The cats are Miles, Jefferson, & Ivan.
Miles & Ivan are from Lois Bujold series. Jefferson I got as a kitten with Adams, although they are always only called Grey Cat and Black Cat.


My other big obsessions is with letterboxing, I'm just at my 300th find. Woo hoo!! If you are ever in Milwaukee and want to go letterboxing, drop me a line. We created a Parade of Books series of letterboxes along a trail here in the area.


Milwaukee has its first OBCZ up and running at Ruby G's Espresso Bar and Cafe at 2043 West Wells St. If you are in the area, stop by and check it out. (Plus you'll be vindication for me with the owner.)


I finished my first triathlon July 13, 2008! Here is my race story:
First thing first: I FINISHED!!!
Beautiful day in Wisconsin, sunny, upper 70s. The only draw back was that it was incredibly windy.
I saw lots of people in wet suits, but I thought that the water was a really nice temperature for swimming. I was in the ninth wave for starting. I had a rough start and someone knocked my goggles and the right lens started leaking. Huge problem since I wear contacts and getting lake water on them did not sound like a good idea, plus I can't see far enough to navigate without them! I lost time getting over to the side out of the pack and redoing them. I got back swimming and was half way done, and then the same side started leaking again, so I just kept that eye closed and swam on. I was doing well and pretty happy with the rest of the swim. I was to the point of getting out of the water when disaster struck! I caught my right foot on a rock under the water and fell. I pulled myself up and crossed the timer and headed into the first transistion. Swim time 15:49
All my preplanning went out the door as I spent a large amount of time there transitioning to the bike in pain and trying to accomplish simple tasks. 8:03 was the time there, but it should have been much better.
The bike is my total weak spot (OK that and the running). I passed 6 people and probably had a thousand pass me. The nice thing about this race, I would be dying going up a hill and people passing me would shout words of encouragement. That wind I mentioned: really, really bad on a bike. I would be going down hill, shift into a higher gear to build up some speed, and had such strong headwinds that I had to shift back into a lower gear to keep going. But I knew that this would be my weak spot, so nothing unexpected there. 1:05:10
Next transition and on to the run. This is where I knew I was in trouble. My right foot was killing me. It took forever to get my bike in and go. 5:39
The run phase. I have no knees and was planning on speed walking this. I did a lot of training and figured I could at least be respectable. Alas. Not only did I not run this, I did not walk it. The most you could call it was a hobble. I passed no one and again had thousands pass me. But I finished! Big WOOHOO!!! 1:04:27
My total time 2:39:09.
I headed right into the first aid station when I got in and pulled off my sock to check out my right foot. I got my nails done this week as a relaxer going into the race. My big toe has about 2/3s nail where the polish was gone with a section of the nail with it. I didn't see any marking on my little toe, but that is pretty painful too. By the time I got home, my big toe was all bruised and swollen, I'm hoping it is just sprained, but it may be broken, so that part really sucks. The upside, I finished. I finished feeling really good(except for the foot), but I didn't put out much of a cardio work out with the hobble, so that may by why. Or maybe all the training I did and the attention to nutrition and hydration leading up to the race paid off.
I'm not going to run out to every triathlon in the area, but I will do the Danskin next year again. If you ever had the slightest glimmer of an inclination for doing something like this, and you could do a Danskin, I would highly recommend it. They announced as I was coming into the finish line that a racer had had a bike accident, gone and got 5 stitches, and was coming back to finish the race, and she's 70 years old. If she could do it, so can you.


The winter of 2005-2006 was a rough one here, my Black Cat Adams had a recurring cancerous growth return before Christmas. I spent most of the winter months spending as much time as I could with him and taking care of him. He died on Feb. 1st 2006. I was very concerned about introducing the kittens to the Grey Cat, but as you can see it worked out ok.


I live in Milwaukee as you can probably guess from the activities. My PC is not on my bookshelf at all, mainly because it runs in the thousands and I'm just not ready to deal with that big of a time suck here. What you would see if it were posted is a substantial amount of science fiction and fantasy, lots of history (especially military history), science, and a smattering of many other topics. I am one of those people who reread books, so most of my books stay with me and I watch resale shops and other sales for books to release.


I'm working to prove the adage that most Americans will have three careers in their lifetimes. I've been an air traffic controller, a math teacher, and now am a school librarian. I finished up my MLS December of 2006. Outside work, I have some varied interests. I read excessive amounts, as is apparent from the thousands of books and the fact that even though Milwaukee is a decent sized city all of the people who work at the main library know me. I have volunteered with a drum and bugle corps in the past, Phantom Regiment from Loves Park/Rockford Illinois. I have helped organize the Windycon science fiction convention in Chicago when I was working there as an air traffic controller.