I'm back!

I decided to slack off on something I'm supposed to be doing right now and write here instead.

T. was ok. I find meetings tiring and they test my patience. I get impatient when it's all didactic (I find I can only sit and listen to someone else speak for a couple of hours - one of our days it was all day long). I also find it difficult to be patient with others when they are dissecting the clinical papers to death and getting hung up on the minutia and falling into the trap of looking at them from a microscopic point of view instead of stepping back and seeing the big picture. However, I also recognize that it's part of the learning experience for me. I have to learn to have more patience with these things, with other people, and know that work isn't always easy (i.e. sometimes you have to sit through 8 hours of didactic lectures in a day, get a sore back, and suck it up) - this too shall pass. The fun part about T. was exactly what I had mentioned before: the people. I was really happy to see the majority of my friends and colleagues before I head off and leave them for some time. I really will miss so many of them. In particular, my old manager is someone I will miss tremendously. He has been an important person in my life over the years that I have worked with this organization and I learned a lot from him.

Today I got out on the bike. I have not been riding very much in the past few weeks. In fact, not at all in the last week and a half. Last weekend I felt that funny feeling you get in your throat when you are about to get a cold, so I stayed in on Sunday instead of riding with the gang. I was really bummed about it, but I really wasn't up for it and did not want to get sick. I was still feeling this bug niggling at my throat and in my ears when I left on my trip on Tuesday, but with proper rest, lots of extra fluids, my vitamins, and echinacea I was able to fight it off successfully! :) So I hope this means that in the upcoming weeks I'll be getting out on my bike a lot! Oh. And I saw something new today while on my ride: cycle polo. And this is where I saw it. Now that would be a great way to get better bike handling skills. It looked pretty neat!

I've also been doing a little more research on NZ. Learning about the places, things to do, etc. I have some ideas about the cycling communities there through some of my research. And this is giving me some ideas about some places I'm going to check out. But all of that will come when I'm actually there - so you'll have to read then to find out. ;)

One last trip to T. (for now)

Last business trip tomorrow. Back to the Big Smoke, as per usual. I wonder if I'll miss business trips when I'm gone? Nah. I doubt it. There are some fun moments in business trips, but usually you just work way harder than you do at home. Longer hours. Foreign bed. Interrupted routine. Bad food. Well, by that I mean bad for you - like dessert at every friggin' meal. Don't tell me those muffins at breakfast aren't more a dessert than something of sustenance. The fun stuff comes from the people, of course. I do work with lots of really cool, fun, nice people. That's a plus for sure. I think we'll have some fun this week.

I'm sort of settling in to my new environment now. It's not as weird not driving home to my place every day. I'm feeling less out of sorts. But it feels more like a lay-over. I wonder when it will sink in that I don't live there anymore?

I also started to get more info on NZ. One of my coworkers traveled there years ago for a few months and today we went out for lunch. He brought his photo albums and the map and we chatted for quite a while about all the cool places to see and things to do.

I haven't started a countdown. I think it's because leaving is bittersweet. I'm excited, but it's so far away - I'll miss everybody here a ton!

Conference Stuff

Conferences are funny, in that there can be lots of neat things going on in the exhibit hall. I'm not a big fan of the exhibit hall, actually. In March when I was in Chicago I mostly avoided it, but sometimes I get drawn in. Last fall at the CCS congress at one booth they had hired some guys who were trying to sell a medical device that measured your arterial resistance and with that information they were estimating your "arterial age" - i.e. how stiff are your arteries, further i.e. how healthy are you? I was 26 years old. :) I'm not chronologically 26, so of course I was happy. I told the guy I'd see him next year, when I'd be 25. Ha-ha!! Today I decided, after attending a lecture given by the president of the ADA, to go to one of the many booths that were measuring HbA1c. Unless you are diabetic, or suspected to be at risk for it, this is not a routine test, so I've never had it done before. Also, I should say that at the booth they are obviously not drawing blood and doing a typical test - this was a prick of my finger and a 5 minute analysis in a machine so it won't be quite as accurate, but it's fun nonetheless. Mine was 5.0% - bang on healthy-normal (just to give you an idea - the physicians I know have a hard time getting their diabetic patients' A1c down to 7%). I love the analytical tests at these things. I'm such a Science nerd sometimes.

Anyway... I've had a chance to see a bit more of SF. The weather here so far has been fantastic, although I think we're riding on that heat wave most of the rest of the continent is enjoying (or not?). I miss my bike though. I'm looking forward to later in the week when the congress is over and I can go out on a rental. :) More later...

The City By The Bay

Good morning! I've been up for a little bit here trying to figure out what I'm going to do in the wee hours - it's only 7 AM on the west coast here. I'm in San Francisco! This is my first visit to SF. So far what I've seen is very beautiful. It's a very clean city. I saw the street cleaner going by just a few minutes ago. Most of the city buses run on electric cables and there are lots of street cars. Yes, I saw - and heard - the SF cable car from the TV commercials of our youth. In fact, my room looks out on one of the lines and when I got up this morning I opened my doors and looked out to see one going by. I'm staying at a really swank place right down on the water in a part of the city called The Embarcadero. Driving in from the airport, you can really see how the city is all hills and housing developments are all built into the hills. The buildings downtown here are very nice. I haven't seen much yet. The vast majority of my day yesterday was spent on the airplane and when I got here I was fried. I am here for a conference too, so I won't be out touring around quite yet, I have work to do. But I've taken a couple of days for myself before I leave so I can get acquainted with the place. For now I'm going to go work out at the gym, get some breakfast and head to the convention.

The Joys of the Suit

Humph... no luck meeting the 500 km mark by April 30th - unless I leave the house right now to ride 40 km in the dark at something like 3 degrees. No thanks. Schedule and weather did not permit me to reach that target. Ah well. I'll find time tomorrow. I'm not sure what the weatherman is up to, but again, the weather is changing on a daily basis for the weekend. Humph again. I've decided to take Friday off and if it rains it'll be good anyway since my place is a total sty and it's bad enough that it's getting on my nerves - that means it's embarrassingly bad. I have spring-cleaning-type chores to get done.

I got home from work tonight earlier than expected and now I'm blogging because I still need some time to unwind. So, funny story for you...

Tonight one of my co-workers and I were sharing embarrassing suit-ripping stories. You see, in our job we are obliged to wear nice suits, and yet at the same time we often have to do physical labour, like lifting big boxes and what-not. My embarrassing suit-ripping story occurred a couple of years ago in the winter when I was carrying a very heavy box into an office and my arms were finally feeling like they would give out and I could not put that box down fast enough. Of course, arms full, I had no third hand available to pull up the fronts of my pant legs before crouching down to free myself of said cargo... R-I-I-I-I-I-I-P! Oh no! I ripped the seat of my pants open. Luckily, it being winter and all, I had a long wool coat on and nobody was the wiser. Even more fortunate, I was still in town and could go home to change. And just to make me feel extra stupid, the tailor laughed at me days later when I took my pants in to be mended. Yes, cycling and adding a few pounds to the skinny body of my youth has actually endowed me with a butt (something I didn't have before), but it's not that big! Proper and expensive suit pants require pulling up in the front of the leg before bending down. Unfortunately that's not possible when your arms are full. I also have several nice suit jackets in which the inner lining is ripped from reaching into my trunk for things. Oh the trials and tribulations. ;)

Sunday evening musings

Funny story from Chicago...

I was in a session at the congress. It was on severe acute hypertension. Yes, it was very interesting. He, he. When I was leaving the session my colleague, Bernard, text messaged me asking where I was. I texted him back saying I was heading to room S501a (or something like that) and that after that I was meeting a group of our colleagues at the front door to head out to the hotel for our debrief meeting at 4 PM. I figured he'd meet me at the front door at the pre-specified time.

So I head to the room for the next session that I wanted to attend. I get to the room, find a spot, and settle in. Not 10 minutes later, who walks in, but Bernard, all smiles. I thought he knew what the session was about. I said to him, "I can't believe you came to this session". He looked kind of confused. At the front door of the room a woman was greeting those coming in and handing them a book - written by the speaker. Bernard had one in his hand. He looked down at the title of the book: Into the Labyrinth: How Women Become Leaders. I started to laugh. He had no idea. He ended up being one of 3 men in the room. The session was really interesting, an audience mostly consisting of female cardiologists and related specialties. Bernard was a trooper. He stayed to the end, and even kept the book to give to his wife. He's one of three of us who now cover the territory I used to do alone: it's now myself, Bernard, and Janette. Poor him, Janette and I really gave him a hard time the whole time we were at the conference. I think he kinda likes it in a way though. lol!

So... this week looks like it's going to be really gorgeous (weather-wise). I'm working my butt off Monday and Tuesday, but as the week comes to a close I hope to get out on the NEW bike for the first time!!! So maybe my next post will be about that!

Oh, and I spent a little time this weekend changing things up here. Those of you who know me well will laugh when you see the colour scheme. I think I've captured a lot of the places I've been thru the photos. And yes, they were all taken by yours truly. I think my fave is the Eiffel Tower shot at night. Man, that thing is huge!

Fried

Wow. I'm so fried. My brain is mushy tonight. I can't remember things and spelling is difficult. Don't know why I'm even writing here. Maybe you all need some Friday distraction and me writing about nothing will help. ;)

It's been a crazy week. I've been working like a dog. Tonight I have plans to go for "adventures in dining" courtesy of Stef. I am looking forward to seeing how big she's gotten. Hopefully the girlz will be able to keep this kind of outing going. Stef wanted to organize something where we could go out and at the same time, expose ourselves to a little 'culture'. So tonight it's Ethiopian. I've had Ethiopian food before in T.O and it was great. I just hope I can hold a conversation. At this point I'm not sure.

I'm not going to train tonight and Jess canceled - phew! Not a bad thing. I probably would, and could have fallen asleep during squats or lunges. Last weekend I got to ride outside both days! I was going to head out alone on Saturday - not thinking about inviting anyone along, and also wanting some down time. My experience is that after being in meetings and conferences for a week I need time alone. However, Ruth phoned and asked if I wanted to head out with her. And frankly, I love riding with Ruth. So out we went. By the end we were in such bliss we were making plans for another ride on Sunday. Funny... just writing that made me perk up a little. :) I was hoping to get out this weekend but the weather keeps changing. I guess I'll have to play it by ear. I LOVE cycling!!! Ok. I know you know that, but I just had to write it anyway. The new bike has not been out yet. I'm going to wait til they sweep the roads a lot more and I feel that I won't get any road salt on it. You probably can't help but notice all the snow still there in our photos. Well, it's melting - I'm starting to see grass on my front lawn!! Spring is here - woo-hoo!

Chi-Town Low Down

OK. I'm starting to recover from a week's worth of work and travel. I am not exaggerating when I say, I believe I actually got a half hour to myself one day - and even that half hour was rushed. The rest of the time I was working my butt off like you wouldn't believe. My average morning wake up time from Sat thru Thurs was around 6 AM - starting with a 4:45 AM wake-up time on Saturday to get off to my flight. I am not a morning person, so you can imagine what those mornings did to me. And I worked all day at the conference Sat to Mon evening, with dinners out every night, ending with a symposium dinner on Monday. Tuesday we started our meetings when the rest of our colleagues joined us in the windy city. The conference, while exhausting, was fun and educational for sure. I was able to take 2 hours to myself on Sunday afternoon between seminars and dinner meetings and met up with a friend and colleague who stayed with me there (although she never saw me apart from that afternoon). We took a quick boat trip up the river and out to Lake Michigan. It was raining a bit and foggy, so we didn't get the view of the city that you would normally, but it was nice to do it regardless.

I found Chicago to be friendly and clean. I was told that the downtown core, where we were staying, is the nicest part of the city, so it leaves a bit of a biased point of view for me - particularly when I wasn't able to see much of the city, save for cab rides between the hotel and convention centre. However, what I saw makes me want to go back some day and experience it more. The architecture is definitely cool. The way the city was developed is really neat. Apparently it burned down and they had to rebuild at one time. They had been dumping all their sewage and other waste into the river and it caught on fire. That's when they built a lock at the entrance to the lake and forced the river in the opposite direction so as to move waste out and treat it properly. So I guess that's where "second city" gets its name. Due to the fog on the day that I took that boat trip I wasn't able to see the top of the Sears Tower, but it's still the tallest building in the city. And they've done a lot of neat things to move traffic, like Wacker St, which has 'upper' and 'lower' parts so that trucks can unload downstairs and not impede the flow.


(it's the one in the middle there)

Spring had arrived in Chicago already - there was no snow left and I saw LOTS of cyclists! I actually forgot how much snow we had here, so was surprised when I looked out the airplane window before we landed. Eek! One day I noticed the view from my hotel room window and saw I had a great view! And it was beautiful outside.

One of the final things I did in Chi-Town was the original House of Blues. The company had rented the entire place out for us on Wednesday night. That was a lot of fun! They had a Blues Brothers cover band play for us, and some Canadian comedian (I can't remember who - but I think he was pretty big because everyone else knew who he was - I'm hopeless with those things).

On the way home I got to thinking that Chicago is a lot like NYC, but smaller, cleaner, friendlier... and maybe even better shopping! So, next time you are thinking of going to NY for a shopping weekend, I'd reconsider and think about the windy city. Which, by the way, wasn't very windy. ;)

On the road again - metaphorically speaking

Well folks... you finally get some of what this blog's about again - ramblings on traveling instead of my ramblings on skiing or riding my bike on the indoor trainer watching Tom. This picture has nothing to do with the main content of the post - it's purely gratuitous on my part! lol!! Although I realize now that my post title could have easily referred to getting back outside on the bike. Alas, not yet. So, travel...

This has been the longest stretch in quite a few years that I've gone without traveling - 3 whole months! And you know what? It's been a nice reprieve. I've been focusing on my health and fitness, and working on ramping up to this period at my job that commences this weekend with a conference in the Windy City.

So my travel season begins and you get to visit some interesting places with me over the next few months. I decided to look up some info on Chicago's epithet (a word I learned in my search) to give you an idea on its origin since I'd heard that, in fact, the city was not given that name because it's windy. So here you go... the windiest US city seems to be (according to this weather expert) Dodge City, Kansas at 22.5 km/h (yearly average). Chicago is around middle of the pack, coming in at 16.7 km/h - not overly windy. So in fact, the name "Windy City" does not refer to how windy the city is. That sounded utterly redundant. Keep reading that weather site, or this one to find out more about the possible origin of the nickname - which is actually somewhat controversial. If I get a chance I'll post more when I'm there. And I'll let you know how windy it is too. ;)

Just Checkin' In

Life is pretty busy these days. Work, for one, is really ramping up. I can feel the momentum of the next month starting now. It's kinda fun, but at the same time I am a little apprehensive about work eating into personal time too much. So I'll have to stay cognisant of that to try not to let it happen.

I've been training lots on the bike and off the bike. I hope to take my cycling up a notch this year. The new bike will help. I rode it on the trainer tonight. Wow. It's so nice. :)

I'm learning a lot lately too. I'm reading some good books. I'm expanding my ideas on spirituality and how the mind works.

I'm also in the midst of trying to make life plans. Future plans, travel plans... all very exciting and interesting things.

Like I said, life is pretty darn busy. And that's a nice thing.

My Week

Yep. This is how I've been feeling this week. Since my last post really.

And Sunday wasn't really as nice as it usually is. Certainly not as fun as it looks for Snoopy.

What I'm thinking: 'this too shall pass'. Hope to have more fun stuff to blog on soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008 boys and girls! Another year has passed. Hard to believe.

I hope everyone had a safe but fun holiday! I spent New Years in Montreal. I had a really fun time there for the past few days! We're in the middle of yet another snow storm though and I drove home in it. It was a pretty slow drive back - the roads were a bit dicey. Maybe not the best thing to do, but I managed ok and didn't take any chances on the road. Just slow and steady. I'm bagged though. Last night the people living below my friend, Lisa, stayed up til about 5 AM I think and they were screaming and laughing and pounding around. Needless to say - I think I'm ready for bed now. Yikes!

Well, I'm ready for 2008. I'm ready for my skate ski lessons next weekend - yipee! I've already started teaching myself because I'm too excited to wait. I had a totally wicked ski last Friday with a group of friends up in the park. Super-fun. I'm ready for more cycling, and I'm ready to be even stronger this year than last. I'm ready for new challenges at work (I think). I'm ready for a boyfriend, however I don't really blog about that stuff so you won't hear much about that unless you are one of my girlfriends. If you are one of them - rest assured, I hope not to disappoint with more dating stories for you. I'm ready for more traveling - although my travel plans keep changing in my head on a semi-regular basis. Regardless of changes, I should have more wander to lust about this year on the blog. And I definitely plan to travel and bike this year - maybe even more than last! Yipee!!

I wish you all health, happiness, success, love, and friendship for this year... 2008 - here we come!

And here's an interesting tidbit for you:
Happy 150th Anniversary Ottawa!















Couple of photos I took in February 2002!
Can you believe the difference in snow to this year?

Work, Travel and other fun stuff

Well folks... here I am again - in the Big Smoke. Trapped inside all day today in a ballroom enduring meetings, feeling claustrophobic with no fresh air. Granted, the meeting was actually really good this morning. I just can't get used to breathing recycled air for more than a few hours at a time. So after the meeting concluded this evening and we had a couple of hours to ourselves before heading down to an organized dinner in the same ballroom where we spent the entire day (sigh), Janette and I figured we'd go buy our manager a Christmas card so the group of us could sign it while we're together and get some fresh air. So much for that idea: it's raining and neither of us had an umbrella, and we still have to look good for dinner (otherwise, frankly I'd have gone out there and gotten soaked). They have this underground tunnel system here in T-dot and we were able to find a card store. We were starving for air though, so we went outside and stood at the doorway like a couple of smokers on a smoke-break just to get some oxygen.

I have to give another airline-other-than-AC endorsement today... I flew Porter Airlines yesterday for the second time and it's very enjoyable. I actually feel like the seat in front of me is a little far away... my knees don't bang into it and I had to reach for my Bicycling mag that I had inserted into the leather seat pocket. The staff was so nice and accommodating too. There was a comedian at our meeting this morning (a real one - seriously) and he made the funniest joke: "On Air Canada we're not happy until you're unhappy". LOL!!!! So true. When you fly with another airline you really realize how surly the majority of the staff are at AC (even though I should acknowledge that due to the sheer number of times I've flown with AC I have encountered some very nice staff). I think it's part of their recruitment strategy.

I've been reading like it's going out of style lately. So I finished yet another book and I think I'm about 5 books in arrears posting on the book blog. But if you didn't already notice, I did post recently there. I'm onto another book that I brought with me for the week. I'll get some time in the next few weeks I think to get some updates because I've read some really awesome ones lately!

And I've been out xc-skiing again since my last post. Wow. The conditions are absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Every time it snows I am giggly like a child. I love it! When I get back from this trip I plan to learn the skate technique. So I'll be practicing both disciplines this winter. Don't worry - the bike hasn't been missing me at all. I've been getting on it about 4x/week right now. Next week marks the start of "Early Base" phase. I will have 8 weeks of that - heavy weight time with Jessica. :) I'm already seeing some major differences since I stepped it up in the last month. Wicked!!! (I don't think I've said that since I was a student)

Wings

Back for a whole month now before having to travel again! The last 2.5 months have been exhausting with travel every two weeks... be careful what you ask for, eh?

It's a bit rough leaving plus 30 degree weather to be greeted by true Canadian autumn in full-swing (minus 2 this morning). Still, it really is good to be back.

Last night I got to fly direct and it was a great flight. First I want to tell you all that my experience with WestJet was really nice. I know, we all love to bash the airlines (particularly our favourite monopoly - Air Canada). WestJet seems to be getting a lot more flights started up to various places (including Hawaii and Bahamas - for all you snow birds). The staff is ultra-friendly and easy going. Geez... I sound like an advertisement, but I wanted to just put that out there. I guess I fly AC too much so common courtesy seems like a novel experience today!

We flew at 42,000 feet (I watched the map on my personal satellite TV when I wasn't reading my book which I will blog about soon), and we had clear skies the whole way (the likely cause of our 25 minute early arrival - sweet!). It was phenomenal to look out the window and correlate which state I was seeing form my bird's-eye-view. Not often can you see the world from that height. And I also saw 3 different planes flying below us at different points during the flight. Wow!! The only other time I've seen planes around me while in the sky was at LAX when we took off - then they are much closer to you and you are silently thanking the women and men who are working in the control tower that day. Flying these days is usually more of a pain than anything else, but yesterday it was a nice experience. It reminded me of the novelty of the experience when I got to fly as a child.

So now it's time to get re-organized, do the laundry, clean the house - all of the little things that never get done when you are gone every other week for weeks on end. And this morning I got all caught up on my emails, blogs, and podcasts. Speaking of podcasts... check out this video: Ben Harper. The way he so quickly and so assuredly turns thought into words reminds me of how lacking I am in the ability to truly articulate my own ideas and feelings.

Orange County - East

Here I am, putting my post-conference day achy feet up (smelly, achy feet - ick! no socks worn today), writing for whomever it is that reads here. I got a pedometer in my conference package and so far I've walked 6.5 km. Far less than I should have - as I was intending on walking to the congress centre, but realized it's at least 1.5 km's to the end of the drive of our hotel/resort. Then maybe 2-3 km's to the facility. So instead I take the shuttle with everyone else. What's new today? Well, second conference in two weeks - I'm just about lectured and exhibited out. The US conferences are so different from those at home. Firstly, they are 100x larger - everything is bigger... booths, congress centres (this one is one million square feet and that's no exaggeration - obviously the conference doesn't occupy the whole space), lectures, numbers of delegates, etc. All the rules are different here too. My time spent at the booth is quite useless because I'm not allowed to dispense my ever growing knowledge. Not here. That's not allowed. So I just look cute and speak French with all of the people here from Marseilles, Lyon, Paris, and Switzerland (today's list of French-speaking foreign delegates). The US reps think it's great that myself and the Quebec rep can do this so, even when the person can speak English, they send them our way. It's funny how I seem to be speaking French so much more these days. And in places I wouldn't have normally thought it would happen - US conferences and Panama (last spring) for example. It's great! I've also been speaking French with my Quebec counterpart most of the time here - it's really fun to talk and know that 98% of the people around us cannot understand. He, he! So many things I could write tonight, but I'm fading fast and need my sleep. Perhaps I'll have more to put down at another time.

Vive le Quebec!

Bonjour tout le monde! Comment ca va? I don't know how to put the accents on here in the blog. I'd probably have to change the template to French. I know a lot of you don't speak the language and I don't intend on practicing here, so I'll spare you. I'm in Quebec this week. Arrived yesterday. I have an amazing view of the city from my hotel room window, which I'm looking at as I write this. The fall colours are spectacular - still! There's a little river that I can see with a little bridge. I was kinda wanting to stay home this weekend, what with the good weather (hello - get in as many more km's as I can on the bike before it gets put up on the trainer for a few months), and with so much traveling right now. When you think about it all together it's a bit overwhelming. So I guess I have to remind myself of that old saying that never fails: one day at a time. Mm-hmm. That's right. I'm feeling so much better these days (that fatigue thing is finally sorting out). I went out last night with a group of people and got in late. Forgot to change my ringer from "silence" on my cell phone (aka alarm clock) and it didn't wake me up this morning for the 7 AM symposium... I did however, wake up at 6:06 AM on my own, felt the need to check the time and promptly hopped out of bed. OK - who are you? If you told this to my parents they might faint. This is not normal first-child-of-theirs behaviour. It's great though. Maybe I'm easing into morning person territory. I'd love that. You know why? It would mean I would be spry for early morning bike rides. Yes, it's all about the bike. I think my mind was totally not on packing when I did it Friday... forgot one of my suit jackets for a pair of pants I brought, forgot gym socks, forgot my keyfob. I decided, for the first time, to pack my shoes and some of my food in a separate, small bag and check it as well (I always bring snacks and stuff with me so I don't get tempted by the crap they serve at these things). That way I'd have more room to bring stuff back from the congress, as well as not wind up with a bag that's overweight. Well the small bag didn't show up with me. I saw it go on the plane (a prop) in the 'wa. I think it stayed behind in MTL. It arrived a few hours later, but I almost had to wear my sketchers with my suit to the first night at the exhibit (a small embarrassment). Things that make life un-dull. I wasn't panicked though. I figured I'd get the bag. I actually would have been surprised if I hadn't. Where did I find blind faith in Air Canada?

MTL & RLT

Just back from a quick trip to MTL. It was a really good meeting and we had some fun too. We went to the Time Supper Club. Apparently one of the places to be seen in MTL. There were dancers/contortionists and a magician who entertained us. Pretty cool. I left before the 'public' was allowed in for the dance bar to get started - had to get some proper nights' sleeps in before the weekend. I'm off to do RLT tomorrow. And I'm really excited!!! I got a shorter stem this week, and I expect it will help a lot with my comfort doing the long distances, particularly back-to-back. So, not much time to post now - gotta run and get packed. This wannabe morning person has to get up at the crack of dawn. ;)

Philanthropy

Week-long meetings tend to burn me out. Not to mention ones when lots of new things are coming down... like some new additions to software to learn, facilitating training, giving a presentation to my colleagues, meetings about how my job is going to change (we're expanding), etc, etc. The cool thing we did last week was VTI Day. This day used to be reserved for head office employees only until about 2 years ago when they started having our national meeting in April and we got to join in the festivities with the rest of the company. Each year is different and this time they set up the biggest tent I've ever seen in the parking lot of the office - apparently it took about 5 days to set it up. They gathered us together at the lunch hour and sent us all off in groups on different buses to places we'd chosen ahead of time to do community service. I went to the YMCA daycamp with 40-50 of my closest friends to set up the camp for the new season. We painted picnic tables, the pavilion, cleaned out the offices, the shed, set up the canoes, and cleaned up the walking paths, etc. of debris and garbage. After returning to the big huge tent at HO we all sat down to a very nice dinner and they presented employees with awards of recognition (for which they were nominated by their peers). The MC was a Canadian comedian (I don't know who - I don't pay attention to those things). Then Tom Cochrane came out and gave us our own private concert! Crazy night. Crazy day. It was a lot of fun.

After the trip to Panama, I started feeling a little burnt out from traveling. When I've thought about it I still get that feeling of longing to see the world. But with all of the work travel in the last year, and everything else I do, I haven't been able to imagine physically going anywhere. I started thinking about just sticking around town for a while - at least this summer. Ride my bike, do some tours that are within driving distance, etc. For the first time in several years I don't have any idea of where I might travel to next. I'd like to do an overseas bike trip with some of the people I cycle with, but I'm not sure if that will come to fruition. I guess part of me is waiting to see what might happen there. And then this week after participating in the volunteer day at work I started to think about visiting places that I want to see and experience and while I'm there, give back to that community. So I started looking into that kind of thing. My next trip might be quite the departure from what I've been doing up until now. And with that, I have started to think about where I might go next! But that would be next year, and first I have to see how work goes since next year will be a pivotal one for the area in which I work. I'm not sure what time of year I might travel. For now, I'll keep you posted on the small bike trips. Those should be fun as well. You don't have to go far to have an adventure!

Pill Hill

So this is me procrastinating (or maybe just multi-tasking as per my usual behaviour) on finishing up some work for a presentation I'm doing Friday here in the Meadowvale area of the Big Smoke (ref in title). Maybe I should explain for those of you not 'in the know': this area is called Pill Hill because there are a ton of medical and pharma companies' HQs located in and around this neighbourhood. And as much as I like go-carting (and I'm not joking - I've only done it once and it was a blast), my leg is still much too sore to be bumping around in one of those, so I ducked out early from the Playdium with a few other colleagues so I could come back to the hotel, get some work done, and get to bed early. They actually have a fantastic gym here and I got up a little after 6 AM today and got a workout in and plan to do the same tomorrow. I'm missing far too many rides this week as a result of being away. Everybody better not get too much of a head start on me... I want to be able to keep up to you! Even though the weekend is looking pretty jammed, I'm going to try to get out to both rides with the gang. Wish me luck!

IIRF?

My new acronym: Is It Really Friday?

Wow. What a long week. You know how busy weeks can fly by? Well this one was very busy, but it didn't fly by. And yet, it doesn't feel like end of the day Friday right now. I guess I can take that partly as a blessing since we needn't wish our lives away right? But then you get to the end of that week and feel like there is no gas left. That's me right now. I'm out to a musical that a friend of mine is performing in tonight and I feel like I'm going to need toothpicks for my eyelids. Maybe I'll get my second wind soon.

I began my week putting 1000 km on the car in 2 days. I also drove in crazy weather - there was some sort of wind storm earlier in the week and it made for some nasty black ice and white-out conditions on the country roads I ended up on Monday night. There were cars in the ditch turned over on their roofs!!! I was actually scared driving home. I made it just fine, but not without a few moments of: "I don't want to end up on my roof. I don't want to end up on my roof" going through my head.

I had my ortho consult and it's mixed news I guess. No surgery for you! He told me that they used to do surgery on people like me and found it just meant that they came back a few years later with bad arthritis. "Don't let anyone touch that knee with a 10-foot pole." OK, I won't. He said I'm not meant to run - my knees are just not lined up properly, it's genetic, and there is nothing we can do about it. In fact, he said that by cycling, I've already started curing my knee. It's true too, as each year passes, getting stronger legs, I've noticed less knee pain. I just hope that I get strong enough that the xc-skiing doesn't keep aggravating it.

And speaking of cycling, I took Blu in for a tune-up. If I don't get her in now she won't be ready for outside when I'm back from Panama. And I plan to be outside when I get back. I have 5 days off at home when I return and I already have rides lined up! So I was hoping to pick her up tonight, but alas, she's not ready. Which means I think I'm going to spin tomorrow morning. Here is something useful, and funny: Fixing Flats is Fun! Well, I've never really thought so. It takes me a bit of time to change a flat - I find it really hurts my fingers, trying to get the tire back on at the end. At least I can do that on my own though. The other stuff, well, that's why Blu is with the guys at the bike shop right now: new chain, new tape on the handlebars, little things oiled and tweaked here and there. I'm looking forward to getting her back. Sounds like I've been without her all week, but in fact, I rode yesterday and then took her in. Yeah, I'm hopeless.

I also started getting things ready for my trip. The countdown is on! Surprise of all surprises - the Malarone was covered by my plan. The perks of working in the 'industry' I guess. Nice! So I'll try my best to get some stuff together and post on Panama before I leave. I did spend a little time last weekend researching the places that I've been told I'm going. For clarification: I'm visiting a friend of mine who is living in Panama until the end of the summer. So, I have a personal tour guide of sorts. She sent me an email the other week listing some essentials to bring, as well as a list of things we will be doing. It all looks fantastic! Makes me wonder if I should have taken a longer trip. I'm really excited to see her and to see the country!!