Highlights from the company holiday party...

For my co-workers (pictured below, minus Nesler who somehow always manages to avoid the camera) who are regular readers of the S.S. Blog, or they've read it once...details...

Cyclist humor...quote of the week

I thought maybe my fellow cyclists would appreciate this...

So last night Pete and I went for a night ride, and we rode on the bike path (south of Hwy 7) through SLP, Hopkins, Minnetonka, etc...and as most of you know, the bike path changes from asphalt to crushed rock in Hopkins. Due to the warm temps, the path was particularly messy and mushy/soft in some places, and icy in others--needless to say, my bike was a total mess, and my chain was full of grit which was making it difficult to shift. So I say to Pete, "I can't shift into my big chain ring", and he succinctly replies, "it's January...your bike knows you shouldn't be in your big chain ring."

Touche.

For your viewing pleasure...

Enough said.

p.s. Schwake, I know you like this photo as much as I do.

Baby Agosta is in da house!

Introducing Cooper Andrew Agosta!

8 lbs, 3 oz, 19.5 inches long

Congrats Susan and Thom!

by the way...Happy New Year!

Happy 2006! I suddenly seem to be too busy to update my blog...so I need to start being more efficient since Maren says I don't update it enough...so here's a summary of what's been going down:

1. Jenn and Steve are moving to New York! So we did some celebrating last weekend--we had them over for a nice dinner, and plenty-o-wine, and I had to school them one last time in Texas Hold'em (Steve created a monster...he's the one who taught me how to play). It was fun, and it's a bummer they're moving, but we're excited to visit New York since neither Pete nor I have ever been there.

2. The "off-season" for cycling is officially over, and training is ramping up--I'm trying to do it right this year by starting early. So I have indoor training two nights a week, riding outside on the weekends, and I'll be starting some core exercises/strength training next week too...that's a first for me. Last saturday I did a 2.5 hr ride with about 2o other riders, and it was a balmy 19 degrees when I left my house. Sunday, Pete and I went out and rode in the heat wave (35 degrees) for an hour. This "warm" weather is spoiling us.

3. I'm telling ya...you gotta read Chuck's blog about climbing Kilimanjaro and going on safari...it's much more interesting than my blog and has some cool photos. And, Chuck tells me that one lucky Summit beer (out of the 6-pack I gave him for Christmas) actually got to summit...that's one well-traveled Summit. Think it's not?

4. We went to see the Porkchop and J-dawg last night (my nephews). Porkchop's potty training now and he's very proud of his Thomas underwear and his NASCAR ("racecar") underwear. The only problem is that he seems to have no problem asking for my help when it comes to potty-chair time...little does he know that he's setting himself up for serious embarassment as a teenager...he's giving me way too much material for later in life. Last night, despite being the chosen one to help him go potty, I was apparently not giving him enough attention, and he was in the other room sulking, and he said to Chris "I'm not having fun with Sarah tonight". Dang, he already knows how to make a woman feel bad...so then I had to spend the rest of the night making up for it. Smart little guy. Meanwhile, J-dawg was bouncing off the walls (literally) and throwing himself off the couch. He also likes to lift up my shirt and tickle my belly (aka ponch), except last night he decided to "pinch an inch" instead of tickle. Again, how do these kids already know how to make a woman feel so self conscious? And to top it off, he somehow managed to untie my drawstring pants with his teeth. What is Chris teaching these boys? Chris is so proud...he'll be reading this thinking "that's my boy!".

I'm off to watch The Bachelor with some of my condo-mates...bunch of ladies sitting around drinking wine and ripping on the woman on the show--except for Susan , she's Pete's co-worker's sister (there's some "six degrees of Bacon" thing there) and so far, she seems relatively normal, so we're rooting for her. She wasn't like the crazy chick who couldn't stop talking about how she was ready to "reproduce" (because her "eggs were drying up") the first night she met the bachelor...I felt for the guy. It's chicks like that that give women (especially women my age) a bad rep!!

I should have some good blog material by the end of this week--we have an association meeting this week (aka wine-tasting with the condo-mates), bridesmaid dress shopping on Saturday (aka incentive for the aforementioned "core strengthening"), and my holiday party on Saturday night (aka somebody getting drunk and doing something worth blogging about).

Strats out

post-holiday update

My parents got me a digital camera for Christmas, and I can't stop taking pictures...I love it. Anyway, here's what I've been up to lately (in a Stenson-style bullet-point format with some photos):

1. Taking one of my first digital self+"porkchop" digital photo--Brenden's developed quite the fake smile (and I've developed quite the old-lady dimples):









2. Baby-sitting Brenden and Jaxson at our condo for the first-time (many little fingerprints on the mirrors):











3. Playing trains.










4. Wishing I could sleep like this, while taking my stress out on a nuk (like Jaxson's showing here):










5. Getting my first exercise in 1.5 months at indoor training with Baba (and Paula and Matt):













6. Going to a post-operative appointment and sneaking a photo of my x-ray with my phone after the doc left the room (notice the chunk of bone missing there? I thought he just "re-shaped" it?...and I thought it was on the underside of the bone?...details):











7. Trying to plan a warm weather vacation yet this winter...leaning towards the Dominican Republic again, but I'm open to suggestions/recommendations!

8. Watching the entire first season of The Sopranos in less than a week (Pete got the DVD's for Christmas)...damn, is that show addicting. And I have a question for all of you Sopranos fans who remember the first season--I'm trying to figure out why I recognize Mikey, Junior's first-hand man. Was he on the X-Files?

9. We also finished watching the first season of Scrubs, and I just bought the first season of Entourage...DVD's are totally the way to watch TV (is that an oxymoron?).

10. Marveling at the fact that my friend Chuck just climbed Kilimanjaro!!! He said it was the hardest thing he's ever done, and the only thing that kept him going was the Summit beer he had brought along to drink once he hit the summit...I bet that was the best Summit he's ever had.

Thanks for reading!
SS