The Tondryk Clan, Christmas 06

There's a few folks missing but almost everyone is here!

"The Shortest Day" by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!

Engagement Picture

I just announced our engagement in my hometown papers and thought I'd share the picture.

Me and my love!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Yosemite and Napa

We're both exhausted today after a red-eye flight back last night, but we managed to do and see a lot during our Thanksgiving travels in California.

We flew into San Francisco and then drove out to Yosemite National Park. We were hoping that on Thanksgiving day the park would be empty—not only were there a lot of tourists, but also some Japanese tour buses! Nonetheless, we got to see some beautiful mountains and waterfalls. While our Thanksgiving lunch was beef jerky and gas station snacks, we did manage to find a restaurant open that night that was serving a turkey buffet - so we got our turkey dinner after all. The next day we drove back into the park to hike around Yosemite Falls, visit the Ansel Adams Gallery, and hike down into a beautiful grove of sequoias. These were the first sequoias I'd ever seen - totally worth the hike. I only wish we could've spent more time there. Matt and I started making a list of things to do next time we're in Yosemite.

Late Friday afternoon we left the Sierras, drove back across the Central Valley, and into Napa, where we checked into our bed and breakfast. The next morning, after walking around the grounds of the B&B, we met up with our San Jose friends Brittany and Chris, who had driven up to spend the weekend with us! Turns out they are not only really fun, but also great Napa tour guides. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring wineries with them, and Chris shared his new favorite, which I also loved, Lambert Bridge winery. We also visited Sausal, Frog's Leap, Toad Hollow, Silverado, Duckhorn, and Mondavi.

Finishing up our brief Napa stay on Sunday morning, we then drove down to Brittany and Chris's house in San Jose, where we played a couple of games, met their kitties, and enjoyed dinner with them before leaving for the airport.

I feel that I could write much more but I am SOOOOOOOO tired and need to head to bed!


You can see pictures of the weekend here.

Tip Up!

As some of you know I worked with some farmers last spring on a grant for a wind turbine ... and the turbine is now up! Read the story.

You can also read more about the Popps—scroll down to "A Weekend at the Farm."

Walking Through Prairie Grasses

wow what a beautiful weekend! Despite 12-hour days of studying, I managed to take quick breaks both afternoons to go outside and get some sun. Saturday's walk was my favorite—I was a little "illegal" since I was probably trespassing, but I followed a trail through the trees and through prairie grasses just to the south of our house. It felt so good to have the earth under my feet, real earth, not paved. And trails that followed the natural contours of the land, not something that has been graded into place to look pretty. I had different vistas around every bend in the trail, the earth smelled good, and I was watching birds, from cardinals to a pheasant flying into the grass. Some days it sucks to live in the modern world. I tend to forget how much my soil longs for nature and peace. I love the moments that I can find that, but they stir up longings that I don't know how to deal with. I'd love to have my own land with trails through the prairie grasses and beautiful stands of oak trees, land that I can love and explore and watch through the seasons, and I'd love to get away from traffic and noise and find time for contemplation and simply being, but will it ever happen? I haven't found a way to make that happen yet.

Winter Cycling in Alaska?

Found a new blog from a cyclist in Alaska, courtesy of Eclectchickwho had the link posted on her blog. I took a glance at the Alaska blog and before I new it had read several entries. Fun reading!

Pensive in October

Adding a New Last Name

As a child, I always admired women who kept their last names. I loved it when I met a couple who both had hyphenated last names and, later, when the guy took his wife’s last name. Studying women’s studies in college, I wrestled with ideas of self, history, and identity and how they are associated with some of the patriarchal notions of marriage.

It was a no-brainer for me. I was not interested in changing my last name. I was so against the idea that when friends got married and took their husbands’ last names I’d keep them filed in my address book under their maiden name for a long time as my own form of silent protest.

Well, never say never.

I met my fiance 3 years ago. It probably wasn’t love at first sight, but it was love by the third date. There were so many reasons I fell in love, and one of them was because we had similarities in our backgrounds, interests, and values that made us both feel like the other one fit perfectly into our life, like a missing puzzle piece. Cliche, but true. In his previous relationships he felt girlfriends wanted elements of him to change, so from the start he told me that we should be comfortable to be completely ourselves in the relationship. I agreed and, moreover, we took it heart. We spent weekends together whether we were crabby or elated, whether dressed up or in sweats around the house.

When he told me that he would want his wife to take his last name, I shocked myself by not being vehemently opposed. I thought about it, and learned that since I felt so completely myself in the relationship, changing a name wouldn’t make me feel like I was giving up any part of myself. This was the only time I’d ever felt that way about a relationship, and it was a good feeling. Still, I was hesitant, but I had time to figure it out.

Fast forward a little while. We live together, are still completely in love, and share this wonderful complexity of a shared life with individual dreams and goals. For my part, I have embarked on a full-time graduate program, among other things. And now, we are engaged.

The other night I was talking with a friend. She has been struggling with numerous changes in her life, and told me, “Nothing feels the same. There’s nothing stable in my life,” and went on to discuss her changes in jobs, a new relationship, how some people have disappeared out of her life and hobbies and activities have, for various reasons, disappeared as well.

I can sympathize. Recently I’ve moved several times. Starting a graduate program has meant quitting a job and giving up other activities to make time for studying. I’m happy with my decisions, but some days it can be hard to cope with the fact that pursuing my goals means that my life now is nothing like it was two years ago. I’m much busier, and the balancing act with school, part-time jobs, friends, and family is insanely tough. Yet at the end of the day I come home to an amazing guy, and walking through the door takes some of that stress off my shoulders. He is supportive, helps me prioritize, and knows how to make me laugh and relax. I told this to my friend, and there was my epiphany: he is my stable force; I couldn’t do what I do without his presence in my life. So, not only is he the first person who I feel completely myself with, but because of the love we share, because of the things we do together and who we are in each other’s lives, I actually feel more myself. With our relationship, and the way it is centered in a circle of family and friends, grounding me, it’s impossible for me to get so busy or change so much that I forget who I am.

Then and there, I had made my decision. What a change from my college days, when I was worried that marrying someone would threaten my sense of identity. I still believe that some women are too quick to give up parts of themselves when they marry, and that a name change can be a symbol of that tragedy, but for me adding his name is a testament to the way our relationship meshes with who I am—not who I should be or who I wish I was, but with my true self.

Wedding News

Wow. I'm surprised at the number of people who don't hate wedding talk! I've been trying to not always talk wedding stuff, but in fact I've even had friends who are so interested in the wedding planning they've said I should create a weekly newsletter to keep them all informed (well that's taking it a step TOO far!).

But, wedding planning is going great. So far, I've learned that catering is about double the price I would've expected - HOW can food be so expensive? I mean, we could take everyone out to a restaurant and have it be cheaper. We met with one caterer who was very nice and extremely flexible with us, so that's a good start. I've also started to look at cake designs, wedding dresses, basically any internet research I can think of (it's a nice break from studying, really).

For those who haven't heard it, we are getting married at Gale Woods Farm. I'm so ecstatic about the site I can't wait!

The studio Matt has been working for has 3 lead photographers, all of whom have said they'd love to photograph our wedding! I don't know how we'll ever choose between them! Especially when Matt's worked with, and likes, all of them.

Probably the easiest decision so far was having the Cloquet Greenhouse do our flowers. My mom has worked there for several years, and I feel like I can get something I know I'll like, PLUS they've offered to drive the two and a half hours to deliver them for me! That's amazing. One of our flowers will be Leonardis roses. Matt always gave me roses while we were dating, and this variety is perfect for a fall wedding.

We went to a party last night, a surprise 30th birthday party, for our friend Wendi. It was a lot of fun, people I haven't seen in awhile, great food, drinks. I don't know Wendi's friends super well (I know her because her husband Mike is Matt's best friend), but somehow word had spread about our engagement. But I certainly wasn't alone! Two other girls at the party just got engaged too!! One of them, Katie, also got engaged 2 weeks ago. Is there something in the air??

Engaged!

So many people have asked for more details that I thought I’d write up something for the blog …

Saturday, October 7, 2006 will always be one of the best days of my life.

Matt and I went up north for the weekend, as we typically do in the fall to enjoy the colors (and for me, to de-stress from classes). We stayed at my parents’ Friday night and woke up early Saturday morning to try to beat the crowds at Gooseberry Falls (the park had seen 6700 people the week before!) to take advantage of the morning light (usually works better for Matt’s photos).

The park’s magic started to work on me right away, relaxing me and removing me from the fog of the week’s stress. The water was so low we could hike right out into the middle of the river! There’s an island of rock in the middle of the river, and we walked on the other side of that island, exploring as we went, hopping over rivulets of water and climbing up and down rocks. Matt started taking photos, of course. After about 10 minutes I went a little ways away and sat to watch the water.

Soon I had this feeling that I should look for Matt. I looked over my shoulder and saw him walking towards me (but still about 20-30 yards away), and he waved his finger for me to follow him back to our spot near the rocks. I followed, and he told me to stand by the rocks so he could take my picture … not unusual – Matt’s always trying different shots and I am used to being an experimental subject.

Photo, photo, photo. He kept adjusting things on his camera, sometimes he jumped into the photo with me so we had photos of the two of us, and I was thinking, “this is so great that we’re getting photos with both of us – I feel like the center of attention!” While I started to get a little antsy with how long it was taking, I was also very aware of the beauty of the day…the fresh air smelling of pine needles and water, the perfect temperatures, the cedar needles I kept playing with, the sound of water. Because I was filling in time, and because I was relaxed, I was being very goofy, almost childish, teasing Matt, making jokes, etc.

After one of the photos of the two of us, I thought, “we could use a photo for our engagement photo.” And as my mind went there, I thought, “wow, this would be a great spot for a proposal.” But then instantly, “Jenn, you’re reading too much into the moment. Just enjoy the day!” So I let it go out of my mind – but still was so happy I just had to tell Matt, “this is the most perfect fall day ever.”

The photo shoot continued, and there were delays. Matt wanted to wait for light to move off my face. He contemplated using black and white film. He was looking for a filter. What I didn’t know is that on the rocks behind me there were people, and all the delays were because he was waiting for the people to move!

Finally he got the camera ready again and he hit the button and came up to join me, saying, “here’s the experimental shot,” and I heard the camera start clicking away. He had set it up to take a picture every second, so that everything was captured on film! And he came up to me and said, “And I’m going to ask you …will you marry me?” And out came a box with a ring!

It was unreal. I went into a dream sort of world – is this real? Is this really my engagement? I’m not dreaming this?!? I said, “oh my god!” and then finally managed to get out, “yes, I’ll marry you!” and kissed Matt. I was in such a state of shock. I seemed to be confused about which hand to give him, even, so he said “left hand” and I gave him my hand to put the ring on. I kissed him again and just didn’t know what else to say – so much for thinking of wonderful romantic things to tell him! I was speechless.

The ring is beautiful. Simple, elegant, with a gorgeous sparkling diamond (white gold, round diamond, for those of you who have been asking!).

We had an amazing rest of the day together. We hiked around Gooseberry, went down to the lake shore, and I kept trying to wipe my (dopey) smile off my face ;). We then went to a great restaurant, the Rustic Inn, and spent the remainder of the afternoon driving along Skyline Parkway in Duluth and through Jay Cooke State Park before returning to my parents.’

It has been great to think about marrying Matt, about spending the rest of our lives together, about planning a wedding, and to tell everyone the good news. We will get married September 21, 2007.

Quick Update

I've been so wrapped up in school that I haven't had a lot of time to write, but a few things have happened that I know people have been asking me about, so I thought I'd write a quick update.

One piece of exciting news is that a project I worked on last spring for a class has received a student planning award from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Planning Association! We will be receiving awards at a conference later this month.

Second, a lot of people have asked me if I have heard anything about the grant I helped write for some farmer friends of mine who want to install a wind turbine. I talked to them last week, and they got the grant! A new wind turbine will be installed on their century farm overlooking the Mississippi River. You can read more about the Popps (scroll down to "A Weekend at the Farm").

Life Up North

Before the crazy semester starts, I'm spending a few days "Up Nort" with the fam. Right now my parents are embarking on an adventure involving moving some deck stairs - needless to say I don't need to be involved in that adventure! ;) It's strange how time stops up here. I lose track of what day it is, what time it is. I couldn't tell you what time I've gone to bed or woken up. There's a rhythm to the days that are slow and easy, productive without being stressful. We've sat down to a family dinner every night, with all of us cooking or contributing in some way. My jobs for the weekend have ranged from helping Mom pick paint colors for the living room to "Molly-sitting" Adam's dog on Friday - it's a rough life! Yesterday involved some fun exploring. Mom, Dad, and I went to Swamp Sisters for breakfast - several sisters run a shop and cafe way out literally in the middle of the swamp! It was tasty, unique, and a fun experience. Then we dropped Dad off at home, and Mom and I went to the greenhouse to say hi to her coworkers and look at flowers, then we went and tried a new Italian cafe in Duluth. We sat on the deck at Va Bene with our mochas and dessert and watched the lake - how I miss the sound of those waves! Va Bene is owned by some of my aunt's friends so it was really cool to finally get there. We then went to a little Italian import store next door and were amazed at all the handpainted Italian dishes - the store has been there six years and we never knew it existed.

This afternoon I'll meet up with my friend Terry in Duluth before coming back to the parents' for a fire and s'mores. Tomorrow I get to meet my cousins for coffee before heading back to the cities. I have a feeling that my very full day of classes on Tuesday is going to hit me very hard.

New job!

And Jenn lands an assistantship! I just got offered a really cool 25% time assistantship working with Carissa Schively (my advisor at Humphrey) on a transportation research project. It'll be interesting, look great on the resume, be an extra source of income AND help pay for my tuition!

A Week to Dream Of

It was my birthday yesterday - and what an amazing few days it has been!

It all started Wednesday night when my good friend Erika and I went to Bacio in Minnetonka for a birthday dinner. She and I have birthdays really close together so we picked a date in between to meet. It was a fabulous dinner with wine, dessert, and 4 hours of conversation!

On Friday another good friend, Kirsten, arrived in town from Kentucky. She was coming to celebrate my birthday and go to all the good art fairs in town! We drove in to Uptown and walked around the Uptown Art Fair, where I finally bought pottery from my favorite potter, Karin Kraemer. We wandered a couple more blocks to enjoy dinner and dessert at Cafe Barbette. What a fabulous dinner! We returned to my house, opened a bottle of wine, and retreated out to the deck where we talked the night away as darkness enfolded us.

On Saturday we enjoyed a brunch at my friend Antonia's house, then explored the Loring Park Art Fair with Erika, stopping afterwards at La Crema in Uptown for Sonny's sorbet on the very-Mediterranean patio. Kirsten and I went to Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown ostensibly to see their bathrooms (we have a thing for touring fancy/cool bathrooms). We figured, "well we'd better order something," and before we knew it were ordering wine AND appetizers AND pasta! Another fabulous dinner, capped off by an evening at home eating ice cream and chatting with Matt.

On Sunday I had planned a brunch at our house. I love having my favorite people around! Guests included my parents, bro, pup Molly, Tom Seltz from D.C., Kirsten, Antonia, Erika & boy Aaron, and of course Matt and I. While we were preparing breakfast, Kirsten gave me a lovely pair of earrings (even though we had agreed no gifts - grrr!) and Matt presented me with a lovely rose and a spa gift certificate to treat myself! My parents arrived, surprising me with Adam and Molly, and the fun just got crazier! We had a splendid breakfast ... Antonia also brought flowers for the table ... Matt and Kirsten helped cook/set up/clean ...and it was capped off with my mom's homemade pies - nothing better! After a few hours the guests slowly had to leave, for school, airports, and drives home. Kirsten and I drifted upstairs to nap. In the evening we made a nice homemade dinner, ate more blueberry pie, and went for a nice nighttime walk.

I couldn't have asked for a better week. I feel rejuvenated and enlivened by suck fun activities and such sensual stimulation with the visuals of the art fairs, all the good amazing food, and loved ones all around. I'm truly blessed indeed.

Raging Phonak freak turns groupe maillot jaune upside down

I liked this title so much I stole it directly from cyclingnews ...

Yesterday was my most disappointing day of watching the Tour ever ... seeing Landis blow just six miles from the stage finish and losing the yellow jersey by eight minutes made me want to scream! It was just painful to watch the recap on OLN.

... and then there was today - I read the live coverage step by step completely amazed at Landis's ride. How could he do that? Ride such a mountain stage with such ferocity? I was glued to the computer screen all morning, chatting the whole time with Matt as we cheered him on ...

My man Landis ROCKS!

The story is here.

News of the Week

Vacation: Matt and I booked a vacation to CA! we're flying into San Francisco over Thanksgiving weekend and will be visiting Yosemite National Park and wine country. I can't wait! We've been talking about it for a month or so but plane tickets were so expensive - $450 - and then this week I found tickets for $313. It's funny - in college, just a few years ago, I flew several times to visit friends and my plane tickets were usually around $150 - $175. And now I think $313 is a steal!

President?: My cycling team, Velo Bella, just put into place a new Board (of Directors). Teammate Sarah Stratton had been doing too much of the work on her own, so we wanted to put into place some formal leadership that would spread the duties. After encouragement by a few teammates, I agreed to be President. Seems so crazy to end up in a leadership role! (especially when I'm not on my bike a fraction of what most of my teammates are!). But, those who are on their bikes are better off in positions like working on rider development, coordinating racers, working with the national team, etc. I'm very committed to this team and am looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for us.

Trip to the zoo: Matt and I went to the zoo today! Of course we have some great pictures.

St Louis Park starts a wave: more cars, less bikes

I think all of us would agree that there are many cyclists who stupidly do not obey traffic rules and create a bad name for all of us ... while I don't condone that, I think it's VERY troublesome (from a cyclist's perspective AND a planning perspective) to watch this issue snowball into creating some very negative policies. Read below the two posts to my cycling team's message board and I think it'll explain everything ...

-----------------------------------------

"Greenway crossings in SLP

Just for clarification, motorists are not "required" to stop for ANY
bike trail crossings in SLP. This has not changed, but the city of
SLP is trying to get the word out after that cyclist was killed. The
night that happened, I was coming home at rush hour around 5 pm (in my
car) and I came across this accident. Just watching all of the
emergency vehicles arriving freaked me out. I was actually on my way
home to meet Angie for a ride. We went out for a ride, and as we came
back we crossed the road where that cyclist was hit. The "crime
scene" had spray-painted areas, and the stains on the road were very
disturbing. As it turned out, it was actually the cyclist who hit the
side of a car. Here's the story:

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2006/04/27/news/sl27bicycle.txt

The cyclist later died. That particular road crossing (Beltline Blvd)
is a bad one, and from a driver's standpoint, it's often difficult to
see cyclists just because the intersection is so busy--four lanes of
traffic, some cars stopping-some not stopping, bumpy railroad tracks,
cyclists, roller-bladers, etc. I've had a few close calls myself
(behind the wheel and on my bike). Just a few weekends ago we were
driving down that road early in the morning on a Saturday and a
cyclist came flying through the intersection (someone in the car
recognized him as a local racer)...he clearly saw us, but made
absolutely no attempt to even slow down to see if we were going to
stop. It's hard to see cyclists coming from the direction of Uptown
because there are a lot of trees there, so he's just lucky we had time
to stop.

Some of you might know Mike Eberlein...he used to race a lot around
here, and now he's an SLP cop...check out his post on the MCF board:

http://mcf.net/tempforum/viewtopic.php?t=98

Bottom line...wear your helmet and assume the cars are NOT going to
stop at these crossings."

---------------------------------------------------------------

"So I guess you could say Chuck got tired of me talking about the
trail crossing issue in SLP and decided to do what he could to get me
to quiet down. He went to the bicycle advocate/attorney that works
at QBP and let him know about the situation. Apparently he hadn't
heard of the problem and was more than interested to get to the
bottom of everything. Apparently there is a state law that says
that cars are required to stop for trail users on mixed use trails in
MN. I don't know the exact wording, I do know that what SLP has done
goes against that law and greatly concerned the bike advocate guy
because of the precedent being set.

Long story short this has rippled into other communities. And not in
a positive way. Motorists who heard that SLP had removed the
requirement for them to stop for cyclists have been trying to get
their cities to adopt similar changes.

I work in Excelsior. A small little town that could be compared to
"Mayberry". In the past week they have blackened out all the white
paint that signified trail crossings and removed all the pedestrian
crossings and road markings (except at stop signs). I used to walk
up to the Post Office once a day and relied on one of these crossings
to safely get across the street. It is now gone and I assume the
city would rather I drive the block and a half rather than walk.
There is no longer a safe place for me to cross between my work and
the Post Office. But back to my original point.....

Apparently the Bike Advocate guy had a meeting yesterday with all the
top officials in the state and some of the SLP council members to try
to come up with some positive bike friendly solutions. From what
Chuck said all the important people from the state regarding mixed
use trails were in this meeting. People who really care about making
the world better for people on bikes and safer for everyone."

More thoughts on patriotism

On July 4th I was seated on a hilltop in Chaska watching the fireworks. They were fabulous - a bright half an hour display over Lake Jonathan. The neatest part though was that on top of this hill you could see other fireworks displays going off for miles around ... Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Shakopee, Excelsior, and many others. On top of this hill, surrounded by our community, I felt a kinship with all the other communities, and felt like we were all networked, all gathered celebrating the night. It felt pretty amazing. (Why can't we all gather on the summer solstice though? That would feel more meaningful to me!).



Last weekend Matt and I attended the air show in Duluth. It was SO cool. Listening to an F16 takeoff just yards in front of you is just amazing - and watching planes fly with such precision (whether a WWII plan, aerobatic plane, or modern jet) is a testament to human ability. And my brother dad and Roger came too! I was thrilled to share this with them too - especially after growing up with a brother who ran outside every time he heard a plane overhead to see what kind it was!

On the way in we passed all the protestors. Signs about planes being weapons, not entertainment ... the amount of fuel being used for the day's display ... deaths in Iraq.

I agree with them. It's good for us to realize the amount of pollution caused by buying our day's ticket. I still hate the Iraq war (the one I too protested). I know the Iraq war has nothing to do with the "war on terrorism" as some of the day's rhetoric pronounced.

On the other hand, I think that in these types of demonstrations the public gets to see what the government's armed forces are like. What if we were never allowed access to these? I like the transparency (or at least what transparency we can get).

And I also know that Iraq is the fault of politicians not the military. How many other decisions that make me feel absolutely anti-patriotic are also that way?

There was an element to the day that made me feel emotional and grateful for soldiers of the past: The legacy flight ...



Two planes, one old, one new. Honoring the fighting of the past that led us to where we are today. The wisdom of the old passing on. Comaraderie. Brotherhood. As they flew by us my dad said, "I know what that old Corsair is saying to that fighter - 'Sonny, I'LL show you how to FIGHT.'" I cried.

I guess the truth of it is that patriotism, history, politics, war, national identity, are just too complex.

But hey - to a lighter subject, Matt's pictures are very cool!

The 4th of July and Patriotism

Happy 4th!

I have so many happy 4th of July memories. As a kid, picnics and days by the pool. Carnivals, mini doughnuts, weekends in a hammock by a lake. What's not to love about a day in the middle of a beautiful Minnesota summer?

My favorite thing about the 4th is the fireworks. I love crowds gathering to watch them - it's a real community affair and brings together old, young, people from different backgrounds. And then the fireworks themselves - it's wondrous to watch the designs of lights dance in the air and to hear them crackle. I ooooh and aahhh like a kid! I'm a purist too. I don't want anything synthesized to music or choreographed or overly done! I've watched fireworks in Cloquet, Duluth, Minneapolis, Longville, Excelsior, Chanhassen, even San Francisco.

It's a tradition I love on a very "patriotic" holiday. But it also strikes me how similar fireworks are to the "patriotism" I hate, the patriotism that sings of the "rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air" of our national anthem.

I try to explain - to myself and to other people - why I roll my eyes at flag waving and detest yellow ribbons on cars. There are numerous reasons. Yellow ribbon stickers in particular are a form of badge-wearing, a way for folks to pat themselves on the back for paying a $1 ... and in many cases they don't even know where the money goes. Supporting soldier's families? I have a friend who runs the Family Readiness Group of her husband's unit, and I'd rather send her money to go directly to families she knows - and not need to have a sticker to advertise it. Patriotism is THE thing to do, a sworn allegiance usually unaccompanied by the civics, citizenship, and deep questioning and thinking that I associate with a democracy.

As to our anthem - why must it herald battles? And why is it so easy to not think of the horrors of a battlefield but instead to imagine it as being similar to the "red glare" of a celebration's fireworks?

People wear patriotism when it's convenient and easy, when all it takes is a flag or a yellow ribbon sticker. Instead, I wish everyone could define for themselves what they love about a country and what makes them feel patriotic. I know many people could but don't.

What do I love about my country? What is it that makes me deeply patriotic?

While many would argue that we're not really "free," the fact that we're able to choose from so many different paths, choose where we want to live and with who and work towards success, is indeed deeply American. My patriotism here leads me to recognize this and value this, and in turn to try to inspire people to make choices that they really care about and lead the lives they really want to live.

Nearly everyone knows how much I love our earth, and in America we have scenery and wildness almost unparalleled. Every time I stand someplace amazing, under Delicate Arch in Utah or at the Grand Canyon or overlooking Lake Superior, I thank God for creating the place and all the people, past and present, who worked to protect these awe-inspiring places.

My anthem of choice would be America the Beautiful. That's one I could sing with gusto every time I heard it.

And in place of the yellow ribbon sticker? I have a nongame wildlife license plate, carefully thought out, and make a donation every year to the fund.

There are many more examples of what makes me patriotic and of the "patriotic" things I see that drive me crazy. But rather than write a novel, I'd instead like to hear from my friends and family - what makes you feel patriotic? Any other thoughts? Read any articles or anything else about patriotism that I can digest and ponder?

Yet Another Bike Incident

Yeah, I'm rolling my eyes about this one too.

On Sunday Matt and I rode the Cannon Valley Trail. It was such a beautiful day and a great route! the trail follows an old railroad grade, follows the Cannon River, has some nice vistas, views of fields and hills and river bluffs. It was perfect weather (despite rain clouds constantly threatening us on the horizon we stayed dry until we reached the parking lot on the way back) and nice for the two of us to be enjoying our bikes together.

There was a hill on the way back and I tried shifting and slipped my chain (lesson learned!). All of a sudden I was pedaling but going nowhere and the hill was to steep for me to recover and clip out of my pedals. Over I went, bruising my leg and injuring my hand. Oi vey.

Nature Valley Grand Prix

The Nature Valley Grand Prix, part of the Great River Energy Bike Festival, is the biggest race in Minnesota. Five stages, held over five days, including a time trial, two road races, and two criteriums ... it is on the National Racing Calendar (NRC) for USA Cycling—proof positive that it's not just any old local race.

The race draws top men and women racers. Being only a "B" level official from Minnesota, I don't get to see very many of these races, so once again this year I served as assistant judge on the women's crew. Here's my notes from how the race went.

Tuesday 6/13: spent the day rushing around trying to gather stuff up for me and Matt. Brought him to work in the morning so I could simply pick him up after I left work. Picked him up at 5:15, drove to the airport to get a car that would be his rental for the week, then drove to the race hotel, where we were lucky to have a room for the week. Sure, it's a local race, but from past experience we know it's extremely difficult not to share a home base with the other officials, and our house is SO out of the way.

Spent Tuesday night at the Yoplait Nouriche Women's Cycling Summit - supposedly this big meeting about women's cycling ... how to support it, promote it, etc. Don't get me wrong, I think it's way cool that the race promoter and others are encouraging women's cycling—if I didn't like it, would I have been there? That said, there's a couple things I ntoiced at the meeting. First, it was surprisingly poorly attended. I don't remember exact numbers, but there was over 120 women racers in town for the race, plus their team managers, support crew, etc. There are also tons of local women racers and all their supporters. Plus they had all these people speaking about really interesting topics. Then why when I walked in the room did I only find like 30–40 people? I was shocked.

Then again, maybe my second thought contributes to the reason why there were so few people. I was listening to all these thoughts fly around the room, good observations and ideas about women's racing, and knowledge from real women racers (some of them top women's racers) ... and I thought, "what's really going to happen with this information? Is this really going to change anything?" Yes, someone was taking notes, and I really believe that the NVGP promtoer has done a ton to make the women's part of this race one of the top women's races in the country—and for that I'm thankful. It's just hard to have hope that things will change, especially when so few people attended and it takes a bigger effort than that.

After the meeting, I meet up with some of the other officials. Dot Abbot, new International Commissaire, is my chief judge. A whole bunch of us go to the room of Dave (aka Big Guy) and Judy Miller - they have this AWESOME room, a suite with a big oval wooden table, an entire kitchen, living room with 2 couches. In the bedroom there's a whirlpool and a sauna!! Needless to say, all the officials decide this will be the headquarters for the week—not just because of the nice digs but because we all know and love Big Guy and Judy, and it just feels like home.

Wednesday 6/14: The race is really here! Frantically, I realize that I haven't studied the technical guide—"The Race Bible"— the way I should have. NOT exactly good planning Jenn to wait until the last minute! Luckily the race doesn't start until around 5:00 this evening. So I read up on all the specifics of the evening's time trial. Thankfully I've done a zillion time trials, and I worked this race last year, so I'm not too nervous.

Wednesday morning there are race meetings. A team manager or representative from each team is required to attend the meeting to hear from the promoter, technical director, and officials about what to expect for the race. It's also helpful for the officials because it gets us all on the same page, and we know exactly what the racers have been told (so they can't come up to us at some point during the race and try to convince us they weren't told of something!).

Matt is the official photographer for the race, so he's studying both Race Bibles (men's and women's) and trying to figure out good photography vantage points. He learns that for the road races he's able to ride on a motorcycle with the fields—super cool! So we have to make a run to a bike shop (this time for the OTHER kind of bikes) to buy him a helmet and jacket he can wear on the bike. I'm super nervous but try to be the cool supportive girlfriend. Matt is shown here on the back of a motorcycle taking photos.

Race time draws closer, and the chief ref, Marilyn, notifies us that she'd like all of us to be there two hours before the race start. We carpool down to the race site, a road right along the Mississippi in downtown St Paul. I start to feel like my job for this stage of the race is the in-between girl. I've done it before so I can tell everyone what we've done in the past. I also am very familiar with the guys running Split Second Services, the timing and results company the race has hired, so I feel like I'm doing a lot of talking that's bridging the two—arranging to have the start clock up in time, etc.

Now here's some inner details of officiating at races. Technically, the women's crew and men's crew are separate. There are two chief refs, decisions are made independent of each other, etc. But in reality, depending on who is on each crew, a lot of blending goes on. With these races, it was especially so with the judging crew (the two chief judges and two assistant judges). Time and again we made the best decisions for the race, not based on technical boundaries but on skill and need, and this often meant the judging crew working together in different configurations.

for the time trial, this meant that I stayed on stage timing the women racers, then the men, then the amateurs (the time trial was opened up to local racers too). Gina and I counted and this was like 400 racers! I think numbers were swimming in my head by the end of the race. From a judging standpoint everything went smoothly, and we were all able to get a good night's sleep.

Thursday 6/15: A road race day, the Cannon Falls Road Race. Strangely though this is a road race that starts in the EVENING? It's also surprisingly short—I want to say around 50 miles. So we have much of the morning free. Matt and I get breakfast, officials gather in the Dave and Judy suite to chat about the race and protests that we've received (yes there's always protests), I take a nap.

We drive down to Cannon Falls and I ride with Rey, an official from North Carolina that I hadn't met before. Once in town we all grab some quick food. One of the big fiascos for the judges is that we have no car. Without a car, we can't go out with the race to judge sprints and QOH (Queen of the Hills). There has been tons of discussion over the last couple days about what to do about this ... have the motos (motor refs) do it? But are they good judges? Finally it's decided that the most crucial to have judges at is the sprint point, and thankfully there's only one sprint point in this stage. A complicated plan is hatched—Gina and I, the two assistant judges, ride out with the media car of the men's race, pull ahead of the race to get out in time to be at the sprint point, judge the men's sprint, wait in the middle of a Minnesota field for 45 minutes for the women's race to come by, judge their sprint, then are picked up by Comm 3 (Commissaire 3's car—after the field passes) of the women's crew and ride the rest of the race with the women's crew.

It's always fun to be on the road with the races. It does kinda suck though to have to wait on a Minnesota road in the middle of nowhere for so long. And because we're riding back with the race and don't have our own cars, we can't be on stage for the finishing circuits and completely miss the end of our races. Dot is extremely good at what she does, but I also realize she's more independent, more used to doing things on her own.

When I get to the stage, I learn that our top local female racer, Teresa Moriarty, has taken 3rd place in this stage! This is amazing not only because the caliber of the racers but also because she's done it without a full team and with no manager/car in the race caravan. Yet those of us who know her know that she's got what it takes. I hug her and tell her I'm proud of her, and in her humble way she says, "oh it really wasn't me. Laura Van Gilder was really the one pulling us today. She did all the work for us." In the day's results, I watch for Teresa and for any Velo Bella riders (there are some local teammates and some from other parts of the country). I also start to read Bella Kele's blog for a racer perspective.

Friday 6/16: The race feels like it's heating up. While today's stage, the Minneapolis crit, isn't until tonight, there's an energy in the air among racers and officials. The Minneapolis crit is fast, furious, and can draw huge crowds. Split second decisions make or break the race. I hate to leave the hotel in the morning, but I have a physical therapy appointment I just can't miss.

This afternoon we're invited to a barbecue at the home of a local official. It's something he's hosted every year for this race. Yet piece by piece some of the social dynamic seems to fall apart a little. At first everyone's going to the barbecue, then people can't decide, there's confusion, and in the end only like 5 of us go. It's an awkward afternoon, and afterwards a couple of us comment on h ow we can see the cliques between officials, and among some an air of superiority. We also start to hear stories, and sometimes they're full of inside jokes, sometimes us locals aren't meant to be involved, sometimes the stories are criticizing other officials, and I start to wonder if I really want to keep going and be a part of this?? But no time for such questions—we've got a race to work.

We arrive downtown amid traffic and crowds. Since a very wonderful sponsor provided officials with cars, we have been asked to place the cars in the expo area. By this point we're all fed up with the car situation (something that happens EVERY year so it's nothing new for me). We're asked to wash the cars, park them in certain areas, we get keys taken away to make sure the cars are parked correctly and then can't find them again, etc. etc. Strangely I've never heard of this happening in any other race. But somehow we navigate our way to the expo, head off in search of the ever-important coffee, gather at the headquarters RV, and Dot and I head out to begin the women's sign-in. We set out our table and the sign-in sheets, and it begins to rain (another thing that happens every year). So we pull the table into the doorway of the restaurant behind us, only it isn't enough. Rain starts to come in droves, and our sheets are still getting wet! soon we're mopping them off with napkins, then people start to pile in to take shelter. Everything's a mess, I realize my bag with equipment and forms and everything is on the stage, the rain comes harder and harder. Soon I yell, "hail!" and sure enough, it starts pea-sized, then grows to quarter-sized and then golf-ball-sized. What the heck? Where did this come from?? the hail gathers in piles along the curbs, the streets become rivers. Then someone yells, "look at the manhole covers!" Sure enough, all the water can't stay down, and the pressure causes the covers to shoot up in spurts. There are geysers all along 10th street.

I have no idea how long it lasts, but from there on out the race feels all fubar. We delay the races, shorten them, try to get things on track. Yet by the time the race starts, we're still cleaning water off the stage and Split Second Services has barely got their cameras set up, let alone have time to test them. Lesson learned: not being prepared will come to haunt you!

The women's race starts, and the rain holds off. Sprints are well run, we score as much as possible, and riders are starting to get pulled. somewhere in the middle Dot asks Split Second to film a bunch of riders, and I hear running around, someone yelling "lights!" and a bunch of lights flood the finish line area. The generators are barely running. Yet the racers keep going by, soon the race is finished, and while things feel like a big mess, Dot takes my score sheets and heads to the RV to start working on results. She asks me to stay on stage and help the men's crew.

The men's race starts. At first it's fine, but a couple minutes into it the skies open again. Rain pours onto the streets, yet everyone knows we'll keep racing in the rain. I can see Carla, the chief ref of the men's crew, in rain gear on the finish line, and we both jump at the same time when lightning strikes. I think, "she'll cancel the race," but she yells that she wants to see one more sprint before she cancels the race. Then there's thunder, more lightning, harder rain, and I'm shaking from being under a metal awning in the lightning and can barely write numbers. Plus I can't see the racers, my paper is soaked. With that second bolt of lightning Carla yells, "one to go! one to go!" which means we're cancelling the race. We signal one lap to go to the racers, they sprint their last lap, and we all run for cover.

On my way to the RV, I have to cross a street with ankle deep water. All of the officials are crammed into the RV with water dripping everywhere. The men's crew all of a sudden has it good!—with the race cancelled so early, Carla declared it would not count towards GC (General Classification, the compiled times of all the stages) so the men's judges don't have to work on results. Dot and I, though, the women's crew, have a lot of work to do. We have heard that with the lack of time for testing, and the lights coming on on the finish line, our camera crew has not been able to get good film of any of our racers, which spells TROUBLE—we'll have to rely on our own notes. (We later found out that we were able to get pretty good numbers off the two cameras - amazing given the conditions!).

And then I get sideswiped. Sitting in the RV surrounded by officials of higher rank than me, the chief judge and chief ref choose THIS moment (also when I'm soaked and chilled and still scared) to criticize my score sheets. I can't help it, I'm instantly on the defensive. I've been given lots of tips from other officials along the way, but there's something about this timing and this method of delivery that doesn't strike me right. And in the corner of my eye I see that Matt has entered the RV to gather his camera equipment and I think, "oh great he gets to witness this too." There are two things that stand out: 1. Dot points out that I forgot to write times on my score sheets and finish order. Crap, she's right! So I instantly start to berate myself for forgetting this very crucial part! I did this last year, I should have known better, what was I thinking, I even started the stopwatch! All I can think of for reasons is that it had been a year and I had gotten out of the habit. But I'm still beating myself up about it. 2. We start to discuss the "universally accepted way" of scoring packs of riders, denoting laps, gaps in riders, etc. And all I can think is, "What? universally accepted? Gee I know 3 great national judges and all do it differently and have told me to adapt my own style." But of course I can't shut up, I have to argue this point. Not a good thing to do. This world depends on social alliances and knowing when to just listen (I kept thinking it was just like "Survivor").

We decide to finish results at the hotel, after we all can get into dry clothes and shoes. Matt is in our hotel room when I get there and offers me words of advice based on hearing my conversation. I pledge to spend the remainder of the race being nicer and learning what I can—because I DO think they're good officials. And then we work on results until 1:30 am (I get to bed at 3:00 am). The good thing is, though, that in the midst of all the results confusion, I FINALLY feel useful and that I'm contributing to the race work.

Saturday 6/17: Unlike the last 3 stages, today's race in Mankato starts earlier in the day. Not enough sleep, long drive, I am so ... sleepy ... but I know this is what bike racing is all about, and I feel much more in the groove today for some odd reason.

At the start line, I take on the role of car coordinator for the judges. It was a mess and confusing, but again I like being busy and having a job to do. I spend about an hour running around talking to various people ... the chief judges, chief refs, promoter, volunteers, first we all agree on one thing and then another, but in the end I'm able to secure 2 cars with drivers, one for each judging crew. We will be out on the road judging sprints, following our own race the whole way. I like it better this way. I like feeling more in control and being able to judge all the sprints for the race. Plus, I like getting to work side by side with Dot. There are some hairy moments in the caravan, one instance where I think we're going to hit a racer as she darts in front of our car. But we're able to judge everything, and then we hurry back to Mankato to be in town for the finishing circuits.

Dot heads to the stage; she and Judy, chief judge for the men's race, will be doing the scoring on stage. I again wish I could have that experience, but the nice thing about being out on the course is that I get to see for the first time the big hill in Mankato that I've heard all the racers talking about. Bill and I are assigned to judge the QOH, and so we score and judge from the top of the hill.

Once again I miss the finish of the race. It just takes us too long to walk down the hill. But the walk down is pleasant, it's nice to chat with Bill, and I'm feeling chatty and open to my other officials as I step into the RV. Once inside, the officials are talking about things they witnessed, asking each other questions, so I bring up some fines Dot and I want to issue, and am shocked when I get debate. not debate in a let's-talk-about-this, noodling, fun supportive debate kind of way I'm used to, but you're-completely-wrong-what-are-you thinking way, with two guys raising their voices and gesturing madly. I feel like I've just been put in my place—you obviously don't know what you're doing do you? I try to explain but it's no good. so I shut up. Ten minutes later, the chief judge walks in, tells the chief ref the fines she wants to issue, and strangely gets no dissension from these two that minutes earlier were berating me. If they really disagreed, they should have mentioned it to her too. And secondly, I wonder if me being a lower rank had anything to do with it? It's definitely an interesting world I find myself drawn to.

Sunday 6/18: The last day of the race ALREADY? I don't feel ready for it to be over with. This is one of my favorite stages: Stillwater, with the infamous Chilkoot Hill. This morning we're changing things up yet again! Gina and I are assigned to run the amateur crits. Which works great for me—I figure it'll be a nice warm-up for the day! It's a gorgeous sunny day, I'm still cheering silently for Teresa who sits at 13th in the GC, I get to watch an awesome race. The amateur race goes off without a hitch, then I walk to the sprint point to judge the sprint, back to the finish line to score the rest of the women's race. I remember to write times for everything, I'm much more conscious of my scoring, I feel an integral part of the action and am in the groove. Why couldn't that have happened 4 days ago? ;). There's one crash today. I heard it happen right over my shoulder, but since I was scoring I had to keep my eyes in front of me and let another official attend to the crash. (I heard a rumor of a broken collarbone.)

The race is over at a decent time, and results are done at a decent time. Yet somehow the days always get long! I stayed in Stillwater with Matt for him to work on processing photos at a media spot. Luckily for me the media spot was the Elephant Walk Bed and Breakfast, the same place we went to last year and loved. The owners are gracious and wonderful and their place is beautiful.

When we were done there (7:30 or so) we heard that some officials were gathering at The Downtowner Cafe in St Paul. So on to St Paul for a late night, with a wonderful good-bye dinner. We were exhausted, and still had to drive home and get stuff ready for the next day, but it felt so good to have an endcap to the race.

And by the end of the race I found out that Teresa had finished at 12th in the GC—way to go!

"Sign Nazi"

I am the sign nazi. I drive around town, take illegal signs, make phone calls, argue with people over the phone, and write nasty letters. The building inspectors whisper at me as they walk by, "there goes the sign nazi." Needless to say, the least favorite part of my job.

I am happier doing things that relate to development and redevelopment. I answer a lot of questions about different areas - so I've learned about what property owners can do in the historic district and how to answer questions about future uses of an area. It's awesome to look at all the maps! Carver County has a great GIS system online, which shows properties, aerial photos, etc.

A couple other projects include researching information for an affordable housing survey for the Met Council, a staff report about a variance for fence height, etc.

I'm fairly happy working here. The staff work hard - it's not as social as my last office. I LOVE the city of Chaska. The small town feel, historic areas, all the new stuff going on - it's great, and I could end up feeling pretty passionate about this city. I'm not sure how I"d feel about working for OTHER cities down the road. I imagine dealing with ordinances and local politics could be difficult in certain situations.

I really do miss my LAC friends though. I used to feel like going to work was equivalent to being in my social circle - and now I"m feeling very out of that social circle.

Stacey's wedding is Saturday so at least I'll get to see a few folks ;)

A Weekend at the Farm

After a flat tire on my bike on Thursday and putting my back out last week, I was so ready for something this weekend to cheer me up ...

I went to Royalton, MN to visit my friends, Jane, Doug, Emily, and Nicholas Popp. I met them this spring when I helped them write a grant to put a wind turbine on their property. They're the most wonderful people, very down to earth, fun, funny, and so easy to be around. Plus they, like I, drive a Jetta - it's gotta be a good thing then! Emily (5) and Nicholas (almost 2) are smart, funny, charming kids—I absolutely adored them.

Here are a couple pictures of me and the Popps, taken along the Mississippi near their house:




They have a 220-acre dairy farm and B&B - the farm has a little cottage by a running stream, and it borders the Mississippi. It's a century farm and the house is over 120 years old! The whole place is absolutely wonderful.




On Saturday I got to help a little bit (emphasis on LITTLE since I don't know much about dairy farming) with their farm chores - wow they work hard, doing those chores twice a day! With two of them (plus a little help from me) it took two hours to feed and milk the cows. I loved all the animals though, and it was fascinating to me to learn what I could.





After sleeping in my historic, peaceful guest room, I woke up Sunday morning and enjoyed coffee, homemade scones, and great company. When the Popps returned from church, we had an even bigger breakfast of sausage, hash browns, and German apple pancakes - so fabulous (so much food!). We took a little drive and I learned that there are great spots for canoeing on the Mississippi and a new paved bike trail set to go through.

Coming next: The Nature Valley Grand Prix . I'm packing up my suitcase tonight to spend the next 6 days working at this big race.

Holy Schniekes, Traffic!

What’s up with all this TRAFFIC?

You may think I’m kidding. If I was … well that’d be funny. But holy schniekes, I’m not! The traffic here is terrible!

I’ve been spending the last three days trying to figure out how to cross hwy 212 on my bike safely. Still don’t have an answer for that … must be that I just gotta go for it. Hwy 41 sees 19000 cars a day (soon to increase to 35000) and goes through town a block from city hall. I can’t make a left hand turn on that street to save my life (and getting home kinda requires a left hand turn).

On Tuesday I drove to work. I had a half an hour for lunch and just had to drive 2 blocks to the post office to mail something and then go pick up lunch to bring back to the office.

It took me an hour!

And this morning while waiting for a stoplight to change I counted 15 semi trucks at the intersection of hwys 41 and 212.

Yikes.

I did bike today though. I guess I’ll need to get used to the traffic, and at least I didn’t die yet! And hey I’m sitting at my desk sweaty with helmet hair and tire marks on my leg – it’s gotta be good right?

My First Day!

Well I know everyone will be asking me about my first day at the new job ... so here it is!

First, it was AWESOME to sleep in and have such a leisurely drive into work! I clocked my mileage - 6.5 miles (I made sure to drive the route that I would use biking in!). I met up with Noah, the current/former intern who had one day overlapping with mine to show me all the ropes. I took the office tour, met folks, etc. the building is so cool. It's a historic-looking yellow brick building right downtown. There are brick walkways curving around all the buildings, a water fountain in front, and the public library on the first floor - it just FEELS so good! You can see a picture of it here on the City of Chaska web site on the upper right hand side. The second floor is all the city offices. There are offices around the outside of the building, and then 7 cubes in the middle, and I'm in one of those cubes. The cube is a bit drab and needs a lamp, pictures, etc. (those who worked with me at the Learning Abroad Center know my penchant for homey lamps and the need for decoration!) But that will come as the summer goes on. On one side of me, I'm surrounded by a bunch of guys, the building inspectors! they remind me of some of the guys my dad used to work with and should be a riot. On another side are some administrative folks (sorry can't remember titles) who seem super friendly and helpful. Quite the demographic difference from LAC though :P ... I'm so used to working with 20-year-old college kids! I'm not sure if there's anyone else in their 20s in the building ;).

After the morning tours we got in the car and drove around the city to look at examples of signs and talk about some of the current issues in the city. It was a really good education and cool just to be out driving. Lunch time came around and Noah and I went and met Melissa, the city planner, and Matt, the assistant city administrator, at the golf course for lunch. And no none of us are golfers! It was just nice to sit on the deck over the course to have lunch. From the deck I could see a barn in the distance that is right near our house! So cool.

After lunch (and coffee at the newly-restored Dunn Brothers), it was back to the office. We spent the afternoon going over files for the AUAR (Alternative Urban Areawide Review) for the newly annexed Heights of Chaska. Then we reviewed some sign permit requests and surveys submitted by the building inspectors - the planners need to sign off on the maximum setbacks, etc.

Here's another picture of the style of historic building typical in Chaska .

It was an ok day. People have asked me how I'll feel about it, and it's so hard to know how a job will go based on the first day. I've said that it wasn't so fabulous that I'm jumping up and down knowing that this is what I want to do with my life, but it also didn't make me dread the summer! I think the work environment is great, the tasks varied with just enough responsibility for my planning job. From there, we'll see how the summer goes.

On the way, home, I took the quieter route back with an easier hill - the route I'll most likely be taking home. 8.5 miles. that means when I bike to work it'll be 15 miles each day!

Race Reports!

Ok, so it wasn't actually me racing, but I have race reports nonetheless!

It was a full racing weekend for me. Saturday I was up at 5:00 am so I could be in St Peter for an 8:00 am start of the State Championship Time Trial. I was the chief ref, in charge of the whole race, and based on my crew and the fact that I worked with the race promoter on another race a month ago, I thought things would go great. I checked in with everyone, asked someone to start doing junior rollout, drove the course, answered questions, reviewed the registration process ... and while I hadn't seen my starter yet, I figured he must be at the start line preparing. Well, 15 minutes before the race start I drove over to the race start and realized Matt wasn't there yet. "Anyone seen Anderson?" "Well I heard that he called Bill because his car broke down."

oh GREAT!

Not too big a deal. We could all fill in. I just figured I'd be the starter.

But not so fast. All the safety equipment such as vests, flags, stop signs, etc. were in his car.

After consultation with the officials, I decided to start heading back towards the Cities to get him. We announced that the race start would be delayed but we didn't know by how long - a call to Anderson's cell phone hadn't gotten a response. Just a few miles down the road he called me, only to tell me he had gotten stranded in Jordan.

Well great. I pulled out my map and that was 40 ... miles ... away. Even driving fast that would delay the race start by more than an hour and a half.

I called up the officials and told them I'd rather cancel the race than delay it by that long, simply because we'd have fewer pissed-off racers. I asked if there was a place in town, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, anything, where we could buy orange tape or something to use to alert traffic. On the way back to the race course, I called my Matt who was at home to see if he could pick up Anderson. Jordan is close to our house and he could've picked him up and made it to the race course faster than me driving back. I couldn't reach him, though, and by the time I had returned to the race course one of the judges had already sent people all over the town of St Peter looking for supplies ... someone went to the sheriff, someone started driving looking for stores, someone went to the Gustavus Adolphus security office.

In the end, it worked out. The sheriff and the Gustavos folks came through for us. You never can tell whether folks will be annoyed by a bike race or supportive, so that was super cool. I ended up standing in as the starter, the riders were fairly patient and we only got a few pissed-off mumblings. At least the weather was gorgeous. 80 degrees, sunny, only a slight wind. Thankfully no crashes or injuries, a very good race.

And Anderson? He had to replace a bunch of parts in his car - a new starter among other things. He had a long day too.

I was glad to see him (and his car) on the State Capitol grounds early Sunday morning for our second race of the weekend. He was more crucial that morning since he was our chief ref! The Capitol Criterium is very likely my favorite race course. The grounds are gorgeous. The views of the Capitol and the Cathedral are stirring and brilliant - I couldn't stop marveling. The course has a 180 degree turn and you can see the entire course from nearly any spot you stand (rare for a criterium!). I was so psyched to be there. my job for the day was referee, and since there was two of us we figured we'd split the day's duties. I'd work the pit for the first half of the day and the board and bell for the second half of the day. Unfortunately, once again things would not go as planned! Our chief ref went to check on the registration folks fifteen minutes before race start and they were all fubar. One computer kept consistently shutting down. Another wasn't printing. And there was no hand-written copy for back-up. Without those start sheets, we couldn't start our race! The chief ref, Anderson, called me on the radio to ask me to come down and take care of the situation. There was about ten minutes of me asking tons of questions, them getting really frustrated ("I'm just asking questions, not yelling at you," I kept trying to tell them - at this point who cares about reasons or excuses, we just needed to keep things moving the best we could). I finally realized we didn't have a lot of options about the first race of the day - all the data they had entered had been lost! But I figured we could try to keep registration moving for the other races of the day and be smarter about it. So I left two guys working on the computers and told them to do what they could about start lists for the first race of the day. Then I rounded up volunteers, grabbed a notepad, and told them how to do handwritten start lists instead. We got the new registration system organized in about five minutes, pretty cool if you ask me. By this point the line had grown and stretched down the sidewalk. I'm sure all those racers were annoyed!

I made it to the pit and my nerves just kept getting more and more strung out as the morning went on. A junior racer hit a curb and went tumbling over a median. Another junior crashed into someone at the finish line, flew through the air and bounced as she hit the ground. And then one of our officials got hit with a pole that had snapped in the wind, cutting his face and lip. Thank god no serious injuries - but just enough to keep me worrying about what was next.

As on Saturday, the race got smoother as the day went on. We had a nice break over lunch (almost unheard of for officials). I took over the board and bell and was super focused on scoring, ringing the bell, pulling lapped riders ... though I did get sunburned!

I still think that the coolest part about Saturday is that one of my friends participated in his first bike race!! It takes courage to get out there for the first time, but I figured he'd enjoy it and do well. It was Aaron, my friend Erika's boyfriend. He looked totally suited up and has an awesome bike. He had to race in a full field (we had to close registration at 75), yet hung in there for several laps! We pulled about 20 riders before it came to be his time to be pulled. I was selfishly thankful that he dropped out at that point - I just didn't want to be the one to pull him! I thought he did awesome for his first race and it was so cool to see he and Erika hanging out there.

Cool Birds at Carver Park

Last Monday ... hot, steamy hot, even at 5:30 in the morning. Still, we wanted to go exploring at Carver Park near our house. We were at the park by 6 am, and started meandering the trails. We saw about 25 species, pretty good for a quick morning jaunt. I got some good glimpses of birds that I hadn't seen for awhile, such as a redstart and a catbird, so this was a good reminder - and they were Matt's first! The fun of the day was just getting started though. Walking along a path near a wetland, I saw what seemed to be a duck-size bird start up from the water and fly along the trees. But he was flying differently ... he had trees behind him and the sun behind the trees so he was essentially flying in the dark (to me at least). I got excited and told Matt we had to head that direction to see if we could find it again. Sure enough, after a walk across a floating sidewalk, there it was! It flew in front of us and the most noticeable thing was its BRIGHT ORANGE LEGS - I'm talking big-bird orange. A quick look in my Sibley guide, and there it was: a green heron. A first for both Matt and I. We ended up seeing three of them in Carver Park that day.

We then drove over to King's Blind, which overlooks a lake that is a known swan breeding area. I was hoping to see swans on a nest or maybe some cygnets. No babies, but we weren't completely disappointed, as there was a swan and some double crested cormorants. The most fun for us, though, was that after about 15 minutes there a raptor flew over - Osprey! It was hunting over the lake. We watched it for probably half an hour, most amazed by its ability to hover in midair over spots on the lake while it used its eagle eye (or should that be "osprey eye"?) to hunt. After soaring along, it would turn its body almost vertically and flap its wings like mad to stay in one place - and then if it saw something would dive down to the water. The first dive was unsuccessful. The second dive was super acrobatic as it dove and twisted and this time it caught its breakfast:



thinking about an osprey's life amazes me. raised in a nest for just a couple months, I'm not sure if they're even taught to hunt. It seems that much of it is instinct. And yet they somehow know - or learn - how to conduct such a complex hunting pattern. And it seems that it would take so much energy. When I'm hungry and feeling weak, I can simply walk to the refrigerator and find lunch. This bird, though, must expend enormous amounts of energy just to catch its food. I imagine if it waited too long or got too hungry, its hunger would impair its ability to hunt. How often does it live on the brink of starvation, on the edge between life and death? Nature is truly amazing.

The Last Day!

I've been hauling bags home all week. yesterday afternoon I washed off my desk and cleaned the keyboard. Today I changed my voicemail and then the ultimate leaving-my-job moment: one last fight to remember the old job by. Not a fight with me, mind you - my boss (FORMER boss) going berserk on a coworker resulting in both of them leaving the office for the rest of the day and one crying and saying, "I hate this fucking place." Ahh, yeah, dysfunction, now THAT'S what I'm going to miss! And emotional abuse! What fun!

The day was marked with good moments too. A very wonderful coworker baking a cake, lunch outside with a good friend, the satisfaction of seeing an empty in box and knowing that I've done my best to leave the office and job as organized and complete as possible.

I've been on the verge of emotional the past couple days. I think it's part sadness about leaving behind friends and my beloved office, part stress of something new, and part nervousness about entering a new field. I kept thinking I wouldn't be nervous for an "internship," but I realize that not only is it a new job, but it's doing tasks I've never done before. I don't know how I'll do, and I feel like I need to prove myself. Monday morning should be interesting! Any advice for someone starting off in a completely new field?

Short Timer Syndrome

It's hard to believe that everything is falling into place and I'm actually about to do what I set out to do six months ago.

A week ago today, I turned my notice in at the Learning Abroad Center. My last day here is June 2. And from there I start an internship as Community Development Intern at the City of Chaska.

It all seems surreal. I contacted Chaska months ago inquiring about an internship, and worked to gain some experience in areas that I thought would boost my resume (like working with the Minnesota Design Team for instance). And it worked! Not to say it made the application and interview process easy. I was still nervous about the interviews, still applied for 3 internships to boost my chances of getting offers, and remarkably (again like I dream) I got offered all three internships I applied for! I spent a lot of time weighing the merits of each and trying to decide the best place for me. I talked to Matt, my parents, fellow students, and my adviser at the Humphrey. At yet at the end, I'll be exactly in the place I dreamt about months ago.

This summer should be fabulous. 32 hours/week at Chaska, learning all about the city and my new field. My shorter commute gives me 15 hours more each week of time all to myself! Once school starts in the fall, the internship will be reduced to 12 hours/week, enabling me to pursue other opportunities and take classes full-time.

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Think my life sounds so interesting?

After my last post I got lots of comments from folks about all the stuff I have going on and how cool it all sounds.

Let me tell ya it ain't that glamorous.

On Saturday I spent a long, cold, rainy day working at the Ken Woods Road Race. I left my house at 6:15 in the morning and didn't finish results until around 9:00 that night! Out along a windy field, battered with rain, the highlights of my day were when there were gaps in between riders and I could go inside the car for a few minutes! Sure, there was the largest Cat 4 women's field I've ever seen (way to go MWCMR!), and there were some cool race stories like the one from my friend and teammate Sarah. But, still, very cold, very wet, very muddy!

Sunday was even MORE thrilling. Roughly 22 hours spent on the couch working on my group project. I took a break to go out to breakfast with Matt, to take a nap in the afternoon, and to whip up some quick soup for dinner. But other than that, it was laying out all the pages for our 90 -page project, and doing some reading, editing, and writing along the way. And photo formatting. The highlight of THAT day was that every 4 or 5 pages I'd call out my progress to Matt, who was at his computer in the dining room. "Page 55!" "Page 61!" And each time I said that Matt would say, "that's good. Making some progress." Exciting days on our street, let me tell you!

The good news is that the project is looking good, and that in a couple weeks it will all be over!

If you want some more exciting stories you should check out the tales of my friends Stacia and Chuck in Italy. We're watching their dog Miranda for them and they have a funny post about what Miranda would want to do while they're away.

Redwood Falls & Red Winged Blackbirds

Many of you probably think I've disappeared off the face of the planet.

well I haven't, not quite. Just been holed up trying to get LOTS of stuff done.

And here's what I've been doing:

Joining the Minnesota Design Team for a visit to Redwood Falls - this was an awesome experience! I joined architects, landscape architects, and other planners on this trip. It was a long weekend, Thursday - Sunday. Thursday night we had a welcome reception with host families, the development director of the city, the tourism director, mayor, and other people who were involved with our visit over the weekend. Then it was off to our host families for the night. I stayed with a marvelous couple and had the cutest room overlooking a stream-filled ravine:



Friday was our day to get information from the community. It was every bit as stressful, uncertain, and exhausting as officiating a major bike race! we did a walking tour of the community's downtown, a bus tour of the rest of the town, went to lunch with various community leaders, then spent the afternoon listening to presentations. We heard many of the town's advantages, issues, dreams, and hopes ... everything from wanting improvements to Ramsey Park (the largest municipal park in Minnesota!) to the threat of their jail and courts leaving downtown, to vacant, rundown buildings in their city center.



Friday night was one of our key moments. We were invited to a community-wide potluck. Before entering, we had just one hour to try to synthesize all our thoughts about what we had learned, decide on key questions, and figure out what was going on Friday night. At the potluck, we divided ourselves up amongst the tables, then did a huge information and opinion-gathering exercise ... more information to feed our recommendations to the community.




Saturday was our time to make decisions and start drawing! We were secluded inside the school's media center all day, with all the supplies and staff we needed at our request. Food was even brought to us! We spent the first couple hours deliberating and discussing ideas, then divided ourselves up into teams to start working on our projects.

Saturday night was the big town hall meeting. We presented 18 boards with all our ideas: ways to find space for the jail and courts to stay downtown, ideas for public investment in the buildings downtown, a beautification process along the highway, a pedestrian bridge linking downtown to Ramsey Park, and many more.

For me, it was so cool to broaden out of my planning shell and get the experience of working with all these cool people in a hands-on projects. I'm sure that the MDT will be a future project as well!

Working on school projects - yeah, I only have a couple of classes but for some reason the semester is totally kicking my butt. I had to give up on doing readings for my land use planning class because I've been so busy doing all the assignments for the class. In addition to several smaller assignments, our big project is our Active Living Best Practices assignment. the entire class is working with an organization called Active Living Ramsey County, and each group was assigned to a community in Ramsey County. Our group of 4 is working with Falcon Heights. We've met with city staff, taken city tours, spent time there taking photos, researched aspects of the physical environment that can boost active living, and are working to apply those to Falcon Heights. The research, writing, map-making, etc. are really time consuming - by the end (in a week and a half!) we'll have a document of about 70-80 pages. We are presenting at the U to about 25 key community members, then we will be going to Falcon Heights to present to their city council.

Writing a grant and doing grant reports - As if I didn't have enough to do! I've been working again this year with the Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture writing reports on their grant recipients. You can see some of the reports I wrote last year. Then I've been writing a federal grant for Doug and Jane Popp, dairy farmers, to put a wind turbine on their farm. I never knew what I was getting myself into with all the work a federal grant takes! It's good experience though and the Popps are incredible people. They also own a farm bed and breakfast and I can't wait to go visit this summer!

Getting a summer roommate - I heard from a teammate that interns at her firm were looking for places to stay ... well why else do we have this big house! Our renter will arrive sometime in the next couple of weeks. Her name is Jen, she's originally from Virginia, and she's a student at the University of Michigan. It'll be fun to meet her and help introduce her to Minnesota!

Birds & plants - Ahh, it's so nice to feel the warm sun! I've been checking the tulips, other perennials, tree buds, etc. every day. Nothing looks too pretty yet but there's a lot of promise! It's great to have the deck and be able to have easy access to the outdoors. Matt stained the deck and I moved out my camp chair as a temporary spot to sit until we get patio furniture. We put up a bird feeder, and between that and our regular bird visitors I've been busy with the binoculars at the window. The feeder has brought the red winged blackbirds (I yell "Incoming!" every time I see one rushing towards the house) and some house finches ... and some other kind of finch that I haven't figured out yet. One pair of house finches has a nest under the neck, as does a robin. Last summer we had some swallows nesting above our garage, and we've been wondering if we'd see them again. sure enough, I heard the familiar "chip" of a swallow on Saturday - they're back! I haven't been able to tell if they're going to nest here yet, but time will tell. I've heard a killdeer and mourning dove in the neighborhood too but haven't seen them. We've also had ducks, geese, and a great blue heron on our pond. I love all the birds!

Trying to find a summer internship - Yep, I'm still hoping to find an internship so that I can get this component of my graduate degree off my back! If all works out I will be quitting my job sometime in May (yikes!). It's a very bittersweet time. I really love my co-workers and my office and the type of work I do; there are so many reasons not to leave. At the same time, my boss keeps giving me new projects and making plans for the future, and it's so hard not to say that I'm thinking of leaving. But without anything solid yet, I need to keep quiet!

Physical therapy - The knees STILL hurt. It's still rough going. But I see progress in the last month or so. I've been able to climb stairs. And sleep without knee pain. And I'm now back on my bike for short bursts of time. Hopefully the progress continues.

Thinking of all my friends who I haven't been able to see or contact - there are lots of you who I just haven't had time to call or get together with in the last couple of months. I'm so sorry. And I hope all of you are doing wonderfully and enjoying the start of spring just as much as I am (hopefully though you're all less busy than I!).

Too long since my last update!

A sure sign that things with school are keeping me insanely busy. A few highlights of what's been going on lately:

I spent 5 days in Santa Fe with my friend Kirsten. Pictures are here ! We stayed at a ranch resort, drank some margaritas and wine, ate at amazing restaurants, and saw dozens of art galleries. The only negative is that it was COLD, like in the 40s, and the last day we had there it snowed! Needless to say the snow in the mountains led us to abandon our plans to drive to Taos that day.

Speaking of Kirsten, our trip was the halfway mark (6 months) of her husband's deployment in Iraq. She just sent me an email pointing out that deployment is taking a toll on Mike. He definitely made us both laugh though! He wrote to her: "Wife, I’ve decided to quit the army, move to the pacific island of Saipan, and live the life of a native hunter/gatherer. I’'m going to learn the ancient art of ceremonial firesticking in my free time (all the time will be my free time), and live a meager existence with a low impact on the world (environmentally, economically, politically, and socially). I will become a vegetarian and substitute my love of cow’s milk for coconut milk. I want to procreate freely without fear of bearing responsibilities for my offspring."

In other news, my brother just returned from a week in Jamaica. His highlights are (poor guy) typical of his kind of "adventures": he had to get reimbursed from a scuba trip because he had his adenoids out 15 years ago, the beach was closed to swimming and water sports 2 days because of high surf, and his excursion to Dunns River Falls was cancelled because there wasn't enough interest. He DID come back more tan though!

Hell Week in Texas

Check out my friend Sarah's recount of her first few days at Hell Week in Texas - I'm so jealous of them!

The Birds Have Arrived!

Friday March 10 seemed to be the arrival date for all the spring birds. Matt called me in the morning to report two sparrows sitting on our back deck. The temps reached at least 55 during the day, the sun was out, and I could smell spring in the air. When I got home there were red winged blackbirds singing all around our pond, and two robins flitting around the crabapple tree in the front yard. I love it!

Eagles in Eden Prairie

Check out these photos that Matt took yesterday!

Room with a Stellar view

My friend Nan and her husband Terry have the coolest observatory in their house - and now it's being aired on HGTV! I thought I'd share the picture and article about their house.

February Doldrums

I don't know about you, but I'm so glad February is over.

There was plenty of good things about the month. Valentine's Day flowers ... friends ... parents visiting ... and I spent many a night in front of the fireplace working away on projects and schoolwork. (also spent too much time watching the olympics but we won't go there). It was a great month for my brother, who bought his first house!!

February is also a month where I felt very isolated living in Victoria. With Matt gone, I longed for time with friends ... yet seeing friends required long drives or complicated schedules. The whole month I felt torn between my love of our house and the people I wanted to see and things I wanted to do in the city.

I think I took on too many projects in February ]. I'm working, going to school, I have one class to finish up and another about to start, plus I'm working again with the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and I'm helping another farm family write a federal grant! (did I know what I was doing when I agreed to work on a federal grant? The stacks of paper are inches thick!).

Matt arrived home today. It was great to see him - the house, and my life, had a big empty spot without him gone! Now I just have to get rid of some of my "single habits" I reverted back to!

S.W.A.T.

My brother, CERT gear and all.
Need I say more?

valentine

Matt shocked me with a beautiful flower bouquet delivered to me at work. On the card he wrote, "Happy Valentine's Day! Even though I am not there, know that I am thinking about you."

TOTALLY made up for not seeing him!