And then there was wind....

I wanted to just do a normal, low drama ride.  Ten miles or so without getting lost or running into a gigantic dog.  I accomplished it for the most part.  Went to a road I knew and just went straight.  One thing I discovered was that the only time you encounter a car on an abandoned country road is when you come to a stop sign.  There can be no cars for miles, but pull up to a stop sign and suddenly there are three or four.

The first part of the ride seemed nice and low key. I enjoyed the gentle breeze.  Rode past a patch of pine trees and loved instant smell of pine.  Then I turned around to head home and realized the gentle breeze was no longer at my back.  I was riding into it.  I know that for most folks who have ridden a bike in the last 30 years, this comes as no shock.  Not me.  I'm new and learning each day.  Apparently wind is a factor

At one point on the ride I saw a bug coming towards me.  Keep in mind that I ride at such a blistering pace that I can hardly avoid bugs every so often. Kind of like windshield on a car, that is how fast I pedal.  (Note the sarcasm)  So I see this bug and since it isn't heading toward my face or mouth I ignore it. It runs straight into my arm and I felt it hit and bounce off, but didn't think anything of it.  I'm still not sure what it was, but now my arm looks like this:

Strange.  It kind of looks like teeth marks from a human bite.  (Well, a human with no upper teeth).  Perhaps Luis Suarez was out on the road and I was going too fast too notice ;-)

11 miles tonight.

Please join my journey by following my blog, and please consider donating for cancer research.  All money raised goes to benefit cancer research.

http://dc14.ridetovictory.org/site/TR/Events/2014WashingtonDC?px=1214699&pg=personal&fr_id=1070

Sometimes you can't go forward and you can't go backwards

I did not mean to ride 15 miles tonight.  I had a rough idea of where I was going, but in true Marti style got myself so turned around I might as well have been in Michigan.  A lot of bizarre things happened on the ride.

I discovered there are actual DIRT county roads.  When you look on a map it does not reveal the dirt-ness of the road.  Dirt roads are hard to bike on.  There was also a hill that went up at about 90 degrees.  I may have been able to get up it, if it had been pavement  but the muddy dirt was making it too hard to ride.  So I thought, "I'm in the middle of nowhere.  No one is going to see me.  I may as well walk the bike up the hill."  As I get near the top, OUT OF NO WHERE, the two most incredibly fit men breeze right past me.  One is on a bike.  One is jogging.  I had to let go of my idea that it was not physically possible to ride up the hill.  Up until that point it was what I had been telling myself.

Then, I see this:

An entire flock.  In Indiana.  How have I lived here for 15 years and not know there was a peacock farm down the road from me?  This guy was showing off for me.

I finally got off the dirt road and crossed state road 15, which is a busy road.  I realized I had no idea how far the next road I needed was.  And there were 50 more hills, and oddly they never seemed to go down hill. I just got the UP hill part. I soon realized I really didn't know where I was or the best way to get home, but that going back would have been longer so I kept going forward, turning at what I was hoping was the general direction to get me home. 

I was coming up another hill and rounding a corner and I heard it before I saw it.  The deepest, lowest bark you ever want to hear while on a bike, going up a hill with no steam left.  I look to my left and there is a gigantic German shepherd.  I'm not kidding.  His head was almost as high as my handle bars.  The only reason I'm not dead is that he chose not to kill me.

Then.  It started to rain.

I finally came to a road I knew, which was state road 15 again by the high school.  To go back on the country roads would have been 13 miles.  I knew home was about 2, but on a busy state road.  I didn't care.  I took state road 15 home and road as close to the edge as I could.

Here is one of the reasons I'm doing this:

A dear friend, Tracy, just lost her sister Allison to pancreatic cancer.  While Tracy was helping Allison in her last weeks, my friend Sue asked me if I wanted to do the ride.  Cancer is terrible.  Cancer has invaded all of our lives.  We've all lost someone.  Please join my journey by following my blog, and please consider donating for cancer research.

http://dc14.ridetovictory.org/site/TR/Events/2014WashingtonDC?px=1214699&pg=personal&fr_id=1070

What do I do with this?

A few weeks ago a friend in Baltimore sent me an email asking if I wanted to join her team on a ride against cancer. I laughed. I Thanked her for thinking of me and said, "I'm pretty sure I cannot do that, but appreciate that you thought I could". Now. I own a bike, and I ride it. There is a lot that happened from that moment to this moment and in time I'll catch up on all of the good stories. For now, here is the boiled down version. I haven't been on a bike since high school. When I pass people riding bikes I think, "Poor biker. I wonder if their car doesn't work." I did not own a bike. The only thing I had going for me was that I knew HOW to ride a bike.

So here I am. I have a bike. I'm going to join my friends mid-September on a 2 day, 150 mile bike ride. This is a ride to raise awareness and money in the fight against cancer. Please join me by following my blog. Have you ever wondered what it takes to go from couch potato without a bike, to being able to ride 150 miles on a bike, in 2 days? Wonder no more! Just follow my blog and I'll update from time to time.

 The ride is September 13-14, and on the 13th before the event begins there is a ceremony to pay tribute to those we've lost to cancer, those who are currently battling cancer, and those who have conquered cancer. I know too many people who fall into those categories and will pay tribute to them in the ceremony. If you want me to add a name to my list, please let me know.

 There are 8 people on my team, and together we've pledged to raise a minimum of $20,000 that will go towards cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. My individual goal is $2,500. If you are comfortably able to donate, please consider visiting my home page and donating. No amount is too small. Any donations will be appreciated. 

http://dc14.ridetovictory.org/site/TR/Events/2014WashingtonDC?px=1214699&pg=personal&fr_id=1070


 When I purchased the bike I set out to send a text to my two friends that I'm riding with. I took a picture and excitedly sent a text. I wasn't paying attention and sent it to a different friend, who was not aware of what was going on. She wasn't able to pull in the picture so all she received was a cryptic message from me that said, "Oh my goodness! What do I do with this thing? It is now in the back of my car and coming home with me after work!" When I told her it was just a bike she was a little disappointed that it wasn't more interesting. On Saturday I took my first big ride--20 miles. I even had a pair of wild turkeys come out to cheer me on. By cheer me on I mean they came to the road and one ran at me with his wings flapping and beak open as if to kill me. Turkeys are funny in how they emote. As soon as he saw I was 10 times bigger than he was, he backed off. I just thought....who gets attacked by a wild turkey while riding a bike? Just another day in the heartland.

Join me! Cheer me on! (not like the turkey) Support my cause!

A very special Father's Day.

I called my dad to wish him a happy Father's Day today and this is how the conversation went.

 Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

 Dad: Hello?

 Me: Happy Father's Day! What have you done today?

 Dad: Your mom and I went to Famous Dave's for lunch, and then dropped the van off to have some work done on it and now we're on the way home.

 chit chat.

chit chat.

chit chat.

 Dad: We had an awful lot of rain yesterday, I think your mom told you that right?

Me: Yeah, she told me. We really need some here. Too bad it didn't make it as far as here.

 Dad: Yeah, that is what Marti has been saying. Indiana is really dry.

Me: I am Marti. Do you mean Jami?

 Dad: (pause) Who am I talking to? Oh, this is Marti?

Mom: (overheard in background) That's not Jami?

 Me: Yes, this is Marti. The older one. The one who lives in Warsaw.  Dad, you have caller ID to prevent this kind of thing!

 awkward conversation fumbling.

 more chit chat.

Me: (joking now) Well, nice to talk with you. Can you give the phone to Dad so I can talk to him also?

 Dad: (handing the phone to mom) Here's your Dad.

One of our more poignant conversations!

No conflict now, it isn't on the schedule.

Things at work right now are crazy. It is a statement I've said before and it translates roughly into something like, "Wow that was a busy week. Sure wouldn't want to have a couple of those in a row." Oh, how I'd love to trade the current crazy for what I've called crazy before!

 We are undergoing the biggest transition I've experienced in the 16 years I've worked there and when it is done it will be glorious. We are getting a tricked out new system that will do all the things we've hoped for from our old, out-of-date system. We're organizing warehouses and talking with companies whose product will increase our productivity. We're revamping the main warehouse so my department will all reside under one roof. When it all said and done there will be much rejoicing in the streets. We will pat each other on the back and say things like, "It already doesn't seem like it was that bad!" and "Ah, wasn't that worth it!" But in the mean time we are all sagging under the unbelievable pressure we've been under for several months.

Today started off with a bang when one of my employees said, "Do you remember I'm out of the office from 9:15 until 11:15 today?" Well....now I do. I thought through the rest of the morning. She and I are the only two that answer phones so if she's out, I'm on phones. I was double booked since I had a management meeting at 9:30. I was irritated with myself for not planning ahead and realizing I was going to disrupt several schedules, so I fired off an email to the other managers explaining the situation and asking if we could move the meeting.

The subject line on my email read "Scheduling conflict". What I meant was "I have a scheduling conflict", but if you read "scheduling" as a verb it takes on an entirely new meaning. My boss sent me back a light hearted email that said something to the effect of, "I had to laugh when I saw the subject because I thought, Marti, are you that much of a control freak that you are now trying to schedule when there is conflict?" Ha!!!!!!!!!! It was the funniest part of my day. I wrote back and said something to the effect of, "Never thought about it but if I could schedule it I would and I'd do my best to schedule it down to zero."

I chuckled the rest of the day thinking of scheduling as a verb. When the printer jammed I thought, "Nope, you can't do that, I didn't schedule any conflict for this part of the day." I thought the same thing when the printer wouldn't work, and when the customer called whose package didn't reach him due to a bad address. "Not right now, it isn't time for conflict" I scheduled conflict for between 3:00 and 3:05 and it isn't time yet.

I usually get to work before most people in the business. I think tomorrow I'll schedule conflict from 7:20-7:21, long before everyone gets there. It might be a rough minute but should make for a smooth day.

You can't make this stuff up....or....my yarn is still missing

I frequently order yarn from a company in Turkey. Even with the ridiculously high price of DHL shipping their yarn is still considerably cheaper than some domestic sources. This company is always quick to process my orders, provides an email with a tracking number, has beautiful yarn and as long as everything goes well with the order things are good. But when there is an error, forget it. Convincing them to provide instant, derriere kissing, Amazon style customer service that American consumers are becoming used to is nearly impossible. And yet, the prices and selection are good enough that I go back.

 I recently placed an order and paid the exorbitant amount DHL charges so that I could have hassle free, quick shipping. As I tracked it I knew something had gone awry and I gave it a few days to see if the package arrived. It didn't. I contacted the yarn company and asked them to research the issues. I had an email back right away stating that DHL had been contacted and he would get back with me as soon as they knew something.

And I waited.

Five days later, I hadn't heard anything so I sent another email asking if someone could tell me something about my package. The response: Your package is delayed.

Well, thank you very much. (In fairness, they did tell me SOMETHING, it just happened to be what I already knew.) Note to self to be more specific in my future requests.

I finally got tired of waiting on the Turkish customer service and contacted DHL myself to get the ball rolling. The customer service rep from DHL called and asked me to describe the contents of my package. I said, "Yarn". He was stunned. "Yarn? From Turkey? Why do you need to order it from Turkey?" It never occurred to him that there is yarn beyond what is sold in Wal-Mart's craft section for making afghan and dish clothes. He asked me to describe it. "Some are orange, some are purple, some are pink, purple and white, some are blue and black variegated, some are brown and gold." He then asked if that was all on the same ball. Um....no. I can't imagine what that would look like.

A day or two later my DHL person called me again to tell me they found some yarn that went to lost and found the same time my yarn went missing. He thought it was mine but wanted to send me a picture so I could identify it. Great. Let's get me my yarn. I gave him my email address and waited for the picture to come in. The email came in. I opened it, and this is the picture:

Seriously? I wrote back and as politely as I could told him that he sent me a picture of a bag, and if he wanted me to identify the yarn he would need to send me a picture of the yarn. That was Friday. No more emails or phone calls since.

Go figure.

For the past couple months the theme of my life has been the proverbial 1 step forward, 8 steps back. Sometimes it is THINK about 1 step forward, 8 steps back. I know there will be a point where there is a pay off for the recent struggle but right now I'm just flat out exhausted from the effort it takes to conjure up the enthusiasm to keep taking that 1 step knowing the inevitable backwards steps are coming.

 I'm not trying to be dark or moody. I'm not dealing with death or illness, or pain. Just worn out and tired. And it will pass.

 Mother nature has never been one to check with me to see if I wish to participate in the annual spring yard clean up. Try as I might winter always turns to spring and with it mowing and cleaning out flower beds and dead branches in the yard. I always wonder where mulch goes between seasons. I buy a multitude of bags of mulch each year and I only stop because there are better things to spend money on! So, in all my spare time I've been working on getting my yard ready for spring and I  get my front walk way looking like this:

The little solar lights are new. I bought them on a whim at a grocery store for a whopping $2.50 each. I've always liked the look, but wasn't holding my breath that they would really work. And despite the lack of logic in which I buy something not thinking it will work but *hoping* it will, I put them in the ground and waited for dark. Lo and behold the little buggers worked. When the sun went down I was rewarded with this:

And they cast a pretty cool shadow:

There have been so many things recently that should have worked and didn't, despite hours and hours of effort and these cheap little yard ornaments that cost $2.50 fire right up the first time with almost zero effort. Go figure. But I'll take it!