Sunday Dinner: Salad with Seared Ahi Tuna

Yes, I am aware that it is Monday, and not Sunday...Sorry it's late folks!



Tools
Frying Pan
Sharp Knife*
Spatula
Tongs


Ingredients
1 small ahi tuna steak (roughly the size of...a can of tuna!)
1 head red leaf lettuce
5 or 6 grape or cherry tomatoes (or more)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 serving miso or sesame or ginger (to taste!) dressing

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time:  5 min

Recipe

1. Rinse and chop your lettuce into nice bite sized pieces (I like 2" squares)
2. Put lettuce and tomatoes in a salad bowl and set aside
3. Heat olive oil on medium heat until water will sizzle, but not spatter.  Coat the pan thoroughly.
4. Place the tuna in the pan.  Let sear until a golden brown color is achieved (about 2 min).
5. Using a spatula release the tuna from the pan.  Using tongs gently turn the tuna and brown the other side until golden brown (about 2 min).
6. If desired sear remaining sides of tuna.  Do not overcook.
7. Remove Tuna from heat and immediately slice into 1/4" thick medalions.
8. Serve on salad with dressing as desired.

Note:  You can prepare this the night before for your lunch, or in the morning, as the tuna cooks very quickly.  I prefer to toss it in the pan after I'm done fixing my morning egg whites.


*Don't cheap out on me here folks.  Do yourself a favor, go to some place like Sur la Table or if you're feeling bourgeoisie  Williams-Sonoma and get yourself a nice santoku from Wustof or Henckle.  This is a great all purpose knife that will last you a long time if you take good care of it (that means washing it as soon as you are done with it and putting it RIGHT BACK....NO DISHWASHERS EITHER!)  (Thanks for the pro tips Chad!)

Why can't I take a race picture that doesn't look...well...you'll see

well I just completed day uno of P90X...again.  Loki helped me as usual, yay furry kitty man.  He meows at me and it's almost like he's cheering me on.  Or laughing at me.  Or complaining that I'm at his level, but not petting him.

So I finally looked up my race pictures (yes, whenever I'd had enough of the video, and just couldn't move anymore I filtered through the race pictures from a few weekends ago.  Man I look aweful!  Well I suppose I felt dead inside when I was done, so it probably shows, but man do I always have to make a face like that?

Check it out  oh and don't forget this lovely number getting out of the pool.  I won't make excuses for myself, that race is setting the bar, now I have to keep it up.

If I want to do well at these things, I probably should make something more substantial than popcorn and Smarties for dinner, eh?  Well I've promised my fellow Pers (hehheehehehehehehehe) that I'd post some HEALTHY recipies here to share. (see the next post!)

Back on the wagon...of P90X & Triathlons

So a friend of mine has coerced me into doing P90X again.  Actually a couple of them have.  Dane shared the secret to putting up with Tony's annoying nicknames and innane jokes.  What is this secret you say?  I shall tell you:

Memorize the workouts, then put the T.V. on mute.

Sheer simple genius....right?  Yeeeeesssss.  Kayla has asked that a few people join her in doing the exercises, like some kind of support group.  If you have never watched P90X (there are some out there who have been mere bystanders to this torture session, and know exactly what I mean by watched) then I bid you to do so, so you understand that the dedication is not to being able to do it physically, no. 

The dedication comes in when you have to willingly subject yourself to Tony's self centered innanity (is that even a word??? I guess it is now!) for an hour+ a day.  Every day.  It's harder than you might think.

So today, when I get home from work, I'm going to turn on my computer and do it.  I swear!

Speaking of work, I haven't ridden to work in like a week, and even then the week before last I drove a few days because I had to borrow things from coworkers, or it was rainy or windy.  (I know I know...I live in Los Angeles and I'm whining about the wind and rain, I just feel like a cat those days and just want to hide!)  Today has a slight chance of rain, and I'm just too freaking tired to put up with it, after my friend's wedding this weekend.  Tomorrow I shall ride, and either first thing in the AM or when I get home tomorrow I shall again subject myself to the P90Xification.

I also need to get back into my morning run.  I used to get up every day and stumble out of the house for a run in the morning.  Then I got tendonitis in my foot, and couldn't run for almost 2 years.  While that's always going to be there, the Vibrams seem to really help keep the pain at bay.  Riding the bike all over the place has really helped with my asthma too.  I noticed when I finally did the Tinsel Triathlon again this year, that my athsma was never a factor in my slow running like it always used to be, this time it was just that my legs felt like lead.

One thing at a time though.  I'll keep biking, and I'll get my overall fitness up with Tony & Kayla before I start adding the runs in more than once a week with Nick.

Lastly I've been motivated to keep up with my blog once more.  I feel like there are lots and lots of things that I wish I could do regularly, and there just simply aren't enough hours in the day.  I'd like to post a regular recipe up here once per week, and call it Sunday Dinner.  I'll have to invent some other things for me to post regularly about, like...an assignment!

Enough of that, I have a real job to keep up with.

Sunday Dinner - Tacoritzolada Casserole

Is there an e in casserole?  We may never really know the answer to this question.  What you will know is how to make my delicious Taco-Enchilada-Soy Chorizo Casserole (thus the Tacoritzolada).

Tools

• 8"x13" baking dish

Ingredients

• 1 large can green enchilada sauce
• 12 corn tortillas
• 2 cans vegan refried beans
• 1/2 to 1 package soy chorizo
• 2 eggs *omit for vegan
• 1/3 c egg white *omit for vegan
• 1 package of Veggie Shreds - Mozzarella flavor (or your favorite veg, or other "Mozzerella" cheese)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Bell pepper, diced
• Coconut oil

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min

Recipe

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
2. Pour a small amount of the sauce on the bottom of the dish.
3. Place 6 of the tortillas on the bottom of the dish, covering the bottom of the dish as thoroughly as possible.
4. Spread the refried beans over the tortillas, they should only be about 1/2" thick at most.
5. Spread the soy chorizo over the beans.
6. Beat the eggs and egg whites together.  Pour them over the casserole.
7. (OPTIONAL) If you like your Tacos REALLY cheesy, sprinkle a layer of cheese over the egg.
8. Sauté the onion and bell pepper in the coconut oil until the onion is transparent, and the peppers have softened a little.
9. Layer the onions and bell pepper over the egg (and cheese if you added it here).
10. Place the remaining tortillas over the contents of the casserole, covering as thoroughly as possible.
11. Pour the remaining sauce over the casserole.
12. Sprinkle cheese over the sauce, to taste (I like mine nice and cheesy!).
13. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, or until the egg is set in the center (it should reach about 140F).
14. Allow to sit for 15 min before serving.

This makes a great hearty meal, and makes even better leftovers!  Enjoy this with a side of brown rice cooked with veggie broth instead of water - just add 1/2 c of your favorite salsa for a great twist, and a tasty salad (yes everything should be preceded by a salad in my opinion!).

I must tell you that I'm sitting in my folks cabin and watching the snow coming down as I write this warm tasty recipe.  If you like to you can replace the soy chorizo with seasoned and browned grass fed bison or beef.  Be careful not to cook the bison to death, as bison is much leaner than beef.  Some sausage from your last hunting trip would do really nicely as well.

Sunday Dinner - Ryzzie's Vegan Bean Soup

Today I'm going to share with you my Vegan Bean Soup recipe, per special request of Stacey!  This soup is hearty and inexpensive to make.  PLEASE COOK SAFELY!



Tools:

• Large bowl
• Large slow cooker*
• Measuring cup

Ingredients

• 2.5 c Dried beans **
• 12 c Water 
• 6 Bouillon cubes***, vegan (fount at Sprout's)
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tbsp Sage
• 1 tbsp Turmeric
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 tbsp Basil
• Sea salt
• Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Chili powder (optional)
• 2 Stalks celery, diced (optional)
• 2 Large carrots, peeled and diced (optional)
• 1/2 Onion, medium sweet yellow, diced (optional)
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes (optional)

Prep time: 24 hours
Cook time: 6+ hours  

Recipe

1. Thoroughly inspect your beans.  Pebbles sometimes get into them, and you do not want to take a bite of rock.  Your teeth will tank you.  
2. Place the beans in a bowl and rinse 3-5 times with cold water, or until the water is relatively clear.  Bubbles may form, that is okay, it's just the beans!
3. Fill the bowl with water and set aside to soak overnight (24 hours is best!).
4. Drain the beans, then put them into the slow cooker.
5. Add the water, bouillon and herbs to the slow cooker.
   
   WARNING. Be careful when touching the slow cooker after it has been turned on.  The sides, lid, handles, contents, or cooking implements become VERY HOT and touching them can cause severe burns.
   
6. Set the slow cooker to HIGH heat.
7. (optional) Sautee the celery, carrots, and onion over medium heat until onions are transparent.
8. (optional) Add the celery, carrots, and onion to the slow cooker.
9. (optional) Add the diced tomatoes to the slow cooker, including juices.
10. Cook for 2 hours, then reduce to LOW heat.
11. Cook for 4 hours, or until beans reach desired consistency.
12. Serve while hot!

Stores well in the fridge or freezer.
Pair with a slice of crusty bread and a large salad with tomatoes, radishes and cucumbers for a balanced meal.

Please read the instruction manual (no matter how smart you think you are!  I have a BSEE, and I always read the books that come with my stuff...someone spent a lot of time writing that for you!) for your equipment.  If you do not know where to find the manual, try looking online.  Most user guides and instruction manuals are available electronically.  Understand the operation and safety considerations for your slow cooker.  I do not advise leaving it unattended the first few times you use it (if ever), though I do leave mine on during the day when at work.


* Verify that your slow cooker can accommodate the large volume of this recipe.  I have one of the large oval kind, and it gets about 1/2 full. If you do not have a slow cooker, this recipe can be prepared on the stove in a big stock pot, in a french oven in the stove (this method will take a very long time), or even in a dutch oven over coals (this method will also take a long time).
** Any mix of dried beans will do, I like the ones in the bulk section at sprouts, one has barley, the other is heavy on lentils, any of these will work just fine!
***There were three varieties of vegan bullion cubes for me to choose from, I selected the one with herbs and sea salt, but any flavor will do.

Avalon to Little Harbor: There and back again, a Ryzzie tale!

So at 5am....our alarms went off BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT BZZ- and then were immediately cut off by our diligent snooze button pressing skills.  Fortunately Kiefer and I had stayed up late the night before packing our bikes up with all of our gear.  By 5:30 I decided it was time to wake up and make breakfast, so a tasty breakfast of leftover veggie grill chili and scrambled eggs I did make!  Kiefer headed down and loaded the bikes while I put the kettle on (gotta have our cuppa!).  We were set to check in by the 7:30 am deadline at Catalina Landing in Long Beach, CA.  Fortunately we've done this before, so we quickly found a spot on an upper level and filed into the elevator one at a time, after having a quick obligatory argument in the parking lot over something inconsequential (an argument I attribute purely to the stresses of starting a trip).

Pro tip:  You must purchase a ticket for your bicycle.  The tickets are under $10, and can be purchased in advance.  Check the rules, because most of the Catalina ferries do not allow tandem bikes (sorry GT!).

We checked in and received our departing and returning tickets, and at 8:00 am we headed for our ramp and lined up.  This 11 year old boy in line next to us was completely fascinated with our disc brakes.  Yes, we both have hydraulic disc brakes (and a good thing too!!!).  We boarded the boat thinking we'd be stowing our bikes in the aft bike racks as we had the last time we crossed the channel....but no!  Everything has to be more interesting, and we were to stow our bikes in the forward....cargo area....and I use the term stow lightly, as we were really just leaning them up against the forward deck walls!  Tell me that doesn't make those of you with nice bikes a LITTLE nervous, and i'll call you a liar! 

After the deckhand reassured us several times that our bikes would be totally fine, we traipsed sleepily inside to find our seats.  As you can see from the below photograph, "sleepy" is an excellent  descriptor for our states at the time.  Hey...it's a 65 min boat ride, we should be able to have a nap right?????

Zombie Kiefer and Zombie Ryzzie on the Catalina Express

Yeaaaahhh....I had a lot of fun playing Plants vs. Zombies on the ride over, and Kiefer went to check out the aft deck.  I declared that I was going to spend the next 2 days being uncomfortable, so i wanted to sit right there in my seat.  Secretly this was only half true (it was rather chilly outside after all!), because every time I looked up from my iPhone 3Gs my equillibrium got TOTALLY off kilter and I immediately became nauseated.  

Pro Tip: Don't sit in the center of the boat, you will feel the maximum effects from the roll, pitch and yaw changes of the boat.  Sit towards the back, where the thrusters/props are.

So we meandered over to the Catalina Island Conservancy first.  Numero uno step to doing interior island touring is to get a permit.  Catalina Island is not a national park, and is maintained by a private conservancy.  Permits are $35 ("Friend") per rider, or $65 ("Explorer") for a pair if you cohabitate like we do!  Plus your fee goes toward the preservation of the island.

Bonus:  Catalina Island Conservancy Freewheeler passes are good for one year from the time of purchase, so plan to come back again!

Following that Kiefer and I headed over to the Atwater Hotel to check in to our Little Harbor campsite.  You can even order a pack of firewood for $9, but be sure to bring tinder, or something to split the logs with because ours was a bundle of sucker logs.  Nice thing is you don't have to pack it in, they just drop it off for you when you show up!  We just never got our fire going...oh well!

It took us a while to remember how to get out of Avalon, so be sure to study your map, and BRING YOUR OWN!!!  The little paper one they give you is great if you never want to leave Avalon...but we did!  FYI locating Catalina Island topo maps (in print) was a fruitless effort, so we visited the USGS website and downloaded the 4 (North, South, East, and West) Catalina topo maps for free, and then sent them to our friends at Kinkos.

Pro Tip (yes there are a lot of those this time):  convert the USGS default *.tif format to *.pdf so you can preview and select fancy images at Kinkos.

We opted to print them on 11x17 for easier readability.  We also increased the resolution to the max allowable by our converter software (Bullzip, nice FREEWARE!).  I also had them laminated for weather resistance, overall durability increase, and in case we wanted to write on them with wax pencils or dry erase markers.

Finally we got out of Avalon.  on this portion of the ride please be careful, there are people all over the place driving golf carts like maniacs!

Cannondale, Kiefer, Ryzzie, and Cannondale at the gates.

So Kiefer and I began our ardurous climb through the interior of Catalina Island.  The first climb was nothing but grueling, and I'll be 100% honest, I ended up walking most of it.  The climb is steep on it's own, even with a good gear ratio for climbs, but with the added weight of our camping gear riding on the back, and my lack of being in peak condition for climbs I couldn't hold up the whole time.  I will say this though, I dropped $100 and got some Shimano M076's and a set of Crank Brothers Candy C clipless and that made the climbs a WHOLE bunch easier.

The highest point of our ride was about 1400 ft, but don't be fooled, the topography of the island is very rumpled, like a crinkled piece of paper.  Just when you think you've done all the climbing, here comes another 500 ft climb that you didn't even see.  We were extremely grateful to reach Middle Ranch, and a sign that showed us there were only 5.0 miles to go, that meant we were at the coast, and things were about to smooth out.  See how happy I am?

Ryzzie is excited there is no more climbing!

But then we checked the topo.....

Kiefer and Ryzzie's brains have liquified with the amount of climbing still remaining after about 12 miles of tough hills.

After discovering the plentiful hills ahead of us we decided to take a shark break.  Shark break you say?  Well I happen to like these tasty Sharkies chews found at REI.  Yum!!  Much more fun than your typical sport chew in our opinion, and they come in several tasty flavors.  

Cannondales takin' a shark break at the Middle Ranch gate.

Finally after several tricksy climbs (just when we thought we were done, there was a Bison at the bottom, and then another climb between us and camp!  Eventually we rolled in to Little Harbor Camp Ground.  The weather (as you can see from the pictures) remained blessedly overcast all day.  We made it through the day with no sunburns (after copiously applying lots of sunscreen).

Little Harbor Ranger Station, nothing more than a shack with some signs posted on it.

We set up camp, this time we took our new $30 REI B-93 special.  It's a 2 pole lightweight tent, which was PERFECT for this trip.  Chris set up the mats (phew no therm-a-rest inflating for these lungs!), bags and our new pillows.  I set up our stove and started our extra yummy (and veggie friendly) dinner.  Thanks to Stacey for recommending Mountain House, that lasagna was really yummy!  I managed to prep dinner without setting anything on fire (that wasn't meant to be anyway), but those REI brand wet-start matches are a little fragile for my bumbling grip, and I broke the first 4 right out of the box.  They're kinda cool though, and they burn like fireworks, just be careful, because you can't put them out until they're down to the wood!

Ryzzie sets up the kitchen, and preps dinner.

Kiefer was also awesome enough to bring along some mini-wine bottles (though the extra weight was definitely noticed), so we enjoyed some box-grade wine with our re-hydrated meal.  Following dinner, but preceding my carefully selected desert of a Luna Bar for me, and space ice cream for Kiefer we went for a walk down to the coast.

Little Harbor is BEAUTIFUL.  I really enjoyed all of the California coastal foliage, and I'd like to find some of those succulents myself to plant in my garden.  The conditions were fantastic, it was probably 60 F, overcast, and the water was a beautiful dark blue.  Kiefer spotted a rock outcropping and declared that he wanted to go walk up to the top.  I was a little wary, as he had his Vibrams but I only had my reefs, so my mountain goat skills were definitely not at their peak!  He gave me a hand up, but most of it wasn't too bad.  We got to the peak and it was a little windy, but it was so beautiful that I didn't really care.  I just wanted to sit and enjoy the view, standing just didn't feel safe 30 feet above jagged rocks, and there was a lovely flat outcropping of rock just waiting for my butt to be planted upon it!  Perfect!!!

I sat myself down and Kiefer sat down right next to me.  As I'm looking over the water, and out at the landscape he says to me "So...I've been meaning to ask you..." and as I turn to look at him talking to me to see what he could possibly be talking about, he pulls out a little black velvet box, and I know what's coming next.  Those of you who know me personally know I have a hard time waiting for people to finish what their saying, I have a bad habit of being impatient, but this time, for once in my life, I waited to hear what he was going to say.  He looked me right in the eyes and cool as a cucumber said my name and asked "....will you marry me?"

Kiefer is indicating the point we were sitting at when he asked.

It took me half a second to register and then however long for the word yes to come out of my mouth.  The rest is a bit of a blur between that moment and when we made our descent.  I found a better path to climb down than the one we came up, and we headed to the beach to toodle around before returning to camp.

Kiefer was looking for a rock to give me....I told him this one was too big.

Then we found some beautiful quartz along the beach.  We admired all of it, and I declared I found my giant rock.

Kiefer gave Ryzzie a huge rock!

I hopped up on the rocks to admire the view.  I really can't say how much I enjoyed being there.  I just wish I'd have had my own kayak or something!

Ryzzie taking in the view.

We returned to our campsite to finish our second mini wines (they're small!!).  You could say we each had 2 bottles of wine, but each was just enough to fill our squishy cups.  After a moment I remembered our dessert...at which point I looked around and noticed my luna bar was GONE!!!  Dang squirrels stole my dessert!!!  They left the stinking space ice cream, and stole my Luna Bar!!!! GRRRRRR.

Of course, between the Sudaphed I took for my congestion, and the excitement of the day I hardly slept a wink, despite being serenaded by the frogs all night (cute!).  I forgot to mention that at dusk there were  Quail everywhere.  I'd never seen them before, and we saw them in multitudes everywhere, it was awesome.  I felt like I was on a tour of California before "civilization" arrived, it was amazing!

As we were enjoying our breakfast the next morning we noticed our neighboring campsite had a very large visitor.  Mr. Bison decided to have his breakfast as well.  We quietly watched from a distance, I have been to Yellowstone enough times to know that they are the leading cause of tourist deaths!  I want nothing to do with you Mr. Bison thank you very much!

A bison invading our neighboring campsite.

Kiefer wanted to look his best for the ride back, so he thought about giving himself a shave.  The mirrors on the porta-potties were a little small...and...SMELL BAD!!!!!

Kiefer putting his best face forward.

We headed out shortly after breakfast, and the ride back was a lot easier than the ride in, there was a long steady ascent (compared with the extremely steep grade on the way out).  We did need to take some walking brakes mostly for the sake of our seats (on our bodies), as they were not accustomed to the torture of distance riding over terrain that bites back!

We had our peanut-butter sandwiches (the squirrels decided to try some of those too) for lunch, along with some sun tea, and then began the 1400 foot descent.  That was pretty intense, but a lot of fun after a grueling 3 hour climb two days in a row!  On the home stretch we got held up for a short bit by a tour bus, but it stopped just long enough for me to eek past (I blame my constant riding in traffic for my confidence to squeak that one off!)  I knew that bus was going to cause us (cyclists) to have a crash because it was going so slowly, so it was better for everyone if we just eeked by, so we did!  We flew down the remaining part of the hill and made it back to town....by noon!!!!

So we headed to a bar and had a beer.  Then we rode over to the casino to watch the divers.  Now, dear reader, I feel the need to point out that we made it about 40 miles with NO spills!  Here, however, in the town, standing completely still I clipped in my foot (and the beer and exhaustion probably had a lot to do with it now that I think about it), and had the BEST IDEA EVER!!!!  I should bounce on the front suspension because that sounds like FUN!!!  Kiefer isn't ready anyway.

Bounce bounce....hey that was fun, lets do it again....bounce, bounce BOUNCE...uh....oh......as I teetered dangerously to the right (where my foot was clipped in) I realized i was not going to clip out, and my body, and hand met with the pavement along with my bike and all my gear...in front of all of the attracitve outdoorsmen (my newly afianced man amongst them) looking like a complete idiot.  That's what I get for messing around I suppose.....

My freshly bruised hand was now throbbing in agony, so I demanded that we return to the bar and aquire some ice.  After about 15 minutes of ice my hand felt better, so we resumed our parusal of the city.  I wish we had some warmer clohtes, as with all my layers I was still a little uncomfortable, but it was such a nice day!  We had some hot cocoa (Kiefer had some ice cream...crazy guy!), and wrapped up the day with some mexican food at a quiet restaurant.  Our bikes got completely soaked on the way home, but all in all the return was uneventful.

Here's the details & data from our journey, and I'm looking forward to our next adventure, though this one by far was the most special!

Ryzzie's Advenutres in Wonderland

So I got to go on what I affectionately call a work sponsored vacation last week.  This time they sent me to Las Vegas.  I must say that I genuinely prefer to go places I don't typically go...and this was no exception.  I always come home with this aweful, anxious, twitchy feeling about me, and this time was no exception.  Well.... except in that it was MUCH MUCH WORSE this time.  Typically we drive, so I thought flying would be BETTER.  Boy was I wrong!  By the time they pulled in to our gate I was ready to crawl over people to get off the plane.  Then the fact that no one was meeting me at the baggage claim made it even worse =(.  I had to wait alone, and cut off from the world (my phone was not adjusting to the switch from airplane mode to 3G very well) for my bag, in an extremely edgy and anxious state.

Plus I thought the whole world was going to come crashing down around me when I got back to work.  I was dreading it from the moment I sat in my seat on the jet on Saturday.  Know what?  Today wasn't so bad!  We had chocolate cake before breakfast, and then as I was having my strawberry snack later, one of the girls came around with cheesecake.  It was meant to be!!!

So I spent the week at Nellis AFB with a group of excellent people doing jet stuff.  3 days in the meeting room, and 2 days in the hangar.  I know Nellis can be miserable, but it was positively beautiful while we were there.  I wanted to take pictures of the mountain ranges surrounding the flight line, but operative word there being "flight line", meaning no paparazzi (or mamarazzi) allowed.  BUMMER!  No I didn't get to go for a ride-a-long either.  BOO!

I did end up being the event/dinner coordinator, since I go to Vegas all the time and seemed to know where all of the reasonably priced foods were.  We ate at several great places:

• Margaritaville
• Harley Davidson Cafe
• Cheesecake Factory
• Spice Market
• Viva Zapata's

Lunches were much less exciting, we ate on base twice, skipped lunch one day, and Olive Garden on another day.  Oh we hit some BBQ place too, that was pretty good.

Everything went super well, and in fact we had such fabulous support from the team at Nellis, I can't thank them enough!

Wednesday we went to the Hoover Dam.  That was a TON of fun, and beautiful.

Friday night I met up with a friend from a previous AFB adventure (who is stationed at Nellis) and we did like a supermarathon barhop.  I think this list encompasses where we went:

• NYNY - Irish Pub
• NYNY - Roller Coaster
• NYNY - Piano Bar
• MGM - Studio 54
• Walked all the way over to Mandalay Bay
• Drove up to Venetian

By the time I was dropped off (I only had 3 drinks other than copious amounts of water) it was 5am, and time to load up my car.  I had time to meet everyone for brekkie at 630 before sharing goodbyes and getting to the airport.

I forgot to mention that Kiefer decided to plan a fun weekend for us at Catalina first weekend in May.  I'm really looking forward to the trip, and it will definitely be unique.  I'll explain more later, but for now, it's CIAO!

That's Dr. to you Ma'am!

So I have met someone...yes I know it's so sudden....but he works where I work, and we both live in the same area, and we both ride our bikes to work!  So we've decided to give it a try....as riding buddies!!! What were you thinking GEEEZE!!??

I'm really thrilled to have someone to ride home with a few nights a week.  We're going to try some different routes home, even try to squeeze in a ride down the beach on our working Fridays!  I'm so excited!

So I had some lady come up behind me at a stop light and tell me that I should be riding in the right hand side of the road.  This is correct, especially since there is a bike lane.  However, the bike lane ended at the intersection in question, and in it's place was a right turn only lane, and I was going straight through.  PLUS you're supposed to take the center position (even by CA cycling rules) when riding through an intersection.  She also said my light was hard to see, so I thought maybe my tool bag was blocking it.....no...it's not...oookay...."but it's just hard to see!"  I really have a hard time believing that, considering I've ridden behind Kiefer before with his identical light, and felt like I needed sunglasses.  We chose these lights because of their brightness.  I think the case was really that she was on the phone.

She was polite nonetheless, so I was in turn polite myself.  Right after that was when I got the flat tire mentioned earlier (I think).  Boohoo.

Anyway, so Dr. Bo and I will be heading out for our first ride together tonight.  I'm hoping we can gather more to our numbers, and make a "thing" out of it.  Thanks to Flexi for introducing us, we have plenty to share, considering he's a parent of a baby that won't sleep, and we all know I have PLENTY of experience with that from miss kate's sleepless infant days!

Trip of the Month: January

I think i still have more pictures from Colorado, but it's important to keep up with current events, and then go back later!

So we decided to go to Big Bear for Kiefer's birthday, and it was beautiful.  I felt very over booked, so we sadly skipped out on the Jackie Bristow Memorial 5K, which was probably just as well because I came down with a gnarly cold this past weekend.  In fact I am currently home sick from work because said aformentioned illness =(.

We drove up late Friday night, dropping the kitties of at my mom's house.  Crookshanks was extremely displeased with the incarceration during the drive.  Then we made our way up the mountain, which was totally bizarre because HWY 330 washed out in the last rain!  So we drove up HWY 38, it was long and winding, but we made it up a okay (at 2am...).  Poor Kate was sick when we picked her up though.  We never got to get up on the mountain because Kate and I were sick the entire time.  We did enjoy the Ice Cream Social a cople times while we were up there, YUM!  And a few awesome games of Life!

I feel like they've changed the game of Life some since I played last...of course this one WAS missing some pieces, but probably not as many as the game my sister and I used to have!  My mom won one game, and Kiefer won the other.

Wow this is probably a fairly incoherent entry.  Anyway, on my way home from work yesterday I got ANOTHER flat tire.  This one resulted in a cut in the wall of my tire that was about 3/4" long =(.  Had to run out and get another tire ($19) last night, and REI was the only place left, so I had minimal selection, and it was teh suck.

I fell asleep on the sofa last night instead of taking my turn at Wii Fit, and slept a good 12 hours...this prompted me (along with a throat so sore I could barely swallow) to stay home today.

Needless to say, Ryzzie's Day Off is not nearly as exciting as Ferris' was.  Oh well.

I kindof wish I could just blog professionally, maybe I'll get a tablet and draw up some cartoons as well hhaahahah!!!  Yah right!

Next trip of the month will be to Vegas for the Rugby 7s World Series.  I'll be blogging and posting from the hotel, we'll be staying near the freemont.

I think it's time for me to come up with a logo for my blog.  Okay, cat on my lap, impossible to type on laptop with lap cat.  It's one or the other, and furry Dr. Crookshanks usually wins.