Happy Hollandaise!

The Hollandaise were good to the Purplestaters this year -- despite (because of?) an almost total lack of preparation on our part. I mean, for reals -- no tree, presents purchased on the 22nd, no plan for the weekend? How can that work out? Well, my dad decided he wanted to come visit last minute, and the in-laws hosted a feast, and we all got to hang out and have fun. I even watched a good 30 minutes of NFL football, which I think is about right for any given 12 month period.

Big ticket items for the fam was the suite of equipment required to play Lego Rock Band. This is a guitar hero spinoff, with, yes, Lego figures as the performers. We've never owned any of this stuff before, just envying other's cool guitars and rapidly descending bars of color, but now we rock out. Well worth the expense, and as soon as we get a drum kit all three of us can play together which will, I expect, be even more fun.

Me, I gots me a new bike -- new to me, anyway. B found an ad on a forum for a gently used Quintana Roo 2003 Caliente in my size, and after some negotiation I went ahead and got it. Going this route saved me $700 over a brand new bike, which I promptly put towards a wheel with a power tap. "Why ride with power?" I hear some of you asking -- hi mom! -- well, its all about getting accurate measurements of effort. In training last year, I was working to ride ~20 mph over the distance -- which, while a laudable goal, is tough to train for, on account of the differences in terrain and any-given-day conditions on the road. Its far more useful to train to crank out 200/220/240 watts for 5 hours at a time, so that on race day you can do that, at which point your finishing time is dependent upon the terrain. If you have trained properly, you have a better idea of what you are able to do, and focus on that rather than on the clock. You may recall, faithful reader, how I nearly blew up on the bike at IMMoo --- here's hoping that this training tool is going to prevent that.

I've signed up for the DC marathon in March, again, and hope to crush my 3:52:00 time this year -- 3:30:00 is my goal again, and if all goes well in the next 12 weeks of training, I'll aim to go somewhere south of that. My 1/2 marathon in November suggests that this kind of time is well within my reach, if I can keep to the training schedule. Which, barring the hellish snowstorms of two weeks ago, has been pretty consistent.

The dissertation is approaching completion. 33 pages into chapter 5, I hope to finish that by tomorrow and then start working on the intro/conclusion. Defense is set for February 22, if I can manage to get through all the hoops on time. On the job front, lots of applications out, no nibbles as yet. Too soon to worry about that, though -- Feb 1 is my "panic" date. I wonder if I can still get a job teaching ballroom with a PhD? (Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!)