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I learnt a few days ago that there is someone even nerdier than me, and he is graduating with a GPA of 7. When I first heard about it, my heart sank and I was uber-disappointed. I thought that I didn't even want to attend the graduation anymore. But after a few days of reflection, I've decided that it's not the end of the world, and that I have earnt the right to attend the graduation and hold my head high. The graduation is in Wagga, of all places, and to travel there and back will cost $1000 for me and MaxBabe. Sheesh. I'm going to cash in a bucketload of frequent flier points in the hope of reducing that balance somewhat, but it's still going to hurt financially.

No decisions yet RE the new bike, but I've narrowed the field even further. I'm looking at the Avanti Blade 5.0, Trek 7.7FX and an Apollo Zap. I'm leaning towards the Avanti right now. In light of my recent lack of interest to ride, I made a deal with myself a few days ago. If I ride my bike every other day for the next three months, I'll allow myself to get a nice, new bike. If not, well, I stay on my current steed!

Meanwhile, I went for a ride with BestMate today that left me feeling exhausted and defeated. It was supposed to be from Samford to Dayboro and back, but at the halfway point to Dayboro, I knew there was no way I'd make it there and have the energy to ride all the way back. We turned back and the round trip ended up around 28Km instead of 56. To make things worse, I had the displeasure of dealing with my bike skipping on its low gears, which caused a sudden gear shift going up a steep hill followed by the chain falling off and my legs whizzing madly. I unclicked in the nick of time and prevented a fall into gravel. The derailleur maintenance I'd been putting off had to be performed on the side of the road, in full view of every other cyclist who passed us. Cursing under my breath, I decided then and there that if my bike screwed up again during that ride, I'd be taking it straight to the local Avanti dealer for a trade-in! Fortunately for my bike, it played nice after that, and the rest of the ride was uneventful. It seems that cursing at a bike really does help.

Stopped at a cafe afterwards for a bite to eat, and ran into J. I haven't seen her in easily 2, maybe 3 years. I'd been wanting to catch up with her but we never seemed to be in the same place at the same time. We make promises to catch up but never do. Just the other day I was thinking about her daughter, wondering how she's going, how she's growing up etc.. odd that I should run into J just a few days later.

Anyway, I'm home now and it is (*&@#$ hot. I've been sitting on the couch in my boxers with a weak fan feebly blowing on me, hoping for relief. I'm not good with heat, so I hope this weather goes away soon. I'd rather the rain, to be honest.