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Day’s Verse:
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Psalm 19:13
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I admit it. I’ve been bitten by the the long-distance bike ride bug, and I can’t stop going on long rides! Because I raised so much money for the Cape Cod Getaway, the MS Society let me register for free for another of their rides, the Manchester Bike Ride. It’s on August 9 (yes, indeed, that is our 5th anniversary. Ian is fine with it. Thank goodness I have a patient and understanding husband!) Now I just have to remember how it feels to ride 62 miles… Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
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I hate junk mail. Probably 80% of the mail Ian and I receive at this point is junk mail; bills comprise another 15%; and the last 5% is actual mail we want. I would love to eliminate junk mail, not just from a bother standpoint, but because that’s a lot of paper wasted each day. Plus it would be nice to actually get mostly mail we want.

Handily enough, a free service called ProQuo exists. They help you choose what mail you want, while guiding you to the appropriate places to eliminate the rest of your junk mail. I would do this, but Ian and I anticipate changing addresses soon anyway, which will hopefully leave behind most of that mail. But if you, like us, receive lots of stuff in the mailbox that just goes straight into the recycle bin (it had better be the recycle bin!), check ProQuo out. It could be worth it. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
Genesis 9:12-16
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Day’?s Verse:
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
Proverbs 6:6
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Hey, this is pretty cool. Pledge to ride your bike more, and you could win a new Trek 7.2 through August 31.

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Yesterday I ate a yogurt, fruit, and granola parfait outside. One granola bit fell on the ground. Almost immediately, a tiny little ant — the ones whose body segments can’t be larger than the size of a period — found it. Moments later, although that ant hadn’t moved, three or four other tiny ants joined it. The granola was probably four times as large as any of the ants, but they grabbed it and started dragging and pushing it nonetheless. With one ant pulling and another pushing from behind, they got that granola moving remarkably quickly over the asphalt. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Genesis 2:2
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These deep summer days feel almost unrelentingly soporific. You want to do nothing more strenuous than sit on the couch, although ideally you’d lie on the couch instead. The heat slows everything down, makes you feel that, despite having laundry, dishes, and a bathroom to clean, your best option is to just go to the den and doze on the extra bed. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
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I’m sure you’re all dying to hear how the STP went, now that I’ve been silent since I flew off to Seattle. For those of you with the short attention spans, here’s the quick-and-dirty report:

The TSA check + rough handling cost me $45 in repairs to Davey when I got to Seattle, but that got him in good working condition. Dad and I rode the STP and had a really good time—met lots of nice people, saw tons of other bikes (duh!), ate lots of bananas and sports nutrition bars, and rode for a total of just over 12 hours between both days. The temperature started cool (low 50s—cold to me!) and got warmer, into the mid- to high 80s, with low humidity. I found it lovely cycling weather, although other riders, Dad included, suffered some because of the relatively hot temperatures. We slept Saturday night in Chehalis and finished Sunday around 2:00 in Portland. All in all it was a great ride, a nice break from work, and a pretty decent trip. I haven’t been to Seattle in the summer for a few years now, and this visit reminded me how gloriously beautiful the area can be. Here you can see pictures of me riding the STP. (Notice my fine Landry’s shorts — yes, they say Landry’s all over, but they also cost half as much as they otherwise would and they’re wicked comfy. What more can I ask for?) Continue Reading >>

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Day’?s Verse:
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:34
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In almost exactly 12 hours I wing my way back to cool, temperate Washington to do the Seattle to Portland ride with Dad this weekend. I think I’m all packed up, cleverly leaving behind my cannisters of compressed CO₂ that I’m pretty sure airlines wouldn’t like. After some small travail, I got Davey safely in his special bike box (alas, snapping the bike computer cable — now I see why people buy wireless ones!). Now I just have to get it safely through the plane flight and reassemble it, with hopefully no damage. My observations of airline baggage-handlers, alas, give me no realistic expectation that Davey will come through unscathed, but I cling to a shred of illogical hope nonetheless. I really hate flying, and lately I’ve felt sick on pretty much every plane flight, no matter how smooth and gentle, so I have little to look forward to tomorrow. Still, by this time tomorrow I will be in Kirkland, probably thinking it’s about dinner time. Continue Reading >>