August 30, 2007

This article about Paul Allen's stupid investments gives me joy, because it proves that Allen lost $6 billion (out of $8 billion invested) in the most craptacular company in existence, Charter Communications. If you were wondering why a company with the worst customer service in the world is still in existence, it's because sucking that badly requires a very large investment such as Allen's to continue sucking that badly for years to come.

Posted by megabeth at 04:27 PM | Comments (2)

August 29, 2007

The latest event with my Civic is that it broke down one evening about two miles from my house - lo and behold, what luck! right in front of the garage I prefer to use. We jumped the battery and it managed to hold a charge just long enough to get it across the street and into the garage parking lot. The next day they tell me that the alternator is bad and for $400 they will replace mine. Original factory equipment is expensive. And that is, like, 10% of what my car is worth. So I had it towed (for free thanks to insurance) to another place who would replace the alternator for $175.

** The funny thing about my car breaking down this time is that the person behind me got REALLY PISSED that my car was not moving at an adequate speed when I was trying to pull it off the road. I would think that karma would strike that person; a sufficient recourse would be breaking down on the left side of I-65 at rush hour where the median is only wide enough to barely squeeze in one car. Have a nice day!

They told me it was the battery which was bad, not the alternator. So the battery was replaced. This is the second time that this particular garage (which specializes in Honda service) has told me something untrue and then tried to convince me that I need an expensive repair. However, the alternator may indeed be bad since the battery light came on again last night (but then switched off, so whothehellknows?)

Anyhow, there has been some inconvenience due to my car acting funny this year, but I have spent only $400 in repairs and maintenance for the year 2007. Plus $35 for car insurance monthly. I believe I will keep the car for a while longer, and will try not to get upset when it breaks again.

This frees up some cash for something I will enjoy more: a bathroom renovation! It's in the planning and budgeting phase at this point in time.

Posted by megabeth at 10:01 AM | Comments (5)

August 28, 2007

This is one thing I've wanted for a long time. Their bagels are very good. Locations not yet determined but they are opening a minimum of five.

Posted by megabeth at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2007

On Saturday I did my first climbing-specific road race in Chattanooga. It was about 5800 feet total elevation gain, with two major climbs and a few smaller ones, for a total of 38 miles. I decided not to do the criterium or time trial because I'm still teetering on the edge of burnout, and thus wanted to err on the side of caution.

The night before the race I saw the list of women who had signed up and was rather intimidated, because there were some serious athletes competing - women who I have not raced with before, because they are elite level athletes who usually choose high-profile races to participate in. I calculated my chances of finishing in the top 10: Zero. The day of the race, I estimated somewhere around 37 women, which is phenomenal for women's cycling in the southeast. The women's side of the sport is definitely growing! In 2005, this race had 9 female participants. Last year, there were 18. It is by far the largest pack I've ever raced with, and I thought it was great fun.

I like climbing hills, so I thought I'd like this race. From the start I felt pretty good and had a goal of staying with the lead pack for 20 miles. The first climb was for "King/Queen of the Mountain", an extra prize designation for the race. That was at mile 10, and I stayed on the back of the pack until the end of the climb. I joined forces with two other cyclists to push hard until we saw the pack again and reconnected. That was a relief. I stayed with the pack until the final climb, which made the race a helluva lot easier. In a previous post I was talking about how much easier it is to race in a large pack than with just a handful of people. This race proved to me that theory is true. There were some times during this race when I was comfortably chatting away with a cyclist riding next to me, taking advantage of the draft. So maybe that's why I liked this race. It seemed like I was riding downhill a lot more often than climbing!

By the end of the race, I was out of water and very dehydrated. I should have packed an extra bottle, but thought there was a feed zone. That did not fare well for me on the last climb of 1200 feet elevation. The finish line was at the top. In the pack of about 20, I finished last on the climb, but still did well since I finished in front of about half of the field.

I'll definitely seek out more hill-climbing races next season. And I think that my motivation has been restored! My racing season is almost over since classes started last week. I have learned a lot about my limiters and how to train properly, so I am looking forward to a more wise and informed winter training season. Best of all, I graduate in December!!!

Posted by megabeth at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2007

Next summer I plan to grow only heat and drought resistant plants in my garden. Such as: cactus. As a result, the weather will be cool and damp.

Okra is one plant that loves the heat. The pods grow so quickly. First, a flower bud appears, then it blooms, then the bloom wilts and falls off, and a small pod appears, and grows about 1 to 2 inches per day. If I don't harvest pods on a daily basis, they'll grow too large and will be inedible.

Ants love okra plants, and I don't know why. They crawl over the plants in swarms, but they don't bother the pods.

Okra is best when fried in cornmeal batter. I add salt, cayenne pepper and garlic powder to the mix for a tastier coating.

Posted by megabeth at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2007

I have a pet peeve when scheduling appointments at the doctor/chiropractor/physical therapist. They always try to dump the crappy appointment times on me even when I request otherwise. A lot of people do not work from 8 to 5. I know this because when I take a vacation day, I see them taking walks in my neighborhood or shopping at the mall. It angers me when I am treated like one of those non-working people because I am female.

MB: "I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Quacky sometime during the week of [Month Day]."

Doctors Office (DO): "Okay... [pause] we have a 10:15 available on Monday the 5th or a 2:30 available on Tuesday the 6th."

MB: "Do you have any early morning appointments available that week? It is more convenient for me since I work weekdays."

DO: "Well, let's see. We have one on Thursday the 8th at 9:45.

MB: [silence]

DO: "I can keep looking..."

MB: "When is the next appointment available before 9 am?"

DO: "Ooh, here's one I overlooked next week. Tuesday at 8:30."

MB: "I will take that one. Thanks."

Am I supposed to be offering up a bribe for an early morning appointment?

I have to make their jobs suck in order to get a convenient appointment, but they have been instructed by Office Manager to try to get rid of the unwanted appointment times first, thus creating unnecessary hassle for both patient and receptionist.

Posted by megabeth at 03:08 PM

August 20, 2007

Since it appears that I have a crash-and-burn every six months, it would be close to the time when I am due for another one. However, I am learning from my mistakes, so this incident is much milder than the last one. I'd say the problem this time is simply that I am burned out on bike racing. And that isn't uncommon this time of year, especially when it's been 98-105 degrees every day for the past couple of weeks. I raced weekend before last, against my gut instinct, which was not a good decision, but I learned that racing in extreme heat is something I won't do again. (Who knew that I, the biggest hater of cold weather in the world, would be wishing for a wintry day?)

Due to the two months off the bike this spring, I was well rested when going into training again, and thus could really push things hard. I was riding six days a week; many of those rides were of high intensity. This was against the advice of Friel's training book, which said to plan for a few peaks a season and take LOTS of rest time (which in training translates to easy recovery rides and tempo mileage). In summary, I got too excited about being back on the bike again. I had been riding all winter and really wanted to race well this season, so when my racing season was abbreviated, I went a little gung-ho.

I peaked at the state championship road race weekend, which isn't a bad place to peak. Since then, I've lost my desire to put my body through the stresses of racing in the heat. So, I've been riding my trainer inside. Come winter, I will probably think that was stupid and wish desperately for riding outdoors again. But I have hopes that I can doctor my motivation if I mitigate some of the suffering.

My original plan for the weekend was to race an omnium in Chattanooga, but I've decided to scale that plan back a bit. I am sort of looking forward to a long, hilly race, because I like climbing, but the one thing I'm not looking forward to is the hour before the race, because I get so nervous and have to pee about 10 times and I have butterflies in my stomach, and I just want to hurry up and go, so that the suffering from racing will eventually make the nervousness go away. (*Note: Before the Meridian crit, my heart rate at the start line, before MOVING A MUSCLE, was 143.) I've talked to myself over and over again about this pre-race nervousness. It's normal to be nervous for a race, but COME ON. It's a just a leisure event. A hobby. It does not pay my bills, nor determine my worth to myself or others. It's something I choose to do because it is FUN. I mean, I like pain and suffering on a bike, so therefore a race should be enjoyable.

But I suppose not, if I'm burned out.

It's not that I don't want to ride at all. I keep thinking that what the kind of riding I want to do right now is social rides, centuries, and climbing an insane amount of hills/mountains.

Regardless of what kind of performance I have at the end of my racing season, I am pleased that I recognized the problem early enough before real damage was done, and will aspire to including an adequate amount of rest in my training schedule for next year's racing season.

Posted by megabeth at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

The other excitement of the day is, [long story omitted], we found a place to stay in NYC for free. A friend who just moved there to attend grad school has offered her apartment in Brooklyn. I will be spending the $1000 saved on lodging for the weekend on clothes (for me) and gifts (for the host). Yeah!

I'd like to get tickets to a TV show, but it looks pretty difficult to obtain them. SNL and Letterman are pipe dreams, but maybe Conan O'Brien?

Addendum - this got me thinking about the fact that EVERY year, I vow to take a real vacation somewhere that is not in driving distance of home. And EVERY year, I am too busy to stop and plan anything, nor do I like committing to something in advance. So, this year was the usual, and I'm taking a vacation to NYC because I have to attend a seminar for work. There's always next year.

Also, I can't make up my mind on where to go, since my first real vacation in what feels like 20 years has to be everything. It has to have snow, beaches, mountains, ten different types of foreign cuisine, a boat ride, wildlife, a train ride, a bike ride, and a glimpse of someone famous. I've thought about Greece, Colorado, Montana, somewhere (anywhere) in the Carribbean in February, Hawaii, and California. This year, it'll be NYC. Which has little in common with any of the above places.

Posted by megabeth at 02:24 PM | Comments (2)

My department was moved to be part of the trading floor, so today I received my tiny little cube, and we are seated in a high density area full of tiny little cubes with clear glass windows and short walls. I am not sure yet if I like this or not, but so far I have been energized by the high activity level in the area. Also, I am much closer to the candy jar. That is very important for sustaining morale. :)

Posted by megabeth at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

Where do you stand politically?

My results were: "You are very confused. Please seek help." ;)

Posted by megabeth at 02:10 PM | Comments (3)

August 15, 2007

I'm going to admit my training secret which has helped me to become a stronger cyclist than about three other people. You can thank me later.

It's the ROM 4 minute cross trainer. I exercise just four minutes a day! In the comfort of my home! I rationalized the $10,000 cost of this machine because it is of utter importance to my ego that I am a faster cyclist than everyone else in town.

Seriously. When I saw the ad for this machine, it was so absurd that I had to go to the website to entertain myself with more absurdities. It looks like a very expensive piece of quackery, but if you are looking to get four minutes of exercise a day, then the product will deliver that claim truthfully.

This statement is my favorite:

If you feel that you belong to the potentially less reasonable variety of customer we would like to ask you to restrain your natural tendencies or not aspire to the purchase of a ROM machine.

In other words, if you are not easily swayed by someone's bullshit, then don't buy the product. Only the clueless need apply!

Posted by megabeth at 10:35 AM | Comments (1)

August 13, 2007

There are some things about women's racing that are very different from men's racing. One thing I've noticed is that if I go on a group ride with a bunch of fast guys, I can hang with them at their pace, but if I am in a race with women, our average MPH for the race is much slower. This is probably because women's races tend to have so few participants (in the southeast) that there is no pack advantage. What this means: if you have 30 riders in a pack, they can swap out pulls and keep the pace strong. If you have 5 riders in a pack, it's not a pack anymore; it's a paceline, and you have to pull 1 out of every 5 times, and there's no hiding in the middle of the pack, putting out 50 watts and chewing your cud at 25 mph.

It's not possible for a woman to hide unnoticed in the pack until the end of a race, not taking a single pull, and then sprint for a top place finish. That is a good thing because it is a cheater's strategy in amateur racing. However, the flip side of this is that if a woman tries not to pull in a small group, then the other women are going to be upset with her and will most likely let her know. So, I've been hearing a lot of squabbling going on in several women's races that I've been in. I'll take my share of pulls, meaning that if other women have pulled and I have recovered, then I will take another one. However there was one race I did where no women would pull through, so we rolled around at a very slow speed, waiting for someone to volunteer. That was getting silly. I found it more entertaining than annoying, since it's good that no woman can go unnoticed for long in a small pack.

On the flip side, women's racing is better than men's at the finish line, because there is plenty of room to find a place to sprint for the line. If someone is blocking me, then I will move to the side of that person. Men's races tend to have so many guys sprinting at the finish, that one can get boxed in, just like the pros at the end of a Tour de France stage.

The reason some guys give me for being old enough to race in master's fields yet still racing in the regular fields is that the master's fields are like women's: there is a wide variance between the participants' abilities. I know firsthand that it sucks when a Cat 1 racer shows up for EVERY race and you automatically are relegated to fighting for second place. That's the nature of women's bike racing. I don't know why I don't subtract 1 from whatever place I get and pretend like I did better than the reality of it. And also, it doesn't take long for the first place female to get ahead, so the rest of the race, we're all thinking "It's the fight for second place!" It's kind of a catch-22, because the fields could be separated IF enough women show up for races, but it's too intimidating for beginners if they have to race with the region's strongest female cyclists.

I have only a few races left this season, and unfortunately, I have not had many chances to be the aggressor. I'm getting bored with racing at this point. It's like showing up for an amateur golf tournament and finding out that Tiger Woods is there to compete against you.

Posted by megabeth at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)

I went to Meridian, MS for some races this weekend, and noticed a cycling team from Baton Rouge that has Boudreaux's Butt Paste as a sponsor. Not only that, the words BUTT PASTE are displayed on the cycling shorts across the booty. I badly want a pair of those shorts.

My idea to race this weekend was totally dumb. I knew it was going to be hot, but had no idea what racing in 100 degree heat with no shade really felt like. This is one of those rare instances where I say "never": I will never race in this kind of heat again. On top of heat-related suffering, I haven't been eating for a couple of weeks and started having GI problems two days before the weekend. I am annoyed with my loss of appetite, and the only cause I can think of is that I don't like to eat when I am hot. Last week, some very good lunches were brought in to reward my department for our participation in making sure that our customers had electricity during this heat wave. I did not want to eat any of it. I have been drinking some recovery drinks as meal replacements in order to get down some calories. Also, I trained too hard during the week, thinking that if I rode in the heat, I would acclimate to it. Actually that had the opposite effect, creating a sense of dread about going outdoors and sapping my enjoyment of riding a bike.

Thus, my race performance suffered. I was proud of myself for finishing (every cell in my body wanted me to quit), and I did beat some other, equally crazy women. On Sunday, my road race was at 8 am, so I did not have to suffer as badly from the heat, but still did not ride at top form, and was happy to finish the race without having to sprint with the lead group at the end.

I tend to be a perfectionist and beat myself up for not doing as well as I wanted to, but in racing, not every race is going to be a great one. I'll chalk this one up to a learning experience, and if it's really hot outside next time, I won't be there.

Photos

Posted by megabeth at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

I've been in my new job for about two months. I was productive after one week and they are keeping me fairly busy. We don't have an excessive amount of meetings and there is a good rapport between the people who work in this department. I haven't heard any negative words spoken towards upper level management as I did in my last position. This department is much closer to the company's bottom line and the employees seem to be more fulfilled with their jobs.

During hot weather like this, the company has reached peak generating capacity, so that makes work even more interesting.

One perk of my job is going to NYC in October for an annual seminar. I thought I'd stay for a bit longer since I don't get many chances to travel. I've been to NYC more than a handful of times since college, and there's always something new to explore. We have been looking at hotel rates, and they are around $250-300 a night on the low end. I had this grand idea that Brooklyn would be cheaper, so I checked some more rates. Hahahaha.

Last time I was there and had to get a hotel, luxury boutique hotels were going for $150-200 a night because it was post-9/11 and tourist demand had not yet rebounded.

I like NYC, but I'm trying to decide just how much I like NYC.

Posted by megabeth at 02:26 PM | Comments (2)

I may be the only person in the world who finds this annoying, but over the past year or so, CNN has started showing most of their news stories as video clips instead of text articles. They're probably doing this to force the site visitor to watch an ad first. In response, I stopped visiting CNN, because (1) watching video clips at work is a 'no-no' because it uses up network bandwidth, and (2) I can scan an article in 15-20 seconds and don't have the time to spend half an hour on a news site watching two minute video clips. It's a dumb strategy, in my opinion. One of CNN's competitors, MSNBC, posts links to BOTH video clips and text articles for the same story, leaving the reader to make the choice.

Posted by megabeth at 08:25 AM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2007

Bein' a hunnert degrees 'round here, I thought I'd spit out mah chaw and go fer a bike ride. So that's what I done, with all t'other yokels from over yonder. After a few ticks on th' clock, them boys wuz a-squabbling and I's afraid someone's barn is gonna be set on far. An' I wuz a-feelin' like my head's been set on far, it was hot enuf to frah an egg on th' tin roof. Then a wasp got under mah overalls while I's riding and stung mah sholder. I hopped off mah bike, just a hootin' and hollerin'. Th' stinger was pult out but nobody had no tobaccy to use as a salve. I headed on home wit' my tail tucked tween mah legs, cuz it was hurtin' a lot. This morning it felt lahke Cuzzin Bubba done punched me when I stole his corn cob pipe. I ain' doin' no more bi-cyc-le ridin' in this weather, I's gonna git someone to pull me in a wheelbarry insted.

Posted by megabeth at 02:30 PM | Comments (3)

August 06, 2007

We went to the lake this weekend for some rest and relaxation. On Friday we left at 5 pm (not good timing) and had to drive down Highway 280 to get there. For those of you who do not live here, 280 was once this highway that people used to travel on, but then the developers came and put down a red light every few hundred yards for about 20 miles, so now people use the road to waste a lot of time and gasoline sitting still. I won't complain too much since I don't use the road but a few times per year, avoiding it like the plague. However, I do wonder why developers are exempt from taking responsibility for upgrades to increased infrastructure needs that result from building mega-mansion treeless gated neighborhoods? I make some dumb mistakes from time to time, but THANK GOD that I was not stupid enough to buy a house out there.

Once through that, the trip became relaxing. The lakehouse is in such a quiet area. It has tons of windows, but no window treatments, because when you do not have neighbors blasting 30,000 watts of "ambient baseball field mood lighting" at your house, and dogs barking every second 24 hours a day, one does not need window treatments. So, I caught up on some needed rest that I cannot obtain at my own home due to inconsiderate neighbors (can you feel the anger bursting from your screen?): 11 hours on Friday night, and 10 hours on Saturday night. Like a rock.

We took Ruby on a walk to explore the area (Coosa County) which was inhabited by agricultural Indians as late as the 1830s. This field below has a lot of white quartz arrowheads just laying around on top of the dirt. We picked up a few of them.

Ruby likes to go on walks, but it was too hot outside for her.

So she lays down, mid-walk, on the dirt in a feeble attempt to cool down. I had to remind her a few times that she is a DOG, and that dogs like to go on walks outdoors. At least other dogs do.

I'm not sure what this flower is, but it's pretty.

We also caught some crickets and grasshoppers to use as bait for fishing. We had already tried various fake baits - worms, spinners and other lures - and the fish weren't biting.

The fish liked the live bait, but they were little pickpockets who nibbled them away to nothing.

Ruby doesn't like boat rides if the engine is running, but we took her on this trip and used the trolling motor to get around. Eventually she discovered that there were bugs hopping around inside the box, and she went nuts trying to get to them.

Ruby had a good day and passed out when we got back to the house. She loves her ball very, very much.

After her nap, she found some shoes on the floor and tried them on, but they were a little too big for her.

We didn't catch any fish this time. The water surface temperature was 90 degrees (it felt like a hot tub when we went for a swim), and fish don't like to bite when the water's that warm. Or so I was told, instead of "you suck at fishing". Ha.

Posted by megabeth at 09:55 AM | Comments (6)

August 02, 2007

Over the past week, Ruby (see pics) has been really stinky. The gas emitted from her hind side has been so bad that I wished for immediate death. One recent evening, the smell lingered in the house and I tried circulating air to clear it out, but she kept producing so much gas on a constant basis that it was like trying to hold water in one's hands. The problem was getting so bad that I had to remove her from whatever room I was going to be in so that I could be productive.

I changed her food three weeks ago, so I theorized that was the problem and thus changed her food again to Eukanuba for dogs with sensitive stomachs. Note that the bag for this particular type of dog food has a Boston Terrier on the package. Then, yesterday evening, I was outside in the back yard and discovered Miss Stinks eating a rotten corn cob from the compost bin. She is not interested in eating raw veggies that I have tried to give her in the past, but she finds rotten husks and vegetable peelings to be quite delicious. (By the way, dogs and onions don't mix. They are harmful for dogs.)

She should be stinking a lot less in the next few days. And corn really does make good methane gas.

Last night I asked Ruby, "Which end is your face?" Hahahahaha.

Posted by megabeth at 08:20 AM | Comments (6)