OH MY GOSH! You guys have got to see this!

Another bike ride

This one is a MTB one though. There is a state park very near to me, through which I usually ride my road bike. This time some friends asked me to join their memorial day fun! WOW, eastern trails are VERY different. Next time I'll stop to take some pictures of the "trails"...they are very rocky, rooty, and hard to see! Very technical and fun.

Spring?

Spring in New England is not quite...well, dry. It rains quite a bit around here, and usually at the same time I have time to go for a ride :)! Oh well.

I also got a new kitchen floor today. The previous floor was AWFUL! This one is much better, but that may be an understatement! :) Now I would like a new fridge, new carpet, a new
bathroom floor, and some new faucets! :) not asking too much am I? Oh, and a nice area to grow
some veggies!















And finally, there are a whole bunch of "fields" that have shown up recently (see picture). What is going on? Are the people getting ready for something, or are they growing something? Well, it is asparagus time around here and in these "blank fields" the stalks are growing. LOOK at this one: it is a 1.5 foot tall stalk...the new way to eat asparagus: we'll cut it up like a zucchini.

gold medal hotties!

Ok, so you all know that I'm not into this "who's the best looking" kind of thing. But this is different. On wcsn.com there is a contest for the best looking male and female Olympic athlete. Usually, I would be totally against this, BUT we have a "friend" on the list. I don't care what it is a contest for, since they aren't nude and it isn't all THAT degrading, my competitive side is coming out. If you have time, PLEASE get on and vote for Steve Nyman. Yes, our very own Steve is in the running (this would thoroughly embarrass Scott!). And he is losing (4th out of 6). I vote about twice a day and he only has 27 votes. It really isn't fair because he us up against swimmers and runners and cyclists who aren't wearing winter clothes in the pictures...hello! Although he his beating out a beach volleyball player, who I also think is getting a bum deal because you can't really see his face. ANYWAY, I think we should all get together, pad the ballot box and hand the Sundance Boy a nice "hot" win! If you close your browser and restart it, you can vote again and again and again. The presidential race is, well, all commentary aside...later this year, and you only get to vote once. I would say that when november comes around, no matter who you wish to be in office, you will wish you had as many votes as you could have to make sure of it...here you can and we want Steve to be the winner. RIGHT? :)

http://web.wcsn.com/index.jsp

YES, the semester is OVER!

WOW, what a semester. With the ski season and qualification exams and regular classes and teaching and other things that I had to do it is a wonder I survived. But I did. I started racing a few weekends ago, and the routes are great. Last weekend I decided to try my hand at the mountain biking scene around here. As you can see the "trails" are pretty crude. There isn't much there to say "here's the trail." This course got really mucky, totally New England like. When I say mucky, I mean like riding through about 8 inches of soupy mud. Fortunately they have hoses for your bikes and for you. Notice how CLEAN all the men were. Well, after 4 laps they were pretty caked on when they got back.
A few posts ago I spoke of this "qualification" exam that was monopolizing my time. Well, we all passed and now I don't have anything OFFICIAL to worry about until I'm writing my dissertation. FUN! So, all I have to worry about is more class work, teaching my classes, working on my fearless leaders research and mine and maybe going to Yale to work with them on some of our projects that we don't have enough toys for. Gotta go to the rich kids who have everything, you know. Oh and don't forget the DCL and racing I have scheduled :)! Should be an easy time here in MA! But it is good to have one year down...now moving on.

Well, I hope you are all well. Sorry for the large break, but that is what happens when one gets a bit busy...what a weird feeling to be THAT busy.

Anyway, happy day to all and hope your spring is all going well. Coming soon, pictures of the beautiful spring here in New England!