Miscellaneous Missives

My backyard, the path I walk to get to the bike path.   I love the mundaneness of summer days.  Today I actually slept in until 9:00.  My days are mundane, and I love it.  Drinking coffee, geeking online, reading, doing planks, riding my bike, and meeting friends make up most of my days.  It's pleasant to quite pleasant, but it doesn't give much fodder for blog. Wednesday I did a group ride.  Only four showed up since it looked like rain.  It's the worst group ride I've ridden.  The leader buzzed through two intersections with cars coming and left his "sweep" to catch up.  At the midpoint break, I voiced my frustration stating I'd never been on a group ride when the leader left others as he/she crossed the street.  He explained it was about timing, but he did better on the second half of the ride. Yesterday I finished Giant of the Senate by Al Franken.  I had been on the waitlist for the ebook at Hennepin County Library f...

I do better with new routines if they start on Monday, so yesterday I started a new routine.  Starting yesterday (I know it's only been two days), I'm going to plank each day.  I started with five twenty second planks and will work up from there.   Michelle Obama can do three minute planks, but I'm not her and will start small.  Plus, I'm adding bridges . Yesterday I also changed my bread to sprouted bread .  I've chosen Ezekial bread.  We'll see if it makes a difference.

Today I attended my first gay pride parade.  Black Lives Matters had a protest at the front of the parade, and I was happy to stand in solidarity with them as where most people present. People watching was phenomenal although I thought the parade was average.   I regret that I did not get a picture of the three of us.  Actually, it was another cold day, so my pictures were also average.  

Recently, I went to a garage in Minneapolis, and they said they could clean my headlights for $150.  When I was in Okoboji (home?), I asked what it would cost to clean my headlights.  They gave me a price of $80 yet wanted to send me a photo of the first headlight to make sure it was OK before they finished it and did the second headlight. When I was in Okoboji, I stayed with a friend on Big Spirit.  They view from their dock/house is amazing, but it was fairly chilly and super windy.  I was in town for the University of Okoboji Campus Ride.  This year I rode with strangers, but we had a lot of fun talking, riding, drinking, and fighting the winds. Our first stop was the inaugural first stop and I enjoyed a Bloody Mary.   Our last stop was Sportsman's Bar.  I was surprised by the Bob Marley painting on the deck wall.  Maybe it's not as redneck as I remembered.  Although it was cold and windy, it was a fun ride. ...

It seems one needs rain and sun to make a rainbow, or at least I think this is true.  Yesterday I spent a lot of time in front of the radar trying to figure out the best time to ride without getting rained on.  Unfortunately, I my last four miles were in the rain.  Later in the afternoon my rainbow came in the form of a phone call.  My principal called.  She had money for professional development that needed to be spent before July 1st.  Instead of purchasing books for our equity book club next year, she wanted to purchase them this year and wanted four titles.  First, I wasn't sure we'd be able to continue our book club.  Second, she mentioned four titles, and we only did three last year.  Third, I appreciate that she asked me for titles and thinks this is important enough to continue.  Within fifteen minutes, my friend/colleague J and I had cemented the four titles we'd like to tackle as a staff equity book club next year.  Ama...

Today was another perfect summer day filled with biking, reading, drinking iced coffee and geeking on the computer.  Yep, I really don't have anything to report, but I thought I should blog. If you look at the side, you can see that I'm reading quite a bit of YA. I love summer.

\ I survived my first Bacoon ride.  We drank at a small town pub on Friday night and rode all day Saturday.  We looked spiffy in our Wimpy jerseys, so I'm glad I made the decision to join the group and wear mine.  Each stop had food with bacon.  The highlight of the day was a bacon wrapped hotdog, and the lowlight was chocolate with bacon bites over strawberries.  Weather had its own highlights and lowlights.  It wasn't super hot as forecasted.  Although we needed to look at radar occasionally for rain, we stayed mainly dry.  Maybe no lowlight after all.  Anyway, 96 miles (ride and cycling to and from hotel) completed. I'd also like to say I rode with some real characters, but what happens in Waukee, Iowa, stays in Waukee, Iowa (and the other small towns along the way).

Tomorrow I'll drive to Iowa for the BACooN ride .  I'm riding with a group from Team Wimpy (the team with whom I ride RAGBRAI ).   We have a group message going to discuss plans for this weekend.  Today the messages started at 9:00 and are still buzzing in on my screen.  The biggest discussion is what jersey to wear this weekend. Everyone wants to wear a Wimpy jersey, but we all own and like different jerseys.  I really wanted to wear my new RAGBRAI jersey (pictured at top), but I'll be a team player and wear Tuesday's Jersey although I'll also bring Saturday's because it seems to be the favorite via messenger.  It's a difficult decision which is why I'm still sitting on the floor drinking coffee and watching the entertaining messages pop up on my screen.

Monday's Ride #mytown  #oleolsonloop It's only my third day of summer break, and I'm already getting tired of the "it must be nice to have three months off" comments.  First, I really think it's more like two months but whatever.  Second, I've already read and blogged about three young adult books for work.  Third, yep, it is nice!! Then, there's the question that always perplexes me, "What do you do with all of your time?" This answer is easy, and I don't even have to be snarky.  I read, bike, and drink iced coffee.  I also eat healthier especially now that there isn't a meeting space across the room filled with chocolate and donuts.  My favorite lunch this summer is avocado toast.  It's been lunch for the last two days.  I've been experimenting with blue cheese, avocado, tomato, crushed red pepper, and of course toast. Tuesday's Ride #mytown  #boomisland

Last night I went on a group ride with the Joyful Cyclists.  Some were joyful while others were a bit too hipster for me.  I would have taken pictures of a couple hipsters, but it would have been in poor taste.  The ride was slow to quite slow.  I did 18 miles on my ride to and from the ride, so it was OK.  One of our stops was a beautiful view of the city which made up for the slowness of the ride. Today's my first day of vacation, and I'm ready to be more consistent with my riding.

Yesterday was the penultimate day of my school year, and I guess that makes today the ultimate.  I tried this "candy" from Mexico (or at least a Mexican) candy on our field trip the yesterday.  It was merely a sugary frosting type substance that I wouldn't probably try again, but I love how the kids are excited when I try something from their culture.  Although today was the last day of school, I had everything done and left after our meeting meaning it's 10:30, and I'm sitting on my deck posting and drinking an iced coffee.  Let the games begin.

1 was told by a fairly reliable source, my neighbor, that the Midtown Greenway was open.  As I approached the Cedar Avenue bridge, it was evident that it wasn't open.  Actually, he didn't really tell me it was open, but I assumed that was the route he took on his last ride we discussed.  Perhaps I need to be a better listener. As suspected, a couple of students realized I had posted their grades.  This was disconcerting to them since we're working on a final project these last two days of class.  I assured them that I merely posted, so I could compare the difference between the current grades and their tri 2 grades.  Yep, this was a bold-faced lie that I repeated to each class today.  Not only is this assignment not graded, I'm not going to look at it.  Cheers! This, my friends, is not a lie.  A student brought me a box of ice-cream sandwiches today.  She saw my delight when the administrator brought me ice-cream sandwiches last w...

I think the trails have always been happy as I believe our country has always been great.  Today I tried a little experiment based on an article I had read.  The article suggested that runners and bikers should wave at each other.  I've seen a similar post about giving fellow cyclists a handlebar wave as you past.  Some people suggested a head nod instead of a wave to promote more safety.  On my ride today, I did a little experiment.  For the first ten miles, I did the handlebar wave to each cyclist (wearing a helmet) and runners on the trail.  It seemed as though many gave me a nod in return, so for the last ten miles, I did the nod.  Although I'm not quite sure, I'd guess my response rate was still only 50%. Later I walked on the trail.  As I was waiting to get on the trail, a cyclist gave me a thumbs up.  Maybe a thumbs up is an alternative I should try.  Tomorrow, on my ride, I'll give fellow cyclists (wearing a helmet) and...