In all things, progress.

Making new year's resolutions is easy enough, sticking to them is the tough part. Yesterday was the first day in a long time that had suitable biking weather, and since it was my day off I knew I had to take advantage. After six months off the bike I went on a 14-mile bike ride. Surprisingly, my legs don't hurt so much as my neck and upper back. All that straining into the wind, I suppose. The skin on my face is so dry today, I should have worn a balaclava. This is what I'm riding these days:



Surly Long Haul Trucker. As I was biking from one end of Purcell, where I was raised, to the other end (a whopping seven mile stretch), I had a new found respect for a town I had always thought of as bland and boring. I realized that this quaint, lazy little town is exactly the kind of town I want to bike through when I tour across America on my bike. I don't know when this bike tour is going to take place, maybe at the end of the summer, but I hope to one day span several states on my bike, rolling through small towns on little highways, stopping only to take pictures, sleep, and eat.

But first, the dreaded century! I'm still waiting on my heart rate monitor to arrive in the mail, plus I need new batteries for my cyclocomputer, and then the training will commence! In the meanwhile, I'm just getting my ass reacquainted with a bike seat.

In other news, I designed my boss's business cards and they finally arrived today, I gotta say Overnightprints.com does a damn fine job for a VERY reasonable price. We printed this:


Front


Back

with rounded corners. We ordered 500 of them and it was only about $40 total. I always google "overnightprints coupons" before I order and almost always get some kind of discount. They are awesome, and their staff is incredible and very timely at answering any questions you have for them. I highly recommend them! And I highly recommend myself if you want a design ;)

Since I have been doing so many designs lately, I think what I'm going to do is have ten or fifteen basic card designs to choose from for $50, or I will do a personalized design for $75 (plus cost of printing). It makes more sense to me to do it that way. Once I have my basic designs I'm going to put them in a portfolio and go around town to various businesses and promote myself.

Speaking of promotion! I got the fliers for the art show printed today and they look awesome! I went around Campus Corner and Main Street and put them all up. I'm really looking forward to this event, but I'm also kind of nervous about painting in front of everyone. I think I'm going to have to bring my iPod and block everything out.

I have a few oil paintings I'm working on at home to get me geared up for the event. I'll post them once they're done.

peace!