Toledo (Spain, not Ohio)

On Saturday, I was invited by Andy, a British physics teacher, to go to Toledo for the day on a whim. Andy is one of these super-smart guys whose mind moves faster than his mouth, and despite my strange fascination with smart, geeky boys who know smart, geeky things like computer programming and quantum physics, I often can't persuade Andy to discuss cool science stuff unless it's in quippy bursts like freeing the radicals or getting Oprah to be the spokewoman for the expanding universe's waistline.

This is the bus that we successfully found, successfully boarded, then successfully got booted out of our seats like ignorant tourists because we didn't know the seats were numbered, forcing us to rifle around for our tickets (ie. slips of crumbled paper by this point) and stumble over angry annoyed old Spanish women in order to get from the back of the bus to the front of the bus where we conveniently had our seats.

In the distance is the "Catedral," which apparently is the second largest cathedral in Spain (no wonder the ticket woman gave us a funny look when we asked what the name of that inglesia was, and she said, "El Catedral" in a way that suggested, "Duh, you ignorant tourists." That perhaps contributed to the reason why we couldn't be bothered to pay the 6 euros to go inside.

I´m dating a superhero!

Well, as most of you know, I traveled back to the States for Easter to spend a few weeks back in Chicago. But, what most of you don´t know, (because I didn´t know it either) was that when I came back, I was surprised to discover that my boyfriend had suddenly been transformed into a superhero!

Who knew? I left my boyfriend for two months, expecting him to take up a new hobby, maybe meet some new friends while I was away; and when I came back, I found out that he indeed found a new hobby: he had decided to become "Wet Suit Boy," running around, saving his fellow mankind from the threat of cold water.

Actually, this is one of three wet suits that Dan rented in order to find that perfect fit. This is NOT the wet suit that he decided to use for the race, by the way, despite trying it on several times, eating lunch in it, and practising his swim strokes (in the air, not in the pool). But, in the end, it likely will become the wet suit that he wears when he has to save someone from being trapped in their bathroom.

Race Day

This is Palm Springs, California, where Dan and I traveled for Dan´s triathlon. For all those playing along, Palm Springs, California is not like Palm Springs, Florida. Palm Springs, California is in the middle of the desert -- just in case swimming, biking, and running for 3 hours wasn´t challenging enough.

This is the lake where all the tri-athletes began the race and swam for a quarter of a mile (for the sprint race) or a mile (for the international race). You can see all the racers in the distance below. The lake looks calm enough, but both Dan and his brother, Joe, expressed similiar drowning concerns after the race when they had a chance to recover and reflect on the madness that is the T-R-I-A-T-H-L-O-N.

This is a photo of Dan and his incredibly adorable coach. This is a victory photo, after the race, when the athlete was proven wrong about all his fears, and indeed, he did not drown as was the concern during the entire week leading up to the race (that, and... which of the three rented wet suits he should wear).

This is a photo of all three victorious triathletes: Dan (left), Jack (center), and Joe (Dan´s brother, right). We stayed in Jack´s Aunt´s two bedroom condo, it was plush and made up for the fact that we were trapped in the middle of the desert.

Dan´s brother, Joe, completed the international version of the triathlon, which was double the distance of the sprint version and last three hours instead of an hour and half. Thus, the well-deserved victory towel upon his head.

This is Dan, before the race. We arrived at 7:50AM and Dan and Jack´s start time for the Sprint race was 8AM. Whoops. This is Dan, trying to mount his bike, which he will have to ride all the way around the lake and then suit up before hitting the water for his quarter mile swim. And he needs to get there in under ten minutes.

Dan doesn´t know it, yet, but he left without his helmet or water bottles, and his incredibly aborable coach has to jump in the car and chase after him -- or else he wouldn´t have been able to ride. Below, is Dan´s brother, Joe, giving himself a cheer for having the luck of starting later in the day, instead of starting 10 minutes after we parked.

5:30AM, the morning of the triathlon, and both brothers are contemplating why they ever thought it would be a good idea to participate in such madness.

African Wild Life Invades Palm Springs

In order to give you an idea of how hot and dry and Sahara-like it really is in Palm Srpings, here are a few pictures from the African wild life preserve -- smack in the middle of the city.

Yes, wild African animals living it up in the land of Bob Hope.

In the distance in this photo, that´s a giraffe and two ostriches, hanging out together. Do giraffes and ostriches hang out together in real life? I´ll let you google that one, but apparently in Palm Springs, they are fast friends.

Also, a fun fact that we learned is that you can always tell the difference between a male and female giraffe via their eating habits. Males always extend their necks and reach for the farthest tree leaves, while females lower their necks and eat the leaves closer to the trunks. Clearly, the females are smarter. Why over-extend yourself when you can make your male counterparts do all the work instead?

This is a photo of some fat, lazy warthogs, dying from the Palm Springs "dry" heat.

This is a photo of an ostrich, checking out Dan. They eventually came closer for us to get a better look. They only have one toe, by the way. One really large toe equipped with one really large gnarly fang claw.