Triathlon Turned Aquathlon

Due to the severe weather Texas got this weekend, my triathlon on Sunday morning turned into an aquathlon. Not just because we got soaked by rain during the whole event, but the cycling leg of the event was canceled due to very wet roads which caused hazardous conditions. We ran on the hazardous conditions, but I guess our footing is safer than wheels. The race was also delayed two hours because of the severe weather. Roger and I waited at home during the hail and torrential downpour before we left the house for the race downtown at the Texas School for the Deaf. I was a little disappointed about the cycling leg being eliminated but completely understood the safety issue. This was the first Ranger Triathlon and therefore it was a tad unorganized. There wasn’t much direction and communication was difficult at times. Thank goodness I know American Sign Language and could understand what was trying to be communicated. There were many lull periods when no one knew what was going on. But overall it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. The kids were so much fun to watch. Many deaf kids from the school who couldn’t or don’t go home over the weekend participated. And there were lots of families. I was only able to watch the kids swim because we were swimming while they were running. And by the time I got out to run, the kids were done. My transition wasn’t bad and since the cycling leg was canceled I completely turned the event into a fun, non-competitive, socializing gathering. My official chip time was 00:33:55. Not bad, but not great. I enjoyed it and plan to participate next year. Hopefully I can get Roger to do it also. Check out the pictures Roger took here.

The rest of Sunday we spent working on the patio electrical project, doing laundry and other household chores and I finished sewing my niece Elizabeth a dress with a matching purse and headband. I was able to finish it because I got a new sewing machine on Friday. I am so excited. I love it! I got a Baby Lock Crafter's Choice. And I practically stole it from the dealer, Sew Much More. They were having a 50% off sale. This sewing machine is great. It has sparked a lot of creativity and motivation in me. I was a little nervous about getting an electronic sewing machine compared to the mechanical machines I grew up using. But after a quick demonstration at the dealer, I was sold. While I was sitting there I was literally thinking of forty million different things I could do with it. I really like my sewing machine. I can’t wait until after I graduate and we get back from our vacation so I don’t have to study, or feel bad about not studying when I’m sewing. I have enough material left over to sew my other niece Ariana the same dress with a matching purse and headband. I have another project I want to start this week but I need to see what patterns are available for what I want to make and find the right material.

Roger got back last Thursday evening. I’m glad. I was starting to miss him around the house. He had a great visit to Los Angeles. I’m so glad he had the opportunity to go. He posted more pictures in the set LA 2008 but hasn’t had a chance to blog. So you can check them out there. It turns out I don’t have class at all this week so I will be catching up on reading and studying for my final next Tuesday and helping Roger with the patio project. It’s actually not a final exam but the last test for the semester. And it’s my last exam ever! I can’t wait. I graduate the following Friday. Whew-hoo! Then we’re off to O´ahu for a vacation. More details about that later. Oh, by the way, I also got my ring back last Wednesday. I love it!!! I’m so glad to have it back, but I seriously love it. And yes, Kezia, I want to marry it! Oh wait, I already have. :)

No Ring Yet

After an awesome weekend in Bryan-College Station with my parents for Parent’s Weekend at Texas A&M and Houston with our friends, the McPherson family for their children’s dedication, I was excited about picking up my ring on Monday. Although my ring was ready, the appraisal was not so we couldn’t pick it up. I was a little disappointed because you know I wanted my ring back but especially since I dropped Roger off at the airport this morning he won’t get to pick it up with me or see it until he gets home next week. He’s off to Los Angeles to visit friends and family. He’s got a whirlwind trip planned. And although I’d love to see everyone, L.A. is too much for me plus I can’t because of school anyway. I’m always exhausted when I get back from L.A. Hopefully I get to pick up my ring Wednesday.

We really did have a blast all weekend. Parent’s Weekend was great. This is my last one. We wished we could have stayed with the McPherson family longer, but Roger had to pack and we had a lot of chores to do and errands to run before he left me again. Sigh… It was great meeting the extended McPherson & Tsui family and hanging out with Kezia again. I miss the Asian Sensation. We’ll post pictures soon.

You know I’ve got a list of things to do while Roger’s gone. I have a lot of reading to do. Surprise, surprise. And house work. I’d like to paint over some samples with primer now that I’ve changed my mind on paint color again. But if I don’t get to it, that can wait. And I have some extra exercise I’d like to do this week in preparation for the triathlon next weekend. I timed my 200m swim again today and I’ve gotten faster. My last time was 5:23 and today it was 4:41. I didn’t even swim fast just normal. I was stoked. I also swam a full mile today. I was tired and starving afterward. Actually I was hungry all day. Another surprise, surprise. I think I’ll turn in 5:00 even for the race so I don’t get in any fast swimmers way. This weekend I will be riding my bike to make sure it’s ready and doing a little race walking since I don’t run anymore. Got to take care of my old joints. I also plan to just chill out as much as I can. I need it. I'm so tired from this weekend.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well, another week has almost gone by. Time is flying by fast. I want it to slow down. Roger is going to L.A. next week to visit friends and I know that time is going to fly by fast and then we'll be at the end of April. That only leaves a month for us to hang out together until he has to go back to work full time at the end of May. Oh, if only we could keep living like this. Yeah, I'll stop dreaming now.

So we had a great anniversary weekend. Sorry, we forgot our camera Saturday night. So we don't have any pictures of us dancing the night away. But the benefit was great. We had a lot of fun dancing and socializing and the benefit raised a lot of money for Ty. He was there which was a real treat. He's so little because of his health. It's quite sad. He's almost seven and he's smaller than my nephew who is going to be five in May. Ty is going back to the Mayo Clinic for more testing and such. They still don't know what's causing all his health problems. He brought a tear to our eyes when he said in his tiny, whispery voice after the live auction and raffle, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." It's so sad that children that young and innocent have to deal with such things. It's just not fair.

On to the next topic, I had to give up my ring Monday. We went to see John so he could solder my rings together and do a new appraisal for our insurance. I know "giving it up" sounds so harsh, but I just got it. And I don't get it back until next Monday. We're going to College Station this Friday and Saturday for Parent's Weekend at A&M. Then Saturday evening we're going to Houston for an Astros game with Kezia's family and Sunday Kezia's sister's children are being dedicated at their church. It's been hard without my ring so far, so I'm sure this weekend will be tough. I keep checking my finger for it and feeling for it because I'm so used to it being there. I keep feeling like I've forgotten it or lost it. I can't wait to get it back on Monday. We'll take some pictures then.

Roger's spending this week working on electrical stuff on our back patio. He's adding a ceiling fan, track lighting for his grill, an outlet for the rotisserie motor on his grill, a motion sensor light for the yard, a new light fixture at the back door and installing GFCI outlets where they should be in the kitchen and bathrooms. We made a new friend at Home Depot on Monday in the electrical section who happens to be a retired electrician and volunteered to come over and help us. Talk about a blessing. I can't wait for them to be done so we can have them over for dinner and use the grill so they can see all their handy work. It's going to be so nice out there. We'll actually be able to use our entire backyard now. They bought all the materials today and will do the work tomorrow. So I won't be here to take any pictures since I'll be in class.

Speaking of class, I made an 80 (B) on my test last week! Yeah. Not great, but better than I thought I did. That gives me an 87 in the class so far. I am going to try hard to make a high A on the last exam to hopefully pull my grade up to an A for the class. In class we are entering the Iron Age which has even more references to the Bible than before. We ended our last section of material at the Late Bronze Age with a highly debated topic in the field of Biblical Archaeology as to the dates of the Genesis patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc). We read an article by Kenneth Kitchen in Biblical Archaeology Review (1995: 21/2) illustrating with archaeological, internal and external Biblical evidence why he believes the dates of the patriarchs to be the Middle Bronze Age. It was a really interesting article and I loved reading how he compared so many aspects of the Bible to external sources that establish reliability of the Biblical time periods. If anyone is interested in reading it, let me know and I'll email the article to you if you can't get access to it through their website. There are always interesting articles in this journal.

Lastly, I've entered a USAT sanctioned triathlon the last Sunday of April. It's called the Ranger Triathlon and it's being held at and benefits the Texas School for the Deaf and I'm really excited about it. I haven't done a triathlon in over five years. But I'm pretty sure I'm ready for it. It's basically a mini-triathlon with a 200m swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run. I had to time my 200m swim for lining up purposes of the triathlon. Since the swim portion will be in a pool and not open water, you're lined up by time so faster swimmers aren't swimming over slower swimmers. I was quite surprised by my time which was 5:23 and that was two weeks ago. I have lengthened by swims since so I'm pretty sure I'll be faster by the actual race day. Now I've got to start working on training for the bike portion and transitions. I have to be able to fix a flat or any other incident that might come up by myself with no help from anyone so I need Roger to show me how to do all that bike stuff again. Since it's a USAT sanctioned event, they are pretty strict with the rules. I had to become a member of USAT to be able to participate. Since I had to pay for a year membership, I'm going to try to do some other mini or half triathlons during the year. I'm not ready for a full triathlon and I don't know if I will ever be ready for that. But I am planning to add another day of swimming each week starting next week. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, that's it for now. This is too long as it is. Check out more pictures of Roger grilling and other house pictures on the right. Chao!