The news this week is as follows:

Pea-sized hail does not dent my car! I found out the scary way, listening to it ping off my roof.

Michael's car was stolen on Wednesday night and recovered Thursday morning. His computer and other electronics were taken, but the car was OK! Well, minus a broken window and door scratch.

Today I turn 38. I feel good.

I bought a new rosebush today. It's called Hope for Humanity. What I really hope for is that it survives through the winter, unlike all my previous roses that didn't. But I was informed that a shrub rose (such as this is) should survive, unlike my previous hybrid teas.

I now have an external hard drive, which means that since I spent the money on it, my computer will probably never crash and I won't need it.

My novel now has a rudimentary website. Go see it at http://dogdays.weebly.com/
You can even read the first chapter.

I got my second flat tire on my new bike on Tuesday. Last year, riding Red, I didn't have a single flat and now on Big Blue I've had two in about a month. Well, those lovely expensive things can sometimes be high maintenance. And I maybe shouldn't have been riding on a road with rocks that would've been better used for landscaping.

That's it for now. Happy end of May!

Since I haven't mentioned it in awhile, I want to give a shout out to my new bike. I LOVE YOU!
Today Michael installed the computer, which means I will quit bugging my cycling buddies to tell me how fast we're going and how far we've ridden. I got to really test it out on some hills on Thursday night, when I was out getting lost in Mendota Heights and heard someone call my name from a gas station off to the right. I had no idea who would be yelling my name in the middle of Mendota Heights, but I looked over and there was my teammate, Manda, waving at me from the middle of a group of cyclists. "Come ride with us," she said, so I did. It turned out it was the Freewheel Bikes group ride, and as it happened, it was my first real group ride of the season (real in that I wasn't the ride leader, and thus had no say in the pace.) It was hilly and a faster than I'd been riding, so it was a good challenge. Big Blue helped me keep up with the pack and I was happy to have run into Manda and the group.

Summer Break!

Okay, I know I'm only taking one class per semester, but I still get that feeling of relief at the end of the school year. I will have my Tuesday nights free again. Maybe I can finally make it to a group ride out of NOW Bikes. But the best part is that I will be free from school guilt for three months! I get a little obsessed about doing my homework. I don't know why this kicked in AFTER I finished the majority of my schooling, but at least I finally get to know what it's like to have a 4.0 GPA.

Here is the final version of the cover of my book, which I turned in as my final project. Summer goal: finish WRITING the book.

My final project in my Illustrator class is... anything I want. So I'm making a cover design for my long-awaited novel.

Here it is as it stands right now.

I only feel okay designing a cover because I'm about a chapter or two away from a complete first draft.

My goal for the summer is to finish the thing and get it off to someone to read/edit/whatever.

This Illustrator class has been really fun and incredibly useful. It's probably my favorite class so far. And I was pretty intimidated by the program at the start, so I'm happy that I feel somewhat comfortable using it now.