Here, there, and everywhere (or nowhere?)

What a whirlwind it has been since the last post. Reconnecting with real life after my European sojourn was one thing; grappling with the house remodel, another race, and getting ready for one more out-of-country trip was another.

While Irene's flag continues to fly at half-staff because of that "fakir" (as evidenced in today's A-J's Letters to the Editor—sorry, I promise not to mention any more politics until after the New Year) I had a few great riding days at home while trying to tidy up the house a bit and dealing with those decisions that need to be made when you remodel not your house but your home.

Then came Thanksgiving. After a nice 41-miler with Smitty and Carl I had dinner with Martha and Alan. That damn Martha just had to beat me to fixing cochinita pibil, a fabulous Mayan pork dish that I had first tried a few months ago in Ogden during the Tour of Utah. Damn you, Martha Howell, for fixing such an unbelievable meal before I could produce the same in a mediocre way! Since we took it upon ourselves to kill three bottles of CH wine that night I decided to stay over ...

... only to slip out the front door early and partake in Black Friday activities. Yessir, I went to Office Max at 8 a.m. to buy myself a Nüvi 50 for $99, minus a $10 coupon I had received in the mail. Holy crap, I'm so American.

A few hours later I hopped into the Miata, dropped the roof, and drove to Dallas, where I was Chief Referee for the Crossgiving cyclocross races on Saturday and Sunday. I stayed at my friend Mike M.'s house (who, himself, was in alien-town, Roswell) and babysat his pussy in the evenings. Nothing like a purring cat at your side....

Downtown Dallas, as seen through the windshield cum bugs, on Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon, after the conclusion of the final race, I headed back to Lubbock, together with about 30,000 crazed Texas Tech students who blew by me at 90 mph, just waiting to meet death. Sadly, a few did over the weekend.

I made it home unscathed and celebrated by sharing some wine with myself. Monday—Cyber Monday, that is—I highhandedly jump-started the US economy by buying thousands of dollars worth of appliances such as a gas range, microwave venting hood, additional wine cellar, snazzy kitchen faucet and filtration system, etc. All online, of course, to stay with the theme of the day.

Sierra Nevada on the way to the Riviera Maya ...

And now I am 15 minutes from boarding my flight to Cancun for a week of R&R. It doesn't get much better, I must say. In a few hours I'll be listening to the sounds of the lapping waves.

Jürgen