I was in charge of planning our company’s big annual sales meeting… in another state.  So it’s been rather insane lately.  But the good news is that the meeting went well, everyone was happy, and I got a few perks out of it! lol

Since the meeting was in Orlando, I took Jack along with me and we visited Kennedy Space Center, Sea World, Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center!  Not bad, huh? The two days at Disney World was our Christmas gift from Mom & Dad.  I say it was to make up for not taking me as a child! lol

I finally feel like I’m starting to catch up with life now.  And hopefully that means catching up with my blog too.

So what’s around the corner… well I’m heading to Las Vegas for a tradeshow in February (first time to Vegas for me!), and then in March is Walk MS.  I’m also gearing up for Bike MS in May. I’ve moved over to help out with the SAG vans this year, very excited about that.  And pretty soon the weather will star warming up so we can hit the road on the bicycles again.

Bring it on 2010!
~Heather

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My reward was two days at the happiest place on Earth – Magic Kingdom & Epcot!

But for now, I am flying home. Sunrises are beautiful, but there’s nothing like the ones in the clouds!

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I found a job! Woo hoo!

Our dog Angel passed away.  That one was really, really tough.  Still is some days.

We decided to get another rat terrier puppy.  She was born June 1, and we should be able to get her around the first of August.

We spontaneously adopted one of the neighbor’s puppies.  She’s part shih tzu and part who knows what.  But she’s the cutest little shih what you’ve ever seen!

We’ve been doing bike rides almost every weekend.  Burleson Honey Tour, Tour de Pepper, Tour de Italia, Mesquite Rodeo Ride, Cow Creek Classic….

Had Dad’s retirement party.

Um, I think that’s it.  It seems like so, so, so much more!

Up next… who knows!  :o)

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Ok, so back to the post… I’m reading it and she announces she’s teaming up with her daughters for a new online kit club!  Very cool! And the prize she’s giving away is 6 months membership to that club!  Even cooler!  And then… you’re not going to believe this… she drew MY name!!  Holy heck! Seriously?!?!  The video’s even there to prove it!

WOW!!!  Thank you Margie!!  This is so awesome! I am so excited about this, and here’s why… over the past year I’ve kind of lost the “spark” for scrapbooking. I’ve been needing a swift kick in the pants to get me back in the groove.  And on top of that, there’s the whole unemployed thing going on, so it’s an awesome, awesome, awesomely exciting thing! 

~Heather

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It was quite a shock, I have to say.  I’m not looking forward to having to start over at a new place with new co-workers.  But it is what it is, and I’ll move forward.  Would love your thoughts and prayers as I embark on this new journey.

~Heather

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First of all, the City of Fort Worth cancelled all outdoor public gatherings due to the swine flu!  Well the ride was supposed to finish on Sunday in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth.  After some scrambling, the route for day 2 was changed to be out and back from Texas Motor Speedway.

So Friday night was the Expo at the Embassy Suites… very awesome! Jack and I decided not to stay at the hotel this year since we had Angel recovering from seizures and Spaz recovering from his surgery.

Saturday morning started bright and early.  Jack had to be at the SAG meetup at 5:45 AM, so yeah, very early!! lol  I was lucky enough to be driving a loaner Toyota Highlander since Toyota was a sponsor.  Woo hoo!!  Once Jack was loaded up with his SAG driver, I headed out to the first rest stop.  The day was full of driving between rest stops, picking up lunch and running it back to other rest stops… thank goodness for that Highlander and my GPS!!

All day long it was overcast and threatening rain.  At one point in the afternoon you could feel the temperature just plummet! I was passing the Tour Director on the road, and the next thing you know she’s pulling up next to me and her driver is waving me to her car.  I got in to find out that hail was moving into the area, and they were calling the ride.  We had to clear everyone off the road.  We were at the only rest stop with no shelter, so they immediately got moving clearing out that rest stop while I headed to the last one to help the SAG coordinator from that end.  Not long after I got out on the road, it was raining.  I felt horrible for those cyclists who were riding in the rain.

I got to the rest stop, donned my poncho (thank goodness I remembered to throw it in the car), and we directed cyclists to cover until we got the official word that the road was clear behind us. As I was heading back towards the finish, I came across about 50 cyclists huddled under an overpass.  Police were with them and they were waiting for SAG vans to come pick them up.  No one was willing to leave their bikes, so I left empty handed.  The same thing happened a few minutes later at a Valero station.

It was such a relief when we finally heard that everyone was safely off the course. Now the question, with the threat of more weather, what would happen to Day 2?? When we left the Speedway there was a weather meeting about to take place, and on the way home we drove through a monsoon!

It wasn’t long after we got home that I got the phone call… Day 2 was cancelled. It was a bummer, but I knew we couldn’t put people out there knowing that we’d be having bad weather again.

Well, we woke up Sunday morning, and it was a great day!  The sun even came out at one point!  Apparently the weather that we were fearing came through faster than they thought, and passed through overnight.  So we ended up with a nice Sunday, and got lots done… including cupcakes! :o)

Next year will even be bigger and better! And I think I may try to get my HAM license before then so we can be a better part of communications.  But we’ll see!

~Heather

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Last weekend was the BP-MS150.  Day 1 was cancelled as previously reported.  We spent Saturday waiting around for instructions and then carting a team to Schulenburg where they were staying.  After that, Jack and I took a side trip to Waelder to see M&S’s new place out in the middle of nowhere!  lol  Sorry, M… it really is!

Day 2 was interesting, fun, stressful and everything you can imagine!  If you’re reading this and you rode in that ride, I’m going to say the same thing I said inside the van to other cyclists… We try REALLY hard not to hit you guys, but some of you are just nuts and make it really difficult!  I mean, riding on the wrong side of the yellow line?  C’mon people!!  Anyway, I didn’t hit anyone, and I only got yelled at by one cyclist and one DPS officer!  A good day!  lol  The coolest part of the day was after the last rest stop.  At that point, if they’ve made it that far, they’re making it to the finish.  Well we picked up one very emotional lady who was devastated when her bike had a catastrophic failure.  She’d worked so hard, and this was her first 150.  Well Jack and I broke all the rules and a couple of barricades and got her to the finish line where she was able to walk her broken bike across the finish line!  THAT was a very cool feeling!

The Monday after the MS150 was Cyclists in Suits day.  A lobbying day at the Texas Capitol for bike safety laws.  We visited the House and Senate chambers, then went off to visit our lawmakers.  I had appointments scheduled with both our Senator and our Representative.  Our Senator didn’t bother to show up that day.  I still have issues with that, and the fact that he didn’t show up for the vote on the bike legislation, but that’s another issue for another day.  Our Representative however… his office was awesome, and he even came off the House floor to meet us and hear what we had to say.  I was TOTALLY impressed with him!

We came back home, and I was in super solder mode to get a bulk custom order done by Friday for an event.  In the midst of that we had the Rest Stop captain training for the DFW Sam’s Club MS150, which is this next weekend!  It’s already here believe it or not!!

Jack and I both had doctor appointments this week.  He’s lost about 60 pounds as a result of his surgery, which is fantastic!!  I’m so proud of him!  He rode in the Muenster Metric Century bike ride this weekend.  He did the 65k route, which is about 40 miles.  And he’s been riding to work everyday when the weather or wind isn’t nasty.  He’s my studmuffin cyclist! :o)

Friday we had a bit of a scare.  I was letting the dogs out when Angel stumbled, fell and then had a seizure.  We took her to the veterinarian, who did bloodwork and reported that she has autoimmune hemoglobin anemia.  Basically her body is attacking her red blood cells.  We’re starting her on some steroids this week, which will compromise her immune system, which means no more dog park for her.  I’m going to call the vet and see if it’s ok to still take Spaz, or do we have to worry that he’ll bring something home.  He’d be devastated if he couldn’t go to the park anymore!

So it’s been pretty eventful around here.  We’re getting ready for the Sam’s Club MS150 this weekend… Jack is a HAM operator in a SAG van again… I’m helping with rest stops on Day 1, and captaining a rest stop on Day 2 (If you want to come help… I need the help!  Sunday from 8am until around 2:30 pm… you get a shirt, and I’m really desperate!!).  I’ve got to do some charms for that, and we have the last committee meeting this week.  Plus I’ve got a couple of events that I’m working on, so it’s going to be a busy, busy week!!

I’ll post some photos soon!

~Heather

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Jack and I volunteered to drive a SAG van in support of the riders.  Basically if someone has a problem and needs to be driven to the next break point, that’s what we do.  We cruise back and forth between break points picking up riders who need help.

So this morning we dropped Spaz at the vet’s for the weekend, and took off for the BP MS 150.  First stop, Austin to pick up our van. 

We had just passed Waco when the rain started.  And it never stopped.  It poured so hard that at times we were only going 30 miles per hour on the freeway!  We finally made it to Austin, got the van, got everything transferred from our car to the van, dropped our car at the hotel parking lot, and headed for Houston. I didn’t think it could get any worse… oh but it did!

It was raining so hard, and so constantly that by the time we got to Houston my arms were sore!  As we drove through LaGrange we saw mile after mile of flooded fields.  At times, the highway was even starting to get covered by water, flooded over from the drainage ditches.  The Colorado River was swollen.  As we drove through seeing all of this, Jack and I looked at each other and said “uh oh!”

See, LaGrange is the overnight location.  LaGrange is where 13,000 riders are supposed to camp (yes, CAMP) and spend the night Saturday night.  13,000 cyclists were supposed to ride in on those roads that were being covered by water!

We arrived in Houston with much anticipation of how this weekend was going to pan out.  We arrived around 4:30 pm and it wasn’t long before rumors started to fly.  “Cancelled?  The weekend?  Just the day?  Are you riding anyway? It can’t be that bad. They just don’t want to get wet! How do we get home?  Where are we going to stay?”  We heard it all… in the lobby of the hotel, at the bike shop we ran to, on twitter, the SAG yahoo group…

Then the official word came via the event website.  Route is dangerous.  Day 1 cancelled.  Day 2 will start as planned.

Which brings on a whole new set of issues… What about those who were dropped in Houston from out of town and don’t have transportation?  How are they going to get to LaGrange? What about the next line of storms coming tonight and tomorrow that are as bad as the ones today?

There is a lot left to be determined (or from what I’m finding out… communicated).  So we shall see what happens.  All I know for sure right now is that Jack and I report at noon with our van to the park & ride we were supposed to be at 5am, so at least we get to sleep in.  But we’re going to need that sleep for the (expected) chaos that will be Saturday, April 18th.

Goodnight, y’all!!
~Heather

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