I didn't forget you, I promise

It's been well over a month since my last post, but I really haven't forgotten about this blog, at least not yet. I keep composing entries then forget them within the day, which is clearly the best way to get a blog written. Anyway, I haven't had a ton to say. I've been hitting some sticking points in research, mainly doing a lot of writing though, which is just a labor-intensive, painful task for me. I haven't been super thrilled with research; I'm pretty ready to finish up everything and move on to something new that's more of my own construction. At least I've somewhat started putting the feelers out for post-docs, so that will be good. I've been a bit depressed about how long the Ph.D. is taking me, but there are at least 5 other people in the exact same position in my starting class, so I really shouldn't feel that bad about it. It's a bit sad to see people finishing and leaving, but on the plus side, this gives me good excuses to travel and visit people as they spread across the country/world in their respective positions.
Biking has gotten better. It's interesting, road racing has been way more pleasant because a lot of the people with the attitudes I don't deal well with have kind of dropped off the face of the earth. There's a group of women on my team who are racing really well together, and we're good at knowing each others' strengths and weaknesses; it finally feels like a team to me. Of course, it's right at the tail end of road season, but whatever. Track is going really well too. I've been stronger than I expected, consistently making money on Fridays. The FSA Grand Prix this coming weekend will probably be a rude awakening, however.
My sister just visited this past weekend, which was good. We met up in Olympia, had some Pies and Pints, went berry picking, had a rather disorganized "climbing" trip that involved more hiking than anything, and generally just hung out. I need to figure out some time to go back east right now, but I've been really bad at planning stuff lately.
I'll probably have some random pictures up whenever I get them loaded on to my computer. Until then, that's pretty much where I am.