Haven't been up to much, just the usual yelling of "You are so dumb, you are really dumb, for reals," at cars all day long. But here's an update on what's been happening anyway.

I'm happy to be riding for Bissell again next year. I'll get to do all the races I want to do and still fit in my research in there somewhere. And research, I've been working on it, and no one wants to graduate more than me, but it just seems like it never ends.

The big news over the last few months has been our dog, which has been 4 years in the making for my wife. You know, when I got married I thought, "Great, one less thing to worry about." But that is actually false, it's many more things, like dealing with your wife wanting a dog. So after 4 years we finally compromised and got one.

Our little baby is a miniture Autstralian Shepard and it has convinced me that dogs are cool. I was against getting a dog because I didn't want a messy, whining little bitch pooping around the house all day. But our dog is none of those things, surprisingly.

It is tradition for athletes to name their pets after their favorite competitor. For example, my cross country coach, Doris Heritage would bring Zola out to practice sometimes.

So we named ours Jens "Big Love" Mach, after my favorite rider, Jens Voigt and one of Sara's favorate TV shows. It's been a good name so far; cyclists laugh and non-cyclists ask you how to spell it.

I'm sure Levi's heart just sank, as he found out he's not my favorite cyclist, but he's a tough little guy and will bounce back strong I'm sure. We also thought about naming him Lance to get half off neutering but then realized it didn't work that way.