HAPPY THANKSGIVING...And First Snow Ride.
You know that this picture is most rewarding and best explained as a final chapter to.....


This picture.....Honey wants to know why the flag man isnt there on Thanksgiving. And why he isnt holding a cup of hot joe instead of what appears to be an 8 x 10 piece of paper. or is that just a Lobster Glove the flag man (person, sorry, P.I. I know) is holding?


And this one...What a pretty Turkey. Sorry he or she has to be eaten today.
Maybe that is actually a Tofu-rkey. I have never seen one other than in the freezer at the coop...

Happy day to you all.

Thanks for reading.

GO BIG GREEN
I know this is the wrong sport but the student athletes at all schools are amazing. I just happen to really think the student athletes are Dartmouth are special. So kudos to the women on the tennis team and.....

yum cookies on my letter blanket.
Did anyone else get letter blankets? I sure think i use it more than the letter sweater i have had on like once since college and that i think i wore once in college.

Kudos to Toby. Dont know him but he did good in the D2 RR. Nice job.

Men’s Division II Road Race – Toby Marzot (Dartmouth College)

taken from the USA Cycling weekly email rec'd 11-16-07

Sunday Stroll
Sunday we got out for a nice roll. My sister Elizabeth joined us and we meandered through Mendota Heights and Eagan. It was a great day to be out..I was a bit overdressed but my theory is that i have never gotten injured from being a bit too warm.

Yep that is me in my Christmas tree tights!!
Here is honey taking self portraits.
"HOW YOUUU DOIN??"
Self protraits are hilarious, ezpecially when you are rolling along around 15 mph.
Sister rolling along...

So tuesday we got out again for a good long ride..3 hours ! Phew I hope we get another one of those but the urgency of weather/cold toes/cold fingers may mean the outdoor rides are kept short and fast. Cant do anything about it so lets just see what ma nature drops our way.

SPBRC club ride
7:30 am Saturday
Didnt check the radar till 7:15 am where one of our trusty weatherpeople told me that it would be "wet" I think they like to use "snizzle"(what kind of word is that? sound like nasal drip to me)
I looked out the window, and it looked just fine to me. So figured I may as well go out and investigate. It took me 20 minutes to gear up so i may as well spin around and see what was out there. Plus I knew honey was already on the road...too late to call it quits. and i knew that the GP train would be hauling up Summit ready to pull me in.

This weekend across the high bridge we were pelted with little ice pellets. "What did we do to deserve this???" was called from the back of the group. A few people peeled off after what was not really a sprint on Delaware. The pace was moderate and I applaud the normally "way aggressive" lead riders for shortening the course by 10 miles as we got wetter and the snizzle turned to rain. Monty missed a good ride!

View from the High Bridge 11-10-07
Honey smartly went home to spin since he had some "snizzle" leftover from a bad cold.
Blah blah blah, it wasnt too bad really. My feet got REALLY wet and I wasnt really that cold in my core but even Super leaders of the ride complained of cold feet, so i felt kinda happy that my feet werent frozen yet...usually those guys dont even wear booties.

Anyways we skipped to post ride coffee at DB to go home and shower and warm up.
All in all it was a good 2hours and now i need to drain and wash the bike.
Bummer.

The only thing that made the ride less than ideal other than the weather was that honey went home to spin. But he did what was best for him.

The guys said it was a ken woods 2006 ride. Since i had never heard of KW until 2007 I will take their word that i will prefer sun and 20 to rain and 35.

Last week's view from the high bridge.

I know it sounds crazy to ride in the rain but i dont go out in the rain intentionally and once you are wet you are wet. It is mostly about getting out. I can do a much harder workout indoors and somedays i will / and i do. But kinda like when i used to run in sub zero temps, it is more about the great outdoors. Something about that air and being outdoors....as long as the Reynauds in the hands and feet stays away i will keep at it. (oh yea and had to floss a bit as the pearly whites got some grime in them)

Thanks for reading.

48 Years...Mom and Dad's anniversary
November 7 2007


I think that is pretty cool. 4 kids, 3 grandkids, and many many golden retrievers latter they are married..still..happily...and still living independently in a big old house that has an extra lot (for the dog, you know...she needs her "squirrel chasing" space.)

Love you mom and dad, and congratulations. I am sure we kids drove you nutso and i am glad we are now able to celebrate your good health and commitment to each other.

Tonight I am making risotto, lots of labor and love goes into that dish. And if you have strong forearms from gripping a tennis racket or holding on to handlebars for dear life (yea I know you arent supposed to hold on tight, but come on..) then this dish is just about cross training with all that stirring. Then again maybe i will make the boxed risotto. Ha kidding.

Love you mom and dad!!!

Julia

So did you know that....



and that Mr.Polarbear is really quite nice and lets you take pics on your own camera at no charge? Even tho there is a roaming guy that will sell you one in the gift shop?

COKE ANYONE? or should i say COCA-COLA ???

The Coke museum is really cool. Or it was until i sat in the "throw up" 4D theatre where the seats moved and since we were in the front row we got the best of the effects. For me that meant taking off the glasses and closing my eyes, and just being a good sport while the chairs slammed back and forth. This was worse than the Omni-theatre's "flying" movie.

I thought my stomach had settled. But I was ready to get out of there.

So we headed to the gift shop but had to stop at the "tasting" area where you can sample and I mean AS MUCH AS YOU WANT of all the coke products from all over the world. Of course there is an entire separate room with JUST COKE.

We headed to Spain, Africa, Japan, all over the place trying to not continent jump. Wow, there are some NASTY soda-pops out there. I think England had a pretty good one that was like a weak ginger ale, but there was one from Africa that tasted like sun tan lotion. Gross.

I dont really drink too much pop anyways so I am sure i didnt appreciate it as much as some others.

We went to the ALL COKE room and did a blind taste test with the following:

diet coke

diet caffeine free coke

coke free

diet cherry coke

And the winner is......

COKE FREE!!!

Now I go to Target when i get home and buy some. It doesnt taste all that great but it was good marketing on their part.

So back to the story...We sample all that stuff and i am starting to want some air. We get outside and walk thru Olympic Centennial Park (cool) and hail a cab. The taxi looks clean and the guy seems to know where we need to go, as opposed to the one at the conference center that handed the Zagat book at us to find out where we were going..as the meter was running already. nice.

But lets just say that i dont care how "good" they look, this guy got us out of Downtown Atlanta and back to Emory at rush hour without even coming to a complete stop EVER. I rolled down the windows, closed my eyes and sat it out.

Dont like riding in the back seat, dont like bumpy airplane rides, dont like the seats in the back of the old station wagons (Grand-daddy old car) that face backwards. I kinda dread any airplane ride where i need to sit in the back, and the worst is when you land and they turn off all the air and you get to sit there for 15 minutes while NWA says "we have the best arrival times," meaing we touched down on time but we are going to hold you hostage for a bit.

Well I know i didnt tell you that much about Asa Candler and the real history of coke, but if you go you can learn all about it. It was fun and it is truly amazing all the products coke produces. There are also letters from servicemen asking their mom's to send Coke to them, and letters that people wrote telling how coke changed their lives. Hmm..maybe i will give up sports and search for endorphins, long lasting friendship and a community with fellow coke drinkers. Nah.

Anyways, go if you can.

The Aquarium is next!

Dartmouth Weekend!!! Atlanta, GA!
Finally I am getting these pics up. I have to admit that I dont know how to do too much with this new camera. It took me about 30 minutes to find them and i cant figure out how to move the pics around so they are in chronological order. Oh well.

Weather was outstanding...arrived thursday night where Doris and I had our "usual" Don Julio Margarita. Rich was our designated driver, although Dor can man her Beemer with her eyes closed so he just had to be on-call. After a tasty meal she dropped us off at the Emory Conference Center which was party central.

Emory and the conference center are across the street from the CDC and right near lowwater park, the college president's home grounds. There are trails and ponds and wonderful hilly! places to run and walk. I logged quite a few miles there, walking to the gate with Rich and running, and then meeting him back on the road back to the conference center. One special run was with Jeff '92. Jeff is a pediatrician who is married to Deb '91. We chatted it up pretty good and managed to run 5.5 miles in about 40 minutes. Not bad for some a guy that has 2 kids, lives in flatland CT and works alot of hours. Me on the other hand can say I am fit bc i ride my bike, but i was happy to take a long nap that afternoon after the wedding. Thanks Jeff! I did finally figure out where that loop went and how we missed the turn back into the grounds.

Oh yea there was a wedding. I will get to the pics now.

Joanne and Kristy at the church
Joanne is a 92 and Kristy is 91. Joanne lives in chicago and Kristy lives in Chattanooga,. I think?
Joanne wondered why so many women are obsessed with tennis. Doris and I werent the best people to ask. I wondered HOW She couldn't be obsessed with Roger Federer! But then again i think i am a tad (ok ALOT) warped on that subject.

Me and honey at the reception...
Annemarie, Deb 91, Me, Joanne 92, Kirsty 91

Darmouth Pic!

Jeff 92, Deb 91, Kristy 91, Heidi 91, Dor 91, Scott (GO UNC!!), Me 88, Joanne 92, Tony (Doris sweet younger brother...93?) Tony and Juan are Doris' brothers. I didnt know Tony at all but wasn't the least bit surprised at how fun and genuine both he and his wife Judy are. I didnt get to see Juan as much. He and his wife Chandlee have 3 great kids but they are pretty young and i think Chandlee's mom (bless her heart!) had her hands full with them. Tony lives in Scottsdale, AZ and Juan lives in Macon, GA.

Check this out. When Doris asked if i wanted a "Mani-Pedi" I was like "what's that?"

So here you go! Not much to speak of but it was fun. They had these massage chairs that were so powerful that i nearly fell into the foot bath.

AND NOW FOR SOME BIG GREEN BIKE TALK.

TA-DAH! Doris plans to wear these on "cold" power walks and even on the tennis court! For now they are in her trunk with a spare pair of tennis shoes (hint hint) dont want to leave those under the bed again. Tuxedo strawberries. Very cool.
Scott wants to come to MN bc the red velvet cake here has cream cheese frosting and down there i guess caterers are afraid it will melt in Atlanta's heat. Heck it wasn't that hot!
Anyways...red velvet cake deserves CC frosting but the tuxedo berries were pretty cool.

Just another "family pic." Jeff gets along so well with the ladies that he fit right in. At that table we have quite a health care staff. 2 Radiologists, 1 Pediatrician, 1 Plastic Surgeon and 1 PT. Plus 2 lawyers. Huh, go figure:) Malpractice anyone?

Kristy, Me, Doris, Joanne, Heidi, Deb and Jeff.

What a fantastic time we had. I think honey was blown away by how all these Dartmouth folks that really didnt know each other can immediately bond and have so much fun. Gotta tell you, I know we sound arrogant, but Dartmouth is a special place.