View From the Bushes

I went on my long bike ride yesterday; it was pretty brutal. I definitely could have benefitted from having some more miles in my legs. I'm pretty good at pacing myself to the top of the hill, but I'm used to not having to save anything and just coast all the way back. Yesterday there was quite a bit of riding after we got off the hill, including a horribly steep hill right at the very end. I'm ashamed to admit that I walked part of the way up that final hill, which wasn't that much better, because by that time even walking was pretty painful.

I really wanted to take today off, both to recover from my ride and also to give myself an actual sit on my ass and relax vacation, which I haven't had in probably three years. I vascillated back and forth for quite a while but I finally decided to go to work. Thinking back, I can't remember why I made that decision. I guess it was to keep the number of days off in the "bank" from getting too low. Right now I'm down to four, but at this point the idea of being at home and taking a nap is making me wonder what I was thinking.

Part of the problem is that everyone else at work is taking a vacation. One of my friends leaves for Maui tomorrow, another is already in Bermuda, still another just got back from a motorcycle tour of the Pacific coast, and this doesn't even cover the "Burning Man" contingent. The last thing I want to touch on is a recent report which seems to be saying that the unreasonable panic surrounding Chernobyl was more harmful than the actual disaster. The report concluded that 56 deaths could be attributed directly to radiation. I've said it before, but it bears repeating: nuclear power is not anywhere near as dangerous as people make it out to be.

Walking funny
Ross