Well, last week I spent most of my energy working the emergency issue with another program I got asked to work for my dept. Short story was that I got things done, tested, documented, reported to the dept and impounded into the database by COB on friday. It was tough work but I did good, IMHO, and I think the dept and the program is happy. We did a lot in a very short amount of time. So by Friday I was exhausted. All I wanted on friday night was a good night's sleep.

Thursday we had the news that Dorinda passed away. That pretty much dampened my enthusiasm for anything projecty which is exactly opposite on how I'm sure she would want things to be. She was a bright star in the sky for us. A smile that could light up a room and one of the best huggers ever. I'm sad for her, her family and sad with myself for not remembering when I saw her last. I just don't remember and that sucks.

So wearily we went to bed on friday night after I'm not sure what. Seriously I'm so brain fried I don't even know what we had for dinner. We slept in...well, Mel slept in till 8. I got up with Benton about 7 and that was good. He was hungry and we had to pack for MEF. We got on the road about 45 mins later than we planned but we made it in time to get checked in, change clothes and get to circle. Unfortunately, that didn't involve lunch so we starved through court and left after I made my announcement for the QPAS and then back to our room to eat the wonderful burritos that public_shaylan had gotten us. Seriously, best burrito since the one I had right after Benton was born.

Got back down to the hall to find out that they were setting up for the feast. Oh, well, I was still kinda hungry. So, I got the QPAS running and then got plates out and had the feast. It was really well done by the hotel. The food was fresh, hot and savory. Plenty of it to go around and the fact that they got two sets of serving lines was fabulous. The meat balls were heaven. Things were weird with our timing all day. I had to leave to head back up and feed benton, the knights circle ran at a weird time and over long and I didn't get to dance until well after things were done.

Course when I was up with Benton getting dressed to go dance and mel was in Knight's circle. My son got adventurous. He decided to test gravity and fell off the bed. I was going back and forth between the room and the bathroom and I heard him playing with the bag of wipes and as I ran out I heard a very sickening thunk and he started wailing. I have to say I felt like the worst mom in the world. I picked him up from where he was all turtled up on the floor. He was screaming and I didn't see any blood but I grabbed the hotel key and ran downstairs with him to find Tym or Finneas. Found Finneas and after an examination deemed him shook up but just fine. I think I was more hurt and upset than the boy was. I got him snuggled up with dverning and got myself calmed down more and got my veils back on and back down to the hall. Man I felt awful and just waited until mel got out of circle to tell him. I'm pretty sure if there had been blood I would have barged in on the circle for Sir Alfred. But it was okay. I wasn't really okay for a while but I finally calmed down, got reassured by lots of people and finally got the boy back up to the room with daddy and fed for bed.

Thanks to Patrick the Butcher we had drummers come back out at 10pm and I danced hard for 45 mins before just sitting down. My body wasn't happy with me and I knew it and pushing through it was not in my best interest. I had a wonderful time chatting with visiting Calontiry who happen to be my niece's roommates. (its a very, very small world at times). I also owe a guy from Mons a special thank you for buying me a margarita...I needed it and didn't have any cash and the bar that would charge to the room was closed. I danced and I need to practice more. I was very inspired by one of the gals there and Ari and I's commentary about how awesome she was which involved the phrase "damn that is hot" made Bredan stop drumming since we distracted him. She was awesome with the best isolations I have seen in a very, very long time. Things to aspire to.

Ari and I headed back to my room and the hrafn boys plus the Bran boys were having a very lively discussion on many topics over mead and beer and fun. The Benton was passed out and sleeping very nicely and could care less about the room full of Vikings. All good though. We all stayed up way to late talking. I slept okay...I was worried that Benton was going to roll off the bed...but we had him blocked in on all sides. I just worried as I do. Benton let us sleep in until 8am and then it was packing and working out what we wanted to do. Mel was very worse for wear and needed food so all decisions were on hold until we got him caffeinated and fed. We headed out to Cupz and Crepes in Awahtukee and had a really nice breakfast there. Then it was decided that a quick trip to Sweden and then home. We had been invited to a few BBQ's but all of us were pretty tired. Got home and relaxed with naps. I got my bike running and went for a quick sprint to get things back into memory (like clipping in/out and shifting).

I stopped off at one of the BBQ's on the way home to just say hi and that was good. Got home before the wind really picked up. My legs felt okay and the bike was comfortable which was good since I had a ride scheduled with the Simpleview team the next AM. We all went to bed early and I got up at 5am to get ready for my pickup by Ed at 520.

I was nervous about riding with a group of much fitter people and well, I did not too bad. I sucked it on the climb to the monument but a lot of that was getting used to riding and the fact that my quads were very tight from dancing. But I managed and even though I was slow I did it without too much trouble...course I had a good coach in Ed behind me the whole time. We couldn't ride the monument due to a running race so we did a loop from escalante back to broadway/houghton. By the end I was feeling pretty good though my legs were tired and my sit bones were telling me they didn't like me. I was okay with the fact we didn't get to do the monument. Next time though will be good.

Got home and grabbed the boys and we met Ed, Candace and Holly for breakfast at Joes. Had a really nice time. Benton grabbed a glass and knocked it over. Lol. After breakfast we headed to Ace Hardware for me to pick up supplies for my regalia piece. Got home and had a grumpy boy would just wanted to be held. It wasn't very conducive to me getting things done but by the end of the day I managed to watch almost all of Torchwood: Miracle Day, work on practicing the regalia piece construction, washed some dishes, did some laundry, cleaned out the freezer of breast milk (wow, there was a lot in there..now have only a month supply), watched a movie we hadn't seen (Secretariat) and spent some time with the family. I still felt kinda useless and burned out. I think that was the lack of sleep talking. I did plenty I shouldn't complain but I wasn't up for people or anything else but bed by the time we got Benton in bed. Missed the girls at Scribble but just time to relax and hit the sack early was good.

Oh, well, its Tuesday which is really Monday and Wednesday this week since we only have a 3 day work week. Time to push the paperwork.

It seems odd that yesterday as Thursday but for the amount of stuff I have accomplished this week I shouldn't be surprised that it was thursday. Work was good. Got lots accomplished and then headed home. I was worried that I was going to get rained out since it was spitting on me when I parked the car but I put more soil on my strawberries and then got changed to bike.

The monsoon only hit the mountains though even when I was biking I was fighting the wind a lot. It helped me part of the way. I really need to figure out why my bike comp is broke but my GPS said I went 14.9mph. I'm not sure how much I believe that since it had a longer distance and I went the same yesterday. I need to know what I'm doing. Anyhoo. I was quicker than Tuesday and that mattered. It felt harder but I was pushing hard to try to beat the storm which didn't hit.

Got done, changed and made us dinner. I really luv the fact that I can grill all year round in Tucson. It makes things so much easier. Mel was happy to have dinner waiting. He's been working hard on the project for Viktor and its coming along nicely.

I got down to working on the scroll and am very happy to say I have about an hour or so left of work to do on it. I have to fix a couple of callig oop's and paint smudges, ink around the fancy letters and I should be done...like a week ahead of time. WOW! I'm happy about that. While working on this I was watching the 2nd disk of castle. OMG...so much fun. After painting I got my fiber together, got the spinning off of my drop spindle that I had done at the retreat and at home and started spinning for Tour de Fleece. I got sucked into it and it was going really well. Still haven't gotten off park and draft but I'm going okay. YAY!

So, here are pictures of the progress from last night:
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posadnik_ivan placed 961
meowandbark placed 962
american_knight placed 964
I placed 1067 (5 hours 48 mins btw).
Matt (Malius) placed 1068

Matt and I were about 10 mins behind and there were approximately 1400 riders on the 66 mile.

My coirker Rich G. placed 91 in the 109 race and my old boss Bob K. placed 936.

Work was kinda crazy but manageable. I did not have the brain drain of the day before and the afternoon coasted by. Got home, had a snack and then headed to american_knight's for the El Tour drive and packet pick up.

The route is a lot of hills...mostly up until about the 42 mile mark for the 66 mile ride. A bit daunting but I think our team will do fine and make it just fine. Our goal is 1)Don't crash, 2) cross the finish line by hopefully 3pm and 3) if we can't cross the line it better be from mechanical failure. Took us quite a while to drive the route and its really twisty to get the mileage. Please see El tour Route to avoid the traffic snarls on Saturday morning and afternoon. Please be kind, courteous and just don't drive on the route if you can help it. And pass the word on. Thanks.

Got to go to the expo and I drooled over the Giant women's racing bikes. Wow. Plus they had adjustable shifters that fit my hand and let me shift while off the saddle. Wow. Very awesome. I'll be looking at those next year. Hopefully someone local has them.

After dinking around the expo and getting the safety briefing which was pretty helpful we headed to barrio for a quick beer and dinner. Got home about 10pm and then it was time for bed. I had weird bike related dreams (go figure) but I slept pretty good. I was cold again this morning and still warming up.

Got meetings and FRB and a section meeting with the new section. Should be interesting. Well, on to things. Hope to get out of here on time to get a short ride in and then work on bikes and projects tonight. I have the need to cast on something new.

Well, Ivan and I rode a short ride yesterday of 10.5 miles at 15.7mph. I was not happy when we were done. Trust me when I say if a doc ever wants to do anything to you before you plan on racing, tell them "no" and do it after you've trained and raced. Being off of my bike for 2 weeks to let things heal and then have them still hurt is not cool IMHO. But I'm just gonna have to deal and bike as much as I can. Its not gonna be pleasant but I shall have to cope and cry when I get off the saddle.

Got done with my ride, changed and had a shake, updated my ride since my GPS went weird and then headed to music practice after I watched Mel break Richard's bed. The bed frame is fine but the brand new canvas cover tore. Needs better material and I think webbing to help with the strain on the fabric but it looked really cool though. Luckily we have an extra cot. All good.

Went to music practice and learned the next section. Its neato and much harder than the last section but i think at the end I finally got the melody and soon I will have the effing French pronunciation down as well. French is not my fav language. Though there are some on flist who are fluent who are probably laughing at me.

After practice I hit panda express on Harrison. Wow, not the best panda...very slow and with staff that speak accented English in very quiet tones...which isn't good for the girl who has been off her allergy meds for a few days and just got done singing. Got to Ari's and it was just her and Sioux. But we had a good time. The sekrit project for the Regatta is made of awesome and with commentary from scribe_ari and I its gonna be fun to stare at for long periods. I managed to not really accomplish anything. I got some lines on a scroll, then had a water incident and then got a lining sheet and lost my motivation. So I pulled out my knitting. Got home and the boys were killing zombies. I got my new podcasts loaded up and then hit the showers and bed. I was tuckered out and only read a small ways in my book.

I did manage to finish #26 of 50in2009 with The Devil's Right Hand by Lilith Saint Crow while on vacation. It was fun and interesting in the plot. It was not as angsty and whiny as the reviews on Amazon would lead you to believe. I just think its one of those transitional books that sets things up to come.

Well the game on friday was cancelled so I worked on Momma Ellen's xmas gift and made sure mel went to be at a reasonable time since he was still not feeling good. I slept okay and get up at 630ish to get ready for a ride with Malius and Ed. We did a 31 mile ride around pistol hill/vail area. I've never been out that way and it was nice and we took quick breaks around rincon valley market and the walgreens in vail. The walgreens trip was good since I'd depleted my pack and a gatorade got me the rest of the way to eds. I felt good even with having to walk up one hill. I did much better on gearing and cadence and though I didn't go as fast with as the guys...they waited for me on two of the hills it was a good training ride and I can go 30 miles and not be too dead.

Got home, hit the showers and packed the car to head up to chocolate revel for Grainne's vigil. Managed to get there with time to change before court. I was tired...mel was still feeling not so hot but we ate lunch, chatted with folks, went to the vigil and I started on fibergeek's xmas present. Its gonna be neato. We had a nice time, low key and Baron Christopher did an awesome filk for the bardic. We left with waffle in tow and got home about 9pm. Things weren't quite done at the event but we were. At home I made high protein dinner and then it was time for bed. I was toast.

Got up this morning and felt not too bad. I had some coffee and then got on my bike for the 10 mile circuit. Yes my legs were tired, yes I was saddle sore but getting out felt great and I worked well on my cadence again and made the route in 16mph Not too shabby. Had breakfast with mel, ed, candace and holly at Joe's and then biked home without keys..oops. Had to wait for mel. Now I've had a shower and will be soon working on my studio and the kitchen...both need to be cleaned up and be useful.

Though I think a nap might also happen, I have a very, very snuggly punkin on my lap right now who is exuding nap love at me. We shall see who wins.

Well, work was busy...I'm almost done, completely done with two reports and found out i have the data to write a 3rd...sighs. But my part of things is almost done and I can get back to my normal job...hopefully.

Got home a bit later than I planned and I got into biking gear, charged my phone up and headed out. I did the same route as yesterday...the bike was clicking oddly in high gear, not grinding but I'm not sure what is up. I'm lacking in bike maintenance skills and that is the suck. I think I might have tweaked something taking it out of the car on tuesday. not sure. Did the ride. 6.5 miles at 15.0 mph, including a big head wind. I almost put another mile or so on but the clicking was driving me bonkers. Hopefully, reynier can give me some help on that. Got home and had dinner and got changed for knit night. Kung fu just didn't appeal and I was tired and a bit saddle sore from the new seat. Its comfy but I can tell its different.

Got to knit night and it was small and subdued but that was okay. I relaxed and enjoyed the company and ignored the fact that the Ashford Tekapo is on sale. I might not ignore it Friday. We shall see. Got home and realized that I had done two rows completely wrong on the hat and had to tear it back to the brim. Sighs. Its a bitch to frog back to due to the yarn. But I managed to do that, re-ball the yarn and get about 8 of the "pebble" done on the redone row. It makes much more sense now by that point I was uber tired and headed to bed.

Mel had a rough evening...he was tired and when I came home he was running a low fever...lots of water, Vitamin C and meds got him better for bed. Not sure how he slept but he was still tired this morning.

I got going for work on time and headed out. My ipod was being rather quirky. It played Uptown Girl, then So it goes by Bill Joel, Breathe by NIN and then Irving by Dr. Demento. Isn't that odd?

Well, onto the engineering. Thank goodness its Virtual Friday.

sighs...well, it was slipping gears and being generally unhappy and the seat is still causing me issues...so I don't get it back until Tuesday and then I do a re-fit with a new seat to help with the numbness I've been getting after about 10 miles. I hope it won't be too spendy but we shall see (the seat, I get free maintenance).

So, I did some shopping after I got my toes done. They are a very pretty fuschia now. Got a sketch book since I don't seem to be able to locate one in the house. Got some more yarn..yeah, I know, I'm a sucker...but its new fibers soy/wool blend to try and some other good standbys for things coming. I still need to run out and get miss holly a b-day gift but I think I'll head out and then finish mel's hat. Then I think bed. I'm worn out from today which I guess is okay. Good for me.

So, a while back to help people get in shape and get around a bit easier they started putting commuter bikes in the lobbies so you can use to get from A to B around plant site. Its 1.25 miles as the bike travels to get to the factory I need to be in this morning so i got 2.5 miles of biking in at 14.5 mph (not bad on a heavy, 3 geared, commuter with a big ass seat). I might see if its available again for my noon meeting when I have to be over there again...cause 5 miles in would be good for me. We shall see.

My only bitch is that the building I'm going to has no gate that I can get the bike through and I had to walk a rather long way. They had a bike rack inside the gate....which doesn't make any sense.

EDIT:
Did a second ride...a bit more mileage and found the one manned gate that let me bike on through. Very glad I biked today and now I don't feel too bad about not doing it when I get home. Plus, I don't think I'll need my nap.

So, after the longest work week in four days it was a blessing to ride this morning...but first a recap. I've been pushing hard the last few weeks to get my ass off of the couch and out and about again. The sick and the travel couldn't be excuses for me not continuing on my goal for getting back to high school weight by our wedding anniversary. And I fought when I was sick and tired, I fought some more while sick and tired. I didn't drink when I wanted to and I've been pushing to get back onto the bike. Fighting has been going good. I'm pleased with both performances at the tourneys this week and training has been sticking. I'm not stubborn, I'm just dense and once things get past the fortification layer...things start clicking. (the fortification layer is a radome joke btw which is all work related SNAFU as well). anyhoo, last night after a tiring practice where I fixed a few more things and worked on flow mel and I decided we would bike today.

Of course that was before mel found wool moths in the bedroom...now its a great moth hunt and washing and moth balls and cedar will be purchased anew today...again. Nothing of mine was touched but mel's stuff took some eatings..including a pair of SCA pants and his favorite scarf. Guess I'll have to make him a new scarf...darn.

Anyhoo...he was up late working on moth hunting and his sheild. I worked a bit on my undershirt for saturday and then I was in bed asleep. Got up this morning and mel had a head ache. After some coffee and pain killers we got going for a ride. Mel had a flat to fix so I worked some more on the undershirt and then we headed out on a short 7 mile ride. It was nice...legs and lungs protested a bit for me. My left knee has been popping oddly and painfully but its not been debilitating like it had before. It pops, I stretched and then its just sore....so its healing. I'm sure if I'd been biking the last month it wouldn't be giving me any issues but eh...sometimes life happens. We had a good ride, good pace until the ride back through the wind. It was a bit brutal so we worked on our staggered riding. Good breakfast at Joe's. Oh, and I wore my Team Fatty jersey. Its finally not so hot in the mornings and we were early enough I didn't need to worry about sun burning myself. Its a good fit and very comfy though the girls at joe's told me Team Fatty isn't a good name for me. Eh, I explained and they thought it was then cool.

So, I just need to get a hold of someone who might have Delphina's address...cause I lost it again. Which is odd...I know I put it in mobile me...and now its not there.

Well, time for sewing etc and a good day.