How a 43 Year Old Woman Took Up BMX Racing: A Cycling Love Letter This epic tale requires a little bit of background. Please bear with me while I set the stage for one of the most important episodes of my life. I learned to ride a bike when I was six years old on […]

I did a thing tonight and it pains me. This week I had to give an hour-long presentation to our college-aged intern on the finer points of lithic analysis, so I spent most of the week on that. Once I gave the presentation on Friday, I turned my attention to an article I’m enjoying writing, […]

The thing has happened. Roe v Wade has been overturned by the highest court in the land. I’m not going to go into why this is a travesty of justice, because if you don’t already know, you probably won’t want to read on. There are enough memes and commentary floating around on the internet right […]

I dated a guy when I first moved to Oregon. It was absolutely amazing how quickly he realized he’d made a mistake and didn’t want to date me anymore. I dated a guy a couple of months later who made it apparent after a couple of evenings that he wasn’t interested in me, either. Tonight […]

I’m having a hard time starting to write tonight. I did a 9.5 mile run today, and I thought that would give me inspiration for a post, but you can’t force the thing. The thing happens when it happens. On long run day I usually don’t listen to music. Music (especially my usual angry mix) […]

I’m back in the Rose City, the Pearl of the Willamette, the Pride of Oregon, the…well, you get the idea. I’m back in the land of flowers and oxygen, where vegetables don’t need to be convinced to grow and water literally falls out of the sky. I’ve unpacked my suitcase. I still need to wrench […]

So here’s the thing, dear Ghost, heeeere’s the pickle I’m in. I’m having a blast with my ex, we’re doing the things we’re the absolute best at this weekend, which is riding bikes in all contexts. Pump track, jump track, BMX track. We’re having fun. We’re being generally chatty and congenial. I saw and spent […]

Oh, dear Ghost, what have I done? Well, I’ll tell you what I’ve done. I’ve once again ensconced myself inside a little metal tube with a bunch of people who may or may not be riddled with COVID. I’ve once again deliberately put myself into a situation where an encounter with my ex is possible, […]

I went into the leasing office in my apartment building earlier this afternoon because they have Milk Bones for Eden and Three Musketeers minis for me. While Eden was munching loudly and I was discreetly pocketing my guilty pleasure, I noticed a woman sitting on the office couch. She looked distraught. She was talking with […]

A couple of weeks ago, dear Ghost, I wrote the following very unkind rant about a brand new, totally unfulfilling relationship as I was debating whether I should cut him loose: “I’ve set the bar pretty low. I mean, I spent 24 years with a man whose lack of emotional expression rivaled that of a […]