I suck....

....at updating this thing.

But I do have some good excuses. 40 page project, 5 page paper, 4 exams, stats homework, acting class, BikePractice, work, and somehow sleeping. See I was busy...so don't yell at me. Even tonight though, I won't be able to talk about everything I've been up to. So tonights entry shall be able Halloween Weekend in Madison.

It all started Thursday night when I pulled an all-nighter to get the 40 page project done for my food science class. That sure was fun as it totally wiped me out the next day. I slept somewhat cuz I knew the weekend was going to be busy and sleep was not on that schedule. At 4:30 I got ready in my kit for the homecoming parade. I baby-oiled up the legs. That was sweet. I may have to be "that guy" during a race this coming year with the oiled legs! I know you're jealous. So the parade was fun and went by pretty fast and was done in no time...but its been better in years past. After that Minch came down and Shelly did as well. The guys from Sheboygan were suppose to come, but I guess some things came up.

After the parade Ben, the roommates, and I went to go get some costume supplies. We were going as foot clan soldiers from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most people just thought we were Ninjas...NO!


I think the costume came out pretty well....

Night 1 we went to a teammates house for a party. It was decent. Not much was going on, but it was a good time. And then one of my roommates...I won't say who drank a little too much and prayed to the porcelain god. For a while. But overall the night was fun.

The next day was filled with fun. Geo, Shelly, Gehling and I went to the farmers market to pick up some produce and some stuff for the grill out we would be having later. A trip to the zoo was in store for Shelly and I later in the day before the grill out. I guess the animals go to sleep early or something. It was kinda empty at 4pm when we went. But still got some good pics. My camera died during the trip so Shelly has most of the pics. I'll see if I can get any.


Seal...


Camel...


Ostrich...

Then came the grill out. That was fun. We had so much fun. We had steak, ostrich burgers, vension brats, hot sausage, regular brats, grilled peppers, potatoes, chips and I made some brownies for dessert. Yes, it was good! I was very full by the end. So then we had to get ready for going out night #2. But it looked like it was just going to be Gehling, Shelly and me. We kinda changed up our costumes. Gehling was a redneck and shaved his facial hair into a Fu-man-chu, I wore Shelly's renaissance dress from the night before. And Shelly had the best costume out of all of us. She wore the same creepy guy costume I wore last year. We drew her a mustache and some side burns. It was perfect. She played the part very well too.


Picture this, but Shelly. It was awesome! I'll have a pic of the 3 of us soon enough. You'll have to see it!

We hung out at Gehling's house for a bit and then ended up at state st for the people watching. Some interesting costumes, but nothing super unique. Halloween is always an interesting time.

I wish the weekend could have lasted forever. It was just so much fun and made me happy. I've needed that for awhile. I've been way too busy and haven't had any time for pretty much anything. So this was a much needed break from reality. I somehow lost my voice over the weekend. Don't know how...I guess I yelled too much and it just kept building over the weekend.

Well, I have to wake up super early tomorrow and work in foodservice. Its going to suck. And then I have an exam that I'll have to study for all day for at 7:15 tomorrow night. I better get to sleep. But then the week is easy and it'll be the weekend in no time.

I'll get a good report up about life pretty soon. Maybe after my exam.

Ciao ciao....
Waitey

Is late now....

....so just to let you know, my next entry shall include:

1) Cycling & Training
2) School
3) Acting Class
4) Modeling Pics
5) Randomness

I need sleep now...but a blog shall be written within the next couple of days. Sorry for the delay....

Thought you should just know that I'm still among the living....

Ciao ciao....
Waitey

P.S. Here's a teaser....


Photography by Jeff Wilson

Hydration vs. Dehydration....

....which one is better?

So I'm getting this written a little late, but at least I'm doing it. Saturday I drove down to Rockford with Baumann to compete in the last RR of the season...Fall Fling #3. First off, I don't know if the midwest knows this, but its OCTOBER!!! Not the middle of the summer. What the hell!?! This weekend was so hot and humid...it was uncomfortable. I mean come on...a man died doing the Chicago marathon on Sunday.

Ok back to the race. Baumann and I got to the race site at about 9:30am with our race going off at 12:35pm. So I just sat around for a bit, tried to do some homework, met with Dan Mendoza (from Purdue), and saw Seth Meyer and Will Nowak (from Northwestern). Dan and I rode a quick lap to see what we were in for and then Will, Seth, Dan and I all went for another lap. This course was extremely boring. It was a 8 mile rectangle course with one or two moderate "hills" on each side. These "moderate hills" were just bumps in the road and weren't hard at all. Everything was big ringed. The only limiting factor in the race was going to be the crosswinds on the 2 longest sides. Oh and we were doing 6 laps...a total of 48 miles.

It was a 1/2/3 race. There were about 15 cat 1/2's and about 45 cat 3's. We started the extremely hot race out kind of slow. There were a couple attacks to test the field, but nothing much at all. The first 2.5 laps were pretty easy. I tried going with an attack at the end of lap 3...it didn't go anywhere. It was brought back pretty quickly. At the end of lap 3 I started getting a little of the cold shivers. Crap...dehydration is setting in. Lap 4 was the hardest. ABD decided to drill it in the crosswind on the 4th side. That broke apart the field to bits and pieces. A lead group of about 10-12 got a good gap. About 4 Cat 3's in front of me decided to give up and I had to chase. There were about 10 of us fighting to get back to the main pack. Me and 2 others did a lot of work to chase done the front group. I may have used a little too much energy to get back, but the 10 of us made it back to the lead group on lap 5. So by this time I was in the lead group of 20 or so, which started out with 60+. I was definitely feeling pretty good about that. However, I ran out of water and the cold shivers were not going away. I got to the end of lap 5 and had to drop out due to dehydration issues. I was kind of angry. So close. But oh well...I know where my fitness is and found out that I have to start drinking a lot more water.

I just wish it was cooler out this weekend. This heat has been killing me....

This week is not really good for bike practice, which kind of sucks. Way too much homework and exams to do this week, but it'll all be done on Friday and then I get a little bit of a break. So next week will hopefully begin some good winter off-season training. February will be here in no time....

Oh and I do have a new team for next year. Looks like I'll be riding for Team Get A Grip Cycling out of Chicago for the 2008 season. So thanks to Jon Tenney for accepting me on to the team. They offered me some good deals and I know most of the guys I'll be riding with. We'll be doing a lot more of the stage races around the country/midwest. Hopefully the program develops me into a Cat 1 rider. I think it will.

Ok...well, its getting late and I still have a little bit of homework to do, so I must go....

Oh, I was planning on taking pictures at the race this weekend...but it just never happened. I'll make sure to take some soon to get this blog un-boring....

Ciao ciao....
Waitey

Just A Quick Update....

Just got back from a hard interval ride out west. Legs felt extremely shitty in the beginning, but came to quickly. Just 2 hrs, because I have to get ready here and get to acting class.

I'm getting better about the passing of my dog. My mom says that if she gets another dog she'll probably get another chihuahua. But that probably won't happen until spring if anything.

I rocked my Nutri Sci 510 exam. Well, hopefully I did. I think I at least came out of there with a B. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I guess my short term memory is pretty good after practicing it for the last 5 years of college. Screw studying for an exam a week before it....night before is fine.

I will probably be racing the RR at the Fall Fling this Saturday. Should be interesting seeing that I have raced a bike in 2 months. Hopefully I can stay up with all those fast guys. Or at least not be as burnt out as they are.

Well, shower time....

Ciao ciao....
Waitey

Remembering....

After last night I decided to drive home to see Einstein one last time. It was too late for him to see me, but it made me feel a little better to see him one last time. So after my first class I drove back to Stevens Point today. I got to hold him and say goodbye. I kissed him on the head and he moaned. I know that it was just air escaping, but it sounded exactly like a moan when he would sleep. I took it as him saying hi and bye. That got to me. I held him for awhile.

I comforted my mom for awhile too. Its hard for her. She got to see him everyday and had a routine with him. Now its just her and the cat in the house. We remembered some memories of funny things he did in his life and talked about how he was a good dog.

We brought him to the vet...we're having him cremated. We'll get the ashes back so he'll be home soon. We kept some of his hair and his collar. We also got some pictures of him printed off. It'll be hard for the next couple days still...I don't have anymore tears in the matter, but I'm numb. I lose focus, and just stare off into space. I'm just not there. It was hard studying tonight. I'll get better...I've been through this with two other dogs. Einstein was just special...he had a certain personality.

Kinda makes you think about death though....

Hopefully I'll have a more upbeat entry soon....

R.I.P Einstein
March 1997 - Oct 1, 2007

Goodbye Einstein....

My mom just called me about half an hour ago. My dog Einstein has passed away....

Three weeks ago the doctors found that he had a heart problem. My mom started getting medication for him. Sounded like he was doing alot better after he was taking the medication. He has had some seizures in the past, but those went away after the medication was given. And then tonight...I thought everything was going fine and then my mother called. She told me that Einstein wasn't breathing anymore and was still. He was having a very hard time breathing. Einstein knew, himself, that it was his time though, because of how he was acting. My mom has been holding him. And now I guess he's at rest. Peace.

Its just hard for me right now. 10 years is a long time to know someone, love them and then just lose them. He was family. I chose him when he was just 12 weeks old. So small. So energetic. So cute. I just can't imagine him not moving anymore. Barking at my friends...biting their ankles and then running away. The Cat and him fighting. I had a chance to go home last weekend and I didn't go. Thats what hurts the most...I had a chance to at least see him one last time. I don't remember the last time I was home and got to hold him or play with him. He was the one to spend the day with me while I was home alone. I would feed him a little piece of my bagel, cuz he was always bugging me to have some. Yes I was attached to him. He was a good dog. Yeah he was a little chihuahua. He always knew when something was wrong and would come over to you and make you feel better.

I wonder if he was asking where I was just to say bye one last time....and if he was I feel so bad for not being there. Just to hold him. I'm happy though that he was held by someone that loved him and he loved back...my mom. Atleast she was around for his last moments and he didn't have to go through all of this pain by himself tomorrow. She was able to comfort him.

Good bye Einstein. I love you.