Say What?

I was hoping that when I came into work today I'd have my medical back but that's not the case. Actually, I'm expecting a call at any minute telling me I'm good to work traffic again. I can always hope. I met with my doctor last Wednesday and he gave me the green light to get my medical back as it appears my cluster headache cycle is over. I'm waiting on the regional flight surgeon from the faa to act on it and get back to me. In the meantime, they've got me doing some menial stuff in the control room which I don't need a medical for and which needs to be done anyway. It's not all that bad but I'm anxious to work traffic again as this is the longest I've ever been away from the boards. Coming off the Prednisone hasn't been fun. The injuries I received in my crash 10 days ago hurt more now than they did then. I'm not sure if that's because the Prednisone was helping to reduce the swelling and overall pain. Anyway, last Friday I decid...

I crashed my bike today in the rain on our group ride. I have an idea what happened but I can't be sure. There were about 15 of us die-hard types in a steady rain. I was talking with Rob next to me as we rode side by side (much the same as this photo from last week's ride) in a paceline with plenty of room between riders. I saw up the road that a couple guys had broken off the front and were maybe 20 seconds ahead of the main group. The next thing I noticed was that one of them was turning back in the direction of the group and at the same time I could see that the riders in front were beginning to slow. Out of nowhere, I began to go down. It all happened so quickly but in very slow motion. From what I can tell, the rider behind me was a bit too close and was unable to slow in time to avoid me. I talked with Rob later and he said that Leonard made contact with me from behind. He said it looked like I was going to be able to keep from crashing but with the wet roads and all I w...

Where does the time go? It's not like I haven't been at my computer...too much so lately. I'm redoing our website so it renders itself in browsers other than IE. I've got it all done now except for the family photo pages and I hope to have those done over the next couple weeks. I rode with Silver Cyclists again today and had a good ride with them. We had 30 of us at the start and finished with half that. The winds were southeast at 20 gusting to 30 so there were many people who were blown off the back in the early miles. We attempted to wait for them a few times but we finally realized there was no way to keep a group like that together. Too much variation in abilities to expect that to happen. It was tough to keep a paceline with the quartering crosswind and at times we simply had to form mini echelons and find cover from the wind where we could. Sometimes though with more of a direct headwind, we were able to form a nice pace-line and work together. The final 25 mi...

He's just a man. He's not a god. It's time to move aside and let somebody else lead the church. The pope is becoming a joke. Why is he so stubborn to relinquish power to his successor? Is he that important that the world can't get along without him? He's just a man.

Do you ever wish that you could freeze time? Tammy and I were sitting on the couch tonight listening to Rachel play her violin and that thought occurred to me. I would love it if we could freeze time for the next 5 or 10 years. I love our lives as they are now. The most rewarding thing I've ever done is to be Rachel's (step) dad. I could go on and on and on about how happy I am that she is in my life. She is the icing on our wedding cake. I love the relationship the three of us have together and the love we share.

Rachel and I went skiing to Welch Village today. Each winter we try and get away at least once. She plays hooky from school and we spend a day on the slopes when nobody else is there. It was a beautiful day with the temp near 40 and the snow plentiful. She's a natural on skis. It may be that all her years of dance class has given her such good balance which translates well to the slopes. We went out once together last year and my concern then was that she knew no fear and carried too much speed for her ability. She wasn't that way today. She always kept her speed in check and showed good awareness of others around her. Our plan is to buy her skis and boots for her birthday and possibly a season pass to Buck Hill next winter. We have a fun time out there together. It's nice because we spend the whole day talking about whatever is on her mind. We called it quits after 5 hours because she needed to save her legs for an early morning dance practice. The dance practices requi...

Man, I've been ignoring my blog. Anyway, I've been coasting on autopilot for a while as I try and avoid the mid-winter blues. Tammy had a large party planned for a dozen or more friends from work last Friday but 7 inches of snow put the brakes on that. She may try again for this Friday but it will only be for a few friends. For several years I've been trying to locate a friend of mine from my Navy days, and tonight I finally got a hit. Here's  Mike from a photo taken on our '76 Westpac cruise. And to the left is a more recent photo of him I turned up tonight. A Google search found his photo and email address. He's now a Major in the Army from what little information I could find. I sent him an email so hopefully, he'll find it tomorrow and get back to me. We were very good friends way back when. We used to cruise around San Diego in his Toyota in the mid to late '70s. He was such an easy-going guy and a hoot to hang around with. I'm not quite su...