So maybe we'll start posting again...

I think its been a year since we posted. I think it probably died out with my University of Wisconsin Synchronous Machines summer class last year. It was a wonderful class taught by a man who believed that he should teach concepts but give detailed homeworks that were not aided by lectures. You were supposed to research how to do the problem or "figure it out". So in other words last summer I compressed all my summer fun into three weekends and spent the rest of my time in the least fun book in our home.

Having learned my lesson, I signed up for an ethics class this summer. Which I already finished.

I recently bought a bike and its a huge improvement over my last biking experience. My last bike was a hand me down that came in three speeds: pedaling sitting down, pedaling sitting down, and reattaching the chain to the gear on the side of the road because I foolishly attempted to try to change gears. Also my knees no longer hurt when I pedal since the bike is correctly sized for me. I've learned that cycling is actually fun. I also see lots of picturesque nature scenes when exercising. Seriously, a line of 6 turtles sitting a log in a lake. Just like in books!

I am up to running 4-5 miles which burns about 500-700 calories. There seems to a roughly 2/5ths conversion of distance and calories between running and biking. So far I've been doing about 10 mile bike rides, which is great since all of the places I want to bike are about 5 miles away. Liz is about to start a Monday-Thursday 6PM-10PM class so its nice to have a "second car".

So once Liz is done with her summer class we are focused on making up for lost time from last Summer. Here are some of our hopes for the summer:

• Overnight at the beach (spend more time at the beach than driving)
• Kayak/boat (to prepare for our big trip to Belize)
• BBQ ( a lot)
• Use the pool a lot (exercise without sweating)
• Go the farmers market a lot
• Camp (and actually sleep)

Or at the very least use my TV to play video games rather than watching the interaction between exciter fields and reactive power. Off to summer...

- Patrick