$25 I-Tunes Card and the Meaning of Life

I got a $25 I-tunes card for Christmas. I planned on using it to expand my musical horizons but instead just down loaded Cake, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Primus, and Soul Asylum to fill in holes from my late 1990's to early 2000's music genre collection. I like to look for, and make fun of, people I see stuck in a particular decade only to find out I am one. I suppose this was a very good period in my life and I subconsciously drift back to then.

A common thread in my blog entries is a concern I have with my daughters getting older, but it isn't all bad. Em got me out of the house early this morning to go to the fitness center. And Allie is at the age where I feel comfortable leaving her home alone for a bit while Em and I worked out.

And Friday I had some things to do after work so I called Em and asked her to start dinner. She made spaghetti. She added brown sugar and spices to the store bought sauce. It was much better than I would make myself. Maybe, just maybe, this isn't a bad time in my life.

Em and I got home from the fitness center and Allie was still in her PJs and watching TV. I sat on the couch and Allie crawled up on my lap. I ran my fingers through her hair while we watched I-Carley. Life is good.

Then I noticed she had lice. Em too. Are you fucking kidding me? I quickly researched head lice on the Internet and went to the pharmacy to buy Nix and spent the next four hours combing their hair with a lice comb. I am now 12 hours into a 48 hour cleaning frenzy. I am borderline OCD when I clean under normal circumstances, now I am worried about a single sesame seed sized louse carefully hiding someplace in the house, waiting to lay 100 eggs, clinging to a fiber in the deep recess of the couch or on the hair follicle of an American Girl doll in the basement.

I am in over my head.

Chainrings and Wedding Rings

Cindy and I stopped wareing our rings. It is sad, and complicated but, true to my optimistic nature that transcends reality, I was considering the 25 grams I saved by not waring a ring. Right, it isn't much but 25 grams is about what I saved going from stainless steel chainring bolts to aluminum bolts on my single speed. The aluminum bolts broke two miles into a ride I drove across the state to do last summer. I was really looking forward to that ride but you need all four bolts for it to work. The thing about saving weight is knowing what makes sense and what doesn't.

It's All Relative

Cin sent me this picture 10 minutes ago. Right now she is somewhere in a 5K snowshoe race in Traverse City. This is her second time wearing snowshoes ever. She didn't train for this race; in fact, she won't even pump her own gas when it is cold outside yet she is doing a race in Northern Michigan. This is kind of impressive. I know the race was just her excuse to spend the weekend with friends and all the debauchery that goes along with a girl's weekend away but still, it's impressive.

This makes me think about all the people that show up for mountain bike races. I like to beat myself up for my inability to place in an Expert race but at the same time, I (unintentionally) feel smug when I lap slower racers. It's all relative. Just mustering up the motivation to line up at a race really is a significant accomplishment for some people. There are other people that have a life style and an innate ability to go fast. I am someplace in the middle and today's introspective lesson to myself is I need to be comfortable with that.

10:57 AM Edit:

Cin just sent me another picture; she finished and Renee won over all in the woman's division, taking home the coveted Bigfoot trophy. I'm not sure which accomplishment is more impressive.

Nothing Really Blog Worthy

It's been a weird few weeks. Nothing appropriate to blog. I sometimes hint around at real life but never post anything openly personal. I have been riding and lifting but my heart hasn't been into it. I usually get motivated in February so I am just keeping my foot in the door until then.

Cin and I spent two nights at the Mott's Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor with Emilie last week. I didn't sleep. I wasn't tired, just numb. Em really is a sweet girl. She thanked the doctor for inserting a nasal-gastronomical tube in her. I wouldn't be so understanding but she is a better person than me. The doctors don't seem to know what is wrong with her and this is very frustrating for a simple minded person like me to comprehend. We are going to a specialist Monday. If he is as perplexed as all the other doctors, I may very well lose it.

Em is feeling better and worked out with me at the fitness center yesterday, as she usually does on Saturdays. Afterwards she wanted to go swimming. I envisioned us playing motor boat motor boat, or Marco Polo. No, she wanted to swim laps. I really need to learn to let go.

Getting Em better is all that matters. All the other inconveniences around this problem are insignificant. But there are other inconveniences. Between GM's new, anemic health plan, and accidentally going to a hospital that isn't in this new, anemic plan, I am responsible for at least $3500 of the costs we incurred last week. This is the cost of a Gary Fisher Superfly to put it in relative terms. With other things going on right now, the timing was bad for that bill. And we apparently brought home the influenza virus from the hospital. Cin was violently ill for two days and I am waiting for the kids to get sick and that really hurts. I won't get sick. I never get sick. I think I have some type of gene mutation that causes germs and viruses to bounce off me like marshmallows off armor. I think some large pharmaceutical should be willing to pay me $3500 for my genes, get FDA approval, and bottle it. What do I know.

Sledding

We finally had a convergence of the right temperatures, amount of snow, and snowmobile tracks to make the trails perfect for winter riding. I went sledding instead. My best decision this year. I'm happy. That's it. No convoluted metaphor that hints at anything.

Overprotective Father Haiku

Em Turned 12 today.

She is wearing eyeliner.

I'm a total wreck.