit all these years later and wonder how I did make it. I worked a ton of crappy jobs, worked my way through college that took me seven (yes seven, and no I am not a doctor)years. I never lived in a dorm or went to a frat party. I worked mostly fulltime and went to school at night and took out a SHIT TON-- I repeat A SHIT TON of student loans to make my existence work here.

A few years ago I looked into moving to a new place. Maybe somewhere near some mountains or an ocean. I decided against it for a number of reasons. None of which I will tell you today.

And this is where it all ties into the photo above. In the photo I am with my soon to be sister-in-law.. or as I would rather just call her my sister. That's Sue Ped and we are in the place she calls home, San Diego. A lovely place that I can't ever imagine living. It's so expensive, it's crowded, it's so differnt from where I live... I caught myself as I was thinking all of those things and wondered if I had some of my parents in me in how they didn't support me when I needed to move on and away. I realized that I don't have to worry about where Sue chose to live or whether or not it would work for me, because it doesn't have to. It's where she wants to be and all I should do is love her and be excited about the fact that she is in nice place in the country that I can hop on a plane to go visit and feel the warm sun on my skin before I head back to snowy Minnesota. She is happy and living in sunny California, complete with a family that consists of three small kids, who will all learn how to surf and have already been rock climbing and none of them are over the age of five.

I suspect, as I look at that picture, that Sue and I have some things in common and those are things I should think about, not whether or not it's a good idea to live where she lives. Or whether or not it is right or wrong because really, it's neither.

Pre Thanksgiving Post Thanksgiving

This is a picture of me on Nov 26th, the day before Thanksgiving.



This is now me only two days later. The day after T-Day. Oh what can happen in only two days.

Since I am posting, this needs to be said... OBAMA!

I feel so proud. I am actually looking forward to the next 4 years. Maybe even the next 8! OBAMA!

If this blog fell in the forest...

Smithers asked if this blog actually exists and I suppose it does. It's something I used to write on from time to time, but mostly it was around to help raise awareness about MS. I don't think many people check in anymore since my big bike rides are all done, but if you do check in and you helped me raise TONS of money for the MS Society over the past few years I'd like to say thank you.

I am getting married this July. My fiance and I are trying to figure out our living situation and my job keeps me incredibly busy. I am happy mostly, but wish I could work less and enjoy life a little bit more. I don't see my friends as much as I'd like and I could always exercise more.... couldn't we all??!?!?

So, here I sit on a Sunday evening at 9:11p.m. and feel the weight of Monday bearing down already. I think I'll sign off here for now and go do some reading.

Thanks for reading and I'll see if I can find a picture to post to make this more entertaining :)

Who is THE GERMAN?

Sorry to everyone who might not know who that man is in the picture below. The German is, in fact, Jan Ulrich. Mr. Ulrich is the 1997 Tour De France winner. He is also younger than me. Barely. I looked it up and he was born in December of 1973. I was born in March of 1973. Barely, but still younger. I only point it out because he looks older. Jan is also an Olympic gold medal winner in the sport of cycling. He also has placed 2nd in the Tour for a handful of years. He is an amazing cyclist. Even if he did dope. He's never admitted to it, but has been accused. To me it doesn't matter. He's still an amazing athlete and I am a fan. Not a as much of a fan as my friend Derrick, (who is a SUPER fan) but a fan nonetheless. So, there you have it. That is the German and I met him. And he said 5 words to me. "Hello, My name is Jan" I already knew that, but that's ok. I can say for certian that it was Jan because he told me so. :)

And for the record, for all of you serious cyclists out there who do or have watched the tour, Jan is not fat. At all.

The German

 

EuroBike

Hi Everyone,
Mike and I are at Eurobike and I have some great photos to post later today! Stay tuned!

Reb

Senior and Junior Van Waes

This is Sean and his youngest son Maurice. We call him Mini Me.



 

leaving Belgium

We are leaving Belgium and heading to Germany today. More to come! Enjoy the photo of Dr. Van Was and Mini Me :)

Love
Reb and Mike

It's monday already?!?!

Ok, so we haven't been very good at updating this blog. Mostly it's been lack of time. The ride ended on Friday and we are currently in Antwerp, a great little city in Belgium. We are here one more night and then we drive up to Germany. I have some more pictures posted below. We've had a good trip so far and we've had a lot of unexpected situations fall upon us, which include but is not limited to, missing a train connection in Paris, Mike misplacing his passport as we went through security (but he found it), stomach flu, biking 10K through a construction zone on a major highway, one of our riding participants crashing on the descent of the Col'd Aubisque and breaking his collar bone, and having an atm machine in Amsterdam take my cash card from me (thankfully I am traveling with my sugar daddy).

All of those above were the challenges we faced (good lord and we still have a week to go), but here are some of the awesome things we encountered. The city of San Sebastian in Spain. I cannot do justice by describing its beauty, so I will post more pictures. We've had amazing food, an entire week of sunshine and warm weather. We've laughed with friends and rode about 350 miles in 6 days. There is MUCH more, but without further chatter, I will post some pictures for now and update it again later. Thanks to everyone who sent in their attempts to win a prize by identifying the museum. You will all get a little something from me when I return!

As I end this post I am sitting in the living room of the home of Sean and Marie (friends of Mike's). It is about 10a.m. and Mike is still sleeping upstairs. He is the one who got some sort of stomach bug and was sick all of last night. He is better this morning and I cannot tell you how lucky I feel that we weren't traveling or on a train, or taking a taxi when he got sick.

It's only Monday and I am looking forward to seeing Germany tomorrow!

More soon!

Love
Reb

Mike taking photo of Sander

Ok, so Mike had the camera most of the time...

This is a picture of him and my friend Sander climbing and this is near the top.

 

lunch break

 

lunch stop Sander, Mel and Mike

 

almost to the top!

 

Sheep Crossing!

 

20K climb to the top!

 

Climbing the Col D'Aubisque

 

 

video

 

Truck getting help from local farmer

So, if you sroll down you will see a photo that is labled, van stuck in ditch. We'll the photo doesn't show it but the driver side tire is actually up in the air. I am trying to attach a video here of a local farmer pulling the truck out with a tractor.


 

Can you name this famous museum in Bilbao?

If you identify this, I will bring you back a present!


 

Mike holding my purse in Bilbao

 

Tuesday night

So, it's late. We are headed to bed because tomorrow the real riding begins. We actually are climbing the Col D'Aubisque. It will be hard.

I will have a full report tomorrow.

Actually the next three days are going to be tough riding, but I guess that's really why we are here.

It's been a nice trip and it's good to travel with friends and practice my French.

More soon.

Love,
Reb and Mike

van stuck in ditch

 

Tuesday!

Hello all, or at least hello to maybe the one person who might actually be reading this. We've had spotty internet service and the when it wasn't spotty it was not free and if it's not free Mike won't use it... so today is free and not spotty :)

We don't have a lot of time right now as we are heading out to ride very shortly.

A quick update is the riding has been good and the weather warm. We are leaving the town of Dax tonight and headed to Pau, where we will stay for two nights. Tomorrow, Thursday and Friday are the days in the mountains.

We'll have more time tonight to post and show more pictures. I'll attach a few now. The first night in San Sebastian was amazing. It's a place where everyone should try and see once. I'll post a few pics from there as well.

It's hard to believe that this bike ride in only part of the adventure. Next week (or I should say, on Saturday) we pack up and take a train up to Belgium. Everything is so exciting!

Love to you all and more updated tonight!

Reb and Mike

For Immediate Release

This is my announcement that I am coming out of retirement for one more go-around with Karbonation.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the MS Society. Together we raised over $8000! I am proud to know all of you and I wish you all could be coming with me and Mike on this bike ride. I am hoping to update this while we travel the next two weeks as a way of bringing you along!

Thanks again and stay tuned!

Love,
Reb

Retired

I've made my million off this blog, so it's time to hang it up and spend that time with the grandkids. They get big so quick.

Now, go on...get outta here. Shut the computer off. Life is short.

Love,
Rebecca

He just wants more time

Man given 1 year to live wins million-dollar lottery

Associated Press
Last update: February 01, 2007 – 9:55 AM

NAPLES, N.Y. — In December, Wayne Schenk was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. A month later, he was a millionaire. The 50-year-old tavern owner from Naples, New York, won a million dollars in a New York state lottery scratch-off game. But the Marine Corps veteran doesn't expect to be around to collect all his winnings. To do that, he would have to live 20 years. His doctors have given him a year to live, at most. Under lottery rules for the High Stakes Blackjack game he won on January 12, the jackpot winner receives the cash in annual installments over 20 years. That's $50,000 before taxes. Schenk picked up his first payment last week -- $34,000 after taxes. Other than a hunting trip to Alaska, Schenk says he doesn't want to buy anything fancy with his winnings. He says he just wants more time

Jonathan Page

I met Jonathan Page at the Rhode Island National Cross Championships in November. I was very excited to hear about his finish today in Belgium. My friend Franky works for him and I know this a big day for both of them. I am sure that meeting me is part of the reason he had a tremendous day at Worlds. Second place! That's a spectacular finish for an American in the sport and very exciting news overall. Here is an interview with Page from VeloNews.

The Decider - Redux

I am really really ready for this guy's term to be over!

This is how much time is left. How can you not love google when you can find things like this on there?

Happy Weekend!

Fun in Belgium!

Check out the fun here!

Repost

A friend of mine lost his father on Sunday. He was 65 and too young, in my opinion, to have died. I was at the visitation today and hugged my friend and talked to various others there who stopped in to offer support and love during this sad occasion. People try really hard to celebrate someones life at a memorial and I can appreciate that. I hope people will laugh and enjoy each others company if/when there is a visitation for me. I suppose my friend's dad wouldn't have wanted any of us to to feel sad, but it's hard not to. You miss people when they are gone. It's hard to feel anything else. So today I feel like posting this story again below. I am not a religious person so this hits home for me and I hope you all appreciate it.


Your Soul
by
Hollis Gillespie
My mother, besides being a missile scientist and a minor kleptomaniac, was also an atheist, which might explain why, when I was seven years old, I had a crush on Satan. Not that I knew who he was, mind you, I just based everything on a picture I saw in the Children's Bible, which I had gotten my hands on at a friend’s house. In it Satan was this handsome man with hair as black as octopus ink styled like Lyle Wagoner's.

When my mother came home from work that day I told her I wanted to marry Satan when I grew up. She looked at me gravely, then said, "Kid, whatever you do, don't get married."
My affections for Satan soon fizzled on their own, as my mother had figured. Then came a very brief period during which she allowed my two sisters and me to go to church. I suppose she thought it was a good way to get us out of the house for a day. A church bus came by and collected us along with the rest of the neighborhood kids every Sunday. During the service, I always approached the podium when the preacher called forth sinners from the audience who wanted their souls saved.

One day a lady usher stopped me in the aisle as I made my weekly pilgrimage. "You were saved last week, sweetie, and the week before that,"
she said, leading me back to my seat, ". . . and the week before that."
"But it doesn’t take," I protested.

The preacher called home to complain about my behavior, and it was this that prompted my mother to call a stop to church. The bus still pulled up outside our apartment building every Sunday and honked, but my mother waved it away. I worried that I would go to hell, but my mother brushed it off.

"What bigger hell is there than a heaven full of people like that?" my mother asked, indicating the departing bus with her lit Salem cigarette.
"And your soul, by the way, is fine."

My mother never wavered from her stand on religion. She would throw herself between her children and any aggressively approaching street prophets during family outings along the esplanade. "Stay back!" she'd hiss, stopping them in their tracks, their propaganda moistening in their palms, and they stayed back. Instead of the afterlife, she believed in the *only* life, as in, "This is the only life you get, don't wreck it." She died young. Her life considerably less wrecked than it could have been. Before the cancer caused her to lapse into a coma, she told me her biggest regret in life.

When she was a little girl, she wrote "bicycle" on her Christmas list, knowing her parents could not afford to buy her one. Christmas came and went with no bicycle, but still she continued to write "bicycle" at the end of her mother's grocery list every week for months. "I wish I hadn't done that," she said with soft penitence, her eyes round and sad. And that was it, there was no other moment of looming regret, no fearful doubts about her stand on religion. There was just this one sweet repentance, and then she was unconscious.

I suppose I should have prayed then, but I didn't know how, so in the end I simply lay down next to her on the bed and stroked her hair. "I love you, Mom," I said. "And your soul, by the way, is fine."

Happy New Year!

Boston

We ate


We drank (jeff, john and piper)


We raced bikes


We saw Franky.

Huh?

(Franky is my friend from Belgium. I traveled with him two years ago in Europe. He was in Rhode Island for the National Cross Championships. Someone should have told me to take off my goofy hat )

Improvements

A friend (whom I affectionately refer to as Mama) recently saw this picture of me and instructed me to post this on my blog. Being that I live by certain rules and one of them being to do what Mama says I have posted it for your viewing pleasure.

The title of today's entry is Improvements because I think I have improved the way I do my hair from those big hair days. I think that picture is from 1989. Who knows maybe in another 20 years I'll look at photos from today and think "good lord, what was I thinking?!!" I'll wonder why my pants sat so low on my hips. How I ever thought big heeled boots looked good. I am not normally a slave to fashion as I try to stay lost in the mix a bit and blend in amongst the commoners as to not cause too much of a stir with my wild good looks and amazing personality. ;)

Lately this blog has been all serious and today it is about lightening it up a bit. And I don't feel like blogging anymore. Actually, right before Mama suggested that I post this picture to the blog, I thought about deleting the entire blog itself. This is how my mind works. Complete swings. I am not good at living in the gray. Sometimes I get caught up in the "it is or it isn't" mind set and I don't allow a lot of room for error. So today I am giving it yet another try of staying in the gray of uncertainty. If you have read my blog in the past you will know this is something I am constantly trying to work on. So anyway, that is all to say that Karbonation lives on yet another day.

Happy Monday.

Case #68056404

Decision:
The Appeal Committee has maintained Medica's denial of Ms. _insert my full name here_ request to waive the 20% coinsurance up to a maximum of $200 per refill, for her prescription of Betaseron.

Rational:
1. The Appeals Committee had determined that the change in prescription benefits that took place on July 1, 2006 was clearly outlined in the Certificate of Coverage, BPL#75295, Section G Specialty Prescription Drugs. Formulary specialty prescription drugs, such as Betaseron, are to be received from a designated specialty drug pharmacy and the member is responsible for a 20 percent coinsurance up to a maximum of $200 per prescription unit or refill.

2. The Appeals Committee understood that the benefit change has posed an economic hardship for _insert my full name here_. Unfortunately the Appeal Committee cannot change or amend the Certificate of Coverage.
--------

I love this. So under bullet number one because the change was CLEARLY outlined is suppose to mean something. To me now it's clearly outlined and is also clearly an example of bad policy.

The second bullet point is priceless. I love how they state it's "understood that the benefit change had posed an economic hardship"... they should have finished that sentence with "but we really don't care and we are lame"

What I find most interesting is that I had my appeal on Tuesday and on Wednesday I posted about it on my blog and today when I checked my site meter it showed up that someone from Medica actually read my blog. I am curious what that is all about. Maybe whoever from Medica has read this blog would care to comment?

Medica

My health insurance Medica has made a change in my policy. They placed my MS medicine on a list that they call a "Specialty Med List" and are now telling me I have to start paying $200 a month for my MS medicine that I have always paid (for the past four years) $11 a month for. I had a super fun meeting today with four Medica employees regarding this. Today was my "appeal". I was in the super fun meeting with the panel for 6 minutes. SIX! How much can you really accomplish in that time? Well, I'll tell you. Within that time I told them that I would appreciate it greatly if they would so kindly go back to doing what they always have been doing for the past four years. One woman looked at me and said "well you know this is in your insurance certificate of coverage" And I stated to her that yes, in fact, I was aware that this change it is now in my certificate of coverage and that I was also aware that this appeal is probably one of those rubber stamp deals where they all shake their heads, say they are sorry, but really there is nothing they can do to help me and then promptly deny my appeal. I told them that the problem I have is that Medica just made a change. Someone higher up at Medica decided that my medicine should now be put on a Specialty Med List and therefore I now have to pay $200 a month. Just like that. An arbitrary decision in which I believe another arbitrary decision could be made to (are you ready for this) CHANGE IT BACK! (I know, I know it's a mind blowing concept.)

I've been trying for the past few weeks to make some sense of this. You know to find the greater meaning in it all, because mostly it just feels like I am getting screwed with my pants on.

MS has changed my life and honestly in some pretty good ways. I never want to be thought of as a victim or disadvantaged because truly everyone has something. Everyone has their own personal battles in life, so I don't necessarily want to be looked upon as poor little Becky. Ever. But I would like some consideration from my insurance company that I am --in fact-- a human being and that it would be nice if they could start treating those whom they are in business to serve a little bit better. I find out on Friday if Medica will allow me to go back to the way things were. I am not holding my breath.

I was thinking about my super fun meeting there today before I met with the panel as I sat in the lobby of this insurance giant and looked around at the deep mahogany walls and the sparkling marble floors. I noted the lavish decorations that have been put in place for the holiday season. Dozens of poinsettia's, wreaths of garland tangled with ribbons and glitter. I looked at the thick glass top desk that housed two well dressed, perky girls who cheerfully greeted the folks as they entered the grand waiting area. I tried hard to think and figure out where I fit into this place. What was I really here to accomplish? I know that I've been worked into the actuaries equation. They know exactly how much I will cost them if I fight this change in policy. I've been reduced down to a number that will help them meet a better bottom line. They have figured out that my complaining, my requests for their time for an appeal, that it is still less expensive in the long run to make this policy change. They have probably figured that I'll just stop taking the medicine (which I currently have) and already in two months it's saved them $4000. This drags on longer and next month they will save another $2000. Someone is going to get a new boat at Medica for Christmas at my expense. Meanwhile, I sit and wonder if my MS will hold steady without the medicine. I gamble with my future because of Medica. I don't have an extra $200 a month to pay for the medicine. I just don't. I don't live extravagantly. I am the thrift store queen. I work hard and give back in the line of work I choose to do. A co-worker once said that a civil society is one that takes care of it's people. And I couldn't agree more. I still believe that and work towards that with the employment I choose, but I am beginning to see how those choices are probably making my life harder. I still don't know if I would choose another way. Sell my soul to work for Best Buy? Sure, but only if it's in their corporate giving department.

Today at the end of the super fun six minute meeting I made one last comment. I told the panel that I understood part of the problem they are faced with is making an exception for just me. I understood that they couldn't really do that just for me and I wanted them to know that I couldn't agree more. I want the policy changed back for everyone who's taking MS medicine. I want the "specialty med list" to go away. That this isn't a fight for me alone. That's what I realized today of the role I probably have. Our lives are always bigger than our own imagined personal discomforts. Medica's actuaries actually have made an error in assuming I was the ordinary, or average. I'll make more noise about this, even if I don't want to.. and I don't honestly. I don't want to show my vulnerable side to the world all the time, but in the words of a very special person, sometimes to win a fight you have to start a fight. Healthcare shouldn't be for the privileged and mostly it already is. I'll fight this fight with Medica and I might lose, but it won't be because I gave up or in. So that's why I post this here today. It's about pushing aside the idea that my privacy is more important.

In the past two months I've spoken with the Attorney Generals office, the Department of Health, the Department of Commerce, and just yesterday the Minnesota Disability Law office. I've talked to my executive director of my organization, my doctors, the pharmaceutical company that makes my medicine, my co-workers, my friends, my family, and now the general public by posting this here. I need to step outside what makes me feel uncomfortable and push harder at this already tender spot. I won't tell you that I haven't cried about this. It does make me feel sad and I think that is normal, but that shouldn't stop me from moving forward with what I think is right.

Spanks

I don't have enough space here to say all the things I have in my life to be thankful for. I bike commuted into work today and it was really hard. Round trip it's about 30 miles and about 14 times today on my ride in I wanted to not be riding in. So, doing the math on that it was nearly every mile I felt less than stellar. Every mile I tried to give myself a break and remind myself that it was the first day back, in the cold, and I should go easier on myself. My body and fitness felt ok, but I couldn't adjust to the cool weather and I had a little bit of a headwind, but I persevered and felt happy (at the end) that I stayed with it. I know the route well and I know all the places I could have picked up the bus, or called my brother and just called the whole thing off, but sometimes you just have to push through the uncomfortableness of it all. I wasn't miserable; I was just not feeling it today. I have the return trip yet tonight and hopefully I have enough lights to make my way safely.

What I did like about today was that I forgot I was on a bike. I realized I've moved to an entirely different level of comfort with my bike. My feet clip in and out of the pedals without much thought of doing so. I can be stretched out on that bike for an hour or so and not feel any soreness of sitting in the saddle or having no ache in my lower back or any burn in my quads. The uncomfortable part came only from my mind and sometimes that is the most difficult to push away. Your body can send you signals that it wants to quit and those signals are hard to deny. One can usual figure out pretty quick if the physical pain is serious or just an annoyance that won't do any harm if you keep going, however, when the mind gets derailed it's almost impossible (for me) to get back on track. Today I had to continuously refocus and remind myself that my body wasn't hurting, that I was just uncomfortable, and that it wouldn't last forever. That it was only an hour. That I should smile. That I should look around. That I should be thankful.

I arrived at work and I was tired, but I was happy. It made me realize the effort that I had made and that I worked and that I tried, even when I didn't want to. It made me even more thankful that my body still works for me and that the MS is still cutting me some slack. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for those who surround me and love me, even with all my imperfections.

Have a safe holiday to those of you reading this.

Two weeks?

This is one of my favorite pics. Me (in blue with white helmet) talking to the locals in San Gimignano, Italy. Oh I miss being there...



Biking in the warm Tuscan sun. How come Piper and I look like we are suffering and my friend Pete is just smiling?

I haven't ridden my bike at all this week. Or this past weekend. Actually this past Sunday marked a week since I'd been in the saddle. And before that it was almost 2 weeks. I miss it.

I've been running more as the weather gets colder and trying to maintain some fitness that way, but I am having a hard time dressing in full winter gear getting out on my bike. I am not sure why as I normally don't mind the cold and actually do better in the cold than in the heat in regards to exercise. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that it's dark when I find I can ride these days and darkness makes it feel colder.

So, I'm a wuss.

No more I say! I am resolving here, right now, that starting next Monday (the 20th) to get back out there and just toughen myself up for winter. Acclimate, if you will. I will start being thankful and stop whining. Also I plan to stuff myself on Thanksgiving (I love all that food ) so I should probably start burning some of those calories now.

I miss this guy

A friend of mine yesterday (whom happens to be a Republican) accused me of voting strictly along party lines. Saying that I only vote on the side with the person who has DFL behind his or her name. I mostly agreed at first, but then realized that isn't entirely true. I support Jim Ramstad and he's a Republican, and I agonized about voting for Hatch. I wanted to vote for Hutchison, but when it came down to it, it was a race against Pawlenty and I wanted him gone. While Hatch wasn't my first choice he still out ranked Pawlenty and I had to throw my vote where it had the most pull. Instant Run-Off Voting will help with this problem in the future and maybe, just maybe we'll get someone back like Paul Wellstone, but probably not. He was a rare and special individual who was so important. I think for certain he'd want us to keep the good fight up. He's missed so much most days, but his absence seems so much more prominent during times like this, for the obvious reasons. The democrats won back the House in this election and I don't know if that means anything will change. Time will show us all. I'm convinced that it's not about doing it "better than the Republicans", but more the idea that we can just do better, period. Wellstone said it best. "We all do better when we all do better."