Hello sunshine!

What's wrong with this sentence: "Today I flew out of rainy LA and returned to a beautifully sunny Seattle." Trust me, it's true.

On the way home I had one of those flights that are only reserved for people who don't fly well (like, myself!). You know the kind, right? Non-stop turbulence so bad that you can't even drink your water because you're afraid you might choke the next time you drop 500ft in about 2 seconds. Yeah, it was one of those. Good times!

So here's my funny story from yesterday....

My stepmom wanted to get a tragus piercing so we went together so I could offer support. I have two piercings in my left ear lobe and only one in the right, so I decided while I was there I'd finally get a quick second lobe piercing in my right ear. It was a snap, no problem, piece of cake. Then I decided I'd go ahead and add a third to my left ear. Why not, right? What I didn't realize was that it was pretty high up into the cartilage. When the needle went through I nearly shot off the table. Hands down, that's the most painful piercing I've ever had, which is ridiculous!

Diana had her tragus done, said it didn't hurt at all, and bragged all night about how she didn't even feel anything. Meanwhile, I ended up knocking down two margaritas, two Excedrin, and finally two Tylenol because my left ear hurt so freaking bad I considered lopping it off. It's finally a bit better today, but it still hurts. I can't even feel the second lobe piercing. I can most definitely say that I will NOT be getting that helix piercing I wanted. If ear cartilage hurts that bad, screw that.

I'm off for sea salt soaks and some relaxation before starting the new job tomorrow. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a killer of a day.

Sunshine!

I went to Camarillo today and actually found one spot in southern California where there wasn't pouring rain. It was breezy, cool, and cloudy but the sun peeked out for a bit and it felt awesome. I probably won't see it again 'till May :(

Time to evaluate those cycling goals

This is definitely the year of not following my cycling training plan and to be perfectly honest, I'm actually not stressed about it. Don't get me wrong, I still love cycling, but I'm just not motivated to get on the bike right now. I've been doing the weekly CycleU Indoor TT and that's about all I feel like doing. I'm still staying active by hitting the gym and snowboarding like crazy, but I just haven't put in time on the bike. I think my last team ride was in October and I haven't ridden over 30 miles but maybe once or twice since then.

I'm a little disappointed because I enlisted Kristi Berg to help me out this year, but I think I need to sit down and really evaluate my cycling goals. The more I think about it the more interest I lose in road racing. With the new job starting next week I'm going to be swamped, so I'm just not sure how much time I'm going to be able to put into training. To be honest, I'm considering only doing 2-3 road races and just focusing on cross and mountain biking. Dirt is where it's at!! The thought of not training until mid-summer sounds fantastic!

LA Rain

Well, so much for a sunny and dry vacation. I flew into LAX Sunday and it's rained nonstop pretty much since Monday. I'll definitely be heading out for some snowboarding down here tomorrow and/or Friday, but I may have to go back to Seattle to get some sun!

Night time boarding at Alpental

Last night I went up to Alpental for some night time boarding, and it was awesome! There's really only one beginner area there, but it was great because I had the entire run and lift pretty much to myself all night. That was a good thing because I managed to eat shit off the lift every time. At least I didn't need to worry about anyone piling into me. The lift was the fastest one there and the exit ramp was steep. I just couldn't stick it. I added a stomp pad to my board today so we'll see if that helps next time.

The new board rocks! It's so much lighter and easier to turn than a rental board, though the first time I hopped on I nearly had a heart attack because it's so much faster. I ended up doing maybe 6-8 runs last night and finally started getting the hang of toe-side turns. I think I need one more good practice day to get some more confidence and then I might be ready for some bigger runs.

It's amazing how tired I get boarding. I think I could have done more but my body was too sore from crashing off the lift so many times that I finally had to call it a night. I watched Ben and Eric do a few runs, then we hit the lounge for some beer. After two beers I decided I would cruise over a little mini bump to work up to trying a jump, and it was a mistake. I got off balance rolling over the bump, caught my heel edge, and smacked down pretty hard. I got it the next two times but I think I'll hold off on jumps for a bit. I have zero confidence in my ability to catch even 1" of air :) Eric landed a pretty sweet one that was a couple of feet. I'm making that my goal by the end of the season.

I have a pretty nice soon-to-be-a-nasty-bruise thing on my thigh and my butt is pretty sore. Originally I had planned to go back during the day today, but I took the day off and will probably head back out tomorrow instead. Good times!!

Found this awesome YouTube video today.

Great. Another sport.

Just what I needed...another sport. Snowboarding at Crystal was so freakin' cool that now I've hooked myself into buying more sports equipment. Yes, I fell a bunch, but it went way better than I thought it would. I'll have a few new bruises but something tells me I'll be scouting for boots and a board so I can hit Alpental this week.

Snowboarding

Oh yeah, and I'm heading to Crystal tomorrow for my very first snowboarding lesson. I've never skied or boarded, so this is going to be a fabulous experience I'm sure. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I can't get hooked on this because I really don't need another sport that requires expensive equipment. Stay tuned for the injury report. I know it's coming...

The secret is out.

Now that it's finally a done deal, I can announce my big news: a new job! Friday the 18th will be my last day working for Classmates.com, which seems really weird since I've been there nearly four years. I'm really going to miss my team and everyone I worked with, but the time had come for me to look around for new opportunities and challenges.

I accepted a position at Intava, a Bellevue-based company that specializes in awesome retail touch-screen systems. They use Flash as a framework and do things with it that are amazing. I worked extensively with Flash years ago, but I'm a few years out of the loop. There's been so many new developments that I've got my work cut out for me to get back up to speed. I will be leading the front end Flash team there and will also have responsibility for keeping projects on task, under budget, and properly resourced.

I'm extremely excited about the opportunity and the challenges I'll have. I'm so familiar with Classmates that I'm pretty stressed out about starting somewhere new, but I know I'll get ramped up and running in no time. I love learning new things and I can't wait to get started. I do have to say, I'm not ecstatic about the Bellevue commute, but from Leschi it shouldn't be that bad. At least the bus will be much easier to take there than to Renton and I just got my bus pass so I'm set!

I'll be flying to LA on Sunday the 20th and staying there for a week for some R&R, hopefully a bit of sunshine, and some mountain biking before starting at Intava on the 28th. Lots of change and exciting times are ahead!

Exciting times...

...I'm about *this* close to making an exciting new announcement. Maybe tomorrow...

Riding in sleet sucks

I took off today for a mellow 50+ mile loop out to May Valley that turned into anything but. I rode south around Lake Washington from Leschi and then hit heavy rain by the time I got to Renton. I kept going and headed out to May Valley via exit 9 on 405. As I started to climb, the rain turned to sleet and then it started snowing. I've never ridden in snow before, so at first it was pretty cool.

A smart person would have turned around, but not me. The roads weren't slick but the temperature kept dropping and snow and sleet continued dumping down. My body was still warm, so I figured I'd be fine. About 5-6 miles before Issaquah-Hobart Rd, my gloves finally soaked through and I knew I was in big trouble. It took only a few minutes at that temperature for my hands to freeze. I finally turned on Issaquah-Hobart Rd and couldn't tell if I was even hanging on to the handlebars anymore.

At this point I was just doing what I could to make it to Issaquah. I pulled in to the Starbucks next to REI convinced I couldn't have ridden another mile. My fingers stung and felt numb and I couldn't even move them. They were stuck like they were still holding the handlebars. I ordered a hot chocolate with the idea that I'd take the bus home, but since I had stopped riding and was soaked to the bone, I started freezing and knew I'd never make it. I had visions of buying a whole new dry wardrobe at REI but instead called a friend in Issaquah, who graciously picked me up and drove me home. Thanks Terry!!!

This is the first ride I've bailed on and had to call for help. This was not a fun experience. I'm grateful I planned for rain and wore what I did or else I would have been in bad shape out there. I think I could have ridden home if only I had taken an extra pair of gloves with me. My fingertips are still tingly and numb, so I hope they come out of it soon.

Lessons learned:

• Extra gloves are a necessity in the winter (if you can keep them dry)!
• May Valley is not a good ride if there's a chance of snow in the forecast
• If in doubt, turn around. By the time you realize you should have turned out, you're screwed.
• Having a cell phone is a very good thing.
  

Always listen to your massage therapist

After a very long three weeks without massage, I finally got to see Laurel Wednesday night. My whole life is defined around when I get to see Laurel! :)

I've been hitting the gym pretty hard and finally getting back on the bike so my legs were hammered. She worked pretty deep on my hamstrings, calves, and hip abductors, then told me it would be a good idea to rest Thursday and not do any activity.

So, what did I do? My legs felt great so I went to the gym for a leg workout Thursday evening before bowling. It took me one rep on the leg abductor machine to figure out it was a very bad idea. In fact, it may be the worst idea I've had in a long time. Joe laughed when I told him I had a deep tissue massage done the night before. He said I'd be crippled today and I pretty much am.

Moral of the story is: listen to your massage therapist!