athenia1013’s blog

I received a phone call from Joe as I was leaving work yesterday letting me know there was an inordinate amount of bicyclists in town and some roads were closed.  Strange, but OK.  As it turns out there was a professional bike race in town.  That would have been good to know.  The city only sent fliers to those that lived on the route.  Those of us one house off of the route were not notified.

I learned a lot about cycling.  First, cyclists are all scary skinny and have no butts.  Second, cycling is truly a team sport.   Third, team cars follow the cyclists the whole 62 miles.  They have extra bikes and tires on them and have water with them (and I would assume first aid supplies).  Fourth, the sound of that many bikes passing at one time is scary.  It reminds me of a swarm of bees.  And fifth, these people are pretty amazing.

A couple of notes to cyclists:

-Black spandex and a black bike seat makes your already tiny butt disappear.  Very strange looking.

-When warming up in the city streets before the race starts you are still required to follow traffic signs.  Such as STOP.  If you don't stop, we will run you over.  (Not intentionally)

Here is the link:

http://www.minnbikefestival.com/NatureValleyGrandPrix/EventSchedule/CannonFallsRoadRace/tabid/85/Default.aspx

I hate slow weeks.

: )

- Called Ryan at night on KS95 with the Riddlin' Ryan answer last Friday for Stomp tickets.  Talked to him for a second.  Had the correct answer (technically Joe did).  Too bad someone else did first.

- Gas update: 37.66 mpg!  I passed my goal of 37.5. Woohoo! This tank I'm shooting for 37.8 mpg.  I plan on changing my airfilter soon.  That added 3 mpg to a coworkers tank.  We'll see.

- Got to see Bob and Julie!  Always fun.

: (

- Got a cart shoved at me last night and a "I'll just take my business elsewhere."  I apologize that you're illiterate and cannot read the dates on a coupon.

- Sick friend.  We're coming to see you today, Jon!

It really sucks when you realize 4 hours before the doors open to a concert you've been waiting 4 years for that the credit card payment you had scheduled was set to pull from a bank account that no longer exists so now you have a late payment fee and $200 less in your account than you orginally thought (as you assumed it was already pulled.)

It was impossible to justify spending $60 on tickets, gas, and lightrail.  Oh well, maybe I'll see them when they come back again 5 years from now.

- "Falling Slowly" is currently OVERPLAYED on Cities 97.  Stop ruining an amazing song.

- There is an awful song out (and overplayed) called "Bleeding Love" that is some horirble mix of Sinead O'Connor and Mariah Carey

- There is a song out called "Paralyzed" that is crazy catchy but the lyrics are pathetic.  "I want to make you move.. because you're standing still..."  Witty.

Done venting.

The Good:

- Old 97's tomorrow!

- Last tank of gas: 37.2 mpg - Next goal: 37.5 - I'm working on coasting to a stop.

- Watching Nattie tell me she's three while holding two fingers up.  Then staring at her hand in concentration until that third finger popped up.  Queue huge grin.  Ugh.

The Bad:

- The hail storm that destroyed my impatiens.

Not a bad week.

Good:

- Got out of work early last night 

- The minister is booked.

- Gina stole my dress and took it to her much less dusty house. 

- Gina and Molly coming over for Joe's birthday.

- Homemade ice cream.

- Working with JZ.

- Radishes, Brocolli, and Lettuce have started showing.

Bad:

- I'm scheduled for 27 hours this week.

- I haven't talked to either of my brothers in over a week.  Weird...

- Vegetables don't grow fast enough.

An interview with a co-workers brother: http://johnlarroquetteproject.com/  Scroll down to An Interview with Laliberte.

An article on the tackling coffeeshop incident they're refering to can be found here: http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32832

I'm giving this a go....

: ) 's

- Most of our garden is in.  Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Carrots, Lettuce, Radishes, Cucumbers, Zuchinni, Broccoli... What's left: potatoes, rhubarb, & strawberries.

- My experiment was successful!  By dropping my average speed on my commute by about 5-8 mph I upped my miles per gallon from 32 to 36.5.

- I love my new job.

- We finally have a wedding officiant.

: ( 's

- Our neighbors who have to come over and talk EVERY TIME we're outside.

- Chilly weather that may kill my flowers.

- We haven't been caving in over a year.

Cannon Falls, the epitome of small towns, has decided it doesn't have enough events and festivals every year.  This year they've started the First Thursday street party and kid fest.  The First Thursday of May, June, August, and September is now a street party starting at 6 pm about 2 blocks from our house.  It will not be held in July as the Cannon Valley Fair will be going on.

We went down there last night to check it out.  It is definitely centered around kids.  It looked like there were a few games including a bean bag toss.  There was a clown there (creepy) and ponies.  It also included a few Fair Food stands (cotton candy anyone?) and some vendors selling purses, books, "rustic" furniture, jewelry etc.

The part of the street blocked off includes the Cannon River Winery.  They opened their doors for the event and had vendors in their building and a live band.  The band was a local High School band called Frontline.  They were actually really good (the music on their myspace page doesn't do them justice).

It's not huge but if anyone is interested, the next one is June 5th.  You could see our house as well.  Unfortunately, the house isn't 100% kid friendly but I'm sure they would be fine for a quick look around and an adult on the non-guarded side of the stairs.

If you're interested...

http://homepage.mac.com/drdavidwelsh/iMovieTheater36.html

I like the new tune.