Biking, Steak, Shadows, and Photoshop

I have brought my bike to work (a new Schwinn that I bought last summer) and am now riding over my lunch break a couple times a week. There is a residential area nearby that has some good ups and downs, and I ride about 5 miles. I'm going to keep it up, as it is part of my continuing attempt to lose weight. I lost 22 pounds earlier in the year, and have gained a little of that back, but am now back on the right track with my eating and exercise.

On a side note related to eating (and not in an entirely healthy way), I have determined that Texas Roadhouse is my favorite steakhouse, recently defeating Timberlodge Steakhouse. Though, I do have to admit, the only other steakhouse I've ever been to is Outback, which while still good, loses easily to both the other two. Oddly enough, I wasn't always a big fan of steak, until one day a few years ago I decided to order one at Applebee's. And now... yum. And I love any steak with A1 Bold & Spicy.

Also, over my lunch breaks, on days that it is raining or I just don't feel like biking, I can now take advantage of a small lunch room area where I can take the laptop and work on the book, or whatever else I feel like working on, without being at my desk and risking having to do work. Talking about the book, it now sits at 73,000 words, and really, I feel pretty good about how it is at the moment. I have posted part of it on Authonomy.com, a website run by the publisher Harper Collins. It is an online writing community where you can get feedback on your book. Also, while I am not holding out a hope that this will lead to anything for me, every month, the 5 most popular books get sent to the editor's desk Harper Collins for review. While the chance of getting that high is slim, I did start ranking around #3500 in March, and am now ranked #491. You never know. But either way, it is neat place and I have gotten some good feedback on the book. For Authonomy, you have to provide a cover (or use a generic image provided by the site). I designed this cover from a couple images I found online. It doesn't look as good at full size, but Authonomy only displays it as a small thumbnail-sized image. Feel free to read the pitch on the book's Authonomy page.