You know you live in the hood when...

You walk out your front door, go one block, and someone asks you if you're lost.
True story.
Happened on Saturday night.

I heart this place.

No secrecy...really

I've just been buried in workywork stuff. The adjustment from Darden life to commute + job + housework + useless cat is one that I've not handled too well. I'll get there...it just takes time.

Some cool stuff:

1. Went out to dinner in July with a few friends from Darden. Of the two occupied tables in the restaurant, would you believe that Al Carey (Frito's CEO!) was at the other one? Insanity.

2. Jonny got rid of the monkey on his back. Last he saw it, the creature was pissed off and stalking the parking lot at the Hotter 'n Hell races, looking for some sucker to take him in. Word has it he looks like Mojo Jojo of PowerPuff Girls fame.

Jonny won the Hotter 'n Hell criterium "with nobody else in the picture". I love winning races like that.

3. It's been raining for 3 days. It rained for 90+ days my senior year of college. This is nothing. But I did feel a bit lazy as a result.

4. Life at Frito is pretty good. My projects are exciting and full of challenges that teach me more and more every day. Love every second of it.

5. Been listening to biz books on my commute. Pretty good way to pass the time. I really liked Built to Last by Jim Collins. Most write him off, since some of the companies in his Good to Great book have bit the big one. However, the wisdom in Built to Last is sage, especially the last chapter. He is very self-deprecating and humble about things. I was quite inspired by his final words in the last chapter. It alone is worth the read. Plus, I got to hear his ebullient voice on my stereo!

6. After 3 months without hot water, El Gato installed a new tank on Labor Day weekend. I was getting tired of my frontier-days dishwashing, complete with heating water on the stove. All I needed was a bonnet and a bustle.

More soon. Doubt I have a lot of readers, but just in case I'll write more regularly about life in the Big D. Should be exciting: Lang, Hunky Hungarian, and Bohle will visit this week! Yay!

I heart Richard Sachs!

Next to my dearest husband, Richie is my fave 'cross star! He has the best line on the sport, building bikes, living life, and surrounding himself with wonderful people. My time living in my car during 2006 and knocking around with his cyclocross crew was something I remember often and fondly. Okay, the living in the car part was a bit tough, but hey...I was livin the dream.

I got my weekly email from e-Richie today.

Every time I hear from that guy I am reminded again how much I love the sport of cyclocross. To race again? Probably not. But to celebrate? Absolutely!

I remember how time and again, eyeballs bleeding and tongue hanging out, every muscle screaming for mercy...I went back to the well. Again and again. Asking my body for one more pedal stroke. One more barrier cleared without bashing my shin. One more spandexed butt to chase down and pass in my quest for whatever private (or public) podium I pursued. I remember how I rode out of my gourd during the 2006 National Championships and surprised everybody. I learned some lessons about myself that day and still tap into them from time to time. It was an out-of-body experience, watching myself ride up there with America's best. I will never forget it.

(And that wasn't even my most memorable race, if THAT gives you any idea of how deep a passion for 'cross one can have.)

But enough me-ness (hello...pro cycling-bred habit!). Let's celebrate the one who makes the most lovely of bikes. Bikes people wait for 4 years to own, gladly giving him their money in advance just to have a chance to ride such a magical chrome pony.

Keep on keepin on, e-Richie. I will see you at HPCX!

Meow.

Hide it all. Creative storage

I was browsing the Crate & Barrel website today. Someone gave me a gift certificate…
This caption intrigued me: “Hide it all. Creative storage”.
I have a question:
What is “all” and if I need to hide it, why do I have it in the first place?
I have spent the past 5 years trying to jettison the idea of “possessions” from my life. I find that it is a prison many of us create. Instead of us possessing things, things possess us. This informs many choices: where we live, who we interact with, what we trust, what we do not, how we consume, etc.
Think about it.
You have a lot of stuff. You paid a lot of money for it. It makes you feel a certain way when it is around. You are distrustful of certain people who might steal it. You choose to live in a place where those people do not (or are not allowed to) go. You spend money on systems that protect your stuff: alarms, insurance, storage. You work long hours to afford more stuff. You abstain from buying a bit of stuff so you can invest money that earns more interest, thereby increasing your ability to buy stuff. Your kids want stuff. You work even longer hours to give them stuff. Your wife likes stuff. You work and she does not so that she can stay home and manage your stuff and the stuff belonging to the kids you have who keep demanding more stuff. She is stressed out every day from cleaning/organizing/arranging/using stuff. She shops for more because it makes her feel better. She throws stuff away because more stuff shows up in her stuff store that encourages her to buy more stuff to replace the stuff that is “clearly worn out” or “out of fashion”.
Really?
Am I stuff-less? No. But am I imprisoned by my stuff? Not really. Steal anything I own and I’ve been trying to do the following:
-get in touch with how the theft makes me feel
-dissect what those feelings are really about.
Security?
Self-esteem?
Love?
Emptiness?
Sentimentality?
Money “lost’?
Money “spent”?
Money “well-spent”?
Money “wasted”?
-do the feelings have to do with the thing I lost, or what that thing represented?
-is there any way to feel better without “replacing” it?
-is it even about the thing at all?
-if I get another/more/different stuff, do I build a prison or do I set myself free?
So yeah. I will not go to Crate & Barrel and buy something that hides my stuff. Because why would we want our lives to be made of things we keep hidden and tucked away? What if everything we had we were proud of and not afraid to share?
The very idea of containers and containment saddens me. Wouldn’t it be great if we all cultivated the good stuff thereby reducing the need to go around containing it all the time?
That would rock.

The homely shall inherit the Earth. As long as it's organic.

After a fabulous lunch at the All Good Cafe, Jonny and I concluded that not-so-lovely people really got a leg up when the hipster craze arrived. Suddenly it's cool to have a weak chin, doughy waist, and stringy hair. Throw in some ironic t-shirts (or threadbare plaid button-downs) and tight jeans and suddenly every confused girl wants to take you home.*

This boon for unattractive-cum-hipsters has saturated much of urban and kinda educated America. Veganism is on the rise and pretension at an all-time-high.

Is this what the youth of today have become? Alas, the pretty people are out in the cold.

Save yourselves.

*doubly-effective if you play a musical instrument.

Fond memories

Of my trip out West.
Here are some shots to enjoy :

Lozano women. Always cooking.Sarah, adorably pregnant. My handsome cowboy of a husband. When you don't have a heeler, but you've got two son-in-laws... It's okay, mama. Really. We're just giving him an earring!

I found Jimmy Hoffa

Yesterday began the battle of the mold.

It started when I discovered a giant blister (we're talking bathtub size, big enough to fit Mr. Hoffa) in the ceiling after Thursday night's rainstorm. And some pretty squishy carpet courtesy of the volume of H2O it'd absorbed. I hated the carpet from the get-go. Guess I can get rid of it.

Ultra-convenient, since it was my first week of work and all...

A stressful workday, the Social Security Administration, trips to two different DMVs (had to get my TX license), mucho driving around after getting bad directions, an errand to borrow a ShopVac, and many phone calls later...I made headway with the problem.

Which included:

-ripping up the carpet and carpet pads

-ruining all my towels

-impaling my feet on tackstrips

-moving heavy furniture

-getting nasty carpet chemicals all over my body

-smelling like mold

-needing every window and door open to ventilate

Awesome.

Brutus sympathizes by napping.

Just like my insurance company. It is, as usual, completely incompetent and unresponsive.

So here we are. Brutus is exhausted from all the spectating.

/end rant.

I will be more chipper tomorrow.