Miscellaneous Missives

Although I'm a bit embarrassed by it, I'm watching The Voice again this season.  In fact, today I told my honors class that they needed to have their final copy done tomorrow, so I could grade it during Tuesday's show.  Tonight I'm working on our field trip to Seedfolks next week.  A colleague put together amazing resources for our field trip last week, so I'm trying to come up with something knowing that I'll never be able to duplicate.  At least I have the time to pull it together.  Thanks The Voice!  As for Team Adam... I'm really anyone but Team Blake.

Maybe it's ok that the weather is changing because I can't possibly get everything done that I need to inside and enjoy the weather outside.  Something has to give, and it's I'm not going to give on spending time outdoors.  No one wants to miss the autumn colors and summer weather.  Well, at least I don't.

Today was I completed the University of Okoboji Bike Ride.  It was a 25 mile ride, and most of the ride was into a 15 mph wind.  I've never ridden this ride before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  As we were ready to start the event coordinator said it was the best weather in 23 years.  It seems it also was the largest attendance with almost 500 riders.  The highlight was the beautiful weather and a stop at Terrace Park for West O Brew's beer tent.  They were releasing their Oktoberfest beer at today's event.  Since I left at 10:00, the ride's start, and didn't leave early as probably 100 riders did, the Oktoberfest was gone when I arrived.  The new keg was on its way, but I decided to drink the CocO Stout and be satisfied.  I liked that it was at Terrace Park.  Terrace Park was the party beach when I was growing up.  I spent many summer days and evenings drinking on that beach.  Now there's a sign that says no alcohol on...

Tonight I joined my bike club for the Wednesday ride.  Although I thought about doing the medium paced ride, I decided it would be best to do the slow ride after having aggressive PT on my knee.  The ride consisted of me and five guys.  I'm sure to quite sure the youngest of these gentlemen was at least 60.  Our mission was to make sure the route for Saturday was set.  It meant a new path up to Target Field and several circles around Target field (below and at street level).  It was a "comedy of errors."  I laughed throughout most of the ride.  Typically, I would have been irritated at the slowness of the ride and the two stops in a twenty mile ride for bathroom breaks, but these guys were so sweet.  At one stop I was bit by a mosquito.  When I mentioned that the stop caused me to be bitten, one of the men said he would cry crocodile tears, and another man apologize.  Honestly, it was hilarious.  At one point I was leading t...

About a month ago, I joined a bike club.  Today I rode my second ride with the club.  It was a slow ride named "Minneapolis Vistas", and we were promised four Ooooo stops.  One of our stops was at Milwaukee Avenue , but there is no street.  The tour leader stopped and explained the story.  Other stops were along the river.  We took one trail that is down next to the river, and it was beautiful.  We also stopped at Izzy's Icecream which negated the calories I burned while riding, but I guess that's the major reason I ride.    Although it was at times painfully slow, it was an enjoyable ride on an absolutely beautiful day!  After all, fall starts tomorrow evening.

I've ridden the same twelve mile route four times this week.  With each ride I've achieved a personal record.  Although there wasn't a marked improvement, I improved each ride.  I like this!  Of course, the weather has been beautiful (not too hot, not too cold, not too humid, not too windy) making this possible.  Another reason may be that I only rode twelve miles each day, but it's still been kinda fun.

Recently, I mentioned to a couple colleagues that I was turning into the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.  I looked up the picture on my phone to show them my meaning.  My waist keeps growing and is resembling Stay Puff.  Since the start of school, I haven't been able to bike the miles that I was prior to the start of school although I have biked short distances three nights this week.  My aggravation only grew this morning as I was getting dressed for school.  After trying on three different outfits that didn't fit, I ended up with khaki shorts and a sweatshirt.  Plus, this musical chairs of outfitting made me late for school.  Dang!  Why can't I merely eat anything I want and maintain my weight?