Berlin, 26.04.01 God, it's been almost two weeks since we came back from holiday, and I have completely forgotten to update the site. I really should do something more ambitious but there's never time at home, between training and the baby, and my job is so slack that I'm too lazy even to goof off productively. I need to do something creative before my brain rots. I'm quite happy to have reached the post-career phase of life now - in the future I will simply do whatever jobs appear, when the situation demands that I work, though I have no serious long-term plans or aspirations - but I really do need to find some means to exercise my mental faculties a little better than just reading Salon at the office. Work is spectacularly boring. I won't go into the details but will simply say that no-one here has a clue what to do with a web site but arguing with them isn't worth my energy so I just do whatever people want (which takes about two hours a day at most) and otherwise try to disappear into obscurity. (It seems to be working; I've always been good at disappearing in the workplace. ) That said, I still think this was the right choice given our situation, total security and zero stress for the first year with a baby. But I want to get out fairly soon, one way or another. Things are still very much up in the air with respect to Annette's future. I can't discuss this further because we're only beginning negotiations, but there's a possibility we might be moving to Toronto either for at some point later this year. This won't be for a full tenure-track job, and unfortunately we'd be very poor for a few years, but it's a chance she has to take if she wants to salvage her academic career. More details to follow in the weeks ahead. Looking back, Mallorca was great. Okay, we stayed at a nasty modern hotel complex full of pasty, flabby working-class Brits with ghastly northern accents and hideous teeth, but for the price who would complain? I put in four good days on a rented racing bike, four good days on the skates, and even managed some relaxing. It's a beautiful island, apart from the tourist strips, and worth exploring again. Maddy had a great time, grinned like a chimp from the first day to the last. Really enjoyed herself. So did we. Madeleine continues to evolve. Almost crawling now. My parents are coming to visit in a few weeks and will be very surprised by the changes, I think. She's really very happy and pleasant and easy to be around. Having two weeks off to spend with her and Annette was great; I didn't much enjoy returning to work and the hideous nine-to-five grind. Skating also goes well. I raced in Hamburg last weekend, the marathon. I was much more relaxed than last year and yet somehow skated five minutes faster. Having the baby makes me train smarter, not having as much time, which in turn is making me faster. Who'd have thought? Tons of racing coming up in the next month, with regular reports posted to rec.sport.skating.racing for those who truly care. That's it.