costa rica, part II

no water for me today... yesterday morning i was standing near shore and didn't have control of my board - and whack! it smacked me right in the face. yeah. blood was just pouring out of my nose and i just kept thinking that it was broken. my teacher got me to the doctor right away (luckily we were close!). i'm sure the doctor sees stuff like this all the time, so she was just totally calm and soothing. she checked me out - just a few superficial scratches near my eye and nose. nose isn't broken! she gave me a shot of some anti-inflammatory and sent me off with a prescription for some pain killers and more anti-inflammatories.

i have a lovely, puffy and deep red "black" eye and my nose is a little swollen at the top of the bridge.

awesome.

all in all, i look pretty darn tough. i'll upload some pics to facebook when i'm back.

and tomorrow - back on the board!

especially because i was just getting to stand on some small green (unbroken) waves. it's amazing - the feeling of standing on the water and moving as fast as the waves.

here's hoping the black eye is gone for graduation!

Costa Rica trip, part I

Hola from Costa Rica. I came inside because of a little afternoon rain, but it has since stopped - so I'm going to type fast. Beware of typos and stream of consciousness...

Yesterday was my first full day here in Tamardino Playa. I woke up super early and went out to a beach called Avaellas (something like that) with an instructor. After a while I was able to get up in the whitewater - so after the wave has already broken. Then went back to my room and took a nice nap. Then a juice and some coffee and some play time at the beach - and then more surf again around 4pm, this time solo at the beach right in front of the surf camp. A kind of chill evening of dinner and then a little TV on DVD (thanks MW!) and early to sleep so... I could wake up and go out again at 6am this morning. We went to Playa Grande, where I got up again in the whitewater. The feeling of standing on the water and moving with the waves is amazing. I love it. Tomorrow I may move over to the green waves - catching waves that haven't yet broken.

The water here is so happy... warm and gentle, not like the cold and angry water at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. It's this magical non-sticky salt water too, so you get out and feel just fine. Taking that first sip of freshwater after being in the ocean sure is tasty though.

I'm trying to really relax. Not DO SOMETHING all the time. Just be okay with hanging out by the water, napping in the middle of the day, enjoying a book or magazine. Part of me wants to be seeing everything and constantly doing something, but a big part of the reason for this trip is just that - I need to calm the eff down and destress after school!

Speaking of school and learning... I really want to learn Spanish.

I haven't taken any pictures yet, but plan to bring my camera out to the beach sometime today.

Haven't made plans for the final three days of my trip yet. I have Sunday - Tuesday (I fly out on Wednesday) to do stuff like zip lines and maybe see the volcano. I'd like to stay somewhat close to Tamarindo just so I'm not spending a lot of time in transit, but I'm pretty open.

Ah - sunshine. I see a nice smoothie and some beach time in my very near future.

Hungarian government promotes biking

It's called "Afternoon Interlude." We call it kinda cute and a bit raunchy. Believe it or not, this video at YouTube is the Hungarian government's way to get citizens onto bikes. Sneak a peek at http://tinyurl.com/4tuue5

(swiped from the RoadBikeRider weekly dispatch)

fini

I am done with school!!!!!

Wildlflower Triathlon Race Report

Wow. I'm totally behind on this one. Good news is that I did manage to totally beat my old times - for the swim, bike AND run. Even ended up in the top 10% in my age group! And I recognize this isn't much of a race report... I'll try to fill in some details another time.

updates

1. wildflower triathlon is sunday. i am nervous about beating my old times from 2005 and 2006. i was younger, thinner and possibly in better shape then. here's hoping for that older & wiser thing will kick in during the event.

2. i am done with class on may 18. it's going to be a rough two weeks. lots of work to do. really excited to be done with school.

3. i am going to costa rica. surf camp. may 22 - june 4. (one perk of all of the travel i used to do for work = frequent flier miles. boo-yah.)

Engineering + Bike Parking = Geektasticness

Underground bike parking structure. Great.
With a robot that takes your bike, stores it AND retrieves it for you. Check it:

Happy Earth Day!

Recycle, reuse, don't buy, eat vegetarian, don't drive, carpool, ride your bike, walk, use the other side of the paper, plug in a CFL or hug a tree.

A frog story.

Teeheehee. To quote friend BJ, "I'm a busy, busy girl."

.................................
A woman was out jogging in the forest one day when a frog called out to her and said, "If you kiss me I'll turn into a handsome prince."
She bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in her pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a handsome prince, I will tell everyone how smart and brave you are and how you are my hero."
The woman took the frog out of her pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to her pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a handsome prince, I'll stay with you for a year and do ANYTHING you want."
Again the woman took the frog out of her pocket, smiled at it, and put it back into her pocket.
Finally the frog asked, "What's the matter? I've told you I'm a handsome prince that I'll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"
The woman replied, "Look, I'm a Triathlete. I don't have time for a boyfriend, but a talking frog is cool."
.................................

So... I had to do some edits to that one (stolen from the Facebook group "you know you're a triathlete when" site). The frog used to be a beautiful princess, pocketed by a male triathete. But now it's appropriate for all of the fierce women triathletes out there. Tough chicks who swim in the Bay. Boo-yah.

Like me.

Grrrrr.

Take a survey about public transportation

Care about, use or despise public transportation in the Bay Area? Do you commute by bike? Take a survey & help out one of my classmates get some data for his business plan...HERE