Another One In The Books

Back from a long hiatus at last.

I sincerely hope each and every one of you got to spend time with family/loved ones, enjoyed some good food, gave what you could, and participated in the general dysfunction and chaos that is Christmas.  I know I did.

Erin and I "made the rounds" this holiday season - that is, drove from Eagle to Fremont, NE (Erin's folks) for a couple days; then on to Alma, KS (my parental units) for a couple days, then returned to the infamous Rocky Outcroppings for some actual relaxation time before 2010 hit us like a Mack truck.

Not many great stories, so without boring you all in details, here's a rundown of the events that occurred:

• 10-hour drive through one of the most God-forsakenly boring places on the planet
• Made it out for a 2-hour road ride in freezing drizzle
• 11 Inches of snow with three-straight days of 40mph winds
• Basketball, basketball, basketball (I think Fremont over Christmas is officially my favorite place to play hoops)
• Dinner at El Bee's Mexican Restaurant (OMG the Macho Chicken Chimichanga is PHE-NOM-ENAL)
• Gifts and such at Erin's fam's house on Christmas Eve
  
• Christmas Eve church service amongst 3-foot deep snow drifts and howling winds
• Attempt at driving on to Alma on Christmas Day amongst 6-foot deep snow drifts and howling winds
• Got Audi stuck in 6-foot deep snow drift only 5 miles from Fremont, had to be pulled out by volunteer firefighter (no, that's not my car in the picture, but it might as well have been)
  
• Slept/PSP'd the rest of the day at Erin's fam's house
• Drove an hour out of the way to get to Alma the day after Christmas amongst 6-foot deep snow drifts that had been plowed and were reforming
• Whole family (my side) Christmas gifts / celebration on day after Christmas
• Lots more sleep/PSP
• Afternoon in Manhappiness (and got to take in a K-State Basketball game)
• 10-hour drive through another of the most God-forsakenly boring places on the planet
• Drove through dumping snow in the mountains
• Got home to Eagle - with less snow than we saw anywhere else on our trip

I tried to take my road bike to get in some good workouts - believe it or not, eastern Nebraska and Kansas are some pretty picturesque places if you get out on the smaller roads.  But with all the snow and wind, I got all of one ride in.  Complete waste of time, space, and gas (the bike on the roof cost me a solid 6mpg the entire trip).  But I did manage to get all my weight workouts in, as well as a bunch of basketball.

So, I'm back at home now.  New Year's Eve was a blast - I was in bed by 10pm.  Just not big on the NYE/partying/resolutions thing.  January 1 is no different than August 1 for me; well, except for the fact that I don't have to work, which is pretty cool.  Erin's painting the bedroom while I clean the rest of the house today.

Again - no big 'resolutions' for me.  I guess my goal for 2010 is to keep on keepin' on.  But now that I'm home, it's back on the training program again.  Jan 1 and Jan 2 were scheduled "off days" for me, so we'll start 'er up again on Sunday with an easy two-hour ride...I hope.  The forecast has lots of white stuff in the near future.

May you all have a fantastic rest of the weekend, and have a crusher of a 2010!