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It has been almost a week since I quit smoking. I'm feeling pretty good overall. I do still have the urge to light up and sometimes the urge almost overwhelms me. So far I have been able to kill the urges with a combination of resolve and support from the few people I have not shut out during this time. I also gain a great amount of support from the people on YouTube who have posted comments and given me positive feedback. It really means a lot during all of this to see response like I have. Thank you all who have taken the time to comment.
You can see the latest video here: Day 5 (I Quit)Labels: Bicycling, Home Depot, Smoking, Video |
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| 9:04 AM | Posted by Dave |
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Things are nowhere near back to normal, but I am trying to find things to do to occupy my time/mind. I have been working and doing the stuff around here that I need to do but additionally as the weather begins to get warmer I have been paying more attention to biking again.
This is the time of year that biking begins to flow through my blood. I did it during the winter because I had no choice. Now it's calling to me once again and I find myself looking forward to my trips into town and back and forth to work. I know several others at work who bike. They have far less distance to travel and all of it is on paved roads, but I still welcome them to the brotherhood..
One of the girls at work recently told me her brother had taken her bike and was doing dirt jumps with it. Long story short -- he trashed her bike. I decided to generate some positive karma and have taken an old Raleigh bike that I had laying out back and am fixing it up. When it's finished I will let her have it.
The Raleigh is a 21 speed, older mountain bike. It has no suspension, hard tail/solid fork and no bells or whistles. Just a basic mountain bike. It needs some work due to being older and not having been used for years. Tubes needed to be replaced, the whole thing needed a thourough kleaning/de-greasing. I stripped it down to the bare frame and sanded all the old paint off. It was black originally. I primered it and shot it with a new coat of lime green paint. I gave it several coats and then shot the forks and head tube with gloss black which I faded into the body. Once dry I used clear coat on it and gave it 5 or 6 layers. It looks good.
I put the wheels on my truing rack and tweaked them back into shape, then I replaced the tubes and am now putting it back together again. So far I have only invested a can of paint, a set of $8 pedals and some elbow grease to restore this bike.Labels: Bicycling |
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| 7:30 AM | Posted by Dave |
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| Wednesday, January 2, 2008 |
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I must be on the receiving end of some shitty karma.. what did I do?
That list could be a blog unto itself.. lol
So I head out on my bike this morning for my DUI class which starts at noon. It's about 10 miles and I wanted to make a stop at Home Depot to check the schedule on my way. I padded the time so I wouldn't be late. Ever since I started these classes there has been a notice posted on the front door that states:
'Effective January 1, 2008 there will no longer be a grace period. Anyone arriving even 1 minute late to class will be turned away and have to make up that session as well as pay a late fee.'
Well I never really gave it any thought because I'm committed to putting these classes behind me. I'm not going to be late so it's a non-issue for me. I haven't been late at all, rather early to each of my sessions.. until today.
Today I was 47 seconds late.
They turned me away. Ok, it's not like they didn't warn us ahead of time but c'mon!
47 seconds?
I roll up in front of the place, lean my bike against a post, walk in and stop at the front desk where a lady is sitting. I should have just gone in. Instead I stopped and asked if I could still attend my session. What was I thinking?
She looks up at the clock on the wall, I follow her gaze.. 12:00:47
'Yeah! Who's your counselor?' she asks with a quizzical look.
'Miles' I reply..
'Oh, it's actually 12:01 so I can't let you go in...' she says with an exaggerated frown tilting her head to the left as if she's ever so sorry to have to inform me of this sad news.. The moment it took for me to ask and then have her reply pushed the time to just past 12:01 and now she was truning me away!
I was seriously angry, both at myself for not being more prompt but also with her for being so petty. I asked if she could just cut me a break this time as I have not had a tardiness issue since beginning these sessions.
Nope. She's really very sorry though.
I inquire if there's anyone she could please ask as it wasn't even a whole minute.
Nope. She's really very sorry though.
Wtf? So I turned and walked out before I said anything that would get me sent back to court. I hopped on my bike and rode off. I ended up at Starbuck's 20 minutes later and stopped for a mocha which I sipped outside while pondering this whole episode.
Here's the thing - I could make calls, write letters, bitch my ass off about this and probably nothing good would come of it. Probably bad things would happen instead. Things like 'Watch that asshole Dave, he's a problem..', or 'We checked with the DMV to verify that you only need to take the 90 day First Offender Program and unfortunately they need you to complete the Second Offender Program.. We're really sorry but our hands are tied...', or whatever else they can think of to manipulate the situation.
So I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to be more careful and make sure I'm early from here on out. It's really the smartest choice. I can't afford to make waves at this point. I'd like to think that I have some wisdom. A younger version of me would probably have gone ballistic at the moment instead of leaving quietly. Then the young me would spend huge amounts of black energy on plotting the destruction of this obviously evil & assinine organization that feeds on the unfortunate souls who become snared in their web.
Karma really does have everything to do with this, and all things both good and bad that cross our paths each day. I'm far from being able to see light at the end of the tunnel but my eyes are open and my head is clear.
I'll just keep moving forward ever so slowly and watching the signs as they appear.Labels: Bicycling, DUI |
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| 11:46 PM | Posted by Dave |
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Wow.. I fucked up today.. I got up, did some stuff around here and then got my things together and headed out on my bike to my DUI class. I figured it would take about an hour or maybe a little less to get there. I'd rather be early and not press myself than ride hard just to make it in the nick of time.
So I rode into town, passed Home Depot, took some back alleys and shot out on the main drag. I crossed the overpass at I-5 and coasted down the other side. Checked my watch, no sweat I'd be about 10 minutes early.. I figured I'd stop at the gas station next door and grab a bottle of water.
I pull up at my final destination with 5 minutes to spare.. no problem. I secure my bike and head inside. I ask the lady at the front desk which room I should report to. She tells me she has no idea. So I ask my counselor. He checks some papers and says, "Oh - you don't need to be here on Fridays until January 11th". I look at the schedule and sure enough, he's right.
Fuck.
I just rode 10 miles for nothing. So I left, cursing myself for not reading the schedule more carefully. Now what? I could just head home, but the original plan was to meet my landlady at 3 pm over at the kerosene place so I could refill my containers. It was only 12:15 pm right now.
So I called her and asked if she could come into town early and meet me. It cost me 5 bucks but she said she would. So she met me and I got the kerosene and some dog food for Thor then we headed back.
I rode into town again at 5 pm to go to work. All in all, I put 15 miles on the bike today.Labels: Bicycling, DUI |
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| 11:27 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Wednesday, December 5, 2007 |
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I went to my first DUI class today. We had to watch Sandra Bullock in 28 Days. It was a fairly good movie, I think I almost rented it once.
I rode my bike into town, left here at 11 am and arrived at 11:43 am. It's probably 8-10 miles, I'll have to find out. No rain which I was grateful for. One of my shifters isn't working right and so I can't shift into the higher range of gears normally. This is a problem because it affects my endurance. A new shifter will cost me close to $100 so I haven't replaced it yet. Today for some reason it shifted into the high gear range which made the ride a lot easier. Since I'm looking at a year of doing this I think bicycle maintenance just jumped to the top of the priority list. I'll have to budget it in and replace the shifter. I take good care of my bikes normally anyway, but that shifter hasn't been that big of a problem for me until I started riding almost daily. Now it's always in my face as I have to run in the lower end which makes me have to pedal faster all the time.
After they released us from class I rode over to a little shop called Wild Oak where I purchased some different incense sticks. I got Egyptian Musk, Morning Dew, and something else that I can't remember at the moment. Then I headed over to the vet where I was gonna meet up with my landlady for a ride home. She had an appointment for one of the rescue dobes. I was a bit early so I ran across the street and hit the roach coach up for a chicken burrito. These guys do a killer burrito, 3 bucks and it fills you up. Awesome. I finished my lunch and then went back over to the vet. She was there and when they finished we stopped at the post office and then came home.
It's supposed to rain tomorrow and I have a few leaks on the roof I'm getting tired of so when we got back I hauled the ladder out and went topside to fix them. Every time I fix one it seems like two more crop up..
Anyway, I got a couple of podcasts up finally and will probably begin recording the next one tonight here in the Trailer Life Studios... You can listen or download the podcasts from the podcast page and soon they will be available on iTunes.Labels: Bicycling, DUI |
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| 7:18 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Saturday, November 24, 2007 |
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It's 49 degrees outside right now and should drop to around 35 degrees tonight... I spent $25 of my $100 that I made on this last paycheck for a can of kerosene to fire up the heater. I'm glad I did but the next two weeks are gonna be tight.
Home Depot likes to cut back the hours for all part time employees during this time of year...
Merry Fuckin Xmas huh?
Anyway, they do this and we only get 16 hours a week. So until spring comes this shit just sucks ass. It wouldn't be quite as bad if I didn't have to spend $62 on Monday to register for my DUI class... Seems like I can never get ahead.
I have to ride my bike to work for the next year cuz they took my license... I don't mind that much when the weather is nice. But this bitter cold and the coming rain make the ride just pure hell.
The trailer has shit for insulation and fucking holes all over so whatever the temperature is outside is basically what it is inside. Yeah, it'll be rough but in light of it all I'm glad I got the kerosene. I need to be frugal with it though cuz I only have 5 gallons.
Well, coffee is ready so I guess I'll go drink it and smoke some cigarettes....Labels: Bicycling, Winter |
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| 6:39 PM | Posted by Dave |
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