ousted

I just got back from Brazil yesterday morning, and upon returning I found out that I have been ousted from the English Channel team. It hit me hard. Apparently Dave has lost faith in me to 1) keep my training up enough to be able to pace him, and 2) to raise the money I was obligated to raise even though the fundraising deadline is two weeks away. I personally think that all the sacrifices I made in order to support his endeavor should negate the requirement for me to raise funds, but regardless, I signed up for the task with every intention of raising the money. Now I get to tell everyone who was following my progress that I've been asked to step down. That's always a horrible feeling. I just wish he had told me before I wasted a good portion of my summer, winter, last fall, and last summer dedicating myself to the swim.
I was angry enough yesterday to say something to Dave I might regret, but I think I'm over that phase now. I can't promise I'll pretend as if I'm not hurt the next time I see him (oh yeah, he hasn't told me yet in person; he told me through Tom who was ousted from the crew as well,) but I will wish him luck. He'll need it.

Borrachudos!!

I've been bitten by those nasty borrachudos; mosquito-like bugs that leave their poison in the form of terribly itchy, red welts. I try to control my scratching during the day, but while I'm sleeping, my legs go crazy!

Bom dia de Brasil

Oh boy, for some reason, my blog editing site is displaying in Portuguese because I'm in Brazil. Hopefully my translation skills are OK and this entry prints up accurately. I'm here accepting NWA's first Embraer aircraft. It has been a busy trip, and trying to communicate with the Portuguese-speaking workers at Embraer, the Compass Airlines employees who will be operating the aircraft, and with the execs at NWA who make the decisions but are never in their office or available for a conference call, has proven difficult. Our trip has been delayed 1 day, and hopefully only 1 day.
I did manage to relax yesterday at Ihlabela; the "beautiful island" off the coast of the state of Sao Paulo; city of Sao Sebastian. It was absolutely gorgeous, and after one Caipirinha, I was in a state of total satisfaction and relaxation. I snorkeled, jogged along the beach, dug my toes in the sand, and ate seafood. The only bad thing about the trip is that I'm feeling the effects of the mosquito bites that itch worse than any bite I've endured in the humid, Minnesota northwoods. Tomorrow is back to reality, and Tuesday is back to the states, and Saturday begins the three weekends in a row of triathlons. Needless to say I haven't been training much since I've been here...
Check out the travel blog for pics from Ihlabela.