Empathy (or lack thereof)

I am a really empathetic person.
As a rule, I celebrate with people when they succeed, and commiserate with them when they fail. But, when I read Steve Tilfords account of his shelling at yesterdays Redlands Race, I could not help but smirk. Not out of the usual reasons, I really like steve. I think that he typifies all the things about professional cycling that I really like. He rides his bike and races because he enjoys doing it (or at least he seems to). Steve commented that he felt like a local cat 3 racer that got shelled off the back. Not to be mean spirited, but I felt vindicated that even people like Steve get thrashed occasionally (and sits on the sidewalk drinking beer afterwards). I think that I am gonna put Steve on my sidebar. He has some really great insight into life and a wealth of experiences.
Temps are gonna hit 50F today. Am going to ride south into the cities, and cruise around the neighborhoods near our new house. We finally found a home that got Ali and me all hot and bothered. We made a offer at 10pm, counter came back at 9am, our counter-counter was accepted at 11am. The previous owner had had the house on the market for like 250 days. The housing market really has hit rock bottom here. Good me us, but I feel bad for a lot of other people that have seen their home values plummet. Guess I still have a little bit of empathy left.

Under the category of new experiences, Jasper threw up in my armpit this morning. Fatherhood brings about all sorts of new emotions and sensations.