Doggie Resolution?

When I last posted, Scott and I were both pretty much at our wit's end of dealing w/ Bowie. Scott had even set a date to take him back to the pound..."tomorrow." But, I think doing the deed was a little too hard for both of us...so we decided to switch things up a bit. Although Bowie can be a terror when he is not put in the cage during the day, the reason why we were both so annoyed was because of the peeing--his refusal to go INTO the cage in the first place. So, we decided just to make sure that all the pantry doors were closed and the trash was secured, and we left him out of the cage.
Although a couple times, I've come home to a chewed up empty plastic bag or milk carton out of the recycle, or bathroom tissue trash pulled out about the bathroom floor, the trash is a little easier to clean up, and not nearly as smelly as pee. So for now, Bowie's got his chance #4.

Doggie Dilemma

It's been nearly a year since we adopted Dog #2, Bowie, from the pound. I remember our visit-- I had decided to get Scott a dog for x-mas, against my better judgement. Not my better judgement, I guess, but just because of the fact that I really love little Henry, and I didn't think there was any way possible that another dog existed out there that would be anywhere nearly as good and as loveable as him. But, Scott had been wanting a dog of his own that he could excercise w/ since Henry's a little too old, and once I started looking at all the adoption adds and cute pics, I couldn't help but want a new little cuddly family member, either. So, we went to the humane society together, cruised around amidst all the pit bull mixes, and decided that Bowie--then Mikey, was cute enough to come home w/ us although he was nearly four years old. We were both excited, and visited the pet store right away, gave him a bath that night, and got started on our new life together.

I had adopted Hendrix from the pound, and he has been w/o a doubt, the best little friend anyone could have, so I didn't even think that another pound dog would be any sort of problem at all. Bowie was okay at first, perhaps a little neurotic, but we figured that he'd get used to us and grow out of his issues. But, over the last 11 months, he seems to have gone from okay to bad to worse. The first couple months, he was okay to leave at home by himself, but after a while, he developed these really bad habits of stealing food out the pantry--he's eaten entire loaves of bread, boxes of dog cookies and other dog treats, or knocking over the trash can and dragging everything out so he can find anything edible. I've come home to horrendous scenes of trash strewn about in three different rooms wtih avocado smashed into the carpet. The worst part about it is, if you try and get him in trouble for the things that he's done wrong, he freaks out and leaks pee on the carpet. In an effort to keep the carpet clean, I just ignore him.

So, we had to start kenneling him when were both gone for the day. He never liked that idea one bit, all though for an extremely short period of time-maybe a week or so, I could get him to go into the cage on his own w/ nothing but the promise of a cookie. But, that has also changed for the worse, and he now has to be put on a leash and lead into the cage AND rewarded w/ a cookie. Most mornings, however, he fights it, and of course, he gets scared and pees on the carpet.

And he's neurotic besides that as well: he gets up in the morning, and is of course, excited to go outside and relieve himself. But, the second I open the back door to let him out, he runs and hides behind the couch. He rarely goes outside on his own without one of us having to go outside w/ him. Even if Hendrix is out there!

It's gotten to the point that I just plain don't like him. He's cute most of the time, but I just don't love him like I love Hendrix. I love to cuddle w/ Hendrix on the couch, but I can't stand to hug Bowie or have him breath in my face. I hate having a dog that I have to cage every day so that he doesn't get himself into trouble. But now, he gets into trouble getting INTO the cage in the first place. He seems sulky all the time and bummed out and weird.

So, we've been considering taking him back to the pound. It's an absolutely awful idea, and I hate the fact that we've even considered it, but I don't know what to do w/ him. I've always wondered how people could abandon their dogs, and now, I could become one of those people. I've waffled back and forth so many times about taking him back, and now is probably one of the worst possible times to take a dog to the pound: w/so many people in foreclosure, animals are getting abandoned left and right. So it seems as if his chances of re-adoption would be slim. And, it totally breaks my heart to think of him back in that little tiny kennel at the pound, behind bars w/ no people around. I don't know what to do.

In Other News...

Scott is in North Carolina right now w/ a few other members from the cycling team for collegiate mtb nationals. He's started a blog for the cycling team, and has posted some funny comments about their trip so far. Great, huh, that he's been posting elsewhere than this blog. Oh well, someday it we'll populate it with more blogs.

In Case You Were Wondering....

For those of you who frequent this page (and when I say "frequent" I mean "visit more often than posting occurs" --which probably refers to approximately 0.000000000000000000000001% of the population of Reno), are probably confused by Scott's (a.k.a Jermaine) recent posting about also being famous.

You may think he's trying to steal the limelight from me, but it's not quite stealable. He's referring to THIS article in the RGJ about him. About US, actually. Or, perhaps, more appropriately, about John Wilson feeling like a kid again.

Ahhh fall is here

I think fall might be here now. Cool air slips in through window at night forcing me deep under the covers. The thin blanket that had nearly asphyxiated me with heat all summer has now been covered with a heavy down comforter. I look forward to the time when I get to rake up all my leaves into a pile and then dive into them from the top of the wall. Then I will look forward to the broken clavicle and 3 months of physical therapy that will follow after failing to recognize that our trees produced approximately 11 crispy leaves this year and wouldn't break the fall of a thin four year old. I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love to go on vacation to warm climates during the winter and I hate the chilly times in between those vacations. Winter just brings so much misery. Now that Amber and I have a kick ass scooter that get 95 miles to the gallon we will undoubtedly be in this situation sometime this winter. At least our friendly neighbor makes us delicious brownies all winter. 

Hey now I'm famous too.

I'm Expecting!!!

Hooray!! After months of waiting, I'm finaly ready to announce. I'm expecting a new member of the family. So now, it'll be two dogs...and eleven bikes! That's right eleven bikes!

My new bike will be the Anthem X1. After racing on a heavy (31+lb ) all-mountain bike, I'm finally upgrading to an actual race bike--six pounds later (meaning that I don't have to struggle so hard to lose those last 6 pounds :) ). So, in six days or so, we'll have a new addition in the garage. Better go make room!

I'm Famous

The Peavine Challenge race was this last weekend. After years of racing in the sport category, I finally opted to upgrade and race in the expert category. However, this decision was not based on my faith in my fitness or ability, but simply for the fact that the race promoters of the Nevada Cup Series have not opened up any communication what-so-ever, and race distances for the women have yet to be made even some-what consistent. At the first two races of the season, the womens expert raced the same as the mens expert (~30 miles), and womens sport with the mens sport (~20 miles). I never wanted to upgrade at those, because I didn't want to be the last one to finish the race.

But, at the Peavine Challenge this year, despite complaints about the same set-up at last year's race...the womens sport raced w/ the mens beginner, and only completed one lap of the 13.5 mile course while the expert women completed the same as the mens sport, and did a lap and a half which totalled 19 miles (which is comparable to the distances at the previous races that I've finished this year.) The mens expert did two full laps (27 mi).

So, I raced in the womens expert for my first time ever. And for another first this year, there were actually other women who came out and competed!!! So, I was expecting to get my ass kicked (which happened), but, I was pretty stoked at the start. When the race director shouted "Go" all five of us took off.

I got a great start, and although I didn't exactly get the "hole shot"...it was close enough. One pro girl led us all out, but she already had a 15 ft lead by the time we reached the single track, and I was the next person in line. So, I led the other three girls into the single track. I was totally stoked to see someone taking photos at that point. Although I was already winded, and could tell that I should've spent at least another half an hour warming up, I was hoping that he would get a great shot of me leading Elizabeth (? name), Cody, and Valerie into the climb before they took me over.

Well, he didn't get Cody into the shot, but this photo still showed up in the RGJ today. Although it wasn't associated with an article, and wasn't even taken by one of the RGJ photgraphers, I'll still autograph it for you if you wish. Cause, although you can only see one girl...I was in the lead at this point. And besides that...check out my calf!

Fair Weather Rider...Not Anymore!

Last weekend was great, we had nice weather and set record highs. 95 deg mid-May is pretty ridiculous. But, yesterday, when I heard a radio announcer wish for last weekend's weather this weekend, but say that at least this weather gives you a good excuse to be lazy all weekend-- I found myself laughing and thinking "No way, I'll definitely take 65 deg and raining!"

This weekend was anything but lazy, and was definitely the most enjoyable this season yet. Of course, it helped that it was an extra day.

Although, I guess on Friday, I was probably thinking the same thing as the radio announcer. It was cloudy and dreary and pouring rain. I thought that the rain spelled doom for the PineNut Cracker race the next day. And since Scott had just put a brand new drive train on my bike, I was almost convinced not to go. I knew that if I didn't go out there, it would most likely be the best conditions ever, and if I did go, it would most likely be crappy and muddy. But, I hate to get left behind, so when Alex was working out carpooling, I made sure that I was included in the plans.

The next morning on the drive out to the race, it was still dreary and rainy. When John, Kenny, Don, Alex and I got there, we only had about 25 mins until the race started. At registration, the course map that was laid out described that the race was going to go up to "the mine." I'm not familiar at all with the trails out there other than doing the race for the past two years, but the course two years ago had gone up to 'the mine', and I hated every second of it. The giant whoops leading up there forced me to walk my bike for at least two miles for fear of crashing w/o insurance. And then, Fifield announced that he had tried to ride the course earlier, and it was so muddy, he was force to walk.

So I decided not to race. I walked away from registration with my filled-out form in hand, and walked back to the truck where everyone was frantically getting ready to race. "Dammit, what else am I going to do here for the next two hours while everyone races?" I thought....so I turned back around and registered.

15 mins to go until race time. I quickly visited the ladies room, ran out and grabbed my bike...put some air in the tires, and hopped on to ride up to the start line, feeling like I probably forgot something. We got to the start just in time to line up and "GO!".

What the hell was Fifield talking about? He must've been trying to convince us not to race. The conditions were awesome! The trails out there are motorcycle trails that are whoopy, and flowy, and lumpy and bumpy, and twist and turny, and usually pretty sandy and loose. Not today! They were hard packed, and freaking fun! The dirt was smooth and tacky, and cornering was easy. Of course, race-pace speeds helped the fun factor. It was a great day! I was stoked I had done it!

The next day, after pouring rain that afternoon, and raining through most of the early morning, I was once again convinced that trail conditions were going to be crappy as hell. However, Giant was holding a demo day at Peavine, and I really wanted to check out a bike that I'm thinking of getting, so I HAD to go out there. As I chatted with the rep while they were setting up the bike for me, I said "Better your bike than mine...", thinking that it was going to be the kind of mud that forces you to put all new cables and housing on.

I was wrong AGAIN!! The dirt was great. Riding new, top-of-the-line bikes was great. It was another great day of riding.

So, by Monday, I was hooked. It rained more over the night. That morning was when I heard the radio announcer. But, now, I knew the trails were going to be great. So, I rode with Alex one more time for the weekend out at White's Creek. It was actually my first time riding out there, and now I know I'm spoiled for that trail, sinces it's almost never in that great of condition.

This entire season, I've been a fair-weather rider. If it's too cold or windy, I just won't go. I think I've learned my lesson about that. Now, I'm crossing my fingers this weather lasts a little bit longer.

Career Day

A while ago, I was invited to do a Career Day at a middle school by the husband (who I work with) of a school's counselor. I agreed, mostly because he was standing in front of me in my office, and a face-to-face rejection was way more difficult than if I had just been able to politely respond with a "no" email. Although I've been teaching engineering classes at UNR for four semesters, the thought of standing in front of 7th and 8th graders was totally terrifying.
I asked my friend Krista, who's a middle school teacher, for advice, and of course she told me exactly what I was expecting, but hoped not to hear..."just bring props, or something to pass out." Of course, I don't have any cool toys that I paly with at work that I could do a demonstration, and couldn't really think of anything that I could hand out.

So, I went to the school armed only with a bottle of water labeled "Exhaust" that I'd picked up at a recent conference on hydrogen. When I checked the first question I was asked was "Do you have anything you need to set up?"...um, no, I responded, as I looked around to see the other speakers; a police officer with a dog, an architect with drawings, and other people carrying arm loads of crap.

I was to have three different sessions of students, each lasting about 25 minutes. I hadn't prepared a single thing to say. So, the first session was kind of a guineau pig session. I mentioned several different types of engineering, and tried to make them sound as cool as possible.. "as a computer engineer, you could write software for nintendo games....as a mechanical engineer, you can design and build cars..". And then I talked about what I do..working on alternative-fuel vehicles and other renewable energy. And, of course, I drank out of my exhaust water. I looked at the clock when I was done, and only 10 minutes had passed. Luckily, each student had a handout of questions that they needed to get answered "How much money do you make"..."What is your favorite thing about your job?".

But, after they were done asking their boilerplate questions, I was totally amazed at some of the thougtful questions that I received from some of those middle school students. They asked me questions like "Does using the alternative fuels change the power output of the vehicle"...and other extremely thoughtful questions. I was amazed. I don't get that level of thinking out of students in my upper-level engineering classes.

Anyway, I just received a thank you letter from the school yesterday, and handwritten letters from several students that are just so cute I wanted to share. Here's one:

Dear Ms. Amber..
I just think it's so neat that you are an engineer for the D.r.i. (Desert
Reasearch istitute). Solving energy crisises, creating new energy efficiant
materials, it all looks pretty cool. Almost as if your saving the
world. Science to me truly is a facinating subject. Everything
happens unexpectingly. Also, drinking that exaust waster was also pretty
cool. I would really consider this career as it truly looks
promising.
Sinciraly,
Erik ..

and another

Dear, Amber..
I really like what you job was about and I would love to look more into
like the curtian ranks. Anyways thank you for telling us about reaserch
engineering and I am a 7th grader doing and participating in 8th grade math so
next year I'll be doing Algabra.
Sincerly Collin...

Don't worry, I don't know waht curtian ranks are, either.

Skeletal Weakness

Hello everyone welcome to Amber and Scott's new blog.
As you may have noticed our blog address is the bike couple. For the next few weeks, however, it may as well be titled: Amber and the guy who blows his f'ing back out picking up things like lint and empty ziploc sandwich bags.
Today was awesome; 70 something degrees, clear, and not a lick of wind. I stood in the garage watching Amber go through her normal pre-ride checks - air pressure, chain lube, spare tube, CO2, water. "Okay by. I should be back in a few hours. I'm just going to ride up to the top of peavine and then come down all the single track into Evans"

"Have fun" I thought to myself. "I am going to vacuum the living room and try not to lose bowel or bladder control when I sneeze". No I'm not bitter. After all I got in a great ride just the other day. It was a beautiful overcast day and a gentle 45 mph wind was ripping down the Bacon Strip as I crawled along in my 22-34. You know you're having a bad day when you're in the 22-34 and you aren't A) bonking and hopelessly lost somewhere near Bend OR, or B) experiencing mild anaphylaxis from being stung on the tongue by a bee (never wear a yellow helmet - you look like the pollen mother load).
Honestly I would loved to have ridden today, but there are problems that need solving...things like global warming and plummeting honey bee populations. I hope someone is working on those things because I don't really know anything about that stuff. Actually I didn't ride because I wrecked my back lifting a bag of dog food er...I mean doing squats.
How did this guy not poop doing this? I would love to see him try this after a strong cup of coffee. There is actually a tragic story associated with this photo. Kim Il Song, 27, was attempting a So. Korean national snatch record to earn himself a spot on the 2008 Olympic team when his right tibia shattered, peppering the front row of the audience with bone fragments killing 11 people.