Last Semester of Undergrad

Well I've been slacking a bit updating this thing but that is because I've been so busy! Shortly after Fredericksburg, my new job with Luna really took off. I'm helping my boss with LUNAFEST coming up on March 7th, which is a big fundraiser/film festival to raise money for The Breast Cancer Fund and Texas Advocacy Project. What is cool is that both organizations are about prevention- preventing cancer through avoiding its environmental causes and preventing domestic violence. The project has really taken up all my free time, which is fine because I'm definitely learning some valuable skills they can't teach you in a text book ;-)

January 11-14th was the Texas Cycling training camp, my last big project and contribution as Vice President! It was a little bittersweet for me because it's crazy that I am already graduating, but it will be good for me to do a little less for the team so I can find a job. Camp itself was good- we had 40 people go and many were newbies. We had two beautiful days of riding and then the rain hit. Nevertheless, a small group of us- Joey, Josh, Ken, and Clay journeyed out for five hours the first day of rain and three the second. It was a lot of fun to ride with them and they definitely made the long, rainy hours doable.

Immediately when I got back to Austin, I turned around and went to Houston for the Houston Marathon. It was quite the journey in the car that day from Leakey to Austin to Houston, all-in-all nearing 8 hours. The marathon itself was okay- not as many people were interested in talking about the products which made our day pretty lackluster. Our hotel was pretty darn cool and I definitely recommend it if you are traveling to Houston- Magnolia Hotel. It had free breakfast, happy hour, and milk and cookies :-) The decor was super modern and there was a neat roof-top spa which was lovely in the rain at night. On the way back I was having some car problems and my car kept turning off and coasting to a stop while on the highway. It was a bit scary after it happened three times, but then it made it the last 120 miles home. I took it in on Monday- there had been something wrong with the ignition switch.

School started Tuesday- my last semester of undergrad. Where did college go? Not fair. I am looking forward to working, assuming I can find a job with a company that has solid values. My classes are interesting but also perhaps the most demanding I've had in awhile. I'm in a Data Mining, Marking Policies (our capstone, writing course), Consumer Behavior, and Business Ethics. Most of the teachers a very engaging, one to the point of being intimidating. Either way, it will be a very good semester, learning-wise. I'm definitely not one of those students that will take X class because it is easiest, I'd rather take classes that are harder and can teach me valuable skills- I'm paying big bucks to learn after all!

My race schedule is pretty much finalized. I talked it over with my coach, Simon, yesterday. With my more demanding and stricter classes, I can't miss as much school as last spring, so I'll have less traveling until school gets out. My first warm-up race is in two weeks, I can't believe it!
This weekend is all about figuring out how to balance this whole school-cycling-Luna-VP thing...otherwise I'll end up looking like that old lady in the picture...wait a minute...that's me!

Peter and I at Tammy's Murder Mystery Party