a sad day

it was a sad day for Trek.
why would you steal her tires? and on a beautiful
Sunday afternoon in broad daylight, no less?
sad, sad day.

how now will i commute?
Trek is always my quickest, and most
reliable, option. we were just getting back into the groove, after a
six-month hibernation.

there are moments - and they are only that; brief
five minute lapses - when i just want to be
done. with this city, with these people. thank God
my love for it, and them, runs deep. very deep.

bliss

i love april. not that march was a bad month at all, it was actually quite good. but april means spring is here. maybe not to stay, but here nonetheless.

i had a blissful run today. in shorts and a yellow t-shirt. but apparently the yellow wasn't bright enough for the scion that almost hit me. other than that, it was everything running through a nice warm rain, accompanied by the beautiful sounds of baseball practice, is supposed to be. bliss, i tell you.

this weekend i started tutoring my kids in biology. i was way more excited than they were, but they are smart kids and did well.

happy april.

lots of things

it's been pretty busy as of late...i like it. so, this post might be long, but i'm going to attempt to categorize things with bold titles...

::Sojourn::
in chronological order, the following are some highlights from the past month:

1. we [Sojourn staff] began serving with Starlight Ministries, an outreach to the city homeless. each Wednesday night, we spend a couple hours handing out food and clothes while engaging in conversation with the people of Boston Common. and when i say "conversation," it's mostly us listening and them talking. it's wonderful.
2. our "steering committee" was here for a few days, which was really encouraging to us all. we had a big meeting with them, plus some New England ministers, plus some fellow Boston campus ministers. it was very good to share visionary things, and receive wisdom, prayer, and confidence.
   
3. the Boston Partnership [the church-plant we are working with] had their first gathering, kicking off a monthly meeting time between now and September when they launch as a church!
4. i started meeting with the "wives," a.k.a. the only other women remotely involved with Sojourn/Boston Partnership. we are hoping to evolve our time into a women's small group, so i'm stoked for that. they are three of the most amazing women ever, and even though our lives are vastly different [well, they are wives, and moms, with 2-4 kids each], i think i'll learn a lot from them and hopefully be an encouragement to them. heck, in our first meeting, i already learned explicit details of childbirth...oh boy!
5. this week we have been hosting a spring break group from CMSU [Central Missouri State University, where Tim has been the lead campus minister at Campus House for eight-ish years; also Bobby and Nate's alma mater]. so yeah, it's been really good...serving the city, showing them our favorite places, sharing Sojourn things with them. really good. we will have another college group out here the end of this month as well, so March is pretty booked.

::Backpacking in NH::
so a couple weeks ago, Nate and i decided to go backpacking and camping in the White Mountains. it was so incredibly beautiful...yet, somewhat cold. during the day temps were in the low 20s, which was great. it was the whole camping part of the trip that in hindsight maybe wasn't the best idea. we had zero-degree sleeping bags, so i was pretty toasty during the night. the problem came in the morning, when it was 14 degrees inside the tent, and roughly -5 outside. but the real problem came as we were packing up things, getting ready to trek through about 2 ft of snow back to the car...which was a good two-hour hike away. i'll spare details, but let's just say that Kim doesn't do well when she is mildly dehydrated and fighting the threat of frostbite. nature always brings me and God to some of our best times, but almost passing out multiple times in the middle of a national forest when we hadn't seen another human being for 15 hours had me praying a bit more...
it all turned out fine though, even with a touch of frostbite for Nate to brag about. here are some pictures [all Nate's], and you should read his blog too.

::girl friends::
i hung out with Kerry and Meg, two friends from work, last week. actually, the three of us hung out twice: once for Fat Tuesday, and then for Harpoon Fest on saturday [Harpoon is a fabulous Boston-brewed beer]. anyway, i can't tell you how great it was to hang out with girls!! [i love you boys, you know that :)] and Kerry and i talked about starting up a Bible study with us and some other girls from work...i am so stoked.

::Purdue::
i'm making a trip back to purdue at the end of the month to speak at campus house. i'm pretty excited for that, and for seeing rob and todd and a few others. speaking of purdue, i wore a purdue lacrosse shirt to work the other day, and a guy asked "did you go to purdue?" i nodded. he said he went to IU, to which i replied, "oh, i'm sorry." :)

::random::
i was walking to work the other day - just walking - when a lady [at least i think it was a lady] passed me on the sidewalk, threw a fist at my face [inches from making contact], and then continued walking past me, loudly proclaiming several things, some i didn't quite pick up, others involving me being a type of female dog.

what the crap? i just kept walking, kind of unfazed for a block or two, pondering every possible reason for her actions. was i squinting at the sun, making a weird face? did she think i was someone else? was she yelling those words to someone down the street? nah. i think it was all just a random act of urban living. and it makes for great stories.

i love this city.

blizzard of '06

18 inches of pure goodness. and yes, i went running in the middle of it. there is something blissful and quite lovely about running along the charles through 2-3 foot drifts, completely alone, passing only the occasional cross-country skier.





the pics are [top to bottom]: sidewalk near my apt, street (glad i don't have a car), the park near my place, and me and my faithful red hat.

our first Sojourn!

we had our first Sojourn "gathering" this past thursday! it was really good...we only had 3 students, but another 4-5 are pretty stoked about Sojourn too, and just weren't able to come. so 7-10ish students might sound small but it's huge. i was glad to meet the three...it's good to finally have some faces behind names. and it was especially good to just come together and have a "starting point" of sorts.

this coming week we begin serving with Starlight ministries, a homeless outreach. i am verrry excited for that...getting to talk and chill with the people of Boston Common. every wednesday. can't wait.

more later on all of that. i'll end with some numbers:

2: harvard wrestling meets i've attended within the past month. fun times, cheering on the boys from the MAC. i'm a fan...i mean, what's not to love? the competition, the intensity, the hot guys in singlets...

3: times i woke up last week thinking i was pregnant. yikes.

4: weeks until the Boston Run to Remember!!

12-15: inches of snow predicted for tonight/tomorrow. a true Nor'easter is on its way. :)

working at harvard

so it's midnight, i just got home from work and will be back there in about 6 hours, but i am restless. so i thought i'd just share a few great things about working at harvard:

• nice promotions [just yesterday, to a manager-on-duty]
• working with wicked cool students
• getting free food from said students when they break for the dining hall
• talks with random geniuses, like this guy

i love my job.

Sojourn goes well too. we have had some pretty great meetings the past two weeks, and i am anxious for more of that. one meeting last week was everyone from Sojourn and the Boston Partnership teams...brainstorming, praying, talking, sharing. it's incredible how God's paired our teams up, and then within that, has individually paired the four of us with the four church-planters in terms of our personalities and hearts. it's exciting/encouraging to see more of the vision...like, actually see some substance to the work we've been doing, and gaining an appreciation for that. and my confidence has been lifted a lot over the past few weeks. so that's good, things are really starting to move forward. but i struggle with clouds of frustration, and doubt, and confusion. daily. thus, my inability to sleep. i am tired though, not so much physically, more head/heart tired. i'm definitely craving some White Mtn or Cape time, hopefully in the near future. or, some of that wicked 60 degree weather we had last week would be great as well...

new year, new ending

so the new year has come, and the past couple weeks have been somewhat rough/frustrating. but at the same time, this week has been incredibly exciting and encouraging. so pretty big things on both ends of the spectrum.

the new year began with the death of my grandpa on january 2nd. he was an amazing guy...and i miss him. but he's hanging out with Jesus right now, and it doesn't get any better than that.

i have lots to share, but it's going to have to wait til next week when i get my iBook back. i feel bad hogging other people's laptops, and i only get 20 minutes of computer time per day at the cambridge public library [which has been a great new discovery, i must say]. so stay tuned...i'll have some good stuff to share about Sojourn and the church plant and God being so stinkin' awesome.

recent meditations

...from Oswald Chambers:

• "Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus."
• "Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self - to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him?"

...from Jesus:

• "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom." [Matt. 18:3-4, MSG]
• "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." [Matt. 9:13, NIV]
• "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." [Matt. 5:48, MSG]

...and finally, from Matisyahu:

• "Time flies by like clouds passing in the sky lifetimes here and gone like the blink of an eye, March through this desert one-step at a time, march through the desert one step at a time"
• King Without a Crown lyrics.

so yeah, lots of meditations lately. most of these, especially the Jesus-words from Matthew, have been tooling around in my head and heart for some time now.

i have some serious growing-up left to do.

home

my flight leaves in a few hours for home. and it's funny to still refer to Indianapolis as that when Boston is now most definitely my home. but i guess it's ok to have two places called by the same name. and as much as Indy and Purdue will always be quite special, when i think of home i pretty much just think of this beautiful woman in the picture: my Momma. this is my most favorite picture of us to date, taken just a couple weeks before i moved here.

so anyway, i'm going home. i get to see my Momma tonight. and that makes me very happy. Merry Christmas! much love and שָׁלוֹם to you all.

five minutes

sometimes i wonder if Elohim designed my life as a compilation of five-minute comedic clips, rather than one lifetime-length feature. or maybe it's just how i see my life as of late. or maybe it's both. anywho, a couple of five-minute moments from the past couple days:

#1: the lighting of the Christmas tree in the Common, with special performance by...

guesses anyone? think short-lived late-80's boy band from Boston. oh yes friends, this is none other than Jordan Knight, former member of NKOTB (New Kids On The Block, for you non-80's children). and i got to see him, amongst hundreds of screaming fans, for free. he opened by saying, "It's great to be back in Boston, with all you Bostonites...er, Bostonians, or whatever you call yourselves." Yikes. nice credibility Jordan.
so in five short minutes, some were thinking, "my life is complete!" i say, "i just wasted five minutes i'll never get back..."

#2: Central Sq and riding the T [the subway]
allow me to take you through a series of events as i prepared to ride the T tonight...

• as i'm just about to the station, i pass a man who exclaims, "hey pretty lady, can i have your number?" as i walked away, shaking my head, he continues to call out "please? please?" [definitely not the first time this has happened, especially in Central...it cracks me up]
• i enter the T station, dodge some vomit on the ground, and pace about waiting for the frickin' red line. behind me are two guys sitting on a bench. one says to the other, "hey, so can i have some?" the other man, holding a cologne bottle, questionably motions the bottle toward the man. the first guy shakes his head and says, "no, not that. i want some of what you're high on."
• the train finally comes, i get on, the doors close. as we start leaving, the conductor gets on the intercom and says "man in Cah #2, with the jeans and blue coat and hat...please do not urinate in the station."

so there you go. a couple five-minute looks into my life. and no worries, i definitely do not live in the ghetto. it's just the community around here spans from Harvard PhD professors to homeless veterans, and nearly everyone inbetween. Central Sq is just a bag of tricks. i love it.

website!

oh yes, we have a website! see the "Sojourn Collegiate Ministry" link to the right, or go to:

http://www.sojourn-ne.org/

bobby is the best.

ATL

so last weekend i was in atlanta for the National Missionary Convention. it was tim, nate, hank, and myself representing Sojourn and The Boston Partnership in our very own booth! exciting times for sure. hank tagged us as "the most irreverent booth present." many would probably agree. i mean, not only were we from the evil East Coast, but we were young and kind of loud. no one actually came out and said any of this, we just figure these were the thoughts behind the many stares we got. especially the booth next to us, where the people were roughly 4 to 5 times our age.

anyway, bobby drew out a sweet "Boston" sign on canvas for us since, sadly, he did not join us in ATL. upon arriving, nate and i constructed a frame for said canvas, about 10' X 9'. then, the four of us painted it over the course of the convention, inviting others to paint as well. so the canvas served a few purposes: advertisement, interaction, and entertainment for us when we got bored. so, some pictures... [click to enlarge]

tim with a staple gun = terror.

i'm such a pseudo-artist!

good work hank.

the final product!

ATL was good times. on the canvas, we had some fun facts about Boston written above "Boston," things like "1/2 of world leaders study in Boston" and "95% of population will not attend church this weekend." then at the end, we painted over those facts with "God is in..." the canvas was this "work-in-progress," much like Sojourn and The Boston Partnership are.

other highlights: my friend lindsay lives in ATL, so i got to hang out with her a bit...and, my "second dad" Rob was at the convention from my home church in Indiana. it was wonderful to see both of them...i was very encouraged.

it was nice to get away for a few days, but it is so good to be home. and tomorrow is Thanksgiving! it will be a "very Sojourn" Thanksgiving, looking forward to it. plus, i just made two pumpkin pies, my first pies ever! all without the smoke alarm going off.

to copy from an email i just sent: life is good. jobs, tutoring, running, everything. i love boston, and i love where God has me right now. lately i've felt completely overwhelmed by who God is, and the personality traits of Jesus, and the needs of people, and where i fit into all of that. i've been trying to absorb and learn all i can...about ministry, about people, about God. i wish i could absorb more, but i think i'm learning a lot.

a few other things:

• i've been thinking about and researching the U.S. National Debt lately [random, i know, but $8.1 trillion is ridiculous].
• Don Miller rocks my world.
• i can be a big idiot sometimes. i hate that.
• we got new nametags at work [harvard] today...they are pretty sweet.

that's all. Happy Thanksgiving!

plans

so, it's been some time since i last posted, mainly because life has gotten busy-ish (which is how i like it) and blogging isn't so much a priority. but also i've been thinking about a lot of things, which i can do quite easily since i'm a girl. lots of things, kind of heavy things, but very good things that i am now moving forward in processing. so yeah, i will share a few in this post. but first, not-so-heavy things/events to let you all in on.

two weeks ago, i got to spend a day at the Cape with a friend. (the "Cape" is Cape Cod). i've been to the Cape a couple times before, and it's always beautiful and definitely never gets old. this time was unique because it's fall, so everything was in different hues and colors. also, no one was there except the locals, which was great. my friend and i drove scenic route 6A, and took lots of pictures, and hung out at the beach for a couple hours. it was great time with a friend, and also great solitude time as well, as we went exploring in different directions while on the beach. it was just a great day.

last weekend, i got to go camping and hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. it was a short trip, but even just one night of sleeping under the stars was a needed escape from urban life. don't get me wrong, i do love life in the city and all, but mountains and the ocean are practically in my backyard...and i LOVE anything having to do with mountians and forests and water and oceans. i don't think i will ever get used to the fact taht the mountians are 1.5 hours away, and i can pretty much see the ocean whenever i want. amazing. i love it.

so today i visited Eitz Chayim, a Jewish congregation that is a couple blocks from my apt. they have lectures on sundays, and today's was on building Abrahamic partnerships...basically, how Jews and Christians and Muslims can be an interfaith community of learning. the guy who gave the lecture had some pretty interesting points, and while i didn't agree with everything he said, i did walk away with some new perspectives. plus, this was my first visit to a Jewish congregation and i am learning Hebrew (slowly). so, it was good.

so i've been listening to Death Cab's new cd, Plans, a lot lately. thus, the title of this post. great music, great lyrics. you should get it.

now for some deeper thoughts. and i probably won't be super deep b/c this is a blog, not my journal. one thing i've been wrestling with in my mind lately goes along the lines of, what are the driving forces behind the passions in my heart? like, for example, there are so many things i want to do in this life, too many to list here; a couple of those things involve living outside the US at some point, namely the continent of Africa. and then i think about how i would love to go here and do this, and go there and do that, and if i think about it long enough, i have from now until the time i'm 70 all taken up. but, i wonder, do i have the passion to go and do all these things because i really want to go and i really want to help people? 100%? or is it because i want to be transient, always meeting new people and changing locations often enough that i never fade away or am forgotten, but i'm always a new face to someone, some group of people, some place? or maybe i want to just do diffenent things involving ministry, or social justice, or medicine, or whatever because i would be constantly surrounded and working with those that have the same passions, and that would be, in a sense, comfortable. i thought all of this out loud while walking home one night, half hashing it through my mind, half praying. the next day some cool stuff happened, and it's a story in itself, so i'll just say, God showed me some things about my heart that i needed to see. it was good.

things with Sojourn are going really well, but i must be honest: working in ministry is hard. and starting a ministry is even harder. in many ways we see how it likens itself to starting a business, and i am pretty clueless when it comes to that kind of stuff. but, i am learning...i think we all are. i like it, and i'm excited.

much of the time i wonder if i am cut out for this, for being a campus minister. i mean seriously...who am i to be a minister for Jesus when i do a pretty poor job of representing Him, in my thoughts and my knowledge and my heart and my love? i'm just...me. thankfully and graciously, my God is God, and He supersedes anything that i was, and am, and will ever be. good news, indeed.

ok...it's late and work is early. if you made it through to the end, thanks, and i'm proud of you. :) g'nite friends.

snow

it's october. it snowed today. here's a couple pics from my apt as proof.


so yeah, it was kind of exciting, it was coming down pretty good for most of the afternoon. and the flakes were huge, definitely not midwestern snowflakes. so snow is fun, but in october it's, well, wrong.

if you know me at all, you know i love the weather channel, so i'll pass on tomorrow's forecast: 63 and sunny, no lie! new england weather is wack!

oh, and tomorrow starts daylight savings time!! i am so excited, for this is my first-ever experience in setting my clocks back! all thanks to indiana, the indecisive state that doesn't observe DST...however, they are finally getting on-board in april '06. anyway, i am a nerd and i'm excited about the extra hour of sleep. NOT so excited about the sun setting at 430pm. my momma is the coolest though and is ordering me one of those "natural sun light" lamps. thanks mom. :)

wicked cold

this past sunday i ran a 5-mile road race in nahant with the running team [Team Luna Chix, i don't know if i've mentioned our name before]. it was great! weather conditions, however, weren't....it was freezing, and raining, and the wind was a beast! but i guess you'll have that, seeing as nahant is on this pennisula that goes pretty far out into the atlantic. i'm told on a good day [i.e. one with sun] you can see boston from where we were. but i was just way excited to see the ocean so it didn't bother me too much.

so here's some of us right before the start...we were all huddled together, jumping around. the race was wonderful and absolutely beautiful, especially with the peak of fall foliage. there were a good number of hills, and many times the road would curve and i would look down at the waves crashing over these huge boulders. it was breathtaking. the race was really good God-time, as running typically is for me. very much needed. very much worth getting up at 6am for.

i ran a 46:57, which i was very pleased with. i'm getting back on-track for half-marathon training and it feels great! i'm looking forward to running a half with the team in march, and i'm very much looking forward to getting to know them better. it was really good to meet some new faces and have some good laughs with them on sunday...they are all so fun! i rode to/from the race with jenn and cynthia...they are so encouraging and hilarious. :) most of the race i ran solo, but sometimes i would catch up to emma, who has the best irish accent ever. and even though i'm pretty much the 'baby' of the group [most are in their late-20's/early-30's] and i'm definitely not the fastest runner, they have welcomed me in and asked lots of questions about my job and are happy to have me around. so yeah, i like them a lot! so even though the name is slightly cheesy, i'm glad to call myself a Luna Chic.

full moon

this was the view from the last part of my run last night. so i thought i'd share a little bit of boston through my eyes...

from missouri to mass...

bobby and nathan are finally here!! yay! the boys officially moved out here last weekend, and then moved into their sweet new bachelor pad on saturday. and when i say sweet, i mean it...their place is definitely in the heart of downtown boston, with a nice 2 min walk to the T and something like 1300 sq ft of living space. i'm a little jealous. however, i'm not so jealous of their monthly rent. :)

so God has been and continues to be totally providential in every aspect of us being here. the big things, like housing...all the way to the little things, even the shortest of conversations. so if you are one who has been praying for sojourn, thanks! and praise God for bobby and nathan's new place. now they just need a couple jobs, please pray for that.

the sun decided to hang out in new england today, so that was great. it was something like 10 straight days of darkness and rain...slightly depressing.

one of the highlights of the past week: every so often, high school or college groups come out here by way of restoration house [church planting organization] in new hampshire. usually it's for some service work and a little exposure to the northeast. well...we had such a group last week...but it was definitely seniors. and by that i mean senior seniors, not seniors in college. anyway, they were from crawfordsville, indiana, so i was happy for some home-state representation. and because i am the lone hoosier of Sojourn, i think it's safe to say they latched onto me the most. or maybe because i'm the only girl. well anyway, they were all really sweet people, and we were very encouraged by their words and prayers.

oh, and how can i forget to mention that my friend john was out here again last weekend! this time he came to run his first half marathon, which i shamelessly convinced him to do. and he did great, actually beating my personal record by five minutes. it was pretty fun for me to be the spectator at a race, a first for me. however, after a few minutes of watching, i was wishing i was in the race instead...but cheering on a friend was pretty great too. great job john!

sorry it's been awhile in writing...a lot has been happening, i'll try to write more later. i have work at harvard in t-minus five hours, g'nite friends. :)

things

so tim and i had a meeting today with some website/advertising people, and it was really good. they were excited for the 'challenge' of developing creative stuff for us...so yeah, it was just a great meeting, and i'm excited to see what they come up with for sojourn.

also, bobby and nathan left today to move out here!! i can't wait for them to be here...for our team to be together...yeah, all of that.

recent realizations, in no particular order:

• for not being a morning person, i am really enjoying my early shift at the MAC (malkin athletic center, at harvard). each monday, i get up at 445, and i like it.
• david gray's new cd, life in slow motion...pretty amazing.
• i really suck at hebrew, but i promise i'm getting better. i'm up to 6 consonants, 4 vowels, and a handful of vocabulary words, my favorite being אָבִי
  
• old fashioned hand-written letters are the best thing ever, and in my opinion, the best form of communication because you get to read, re-read, and listen to the person's voice all at the same time. letters from far-away friends are so good, and i've gotten 2 in the past 6 days. so if you've sent me a letter, thanks for making my day. hopefully i can do the same.
  
• i really do love to run.
• i went to a grad nursing info session at BC on monday. i think i should still keep the looking into nursing, but probably not at BC. it's a great school, but $30,000/year in tuition isn't for one who is in ministry.
  
• candy corn is so addictive.

time for some sleep before 7am spinning class. :)

october wedding

yesterday was daniel and jen's wedding, and i hate to say this, but i really enjoyed it. the wedding ceremony itself was really great, and i definitely enjoyed that the minister gave a real perception of marriage. the reception was amazing...it was on the 33rd floor of this building downtown, and the view was spectacular. not to mention the food. :)

i had fun at a wedding. this is hard for me to comprehend, considering my current view of marriage. since i am fairly convinced no one reads this blog anyway, maybe i'll share that view sometime. or maybe i should keep working on it, since i know my feelings toward marriage are largely based on several lies that float around in my head that i choose to believe. they are comforting lies, really, and i'm not ready to give them up yet.

so i'm really happy for jen and daniel...they are so wonderful together and apart, but are individually better by being with one another. and i think that if marriage should be anything, it should definitely be that.

so other things to mention...i've been working on learning some hebrew again, which i am loving. i've also been doing a lot of reading, enjoying that a lot too. the art and wonder of reading pretty much got shelved for me starting in high school, and of course, college gave no free time for that luxury as well. i'm reading Don Miller's second book right now, along with The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser. Rolheiser's book is an assignment from tim, and at first i approached it as such, but now i'm really into it...it paints a good picture of our culture's struggle with spirituality in our post-modernism, and that is something i want to deeply understand. the core of the book is his explanation of God and the Church to a world that largely doubts both. he addresses several divorces that have occurred within spirituality, one being the divorce between religion and eros ("the fire inside of us; our soul"):
"Like all divorces it was painful, and as in all divorces, the property got divided up: Religion got to keep God and the secular got to keep sex. The secular got passion and the God got chastity. We, the children of that divorce, like all children in a broken home, find ourselves torn between the two, unconsciously longing for them to come back together again. But, for now, we live in a broken situation. Religion, especially as it is lived out in the churches, is perceived as being antierotic, antisex, anticreative, antienjoyment, and anti-this-world. The God who underwrites the churches is then perceived as stoic, celibate, dull, cold, otherworldly, and threatened by sex and by human creativity. The secular world is seen as the champion of eros, sex, creativity, and enjoyment, but is seen as anti-God and antichurch. And we are torn; how does one pick between the two?"

this is the underlying nature of American culture, most demonstrated on the Coasts or the City. very much the story in the city i now call home. so again, the question that's always in my mind and in my prayers: how do we start a campus ministry and a church here?

out with the honda, in with the trek

so i sold the honda before i left indiana, and there are small moments when i kinda miss her. but these moments are few and very far between. i ride my bike now pretty much everywhere, and i love it. here's why my Trek is amazing:

• working out and commuting are now one in the same. the quads are so getting back in shape.
  
• the trek can go all the places cars can't...like, when traffic is backed up at a stoplight, guess who gets to go to the front? it's like cutting the line at disney world, but no one can get mad at you.
• there is no bike insurance, bike parking pass, or bike parking meters. nor must i ride around the block five times looking for a place to lock up.
  
• on the trek, especially during rush hour, i go the same speed or faster than everyone else. like today, i definitely passed a porsche.
• how much are gas prices now?
• one-way streets (and that's pretty much every street here) are still one-way streets on a bike, so the law still applies. yet, it's also slightly optional...the shortest distance is still a straight line, so if that means going the wrong way down a one-way every so often, the trek can do that.
  
• there is this special adrenaline rush that comes only when riding through rush hour. dodging cars and peds and taxis and other bikes, that's all great. inches between me and an MBTA bus, yeah, that's AWESOME. [mom, i'm fine]
  
• and finally, and this would be the best part of all: more exercise = more calories burned = more food!! and i do love food. however, right now that means a lot of pb&j's, couscous, and spaghetti, but that's fine by me. :)
  

so the trek has replaced the honda. i'm pretty happy with that. :)