The 2009 MS Ride is being held at the beginning of June this year, which gives me a little less than three months to prepare. Last year I considered upping my personal challenge to do the full century, but at the time I wasn't doing my other type of riding: horse.

With Cass back in in the picture, I actually (well, hopefully, barring any significant injuries to either him or myself) might have the chance to compete consistently this year… something I've been trying to do for the past 3 years. The fact that Cass is a much more suitable partner for me than Cody ever was has been a motivation to challenge myself and work harder at becoming a better rider. I really, really want(ed) to compete at Rubicon, but it's on the same weekend as the MS ride. Granted, the metric century is only on Saturday, so technically I can compete Sunday, but I'm not sure if my body can handle that amount of stress.

Right now, my two bikes are sitting in my living room, waiting to have their tires pumped and hit the road. However, I've been avoiding them for three reasons: one, the roads here in Arlington are still covered in salt ; two, I can't make the time; and three, it's still just a little bit cold here.

In a month or so, I won't have an excuse based on temperature or lack of daylight hours. Somehow I need to figure out how to fit Cass and biking in the same day a few times a week. I can [bike] ride in the morning (which would mean getting up at 5 AM or so), go to work, ride Cass after work, and then collapse from exhaustion… but the main concern I have is riding that early in the morning. The alternative is to ride solely on the bike trails, but I have an aversion to them mainly because people on bikes can be more dangerous than cars. The other option is to ride my bike after work and then ride Cass, because we have lights in our ring and I can ride after dark.

I need to be Superwoman, if only for two months…

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who managed to get the most out of his computer. This had been going on for days and God was tired of hearing all of the bickering. God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job."

So down they sat at the keyboards and typed away. They moused away.

They did spreadsheets,
They wrote reports.
They sent faxes.
They sent out e-mail.
They sent out e-mail with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did some genealogy reports.
They made cards.
They did every known job.

But just a few minutes before the two hours were up lightening flashed across the sky. The thunder rolled and the rains came down hard. And, of course, the electricity went off.

Satan was upset. He fumed and fussed and he ranted and raved, all to no avail. The electricity stayed off. But after a bit the rains stopped and the electricity came back on.

Satan screamed, "I lost it all when the power went off. What am I going to do? What happened to Jesus' work?"

Jesus just sat and smiled. Again Satan asked about the work that Jesus had done. As Jesus turned his computer back on the screen glowed and when he pushed "print," it was all there.

"How did he do it?" Satan asked.

God smiled and said, "Jesus Saves."

So, smart person that I am, forgot to renew my web hosting in January. (Why I have it set on month-to-month, I don't know. Probably because I keep telling myself I'm going to shop around and find a better deal than GoDaddy, but I never end up doing that and end up renewing it monthly.) Usually they're pretty forgiving and will give you a week or two to cough up the cash and renew your bandwith. Unfortunately, if you let it sit for practically a month, they WILL delete your stuff. Like, all your stuff. Including your database that has 3+ years worth of blog posts (that no one else reads).

If I had half a brain, I would have remembered that joke and saved my crap like the good IT nerd that I am. Unfortunately, I don't, and I had to pay $$$ to get them to find a backup tape and restore my stuff.

Costly mistake, yes. But it's only a mistake if you make it once.

That being said… kids, back up your work. That way, if your account gets wiped clean because you were in Uzbekistan and weren't able to renew your account, you can easily restore your data using your own backup without having to pay out the nose to your hosting provider.

I have long been one of those people who always takes the stairs whenever possible. Not only is it better for your health, but it also saves energy! (Yes kids, remember- elevators use electricity.)

It drives me CRAZY when I'm in an elevator and people use it to go up one or two floors. (Or even worse - DOWN any less than three floors.) If you look healthy and don't seem to have any physical disabilities, I will judge you as being lazy. Sorry to sound harsh, but with the incredible obesity epidemic we have nowadays, there's no excuse for not taking the stairs if you're able to.

Consequently, my new office building has some issues. Despite most floors having key card access doors to the interior offices, the stupid stairwell doors are LOCKED. Meaning, if you want to go to another floor — whether it be one or eleven floors up — you HAVE to take the elevator. If you go into the stairwell, you are locked out and the only way out is through the lobby or garage.

I work on the second floor.

As you can see, this is absolute torture for me. To get in the elevator to go up ONE floor is like asking me to drive my car 1/10th of a mile.

Whenever I get in the elevator with people going up to the 15th floor and I hit that "2" button, I want to turn around and say, "Look, the stairwell doors are locked! I can't do anything about that! Believe me, I'd take the stairs if I could!" (Hey, I would know — I was one of those people. I worked on the 10th floor at my old office and would inwardly groan each time some lazy person would make me late because they wouldn't take the stairs — which, coincidentally, were very usable because the stairwell doors were unlocked!)

Even worse, the bathrooms on our floor are being renovated, so we have to go up to the 3rd floor to use theirs. Which means going up and back down only ONE floor in the elevator. Rather than potentially embarrass myself, I've been using different floors' bathrooms. (Except the 6th floor. Damn SAIC has the ladies' room locked. )

Unfortunately, I've found a nice, newly renovated bathroom on the 4th floor… but I suppose the sacrifice of going up/down two floors in order to use a modern bathroom is worth the risk of being judged by elevator-mates.

Let me say this outright: I hate, hate, hate clothes shopping. I really do not enjoy going to a mall, walking around, trying on various clothes, and then walking out three hours later empty handed.

Shoe shopping, on the other hand, is a little easier to like. Not sure whether it's because trying on shoes is a quick process, or the fact that DSW keeps sending me coupons and stuff… but shoe shopping is significantly less painful than clothes shopping.

That being said, I realize I want to buy a pair of red sneakers to wear to next year's DC United games. DSW doesn't really stock scores of red athletic shoes, so I headed online to see what I could come up with.

First contestant is from Zappos, one of my favorite (but albeit more expensive) online shoe stores. This is Puma "The Suede."

Next up, also from Zappos: Converse All Star Core OX.

At this point, I ran out of plausible options in the Women's section, so let's head over to the Men's dept.

Contestant #3:Gola Harrier - 40th anniversary. (Never heard of Gola before, but I certainly have heard of Harrier. Yes, that plane is hovering.)

Another site I particularly enjoy (save for their search engine) is 6pm.com. I think Zappos actually owns 6pm, and it's essentially their outlet store. Really cheap prices, but the tradeoff is no free return shipping. Meet Adidas TOP Sala VIII.

Sadly, this particular pair is only available in mens sizes 4.5 (I didn't even know they went that low), 10, and 13. Cross this pair off the list.

Thankfully, THESE guys come in my size: Reebok Superkick.

The Superkicks are my favorite so far… my only little quibble about those is the black heel. If I actually had any readers on this blog, I'd put a poll up or something to see what everyone else thought. (Then again, if I based my decision on what everyone else chose, what kind of person would that make me?)

I confess. I am addicted to Newtons Fruit Crisps. They're like pop-tarts, but without the lard and crap coating and are much lighter on the calories. It's to the point of where I went through TWO BOXES of them last week alone. Scary. There are 8 packs to a box, so that's an average of 2.3/day. Only problem is that they're not exactly cheap ($4.50/box at Harris Teeter), so I have to wait until they go on sale before I can load up.

Both varieties are good, but I prefer the mixed berry.

(I know, it's not exactly the intellectually stimulating post I was hoping to write, but this is all I could come up with. )