Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving away from home. This year was a little easier. I went to Casey's house for dinner. Yummm..turkey, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie! All the good stuff.
The rest of the weekend will be spent tucked away in my apartment, typing papers, grading papers, and maybe a few stolen workouts at the RPAC.
Thanksgiving is really a strange holiday. I have had a lot of time to reflect on it. I missed being with my family this year, but between going to Mass and going to Casey's, I don't feel like I missed anything in the holiday. I know that Thanksgiving is a big family holiday, but whose family? I feel that I have a family in Columbus, namely Kim, Casey, and Amanda, all of whom I saw today. Another community that I have is the Church which I also went to and the other community is the running club and I met with them for coffee.
Thus far in my life in academia, going home has not been an option for Thanksgiving. I wonder if this will become my traditional Thanksgiving-giving thanks with whatever family I can create wherever I live. It's both liberating and scary.
And it's also way too deep and pondering for a holiday weekend. I hope everyone has gotten their fill of pumpkin goodies, turkey, and green bean casserole or whatever your family traditions are.
Happy Shopping.

I began my training today. 5 miles on a stationary bike at the RPAC.
I was very humbled. My butt hurt, my legs were tired, and I was tired of reading the magazines I brought.
In my defense, I was lacking sleep. Caroline was here this weekend and my lifestyle changed from poor, dull graduate student who studies and maybe goes out for a drink once a week...er...maybe every two or three weeks to urbanite who went out two nights in a row. And drank. And danced. And (one night) tried to look the part.
The good thing about my butt aching and my legs being tired is that I realized that I will need to start training.
Also, can I just express that the bikes at the RPACS have personal fans built into the bike. Dad, do you think we could build those into our road bikes? :) Or maybe that's a little something called wind.
Doh.

Alright, in the midst of the craziness that has become my life, I have selected the next adventure:

http://www.bikewisconsin.com/grabaawr2006routemap.html

Again, I don't know if this is just disappearing into the aether, but if it is not, here goes.
Kristen came up for the weekend. It was so nice remembering that I did in fact have a life before graduate school and I will in fact have a life after graduate school. It will consist of further schooling, but Columbus Ohio is not the end all be all.
Thank goodness.
Highlight of the weekend- There were so many great moments. We went to the football game and to Gallery Hop. I was out of true form because I did not make Kristen hop like I did to Vawnya and Amanda last year. You may think I am strange for creating that rule, but Amanda and Vawnya are the ones who actually followed it.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
It was a beautiful fall, college weekend. So was that the real world or is getting back into the swing the real world?
I will leave you on that.