Craziness

Well, the past couple of weeks have been insane for me. First off, I had a major term paper due, as well as my finals to take. The paper was no joke. I guess I shouldn't have waited until the end of the semester to do it, but I think I work better under pressure. hahaha It came out pretty good, and I did good on my finals, too, so it all worked out. I'm so glad to be done with all of that now.

After that, I was washing my mountain bike when I discovered a hole in the frame. I was completely shocked, especially since I had raced it at Tsali recently (where I had a blast, by the way). During the race I had some chain suck issues that kept the chain rubbing up against the bike. There's a longer story here, but I'm not going to get into it. Nevertheless, there's a hole in the bottom part of the frame near where the big ring comes close. I was sick because that was my only mountain bike, as my other one is still in parts. I'm looking at ordering another frame, but a replacement Trek 9.8 is gonna be way more than I was wanting to spend this time of year. I have a few options, though. For one, I hear there's a re-wrapping company out of Cali that may be able to repair the carbon. Another option, or in addition to getting it fixed, is to look into a Haro frame, which I hear is the same carbon-fiber but way cheaper. My final option, and one that a friend is raving over because he just got one, is to get a titanium Motobecane from BikesDirect. I'll have to do some more research first, though. I really liked my Trek... :(

Incidentally, I finally gave up on the bike build; at least, doing it myself. After a few wasted weekends trying to put the thing together with friends, I took it to the local bike shop & asked him to put it together. It's a good thing too, because apparently I ordered a bunch of wrong parts (major parts, like the shifters, wheels, and front deraileur -- all wrong sizes). That's got me a little stressed because I'm not sure I can send back some of the parts this late in the game. I may have to sell them on ebay or something. I am glad, however, to have someone else that knows what they're doing putting it together. Maybe later down the line I'll get into bike building, but I just don't have the time nor do I have the patience to do it now. I'd much rather just ride the dang thing.

So the bike issue has halted my riding for the past few weeks on the mountain bike. I've been getting out on the road bike, which is actually going to be good since I'll be doing the Cheaha Challenge Century that my bike club sponsors on Sunday. It's going to kick my butt, but this ride is special to me. It was last year that I first rode the Challenge, and it was my first organized ride on a road bike ever.

Another thing that happened recently is someone has been harassing my grandmother. Namely, they've been coming up to the back porch and ringing the doorbell at odd hours in the night. The first night it happened was a week ago Thursday. She called the cops, but they never found anything or anyone. The second night it happened was Saturday night, and I happened to be there staying the night, as was my mother who was in town for a visit. About 4:30 in the morning, the doorbell started ringing. I got on the phone with 911 while they dispatched the police. I was in the living room looking out the backdoor. It's glass, but there's blinds hanging, so with the flood lights on outside, you can just make out the shadows. While I was on the phone with 911, I saw a figure walk up to the door and then we heard it ring again. That really got my adrenaline flowing! The 911 operator wasn't making it any easier, because she started freaking out too, saying, "I heard it, I heard it! Oh my God!" So here's three women running around the house, my mom with a gun, scared half to death and another woman on the phone scared for us. Looking back it was almost comical. Of course, the police came out again. I think they sent some guy from high school. Anyhow, he looked around but didn't find anything. He ends up leaving and we go back to bed (not back to sleep though). As soon as we get the lights off, the doorbell rings again. These people have balls! We call the police again, and they ended up staying with us until the sun came up. Come to find out later, my grandmother's neighbor had dogs that started going crazy just a little before all this happened. Since my grandmother lives way out in the boonies, we think that whoever it is walked through the woods and just hid back there when the cops came.

With all of that happening, I have decided to get a gun for protection. I never have been a big fan of guns and really never wanted one for myself. That's not to say I don't know how to fire one; I was awarded an Expert Pistol Medal in the Navy, which is the highest you can get. I just never wanted to have one. I have changed my mind and have started to look around for one. I stayed another night at my grandmother's house to give her some company, and I didn't feel safe until I put my grandfather's pistol on the bedside table before I fell asleep.

The next day after all that drama, I decided to catch up on some things with email. Grades for my students were due the next week, so I figured I'd get those turned into the professor. I went to turn my laptop on, and all I could get was a BSOD that said "Unmountable Boot Drive." My heart sank. I tried various things to no avail. I thought, no big deal, I've got a backup copy online that I can access the next day. Monday rolled around, and I quickly discovered that my backup copy was corrupt! Who else does all this crap happen to, tell me!?! So I began making arrangements to take my computer in to a repair shop in order to get those grades off. I mean, we're talking over 100 students that will by default have to get A's if I don't recover the grades they actually made...not to mention, I will lose my job as a student teacher. Meanwhile, I had asked the computer gal at my other job with the Ntl Park Svc to look into recovering the online file. As I was driving off to the computer shop, she calls saying that she managed to recover the file. Thank the baby Jesus! I was saved again.

Later that day, I made the decision to just get a new computer all-together. I'm tired of having all these near misses with my old one. I found a great deal at Best Buy, and I got a 3 year extended warranty that covers just about everything. I'm extremely pleased with it, and it's just in time since summer semester starts Monday. It is funny to note, however, that after I got home, unpacked & turned on my new laptop, I thought I'd give the old one another try. I used a boot disk and, voila! it worked. I managed to get all my data off. Now I can reformat it and use it as a backup computer.

Whew! It's been crazy, like I said. Other than that, I got some sweet overtime this week at the Park. I had a great time too. I must say there's something to really busting your ass at work. It's so satisfying. It's been some hard physical labor and I got to work with fire a little bit, learning how to use a drip-torch. Once I get red-carded I can go fight fires out West with some of the crews. I hear you work like a dog, but the pay is great and they tell me it's really a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Today I've been catching up with emails, phone calls, and everything else I've neglected for the past few weeks. Tonight is the pasta dinner before the crit tomorrow hosted by the Northeast Alabama Bicycle Club. Frankie Andreau and a bunch of other pros are supposed to be there, and I have the task of 'escorting' him around, along with another gal. What does that entail? I guess I'll find out. Should be fun regardless.