Month of October, 2008

Bike, Climb & Cook

On Sunday, Chris, Hannah, and I biked to Camelback Mountain and then hiked up a bit (probably less than half way). This was my first time on Camelback and it was a gorgeous, gorgeous view. A few pictures from our short climb.

We got home and Chris made breakfast burritos. Yum! Then Hannah and I spent the rest of the day making lasagna and cookies. We were cooking for a couple friends - one recently had surgery and the other has a family member in the hospital. It's hard to know how to help people when they're going through tough times. When I was growing up, my mother always cooking dinner for other families who were going through hard times. So I took her example to do a little something that hopefully conveys love and care for my friends.

Thanks, Mom, for being a great example! Thanks, Hannah for being a great cooking partner and friend!

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Negativity & Anger

There's been some negative stuff in my life recently. I haven't had the heart to write about it. In fact, I haven't had the heart to write about anything in fear it will be used against me. There's nothing like finding out that someone isn't your friend when they use your words against you. Especially when I tried to be positive and respectful towards them.

The other thing recently is I've been very quick to anger. I don't want to be an angry person, but recently I have been. Some days it feels like I'm out of balance and the littlest things set me off. Things that really shouldn't bug me.

On Saturday, I swung by the library on my bike. After I got there, I found out the library closed an hour early for their yearly fundraiser. I hadn't seen a notice on the website (which I had checked before leaving for the library) so I didn't know. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but it made me really, really angry. I spent the entire ride back home fuming about every
piece of that situation.
- Why hadn't the library posted it on the website?
- Why do they have to screw the person who uses their services in order to cater to rich people who probably don't even use the library?
- Why couldn't they have simply pushed the event back an hour and kept the library open?
- Why didn't the representative out front of the library tell me they were closed before I had locked up my bike? It wasn't like there was anywhere else I could have been going.
(Follow all these statements with a billion exclamation marks because that's how it was in my head.)

I was ANGRY. Then I realized how unrealistic this anger was. I couldn't go to the library that day. So what? I wasn't dying for a book. I'm lucky to borrow books at all. Plus it was a nice day and I should have been enjoying my ride.

Too often I've been having useless mental rants. Too often things have been setting me off. It's been a weird time in my life. I need to calm down. I need to be more thankful. I'm so, so lucky. I've got a great life.

Chris has been a wonderful support recently. He listens and supports me without judgment. He accepts me for who I am at any moment. Even those angry moments. He loves me and that is really the best thing in the world.

Financial Markets

There's so much talk about the world's financial markets these days. I've been finding myself talking and talking and talking about the current craziness in the financial markets. The funny thing is that I don't really understand the whole situation. I feel like I can grasp small pieces here and there, but I don't get the big picture. But it doesn't stop me from talking about it.

I realized that I enjoy the worst, worst, worst case scenarios. At least the fantasy in them. I'm quite sure I wouldn't like them in real life. A few weeks ago, I was saying we better get some land so that we start growing our own food. This morning, I was telling Chris about how we're going to liquidate our assets, default on our loans, and move to a temperate country in Asia when it gets really bad. Maybe this interest in the worst case scenarios comes from too many movies.

This kind of talk is very silly of me, but I suppose it's easier to delve into fantasy world than to wrap my mind around the reality. Maybe it's time to brush up on my knowledge of global economics...or it's time to write a screenplay.

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Tour De Fat - Tempe, AZ - Saturday, October 11th

The New Belgium Brewery’s Tour de Fat is coming to Tempe, Arizona this Saturday! Location: Temple Town Lake It's a celebration of bicycles with a little beer to add to the fun. I'll be there and would love to see you there too! Get all the information at their website - http://www.tour-de-fat.com/city/tempe.

Here are the important schedule things to note:
9:00am Registration for the Bike Cruise-ade (aka Bike Parade)
10:00am Bike Cruise-ade departs
11:00am Riders return from the parade, kegs get tapped & the festival begins!

There's lots of stuff going on at the festival - bands, presentations, raffles, and stuff. I hear there will be some impromtu games of bike polo. I'll be there playing! People watching should be prime since rule # 4 says you should come costumed..."because when everybody’s weird, no one is." And, of course, there's beer! (All profits from beer sales go to local non profit organizations.) It goes until 4:00pm. Hope to see you there!

Dog Cuteness

Stewie with the new blue ball. Mac following closely behind.