My current PC is now six years old, and it is really showing its age. It’s been consistently very slow, despite the regular “maintenance” I perform to clean it up after barely using it every third day. I had recently lost files on it, and it even rebooted on me while I was typing. When we moved into a house last summer, the computer was set up in a spare bedroom that we turned into an office. So I wanted something portable that I could use in other parts of the house, such as the living room or basement. With this portability in mind, I researched laptop computers for a few months, waiting for the right moment to buy.
I corresponded with a friend who tried Windows Vista on a new laptop. He was really dissatisfied with its performance, even though he bought a computer that was at least a step up from entry level. My parents also had issues with their Vista desktop. And I had worked out a security issue at work where some of our customers were unable to access our legitimate registration Web site because of an over-cautious security setting in Vista and Internet Explorer 7 (I tried IE 7 at home on Windows XP and was able to access the site). After hearing all of the horror stories about Windows Vista, I decided to go a different route: I bought a Mac.
A coworker and I were riding home by bicycle from my part-time job Sunday evening when I hit a curb and flipped off of the bike. When I got up, I had searing pain behind my left shoulder, and I was scraped up a bit. Since the crash occurred only a few blocks from home, I told my coworker that I’d be okay and to go ahead. I was able to walk home with my bike, my backpack still on my back.
I don’t remember the walk home. But after getting home, I had this realization that I had crashed and that I was home. My mind was racing from the adrenaline, and the pain in my shoulder suddenly got worse. I then called Kristen, who was out of town at the time, and she told me to call my buddy Josh. So Josh came and took me to the hospital.
I attended a session on bike etiquette recently, where they showed this video of a crusader out to help drivers learn that bikes are legal vehicles on the road. Jeff Frings decided to take the whole bike vs. car issues one step further. He was tired of close calls, so he mounted video cameras to his bicycle to document his near misses.
My sister’s father in law, Gordon, passed away during the evening of March 26. He is survived by his wife, his son, and his three grandchildren, as well as many family and friends.
Genevieve, his wife, described him as an artist, an athlete, a Marine, a police officer, detective, and lieutenant. She also described him as a friend, husband, father, grandfather, dog lover, and car afficionado (especially Mercedes Benz). Although Gordon had many facets of his life, he was also an incredible human being and a really good guy, and I am fortunate to have been a part of his life.
On Sunday, March 15, my friend Josh and I agreed to go for a ride outside. It had been 10 days since my first ride outside, before the temperatures dropped into freezing again and then climbed out to provide warmer weather. Although Josh prefers warmer weather, he and I agreed to ride around the lake.
I was running just a little behind schedule, so I stopped at my local REI and bought myself a state trailpass. I then rode the three miles to catch up with him. When I arrived, he said, “you know, we’re out here and it’s a pretty decent day, so what do you think about riding down to Paoli and back?”
The weather on Thursday, March 5, was so warm that we hit 60 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 C). It was pretty warm, so I had spring fever. I changed the rear tire on my bike from the trainer to the road tire and anticipated getting out on Friday. Since it was warmer again on Friday, I layered up and headed out.
I had planned a short ride: about 30-45 minutes. I figured out my route, one of my usual shorter rides, and headed out. It was slightly windy, and I headed right into it (meaning good tailwind on the way home). However, all that time on the trainer should have helped pay off, at least a little.
Despite living in Wisconsin my entire life, I had never gone alpine (downhill) skiing until last weekend. Considering that I have lived around snow for nine months per year since birth and that I have never been more than an hour from any of the ski hills, I never took the opportunity to actually try it until last weekend. Kristen really encouraged it, since she had skied before. Man, what was I missing?
We had picked an ideal weekend for it: sunny, clear, and warm (well, just barely above freezing). Had we been snowshoeing, we would’ve had a blast. Had I tried cross-country, we would’ve been really warm halfway through. But downhill is tricky because you go then stop and take a lift to get back up the hill (at least that’s what most people do at the resorts). Now that I’ve had a chance to recover, here is my account of this great new adventure.
