Tune-ups, Adrift and a Pool Solution
There's a ballroom dance team at Stony Brook University and Rachel couldn't be happier. She met with them Thursday night for the first time and called us afterward, all pumped that there are so many talented people in the group. She was most excited about an offer she accepted from one of their dancers to be his partner in an upcoming competition. He's really good too she said so that kind of tells me that she must've made an impression on him at least. This is such an important part of her life and who she is. I love that she will always be a dancer. I just don't see her ever not being involved in dance.
She's still without a set of wheels other than her bike(s). She's frustrated that the only convenient place to park her bike near her dorm at SBU is within range of a lawn sprinkler that routinely sprays all of the bikes in the rack causing them to prematurely rust.
My guess is that some of the bikes in the rack have been abandoned but still, it's not right. She's talked with the staff there but they say there's nothing they can do.
She manages to get around really well in Rochester on her bike and is even able to bring home bags of groceries now that it's been outfitted with fold-out baskets on the back. I know she'd like to have a car but it's just not in our budget nor is it in hers. She asked me if I could give her bike a tune-up while she's out in NYC so I had her bring it home. I got around to it today, setting up shop out in the garage and driveway. There was so much sludge built up on the pulleys of the rear derailleur but they're all clean now as is the rest of her bike.
It's around this time of year that we begin organizing our small group meetings for church at our home but I was telling Tammy the other day that I'm just not feeling like doing it anymore. I don't think that came as a surprise to her as this is just an extension of me pulling back entirely from any sort of organized religion. I haven't even ventured back into my Bible since late last year after finishing my 7th reading of it. I still have my faith but I'm feeling so adrift in my relationship with the church. I want no part of it anymore after my email exchange with the business-man-posing-as-pastor, Bill Bohline last fall.
I got out yesterday for 82 miles in some hot and humid conditions. With all of the construction that's accompanied our home improvement project this spring and summer, my mileage is only about half of what it typically is but that's okay; there's always next year. Video from my ride and a link to it on Strava.
The news lately is all about Syria and the use of chemical weapons on the country's people by its dictator and what should the US do about it if anything? I don't pretend to know. In my view, there's no good answer because whatever side we support will eventually turn on us. Who can't help but feel for the innocent people, especially the children caught up in the atrocities occurring there? I came across the video below a few days ago and my thoughts turned to the children of Syria and how they should know this sort of life, this sort of peaceful happiness.
I recalled a friend at work telling me about a vacation he took to Mexico with his family years ago. There was such a diverse mix of vacationers at the resort where they were staying and he found himself in a game of water volleyball surrounded by people unlike him and how they were all having so much fun together.
Is it too simplistic to think that many of our planet's problems could maybe be solved if we'd put our leaders together in a pool with a net and throw them a ball? No keeping score; just enjoy each other's company.
Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming. It's just that the way we're going about fixing our collective problems isn't working so well and we all need to do better.
She's still without a set of wheels other than her bike(s). She's frustrated that the only convenient place to park her bike near her dorm at SBU is within range of a lawn sprinkler that routinely sprays all of the bikes in the rack causing them to prematurely rust.
My guess is that some of the bikes in the rack have been abandoned but still, it's not right. She's talked with the staff there but they say there's nothing they can do.She manages to get around really well in Rochester on her bike and is even able to bring home bags of groceries now that it's been outfitted with fold-out baskets on the back. I know she'd like to have a car but it's just not in our budget nor is it in hers. She asked me if I could give her bike a tune-up while she's out in NYC so I had her bring it home. I got around to it today, setting up shop out in the garage and driveway. There was so much sludge built up on the pulleys of the rear derailleur but they're all clean now as is the rest of her bike.
It's around this time of year that we begin organizing our small group meetings for church at our home but I was telling Tammy the other day that I'm just not feeling like doing it anymore. I don't think that came as a surprise to her as this is just an extension of me pulling back entirely from any sort of organized religion. I haven't even ventured back into my Bible since late last year after finishing my 7th reading of it. I still have my faith but I'm feeling so adrift in my relationship with the church. I want no part of it anymore after my email exchange with the business-man-posing-as-pastor, Bill Bohline last fall.
I got out yesterday for 82 miles in some hot and humid conditions. With all of the construction that's accompanied our home improvement project this spring and summer, my mileage is only about half of what it typically is but that's okay; there's always next year. Video from my ride and a link to it on Strava.
The news lately is all about Syria and the use of chemical weapons on the country's people by its dictator and what should the US do about it if anything? I don't pretend to know. In my view, there's no good answer because whatever side we support will eventually turn on us. Who can't help but feel for the innocent people, especially the children caught up in the atrocities occurring there? I came across the video below a few days ago and my thoughts turned to the children of Syria and how they should know this sort of life, this sort of peaceful happiness.
I recalled a friend at work telling me about a vacation he took to Mexico with his family years ago. There was such a diverse mix of vacationers at the resort where they were staying and he found himself in a game of water volleyball surrounded by people unlike him and how they were all having so much fun together.
Is it too simplistic to think that many of our planet's problems could maybe be solved if we'd put our leaders together in a pool with a net and throw them a ball? No keeping score; just enjoy each other's company.
Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming. It's just that the way we're going about fixing our collective problems isn't working so well and we all need to do better.
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