tuesdays come and go

and here i am, listening to meg's podcast intro... i will refrain from my tradditional critique role that i fall more naturally into...

and lemme tell ya - i just about pooped my pants when i realized i had made it till after lunch before posting anything... and by about pooped my pants it was literally - in that i needed to get out of the office for a minute. And while i may work in some ivory towered institution, i do not get lunch servered to me on silver service, and i do not have a private bath in my office.

so many chords to strike, that one sort of leads to KL's comments about the institution. Dare i go into my perspective? I've been fortunate to have direct involvement in four rather (understatement) different Institutions of Higher Learning. Starting with my stint at Conn College (not U Conn), a small 1600 student liberal Arts school with very strong sciences and art (all i cared about). It was selective, and the students were a rather strange mix of Ivy league rejects and those who really wanted that setting (the 600 acre Arbo really sold me). Most all were pretty intelligent and motivation was over the map... no football team, and little focus on major sports. In direct contrast to the next place. Michigan State University. Man what a difference. Going from a tiny school to one of the largest in the country with over 45,000 students enrolled. Small NE to Big 10. Sports ruled. The Faculty were much more interested in publishing and churning out grants and getting more money than teaching. Sure most faculty are always working on grants and funding but there, for the most part with notable exceptions of course, the instructional side of things was massively lacking. I got lucky in my involvement in a few of the good teaching faculty as mentors. From there up to Central. I shouldn't say anything mean about it but the average students were not the brightest in the bunch. It was mid size 24,000 or so enrolled. As i liked to say CMU is where the girls are hot and the guys are stupid, with the quiet aside being (the girls are stupid too but because they are hot we overlook that). Although, i have never been ever able to ever get over not so brightness. wrap up the best looking most physically attractive package, if that brain ain't working - forget it. That or if the brain ain't clicking with me - no matter. One former GF was smokin, by everyone's standards, great in most aspects, but... but i tell ya she drove me bonkers... having high and unobtainable standards is a great way to ensure fidelity... couple that with a shy anti-social persona and well hard core lock down.... Too personal? maybe - but hey - no one reads it anyway right? So where was i? Oh... finally here. at this ancient university (Brown) with Ivy walls. Is it different than MSU? CMU? Conn? Damn straight. Will you get a better education here? Its harder not to, but on the other hand college is what you make it. Like grad school, its about the connection you make with the faculty, and your self motivation. You can sail through anywhere, and like at CMU, there are bright stars and even the dimmer ones can work hard enough to really get something positive out of it. Now, if you want to talk about Collegiate Cycling teams. Hook up with the Ivy. Sunsobitches seem to be doing better than most, with large riderships. Conn in my days was Geo, and a few handful of others. MSU didn't have anything and i helped get the team off on their feet, but Midwest travel on the collegiate circuit makes the ECCC look super tiny. CMU? nuttin. Although GVSU had a great team and it was on par with the CMU level. All about the experience and the students there driving the stuff.

a couple scribble items... inflation linked. I may have covered it but a recent prompt from someone looking for a $100 commuter bike had me thinking - damn $100 won't get ya far in gas money now days... why not step up to the plate and figure how much gas you'd save by riding a few months instead of driving and step to the plate for a decent bike. On the other hand $100 is still $100... Although from my FIL's POV, a $25 steak is only 1/3 of a tank, and a bottle of some fancy scotch is one tank... And someone was suggesting that inflation isn't linked to the price of gasoline...

I keep forgetting to mention the yamika wearing dude. So its hot out, this guy wearing skimpy running trunks, a full coat of fur (he was a bit hairy) and running shoes, and a yamika. The whole no shirt thing had me thinking, what the hell's the point of covering 3-4" diameter of the back of your scalp if you are going to uncover the rest of what he gave ya. Hell all the thoughts are in the front part and the fabric covers the back part. No, i am not jewish, but i'm puzzled baffled at the juxtopisition(sic) of the nearly nekkid dude with a yamika on. That's freaking insane.

not to mention its gonna be fun working out the logistics now to get both girls into to where they need to go and to keep me still on the bike... once/if the move happens.

Oh and can't let the pick of the IF "hot ass" (meg's words not mine) sitting on the Klein go un commented... mmmm Klein goodness....

Gonna see about tryin to make the TT tonight, and maybe if SB heads down, i'll try and hit the Bikeworks TT as well on thursday. Although, here's the wrinkle... my wife hasn't had a chance to get out running in a couple weeks... she's a bit understanding of my bike time, and as if anyone's keeping score, i ain't exactly lighting up the mileage numbers, but it may be a tough juggle to get out for thurs... so... i may toss in the towel on tonights TT and shoot for Thursday. There'll probably be a hoard riding out from Downtown Providence around 5pm or so... like they did last week... its a decent warm up riding out... but i should know by tomorrow.

I've been trying to read the PEZ hydration article today. But it ain't working. Too many distractions (work). Last week i felt like an extra water bottle would have been very helpful... we'll see if i can get it all put together today - or thursday, what ever day i actually make it out.

so congrats on getting this far... and to those inspirational folks out there... thanks...

(BTW - after publishing i finally read the PEZ article - damn boring stuff... that and i realized i didn't link it above... there ya go... so it says to hydrate... um... yeah *thumbs up* got it drink fluid)