I'm Baaaack! (warning LONG!)

[DrBadger]

I’m baaack! Hello all! Sorry for the long delay in posting again, but things have been busy with lots of changes in my life. As many of you know I FINALLY finished school out near San Francisco, CA, took some time off, and have now started working in Houston, TX.

After a wonderful TE sendoff in September, I handed in my dissertation and packed up my apartment. I then set off to South America for 3 weeks. The first week I was in Buenos Aires for a friends wedding. It was a ton of fun, and quite a crazy experience! The wedding wasn’t until 9:30 pm, we finally ate around midnight, dessert/cake came out around 3, pizza and beer at 4:30, the American’s finally crashed around 6 am, was in bed by 6:30 am! And this was when the Argentinean’s were just getting ready to start playing soccer! It was also nice because I was there with some of my best friends from Stanford, some of whom were getting ready to move to London, so it was great to spend some more time with them.

I then headed to Peru for 2 weeks. What an amazing place, I will definitely be going back! Hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, went down into the Amazon basin, and did a 3 day rafting trip on the Apurimac river. Amazing time, and a great group. This was my first trip with a tour group, and (at least for Peru), I would highly recommend GAP Adventures, they were great, and have a great philosophy towards sustainable tourism. I even had a nice little vacation fling with a guy in my tour group  So that is always fun!

Got back from Peru at the beginning of Oct, was in CA for ~ 24 hours, and then started driving to Houston. First night I only went to LA due to jet lag, and was able to see one of my cousins. The next night went to Flagstaff, AZ where my parents were as my Dad’s conference for work had just finished. Stayed one night with them, and picked up my Mom for the rest of the drive to Houston. The next day we took a detour in New Mexico to head up to the Trinity Historical Site….this is where they tested the atomic bomb during WWII and it is open to the public 2 days a year. Pretty interesting. Made it in to Houston 4 days after I left CA, and 5 days after I got back from South America! Took the next day to find an apartment (found one in 1 day!), and then took my mom to the airport.

I took the next 10 days to get things sorted in Houston, got my TX driver’s license :-o, my furniture got delivered, and then I headed up to MN (where my parent’s live) to go on a family trip to France for 10 days. We spent a couple of days in Paris before heading up to Normandy. By this point I was sounding really sick and was hurting from coughing for the past 2 weeks (a small bug I picked up in South America had settled in my chest, and probably developed into walking pneumonia) The heavy antibiotics finally started kicking it while I was in France, but I feel bad for all the people on the airplanes with me! I know I wasn’t contagious, but I sure sounded horrible!

Had a great time in France. Did all the D-day sites up in Normandy, which was really powerful, and then spent some time up in Brittany also.

Finally got back to Houston for good at the beginning of Nov. and started work at BP on Nov. 5. Work is going well, and I am getting settled in. Things are really going to pick up in the new year, but started out quite slow, which was nice.

I already have a number of friends in Houston, many from CA, and some of whom are also cyclists, so have been spending quite a bit of time with them. Been riding a bit here, but right now I am focusing on my running as I am running my first half marathon on Jan 14 (the Houston half-marathon). I am also in the process of looking for a new road bike (yippie!) I have test ridden the Trek Madone, Specialized s-works and ruby, a couple of Felt and Cervelo bikes, a Lightspeed, and still have to go and ride 2 orbeas. Right now I am leaning towards the Ruby Pro… have to go back and ride it again as it was the first total grin inducing bike I had ridden, and just want to make sure it is THE one. Might even do that tomorrow or this coming weekend.

So, as you can see…I have been busy, but I have been lurking a bit (though not as much as in the past). I am glad to be back, and I miss my CA riding buddies and all the great riding you have out there! TX Rider and I have tried to meet up to ride, but hasn’t worked out yet, hopefully in the New Year….

I will do better about posting, and will keep you up to date on the new bike! Also, if you are interested, a (large) selection of my photos from my travels are on my picasa page: www.picasaweb.google.com/ellen.mallman

Sorry, this turned into a novel! Happy New Year everyone!
Ellen
Aka DrBadger

[jobob]

'bout time, girl !

Nice to hear from you, Ellen.

[DrBadger]

'bout time, girl !

Nice to hear from you, Ellen.

That would be because I am sitting home along on New Year's eve... got stood up by my "date"... I am guessing (hoping) he is stuck in an airport somewhere wtih a dead cell phone by now... oh well, at least I won't be too hung over tomorrow!

[jobob]

Poor bunkie !

Wellll, sounds like you had one heck of an '07 so a quiet entry into '08 wouldn't be all that bad, I'd think.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your new ride. I've heard good things about the Ruby, but do check out the Orbeas, they look lucious.

[maillotpois]

Welcome back, world traveler!

[crazycanuck]

Hey DRB...nice to see ya again

Any chance of you travelling down to Perth with BHP?

Enjoy Texas!

C

[snowtulip]

Wow, what a whirlwind tour! Sounds like amazing adventures and great new opportunities!

Good luck in TX and finding a great new bike

[DrBadger]

Hey DRB...nice to see ya again

Any chance of you travelling down to Perth with BP?

Enjoy Texas!

C

Hey CC-
Nothing on the horizon right now for going down to Perth....but it is something that I plan on trying to find an opportunity to do! I will let those of you down under if I am ever heading that way! Looks more likely that I will be heading over to Englad sometime this spring, and hopefully to either London or Norway for a year sometime in the next 2 (fingers crossed!)

Happy New Year!

[sundial]

Wow! What fantastic tours and a great way to kick off your new career!

I would enjoy hiking in the mountains of Peru.

Your travels and the people you encountered sounds like a plot on Lost. Hope you didn't take Oceanic airlines.

[sundial]

I wanted to post this from your Picasa album because it's so breathtaking!


Machu Picchu photographed by Ellen

[bikerz]

Ellen!!! Welcome back! I was wondering how you were doing...

What a fun bunch of trips you had! I'm looking forward to seeing your photos later today. It's so nice to hear from you - definitely keep us posted about the new bike!

[DrBadger]

I wanted to post this from your Picasa album because it's so breathtaking!


Machu Picchu photographed by Ellen

It was breathtaking! Especially seeing that after hiking for 3 days on the Inca Trail. Such a great reward for 3 really hard days of hiking! I would highly reccommend seeing Machu Picchu this way for the first time! (they do have a 1 day version that you don't have to do the really hard parts of the Inca trail).

Ann-
Great to hear from you. I thought about you a lot when I was test riding the Ti Lightspeed. It was a really nice ride, but I do still think that I am leaning towards the Ruby... well let you know the final decision.

[Aggie_Ama]

Welcome back! That photo is breath taking, I will head over to look at some others. Welcome to Texas as well.

[bikerz]

I would highly recommend seeing Machu Picchu this way for the first time! (they do have a 1 day version that you don't have to do the really hard parts of the Inca trail).

Ellen, such fantastic photos!

I did that 1-day hike into Machu Picchu more than 20 years ago - it was spectacular! And then, because we were poor college students ("poor" being such a relative word in the 3rd world, but anyway), we rode the bus down the hill late at night with the staff from the fancy hotel, and, after a pitch dark walk down the RR tracks, found a decidedly less fancy hostel in Aguas Calientes. That whole experience was (and remains) one of the highlights of my life.

Did you read Pablo Neruda's great poem about Machu Picchu? The whole thing is great, but this section I really loved:
"...
Then up the ladder of the earth I climbed
through the barbed jungle's thickets
until I reached you Macchu Picchu.

Tall city of stepped stone,
home at long last of whatever earth
had never hidden in her sleeping clothes.
In you two lineages that had run parallel
met where the cradle both of man and light
rocked in a wind of thorns.
..."

I am such a book nerd that I can't resist mentioning that you can read excerpts in English and Spanish here.

I'd love to go back...

[Dianyla]

Nice to see you around. I've missed your posts.

I'm glad to hear you had fun travelling around. I'll never forget my pre-dawn walk in the dark up to the Sun Gate and looking down on Machu Picchu as the mists cleared from around it. Still gives me chills to think of it. I regret not taking the time to climb up Wayna Picchu, though. Gee, I guess I'll just have to go back someday!