Andy and Angelique

Man. It has been a while. If anyone cares, sorry! I don’t feel like there’s much to write about, not much people would be interested in at least. But here goes…

I’ve been racing just about every weekend and I think all the travel and competition is taking its toll on me. Is it possible to be competitioned out? I think I am. But I have another big race on Saturday. Maybe if I take it easy on the bike I’ll be itching to rip my legs off come Saturday morning. I hope. It’s a weird complaint, isn’t it? I feel bad complaining about it, especially since the last two races I got 2nd place in each. Granted, they’re Cat V races, but still. Cat V is the intro or beginner level in organized bicycle racing. Everyone must complete 10 category five races before they can upgrade to four. After that, you can only upgrade based on the amount of points you accumulate in a year. The highest category is one, and it’s a step below professional. Pretty serious, I think there’s less then 40 cat 1 riders in Ohio. I watch the cat 1-2 races in awe, and can’t even fathom how fast the pro’s race. You can’t really comprehend it, till you’re in the pack, till you’re attacking and sprinting for the win. It’s one thing to say ‘yeah, I rode 40 miles last night and averaged 20.8 mph’ (which I did with COP guys) and it was still way easier then the crit I just raced that was only 40 minutes and about the same speed. It’s the constant acceleration and sprinting, concentration going around a turn at 23 mph with guys 8” from you. And the constant jockeying for position and battling for primes. It’s rather funny that a bunch of 30-40 year old men like to rip themselves apart so much. What fun is this sport?

On other fronts. My dad and I got into a debate about global warming on fathers day and I still dwell on it now! We’re split down traditional party lines. He thinks global warming is happening but not controlled by humankind and therefore impossible to stop. I think global warming is a direct result of industrialization, and most importantly America’s greed and lavish material driven lifestyle. What I keep coming back to is the what if of it. If I’m wrong, the U.S. spends a ton of money, and completely changes our economy, but we also begin to compete with foreign automakers that are already starting to make cars based on the Kyoto treaty. The rest of the world is moving forward on this, but we’re doing nothing. We also push technology forward, developing cleaner and more renewable sources of energy. This can’t be bad right? But if I’m right and we still do nothing, what happens then? Well, you know the end of life on earth as we know it. Oh well. In related news, here’s a link to the rest of the world: cool car show
All my cooking studies are finally beginning to pay off. I made the above meal, which I think was my best to date. It was grilled eggplant topped with a tomato sauce and mushroom, olive and garlic puree. Picture isn’t the greatest, but it was tasty.

Time to go. See ya.

we’re pretty bad. i haven’t posted in a week and andy… i don’t know how long. we had a busy weekend though. it was our first comfest since we moved to columbus. we just never got to see the spectacle that is comfest, mainly because we have made poor choices in neighborhoods in which to live. that’s another topic entirely.
anyway, here is the only picture we were able to take. the camera was acting up, and i don’t think either of us wanted to deal with it. so while there would have been many interesting things to photograph, all we have is one of the art cars. it’s sort of neat though, no?

andy did some serious volunteering at the “bike corral.” we should have gotten a picture of the bike corral. lots of bicycles of all kinds. it almost reminded me of the bike racks at european train stations: lots of bikes all in one place. andy was busy busy busy parking those bikes, and i helped a little bit towards the end of the night. i hope all those drunk people got home okay. you can get a DUI on a bike, i’m pretty sure.
we also volunteered for mercy for animals. i nervously handed out why vegetarian? leaflets. andy did well with it. i was nerve-racked but it was still fun and everyone at mfa was helpful and nice. i hope i can get the guts to do more for them. i feel really strongly about animal rights and feel relieved, in a way, that i’m choosing a vegan diet. andy said that once he decided to go vegan, he felt more guilt-free, like it lifts a weight from your shoulders. he’s right. it does.

it was nice to see the hare krishnas at comfest. i only wish the cookies they offered us were vegan! we got a lot of reading material from them and a beautiful calendar, though.

i was also thrilled that the ohio pug rescue had a booth. i love pugs! i love all kinds of dogs but pugs are my current fave. duh!

a few weeks ago, i learned that one of the white ducks that live at the pond in our development had been killed by a car. andy and i called them the “whiteys” for obvious reasons, and we enjoyed seeing them troll the streets, always together, looking for food and for trouble.

even though this picture isn’t the best, this is from the last time we caught the whiteys coming to our birdfeeder. now that mr./ms. whitey has a new girlfriend/boyfriend (no one knows who puts these domesticated ducks at our pond in the first place.) maybe the new couple will stop by cafe andy&angelique for some delicious seeds.

two sundays ago, the weather was beautiful, and i sat for a time outside on our porch and crocheted a scarf.

it needs no explanation.

you know what? it’s tough to be so far away from my family. while i’m finding things i enjoy and like here in columbus, living in the midwest is not necessarily my thing… i think andy and i both agree on that; we probably won’t stay here in ohio forever. where we’ll end up is more of a question mark. the list changes almost daily: ithaca, philadelphia, portland maine or portland oregon, once i think andy said new jersey? then there’s canada and most of the european union. hmmm….
but when i see photos of all of my sisters together, hanging out and having fun in boston, i’m like, oh i wish i could be there too! so i can laugh at their drunk asses! well, marissa’s and trisha’s, at least!

ha! anyway, it will be nice to visit pa for dad’s wedding in august. i’m looking forward to it.

los animales!

so andy’s ranting about erik marcus. well…i agree. he is something else. ya gotta love him. i also listened to the podcast interview on animal voices (i love animal voices on ciut.fm!) and he did say something that got me…and it wasn’t even that self-promoting. it was something like, vegans and vegetarians spend so much time obsessing about ingredients and being as strict as possible with their own diets, when that time would be much better spent advocating for the animals and trying to reach out to as many people as possible (like he does. tee hee!) regardless, i respect and love him for all he’s doing. and for god’s sake, someone please buy his book.

yeah, so i love animal voices. i didn’t know about it until andy and i went to a mercy for animals meeting last month. it was a talk on vegan nutrition given by anya todd, and it was fun and inspiring. and delicious! free vegan food! the maitreya buddhist temple provided yummy vegetable buns mmmmmmmm! and more!

(i’ve been doing pretty well with veganism. it’s only been a week, but hey!) anyway there was someone at the meeting, don’t know his name, who recommended listening to the animal voices podcast for inspiration. what a tip! there’s a lot of episodes i have yet to download. here the people who do the interesting, informative, and inspiring radio show.

last week i stopped to pick up cat food, and outside i saw a woman and her toddler getting out of their car. her car had a “i am not a nugget” sticker from peta2.com! you don’t see that kind of stuff too often on our side of town, no sir! so of course, i accosted her and chatted with her briefly about it. she was, like, a normal-looking mom of a 4 year old, and she’s raising her daughter vegetarian. so very cool! i was surprised and happy.

June 15, 2006 | No Comments »