Writing, Spinning, Hiking,

Writing
One of the other things that "fell off" when my mother passed was my writing. I haven't gotten very far, but the story is still strong in my head. Of course, I had my first critic when I mentioned it at home. My brother read the synopsis and said, "Sounds like every other story I've read." After some fun brain storming, I gathered a few ideas to try. I will get back to it, but it may be a while until my hero gets back home and finds all the troublesome things I plan for him to find.

Spinning
When we lived in Louisiana, we joined a fitness club in Slidel and we met a girl there who was learning to be a spin instructor from the girl we loved to take the class from. She was a few months pregnant and very friendly. Well, I received orders back to the MD/DC area and we moved back up north. We joined a new club in our neighborhood and started trying out the spin instructors. None of them seemed to teach the way we liked until we tired Cassie's class. She taught exactly how we liked it. While talking to her, we discovered that she was the pregnant girl in the back of the class and we instantly loved her.

We would take Cassie's Sunday morning class every week. As happens in life, Cassie moved away to pursue her other business interests and we lost our favorite instructor. Lisa and I would try the other instructors, but none taught like her and I personally decided to find other ways to burn calories. Lisa kept saying that we should get Cassie to add her voice cues to a song so we could keep "taking her classes" without her.

This gave me an idea. A simple Google search of "How to make a podcast?" led me to a good video of how to add voice to a song using free software and a cheap microphone I had. It has been a steep learning curve, but I now have one of her profiles mostly finished with cues that I dictate from her profile, which she copied for me on her last ride with us. It isn't her voice, but I have tried it out and it does work. I also have another profile she gave us way back when we took a cruise and that will be my next project. If you can stand my monotone voice telling you what to do, you can get a good workout instead of just pedaling away mindlessly.

Hiking
As always, my hiking bug (AKA Springer Fever) continues. I'm hoping to get on to the AT during Spring break with my daughter and her boyfriend. I am constantly reading AT Journals and looking at my gear. I would love to try an overnight during this time of year, but I just can't seem to put it together. I also need to get my daughter some good gear.

Tomorrow I head to the airport (maybe in the midst of freezing rain) and fly to California for a week. It will be a long week with actual work on Sunday and not getting back until late the next Saturday, but work is work. I soldier on.