Organizing my head

This would be one reason to write on a regular basis: before getting down to serious business, process the random thoughts that always float around my head early in the day. It could be a way to get organized and to think things through better, because that's what writing does for you. On Thursdays in Milwaukee, some of these random thoughts usually concern the Wednesday training ride; on all days, they involve all matter of work-related issues, from mundane tasks to serious projects.
First the Wednesday ride: normally the group is large, and the pace fast, but Superweek is ongoing, and yesterday a couple of storms also were moving through the area. There were 10-12 people, but all were gone by the time we got to Donges Bay Rd, "we" being my reliable friend PK and me. Because we were going to get wet anywhere we went, we decided just to do the regular ride. I suppose yesterday qualifies as the first thunderstorm ride of the year, but it really didn't amount to much. Still, it was nice to ride in the warm rain again--also a first this year. The rain actually stopped 15 miles into the ride, and the rest was just a very pleasant, not too challenging ride which I did entirely in the small ring. We tied for the line in Port, and forgot to sprint for the stop-ahead sign at Mequon Rd on the way home. There, we took a left, because on the way up we had followed our last companions through the short-cut, and you have to do the whole route.
Other random thoughts go back to the reception at the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. on Tuesday--the second event to promote our new Encyclopedia of the Cold War (http://www.routledge.com/books/Encyclopedia-of-the-Cold-War-isbn9780415975155). We had a nice turn-out, thanks to the Cold War International History Project's publicity machine, and I was interviewed by the Voice of America (I'll post the link, once they get the interview up on their site). I feel pretty good about the two volumes, although with a work of this magnitude, produced essentially in less than three years, there will always be things one could revisit. Maybe in a couple of years we can take another look.
Finally, fall teaching. I'm supposed to think about that too: two Cold War courses, and maybe a third now. But the move has been distracting. On that front: I caught the recycling guy this morning, which was excellent, because in addition to filling our bins, I had placed several boxes with discarded files behind the house (they had gotten rained on several times since early last week), and I had the whole backstairs full of bags and boxes. The guy was excited to hear I was going to Holland (I had never met him), congratulated me and asked me to look for public works jobs for him over there because he's getting tired of Milwaukee and the U.S. Most important, he was willing to wait while I dumped all this paper in his truck, even helped me wheel down two additional bins full of the stuff. One more thing out of the way. Now back to the Cold War.