2006 Summary

all in all, 2006 has been good to me. sure it had its low points, but the high points made up for it.. here is a summary of my year:

+ Last winter i spent more time on my trainer than i ever thought possible.
+ I joined a new team & met some really cool people.
+ The season started well, with some of my best results.
+ In May, I crashed hard, fracturing 4 vertebrae in my neck, dislocated my right shoulder, and broke my left collarbone in 2 places (type 2 distal), requiring surgery - a plate & 7 screws to get things back to normal. The docs said i couldn't ride again for 6 months.
+ It was amazing how many people visited me in the hospital. People from my new team that i had barely just met (mike, marvin, hannah, josef)came to see me... as well as people that i only knew from 'cross races (pierre, yash). This meant more to me than they will know.
+ I took the next 2 months off from work & lived with my parents during that time. I got closer to my parents during this time, then in the past 32 years. My mom was an angel and catered to me day & night. Allie showed her true colors and did more for me than i could have ever asked for. She really is the most caring person I know.
+ After 2 months I got back on the trainer (granted it was only for 15mins). After 3 months, I was training up to 2hrs/day (with my arm in a sling). After 4 months, i was back on the road (with some serious pain). After 5 months I did my first 'cross race :)
+ Mark moved up to Manch for the summer & we got to chill a few times. He is a cool dude.
+ Allie got a job in Manch & moved up here in August. She now lives 1.5 miles away from me!!
+ My position as President of my Condo Association sucks & after 3 years, i will not be running again (come january)
+ Mark got me to buy a rice/veggie steamer. This was probably the best purchase I have ever made.
+ Me & Paul spent waaaay too much time sending stupid emails to each other.
+ My sister is starting to get better & its great to see her when she comes to visit.
+ I traded my SAAB in for a Toyota Yaris - lots of people make fun of me for this decision - but my gas bill is cut in half with my 40mpg.
+ I have got into countless arguments about my vegan believes with a certain co-worker that just loves to egg me on. (i can only ignore him for so long).
+ Sucker Brook Cross was a huge success.
+ I gave up waiting for my Pegoretti cross frame & bought a Ridley instead.
+ Cross season came & went. While I had pretty lousy results, I did get to compete in ab out 20 races. not bad, eh?
+ Thanksgiving was a good time with my family. It is always good to spend time with the ones you love.
+ Christmas came & went much too fast this year. I say this every year, but NEXT year, I want to be in the Christmas spirit alot sooner :)
+ After a couple weeks off, me & allie started hitting the gym. I want to do some running & compete in a few races before i start riding my bike again.
+ Despite making more money, I owe almost exactly the same on my credit card as I did last year. ugh. (in my defense, i DID have to take 2 months off from work, plus those pesky medical/therapy bills).
+ I got my picture in a Ridley Add.
+ I went to NYC with allie for the day on one of her business trips. For the first time - the crowds in times square really annoyed me. But on the plus side, I met one of her good friends & had some good food :)
+ I didnt do 1/2 the things I wanted to do on this weeks vacation. Oh well. There's always next year, right?

Death Ball

so a couple of important new events..
1) i set a new record for ball bouncing this morning. i started my counting over again at 100, and then counted by tens... but then in the heat of the moment, i cant recall if i did a full 2 or 3 sets of tens... so the record is a conservative 124 but it could have also been 134. but ill say 124, as nobody is going to touch that anytime soon.

2) a new game has been invented: DEATH BALL. Basically, one to three people go into our archiving room (a small room with no windows, and nothing important that can break)... we then shut the lights off & kick the hell out of this yellow dodge ball. its insane. because its completely dark you can see if you are about to get nailed in the nuts. its a blast.

3) i have 15 more minutes of "work" then im on vacation for 10 days. aww yeah. im stoked.

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers bit the heads off frogs and ate the heart of a rabbit as signs of courage on Wednesday at a ceremony to transfer Najaf province, home to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, from U.S. to Iraqi control.

yeah. eating the heart of a rabbit is sooo courageous.

yawn.

damn am i tired. im so bored with work. luckily we have next week completely off, which is sweet. nothing much planned, but i do want to get my life in order. some major cleaning, organizing, possibly some painting, and definitely some relaxing. I toyed with the idea of getting a new computer last week, so that i could have it in time to play a poop-load of video games...aww yeah. but i decided against. i wanna wait till Vista comes out. it looks wicked cool (and i dont want to hear from you mac fanboys about how much better mac is than pc... bite me).

This is the first year in I dont know how long, that i have NO IDEA what my parents are getting me for Christmas. its kinda cool. the past few years, they have given me $$ towards some sort of uber-expensive bike-related product. not this year. its like im 10yrs old again. fun fun. Im almost done my shopping...just a few more things. Im bummed, as 1/2 the stuff i bought for allie is on back-order & wont be here till after christmas. she dont care, but im still bummed.

ok. 2.5 more days of work. blah.
outtie

nationals recap

me& allie headed down to RI on saturday to watch the elite men. what a cool race. we got to hang out with some cool peeps & watch some awesome racing.
My race was scheduled for 9:30am the next morning & i was having doubts about whether or not i should do it. i have been feeling like poop lately, barely been on the trainer, and overall, was just not in the mood for racing. i hoped that the excitement of nationals would give me some super-human strength & allow me to finish good. Last year i had a good ride & finished 37th. This year, i was 'hoping' for top50.

well, things didnt go as plan, by the end of lap 1, i had move backwards soo much, it was demoralizing. my legs felt horrible. i had nothing. people were cheering for me, but it wasnt helping. after 2 laps, i went down pretty hard & almost nailed a tree. ugh. both shifters were pointed in, my hip & knees were hurting, and now i was a little pissed off. i continue on, but i aint working hard. my teamate jen yells out "come on, you barely look like you're sweating". yeah, thats because i WASNT! ha. at that point, i just wanted to be done. to add insult to injury, i went down again on the same hip. ugh. at that point, i lost all will to race. i wanted to drop out and Coley from harborside could obviously see that, as he yelled out 'come on, you cant quit, its NATIONALS". i soft-pedaled the last couple laps to the end, finishing an embarrassing 114th place. even typing that upsets me. i have never felt soo bad on a bike as i did yesterday.

i got changed & me & allie had a good 'rest of the day' most of the IBC team was there & it was good to hang with everyone, one last time, before hibernation :) The rest of the IBC team had good rides, especially CTodd, who finished thirty-something. Pierre kicked ass coming in at 14th.

it was disappointing to go out on such a low-note, but i have big goals for next year. y'all just wait and see. Last night included some Sam Adams and some Soy Delicious ice cream... aww yeah.

alalalala

it made it into Pitchfork's best videos of 2006. aww yeah.

the descendants are the only things keeping me alive.

'milo goes to college' is the only thing keeping me semi-sane. i have it playing as loud as my crappy speakers can go. today sucks. huge project that has no way of getting done by its deadline. then i have a docs appt at 4pm. then a meeting for work at 7pm. i was going to head home for a bit.... but i think im going to do the full 14hr straight thru. ugh. nothing like leaving for work at 6am & getting home at 9pm. ugh.

sad news

James Kim found deceased | CNET News.com

ugh. this story is so sad. being a tech-dork, i would always read his reviews. i have been following this hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. looking at the pictures of him & his kids makes me wanna cry.

end of vaca

so im back at work. blah. my week off was not quite the fun, relaxing vacation i had planned. allie got sick on thanksgiving. then i got sick the morning of sterling (saturday). then we both were sick. then she got better, then i got sicker, then she got sick again... well you get the picture.

sunday morning rolled around & i was feeling better, so i decided to head down tot he MRC race. cool venue. the race was a mix of fields & woods roads. anyways, due to my semi-sickness, i didnt have much expectations and was mostly just racing because im getting FAT and need to shed some lbs soon. anyways. i started towards the back & took it relatively easy on the first lap... coming in the back section, i saw ctodd had just crashed... but he quickly recovered & at that point, me, mike & ctodd rode together for a bit. we split up, with ctodd pulling ahead & looking strong. I continued to ride a steady pace, but assuming i was mid-pack, i wasnt going to bury myself for 25th place, ya know? so with 1 lap to go, someone yells out that im in 15th. oh. cool, but i wish i had know that a few laps ago (my bad for not knowing my place). i promptly picked up the pace & passed the 4 guys in front of me & pull in for 11th place.

im thinking about doing this weekend in RI. but ill see how im feeling. still not 100% yet, but certainly better than last week. Im kinda looking foward to the season being over & taking a break. I didnt have much time to train for this season, and im definately at the end of things. its odd, im already excited to start training for 2007. there were soo many things i didnt accomplish this year.... but i did what i could do, given the circumstances. next year will be better. much better. :) and i cant wait.

BREITBART.COM - Richards to Meet Men He Offended

BREITBART.COM - Richards to Meet Men He Offended
while 'kramer' certainly owes these men an apology, he certainly doesnt owe them money. this is ridiculous.
these men should either accept the apology & move on, or dont accept it & move on. but to say "i will only accept your apology if you pay me" is absurd.