Fall Friday

It's raining. I wish it was snowing.


The past couple of weeks have been super busy! We drove 18hrs out to CA for mtn bike nationals, placed 6th as a team, had one nationals champion, fineagled our way into the banquet for the 6th year running (at least), imbibed a large amount of "juice" and then drove 16 hrs home to Fort Collins. I taught a lesson the next day, and we have yet to catch up on laundry :)

Mountain bike nats, as you might have guessed already, was an incredible time! We had such a great group of people and even the downhillers were respectful and responsible! My races were ok, not great and not terrible, so it was a bit of a let down, but I'll take it.

Up for this weekend: Veloswap, homework, and work.

I Got a Raise

It's true, $0.25 raise effective for my next paycheck I think :) I don't believe I have ever gotten a raise...no wait, when I worked at the climbing wall I got a raise...but my first since high school! Apparently it's an unusual situation where they are trying to remain competitive with other computer labs on campus, and I've been doing a good job and will only be here through the spring, but in any case, I'll take it!
Me in the computer lab...

In other news, WE'RE GOING TO PORTLAND FOR THANKSGIVING!!!! I'm bummed that the East Coast trip didn't work out, but it was waaaaay too expensive for us to afford, and to ask Caley's parents to fly us both out there would have been asking quite a lot. So, hopefully we can both get back at some point soon, but if not, Caley will definitely be going back sometime over the winter. While in Portland, I expect Emily and Brendan and Kelly to show us an amazing time and take us to all their favorite places, and I expect to eat lots of amazing food and have some quality time with most of my Dad's side of the family! Sadly, the parents can't make it, but we'll see them over Christmas this year! Also sadly, the sister can't make it; I looked up tickets from her godforsaken icy wasteland of a town, and the cheapest is something like $830....whoa.

I hope to have news to share about Caley's position at VeloNews soon! The last time he talked with his boss, the plan was to negotiate a more permanent employment situation after they got back from Interbike....so they're back, and now they're going to talk! I'm excited and nervous for him! They say women are often paid less because they are less assertive in negotiations for salary, well, I believe it! I don't think I would have even the remotest idea of where to start. I guess you learn the more you're involved in the industry or whatever, but still...scary.

I'm excited for mtn bike Nationals!!!! We've had such a great group of people this season, I wish we could bring everyone that's been racing every weekend. I think we've convinced the other two girls to go though! Yay!!!!!! I won't be the only one among 12 stinky boys :) Plus, Jourdan is super fast, it's going to be my goal to stick with her on the xc race, good to have inter-team competition!! We went for a stellar team ride the other night after a delicious bbq at Roger's parent's house, a much more fitting end to the season than the Winter Park weekend was.



Ok, I should go do some homework...ciao!

Monthly Post

The rate of my posting seems directly correlated with the amount of busy-ness in my life; the busier things get, the less I blog, which makes sense, but means there is always so much to catch up on when I finally get around to it!

Let us see...after Caley and I got back from Ogunquit....we had about two more beautiful weeks of summer before jumping into school. Caley finished up his internship with VeloNews, and as I'm sure you all know by now, got hired part time for the Fall semester!! He recently went to Interbike in Las Vegas, the largest bike expo in North America (I think...) and had quite the experience. He was so busy I was lucky to get a 10 minute chat out of him each day, but on the night of CrossVegas, the cyclo-cross race hosted at Interbike, I got to see him on the live streaming video from cyclingdirt.com. It was soooo cool! I felt like we were hanging out :) At one point he was lying down on the side of the course shooting photos, and I yelled at him to get out of the way before his head got run over!

School has been going really well, I've done well on all my assignments, and I'm enjoying being in the classroom at TVHS. My match-up teacher is trying a more inquiry based apporach this year for the first time in 20+years of teaching, very cool! It's a learning experience for both of us, and I wish I was there more than just 2 days a week, I think this would be a very unique opportunity to really collaborate with him and share the techniques I've been learning in my Methods class. Unfortunately work prevents me from going down more on my own, but it makes me even more excited for next semester student teaching!

The mountain bike series is screaming to an end, and I'm sad! Racing and traveling with the team has been so much fun this season! I feel like we've barely started, adn with only 4 weekends of racing this year, it's kind of true :( We leave for Nationals on Oct. 13th, and race that Friday and Saturday. We have two other girls who could go this year, but both of them have really heavy school loads. The team is trying everything to get them to go, and I hope they do!!! It's so nice to be on good terms with the team, all the drama of last season seems like a long time ago (thankfully!).

Some recent photos are coming soon, I promise!!

Catch-up

Yet again, I haven't posted in forever and there is a ton to catch up on!

At the very tail end of July, and the beginning of Aug. Caley and I took our annual summer excursion. We started out at Winter Park for another mtn bike race. I didn't get last, barely, and Caley had fun riding around cheering on his teammates. Then, we packed up the bikes and headed down to Durango to visit my family and go to a Michael Franti concert!!! Here are some photos...at one point, he came out into the crowd and was so close I could have touched him! WOW!!!!





The next day we packed up and headed to DIA for a red eye flight to Maine. A week on the beach was just what the doctor ordered! Lobsters, sun, sand, waves, grilled cheese from the beach shack, tide pool exploring along the Marginal Way, wine on the dock, I could go on and on and on about the magic of Ogunquit. A few pics for your enjoyment!

(coming soon, just have to grab them from Caley)

Back home again, Caley and I celebrated our third anniversary, started school, I had my birthday yesterday, and Caley got officially hired with VeloNews! August has definitely been a go go go month for us.

We rode the tandem out for some delicious Asian food at Taipan


So far school has been good, I haven't had a whole lot to do which is kind of weird. I'm also taking an online geology course. I hope I can keep on top of it. In my new job as a computer lab attendent I'll be spending at least 14 hrs a week on the computer, so it should be too much of a problem...

Oh, and, today I got a haircut!! I like it, even with all the goo they put in there that I never will :)

Pictures!

Some pics from the last couple of months! Heavy on the biking...sorry:)

And in no particular order...


This is a snapshot of Caley's first hard copy magazine piece!!!!!!! I am sooo proud of him. Basically he's running VeloNews now :) But seriously folks, we are pretty sure he's going to get at least a part time job right after he graduates, and maybe even before that! Talk about a dream job. He is loving it, he comes home, and immediately hops back on the computer to check if he has anything else to do. It's feeding his internet addiction to be sure, but at least for now I'm not complaining :)




I don't remember when this was, but I love the picture, Sebby looks.....really happy for sure :)




My friend Anna and I right after they announced our mtn bike race was canceled due to snow at the top of the mtn. Of course as soon as we were leaving the sun came out and all the snow melted, but oh well, we got to eat at Beau Jos in Idaho Springs. I registered for the whole Winter Park series this summer and I've done almost all of them and I'm currently 5th overall in my category. I don't think there is any hope of getting on the podium though, 1st-3rd place are waaaaaay ahead in the points. The next race is this weekend, and I hope not to run into a tree this time :)




Me riding while on a bike ride with Caley at Blue Sky my favorite mtn bike trail around. I love his old Rio kit, I wish they had parted ways a little more amicably so I wouldn't feel weird wearing it...oh well, the skull is super cool!




Caley and I after a great ride out in Lory State Park. It was late evening, the temp had dropped a little, and the trails around the reservoir are super fun to just cruise on.


And this is me on that ride in Lory! Caley is sneaky with the camera, I didn't know he was video taping, I probably would have tried to do a jump or a wheelie or something....hahaha, not. :)




In other news, I applied for a job on campus in the CAHS computer labs today! I walked in to turn in my application and ended up doing the interview right then and there! I think it went well, and I really really hope I get the job. There are quite a few applications in front of me from people last spring, but hopefully I made an impression :) I'll keep you posted!

My website

For the STEPP program at CSU, we are required to create a portfolio, and the program has been making the transition to online portfolios. So, here is mine! It is a work in progress for sure. If you see any typos, or have any suggestions of things I should add or eliminate, I'd appreciate the feedback. Most of the classes I'm taking have a final portfolio aspect, and these are posted under individual class sections. Sometimes these include class assignments, experiences, etc...maybe not things I think are particularly relavent to showing a future employer....some of them are kind of fun though!

CLICK HERE to see! :)

Fear Not!

I have not abandoned this blog! :)

I just realized I didn't post for the whole month of June, and more than half of the month of July! Wow! I guess that's a good thing, too busy with life and adventures than to write in a blog. What does it mean that I am now back writing? A brief hiatus from adventures I suppose :)

Let us see...a brief recap of June and July?

For the month of June and some of July I was taking classes at CSU!! I took 4 classes total, split up between two sessions. I LOVE EDUCATION CLASSES!! It has been such a relief and so refreshing to be in classes that are discussion based, and super interesting. 5.5 years of almost total science left me craving a class where the students argue and debate and get all philosophical :) I got to spend some time in classrooms in the summer school at Rocky Mountain High, and definitely learned a lot! I can't wait for more in class time next semester and I hope I can nail down a really great student teacher position for the spring. I'm still waiting on grades for one class, but so far I have one A+ and 2 A's :)

Since the end of classes, I have been babysitting for some good friends of ours. Their six month old is the cutest, chubbiest, little baby. I am becoming the nap master!! He was down for 2 hrs and 4 minutes earlier today, and I just got him down for another good one I hope :) Hopefully the thunderstorm won't wake him up!

This weekend I am signed up to take my General Science Content Knowledge exam, which is a licensing exam. I've been studying for the past couple of days, hopefully I'll be brushed up enough to pass...the test was something like $120 so I definitely don't want to have to retake it.

The rest of my time has been spent trying to get out on the bike! I've been racing at Winter Park on my mtn bike and have successfully completed two so far. I think there are two or three left in the series, one of which I will be doing the morning before driving down to visit the family in Durango!!! Caitlin enticed us there with a Michael Franti and Brett Denin concert...how nice of her! :)

Also, I QUIT SUNFLOWER!!! Yay!! I'm so glad I don't work there anymore, although we do miss the food discount :)

Anyway, pictures soon!