Courtenay Brown

Well, it's December 31, and for the first time in ages I have a legitimate New Year's Resolution! Beyond the usual "be nicer" and "swim more" ho-hum. I'm saving money. Yesterday it snowed 8 inches. Today my 12-year-old 136k-mile Honda Civic and I tootled around Boulder in search of an indoor pool and, after one measly mile in single-digit temperatures, a treadmill. The car and I are not too terrible in the snow thanks to a year in Tahoe with way more than 8 inches, but, I tend to "drive like a scared rabbit"* and snow+2 wheel drive=not helpful. Furthermore, as of tomorrow the car will be teen-aged. So I think it's safe to assume that I'll need a new car in ...

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I've been in Maryland since the 22nd, enjoying family shenanigans and staying sufficiently egg-nogged. A glimpse... [gallery = 43]

Sometimes policies need to be revisited/revised. This is something I learned in policy class this semester (ahem, and learned well enough to get an A, so I'm an expert), but really it's something I'm practicing in my own life. Because when you're 32 and single... ...you might start wearing heels again. ...$183 of makeup at MAC? Consider it an investment in looking like an adult. For teaching and conferences and stuff.** ...and you might take my sister's policymaking advice: drop the Wooderson routine. I get older, boyz stay the same age, bad bad bad! ...

Yes, loquacity has returned, with a bit of a vengeance. Enjoy it while it lasts - school starts up again on January 10th! I should be studying for my statistics final tomorrow but starting today I am officially not holding it together any more. I was doing pretty well all Fall, I was so proud of my awesome balancing act, but now I've got less to be gymnastically proud of. And my back is killing me. I have got to stop crying in public places. I have got to stop crying. And, side note, I've got to stop looking at shopping as a cure-all, even though it kind of is. And it's way preferable to an eating panacea. The ...

So hooray for the last week of my first semester. Couldn't come soon enough, I'm starting to feel so fried and dum, and hungry because for four days in a row I have been out of milk and food but I keep forgetting to go to the store! Right now I am proctoring the final exam for my Environmental Policy undergrad class. I'm dreading grading it a little bit because it's all essay questions, 80 kids... ONE OF WHOM JUST CAME TO ASK ME A QUESTION AND HE HAD NOTES WRITTEN ALL OVER HIS HAND! Are you kidding me. He started talking and I pointed to his hand like "what is that"... "uh, my notes from when I was studying?" Then ...

last paper is almost done... after which virtual loquacity may or may not return ;)

Check out page 22 of the current Inside Triathlon to see... Jan/Feb 2011 Inside Triathlon More important, check out who's on the page after my column! Great article about Dave Scott, it's an excerpt from Matt Fitzgerald's forthcoming book "Iron War".

So I'm in the middle of working on a poster presentation, it's going awesome, at 8:43 p.m. on a Friday night, after taking myself out to study-break ice-cream, and some guy named Adam calls from some resort in Breckenridge because they sponsor Tri for the Cure and since I raced it in August, I qualify for a special rate of something like $100 a night, am I interested. Well. "Since I won the race can you give me two nights free?" He said he'd have to call me back. Maybe I should have offered to take him as my date, that might have been a more successful bargaining move. -- ...