SPRING, AT LAST!!!!

After multiple false starts, it appears that we may have finally achieved spring in New England! It's been a rocky road: Two days we had beautiful weather, I was without my down coat, Chris and I went for a mountain bike ride. The next day it was snowing.

Now, today, I hear songbirds singing. I can see grass being less brown. I see SUNLIGHT!

To celebrate, here are some pics from Chris' and my adventures in my first ride of the season:

We decided to try one of the Rails to Trails paths that I'd been reading about. For the life of me, I can't remember where we actually ended up! It was a really beautiful path. First it started on some slightly burlier (and signifigantly muddier!) trails. I learned how to bike over snow and ice. Apparently, the best method is to speed up as much as possible, and whatever you do don't stop. This is the point we turned around: it's not the most natural setting, and it was a little jarring coming out of the woods to this. At the same time, it's such a cool thing, seeing a major overpass from underneath.

Between all the snowmelt and rain, the river was raging. In the shade, the edges of the river were still frozen. Just a beautiful day.

Speaking of which, what am I doing inside typing to you?!

I'll update later when the weather isn't quite as nice... =)

Health, Surgery, etc.

It's been a while, yet again. I thought I'd be a bit better about updating, but there have been a few overwhelming things occuring recently, and publishing them has been put on the back-burner.

A few weeks ago, I was admitted to the hospital with what I thought was appendicitis. After the laparoscopic procedure, the doctor found it wasn't my appendix. I was having a diverticulitis attack (the second in my life). This time it was located in the ascending colon, which is extremely rare, especially in someone my age. A round of antibiotics later, I started my slow return to work. After two days of nursing, I felt pain in my left side. I was having yet another attack, which brings me up to now. I'm on oral antibiotics, getting back to a normal work schedule, and very nervous about my future.

There is some information that suggests that high fiber, good hydration, and stress management will all help to avoid future attacks. However, I've now had three attacks (first one was '03) at the age of 30. I'm a genetic freak, or at least my colon is. I still don't want to have surgery, because that has a whole host of other issues associated with it.

For those who don't know what diverticulitis is, may I suggest checking out the wikipedia description here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverticulitis

There should be some more uplifiting info coming up soon. Wedding planning, etc...