Basefree

Roadie

Good God it has been a long time since I have posted anything new. I have kind of been slacking on all fronts (work and non-work) ever since I passed my comps. I guess the holidays were in there somewhere too so not all of the slacking was inappropriate. Much has happened in the land of Doug since my last post way back when, so I will try to update you folks to some extent.

Following my comps I decided it had been a long time since I had bought anything, so I rewarded myself by purchasing a road bike. I got to go though the whole fun process of being fitted, riding around on town of various bikes for hours, and getting parts swapped out so the complete bike suited me perfectly. You don’t get to do all that fun stuff if you buy a bike online, even though you save a bit of money over buying from your local bike shop. I ended up going with a classic light weight steel bike made by socialists right here in Eugene. I am shocked by how easy it is to go really really fast when you are riding a light bike with skinny tires (the opposite of my mountain bike). I am currently attempting to get into some semblance of decent shape so I can enter some local races this spring.

The holidays were fun for the most part. I got to go snowboarding at Whistler for three days in a row, and became painfully aware that I hadn't been snowboarding in a damn long time. I also got to attend to Lisa's parents' dying computer that was infected with tons of spyware and other garbage. I NEVER want to do that again. It is amazing how trashed Windows can get if people using it have no idea about what is and isn't a good idea to click on. While at Lisa's parents' house I also got to ride in her Dad's new mid-life crisis car. 450 horsepower + all wheel drive + wacky computer controlled traction and suspension = lots and lots of G-force and fun for all parties involved.

When we finally got back to our house, we took a couple of days to settle in, and then decided to go skiing during a pretty severe winter storm (New years day). The snow was fantastic, but it took us about six hours to drive to the ski area, and visibility on the slopes was next to nothing due to the genuine blizzard conditions. It was worth it though, because there were no crowds, and the sensation of floating through three feet of powder is amazing.

Now I am back in lab and feeling unusually motivated. Vacations are good