Smitten with STEEL: Freaky Karma!

The last week or so has been a crazy series of misadventures and I'm not so sure why the Karma has been so weird! To start off--I finally had my staples taken out last Monday and was relieved. It was interesting because the resident doctor took out the staples with his little tool and then said he thought I might need some steri strips to hold one end of the wound shut as it was still a little raw. He called in the "real" doctor for his opinion which was to leave it open. At this point I did not look at my leg and decided to trust what he was saying. It is sort of hard seeing the back of my leg without a mirror but the next day I took a look and saw that the end of the wound was gaping open! Yeesh! I put a piece of tape on it and then spoke to the nurse at our school later that day. She said that I definitely needed a couple steri strips and put them on for me. It sort of made me mad that the doctor was teaching this resident and that the resident actually had the right answer but the doctor said I didn't need the strips! Yeah, it's the back of my leg but it is MY leg and I'd kind of like to keep the scar to a minimum! Anyway, the following day at work my leg was itching like crazy! I initially thought it was all the healing but when I got home and looked it turned out I had a really gross poison ivy-like oozing blister rash right where the steri strips had been! I did some research on line and sure enough found out I had some weird allergic reaction to the strips! Crap! It was bad enough having this open wound but I really wanted to scratch my leg right off. I found some poison ivy calamine cream in my medicine cabinet but it was tough to sleep that night! With this wound still oozing and open there went the prospect of getting to the pool last week! :(

My leg after the staples were gone! :)

Once I got the itching under control things were a bit better but that night at 2:00 am my carbon monoxide detector went off and scared the crap out of me. I kept thinking it was the smoke detector but couldn't really tell where it was coming from. After disabling all the smoke detectors I realized it was the carbon monoxide detector. I called a friend and she told me I needed to call the fire dept. I thought that was kind of silly but probably better than not waking up the next day so I hesitantly dialed 911. The guy on the other end was nice and said I was definitely doing the right thing by calling. I told him to tell the fire dept. not to turn on their siren. :) Three firefighters showed up. I asked if they had been sleeping and had to quickly slide down the pole and get to their truck in a hurry. They laughed and said that the pole sliding was out a long time ago. They checked out my furnace and several other things and determined that the detector was faulty and should be replaced. Phew! Well, at least I was going to wake up to see another day. I was so jacked up after that I couldn't really sleep.

Firefighters checking my furnace!

As my leg was healing the days were getting warmer and I was itching to ride--or at least swim. The weekend was finally here and I still couldn't swim or ride because that stupid wound was still open. Oh well, I guess I will do the next best thing--get the DRAGON out of my garage! The DRAGON, otherwise known as the Green Dragon, is the car that I got after my poor green beetle burnt up in the Nevada dessert last summer. It is a sweet custom GTI that I got from a guy in Chicago and my friends call it the "gangbanger" or the "pimp mobile". Ok, it is a little flashy with it's tinted windows, 19" chrome rims, racing wheels and low rider style but it is a sexy little monster with a huge supercharger and kick ass alpine stereo system complete with tv screens! When I bought this car you have to realize I was traumatized by the loss of the beetle and didn't even want to buy a car. When I saw this gorgeous, fast green baby I thought--what a perfect time for a mid-life crisis car! And I bought it. Well, of course it was too low and beautiful for the Wisconsin winter so I kept it in my garage and bought a late 80's era Volvo for $800 from a college kid for the winter. I call it the White Beast! It is an amazing car and is one of those old heavy cars made from real metal! It really is a Beast of a car and is an awesome winter beater!

Beautiful DRAGON!

Friendly BEAST!

So my friend Joe, who knows all about cars, came over to help me charge up the battery in the Dragon and we decided to drive her around the block for a test. As I was backing out of the driveway I hit this funky piece of cement that sticks out of my driveway about 6 inches. This piece was put in by the previous owner of the house to prevent water from draining into the garage. Well, in backing out the Dragon I bottomed out on it and it sounded bad. Joe said "nah, it's probably just the shield on the bottom of the car." We drove it around the block and luckily not too far because when we got back and got out of the car I noticed something dripping on the driveway. I looked under the car and oil was POURING out! OMG! I had punctured the oil pan on that stupid cement chunk!!! Ahhhhhhh! Poor Dragon but it could have been much worse. Thankfully we didn't drive it too far or the engine would have seized up and that would have been the end of the Dragon! The worst part was that it was Saturday night and I couldn't have it towed until Monday. Ok, don't things come in 3's? I think this is about it for now! :) Freaky Karma indeed!!!!

DRAGON engine!

DRAGON stereo and TV!

I was sort of afraid to leave my house but even laying in bed was apparently not safe so Sunday I went to the Willy St. crits to cheer on my Kenda teammates! This year the race took place on the capitol square since there was some sort of construction on Willy St. It was a great race--fast from the gun--and lots of great midwest riders were there. Kristin won a cash prime and also a fully paid 14 days Superweek entry!!! Kristen Meshberg, a friend of mine from Illinois and riding for BH USA, took a convincing overall win over Kenda Kristin who got 2nd. She is such an amazing sprinter and BH had a really strong team there yanking the front on that last lap from what I could see. Jill ended up 5th and I think Shelley took 13th. Theresa, Ashley and Imelda were also representing but I am not sure where they finished! It was so much fun to go out and see everyone and cheer and take some photos and also say hi to Meredith and the IS Corps girls as well as some of my friends from Mad City Velo. About 30 girls showed up for the race so it was a great turnout and awesome weather to spectate. Kristin, Jill and I got to hang out afterwards and have some food and drinks at the Irish pub. We sat at an outdoor table right on the race course where we could watch the men's pro race. It was a really fun day and nothing bad happened! :) Here are a few photos that I took!