"I'll ride past your house... on my bike."

(10 bucks if you know what movie that's from)

So 2009 is shaping up after all. (even if i still have no money) I have been doing many good productive things to fill my time. Today my friend Natasha and I decided to do a little test ride down to school. She met me at my apartment and we rode down North Loop to Duval, and then took that all the way down to campus. It was a really pleasant ride, and it only took about 25 min to get there! (which, btw, is about twenty minutes less than my bus ride) So we plan on riding to school both Wednesday and Thursday, and probably riding to our Clinical site together on Tuesdays! I'm really excited to have a riding partner- someone who will really help motivate me to not be lazy. Natasha and I are both trying to restore balance to our lives- and trying to keep that going into the semester. I'm really excited that our schedules line up so we can do this together!

Today we rode past school, and on down to Austin Java on 2nd St for lunch. We met up with her old neighbor who is in the Austin Ballet Company (which is right around the corner from there). It was a great, nutritious lunch and the ride back was really nice. It seemed to warm up a little bit, or at least the wind settled down so we didn't notice it as much. We definitely got some stares as we walked into the restaurant with helmets on and me in my full cycling get-up. But I didn't mind- they were just jealous that they didn't work out before eating a decadent meal!

Happy 2009!

So, nine is my favorite number so i predict that this will be one of my favorite years. However, the financial aid office is sort of raining on my glorious-year parade. I don't know why it has to be so difficult but once again I am spending my only long break from school completely broke. Adam and I were going to take a road trip or a train trip out to west Texas but unfortunately that had to be put on hold. We were going to hit up Alpine, Tx where one of my friends from high school renovated an old storefront and opened a store with her husband. From all the pictures I've seen, it's absolutely fantastic! They have artwork (she's a famous painter- well, I think she's famous) and bike rentals and raspas (snowcone-like)! It's called Murphy Street Raspa Co. and it's gonna be the next big thing- just you wait. Check it out at www.raspaland.com.

Anyways, I'm sad that I am not going to be able to properly utilize this break from school to get away, but really I need to spend some time getting my apartment more organized before the semester starts up again. Also, having no spending money will help me in my new year resolution to keep to a tight budget and try to minimize my possessions. I have entirely too much 'stuff' and the clutter needs to go. My mom used to say that my bedroom was a physical representation of my moods- and when it was really messy she started to worry. I am starting to see some truth in that- and certainly recognize that times when I have allowed myself to sink into a depression, everything around me sort of falls apart.

So I am taking action. I am setting my alarm every morning of my vacation and checking things off of my To Do list. Some days are more productive than others, but at least I am not sleeping my vacation away! (nor am I just vegging out on the couch) Tomorrow I am going to Yoga Yoga with my friend Natasha. She has been working there doing light cleaning so she can get free classes. She said if I like it tomorrow, I could possibly do a work-trade deal with them, too. Alrighty, well I am neglecting my delicious Hobbineezer Holiday Ale, so I am signing off. Happy New Year to all!!

"Thank God I'm a Humanist" - Rev. Sev

Today we went all the way across Cleveland to the West Shore Unitarian Church (my dad is the minister at East Shore UU Church) where my dad was the guest minister. The church is significantly larger than my dad's church and was just remodeled a couple of years ago. It is a beautiful church with lots of cool activities going on and a cute little kid's table by all the adult tables for coffee hour. They also had real mugs for the coffee after church, and for some reason my sister and I were very excited by that. My dad's sermon was one that I hadn't heard before (after seventeen years as a preacher's kid, you often get some repeats). It was entitled, "Thank God I'm a Humanist". It was a really good service, and i really enjoyed it- even makes me excited for getting back to Austin and getting involved in the UU Church there. I liked that the sermon helped to define humanism and relate that most people are humanists along with being theistic, and it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive like so many think. Anyways, it was nice to hear my dad preach again, and I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't use his exaggerated preacher voice that he sometimes uses. It was just his regular voice- i really prefer that one, it makes the sermon more personal and accessible (in my opinion). Anyways, it was a really nice Sunday morning. To top it all off, Elizabeth got us all tickets to go see the Cleveland Cavaliers stomp the Miami Heat tonight. Watching the two leading scorers in the NBA go head to head should be a lot of fun!

Okay, so this is REAL snow!!

I've been up in Ohio for about five days, and the last two have been extra cold and snowy. My dad and I drove down to Akron last night at midnight to pick up Elizabeth and Bubba (their flight was only a little delayed coming from Denver, where a plane burst into flames the night before). It was really really cold, and we kind of thought we were just not used to the weather- but as it turns out it was seven below, and the coldest day on record since 1893!

Today, Elizabeth, Bubba and I went on a snowy adventure down to drug mart to pick up some miscellaneous items (like Champagne, fiber one strawberry pop tarts, and tissues). The store isn't very far away- only about a 15 minute walk. It was still really windy and snowy, but thankfully not seven below anymore. So here are some pictures of our walking in a winter wonderland!

SNOW!!!

okay, i know i should already be in bed- but it's snowing outside!!! and it was in the high sixties early today- texas is crazy! but this is i believe only the second time i've ever seen snow in texas! it was pretty neat- but adam apparently didn't want to wake up to go play, so i restrained myself from only staying out long enough to catch a snowflake on my tongue! happy texas!

Help! I Have Akathisia!!

So my first final is tomorrow at 8am and i'm so frickin wired, it's not even funny. i knew i shouldn't have had that double americano at 5pm... i know it was dumb- but i didn't even drink half of it! Seriously though- my hands are all shaky and i can't hardly sit still. i'm going to jump out of my skin. Uh oh, maybe adam put me on a typical (conventional) antipsychotic like Chlorpromazine, Thioridazine, Fluphenazine, Thiothixene or, my favorite, haloperidol. and now i'm having an extrapyramidal symptom (EPS) - namely Akathisia, characterized by rocking, pacing or the inability to stand or sit still. Why, Adam, why?? okay, so i'm officially entered the pre-finals psychosis... where are those antipsychotics when you need them?

"Look-- it's an Eeyore!"

Okay, well finals are at the end of this next week, so let me take a moment to talk about my life outside of nursing. This morning I got up a little early and drove down south to my friend, Judith's house to go for our first of several training bike rides. We decided we are going to sign up for the AIDS hill country ride in April (she's trying to convince me that a century (100 mi) is reasonable- still working on that one...). Along with her partner, Alicia, we headed out for a 25 mile ride.

They live pretty close to the start of the ride we looked at (they printed it off of ACA's website), so we decided to ride to Austin High School and then catch up with the route. It turns out that it's the same place where the Tour De Cure ended last May. Unfortunately, it was a little further than we thought (and with some killer hills that had me sucking for air). But when we did finally get out on the Old San Antonio Hwy, it was great riding. There were still some hills, but the scenery was much preferred to being stuck behind a bus breathing in fumes.

We turned around at about 13 miles out to make the ride a total of 26 miles. On the way back we saw probably a dozen deer just sitting in a field, and then a little ways down we saw a bunch of different animals. The funny thing is that as we were going by, i completely spaced and just pointed and yelled, "Look, it's an Eeyore!". I'm sure at some point I must have seen a donkey in real life, but it was still pretty neat and they were only about 20 feet off the road. Alicia, who was leading the way, did her best donkey noise. And that was when I knew I had found my perfect riding buddies.

It was a long, hard ride, but pretty decent for our first ride back in the saddle. We averaged about 13mph with plenty of hills, and that's not a bad place to start. Near the end we were going up a particularly rough hill and I started to stand up to pound up the last few feet, but my legs wobbled and i quickly sat back down. Even though I nearly bonked, I was still happy at the end of the ride. I'm really looking forward to many more rides, and excited to have a couple of stronger riders to train with.