SUSPENDED!!

(Thank you for the laugh, Kerry Vandencombsie!!! Can't wait to see you in Kansas! )
Holy Cow, did I have a scare today. Imagine this--I'm putzing around the lab, listening to some Christmas music, feeling excited about the weekend/next week, blah blah blah. Upon checking my email, I have multiple messages from various people (Thank you Chip, Kris, Ryan!), telling me I HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED by USAC! Folks, let me tell you, my heart about sunk through the floor. As you probably know, I just recently provided a fine specimen to the USADA folks, and of course I thought that was what it was pertaining to. That, in combination with my Catholic upbringing, and I had myself a) divorced, b) bankrupt from lawyer fees, and c) pregnant within a minute of reading those emails. To say I have an overactive imagination is an understatement.
Anyhow, it turns out that I was suspended because I hadn't paid a fee for not picking up my number the night before the Greenbriar UCI mt bike race. Now before you go thinking I am a huge slacker that doesn't pay her bills on time, I just want to say in my defense that I got the email on November 30 from USAC saying I had a $24 fee to pay!!!! Here it is just 1 a week later, and I (along with a whole slew of others) was suspended! I honestly thought it was no big deal, and that I would just have to pay it before I renewed my license for next year. There certainly was no hint of a deadline and/or suspension in the email.
So, hopefully this will serve as a warning to everybody. When the USAC says "pay up," you'd better whip out your credit card and say "take what you need."
Meanwhile, I am fully prepared to be made fun of. Gunnar likes to point out that in all his years of racing, he has never been a) fined, b) relegated (at least one that stuck), or c) suspended, whereas I have a) been there, b) done that, and c) now you know the story on that one.

Even the Kids are making fun of me.