I'm going to miss the car...

Any of you who have been regular readers of this blog know that shortly after I got here I was given the keys to a car and an apartment (neither of which were mine). Well the owner of said car and apartment is coming back to Minneapolis today, so there go my wheels.

I have to admit, I have really come to enjoy, or maybe I have simply become accustomed to, having a car. And this car was particularly fun, it's a manual Jetta, which though I had never seriously driven a manual car before I became quite comfortable driving this one quickly. And though I don't use the car often, there are a number of little things that I found it highly useful for which I will have to change, such as getting my groceries. Though my girlfriend lives right by the grocery store, so I'm sure something can be worked out should it be necessary.

Despite losing the car, I'm not unhappy about the whole situation, in fact I will be quite happy once the weekend is done. See the girl is coming back to pack up her apartment, squeeze what she can into her car, and then she is going back off to San Diego. So in doing this the last ties between us will be cut.

Yeah, I'll admit, I was happy to meet her. At first I was thrilled to meet someone outside of work. But after she moved to San Diego, leaving me with the car, I started to realize just what the nature of our relationship was. See for the first while she would talk to me a lot while she was out there. I figured this was a good thing, I even thought perhaps she liked me. But then the calls stooped and she seemed to disappear. Only to call me on rare occasions, needing a favour. And then I started to see what I was to her, I was someone to prop her up, make her feel good about herself and help her along her way. I thought it was cute that she would often say that she "wanted to hear a friendly voice" when she called. Then I got a call at 3 am, with her crying on the other end of the line saying pretty much the same thing. This was the first time I had spoken to her in weeks, if not a month.

Those who know me recognize that I will give whatever I can to anyone I consider a friend. Hell, why else would I have participated in about 6 moves since I got here (and I'm not counting moving myself, which I did virtually alone). I don't really expect anything in return, save that those people that I have helped will be there should I need it. As far as this girl is concerned, I truly doubt that I would have been able to count on her had she been in the same city as me. It's funny how it always seemed as though it was an after-thought when she asked me how I was.

But I don't hold grudges. She made her choices, and I've made mine. I wouldn't even say that I made a poor choice, at the time it seemed like a logical one, even though the situation was rather odd. And though I do feel as though I was used, I'm not going to let it change who I am and how I deal with people. Though I'm now much more aware of the behaviour of someone who is likely to use me. So though I strongly suspect that she will ask for my help this weekend I'm not going to be part of it.

Once she has her keys back I'm done with her. And though this may seem to be harsh, I'm really fed up with her. After she called Monday to confirm that she was coming back Thursday she didn't e-mail me her flight information like I asked (since I have her keys I have to pick her up). I had to e-mail her Wednesday morning to get the details, though all I got was that her flight is coming in at 5:40 pm...well that's bloody useful, if this was a one runway airport, not the hub for Northwest! Maybe she could have included a flight number or at least the airline, hell I don't even know what departure city to look for, I assume that it's direct, but there are no guarantees to that.

So yeah, I won't be too sad when she is gone and I have nothing more to do with her. I will however miss the car.

See Aaron, I'm not perfectly happy, there is still plenty of bitterness in me to keep you smiling. But as it was pointed out to me today, it's evident to others when I've been around Deirdre, I seem to have a bit bigger grin on my face. Which is why the stuff with this girl is not really bothering me because I have some lovely plans with my girlfriend this weekend.

Advertising

It's funny to see how this blog thing works out. If we look back a couple of weeks I was posting on a near daily basis, now you're lucky if I blog an entry every other day. I'll be the first to admit that it really seems to co-relate to my happiness. See I'm not the kind of person to go running around telling everyone I meet how happy I am. So I don't feel highly compelled to tell you all how great life seems to be at the moment. I think it goes without saying that I am having a great time with Deirdre. I'm not going to go into details about it, our private life will remain that way.

But of course since I'm not bitter and angry I seem to have so much less to comment about in the blog...but I think I came across something that could be worthy of the blog yesterday.

I think all of you have seen, at one time or another, a truck driving down a main city road with some large billboard on the back. I've seen some like A-frames, others that were three sided and rotated and I'm pretty damn sure that I've seen some with lights. Well up until yesterday, I hadn't seen any with people! That's right, this truck had people in the back.

At this point I'm sure you are all wondering what kind of advertising would require live people. Well, on this chilly fall afternoon the people in the back were promoting Mexican vacations. See the interesting part was that in order to do this the three girls in the back of the truck were wearing bikinis, in a glass enclosed 'beach' with Mexican music being played over the speakers. A few more details about the ad campaign were found in the local paper by Deirdre.

Now what gets me about all this was a quote in the story from one passer-by, a communications studies major, who said that:

“It’s biased,” he said. “They’re basing this on the assumption that that’s the only thing you’ll find in Mexico. It also contributes to objectifying women.”

Now, I can't argue with the statement, yes there is more to Mexico than beaches and girls, and yes, the ad campaign is objectifying women (but no more than any other ad). See what stuns me is that the response was from someone in communications studies.

There are two major flaws in this persons logic, this person has ignored three key facts:

1) The goal of the advertising
2) The tools of advertising
3) The target audience

See if we look at this logically this ad campaign is nearly perfect.

1) Advertising goals: the ad is from the Mexican tourism industry, now sure, Mexico has plenty of rain forest, deserts and ancient ruins...but when was the last time you heard someone say that they wanted to go on a vacation to some ancient ruins? Which do you think will draw more money? People renting hotel rooms on the beach, or those paying to hire a guide with a couple of mules to take them to some old temples? Let's face it, yes there is plenty to Mexico, but the average, American, tourist is more likely to spend their money on beach resorts than eco-tours.

2) Advertising tools: now this should be obvious to 12 year old, yet alone someone in communication studies, nothing gets attention better than sex. Sex sells. It actually sells to both sexes. The men will be brought in by the thought of beautiful women and the women will be thinking of being the beautiful women, or being where the hot guys go...I really don't know exactly what level it works with on women, but for the most part I'm pretty damn sure it does. Otherwise why aren't all the women advertising household products old, over-weight and not made up?

3) The target audience: come on, this is another obvious choice. Who is likely to take a Mexican vacation, a family of 5 or a frat boy? Now, once again, what will said frat boy be most interested in? I can tell you that you won't find it in Disney Land.

So I really wonder if people think about things or just become indignant over what they want to see as offensive. Ok, the whole thing could be seen as offensive, but you cannot deny that it is also effective, and so long as it remains effective it's going to be around. So either you can get angry over this kind of thing every time you see it, or you can understand it and realize that it's not going to change. At least if you understand it you stand a better chance of not being persuaded by the advertising...now I have to run and get some tickets to Cancun for spring break ;)

Oh, before I sign off, check out Deirdre's blog, she's got a bit of a contest on the go, and having seen some of her work I think this would be worthwhile to win.

Washrooms

Yeah, I know, I'm reaching for a topic to discuss today. Actually this one has been tumbling around in my mind for a while, I just never really thought that it would make for a good entry, but here we go, so like venturing into a gas station bathroom, take a deep breath cause it may be really foul in there.

So pretty much all of us have at one point in time needed to use a public washroom. Let's face it, unless you are one of those people who is too fat to leave their own homes you've probably used a public restroom. For that matter if those people are too fat to get off the couch what condition is the bathroom in? And to they have over sized toilet seats for the super morbidly obese? (well it turns out that someone has already started in on that market).

Now whenever you step into a public washroom you are struck by the scent first. No matter the condition of the place there is a strong odour. It's either some ridiculously potent artificial 'clean' smell or the smell that it is meant to cover up. It's a fact of life, washrooms are going to stink, but you think that they could improve the ventilation, rather than having a single moldy vent barely moving the air (or maybe that's just where I work?).

Beyond that you never really know what you are going to see in the washroom when you go in. I've turned the corner into a washroom only to see a stark white ass staring at me as some guy had dropped everything to use the urinal. More than once I have even heard of someone finding out that another had decided that the urinal was the ideal place to do #2...the logistics and comfort of such an act alone are enough to boggle my mind. And in terms of urinals sometimes you find yourself in some surprising situations, like finding that the urinals have all be replaced by a single metal basin to share among all those that can crowd up, or simply finding ridiculously long line-ups.

Among the things you may encounter in the washroom, a friend/coworker/boss are among my least favorite. I know, it's kind of odd, but if I have to do my business with others around I would prefer that they not know who I am. This isn't because of horrid aim, strange noises or any other quirks, I just don't want to have to engage in small talk while I'm expelling dangerous waste from my body. This is particularly awkward when you are at a urinal and someone comes up to do their business and begins to chat with you. So when you are done what do you do? Stand there politely and wait for them to finish? Do you walk off and have them shout across the washroom? Seriously people don't talk to me in the wash room, maybe hi, that's about it. As we have already established the smell is less than ideal and I don't want to have to spend any extra time in there if it can be avoided.

Now I'm pretty sure most guys reading this know, or have played, the Urinal Game. It is designed to illustrate those unwritten rules of etiquette that should be followed in men's rest rooms. Though I'm beginning to think that these rules need to be written out, for the comfort of all us.

Now here are just a few other things that tick me off and I seem to encounter all to frequently:

- News papers in the stalls...sure I may want to read it, but I don't want to read a paper that has been sitting on the floor beneath the bowl, you brought it in you take it out, stalls are deposit boxes, not recycling bins.

- Flush the damn toilet...seriously, I have encounter this, most frequently in universities, which stuns me since you would think that a university student would have figured out that concept by now.

- Put your paper towels in the garbage...the washroom is nasty enough to begin with, I don't need it to seem as though there was a giant confetti party in there before I came in.

- Don't wasted feet and feet of toilet paper to cover the seat...wipe the damn thing down with a piece of paper and go about your business, it's hardened plastic and won't promote bacterial growth. Now should you insist on covering the seat with 6 feet of single ply paper, flush the damn stuff down when you are done, I understand the re-use concept but I draw the line there.

Finally, could someone explain to me why the hell some guys feel the need to flush halfway through when they are at the urinal? It's not going to overflow, do they want to have some fun and try to fight the current?

Ok, that's way more than anyone wanted to hear about my thoughts on washrooms, but someone complained that I had not provided a tool for procrastination yet this weekend.

Squirrel Gymnastics

So like most university campuses the U of M seems to be teaming with furry little critters, and no I'm not talking about the undergrads...for the most part they seem to be too young to even grow passable beards. What I'm talking about are the squirrels and rabbits that are all over the campus. Though now that I think of it I haven't seen a rabbit in a while, but they are pretty small, they may have been pushed around by the squirrels...of they just don't want to be chased around by drunk frat boys.

But back to the squirrels. If you've ever taken the time to watch any squirrels you know that they are generally active creatures. Most of the time they are running around looking for food, or chasing each other around the base of a tree. Hell there was even one time, while on an early morning walk up Mont Royal in Montreal, I was stalked by about 20+ squirrels thinking that I was bringing food. Trust me, I was damn close to breaking out into a full sprint. I mean sure I could probably hold my own against a few squirrels. But having seen how fast those fuzzy buggers can run up and down a tree I began to realize that my build would simply facilitate their ability to do the same to me. So yeah, I will admit to having been scared by squirrels, and after what I saw today, I may have had some reason.

You see, I think I actually stumbled upon a squirrel training program. While walking across campus I noticed something odd, three squirrels on a low limb of a tree, just sitting there. Well not exactly, two of them were sitting there, the other one was...well he was going what could only be described as gymnastics.

The squirrel was hanging from the low limb of the tree. Now that's a first for me to begin with, I don't think I had ever seen a squirrel hang, I've seen them make suicidal leaps of faith, but never just hang there...upside-down. Seriously, this squirrel was hanging from his hind legs with his face an inch or so off the ground. But what really got me was that it looked like he was doing ab crunches! I swear, when I saw him he was in the middle of a crunch, and he was surprisingly flexible, he got his nose right to his hind feet. But I'm sure that he saw me, because as soon as the crunch was done he uncurled and let go with his hind legs, a slick move that landed him on all fours on the ground below. I can only figure that the other two on the branch were personal trainers or coaches, they tried to hide it, but I think I saw a clipboard.

So I'm not too sure what's up with these squirrels. It's either one of two possibilities; they are doing a conditioning program in preparation for their eventual rise to supremacy (and you thought Hitchcock's Birds was scary) or they recently saw Super Size Me and realized just how bad all the food is that they have been eating...this would also explain all the seemingly pointless running that they do.

I'm keeping my eye on these little rodents, after all, 'it's the quiet ones you have to watch' and when was the last time the squirrels popped up on our radars...I think they are up to something...

Confessions of a Procrastinator.

I figure that it's about time that I get this out in the open, I am a PROCRASTINATOR. I know that those of you closest to me will find this to be shocking, but it's true, I don't feel that I can live with lie any more.

It's been going on for years, probably all my life, I just haven't taken the time to figure out exactly when I first started to put things off. I certainly recall a few times that I put off going to the bathroom before getting bundled into my snowsuit, only to whine about needing to pee once the whole process was done and I was a foot out the door.

Then of course once I started school I began to learn how to procrastinate more and more. I learned just how easy it was to 'forget' about a project until the night before it was due. It was oh so much fun to stay up late and rush to get the job done. I know that my parents really appreciated it, for more often than not they couldn't contain their enthusiasm and just had to involve themselves.

Once I started my undergrad I learned a whole new level of procrastination, I seriously wanted to petition the dean to make it a proper degree. I'm certain that I could have succeeded in convincing him, had I taken the time to decide if it should be a Bachelor of Art or a Bachelor of Science degree...after all it requires all the creativity and self-expression of an art, yet the psychological and physical aspects of time wasting cannot be underestimated.

And let's not even discuss graduate school. The whole principal of graduate school is the avoidance of the real world, hence the avoidance of completing this evasive maneuver. Procrastination at that level requires a concentrated effort, such as watching a fish tank for 15 minutes or devising games involving bouncing a super ball from desk to desk and who can forget going for coffee (halfway across campus).

For those of you uninitiated to procrastination I am willing to impart some of the many techniques that I have acquired to elevate your status among fellow wasters of time:

• Should you find yourself with a task to do, look around, there are certainly several more less pressing duties that need to be done. Why do calculus homework when you can finally write a thank you note to your great grandmother for the lovely wool socks that she gave you last christmas? After all she tied the bow on there so nicely you have yet to even bring yourself to undo it.

• Remember that a messy room is a sign of poor procrastination. Nothing says that I don't want to do my work better than a spotless floor, clean folded clothes and a perfectly made bed...well perhaps an impeccably scrubbed toilet and bathtub...but be careful of how much is done at one time, breaks for food are important for proper procrastination.

• Television is another good option. But you must be careful to chose wisely. Sitcoms are a trap, they are only on for a short period of time and with so little in the way of plot or story that they are over before you realize it, then you have to justify watching another show. The better choice is something educational, like the life-cycles of the sloth - just make sure that it is as far removed from the project being avoid, we don't want any accidental productivity - the benefit to documentary shows is that not only are they long, but for the most part they cannot get advertising dollars so there is little stimulus to interrupt your vegetative state, thus artificially extending the time.

• Finally should you have exhausted all the above options, get up and look for some place comfortable to lie down such as your bed, the kitchen table or the floor mat in the bathroom...all these locations are highly conductive to sleep, and by now you need a rest, avoiding work is hard work. An additional bonus is that in the groggy post-nap haze you may be able to actually forget the work that needs to be done (though do not expect these results immediately, this is a master level technique).

These are just a few trick of the trade, I am certain that you will be able to find many more of them if you ever get around to applying yourself. Of course there is the other obvious time wasting device that I have yet to mention, blogging. Though don't fear, you need not write your own blog, there are plenty of enterprising people out there willing to write simply for the desire to be heard. However you can start a blog and fill it full of nonsensical ramblings simply as a matter of avoiding all kinds of unplesantries in life, like taking out the garbage, doing dishes, reading painfully boring blogs written by others....the possibilities are endless.

So yes, I am procrastinator...I'll let you know if I ever get around to doing anything about it.

You've all been waiting for it.

Yeah, I know, it's after 1:00 am and I really should be getting some sleep. After all, why the hell should I be keeping myself up to all hours to write a blog entry for you guys? It's not like any of you will read this right away. Hell the only people who are likely to see this post right away are lonely single guys who keep hitting 'next blog' in hopes of finding the blog of some blond 18 year-old nudist/exhibitionist (any bets that due to that one sentence I get >50% increase in traffic today?).

So speaking of CMac, yeah it's a low blow, but he's a tough guy and I know that he can take it, plus I'm about to say that he was right, so I need to insult him a little to keep the bile down when while I say it ; ) But in all honesty CMac was right yesterday when he commented that I should not be referring to the girl I've been dating as "the girl". Every time I wrote that I felt worse and worse about it, mostly because she is not just another girl, she's my girlfriend! Yeah, that's right, I said it! And yes, I said it to her first, we both like the idea of being boyfriend and girlfriend.

But you know what, let's go one better than that, how about her name? Has anyone tried to take a guess at what it would be? I doubt that anyone would have guessed Deirdre. Oh and have fun trying to get the pronunciation right, it can't be all that hard, I apparently got it right.

So from now on no more "on-line girl" no "the girl" and I'm not one of these guys to go around saying: "The girlfriend and I..." so just remember who Deirdre is when you see the name. At least it's not as confusing as trying to keep all the different Catherines (or other spellings there of) straight.

Now a couple of you have been wanting to see this girl who has managed to captivate me so. Well, I don't have any photos of her, sorry to disappoint you. I do however have a link to her blog (and though she doesn't think it she's really good at writing). So click the link and read what she has to say, the blog is pretty new but I'm sure that Deirdre will keep posting once she sees how many hits she gets today.

What a weekend

This has been a good weekend, a very good weekend in fact.

Though I can't say that things got off to the best possible start. Friday night the girl and I went out rock climbing at a gym in St Paul (the other half of the twin cities...which actually includes a whole lot more little towns between them it's really kind of odd). Anyway the fact that we were in St Paul was the bad start, getting to the climbing wall as a bit of a pain. The road to access the place was two blocks away from the actual address. It's hard to explain, but it took a while to figure out where to go. The beautiful irony of it all is that the entrance was being changed the next day so that it would be much more straight forward. Anyway, once we were in there and set up we went up to one of the bouldering caves so that I could show the girl how to climb. See I had done a couple of years of climbing back at the U of A and still know what to do on a wall. She on the other hand had never been climbing, but she was super enthusiastic about trying it out. So after explaining a couple of little things I decided to hop on the way and show her what type of form one should have while climbing (that was under the assumption that I ever had the right form to begin with, and that I would be able to find it yet again).

So all was going well for a couple of moves and holds, until I got to a smaller 'pocket' hold. To grip this properly one should insert their middle and ring finger into the opening of the 'pocket' and hang from their finger tips. All in all it's pretty intuitive and easy to do, most of the time. This time however something went wrong. While I was hanging there I heard a load pop and I kind of let go of the hold to drop to the ground. At first I wasn't sure where the sound came from, it almost sounded as though the bolt holding the 'pocket' slipped a thread. A couple of seconds later though I realized that my hand was in some serious pain. Yup, my hand made the noise. As best as I have been able to tell my right ring finger actually got dislocated. As I say, this is only a guess, because the finger is properly set in the joint and can move freely, though it is slightly painful to make a fist and I don't feel as though I can close that finger as tightly at the moment. And yes, if this does not feel as though it is improving shortly I will see a doctor.

So even though I was limited to using half my hand when climbing the girl and I hung around and did climb for a while. I was really impressed to watch her climb. She was graceful and smooth, she looks like a natural and I'm certain that she will get much better within a short while. So yeah, it looks like we will be going back for more climbing in the future.

After the climbing we went out for a late dinner. We decided to try something that neither of us had been out for before, Indian food. It was really good. I had in the past tried some Indian food made by an Indian roommate and I enjoyed it. The meals that we had were surprisingly filling and very nicely spiced. It was funny to be one of only two couples in the restaurant, it seems that even though the restaurant was open until 12 am, not many people around here think of eating after 10 pm.

Saturday was a surprisingly sunny and warm day. Really a perfect day, which turned out well, as one of the girls from my lab was getting married that day. The wedding was like all others, there is no point in really going into any details, though the drive out was quite nice as the wedding and reception were out in a more rural area of the state. The one funny part of the service was when it came time for the "lord's prayer". As most of you know, I'm not religious, so though I do know the prayer and can follow along like all the rest through the required speaking parts of the service, I don't. It's particularly funny to do this and listen to everyone else, they seriously all sound as though they are brain-washed. This is nothing personal to those who reading this who are religious, I honestly do respect your belief and encourage you to hold them. My only suggestion would be that maybe you should try to put some passion into what you say if you believe it so much. Sounding like a beaten slave praising his master really doesn't seem quite right (yeah, I'm probably going to take some flack for that comment). To me the only services that sound right are the big and raucous gospel style services. Anyway, back to the funny part. The guy sitting next to me is dating a friend from work and I know him through dodgeball, when he saw that I was just sitting there looking straight ahead through the prayer he almost started laughing out loud...which almost got me started. So maybe it's not funny to everyone, but hey, this is my blog.

Finally Sunday, which isn't over yet, has been yet another great day. The weekend dodgeball game was moved to today at noon, and that turned out to be a lot of fun. There was a really strong turnout, a few new faces and even an old one back to visit. I have to admit that I was a bit slow on my game, but I was able to pick it up a good bit by the end. Though you should remember that my finger on my throwing hand is far from perfect right now.

Finally to end off the night the girl and I are going out for pizza with another couple I know...that's right, I'm starting to introduce her to the people I know. Though that really isn't a surprise, things are going so well with us that I want my friends to meet her and see just how great she is (yes I know she will read this, but it's not like I haven't told her as much before), I really think that she is great and hope that she will meet many more of you.

How can advertisers so blatantly lie?

I seriously wonder at times how on earth advertisers get away with such bold-faced lies. Having a background in chemistry it's so much fun to listen to the terms that are used to describe products. Have you ever used a moisturizer with 'lipids'? Sounds a hell of a lot better than one with 'fats', even though they are the same thing.

Another great one is 'space age polymer'. Now lets look at this one closely. Though space age sounds really impressive, and admittedly it was when it began...or so I'm told. See the 'space age' began in 1957, 20 years before I was born. And as for a polymer, well starch is a polymer, sugar is another polymer, so is anything that is made of repeating individual units (like a chain). So to be a 'space age polymer' it simply has to be a polymer designed after 1957, not exactly a guarantee of cutting edge technology.

But the one that got me started on this whole rant was on a Coca-Cola fountain. They listed both the size and prices of the drinks, along with a comment on the value. Here's what it read:

* 22 oz (651 ml in real units) for $1.29 - Good Value
* 33 oz (976 ml, my god that's a lot) for $1.39 - Great Value
* 44 oz (1301 ml, that's just fucking nuts!) for $1.49 - Best Value

Ok, I didn't realize the volumes until I did the conversion, damn that is just stupid!

So how exactly can it be a "good value" to get half the amount at 86% the price? Is there no understanding of economics, math or even basic logic in the world any longer?

What I need to do is make some stickers to change the "value" of the drinks. Here's what I would put:

* 44 oz = We're screwing you pretty good already!
* 33 oz = Oh boy are we ever sticking it to you on this one!
* 22 oz = You know, it would be cheaper for you to be a fat ass and drink more, but instead we're going to fuck you the hardest, you sick, reasonable, free thinking, fool.

The more I think of their pricing scheme the more I think of them as drug dealers...

"You buy enough pot and I'll even throw in a bit of crack on the side."

"What? You don't do that?"

"Ah, have it anyway, 'cause I like you."

Now you will have to excuse me, as I feel dirty for bashing Coca-Cola, my one true love, and I must go repent by buying all three sizes and a can just in case...yes, I'm a hypocrite, deal with it.

Undergrads are the same everywhere...completely lost

I always find it funny to watch and listen to undergrads whenever they are discussing/dealing with a problem. I've had a particularly good vantage point of this for a number of years. Being a full time TA through my grad studies forced me to be in contact with a lot of students seeking a higher education...lord knows they need a higher education, whether or not they ever got it, who knows.

Chem labs are a particularly fun place to watch students perform...ok, maybe it's just because I do chemistry that I find it fun, but when there is a chance of spills/smells/fires/explosions if someone messes up, that's kind of cool (in a car crash kind of way). Though there are times when it becomes downright scary. Aaron was in the same lab as myself when two brilliant students not only emptied organic waste into the concentrated acid waste...and now that I have lost most of you let me just say this is one of the top things NOT to do in chemistry...So now that this has been done, and there are fumes coming out of the acid waste at this point, what do the students do? Well it sure as hell wasn't tell us what they did. Hell they didn't even bother to do that once the bottle started to make a high pitched whistling noise. No they had decided to screw the cap back on the bottle, trapping the rapidly evolving gas inside the bottle...for the moment. But good fortune (and the actual use of brains) either Aaron or I lowered the window on the fume hood where the bottle was contained after realizing that the sound was coming from somewhere in there. A few moments later the cap gave way, creating a geyser of concentrated hydrochloric acid in the fume hood...essentially a shit storm that Aaron ended up cleaning up.

Having survived that incident unscathed I can sort of laugh at it, so long as I don't think of what could have happened. Had I been standing in front of the fume hood when the bottle went off...well let's just say I wouldn't be quite as attractive as I am now (and to head off the jokes, yes that's not all attractive to begin with).

Fortunately most of the time the stupidity of undergrads is limited to harmless stuff. Like hooking up the water hose rather than the vacuum hose to a filter flask, it goes something kind of like this. The other fun one is to see the reaction on the face of a student when you explain to them that the "filtrate", which was to be kept, was the liquid that they poured down the drain after the filtration. Yes, there is in fact this much confusion with something as simple as doing a filtration.

But that isn't all that surprising, since the most common problem undergrads seem to have, is finding their way around. I'm not kidding, the number of times I have been asked "Do you know where the TA's office is?" No name for said TA (even though there are probably >100 in the building).

Actually this happened to me today for the first time since I got here, hence the post. Now I can't say it was a surprise when it happened, I clearly saw it coming. The first sign that undergrads are looking for a TA or prof, is that they will walk back and forth past your open office door. Now this in no way means that they are looking for you, or anyone from your office, in fact they may not even be looking for someone from your department (chemical engineers seem to have this problem from time to time, they think they are chemists...but they're not). So finally they enter..."Excuse me, do you know where the TA's office is?"...great, now do I bother to try and figure out which course/TA? Hell, I don't even understand the numbering system for the courses here, there is CHEM 1011, 1012, 2031...I don't know why they have 4 numbers when everywhere I have ever been before only needed 3 (they only seem to use 3 of the 4 numbers here as well). Fortunately there were two students there, and one of them suddenly had a revelation, there are office numbers on the doors! Amazing stuff isn't it? And imagine that, the TA had given them his office number as well! So using this great deductive logic they were able to figure out that the office that they were looking for was...on the other side of the hallway...

I seriously wonder how some of these people make it to the university in the morning. If you can't find a numbered room in a building you are having some serious troubles...yet I saw this all the time at the U of A and I'm sure I would see more of it here if I wasn't the basement.

Where is my competitive spirit?

It's a bit odd to think back over this past summer and not have single memory of racing my bike. It's not really a bad thing, I don't have the memories of countless hours of training, hours of suffering as much as I can to hold a wheel (draft) in races, only to get dropped just on the last little hill of the course. Of course I also don't have the memories of attacking the pack with teammates, doing monster pulls to chase down an escape, or sharing a hotel room with teammates while on the road. It is surprising how close you begin to feel to those that you suffer with for a common goal. My old club ERTC, had a great team spirit. If any of us won we all won, guys would literally ride themselves to nothing just to help another have a shot at being first across the line, and it worked really well. Last year we went from being the 9th place team overall in the Province to being 4th. And almost all of that was due to the dedication to each other and the team. I really do miss that aspect of it the most.

Over the past three summers racing bicycles had become one of the single greatest parts of my life. Not only was (am) I pretty good at it, but I just really liked the whole culture that came with it. Sure there were idiots and guys with way too much attitude. But most of those racing know that this was just for fun, and though they would try to drop you in the race after we were all friends. It was always fun to find out that someone you didn't know knew of you because you were one of the opponents to watch out for.

This year I knew that with the move I wasn't going to be able to get into to have the time and fitness to race most if not any of the road race series. And I was fine with that, I figured that I would be able to race cyclocross, my new passion from the end of the previous season. Well it seems that plan is out the window too. In terms of fitness, I'm strong, possibly as strong (in terms of power to weight) as I have ever been, but my aerobic and anaerobic capacities are sure to be crap, I have barely pushed myself at all this year. On top of that, to be able to race in the category where I belong I have to get the State governing body to approve my credentials from Alberta to tell the National body to give me a higher license...yeah, I'm sure that will be a fast process, after all, it only took the National body 5 days to reply to the e-mail asking the question.

Add to all that the fact that a minor crash a couple of weekends ago bent the handle bar on my cyclocross bike and I'm ready to give up on the whole idea of racing this season. It's probably better this way, there are only a few cyclocross races left and should I do them I would surely rekindle the competitive urge, yet what kind of outlet would I have over the winter? No, it's probably better to sit back and relax a little longer before I hit the gym to start a weight training program for the winter.

Anyway, I can always go watch a race or two if I like. In fact there is one this Sunday afternoon right near downtown. Who knows, maybe the girl would be willing to come out and help me cheer on my teammates?

Oh, though a couple of you have been asking to see a picture of the girl I am leaving it up to her to post one. She has already admitted to being addicted to reading the blog...it's like electronic crack...and she said she will eventually post something on here. As for a photo, only time will tell.

Welcom to the new readers.

It seems as though I have had a lot more hits today, particularly from some new readers. Most of those can be attributed to a guy from dodgeball who was apparently very bored at work this morning ;) He found the link to the site from my message board profile and then pointed it out to everyone who reads the dodgeball message forum. In fact he pointed it out in the manner of my having juicy gossip, so naturally I had a lot more visits. But hey, I'm not complaining, those who have been reading long enough know that I watch my hit counter like mad, gauging my popularity and my self-worth by each incremental increase

Ok, I'm not that bad, but I do like to see who's been visiting. After all sometimes you see an interesting referral, like someone from UMN (University of Minnesota, where I work) who found your blog through a search for "Christopher Robin" and then proceeded to read the blog for ~45 minutes...can anyone guess who this might have been? Those who guessed it was the girl, give yourself a hand, you guess right!

I can't say I was surprised, after all I had told her Sunday that I had a blog. I must say that I am impressed that she thought of that search term, this girl is brilliant!

Now, a couple of the readers may be stunned at this point to know that I told the girl about the blog. After all, a day earlier I had both told a friend and e-mailed another that I would probably not mention the blog for some time. After all, I didn't think displaying my insecurities would be the best idea. So why did I tell her about it? Because she was strong enough and brave enough to tell me about her insecurities. Due to our mutual ability to procrastinate at any time I found myself at her place after I picked up a few groceries while exchanging a bunch of text messages. Anyway, to keep things to the point, while I was there it came out that she was worried that I would break her heart. Which was pretty much exactly what I was going through all week. You guys don't need the details, but as you can imagine we've both had our share of heartache. So obviously when you really like someone all kinds of doubt and fear come near the surface.

I cannot speak for her, but I feel so much better now that we have been able to get this out in the open. Knowing that we are afraid of the same things is very comforting, I believe fully that she is not going to hurt me intentionally. Though the thought of doing anything to hurt her had never crossed my mind, simply knowing that it is a concern of hers, I will do all I can to ensure that nothing I do raises those concerns.

So yeah, there are some new readers on here now. Hopefully they will come back, and even post a comment or two from time to time, I always welcome input from others. I don't know how much the girl will be back. For her, and a few others, it is a bit too much like reading a diary, something overly personal. Just the same, I will keep posting as I always have. We are trying to build a relationship on honesty and trust, so there is no reason to hide who I am. Either way, I will probably be telling her what I post here unless it's just really mundane, yeah I do those posts from time to time...ok, lost of the time.

Thanks for reading!

Helloooooooo!

So, have you ever been at a party and realized that you are the only one there who is alone? Well last night that is where I found myself when I arrived at my second party of the night (I know, I'm stunned as well, I'm becoming popular, it's a good thing I still have the car to get to each party). Now this is in no way was a bad thing. The two girls at there are good friends who work in my lab, and their guys are just a riot. Actually, it's kind of funny to be with those two couples, as I can kind of take credit for getting them started. See the guys are both from dodgeball, and I brought the girls to dodgeball...it's funny how that worked out. So if there are any single girls in Minneapolis looking to meet a guy, let me know, I'll bring you to dodgeball and you can find a guy I guarantee it (note, I am not offering myself as said guy).

Anyway back on topic, I was there solo because the girl (yeah, I'm dropping the on-line part of the name, it's too much to type...but I just typed even more...crap) was having a get together with a bunch of her girl friends. But hey, for me being solo at a party is nothing new, hell it's the norm. The funny part was that shortly after I realized this I got a text message on my phone. It read "Helloooooo!", it was from the girl. I don't think that I had smiled that brightly all week. It was a super simple gesture, but so cool and it just reminds me that she's thinking of me, what more could I want? Since we were watching a watching a movie and she was waiting for the girls to get back to the party (they had to run an errand) we sent about 20 text messages over the next half hour (it's kind of slow to type with a phone). Nothing big was said, but it was just fun, to be able to have that kind of connection with her even though we were across the city from each other.

So yeah, life is good. Though I didn't get to see the girl I got something even better from her, a further sense of confidence that this relationship is really going very very well. Plus I got to hang out with some really cool friends last night, I must say the more time I spend with the guys from dodgeball the more I like them. Well, maybe I should say the more time I spend with them away from dodgeball the more I like them. Somehow I find it hard to like a guy who is trying to knock the glasses of my face with a ball. Hey, I will respect and even fear him at that time, and even though I'm know I'm supposed to be the friendly/happy Canadian even I can't like someone who is gunning for my head while he's doing it ;) But after the games we're all friends and these guys are becoming really good ones.

And just in case I don't post tomorrow, to all the Canadians, happy Thanksgiving. To the Americans, happy Columbus day, to those elsewhere in the world, just enjoy the day, who needs to put a name to it?

Mothers say the cutest things ;)

Ok, first off I love my mother dearly, that is never in question. However at times my mom can say some things that just make me laugh, honestly, whose mother doesn't.

One of my personal favorites from when I was living at home was when she would want to call someone for something. It usually went something like this "Brent, Michael, Chris." Ok, so who did she want, me, my brother or my father? After a while I learned that the last name was who she wanted. And that's just kind of cute and part of the reason I love my mother.

In the past few years I have had to laugh at a few other things that have been said, in particular 'sage' advice that mom wanted to impart to me. The best was a couple of years ago, around christmas. I was home from Edmonton, still feeling a bit of the effects of mono and the break-up from the girl who gave it to me.* So what sage advice does my mother have for me, not something about there being more fish in the sea, she's far more creative than that. Her advice was "There's no hurry to get married"??? I just got dumped, who was I going to be marrying? But I guess that's the way mom thinks at times, at least I was able to laugh about it (after being oddly perplexed for a moment).

*Just imagine how fun that would be, first day of the symptoms was the day I was dumped. Add to it the fact that the key symptoms of mono are very close to what I normally feel after a break-up: loss of appetite and fatigue. Is it any wonder it took me over 2 weeks to figure out I was sick

So this morning I opened up my inbox to find a message from mom, with an attached picture of my cousin's little girl (who's less than a year old). In the text of the e-mail mom writes: "Isn't she a cutey - now, don't get any ideas - I just want you to keep in touch with the family". Evidently my mother and I think in different ways. I see a picture of a baby, I see crying, burping, teething, changing...well just a whole hell of a lot of responsibility, I'm not ready for that. Plus there is that little biological hindrance, you know, needing a girl to help out and all. And though things are going well with the girl, I don't think bringing up the subject of kids is good this soon. Actually, she has specifically mentioned not feeling a real maternal instinct or need, after all she was second eldest of 12 kids, she has done a lot of mothering as it were. And I have to say, I'm all good with that, sure kids look like fun for a short period of time, like an afternoon, but 18+ years...I don't think I'm ready to settle down that way just yet, of if I will ever be ready.

But it's all cute, I love the fact that mom is making sure not to put pressure on me to get married or to have kids. Or maybe she's trying so reverse psycology, but I have to say, when I agree with my parent's advice, I'm one to take it. To be honest, neither of those items are anywhere in site on my "to do" list. Hell, I think I have a better chance of wining the cyclocross national championships sooner than I will be likely to be thinking of kids. So don't worry mom, I'm not getting married any time soon, and don't expect grandchildren from me.

All of this does lead me to wonder what kind of stuff my little bother hears. Ok, so he's not really little, well he is a bit shorter and weighs less than me (yes that is possible). But he has a real job, and has held it down for something like 3 years. Plus he has the long term girlfriend, I think that they are going on 4 years (though I could be wrong there). So if anyone is waiting for the next generation of the family, I think Mike is much further down the path, sorry to move the focus to you bro, but you put yourself in this position ;)

A missed opportunity

Alright, you guys had your chance. Seriously, how many whinny posts from me were you going to put up with before you told me to suck it up? Damn, I've finally reached the point where I'm sick of my bellyaching...and since none of you decided to slap me up side of the head for being such an ass I guess I'll have to do it myself.

You know, it wouldn't have been all that hard, just something like: "You've got a really cool, really good looking girl who likes to spend time with you, quite your bitching."

So that's where I am now, sure I miss the giddiness that I had for the first while, but shit, that never lasts. I still catch myself just looking at her and smiling, hell I've out with her 6 times in less than two weeks, so it's all good, actually it's great.

So don't expect more crap about relationships from me on here. I'll let you know the good things that happen. And you will hear about it should things fall apart completely, but no more speculation...well, not for the rest of this week, I can keep that promise.

That being said, time to get this blog back to what I really wanted it to be, a fun look at life, not some serious brooding. So for those of you who want a laugh, and since I seem to be in a rather self deprecating mood, here's a little gem of a story from yesterday.

Late in the day I wanted to get a snack from one of the vending machines. I went to the attached library building and found the chocolate bar of my liking (it's a chocolate bar damn it, not a candy bar). Anyway I notice a hand written note on the machine saying it was broken, crap.

I don't want to search out another machine, and anyway, I've seen those signs before and they have been full of shit. I look closer, and notice that the note is over a slot designed to take money from your student card...so maybe that's the only thing that isn't working...surely my dollar bill will work.

So sure enough I put it in, up comes the total on the screen $1.00, perfect, the Twix bar is only $0.80. So I press the buttons and...BEEP...the fucking thing doesn't work. So I figure, I'm at a loss here already, lets try a few other buttons...BEEP...BEEP...crap, I'm not getting shit from this.

At this point the universe decides to remind me that it isn't without a sense of humour, and knows just how to put you in your place real fast, thankfully I can laugh about it so I'm all good. So just before I turn around to leave, resigning my dollar and my potential snack, I hear from behind me: "The machine's broken, you see the note."

The astute commentator was the janitor as he pushed his garbage bin along. So, how many would have put money on the janitor being smarter than the postdoc? It goes to show you, a degree or two mean shit in the real world. Sure I have a PhD, but I thought I was smarter than the rest, now I'm out a buck...you know, this really fits well with my theme for the week of over-thinking everything!

Ah well, another buck paid into the stupidity tax...I've paid worse in the past (anyone remember the golf cart incident?) and this one certainly is a lot easier to laugh about right after the fact.

If I could just missplace my checked baggage...

It's funny, as I was riding the bus to work this morning I was thinking about what I wanted to say in the blog today. Invariably my thoughts seem to have returned to my relationship with 'on-line girl'. Yeah, I'm being neurotic again, but at least I recognize that fact. But what is really funny is that in my regular blog reading I came upon a really well written post on Waiter Rant. From reading this guys posts for a few months I have to say that he is probably my favorite blogger. The guy can be ridiculously funny at times, and others, like today, so deep and moving it's scary. I just found it to be really odd that he has written about, essentially, the same topic I'm going to get into, only his is from a slightly different perspective.

So without further delay, let's open up some of my baggage. Yeah, a lot of this stuff is dirty, most of it I don't really think needs to be on public display, but it needs to be aired out if I want this trip to be worthwhile (how's that for some metaphorical writing?). Seriously though, I think we have all said or heard told of a person bringing 'baggage' into a relationship. I don't know about the rest of you, but up until this morning I thought that I was free of baggage, then I found a claim ticket in my pocket.

You see, though I haven't had many relationships, and most were not very long or even all that meaningful, I invariably picked up some souvenirs. Some of these were very worthwhile, they helped me figure out who I am, what I am looking for. Others seem to be a bit more like Montezuma's revenge, though this one in particular keeps coming back, and the vengeance doesn't seem to abate much with time.

Of all the things that I have learned, the one thing that I managed to teach myself, even though it isn't necessarily true, is that whoever I fall for will invariably leave me. Yeah, a good part of this baggage is from a relationship that ended around this time a couple of years ago. Things seemed to be good, but appearances were deceiving. And despite the fact that even her family suggested that she not leave me, she did. But that was the past, yet despite how much I say that, I can't help but worry that it's going to happen all again.

So every now and then I reach into my pocket and find that claim tag for the baggage I have with me. It reminds me of how things have occurred in the past, and as a scientist that means a hell of a lot. After all, my work focuses on reproducibility of results, I do not get awards or accolades for the rare, one in a million outcome, yet in terms of relationships that is what we are looking for, funny isn't it.

But if I'm going to take that kind of an approach about things maybe I should look a bit closer at the conditions of this experiment. All the evidence to date suggests that this is a rare reaction, it's not proceeding the way I have seen any other reaction proceed before. So even though I have learned from my past, I really should remember to look at the way things are going, to see that the same patterns aren't there, and that I shouldn't try to manipulate the data to make it fit. If it's not the same it's not the same, perhaps the outcome will be different as well.

So maybe it's time I stop playing with the baggage claim ticket. I've tried to lose it, and I will try again, and hopefully with a little bit of help the baggage will go to a different destination this time. It is comforting to realize that I have this baggage, not that I want it, but to acknowledge it is important. Ignoring it will only make things worse. And seeing as I have received another e-mail from 'on-line girl' while writing this, I think I'm in good shape. Hell, we have sent 20 e-mails between us since Monday morning, and seen each other Monday and Wednesday night...damn I really have been focusing on the wrong things.

Sorry you all have to witness my neuroses some more. But who knows, maybe I'm helping someone else out in the process. I know that the Waiter helped me this morning, so this is my way of passing it on, while helping myself gain some perspective.

So how about something not about the girl?

Yeah, I think I'm even reaching my limit on how much I can go on about her...ok, maybe not, but I know my audience...except for those who read this that I do not know, which seems to be a growing number...alright, so now I have no idea who reads this and I'm starting to get paranoid, as long as I don't see more people from the DoD or the RAND Corporation checking the blog I won't get to paranoid (but it has happened).

In the world of my research things seem to be moving along quite well. After not being able to get a glue to stick to itself I have finally managed to get it to do just that, and in the process hold pieces of glass together as well. So this afternoon I will see if in doing so I managed to plug up the channels that I had made in the glass or if I have actually succeeded in doing something useful.

I hope that the later is the case, if only for my own safety. See as I have mentioned before the nanofab isn't really a safe place. Unlike my neighbourhood which may not be the safest place either the nanofab is full of hidden and unexpected dangers. I mean the guy hanging out on the corner at 2:00 am is probably not the nicest person in town, so it's easy enough to avoid him. The people in the lab however are just carelessly dangerous. Such as Monday, when one particularly brilliant individual (I assume he's an engineer, most people in there are), decided to leave 4 liter bottle of concentrated hydrogen peroxide (twice the concentration of what is used to bleach hair, 10 times as strong as the disinfectant for cuts) sitting on the floor. Oh, this was directly in front of the wet bench were we work with such friendly chemicals as hydrofluoric acid. So this bottle is not only a spill hazard, but it could trip you if you were moving a beaker of acid and watching it, to be sure not to spill. But this particular idiot also left the tap running for the distilled water (expensive purified water) running for minutes, even though he only used about 50 milliliters (10 seconds worth of water) can you just feel the respect I have for him?

It seriously worries me to go over there to do work, particularly around the chemicals. In large part because I doubt that the engineers clean up any spills they make and everything seems to be done in as dangerous a fashion as possible. Which is really funny coming from me, since I have a tendency to skirt safety issues frequently (i.e. drinking coke in the labs, wearing sandals and shorts...) though these are all relatively minor things, they do have some risk involved. Yet when dealing with things like making a piranha solution (concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated hydrogen peroxide) I take plenty of precautions. You see when you mix these two acids there is a lot of heat given off, enough so that the solution can actually start to boil if it is mixed too fast (pure sulfuric acid boils at 337 C, hydrogen peroxide at 141 C!). So any time a solution can boil itself it risks boiling over, and possibly spitting...a solution of very corrosive acid spitting out of it's beaker is not something I ever want to see. Yet I guess it happened recently, because when I was in the nanofab today I was the results. A beaker was sitting there with it's label nearly completely blackened from being attacked by the piranha solution. From the looks of it, whoever made this solution added things way too fast, such that the piranha solution boiled over the top of the beaker! Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to do this! Because this is not the first time I have seen something like that, don't these people think?

I guess this would explain all the holes/patches and discolourations on the bunny suits that we have to wear. In all my years of doing chemistry I only burnt myself once. My hand hit the tip of an auto dispenser of concentrated acetic acid (really really concentrated vinegar) and a drop got on my skin. It wasn't bad, I washed it right away, but the point is that in about 12 years of doing chemistry I have only had one instance where I got a chemical on me in any dangerous fashion. I truly doubt that the engineers working in the nanofab can say the same thing. Hopefully they will learn to be safer, but I doubt it. I guess unlike a chemistry lab, I will have to keep an eye on everyone around me if I want to stay safe. Funny, it's starting to sound a lot more like being in a rough neighbourhood, who would have thought that a bunch of engineers could be so dangerous?

Good news everybody...

Ok, so maybe it's only good news to me, but tough, you will all have to suffer through it (or go to another blog to get your fix). So the good news is that I'm certifiably paranoid...wait that's not good..meh. What I'm trying to say is that I was way over thinking what happened with 'on-line girl' last night. Today I got an e-mail from her asking me if I would go with her to another play, so obviously I haven't blown things. So thanks to the anonymous poster for reminding me to enjoy what I have while I have it. But I really want to thank Chantelle for all her help. As those of you who read her blog know, she's in Belgrade at the moment, but that hasn't stopped her from being a great friend for me.

By a wonderful coincidence of timing her last hour or so at work matches my first hours at work. So thanks to msn we tend to chat a little each morning (afternoon for her). She has been able to give me some great advice as to how to deal with the crap running through my head, as well as that unique female perspective that no matter how hard I try I just cannot fathom myself.

So yeah, all is good in my world. I just need to shut up my brain from time to time and just flow with it. Now if only I could find something interesting to post about instead of rambling on and on as I have been for the past week...meh, I'm happy, what do I care ;)

New record

Apparently tonight my seeing 'on-line girl' again was a record. It seems that in the past she had not seen a guy she was dating three days in a row. So yeah, I rock! Nah, but it is interesting to know that even when she was dating a guy for four months that didn't happen. I think my bigger concern is that she might tire of me, but I have yet to tire of her, so why should she of me...ok, don't answer that one, you just might be able to shatter this deluded shell of self-confidence.

Then again, that may not be as easy to accomplish as it normally would. After all, 'on-line girl' has been very taken by how sweet I am. It seems that along with seeing her three days in a row, having someone be as kind and considerate as myself. The funny thing is that I don't think I am being any different than who I normally am. Which is nice, because it's not like it's something I have to work hard to be, but it also makes me wonder what the guys she had been with were like. It also has me a bit worried that somehow this aspect of my person will come back and bite me in the ass.

You know what, I think that last comment is a sign of some of the anxiety I'm feeling. I have to admit that I'm worried that this will all come to an end suddenly. I don't know at this time if this is just the baggage I carry from past relationships, or if it's something else. But I do worry about it, I suppose everyone does. Personally, I'm worried that I may scare her off, by coming on too strong or saying the wrong thing. To be honest, I though that I had fucked things up tonight. At one point while we were holding each other on her couch I told her that I adored her. Yeah, I know, too much, too soon, as soon as it came out of my mouth my mind was screaming at me for having said it. I wish I could say that all the fear was for not, but she got quiet and tucked her head to my shoulder and just stayed there for a long time, the longest time that we have not been talking yet. It's funny, I literally felt myself deflate some as I held her there, thinking that it was done, that was the last time I would be able to hold her, trust me, that is not a fun thought.

Thankfully it would seem that that was simply more of me being paranoid. I don't mind that she didn't say anything in response to my comment, I really didn't expect a response (ok, so having said it before I knew what I was doing is part of the reason, but just the same, I would not necessarily expect her to say anything in response). I can only infer at this point as to why she got quiet, I'm not dumb enough to question her as to why. But we continued to talk later, and kiss, and it all felt as it had before I opened my mouth. In fact things got a bit better as we realized it was about time for me to leave. She made the comment that she wished I 'didn't have to leave'. Of course I did have to leave, it's still too early on for me to stay over, we both know that, but the fact that the desire is there is a good sign (at least to my paranoid little mind).

I do have to say this, it is so much easier to be alone, and more or less emotionally level. But despite it being easier to be level, I don't think I would trade the highs that I have felt in the past couple of weeks for anything. Sure there are pitfalls, I can focus on the minor aspects that are less than ideal, but they are a minority of the time. There has been so much good that sometimes I really cannot see the forest for the trees.

Looks like I will be racing again

This summer was an interesting one for me, and for more than just the fact that I moved to a new country. What I think made it particularly interesting, or more appropriately odd, was that I was not doing any bike racing. Anyone who has had the miss fortune of asking me a question about bicycling soon realized that I am more than willing to go on and on about bikes, racing, training, tactics, history or anything else to do with bicycles for that matter. So when I moved to Minneapolis it was a bit of a shock not to have a club to ride and train with, and as a result no team to race with.

Finally though I did find the Birchwood Cafe team, a group with whom I really get along well with and makes me feel as comfortable as I did with ERTC. A good sign of that may be the fact that I've already started working my way into aspects of running the club. I figure if I stick around here for another full year I will be in charge of the team, after all, it only took a year and a half of riding with ERTC to take over there.

But since I didn't find a club until later in the season I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be racing. In large part a financial decision but also one made on the basis that though I was strong I was not in the fitness I am accustomed to for racing (ok, I was going to get my ass handed to me if I tried to race, I didn't want to go through that). But as fall rolled around thoughts of cyclocross racing crept back in. I enjoy cyclocross racing so much that I have started doing a skills clinic for club members on Sunday afternoons. I was simply giving those that showed up the knowledge Peter Toth gave me the year prior (when he won the Canadian Cyclocross Championships in Master B). For those that aren't aware in cyclocross you ride what is essentially a road bike off road, a challenge in and of itself. To add to this though there are barriers and/or hills too steep to ride throughout the course. When you get to these you need to get off the bike, and run with it as fast as possible. The technique that I was teaching was how to get off the bike quickly and efficiently. Something which I do really, really well (probably because of the sprinting I did in high school) because I can close gaps of 15 feet when running over a set of double barriers.

So since the club has been doing cyclocross training rides on Tuesdays I have proven to be one of the stronger riders coming out to the event. Of course this garners the attention of those who race and they keep prodding me to get out and race the cyclocross season. Well, now that a friend has found that the race license fee is reduced for an end of season license it looks as though I will have to go out and race. After all I can't simply teach it and not do it.

My confidence in how well I can do is a bit shaky, I have not done a single race and my body is not accustomed to suffering that way at this time. But if the ride yesterday is any indication I should be in pretty good shape. I took a long sprint for a town sign with ease. I actually beat 3-4 guys who got an earlier jump and were drafting each other. I came from behind and just blew past them to take the sign by a very large margin. Shortly thereafter guys were still feeling a bit jumpy and three strong guys took off on a hard attack. I didn't want to chase at first, hoping someone else would take up the chase, but I guess I'm just a bit too competitive, so I chased them down, after giving them a comfortable head start (comfortable for them that is). Though I didn't catch them I was able to pull along at about 45 km/h (according to the guy who was on my draft) for a good solid stretch of time.

So I guess along with all the other ramblings that you chose to read on here (I'm still kind of puzzled by return visits, but what the hell) you will have to put up with some form of race summary from time to time (probably Monday mornings). So that's your warning, who knows, I may even be able to get some photos of the races to share, I have a feeling I will be able to get some friends out for a race or two to watch, maybe even 'on-line girl' whom I had another great date with last night ;)