Personal Floatation Devices

PFD’s are normally associated with life vests but that’s what my friend and I call women’s implants. It seriously looks in many cases like they have two personal flotation devices ready to keep them bobbing with just their neck and heads above water.

Yes I’m being harsh but if I could take away one ‘invention’ of the world it would probably be these. It bothers me that there is so much pressure on women to look ‘good’ that they will undergo unnecessary surgery and then lug those bulky things around and possibly cause back problems.

This strong pressure to feel pretty comes from marketing companies who make you feel bad about yourself so you will buy crap. And it seems to me this pressure causes problems with body image and confidence in almost all women. This in turn causes problems in relationships. So we would all be better off if we could just accept ourselves in a natural state. Yes you should eat right and exercise and keep yourself clean but beyond that you should concentrate on more important things like knowledge, growth, helping others and being the best person you can and not just the one with the biggest ta-tas.

With regards to implants, I’d like to get to a point where women just say “no I’m not doing that, I have plenty to offer just the way I am”. I seriously think most guys are fine (and happy) with a woman’s natural body and the ones who would encourage you to risk your health and waste your money are probably not the right ones anyway.

Cat “A Cup and Happy” Cathy

Six Hours to Nowhere

I’ve mountain biked for many years now but I’d only raced once. That one race was such a disaster I never wanted to go again. I was in novice women and the other women were ridiculously fast. I would think novice should be for people like me who just race and ride a bit but these girls had been racing for years and must have rode all the time. I was so far behind and I didn’t know anyone so I was getting what I called ‘the pity clap’. Strangers were cheering me on with “you can do it number 658”. It was sweet but not as motivational as they might have thought. It kinda made me feel pathetic. So I decided I didn’t want to commit that much time and racing is just not for me.

Flash forward several years and I’m asked to do a 6 hour mountain bike race. This is a solo event but thankfully there is also a 3 person team category. So Team Spin Spin Sugars was born. We didn’t train except for our usual Tuesday rides and I had never ridden the actual race course. So as I took the baton from my fellow Spin Spin I headed off into 10 miles of undiscovered country. I was told the trail was a ‘blue’ which is only somewhat technical. So I went full speed even in areas that looked to be highly technical. Thankfully my teammates didn’t steer me wrong and there was nothing more than a blue. It was still a bit scary heading full speed into some of the unknown drops. It was a brutal race since I couldn’t catch my breath on my first lap and since I had never ridden there before 10 miles felt more like 20. My second lap felt shorter and my breathing was ok but my legs felt like rubber since I sat for two hours in between laps.

Our not training paid off since we took 3rd in the all women’s division! After my lousy first race experience I never thought I’d get a medal in mountain biking so that it was exciting and fun to pose on the podium.

Will I do it again? Probably but I’m not going to make a lifestyle out of it. There are just too many other things on my bucket list.

Cat “Spin Spin” Cathy

Nicaragua - San Juan Del Sur

On the way to San Juan Del Sur we saw the Nicaraguan equivalent of mass transit. I just had to take a picture of 12 people AND a motorcycle in the back of a pickup truck.

We also stopped at a wind farm. It was amazing to pass an ox pulling a cart and then see a wind farm in the background. Talk about a contrast. But as an environmental engineer I was glad to see this cleaner form of energy being used.

San Juan Del Sur is about as touristy a town as Nicaragua gets (which is not very touristy). There are several restaurants on the water but it really didn’t seem to matter which one you picked since they all had the same food. I was totally bored and over the food in Nicaragua at this point. That was quite a disappointment since food is usually a fun part of any vacation.

There’s was new Jesus statue that was just built so we took a short hike to it so we could tell everyone we found Jesus on our vacation. We also did the typical zip lining and rode ATV’s to the beaches.

The highlight came when I found this holistic place and an American guy who said his wife did massages. I decided a massage would be a great idea but I was fresh off the beach and wanted to go home and shower first. So we set an appointment for about 6 pm. I cleaned up and was looking forward to my relaxing massage. When I arrived the quite place had been transformed into a loud dance club. The American guy said he had forgotten when he made my appointment that the back of the building is used as a dance club on Saturday nights. I decided to get the massage anyway. I expected his wife to be some hippie looking American too but she was a very big and very un-hippie looking Nicaraguan who didn’t speak English. So while I got my massage music was blaring just a few feet away. Somehow it was still a bit relaxing and a fun experience. My very first (and hopefully last) disco massage! Now there is something for the bucket list.

Next we head to our final Nicaraguan stop at Ometepe Island which was the highlight of the vacation.

Cat “Where’s a McDonalds?” Cathy