Return to the "dually"

Hillbilly's call trucks w/ 4 rear wheels a "dually" (like this little slice of heaven). Many of them also call a full suspension bicycle a dually (like this sweet baby), but in reference to its being "dual suspension", rather than referring to the number of wheels it has. Anywho, I've owned two full sus MTB's in my day and liked them both fine. But when my last one broke, I opted into a hardtail as a replacement. FF a few years and last week I noticed my carbon hardtail frame was splitting on the chainstay from chaindrop. It's not a manufacturer's defect and hence not really a warranty issue, but I talked to "my people" at Giant (the best damn bike company in the biz, straight up) and got it taken care of. I opted to return to a full suspension frame this go-round. Aluminum though. Carbon fiber has many, many advantages as a frame material, but for the rough life of a MTB, I feel like aluminum is a better choice for a non factory sponsored chump such as myself. And as for FS vs. HT, thy both have advantages/dis's. HT's are going to be lighter (especially carbon ones) and climb better. But FS's are easier to ride overall. Descending on MTB is probably my biggest weakness in the discipline, and the point-and-shoot characteristic of riding a FS may help me there. The added weight may slightly hinder my climbing ability, but we'll see; I tend to gap people on climbs just to have them right on my wheel on the descent that follows. Besides it all, I don't really take MTB racing too seriously anyway. It's just filling time between road and CX seasons, right?

So, it's nearing the end of December (and 2010) and it has been a terrible December weather wise. Way more snow than normal and way colder than normal. I'm (publicly) hoping for a mild rest-of-the-winter. I haven't checked records, but I feel like my December volume is low. And I'm fine w/ that if I can ramp it up in the next 8 or so weeks. C'mon weather!
This weekend was Christmas. Lindsay and I went to my parents house and spent the day w/ my parents, my brother/sister in law and our (4month old) niece.
We had a nice time, but Lindsay's surgery lingers.
That brings me to today, the day before Lindsay's operation. Even though it was sub freezing and windy I went out for a ride knowing I'll be forced into a few days off the bike this week. We have to leave home ~4:15am to get to the hospital in Indy for her procedure. We have no idea how long it is to take, no idea how long she'll be "out" (literally knocked out) post-op and I'm still unsure of whether I can stay at the hospital for the few days I'll be sticking around to tend to her. I'm not sure if I can stay in her room somewhere, or I can crash in a waiting room or something. I have a few friends in Indy, so if all fails I don't have to stay in the car or anything, but I'm totally flying by the seat of my pants here; trying not to worry much about me since I'm not the one under the knife.
If you care to and can remember to, keep positive thoughts coming our way for Lindsay's operation to go well and her recovery to be good and fast.