Well OK Then

Another July comes to a close. Another Le Tour is in the books, or will be in the next 18 hours. And here I am.

It will be August soon and the prospects for employment are still relatively slim. However there are at least two legitimate prospects. One is fairly certain and by far the least desirable. The other holds some measure of hope, a very respectable paycheck, and by chance the opportunity for the kids to stay at home with their mother every day. It will also require a move.

I am grateful to my friends and family for their support and willingness to listen if nothing else. And I am grateful for the moments of whimsical opportunity which never seem to materialize fully. They offer inspiration and hope when many days those treasures are elusive.

I hope to soon be focusing on happier topics in the near future, but for the moment find myself stuck in perpetual neutral. Yet the important things are doing well and the minor priorities are feeling refreshingly fit. Hopefully, I can find the proper gears again so I can buy some new speeds.

Hello Again

So I deleted the previous post just as an exercise to move on. Clearly that's a road I've been down before and the most recent conversation pretty much solidified I don't have much interest repeating that portion of my history.

So ANYWAY...I have another phone screen today which hopefully will go well and then I get to pay my first scheduled visit to the unemployment office so they can apparently check my resume and progress. No idea if that's the case, but they want me to bring a resume and apparently 6 company contacts. I'm really beginning to wonder how insulated this department is. So we'll see what qualifies as a contact on Wednesday. :) Should be fun!

In other news, the Tour is making some good progress on being interesting this year. Fingers crossed that will continue. I also had a great ride today with a new riding buddy and found my way up a rather hard hill 30 seconds faster than I did a month ago. Pretty sweet progress I must say...but dang did that make the next 40 miles or so hard! Loving the legs tho!

I REALLY Hope This Will Get Good

I love this photograph (nice job CorVos @ Pez Cycling).  Why?  Look at the shifters.  

If you've been around cycling long enough, you learn that one of the perks of being the absolute top of the sport means you get stuff nobody else has.  You get to test it out, give the manufacturer your opinions, and let the rest of the pros and eventually the consuming public sample what you thought was the better option.

Now admittedly, I was as big of a Lance-fanatic as anyone.  Over time, that admiration dulled.  To the point that I was pretty critical of this year's comeback and what it would do to the sport.  But this photo brings back a part of the sport that has been sorely missing for the last three years.  And that is the mind game.

During King Lance's reign, he constantly touted Mr. Ullrich as the favorite and strongest and most talented rider in the race.  He beat the man before they even took the preliminary race drug screens.  Now this isn't a new theory or unique opinion.  Many professional journalists have written much better articles describing this aspect of the TdF than this one. But again I say, look at the shifters.

SRAM is an American company just like Trek.  Both Lance and Alberto have custom paint jobs on their brand new Treks.  But only one set of shifters is different than what everybody else is riding this year.  It may purely be marketing on SRAM's part.  It may be that the rift in Astana is more press over-speculation than actual fact.  It may also be nothing at all. 

But knowing how this race was raced and won for the past decade, I'm one to think this photo says it all.  "There are no gifts."

Well Okay Then

As I previously mentioned, I've started talking again with my old company.  After operating under a belief that I could overlook many of that group's shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, I've have almost immediately reminded myself why I left.  That's not a good sign.  

But we'll see what the written document(s) holds and see what can be worked out (if anything).

There is an interesting reposting on BRAIN's job board, so it looks like I might be making another phone call to AZ to see if I can successfully reposition my application.  Wish me luck!