August is just about over (two more hours) and I feel pretty glad to say goodbye to it.

1 Bridge collapse
1 Crash of teammates
2 Power outages at home
1 Bat in the bedroom
1 Incident of me standing in the backyard in my pj's at 1:00 a.m. with the house lit up like a christmas tree and back door wide open (due to item above)
4+ Nights of less than optimum slumber due to thunder and lightning

Now for the good stuff...

1 Team Time Trial completed
1 Baby niece born (hi Ella!)
1 Visit from Kerry (I missed you!)

I hope September's good things list outweighs the not-so-good. Time will tell.

Starting next week, it's time to bust out the fall clothes!

Power Outage and Team Time Trial Weekend

The weekend started out at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday with a terrific lighning and thunderstorm. Unfortunately it knocked out our power. Just our half of the block, not the neighbors across the street or at the end of the block, they were enjoying their lights, A/C, refrigerators, dryers, dishwashers, radios, t.v.'s, garage door openers, outdoor fountains and computers all weekend long. We were sweating, and spending time outside because, really, on a clear day, without electricity, what does the indoors have to offer?

Number of times I flipped on a light switch when I knew darn well the power wasn't working: 2
Number of times I tried to turn on my computer when I knew darn well the power wasn't working: 1
Number of times I flipped OFF a light switch in a room when I left, when I knew darn well the power wasn't working: 1

I was glad that I had one clean/dry cycling outfit to wear to my race on Sunday. The only thing that wasn't clean was my team socks. At least I didn't have to resort to wearing a dirty jersey or wet shorts to my race.

The team time trial was fun. The weather was in the 70's, a bit windy, but pretty nice. Brook, Manda and Sara were my awesome teammates, who waited up for me just long enough when my chain fell off in the first 1/4 of the race, for me to catch back up and hang off the back for a few rounds. Our practice days paid off when we completed our turn arounds with smooth precision, nobody crashed and everyone worked together like a well-oiled bike chain.

Race number two is officially under my belt. I'll post pictures when they become available.



Tonight the power came back on after a day and a half. Amazing how dependent on electricity we've become.

I was surprised that what I missed the most was my computer!

But I did get some reading and quality napping time in.

Tonight I'm going to sleep well with the chiller buzzing away in the background. zzzzzzz

Michael and I are both okay. Neither of us was on that bridge at all the day it collapsed. He was at the Twins game when it happened, and I was on a bike ride, albeit one where I witnessed a crash of my teammates. I haven't been downtown, even though it's only a couple miles up the road from my house. I don't want to be a gawker getting in the way of people who are trying to do their jobs. Plus I figure I'll have plenty of time to see the wreckage since I'm sure it will be awhile before they remove all that debris.

It's one of those worst fear sort of things, which is I think why it's getting so much attention. Everyone can imagine themselves in that situation and try to think of how they would feel, what they would do. It makes you think twice whenever you drive over a bridge, too.

The north side of the city and the University is going to have it pretty hard until they get it rebuilt. I hear the side roads are pretty congested.

No more riding North on River Parkway for awhile. Michael and I just came through there on a ride on Monday.

It's easy to get engrossed in the coverage, so I'm trying to stay away from too much overload of news.

Tonight I went to a Femi Kuti/Wailers concert at the zoo. It was a good remedy to restore my positive mojo after all this crap of the last 24 hours. While I was there I saw a shooting star, and the moon was beautiful and huge on the horizon on the drive home.