Let's riiiiide

Allow me to catch up on the things I've been doing but NOT blogging about...

Last month, in between weeks in London and Springfield, I rode in the Multiple Sclerosis Society's Bike MS Ride in Mount Vernon.  I rode with Team Expedia and had a fantastic time!!  I did the shortest ride possible, which is 22 miles, but some people rode nearly 175 miles over 2 days.  My goal for next year is to do the next length, which is 59 miles.  That'll definitely take some training since I've never ridden more than 27 miles or so, not even in FlyWheel spin class!

I got up to Mount Vernon the night before for a team BBQ, to check in my bike at the fairgrounds, and to get excited.  I had landed from London earlier that day (and was suuuper jet lagged), so I ditched out early and headed to the hotel around 8pm.  But it was a piece of cake to wake up at 5am the next day!  I had a quick bite at the hotel then headed to the start of the ride.  Had more breakfast and hung out with the team.  I got nerrrvous!  We waited till our start time, then they announced our team and we took off together.  We rode through Mount Vernon and then split apart once we hit the highway.  I learned that I can keep up a decently fast pace, and it was fun to pass people.  However, I was also riding a much shorter distance than other people, so who knows how I'd do on a longer course.  It was super flat, very pretty, and totally doable for someone that doesn't ride a ton (like me).  The longer courses are gorrrgeous (so I've heard) and go over Deception Pass.  Next year!

I had a really fun time (as I love events with uniforms or costumes or matching outfits, and I'm loving my bike) and can't wait for next year.  I'm hoping to wrangle up some other people to join the team next year (Amy?  Lynn?  Syd?).  Go Team Expedia!!

I look so official!

(Part of) Team Expedia!  Where you bike matters

My VP/boss Jeff and former colleague Jack (a traitor to Microsoft who wished he was biking with the Expedia team since we're way more fun, duh)

That's me on the left... I think I could work on my posture

 Look, I can point while riding over a bridge!  I am SO advanced.

Let me know if you want to join next year!!  :)

London observations

I am a seriously slacking blogger.  Please don't hold it against me!  So let me tell you about London...

• The chips (AKA crisps) come in very intriguing and delicious flavors.  Dill pickle, ketchup, Worcestershire.  I wish we had them here.  I suppose ranch may be a crazy American flavor since you don't find that elsewhere, but still.
• Flying across England is quite beautiful.  Dead flat, and it looks like a gorgeous puzzle of browns, light greens, dark greens, all with an edge of dark green.  It's really quite lovely.  I flew through Vancouver, BC on my trip and also LOVED the flight from Vancouver to Seattle.  Can the San Juans get much prettier?!

Washington, not England

• The Paralympics were going on in London while I was there and it was fun to see all of the Olympic excitement still going on.  Even just at Heathrow, there were signs that welcomed the different national teams, athlete check-in tables, and a guy holding a "badminton" sign at baggage claim.  I cannot imagine how exciting it would be to land in London and compete!  Although I'm fine with the spectator approach (and the baked goods that come along).

Love the sports themed cupcakes, for the less hard core athlete

• I saw men wearing colored denim and colored khakis!  Love it!  Colored denim is such a fun trend here, but for the ladies.  I kind of liked seeing some (straight looking) dudes sporting the color too.

I vote yes

• Thriller!!!  I went to see Thriller Live, the "musical" about Michael Jackson's music, on the West End (which is the London equivalent of NYC's Broadway).  It was SO GOOD!!!  There was no story (which was fine with me), so the show solely consisted of super talented singers singing and dancers dancing, complete with costumes and lights and everything.  HIGHLY recommend!

I totally missed my opportunity to strike an MJ pose here...

• Some of the beggars are quite polite, and with a British accent, it's quite hard to resist giving them something.  They just sound so darn charming!
• Even street signs are polite.  I saw a lot of "courtesy notice" and "kindly don't park your bike here."  I feel like some signs in the states practically flip you the bird.
• On the fashion front, Brits are much more chic than Americans (unless you happen to be walking by the Nordstrom corporate office in downtown Seattle, in which case this statement is no longer true... I always feel frumpy walking by there as those Nordstromites are arriving).  However, Brits are clearly not as chic as the French.  Brits looks much more American than French, unfortunately even in their body size.  They didn't seem too far behind us fat Americans actually.  (I hope these comments don't sound insensitive... but having travelled a fair amount around the world, Americans in general really are much larger than most other cultures.)  The British men are really a sharp dressed bunch.  A bit more preppy, a bit hipster-y (in a good way).  Just sharp!
• A handful of random tube (i.e. subway) ads had stickers stuck on them that said "This belongs to Lionel Richie."  I don't understand it, but I like it!

The escalator was moving just too darn fast!  There's a white Lionel label across this Louis V poster.

• Speaking of the tube, it is smallllll!!  Compared to subway lines in other cities that I've ridden on, the tube trains are TINY.  I have to duck so I don't hit my head on the handlebars on the ceiling and when I go through the doors.  If I sat across from someone tall, we could almost touch knees.  Very petite little transit.  However, the trains come pretty frequently, so even if there isn't room to squeeze in, the next one is coming quickly.  I saw a woman doing her mascara on the tube.  Bold choice, lady!  She's liable to take an eye out.
• Those crazy Europeans like to eat their lunch so late!  I went to a Thai restaurant, listed on Yelp as having 4.5 stars and 21 reviews (so, one would presume, it gets regular customers).  I went there at noon, WHEN THEY OPENED, and there literally was not a single other customer the whole time.  I left at 12:45pm.  Aren't they starving by then?!  This place did serve a pretty amazing watermelon juice...

Nothing says Thai restaurant like cowhide chairs

• Walking back from lunch, in the middle of a ton of lunch pedestrian traffic, I went past a mom and her kid, stopped in the DEAD CENTER of the sidewalk, as her little guy sat on a little plastic potty and peed.  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY SIDEWALK.  I don't get it.  I just don't get it!  Give the kid a little bit of privacy!  Don't give the rest of us a show!  Sheesh.
• Starbucks does treat receipts in London too.  Instead of $2 grande iced drinks in the afternoon, they're £1.50.  Considering the exchange rate, we're getting the better deal here.
• I had dinner in a delicious Korean restaurant near my hotel and the waiter said that he noticed my accent and asked where I was from.  When I responded "Seattle," he looked at me all confused, as he had never heard of it.  So I had to say the west coast of America (always say America, never the US... people outside of the US don't know what the US is) for him to have any clue where I came from.  People haven't heard of Seattle?!  This "big" city gets smaller and smaller.  :)
• London is full of all the cliche things you imagine when you think London: black cabs, double decker buses, and red phone booths.  And I LOVE them.
• On the tube, I watched a young boy offer up his seat to an elderly woman that boarded, and said "Excuse me miss, please have my seat."  I about melted.  Such a polite and courteous young guy!!  His father didn't even have to say anything and just beamed.
• I keep a mental checklist of the cities that I visit and whether they have ladies there with my same haircut (or similar).  London is one of those cities, along with San Francisco and Austin; Dallas and Springfield are not.  Those Londoners are so on top of things.  ;)

Okay, that's what I have, weeks late.  I'll get caught up one of these days!  Posts on the MS Ride and my oral surgery to come.  Cheerio!

San Francisco observations

I just got home from 2 great weeks in San Francisco, and oh, did I see some things.  Here's the wrap-up:

• I flew Virgin America in and out of SFO, and their new terminal at the airport is awwwwwesome.  Clean, modern, light.  They have a yoga room.  Yup.  They had live music playing when I flew out last Friday, kind of Lumineer-ish or Head and the Heart-ish.  Food by Cat Cora, Pinkberry, lots of outlets to plug in your electronics, and big comfy chairs.  If I could fly out of SFO's Virgin terminal every time, I'd love it.  I'd even get there for my flight earlier than necessary.  Plus you're flying Virgin, which is my 2nd favorite airline (after JetBlue).
• San Fran taxi drivers are NUTS.  Like, seriously nuts.  We took them in the city a couple of times, and they went 45mph in a 25, swerving around other traffic and pedestrians.  It felt like cab drivers in NYC or Shanghai or Seoul.  Fun.  And efficient.  (And only a little scary.)
• While I could probably live in San Francisco, I'm not sure I could live elsewhere in California.  Yet I still find reasons to love California, like this:

This little kitten was parked in the Financial District

Meow!

• We have a fair number of homeless people in Seattle.  If they ask you for money, and you respond (even with a "sorry"), they accept that.  But in San Francisco?!  Holy shite.  I stopped by a shop to grab some postcards, and a (very) homeless dude was camped out outside.  When he asked for money, I said that I'm sorry but I don't have any cash.  He flipped out!  My favorite line from him, among many, was, "Someday, when YOU need money and come and ask me for help, I'm not giving you ANYTHING!" (or something to that effect).  Sheesh.  Simmer.  I'll bring snacks or water to the homeless people at Dexter & Mercer near my house, when I'm on the way home from QFC, so I'm doing my part (a smidge).  But seriously, guy.  You flip out, I'm definitely not giving you anything.  At least he didn't threaten to kill me...!
• My coworker Lindsay and I enjoyed some really tasty food while in San Francisco.  I'd recommend all of the following: Restaurant Gary Danko, RN74, Wayfare Tavern, The Tipsy Pig, The Slanted Door, Taverna Aventine, and Barbacco.  Bring your credit card though; they are not cheap.  For reasonable lunch spots, try Freshii (can Seattle pleeease get a franchise?!), Mixt Greens, or The Melt.  Gary Danko is arguably the best restaurant in SF, and I made our reservation a month ahead of time.  They offer a prix fixe menu, where you can choose any 3, 4, or 5 courses on the menu.  We each shared our apps and got our own entrees and desserts, so we turned our fantastic 3-course meal into a luxurious 4-courser instead.  Plus they bring you bread, a little platter of the tiniest little desserts of all time, and a piece of pineapple coffee cake to take with you.  Such a ridiculous(ly awesome) meal.

As if we weren't full enough after 4 courses.  (And then we demolished this.)

• Guys in San Francisco are sooo much taller than in Seattle!  That's all.  :)
• While meeting my friend (and former coworker) Sosena for dinner at The Tipsy Pig, we saw a really nice sports car (I'd guess in the $30-40k range) nearby with a light-up restaurant delivery plaque on its roof.  I guess that does seem a little California to me...

Nothing like the classic "this is me in the car" shot

They brought out our bill in an old book.  So charming!

• You know how people think it rains in Seattle a lot, but really it just kind of sprinkles and mists most of the time?  Welp, it mists in SF too.  Our cities are more and more alike than I think...
• The Golden Gate Bridge!  It's like the Space Needle of San Francisco (as in, the most recognizable landmark of the city), but you can actually use it.  In everyday life.  Unlike our poor Needle.  Can we please get rid of the orange "galaxy gold" already?!  Anyhoo, Lindsay and I rented bikes one evening and rode across it!!  We started in SF, rode along the water, over the bridge, and then "down" into Sausalito.  Don't be tricked, friends.  While the ride into Sausalito is partially downhill, it is just as much uphill.  You've been warned. It was great though!  Around 9 or 10 miles, then we caught the pedestrian ferry back over, bikes and all.  I'd totally recommend doing it.  However I'm not linking to our rental company on here.  They were like a puppy mill of bike rental shops, just getting us in and out as fast as they could, and you end up with a product not quite of the quality you'd hoped.

During this pic, I am holding my phone in a death grip.  SO WINDY!

This pic could only be made cooler with my own bike, instead of the crappy rental (yes, I'm officially a bike snob now, sigh)

The Bridge, from the passenger ferry during sunset

•  A phenomenon we witnessed in San Francisco that I haven't really seen in Seattle (or other major cities I've traveled to) is people bringing their small kids to REALLY nice restaurants.  Gary Danko starts at $71 for 3 courses, and there was an 8 (?) year old kid at the table next to us, playing on an iPad.  At RN74, where we spent 3 hours enjoying amazingly delicious foodie food, there were also kids.  I just thought it was a bit odd!  I hope those kids appreciate the food they get to eat, although I'm assuming they don't.  When I was a kid, I looked forward to dinner at the nearby Chinese restaurant, where I got to drink a Shirley Temple.  Ahh, kids these days...  (Does that make me old, just typing that?!)

No kids at Slanted Door, but with the cotton candy, there should have been!  Me and the Bay Bridge, during dinner with my friend Megan (not pictured, unfortunately)

• Celebs don't just hang out in Los Angeles; they also go to San Francisco.  At airports, I request the special loving caring am-I-your-girlfriend TSA patdown instead of doing the scan (since they emit a miniscule amount of radiation, which is the 1 known cause of brain tumors).  Well, I was getting my patdown and looked over, only to see Billy Corgan (lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins) getting a patdown right next to me!  Literally, 4 feet away.  I looked over, made eye contact unintentionally, and did a super obvious double take.  The I looked straight forward, tried to decide if it was really him, noted his tray of belongings (which included metallic silver high top sneakers, which were very rock star) and orange socks, and confirmed it was, based on my scientific evidenced noted (fancy shoes and fun socks).  A guy that walked by on the other side of Billy said, "Excuse me, are you Billy?"  When he nodded, the guy said "I'm a fan."  Then I piped up, "I'm a huge fan, too!" and Billy laughed because we were having a little fan encounter literally during TSA patdowns.  He seemed really down to earth and like a cool enough dude (from my 2 minutes near him).  I've always been a Pumpkins fan, and will continue to be, after Billy's and my special moment.  ;)

Oh San Francisco, I do enjoy you.  Hope to see you (and friends, like Megan and Sosena) again soon!

DUH-lete (my crappy attitude)!

Okay, I've snapped out of my crappy weekend feeling.  Hooray!!  Had a great talk (and free Starbucks) at work with my VP yesterday, got a lot done at work, met up with my friend Brittany for a delicious grown-up ladies dinner at The Coterie Room, watched the Bachelorette finale a day late with Lynn (Team 1 F! woo hoo!), and received a REALLY awesome gift for cat-sitting my neighbor cat Lola.  Then today I was able to get my bike tire filled up fully (took a few tries... but I think I've figured it out) and went for a nice 12 mile ride.  I knew I'd feel better.

I'm still on the lookout for crazy ladies in my neighborhood though...

My friend Karimi sent me a link for a pretty awesome blog called The Everywhereist.  She said the author sounds like someone I'd be friends with, and she lives in Seattle and travels a ton (and is really funny to boot).  Karimi meant to send me the link a while ago, and coincidentally, the author posted about a month ago that she has a brain tumor and was undergoing surgery.  I'm telling you, these stinking brain tumors are all over the place!!  She has a type of astrocytoma and I'm going to reach out soon.  As crappy as having a brain tumor can be, I love expanding my little tumor dominating network.  :)

Raising funds for excellent causes, yo

Fundraising for the Portland Brain Tumor Walk is in full effect!!  I'm gaining teammates (shout-out to Neil!) and getting closer to reaching my fundraising goal.  As of today:

Love all the Saras on here!

My team and I are each in 2nd place for fundraising so far... Love it!  And the other Sara you see on there is my fellow brain tumor dominator Sara that I've talked about on here.  I'm looking forward to connecting with her at the walk!

I'm at 53% of my goal of $5,236 and am hopeful that I'll reach it.  I know it'll be tough but I'm hoping my friends and family can continue to help support this cause along with me.  :)

In similar news, I signed up to ride in the MS Ride, to benefit the Northwest Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  I'm doing a 22-mile leg in September as part of Team Expedia and I'm pretty excited!!!  I've been riding my new bike quite a bit and went 11 miles with my friend Lynn on Monday, and it wasn't bad at all!  So I'm pretty optimistic that 22 miles will be really doable, especially in 2 months from now.  Maybe I'll even decide to upgrade to the 50 mile ride!  (Although let's not get ahead of ourselves... whoa...)  We're getting custom Expedia bike jerseys to wear (side note: I LOVE events with costumes, uniforms, or otherwise matching outfits), and everyone else on the team is super friendly and fun and excited.  I think it's going to be an awesome time!!!!  There is fundraising for this event, but I'm not sharing my link as I'd rather people donate to the NBTS.  (Sorry, MS Society.  Tumors for the win on this one.)

Thanks, friends, for your continued support!!  You don't know how excited I get to receive a new "you have a new donation" email.  :)

Ridin' and flyin'

I got recreational this weekend, kicking off a new hobby and trying a new adventure.  I've been in the market for a bicycle for a couple of months now, and I've been researching and test riding but hadn't quite found THE bike.  Welp, I found it!  On Thursday I purchased my new ride and brought him home on Friday.

My new roommate!

It's a hybrid Specialized Sirrus Comp, and it's a men's XL.  Yup.  No surprise there, I guess...  It's matte charcoal with red and white accents.  And I love it!  My friend Lindsay calls the color "murder black" and I think that's spot on.  Perhaps I should name him something like O.J. or the Ripper or Tony Soprano...?  He (yes, he's a masculine bike) will be named.  I also picked up some sweet accessories (lights, water bottle cage, cable lock, iPhone mount, helmet).  After its inaugural ride Saturday morning, I picked up a pair of padded bike shorts tonight.  I've been too sore to get on it again!!  :\  But I'm excited to take up cycling (casually) and get out and about some more.

Then, on Saturday night I did a little indoor skydiving with a friend!  It's at iFly and is pretty fun.

Wheeeeeeee!!!!!  (Yup, that's me!)

You get 2 1-minute sessions in the tube after getting trained on how to do it.  And it's tough to stay balanced!  But the instructor helps a lot.  The hardest part is keeping your arms out in front of you like in the pic.  My arms and shoulders are SO sore!!

I am getting over a cold, and I enjoyed myself a little more during the 1st of my 2 flights, before I realized that the wind forces every bit of snot out of your nose and sinuses and spreads it all over your face.  I was super self conscious in round 2, knowing I could do nothing about the snot.  Ugh.  I'd love to try this again, but only with a 100% clean bill of health!!

Fun stuff, kids!