That's Ugly

I haven't been hooked on a show since Alias, before Sydney and Vaughn finally hooked up. Over Christmas I blasted through the entire first season of Ugly Betty and continued on to make it up to speed with the here and now.

Damn writer's strike has finally affected me. It was sad enough that my Friday nights consisted of cuddling up with www.abc.com and watching the previous night's episode. Now, even that has been taken from me.

I think I will inflict some pain on my leg to mask the pain in my heart.

Oh wait, I just did. This is the outline. Color to come in a couple weeks

MANGO!!!!

Sorry... I couldn't sleep

My Hump

Heather the biker has- one hump (sung to the tune of "Alice the Camel")

The tape came off Saturday afternoon, and a shiny, tender, pink hump now pokes up. Rumor has it that it will diminish as the muscles in the area strengthen, but will always be there. I survived a few laps out at Swan Island at a top tempo Saturday and 2 laps out at Sauvie Island Sunday. It's still a little weird when I get out of the saddle and when I get tired, it gets sore. But all in all, I'm on the mend, ahead of schedule.

I'm still going to have it tapes again tomorrow maybe. Depends on what Shawn and Dave think.

Raise the Roof

Well, raise my hands over my head at least... and use some HUGE dumb bells, like 5lb, and 8lb, and even 10s for some of the work. Almost 5 weeks after my launch over the bars, I can manage a day with almost no pain. It's pretty silly, watching my posture in the gym mirror pumping, the big iron, but I gotta start somewhere. I have to keep the shoulder taped a couple more weeks. Without it, my bone still pokes up pretty far, but I think it looks better than a couple weeks ago.

Ego Stroked

Due to the popularity of the spin classes at LA Fitness, AND due to the New Year's resolutions of what seems to be most of Hazel Dell, it's required that hopeful attendees sign up for the class. I scored the 34th and final slot at 5:09. The class is at 5:30 and the sign up sheet is out at 5:00.

As I glanced at the list to see if my friend Deana was on there (which she wasn't) I noticed that a one Mr. Tom Boonen had signed up first. Hm... either my favorite Belgian sprinting hottie was craving the luscious, brisk weather of the Pacific Northwest in January, or he finally came to his senses, found out I was single, and came to find an older woman of my stature, drop dead gorgeous looks, maturity, and popularity.

Or, someone in the spin class was being cute.

Well, as you may have guessed, not one person in the class looked anything like Tommy. Oh well. Sporting my Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge T-shirt- the one with the Captain America jersey wearing guy and other Madison riders, I climbed on to the bike,next to an older guy with a full Lampre kit on. I soon learned, he could spin very well, with great form, and I assumed that he raced or had raced.

At the end of class, older bike racer guy caught a look at my shirt and my attention.

"Do you ride out at Alpenrose?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied, happy that someone in the room recognized the venue, let alone even knew what a velodrome was.

"Do you know a racer named Heather VanValkenburg?"

With eyebrows perked and a little stun to my voice, I let him know that, "I am Heather VanValkenburg!Um, thanks! So were you the first person to sign up tonight?"

"Yes, I figure if I can't be fast that I'd just pose as someone who is. Sorry if I disappointed you."

"Ha ha. No worries...."

So, yea... somebody asked me if I knew me. That was quite a pump to my ego. Turns out he sold me my bike work stand years ago. We shared war (bike) wound stories, as he could see the tape on my shoulder and I skipped off on my merry way.

Frankly I'm surprised that my head fit through the car door.

Ivy's Future Career

I think she's bound to be a movie star. She can find every photo of herself, her papaw, mamaw, daddy, and mommy I have in my home. So, to entertain her for a minute I took a bunch of photos on my computer and started up a slide show. She loved it.

Merry Christmas to Me
Nothing like an impulse buy to give you that special rush. It all started when Emily tells me that she got the new Nano with video for Christmas, which got me thinking that I really wanted video too. I looked up the price and was blown away at how inexpensive they were. So today, one of my stops on my errand run was to PowerMacPac. I played around with all of the toys and finally went for many more gigglybites than my original plan, and got me the 80 GB Ipod Classic in black. It cost a bit more, but I can put all music, photos, and video, and all my computer software, and saved files, and... I still have tons of room.

To avoid any impulse regret, I justified the purchase. If I were not broken, I would be going to Canada to race next week, for the Burnaby 6 Day. With travel, food, accomodation, and registration, I'd spend close to that amount. And now, I can manage 1.5 hours (2 episodes of Ugly Betty) on the eliptical trainer and stationary bike :)

Jeff Dunham - Achmed the dead terrorist -

This one's for my brother in Iraq. Cheers to you, Charlie!