In other news, the boys have been having a great time with their baseball. Today was Opening Day and the guys had to be at the field for team pictures and the Hit-A-Thon. I am stunned to report that Andy got a hit that won him a 6-pack of Mountain Dew (blech), and Benjamin was a STAR! He got a hit and the baseball hit a target and he won ice cream for his ENTIRE TEAM. This was very exciting, as you can imagine. The boys were thrilled and I know Ron was glad to have been there.

I missed the baseball thing because I went to a local bike swap in search of a more fancy shmancy bike so that everyone in the universe wouldn't pass me like I was standing still. A friend of mine who knows a lot more about bikes than I do went with me. We did find a bike for me, but it was $1200 (before the sale, it had been $1800). I almost fainted. Now, I know that this is cheap for a road bike, but I don't know if I can justify this purchase. I didn't buy it. This bike was all carbon and had the best components... but I still can't justify it... I did buy a new pair of bike shoes, a pair of socks that say "26.2 miles or bust" on the side, and 3 cycle shirts. Now, you know I said that I would never buy those uber-geeky bike shirts, but now I have. I will be wearing one tomorrow when I go for a ride with a bunch of TriGirls. I did insist on very plain shirts -- no patterns, no words, no symbols or company names. They aren't bad looking, but I haven't seen myself in them yet.

I went out to lunch today with a dear friend from my mother's group in Maryland. We drove around the historic district and then had vietnamese food -- excellent all around. I drove her to the airport too. We had a great conversation and it was wonderful to see her. The only flaw was that she headed off into the airport and I just wanted to cry -- it is great and awful to see a good friend. Great to see them, and awful when they leave because all that missing them wells up...