This Is The Story of My Life

One of the 36 questions that Elisabeth, Belle and I answered when I was visiting was to tell your life story in four minutes in as much detail as possible. I thought that there was no way I would need four minutes, but lo and behold, I guess my life is long enough (and full enough) that I actually did not even come close to being finished! For me, the issue was not that I did not have enough to fill four minutes, it was that I was shy of speaking out loud about myself for that long. 

And this, I guess, would be the number one thing that I should tell you if you are just getting to know me: I am shy. Not to confuse the two, but I am also an introvert. As I mentioned in this post, I am a social introvert. I do like being around people that I am comfortable with, but I do need to recharge alone, even when the company is fabulous. However, getting back to the shy part, I still am hesitant to talk about myself, I hate being the center of attention, and I get tongue-tied when I am put on the spot. Writing it out is way easier and much more comfortable. You can read it and judge me and I will never know, and I don't have to look at anyone's expressions or worry about what they are thinking about me. 

So let me tell you my story. Let's start at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start (name that tune!). My parents met in a small California mountain town, the birds and the bees happened, and I was accidentally conceived (PS the rhythm method DOES NOT WORK). They had only been together for mere months when this happened. Not only that, but they were just babies themselves; my Dad was 20 and my Mom was 22. My Dad went on a finding-himself road trip to Canada and my Mom probably sat at home and fretted that he would never return. Spoiler alert: he did return and eight months later, at his parent's house, my Dad decided to try to deliver me at home. Typing this out, I wonder what my Mom was thinking; was she really going to let a 20 year old kid do a home delivery with no experience!? For her first baby!? That sounds very 70s to me. However, I was stubborn from day one, or day one minus one, and after hours of nothing happening, they went to the hospital and I was delivered happy and round-headed via C-section, on Mother's Day! 

Mumsy, several years later

When I was growing up, my parents owned their own business in the small California mountain town. It was a summer resort nestled in the mountains next to a river that had cabins, RV spaces, camping, fishing, inner-tubing, rafting, kayaking, a gas station, a general store, a restaurant and a bar. This meant that (a) most of the money we made went back into the business, (b) my parents were on call 24/7, (c) any vacations we had were usually during the winter. And since (a) my parents are frugal and (b) most of the money went back into the business, these were very budget vacations. For example, we had a super old RV that broke down all the time and we would drive it to Yosemite, Death Valley, Big Sur or The Grand Canyon. We would park in a Walmart parking lot or on the side of the road and sleep, and we would wake up early so that we could see the sunrise (I hated this, but of course am now a big fan of sunrises. Go figure). We would play cards and eat sandwiches in the back. My little brother would be a pest and I would ignore him by reading a lot. Actually this was the only way to ignore everyone in those days!

A typical day at the beach: lots of beer and playing with Broski

I suppose this started my love of travel. This also started my love of figuring out how to get the best bang for your buck and also created a resiliency in me for budget friendly travel, sometimes known as roughing it. I also worked for my parents from as early as I can remember. I started by rolling quarters or crushing cans or pumping gas and I made $0.25 per hour. You can read more about that here. I saved these quarters and when I was 11, I used to go stay with my aunt and uncle in the Bay Area and we would go school clothes shopping and I would buy myself school clothes with my hard earned cash. However, for the most part, I saved that money for later. Also despite, or maybe due to, working in a customer service oriented industry, one of my favorite things to do was to be alone and read. I would hole up in my room reading, even sometimes when my brother and cousins were all out playing. However, I would never pass up a trip to the beach and we went nearly every day in the summer. 

I consider myself lucky because growing up, my every day life was most people's vacations. One of the other 36 questions was what you would wish was different about your being raised, and my answer to this was hard, as most things that I didn't like at the time I realize now have shaped me to who I am now, and I am happy with that. Thanks Mom and Dad! You guys were a pain in the ass when I was younger, but I understand now! 

Lucky we had winters free!

In the interest of time, let's fast forward a bit to college, where I worked at Nordstrom to pay for college, but still made it a priority to save for both retirement and for travel! My first trip abroad (excluding Canada) was to France, and I did everything wrong. Since then, I have been back to France several times and have traveled to almost 60 countries, oftentimes by myself. In the 25 years to follow that trip, I have taken a sabbatical or quit my job six times to move or travel abroad (I talked more about this a little in this post). Luckily, for about ten years, I worked a contract job and could kind of come and go as I pleased, which really made it easier to travel without having to be afraid of starting completely from scratch when I got back. Additionally, the contract job was around the US, so I would live and work in a place for several months at a time. Doing this gave me the opportunity to live in Florida for eight months, Louisiana for about six years on and off, Missouri for a few months and Iowa for about eight months. I liked getting to know these places not just as a tourist, but as a resident of sorts. You can find more about where I have been on my Around The World page. 

The social introvert strikes again: making friends at the cricket in Adelaide, Australia. 

During this time, I became a runner, and have completed many road and trail races, from 5k to 100 miles. I also spent a lot of time backpacking, and one of my favorite things each year was the annual summer backpacking trip, often in the Sierra Nevadas, but also in places like Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Peru and Europe. One of the places I want to go back to is Mt. Everest base camp, as my trip got cut short (but that is a story for another day). 

Donner Lake, Marin Headlands, Dolomites,
Wind River Range, Tetons, Redwood Park (Oakland)

I recently realized that there are many mountains to climb (and cities to see, and people to meet and sunrises to see) and not enough time, so at the beginning of this year, I quit my ten year long Bay Area job in finance, sold or got rid of all of my things including my house, and set off by bicycle to see more of the US and Canada, which is what I am doing now. After I finish this trip, I plan to start traveling the world again, most likely as a slow traveler, where I will stay in one place for about a month a a time. 

Marshall Beach, Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands

And now you are all caught up! Tune in tomorrow when I will be talking about some ways to save or make money with very little effort! Now it's your turn!! 

Do you have any questions for me or do you want to know more about any one topic? What is one word you would use to describe yourself? Tell me three things about yourself that I may not know! 

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

You Can Do It!

The most common thing that people say to me, aside from where I am going or where did I come from, is that they wish they could do what I am doing. I always say to them that they can, and I do believe that is true. For those of you who don't already know, I am currently riding my bike around the US and Canada, mostly camping, and trying to stay off the paved roads. 

I wanted to break down this comment a little; do these people really mean that they wish they could do it? Or is this just a figure of speech, an automatic response, a compliment to me, or a placation? 

I would like tomatoes as plentiful and as delicious as my brother's. However, the truth is, I don't want to spend the time prepping and planting and watering and I definitely don't want to spend my summers harvesting and canning and preserving. So I leave that to him and I go off and ride my bike and when I go home, I get to go to his house and eat delicious sauces. I think most people who make this comment just want to go home and eat delicious sauces, or in the case of a bike, have it ready to go for when you want to do a few mile, preferably driving to the best spot and enjoying the best part of the ride, with good weather and views around ever corner. 

To do new things, it takes work. You have to get out of your comfort zone and cede some control to other people, the unknown and life in general. I literally do not know what's around the next corner most of the time, and this is hard. I am a type A planner, but in this case, I am often going day by day, because (a) you will just disappoint yourself if you have too high of expectations or you try to control every moment and (b) it's actually part of the fun. I sat in Tim Hortons the other day talking to an old local man, but I really really needed to charge my phone and book that night's accomodation, which is why I went in there in the first place, and afterwards I needed to go grocery shopping, and it was supposed to start raining soon. However, we had a great chat and this will be a story that I tell later, and it did not really take away from my day, except that I got rained on a little and arrived at my accommodation later than I wanted to. But! It was still light and I had plenty of time to set up and eat and enjoy the sunset, so really it did not change my day for the worse at all. 

However, people, including me, have a hard time doing new things because we do lack that sense of control and we do have unknowns lurking, just waiting to hit us when we are down. However, I think the positive unknowns outweigh the negative ones by a long shot. 

So, people, I am here to say that you CAN do it! Two years ago, I had only mountain biked once in Bolivia, and they did not provide me with any instructions, so basically you could call that a non-event. I had never owned a mountain bike. I had never ridden any bike, mountain or non, more than 40 miles. I had never done any bike maintenance but change a tube. 

I get embarrassed easily; I am afraid of looking or feeling stupid. I know this has kept me from trying some new things. Puedo hablar español pero tengo vergüenza cuando hay la gente circa me! I listened to a podcast with a writer from Outside magazine, who is in his 50s, and he said he is going to try all kinds of new things, and be that 50 year old looking stupid, and also help those 50 year olds who want to try new things but have fears that it is too late or that they will look dumb or embarrass themselves. It is not too late, but it is not as easy now as it was when we were 20 and fearless. 

For this trip, I had to learn a lot of things, and I had to have some bad days, and I had to fail before I could succeed sometimes. I've definitely used a lot of swear words, many more than I did in years past where I was living a more comfortable known life. But I can do it, and am doing it, and you can too! 

Here's a photo of me fixing my eleventh flat tire on the side of the road in Wisconsin (I think. I may have lost count):

On the flip side, here are a few beautiful sunrises! 

And when I say that you can do it, I don't just mean riding a bike. I mean all of those things that you really do wish you could do. Starting a side hustle, growing beautiful tomatoes, raising kids, learning Spanish. You can do it if you put your mind to it (or your back into it, if you are Ice Cube) and embrace the unknown, and the fear, and the lack of control. and once you are done, you will look back and say, hey, that wasn't so hard after all (right?)

What thing have you always wished you could do but haven't tried yet? What new things have you tried lately? What's your trick for getting over the uncomfortable parts of a new venture?

Looking Back: Books + Life

I am a bit behind on updates, so I thought I would put it all out here in a kind of "Currently-esque" post with a touch of "Recently" sprinkled in. So without further ado, here is what's going on both with my adventures with #bobthebluebike, and with life in general. 

Currently I am reading the first book of The Expanse on ebook, and am listening to In The Woods by Tana French. I enjoyed the last book I read of hers but it was in print and for some reason this one is seeming more slow paced to me. Recently my favorite reads have been The Indifferent Stars Above (thanks for the rec Engie et al!), Ken Follett's Never and Maame by Jessica George. However, I DNFed about seven books over the last two months; the most recent few were Us Against You, Recursion and Sure I'll Join Your Cult (should have known just from the title). It's a shame because I really enjoyed Beartown, and Recursion had a 4.17 on GR. The last one was a read by the author audiobook by a comedian I have never heard of and I found her to be super annoying. 

Currently I am eating too much junk food! I am not a huge fan of sweets, but I've sure had a lot of candy (Haribo for the win!) and ice cream over the last few months. I fear that as soon as I stop riding the bike my stomach is going to swell like one of those little dinosaurs we used to put in a cup of water. I have no self control. Recently, I have tried several gluten free pizza places. My favorite is still Pizzeria Otto's in Portland, but the Rocket Pie GF pizza in Canmore was so good that my wheat eating friends ate my pizza and we had to order another GF pizza after that to share! 

Currently I am listening to the air conditioning unit in my room. After a super hot and humid ride through Southern Wisconsin, it cooled down a lot, and got less humid and last week the highs were even only in the 60s/70s. However, it's getting a tad warmer again! I actually don't mind it, but am not a fan of rain or high humidity. Dry is key! Nobody wants chafe in their nether region! Nobody! Recently I've been listening to the No Borders podcast with Brian and Carrie. They are a couple who have a YouTube channel about early retirement and travel that I've been following for a couple of years. They recently launched a podcast and I find it useful and of course it helps me dream! 

Currently, I'm spending a lot on accommodation. The option to wild camp is not as prevalent in the Midwest as it is in the West, and the established campgrounds are expensive. The last state park I went to in WI charged $35 for tent camping and some of them are closer to $50! (FYI usually Forest Service sites are ~ $15, and you can even get a site in Yosemite for ~ $27) The best thing I spent money on recently is a flight to Portland. Usually I go every fall to house and pet sit for a friend and although I considered skipping this year, I decided that I could work it in as a cycling break, which I think I will need by then! Plus it will give me a chance to send myself some things, since I will not be on the move for once! I've also enjoyed springing for a croissant or a coffee or lunch for those I've been meeting up with (and for those of you who wouldn't let me, thank you too!), since I feel so happy to have gotten to meet them and some of them have even fed and housed me! I definitely got the better end of the deal here! 

Currently I'm feeling a little under the weather. I caught a cold on the Amtrak and can't shake it. It's not horrible, but it just won't quit! Also camping with a stuffy nose is not super fun as I can't breathe and so I have to prop up my head with my backpack and then sleep on my side or back, which is not my preferred method. 

Currently I'm missing my weekly visits with the girls (A & L). I feel like I was really getting to know them more of a day to day basis, whereas only seeing them every few months is just not the same. 

Currently I'm looking forward to being back in Canada! I should be back there in the next few days, this time in a different province. Although, I've been to Ontario before, I haven't explored it much, so I am excited to see some new parts of the province. 

What are you reading? Eating? Looking forward to? 

TGIM

I thought I would jump on the TGIF wagon, except that now that I don't have a normal work week, I actually dislike the weekends. Funny, eh? However, they are busier and it takes longer to go grocery shopping and there are more people on the roads and the trails! So now, Monday is my new Friday. However, today is Victoria Day in Canada, so it may still be a bit busier than normal. However, I thought I would do a quick TGIM post anyway. Happy Victoria Day everyone! 

The high of the last week was: My birthday was a great day. I am not really one to celebrate, and I hate being the center of attention (please do not sing to me). However, this day was perfect. I got up naturally, had a nice coffee and breakfast, tackled a nice easy 2% grade uphill, had good weather, then a very smooth downhill with excellent views. It was not too hot, I got into town early and treated myself to lunch, I got like 6 errands done in only a few hours and I had a chance to relax! It was excellent. The only thing I did not get was my free Starbucks drink, as the town I was in was tiny and did not have one. However, my anonymous friend, who reads this blog, and is a very nice dude, gifted me a SBUX gift card so that I could get my "free" coffee whenever I wanted it!! Isn't that just the cherry on top!? Thanks B-man! 

Coming down the hill into Grand Forks, BC

The low of the last week was: I had one day where I had a section of single-track which was sandy and rocky, and was skinny and was right next to the Columbia River, with a wall on one side and a drop off on the other. It.Was.Hairy! Plus there were a lot of steep ups and downs and I ended up pushing Bob a lot. Plus I fell a couple of times, luckily not serious, but it was a frustrating day for sure. To top it off, I was going to camp, but it was an extra six miles past town so I decided to just get a room, but I was hot and frustrated and I accidentally booked one at the top of a hill, so when I got into town I had to go a mile uphill to get to my hotel and it was not even close to a grocery store! I caved and walked to a pub across the street and drowned my sorrows in baby back ribs. 

Bob fell and got a booboo

Something I marked off my to-do list was: Gah! The health insurance has become a fiasco. I got global health insurance right after I quit my job with the understanding that I was going to be traveling to several different countries, but my first two would be the US and Canada. First they tried to get me to give them a domicile in Canada, but I reiterated that I would be constantly traveling. They said that was fine, insurance was approved and I thought I was good. Then a month later, they asked me to give them a domicile in the US. I reiterated that I am traveling and they did not reply. Then a week later I got a notice "confirming my cancelation" of my insurance and thanking me for being a loyal customer. After a big back and forth with the company, who is based in the UK, I finally got it reinstated. Phew! 

The book I am reading is: I am still reading the Outlander on eBook, which is taking me a while because I mostly listen to audio and really only read for about an hour at night in my tent, and this book is also long. However, I do not mind, and I am enjoying it. On audio, it changes every day, but I am reading one called Open Season by CJ Box, which reads like a book written by a man who maybe used to be in law enforcement or the military. It is so-so. 

The best thing I spent money on was: FOOD! I love food! I actually went whole hog for my birthday week last week and I ate out three times! Normally on any given week, I may eat out once, but more likely I would just get groceries (ahem, ice cream) from the store and eat them instead. My favorite thing was a double bacon cheeseburger with a wiener on it! I had to take the wiener off and eat is separately and then split the sandwich in two and eat two open face sandwiches in order to get it into my mouth, as it was so big (insert wiener joke here?)! 

Weiner burger + poutine fries!
(GF bun in case you are wondering why it looks so funny)

Good stuff!

My plans this week include: Pedaling, looking at stuff, taking photos of stuff, eating. 

My favorite photo from the last week is: This one! I have been riding a lot of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail (KVR) and I completed the entire thing (some parts are washed out but I did all that was possible) and got to mile zero! After that, I went on the Columbia and Western Rail Trail (C&W) and I also completed the entire length of that one too! It feels so satisfying, even though I have many miles left. 

Butt and Gut Update: I have been lucky that since I started, I have not had any saddle sore issues. I was quite worried about that, as there have been long days in the saddle. However, KNOCK ON WOOD, I have only had a little bit of chafe from time to time, but nothing serious at all. For the gut, I have basically had no bloating, except for one time that I had a banana and beans in the same day. However, I have even tried eating a couple of slices of sourdough with no issues and I did have a few beers too. I am still staying basically gluten free and am not really eating beans, garlic, onions or high sugar/fiber fruit. It seems to be working! 

What are you reading? What was the high/low of your week last week? What have you crossed off of your to-do list lately? 

Slow Travel: Week One

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and maybe even are out doing something fun with the kiddos this week! I am feeling much more motivated and organized than I did last week! A quick update before I jump in, just to let people know how everything is going; it is going well. I have started the grand depart for the Bikepacking USA and Canada Adventure and am currently spending some time with some friends in Oregon. But I don't want to just talk about all of my bicycling woes all the time (although I did used to do that a lot with running!) so I will probably put out a bike centric post every few weeks or once a month. 

Currently here

Also, I am rounding up questions for future posts, and I need your help. If you don't mind, can you please go here and ask a few? I will sing your praises in all future posts if you do!

Now onto the beef. My first week of retirement was spent at my parents' house. So basically, I am living with my parents again. Yup. In a van, down by the river. The fun thing is that my brother also showed up to help my Dad with a job and so it was actually the whole family there at the same time. We all lived under one roof for several days and did not even kill each other even though maybe we wanted to sometimes. 

So long sucka!

Seriously though, it was so "real life." You know how sometimes when you are with family or friends for a special occasion, or only one or two days, you feel the need to behave, aka hang out and entertain and do the things you may not want to do? Well this was just regular days, with each of us flitting in and out on our own timelines, while still spending time to eat breakfast and dinner together most days. It's those low pressure visits that are really more my style. I love being able to read my book even though other people are in the room and not feel rude, like I am using up precious time. My Mom would nap, and I would read, or go for a walk, or go and play with my bike, or pick my nose. It was great. 

Spring has sprung!

I also accomplished a few things. Thanks to all of you, I got out of my reading rut! I did not mention these books on my last post as I was not finished with them yet, but I can also add A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (4.5 stars), Then She Was Gone (4 stars), The Cover Story (3.5 stars) and Die With Zero (3 stars) to my March reads and none of them sucked! In case you think 3 stars means I did not like it, that is not true; it means I thought it was good but not great, which is what I would say a 4 is. 

I also now have some great songs for my Pick Me Up playlist! Thanks to all of you for contributing! There were some great adds, such as System of a Down from my friend E, who likes bands with names like Dead Fetus, so this was actually a very tame suggestion from him (I also added some White Zombie, Deftones and Korn, which all remind me of a certain time in my life, although I do not listen them as often any more.) I know many of you (including my parents) are cringing right now, but never fear, I also added Maneater, both the Hall and Oates (thanks Nicole!) and the Nelly Furtado versions, and of course a little bit of Pitbull. It was so fun hearing all of the different suggestions and so many of them were so different. I have stopped in my tracks several times over the last few days to check my phone to see what the song was. 

Case in point, the song Rasputin by Boney M. was suggested to me by my brother. I was on a run and I wanted to run on my tiptoes when the song came on and so I stopped running to see who it was. Turns out, this band is from the 70s and when I just now went to YouTube to get the link, I saw the video, and they are so groovy! You cannot help but want to dance. Also, if you listen to the lyrics, it talks about how the Russian Rasputin was feared by all but apparently was a great womanizer! It made me giggle. 

He ruled the Russian land and never mind the Czar

But the kazachok he danced really wunderbar

In all affairs of state he was the man to please

But he was real great when he had a girl to squeeze

Other than collecting books and songs, I knocked a bunch of things off of my list. Due to working in the finance industry, we were required to keep any investment accounts with our company, so the first thing I did was open new accounts and have my accounts transferred over. I also rolled over my 401k, redid all the paperwork (transfer on death designations, beneficiaries, etc.) and had to reinvest some of the accounts due to items not transferring over. I had to change my address on a buttload of things, even though most of my stuff is paper, and this of course caused issues with opening the new accounts because not only am I now not working, but what IS my mailing address? It turned out to be easier to just put my old address on the application and then call them to tell them that I need to change my mailing address. However, I had already forwarded my mail by then so I really did not want anything going to my old address!

 I also opened a new credit card that I will use to pay the contractor who is working on the house so I can get some points out of the deal (yay!), even though the points value will be a slight fraction of what I will be spending (boo!). I also sold my car, which was fairly easy, except the dudes showed up about three and a half hours later than the 6:00 pm appointment, which as you know, is way past my bedtime. Luckily the family stayed up with me and played Quirkle with me to try to keep me awake. I even finished my taxes and did lots of fiddling with Bob (wow, that sounds kind of kinky, but it's just #bobthebluebike)! 🚲

Bob is raring to go.

The one thing I left for last was health insurance! I know waiting until the last minute is not a luxury that everyone can afford, but I am still dragging my feet. Most companies will honor your health insurance until the end of the month that you resigned. In our case, we actually get 20 days, which works out better as long as you quit after the 10th, which I did. So I basically have until April 4th to decide. My conundrum is this. Most USA insurance will not cover other countries, so you would need to get travel insurance for the period you would be out of the country. Most international (or nomad) insurance only covers the USA in case of extreme emergency or for a very short period, like 30 days. There are other options, but I am still looking into them. The bottom line is that any of these options are cheaper than Cobra, but the coverage is hit and miss. For example, for Cigna Global, they will only cover inpatient hospital visits, unless you tack on an extra $150 per month for outpatient. Anyway, I will probably leave it right until the last minute. Anybody have any input here? 

I am also still working on getting the house ready for sale, and could probably write an entire post about that, so I will save it for later! 

Have you ever played Quirkle? Anybody have any good postal service/mail snafu/moving stories? If you are married, and you changed your name, in how many different places did you have to update things? (I feel this would be way harder than just updating an address, but YOU TELL ME!) 

Let The Games Begin?

Last week was one of those weeks were I completely overbooked myself and this week is going to be more of the same. Last week every day I had something after work, culminating in a client meeting and dinner on Friday, of which I was very glad to see the back of, although it went well and we had a good time. Planning for work events with multiple personalities and likes/dislikes is not really my thing, although I always seem to be in charge of doing it, like it or not. Luckily everyone was happy in the end, but if I don't have to do that again for a long time, I will not be sad. On Saturday I went to a wine and music event with my friend E and we were talking about his Thanksgiving plans, which are going to be nothing social, and I was telling him how I completely understand why. Sometimes it just creeps up on you and you need to hide under a rock for a while. 

Fancy dinner

Wine & music with Les Claypool

Luckily although this week will be socially heavy, it will be fun and a bit more low key. I only have Thursday off of work, so will have to go back into the office on Friday, although I expect it to be slow, as the markets are not open all day. Then on Saturday, I will run the Quad Dispea, an annual trail race, for which I have not trained enough. It will be painful, but it is kind of the running community's "holiday" get together, where you will often see people that you may not have seen since last year's race, so it will be nice to catch up with them, or at least see them on the course. I am crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain, as there are some steep muddy and slippery rock sections that are much more fun when dry. 

The Dipsea trail is known for its 678 stairs

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, which will probably just be a low key lunch/dinner, lots of games, some hikes and otherwise just catching up and drinking lots of coffee! I think we are looking at lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s, and no rain, which is a very welcome thing! Last weekend we had some thunderstorms which were good for the garden, but difficult when trying to dash from a car to a restaurant in high heeled shoes, which is what happened to me on Friday night. 

Quirkle, one of our favorite games

Besides the rain though, the weather has been pretty good and is still not getting too cold at night; our lowest low has been in the 40s still and the trees are still pretty and golden in most places. Of course, as I mentioned before, this still means that raking season is going strong, and likely will for some time yet. I have really been enjoying leaf peeping walks around the neighborhood lately though! 

Golden leaves

Fun neighborhood corner

After that, November will basically be over, and it will be the last month of the year! My Christmas cards are 99% done, so I will put the finishing touches on them and get them sent out at the end of the month. The other thing I always do in the last couple of months of the year is to get all of the pesky check ups done. I already went to the eye doctor, next up are the dentist (today actually) and all of the lady checks and then I am done until next year! I still have to do some more serious dentistry, but will wait until my new insurance starts in January, and will also do my normal wellness exam (blood panel for triglycerides, cholesterol etc.) in January once the calendar starts over again. 

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Have you done all of your annual exams, dentist appointments, eye appointments etc. yet? What are your neighborhood walks like lately? 

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

I recently listened to the book Food, A Love Story by the comedian Jim Gaffigan where he talks about his relationship with food. I don't know much about Gaffigan and have never seen his stand up or a movie with him in it, but the book was available at my library and I wanted something light so I picked it up. It is read by the author and in the end, it was surprisingly funny. I am not always a fan of memoirs as they just talk about themselves the entire time, but he talked about himself in a depreciating but comedic manner. 

One of my favorite places to think deep thoughts...

In addition to that, this book made me think. Of course I was out hiking when I listened to it, and that already lends itself to deep thoughts, but I do love a book that makes you consider things you may not have thought of before. In this case, he made a joke about eating when you are not really hungry: “Ugh, I’m so full. I guess I’ll have some cheese. Hmm, I don’t even like this cheese. I guess I’ll finish it.” It got me thinking about how often I do this (a lot!) and how some people don't seem to have this issue. Why can I not open a bag of tortilla chips without eating the entire thing when some people CAN "eat just one?" I don't know the answer to this question, nor do I know if I will ever change, but it got me thinking! Here are a couple of other recent reads that have got me saying hmmmm lately...

The Measure: this is a book about everyone in the world receiving a box with a string in it. The length of the string indicates the length of your life. I will not tell you how I felt about this book, but it got me thinking... would I want to open the box? What would I do (differently?) if I found out that my string was long/short? The book also explores the politics surrounding the strings: should you be required to disclose your string length? Should you run for office or be in the military if your string is short? It was very interesting and really make me think about a lot of different social and political issues. 

Living Without Plastic: this book is, not surprisingly, about trying to use less plastic in your life. It talks about some of the substitutions we can initiate, like some obvious ones such as our own reusable grocery bags, own own produce bags or some more not so obvious but easy ones like wooden combs and toothbrushes, bar shampoos and soaps, non-plastic straws and utensils etc. I try to do my part, and don't use a lot of single use things like plastic water bottles or takeout containers etc., but there are some changes I will make due to reading this. It even inspired me to finally take a load of old grocery bags to Sprouts for recycling (also did you know you can recycle plastic wraps, like the ones that are around a case of water or toilet paper, at some grocery stores too?) I still have a long way to go, but I feel like this book has given me some ideas to move in the right direction. 

Can you "eat just one" chip? Would you open your box/want to know how much longer you had to live? Do you do any of the anti-plastic activities I mentioned or do you have any other tips/tricks for not using so much plastic? 

On Being Uncomfortable

As adults, we become fairly stuck in our ways at times, doing the same routine or same tasks over and over. Having kids definitely gives people a new outlook, new tasks to do, new people to meet. For example, for the last couple of years I have been helping a single mom friend shuttle the kids to soccer and lacrosse practice and games. Not only have I learned about pickup and drop off (did you know that only a couple of the parents get out of the car? I always get out of the car. Am I doing that wrong?), but I have been learning how to play lacrosse (this is not a sport we had available when I was a kid). I am learning how to listen to and to give advice to kids; I am learning some bad (but very fun) dad jokes. 

Aside from that though, what do we do to put ourselves out of our comfort zone? Last weekend I took a bike ride with Bertha (that's my bike). This may seem easy enough, but my plan was to take my old bike all the way around the bay. Here is my CalTopo map. This would mean crossing two bridges and going into towns that usually I only fly by on the freeway. It would mean riding in the street, sometimes on roads with little shoulder and across two bridges with various rules and strange entry points. It would mean not knowing where I could use the bathroom or whether or not I needed to lock up my bike or where I could lock it up. It would mean riding further than I ever had before. It would mean being out of the house for an unknown period of time, in the cold and the wind. My bike could break down; I could get a flat; I could get lost; I could encounter all manner of things. 

But. I could have fun, learn something I did not know yet, stretch my ability and see new things. Which is what I did. I started at my house and rode to a bar in uptown Oakland to watch the World Cup final. After watching Argentina get a much deserved win, I got back on the bike and started riding toward the Richmond bridge. Luckily, there is a bike path that goes all the way from Emeryville to Richmond, which is about 10 miles long and sticks to the shoreline so there would not be too many cars to contend with. 

I followed that for about 10 miles and then had to go on the streets to get to Point Richmond, which is usually easy to get through. However, they were doing construction and there was a detour and instead of going on a flat street through downtown I went nearer to the coast and the hills and got quite an unexpected work out. Once I recovered from that, I went toward the bridge, but I didn't realize that when it said right turn it meant right after the street, not ON the street, so I almost went on a freeway entrance until a guy rolled down his window and told me that the bike path was just up the street. Oops! 

Bay Area bikeways

Next was the approach to the bridge and then a four mile stretch on the bridge, which always seems flat when I am driving on it, but I swear was uphill the whole way on the bike. Plus there was a cross wind that did not make it any easier. This was the point that I decided that my 50 mile circumnavigation of the whole bay may be a little ambitious and I should start thinking of a plan B. Luckily, depending on how long you want to wait, there are three ferry options that go into San Francisco as well as several bus options. So I got off the Richmond bridge and cruised into Larkspur where there is a ferry. Unfortunately, the next ferry came in about an hour and a half, but I did not want to just sit around and wait, so I decided to press on to Sausalito where I could catch the ferry from there if I hurried. 

Approaching the bridge

Richmond Bridge

Of course from Larkspur to Sausalito there were about 17 different turns and it did take me a while to make sure I was going the right way. Also when I got on the bike path that goes into Sausalito, which I have run on before, it was a lot more miles than I remember to get from there to the ferry. Of course the headwind did not help and I was passed several times by cyclists with large strong thighs, which really made me realize that I need to train more for this sport. However, it was a beautiful sunny day and there were people out enjoying it and it really was a great day to be alive. 

In Sausalito, I literally walked onto the ferry and it left, so if I would have been 5 minutes later I would have missed it and had to either wait another couple of hours or climbed the dreaded hill and crossed the Golden Gate bridge. Instead I had a great ride, ate a snack, enjoyed the view of the city and Alcatraz (if you have never taken this ferry, I highly recommend it. It is much cheaper than a proper bay cruise) and the all of the bridges. 

From San Francisco, I took the BART back to Oakland where I had about a four mile ride to get back home. I will admit, but this time I was super hungry despite my snack on the boat, but my butt was definitely not as sore as I thought it might be after such a long ride. This actually is now my longest ride ever! 

So, after this long story, what is my point, you are asking!? I would say the moral of the story is thus: first of all, you can teach an old dog new tricks...just kidding. Seriously, get out and try new things. Maybe it is embarrassing or unusual or uncomfortable or HARD, but you won't know until you try it and if you hate it you don't have to do it again, because you know what? You are an adult! However, I have found that many of those hard or uncomfortable things often become my favorite new thing to do.  Did I learn from this one? Yes. Did I have fun? Most certainly. Was it hard? You bet it was. Will I take another long bike ride? Definitely.

Total miles: 42
Time taken: 4 hours
Bridges crossed: 1 (Richmond)
Modes of transport: 3 (bike, boat, train)
Map of my trip: https://caltopo.com/m/G96UB 

What uncomfortable thing have you done lately? Have you ever taken a long bike ride? If so, what tips can you impart for my next ride? 

Let Me Ask You Something

I ask a lot of questions. Some people don't really like that. For instance, one person, let's call them X, asked me if I wanted to go for dinner. It went kind of like this.

X: Do you want to go for dinner when I get off work?

Me: What time do you get off?

X: I am not sure. I am supposed to get off at 6 but I may stay later.

Me: Where do you want to go?

X: I don't know. Wherever.

Me: Are we going to walk or drive?

X: Grrr...why are you asking so many questions? I just wanted to go for dinner.

Okay. Let's stop for a minute. I have a good reason for asking all of these questions. For example. I get off at 5 and I want to take a run after work. Will I have time to go before we eat? If we are going at 6, I may try to get off early; if we are going at 8, I will probably stay until 5 and run before dinner. If we are going to walk, I may do a shorter run. If we are going for a large dinner as opposed to a light dinner, I might do a longer run.

But, I realize it may get a little annoying when I don't just say YES sometimes. But I want to be sure about what I am agreeing to before I agree! Otherwise sometimes plans end up not working out the right way.

For example, the other day my friend asked me if I wanted to go for a hike the next morning. I did want to go for a hike, but I also wanted to go for a run, and my original plan was to go for a run in the morning. I had friends coming over for drinks and food at 4 and I wanted to start getting the food and the house ready around 1 pm. So I asked her what time she wanted to hike. She said 9:00 am.

Normally I would ask: Does this mean leaving the house at nine, arriving at the trail head at nine, or starting the hike at nine? Where are we going? How long will we be hiking? But I have been scolded, so I didn't ask anything. In fact, I ASS-umed that the hike would be a couple of hours, which would leave me with enough time to go running, shower and start getting ready for my guests. 

The next day I got up around 7 but decided to wait for my run until after the hike, since if we were supposed to start hiking at 9 we would have to leave the house around 8:30. 8:30 rolled around and we weren't leaving. Was I allowed to ask questions now? I wasn't sure. I finally asked when we were leaving and was told that the person we were meeting was going to let us know when they were leaving the house and then we were going to leave the house. I don't really do well with these kind of time definitions.

We ended up leaving at 9:45, then waiting at the trail head and then to top it all off, the place we went for our "hike" was a paved, flat path with a ton of slow mo families with bikes and dogs. The pace was leisurely at best.

Then we went to brunch and the person we were with had a dog so we had to sit outside so we couldn't just take the first available table and I carpooled so I couldn't just leave and the whole time I am picturing my run getting shorter and shorter and then just withering away.

I got back home at 3. Did I mention that I had people coming over at 4?

I guess the moral of this story is...annoying or not, I am going to ask a million questions before saying yes to anything.

So, let me ask you something: do you care about the little details or are you more of a go with the flow kind of person?

When Life Hands You Lemons

Lately, my lemon tree has been full. I have plenty of lemons. Life has given me lots of lemons.

I mean this both literally and figuratively.

Figuratively, and I have talked about this before, the job situation is getting a little out of hand. Usually, my job is temporary, and I am used to that. Like I said, I am similar to a freelancer. I work several months of of the year, and during that time, I have to save up for the dry months. However, generally there is a good mix of "wet" and "dry" months, and so I can not only make ends meet pretty easily, but I also keep from going completely crazy with boredom or a lack of productivity.

Right now, I am in a drought. I am California;  I need rain or my crops are going to die.

Luckily, this means I have free time to do what I have always wanted to do. I can learn French; I can knit a sweater; I can go see the Grand Canyon. However, this also means I need to keep saving up, because who knows when that rainy day will come. So I am improvising. The local library has a Spanish conversation class once a month in the evenings. I signed up. I have a long list of books on my To Read list. I am getting to know my neighborhood and the surrounding running trails. I am cooking. I love to cook and often don't make time for it. I am spending time with friends and family. It's good, in a way.

I ALSO actually have a lemon tree. And it has a boatload of lemons. I could make lemonade, but instead, I make hummus!! Have you ever made your own hummus? It's so easy!

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup bean water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 - 4 lemons, juiced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp tahini
salt to taste

In food processor, mix all ingredients and blend until smooth. You want the hummus to be a little bit on the thinner side, as it will thicken a little in the fridge once everything melds together. Start off with the oil and lemon juice, then add 1/4 cup water and see how it looks/tastes before adding the other 1/4 cup of water. When I say bean water, I mean the juice in the can, or if you cook your beans from dry, whatever water is in the cook pot.

Note, if you don't have tahini, it will still taste good, but I do like it better with the tahini. You should be able to find it at Trader Joes, or Whole Foods, although I bought mine at Safeway.

So, I am off to use my lemons of life! Any suggestions, literally or figuratively?

Have you ever made your own hummus? Have you ever been in a life drought and not known when the rains would come?

Life in A Day

The other day on the plane I watched Life in A Day, a documentary about one day around the world. The videos were taken by us, by amateurs, and were put together as a whole story. It was interesting to see how every day normal life is different in the different places around the world. They also asked the people doing the videos to answer a few questions:

What is in your purse/pocket/bag? What do you love? What do you fear? 

Some people had no pockets. Others had empty pockets.  One man, who was a diabetic, had syringes.

In my pocket I have an ID, $20 and an AMEX, because today I am not carrying a purse. When I have my purse, it is full of tissues, wipes, vitamins and coupons. It has gift cards and credit cards and frequent flyer cards. It carries my phone and my money, my (big!) camera and my ipod. I lug around a notebook and pens, gum and granola bars. I think my purse weighs 31 pounds. 

There were a lot of people who said that the thing they loved most was God. One woman said she loved it when things were dirty and you cleaned up and you got that feeling of accomplishment. She loved that feeling. 

I love that feeling too. And if it stays clean, I love THAT feeling even more. I love watching the sun rise. I love the ocean. I love a clear blue sky filled with a flock of birds. I love my friends and my family and the comfortable feeling I have with them. I love boats and starfish and giraffes. I love travel and bright colors and crisp days. I love the crunch of leaves under my feet. I love climbing to the top of tall things and running as far as I can. I love a challenge. I love a good book and a warm fire and a cat on my lap. 

One man, whose wife was sick with cancer, said that he was “fearless, because what he feared was that his wife would get cancer, and now she had, so he had nothing to fear anymore” (that kind of made me want to cry for some reason).

I am afraid of the people I love dying. I am afraid of failure. I am afraid of the creepy squishy things in the deep open sea. 

What’s in your pocket/purse? What do you love? What do you fear? 

**My friend Sarah posted about this as well. See her take on it HERE.**