Pre-school with Zachary

Well, Zachary starts pre-school on Thursday and the open house was yesterday. I took off work early so I could go. He did pretty good, started crying a little bit at first but he warmed up to it after a few minutes. He is so cute when he starts to cry. His chin trembles and his little lower lip curls, just breaks your heart. What a guy. Once he got over being scared (and found the toy trains!) he was fine and was explaining to the teachers how trains are supposed to be played with. That is typical Zachary, he likes to go into new things at his own pace. He will sit back and watch for a few minutes, then try it, but you can't rush him. I guess he is like me in that way, I always study and watch before I do something new.

Other than that, just a typical Monday. Oh, I did have a nice allergy attack just as we were leaving the school. My left eye started itching like crazy, then turned red and actually swelled up in one spot. But it seems to be OK this morning, if a tad dry. Not sure what started it, maybe someones perfume, or maybe some of the weird blue sand the kids were playing with in the sand-table. Maybe a speck of that got in my eye?

Went out and rode yesterday. Not as far but at a higher tempo. Felt pretty good. My legs felt like chunks of wood last night, though, especially my calves. Feel pretty good this morning. Prolly take today off. Zachary's open house is this afternoon and then Amy wants to go the gym so I will stay home with the kids. I guess I can do some sit-ups and push-ups if I am feeling particularly masochistic.

Learning

OK, so I'm not a very active blogger, sue me. Since I lst posted we had our second child, Shayla Michelle. I'll post a pic if I feel like it (read=lazy). Work is good, health is good, wife is grouchy, oh well.

Bout to turn this into a cycling blog. I started riding my bike again. I do that every year when the Tour de France starts, but I have stuck to it pretty good this time. Still riding my old Mongoose hard-tail MTB. I hope to get an actual road bike at some point, but I want to spend $1500 for one, natch. So, I will start with shoes and pedals for the MTB. If I am still riding in November, maybe I can convince the wife to let me buy a bike.

Just finished Ten Points and am half-way through Heft on Wheels. Wow, excellent books. They are now my inspirations for riding. Trying to find that epiphany of suffering they both talk about. Plus Ten Points reminds just how lucky I am to have Zachary. Spending a lot of nights curled up next to hi after he falls asleep listening to him breathe and twitch. He is everything in the world to me. Shayla is getting there, but newborns (she is 10 weeks) just aren't as much fun.

Learned something yesterday. I kept reading about all this suffering the cyclists go through, but I haven't felt it yet. Part of the problem is Gainesville is very flat, no hills. So I went out after work yesterday and just rode. No certain distance or particular cadence, just rode. I discovered Millhopper Road has some great little hills plus a bike-lane. So I just kept pedaling until I reached the nature park on the other side of I-75. I was amazed I rode that far without even thinking about it. Best of all, I thought about nothing, not work, not life, not family, just breathed and pedaled. 'Course I had to ride back, which was mostly crawling and I really hurt when I got done, but it felt really good. My legs hurt all evening and I was exhausted but felt good.

Here's the neat part: I figured I would be too wiped out today to do anything, but I'm sitting around a little sore, thinking I want to do it again. So I am probably going to go hurt myself again this afternoon. I can't believe I actually want to go again. Maybe I am a cyclist a little bit.

Update

Well, work has gotten somewhat better. I had 2 or 3 really bad weeks but I think I am through the worst. Business seems to be picking up which always helps. Gas prices have really slowed the local economy down (Levy County) so everybody is slow but that doesn't help me pay the bills. I kind of wish everyone else was doing fine so then at least I would know I could change something, but as it is I don't what I can do. Sigh...

Amy is big as a house and ready to pop. Shayla is due June 18, but I think she will come at the end of May. We'll see. Zach finally seems to be potty-trained (Praise the Lord!!!)

Started playing my guitar again, which is cool. Zach likes it (he tries to play along on his drum... too cute)Ugh, I am so out of practice.... having to relearn all the chords and teach my fingers to transition. Still, nice to play again.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

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And for all of you wondering.... this is exactly how you tie a tie!

Depressed

Work sucks right now. It seems like I take two steps back for every step forward. Everything I touch turns to shit. Seriously thinking about quitting the whole deal and getting a crappy 9-5 working at a hotel or something. I am so tired of people yelling at me. Customers, employees, Dad, Amy, always someone. Hard to keep my head up sometimes. Need a vacation but it takes so much work to get ready for one and even more work to catch up after it is not worth it.

But, heck, I'm just whining. Not gonna do any good. Just have to find some way to make it work and squeeze blood out of the Chiefland stone. Stupid economy...

Elation & disappointment

Gators have won three national championships in a row, and two against Ohio State. I'm am so psyched about that. It truly is great to be a Florida Gator right now. Historically, what the Gators have accomplished in the last two years is absolutely mind-boggling. Back-to-back basketball championships (rare enough), with the *same* starting five (only team in history), only school to have two champions in the major sports at the same time (only school in history), plus beat the same school for both of their last two championships! (Sucks to be Ohio State.... may wanna rethink that home and home deal, huh, Buckeyes?) OK, I don't want to bang on Ohio State, cause, God knows they are worlds above Miami, Tennessee, and FSU, but it is kind of fun to beat 'em twice in a row. Anyway, so thrilled to be a Gator right now, well done Ohio State... if Oden stays, you got a championship coming, and look out world... here comes Tim Tebow!

As for the disappointment: Jan Ullrich's DNA matched that found in a blood bag in the Spain doping investigation. In other words, he is a cheater. First, Tyler hamilton, then Floyd Landis, now Jan Ullrich. As a cyclist and huge fan of pro cycling, I am so disappointed and pissed off. I wish they would just race and quit cheating. I don't know if I'm even gonna watch the Tour this year. I have such a sour taste in my mouth right now.

Go Gators!!!!

Woooo Hooooo!!!!!!

Final Four, baby!

Go Gators!

Spring?

So Spring is officially here? So thats why I am sick. I always get a cold when Spring arrives. This time I managed to time it with the calendar date.

Hooray for me.

Bleh.... cough.... cough

Hmmmm....

First blog post. Gotta say I prefer this to MySpace, mainly cause MySpace takes forever to load when it manages to actually load.

I really have nothing clever or interesting to say so I will leave whoever might be reading this with a link to a great daily game called SET.

I'm sure I will post more after the Gators win their second straight NCAA basketball championship.

That is all.