Juggling a Busy Life

Saturday, February 18, 2006

BRRRRRR!!!!!!

We are in the firm grips of a cold snap, very cold! Talking a high of ZERO! Yesterday the cycling team did the annual fundraiser for Safe Kids Coalition to put lids on kids and purchase car seats. I was out there for about 3 1/2 hours in the cold, with wind chills -10F. It was a lot of fun and we came close to hitting our goal of $1000. People were pretty generous, giving what they had as well as bringing us coffee and hot chocolate. When I got home I was still shivering so bad that I could not control it. My toes had a bit of frost bite, one blister from the cold. It took about 1 - 1 1/2 hours for me to regain circulation in my toes enough to feel them. I had purchased some thermal booties at a swap show earlier this year to wear for the cold, but they tore out the first time I tried them on, real great quality! One of the biggest problems was food. I did not get a chance to eat much before hand so I got nailed with a horrible migraine afterwards. I really did not eat much the whole night, but was finally able to shake the migraine. The new bike worked like a charm! It was very comfortable and I did not even realize I was on the trainer for that long of time.

Next week is 2 exams, which I really need to study more, but just cannot find the motivation to do so. It's been hard knowing school is almost out. I am looking at what books to get to help me study for the NCLEX, and getting all my ducks in a row to submit all the paperwork needed to take the boards. Both exams should not be all that bad; I have been to class and have done the readings, so that should help a lot.

Well I have to give a huge shout out to my mom Chris, just when I thought spring break was dead in the water she came up with the money to send me! That is so cool; since I have not been any where for any kind of trip other then to a few states around Wisconsin (does Iowa count as a state or a trip?). Bryson City, N.C. is where we will be heading for spring break, a 16 hour car ride! My wife is pretty excited about my getting to go as well, which makes it a lot easier to leave. The idea of leaving the wife and kids for 10 days may appeal to a lot of people, but seeing that I have never been away from them before it will be kind of tough. She says it won't be a problem and things will be alright. I owe her big time!!!

Racing season kicks off next weekend in Indiana, my first race in many, many years. I am hoping things will go well. Not sure what I am going to race, C's or B's. Don’t want to get blown out of the water, but also don’t want the crazy newbie’s taking me down in a crash.

Tomorrow the Tour of California starts, it’s gong to be pretty cool. Lots of top pros will be racing here in the states. We even have a former team member racing with Team Jelly Belly, Nick Reistad. I have gotten to talk with him a few times, a very cool guy. I wish him all the luck.

Hopefully it warms up soon, winter needs to be over!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Never Fails

It never seems to fail, once things are starting to go your way you get blind sided by some stupid event. The latest event is the car breaking down. $650 to get it fixed, which means going down to spring break to ride for 10 days is out of the question! The final cost came down for the trip, only $275 for everything. Oh well, I guess it was not meant to be. It just blows though, it's very frustrating because I finally have an opening and the door gets slammed shut, BANG! Now I am forced to go through my basement and see what I can find to sell off to help support the rest of the semester because my hours at work have been cut. I guess when it rains it pours.

The good news it that my bike finally came in! It is amazing, way lighter than my other bike and a lot more comfortable. I am pretty excited to get out on it, but we have 6-12 inches of snow predicted for the next couple of days; go figure.

School is going well. Exams in two of my classes next week, they shouldn't be all that difficult but you never know until you get there to take it. The classes themselves have been pretty interesting; the lecturers have been pretty good. My one professor is a real stick in the mud. She has no professionalism and is constantly asking for our input, but when we give it she rips our heads off. Oh well, hopefully things will start to work their way up again, but who knows!!!

Friday, February 03, 2006

A Little Sick

Well, I have gotten a little sloppy about keeping up my blog. This week has been pretty long, keeping me very busy. Monday I was sick, just a cold but a really bad cold. It was bad enough that my skin and hair hurt. I also needed to get ready for my clinical on Tuesday, so resting on Monday was a good idea. School is going well, the projects have started and the novelty of the new classes has started to wear off. Nothing big happened this week, but I still have to keep up with everything that is going on.

I did get letter back from one of the places I applied to for after graduation, and it looks pretty good. I am not going to take my chances though and plan on applying to a couple of more places. Now all I have to do is graduate, pass the NCLX exam and I am set :)

The biggest news of the week was at the cycling club meeting on Tuesday night. It was a large turn out, which was even more interesting. We discussed the new rule changes for the upcoming NCAA racing season, which is a great big joke. USAC has really taken a great thing and screwed it up. Way too many changes have taken place in one year, and way to many to rant about here, but what it comes down to is taking away the team aspect of the whole thing. The other thing that was great was the talk about the spring break trip. Going to North Carolina for 10 days of cycling is the plan, but I will have to see what the price it first. They are estimating it to be about $300 for everything, one heck of a deal. I talked to the wife about it and she thinks I should find a way to go. It's my last chance to take an opportunity to do something like this so I am going to look into it a bit more. I have been getting back onto the bike latter in the week, lasting about 2 - 2 1/2 hours on the trainer. I did get out last week Friday, it was wonderful and I really enjoyed being outside riding. Hope to get about 7 - 8 hours in this weekend of riding. Kind of down about the bike though, it's still not here and no word about when. I keep being told by the end of the week, but that has been 2 weeks in a row. I checked to make sure they ordered it for me, and they confirmed that they have, so now it's just a waiting game.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Still Counting Down

I have an extra 25 minutes before the start of my next class, so I thought I would do a quick entry. I have a 41/2 hour break between my last two classes, so I have been using it for studying. So far it has been working out great to study during this time. It's amazing how much work I can get done when I sit myself down in the library and just focus on what I need to do. Everyone says it won't last though, saying I will not want to use that time for studying, but they are wrong. Every little bit of studying I can get done on campus means I don't have to try and do it at night after my girls go to bed. It also frees up my time a lot in the evenings, allowing me to help get the house clean or ride on the bike for an hour or two.
My first community clinical starts tomorrow and I have to admit I am a bit nervous about it. I am not the most keen on going into a situation not knowing anything about it and that is exactly what I am doing. I am sure it will go well, but I will have to wait and see.
So far the semester seems like it will be pretty enjoyable. It's really early to say that but from what I have seen and learned I am really enjoying my classes, but I will be really happy when I graduate!
It looks like my new bike will be here by the end of the week! If I am lucky it will be nice out this weekend and I will get to take it for a spin. When I say nice I am talking about 30-35 degrees and warmer without any precipitation of any kind. That is about all I could expect during January, but it would be better then -10. It will be pretty cool getting a new bike, something I have not had the luxury to do in a long time. Looking over the racing season I am a little nervous about how I might do. It seems Endevour is a pretty good team, and I hope I have something to offer them when the time comes.
Off to class, until next time.

Friday, January 20, 2006

113 and counting

113 days until graduation! It seems so far away, but at the same time it is right around the corner. I finally was able to attend all my classes, being that it was a short week it made things a little more difficult. Now I now know what lays ahead of me for the semester. Some how I need to incorporate all of my school work, bicycle riding time, family (with kids) and work into my days. Wow, when you think of it in those terms it seems beyond overwhelming, but I think it might go easier than I anticipate. I feel getting a schedule down will help things smooth out, kind of remove the rough edges.
One of the things I am looking forward to is racing this year. Racing for UW-Madison in the spring and then for Endeavour Cycling. Even more exciting for me is that I get to get a new bike this year. My 1988 Cannondale will finally put to pasture, but I will still use it for indoor stuff where it won't matter much. The bike has been amazing, but with metal fatigue setting in it just makes me a little nervous to actually race on the thing. The bike I am getting is the Schwinn Fastback Pro. Yah, I know what you are already thinking, "a Schwinn, don't they sell those at department stores?" and the answer is yes. But, Schwinn has two divisions and their high end bikes are VERY solid. Just take a look at the specs on the thing, they rock. Also, they are the UW Cycling teams sponsor, so getting a great bike for a bit less helps as well. I just can't wait to get it and get out and ride. So far I have been putting in some ok hours on the bike for pre-season, ranging anywhere from 8 - 14 per week. Nothing spectacular, but more than I have put in this early previous years. Off to ride now, later!