Goodbye February, Hello March!

I cannot believe that February is over already! I have been so busy the last week, that I haven't really been paying attention to the calendar and then all of the sudden, tomorrow is March first! It is a welcome change though, I am looking forward to spring. I am especially looking forward to May 1. Hmmm, I wonder why :)

In other news, registration for the Gold Nugget Triathlon is tomorrow night and I am excited! I bought a punch card at the pool a few weeks ago in preparation and finally went to lap swim this evening. Man, I am a slow/bad swimmer. That was what really killed my time in the race last year. It was about 12 or 13 minutes, and I'm hoping to cut it down to 10 at the most. I also want to work on the running portion of the race, since I did not train at all last year for running. So I guess I have my work cut out for me, that is if I can get registered at all! Usually it is a crazy fest of site crashing wonder.

Swimming tonight felt good, even though I got tired QUICK. But I love the weightlessness of it. Hope you all have a great week and a great start to a new month!

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New (to me) blog that I'd like to share...

This is Kelly.  She is the creator of Faithful Provisions, a blog about "saving money while living generously".  Her inspiration for the blog and its title come from a passage in Luke that addresses our needs as humans and how God provides for them.  I love her blog.  It is such a resource for those of us out there trying to budget and live well within our means.  When Kelly was pregnant with her first child about six years ago, she felt very convicted about her job status.  She felt God encouraging her to quit her job to be home with the new baby, a change that would be the catalyst for many more changes if this new plan was going to work.  Through prayer and guidence from other women, she was able to cut her grocery/eating out bill from around $1100 a month to just $250!  This is so inspiring, and I just had to share her site with all my bloggy friends and family.  I hope you check it out and utilize the many resources that Kelly has organized so well on her site.  Happy reading (and budgeting)!

Onions

I tend to cook a lot with onions and I always wonder what the exact nutritional benefits of them are.  I really don't like to include food items in my meals that have no nutritional benefit, so I've been really curious about food lately.  Onions don't look nearly as healthy as spinach or tomatoes, for example, which are so bright in color.  Because of this, I have decided to do some research on onions and have found out some very interesting things!

Onions have been featured in movies and books, like Louis Sachar's, Holes, in which they are an anecdote for the danger Stanley faces.  Onions are in the lily family, the same as garlic, shallots, chives and leeks.  They are used as food and medicine!  It is the thiosulfinates, sulfides and sulfoxides that exhibit antimicrobial properties.  They kill bacteria such as salmonella and E. Coli.  Onions have been used to treat cough and colds in indigenous cultures for hundreds of years.  

But in regards to how onions stack up compared to other veggies, I was happy to find out that they do!  They are a rich source of oligomers, which help suppress harmful bacteria in the colon.  The sulfides in onions are also known to lower blood pressure.  Also, they are a good source of flavonoids , which are known to protect against cardiovascular disease.  

Also, onions provide protection against tumor growth in all parts of the body, but especially in the digestive system, such as the stomach and colon. 

If you want all of these amazing benefits, you should try and get yellow onions, which have a much higher antioxidant content than their white counterparts.  The stronger the flavor the more health promoting properties the onions seem to have.  So I guess everyone had better increase their onion intake to fight cancer and keep your heart healthy :)

My OB said WHAT?!

Umm...this is a hilarious blog!  I had to share it, let me know what you think...

The wheels on the bus...

Ever feel like not driving?  Want to reduce your carbon footprint but don't know how?  Or do you just want to save money?  If you live in Anchorage, Eagle River, or the Valley, you should try the People Mover.  I feel like there is a negative stigma associated with riding the bus in Alaska and I'm not too sure why that is.  Yes, there are some crazy and creepy people who also ride the bus, but for the most part, you can just ignore them.  If we want the bus to become more mainstream and feel "safer" to ride, we need to get on there and ride it!

I have ridden the bus pretty regularly for the past two years.  When I first started riding it, people at my work were shocked.
"I thought you had a car?!!!"
"Yes, I do."
"Then why are you riding the bus, did you get too many tickets?"
"No, it just saves me money and I can ride it and bring my bike along."
Silence...."Oh." (Raised eyebrows and sideways looks indicated that I was basically crazy).

But seriously, what is so bad about riding the bus?  In other big cities, it is just a fact of life.  For me, it would be a little ridiculous not to ride the bus.  With my Wolfcard, it is free, and it goes everywhere I need to go (see, there is no excuse for you UAA/APU students to ride the bus - you just can't beat FREE).

I can ride my bike to campus, and then if I'm feeling lazy on the way home, I can jump on the bus (with my bike, remember) and get some reading done for school at the same time!  I am also saved from the hassle and stress of driving on campus, and save $250 thanks to not buying a parking pass.  See the appeal?  Also, besides about two major snow days last winter, the bus has been very close to on time nearly every time I ride it.  There are some delays during rush hour, but it's the same for those actually driving, so it never really bothers me.

If you don't have a Wolfcard, don't worry.  Regular rates are also extremely affordable.  With gas prices so high, it is much more economical to ride the bus.  Here is a breakdown of rates:

ONE DAY FARE:
Adult                            $1.75
Youth                           $1.00 Ages 5-18.
Students 12 or older may be asked to show school ID.


UAA, APU                  Free.
UAA students, faculty, and staff must show WOLFCard.  APU and Anchorage Charter College students, faculty and staff must show their current semester university ID card.
4 and under                  Free


Reduced                      $0.50
Seniors (60+), individuals with valid Medicare card & individuals with a qualifying disability.  Seniors may be asked for proof of age.  Disabled persons must show People Mover Reduced fare ID card.  Check here for reduced fare application.

DAY PASS
Adult/Youth                  $5.00
Reduced                       $1.50

MONTHLY PASSES
Allows for unlimited rides on People Mover bus throughout the calendar month

Adult                             $55.00
Youth                            $25.00
Reduced                       $19.25

For more pass information, click here.


No, this isn't a paid add by the government.  I just feel strongly about supporting good things.  And the service the People Mover provides is most definitely a good thing (one might even go so far as to say it is a great thing).  There has been a big fuss lately about increasing People Mover rates and eliminating certain routes due to budget problems for the Municipality of Anchorage, and I noticed many people claimed to be outraged.  But you know what?  Nearly 70% of those people have never even ridden the bus!  So why do they even care?  If you really care about the People Mover, you need to bite the bullet and start riding it!

Off to Girdwood...

Well, Steve and I are off to Girdwood for a family weekend of downhill skiing, snowboarding, and xc skiing.  Hope your weekend is fun, whatever you are doing!  

Fail

 As I mentioned in my post this morning, I wasn't too optimistic about making it to work on my bike.  Skinny tires don't do so good in four inches of fresh powder on ice.  

But, still, I tried to have a positive attitude.  

...I made it to where our Jeep was parked...

...but only made it one hundred yards down our street before I fell for the third time.  

My tracks are captured in the photo above.  

At this point, I turned back and walked back down our street,

 brushed my bike off, and headed back inside.  I decided to drive :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend, mine will be busy as usual.  Special thoughts go out there to all my friends, coworkers, bloggy people doing the Susitna tomorrow!  Mike, Bob, Josh, Seth, Jill, you guys are rock stars!

Snow

snow falling in our circle

My alarm went off at 7; I quickly sat up and turned it off. I looked around the room in the dark, then leaned over to open the curtain and look outside. Our neighbors park their SUV a few feet from our window, and it was covered in snow. I raised my eyebrows and slowly laid back down.

Today is going to be interesting. It will be my first time riding my randonee through such deep snow. To be honest, I'm not very optimistic. My little studded tires do great on the ice, but they are going to flounder in the snow. Plus, that ice is still there, under the snow, waiting to sabotage me. And its still snowing...

To look on the bright side, at least it has warmed up a bit. My face won't freeze below my goggles like it has been. But I think it would be prudent to leave for work very early today, in case I end up walking my bike most of the way. Hope you all have a wonderful day out in the snow; its a great time to get out and do something!

Pretty deep snow for my petite 700x40ccs

Results

So.  Both yesterday and today I rode my bike to and from work.  For those of you who don't live in Anchorage, it is extremely slick out there.  Like the-roads-might-as-well-be-ice-rinks slick.  Where there isn't ice, there is dry pavement, so it is interesting to bike on to say the least.  Many of the sidewalks are much worse, because people walked on them when they were wet, then they froze with footprints in them, which are dangerous to bike over because your tire can slip down into the footprints and voile! You and your bike slam down on the ice.  Because of this I have been trying to go pretty slow and pay attention to the surfaces I'm biking over.  I have also decided to wear my ski helmet instead of just a normal bike helmet for extra protection in case my head hits the ice (which is likely to happen sooner or later, it's just Murphy's law).  Here is a picture of my cycling get up from yesterday morning.  

This was at about 9:20am...and it was 0 degrees.  

Can you see my breath?

For all those cyclists out there, it might interest you to know that the Susitna 100 is this Saturday.  I know quite a few people involved in the event this year, and all but two are biking.  Everyone I know who is doing it is from my work, except one:  Jill.  Jill is a cyclist/ultra-runner who used to live in Alaska and now lives in Montana.  Hers was one of the first blogs I followed and still read it regularly.  I've never actually met Jill, which is sort of ironic since we lived in Homer at the same time, and later Anchorage, but whatever, I love her blog.  You should check it out :)

Bicycle Commuting Again...

Last night I got my Randonee all set up for winter bicycle commuting because I am completely sick of driving.  Driving to UAA and paying to park is a process, so I decided to make my roadie work for winter too.  I took off the rack and fenders and changed out the 700x35 touring tires for 700x40 studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas.  Here are some pictures, wish me luck on this chilly day (0 degrees).

 Getting the tires back on after swapping them out...

 my bike maintenance helper :)

 studded bike tires, a thing of beauty for us winter bicycle commuters