This is a recurring theme, but it is important.
This happened a couple of months ago. I had my Jeep parked out in front of the house, get up and find the glove box open and broke and the faceplate to the radio gone. This is the second radio I have lost in the Jeep. I am pissed about the radio, more pissed that it happened while it was parked in my driveway in front of house.
When I stop being mad, I start wondering why it happened. It does not make sense to me. They left a leather coat and a pair of expensive sun glasses sitting in the Jeep. It bothers me a great deal, that I have Firefighter plates on the Jeep and that someone would chose it. I call the Sheriff to come out and take a report. To make my mood darker, this happened when I was on a roll, things really going well for me. I am in the garage trying to find the original radio for the Jeep. I am certainly not going to put another good radio in the Jeep if they are going to steal it.
Sheriff comes out and tells us that the whole neighborhood was hit. There were varying degree's of theft and damage to cars. The deputy says it does not appear to be well thought out or organized.
It starts to dawn on me that this is not a dark cloud following me, not the start of a run of bad luck. This really is not about me at all. This is one of the those crappy random events. All over the neighborhood there are people getting up like me and wondering what they did to deserve this. Like me, they are already making contingency plans on how to avoid it in the future.
We are all idiots and are breaking that cardinal rule. You should never let what other people cannot do define what you can do. The shortcomings or bad judgment of other people should never define or change who you are at your core.
The Jeep thing was a crappy random event. I do not deserve a crappy radio because a thief took my good radio. Now in retrospect, it seems stupid that for a moment I thought I may have deserved it because I left the Jeep out. No one deserves to be have property damaged or stolen. Some low life saw an opportunity to steal and did that. It is not really more complex than that.
I replaced the faceplate and enjoy the hell out of the radio. I take the faceplate with me when I have the top down. Does not mean it will not happen again, random crappy things happen. BUT I am not going to not enjoy the radio and the top down for all those days because of a single crappy event.
And I am not giving the dirtbag who did it another hour of my time. Another one of those cosmic tests to see if I have my priorities straight..I do.
Live your life according to your own moral and internal compass. Let those crappy people and events travel their own paths, do not make those events or paths your own.
It would have been a sin to either not have a radio in the jeep or a crappy one because of one single event. Yea, I am out $150 dollars but if you divide that by the number of days I have enjoyed the hell of a good song on a clear day...well hell it is damn cheap.
Love Dad
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The Bike Chonicals #2
On the way to town, there is a long tough hill that I have to traverse before I get to a nice stretch of down hill. It is on road 34 - it is about 2 miles of uphill riding.
Every day I ride on that road, it looks a little shorter. It is still a butt kicking ride, but I feel that it kicks my butt a little less every time I ride it. I love that. I feel like a king when I get to the top of that hill. It makes makes the downhill after that seem so much better and I feel like I have earned it.
When I was looking for the best way to town, there is a way that is more flat and where the hill looks smaller. It never stops being tempting to take that road instead of that long hill. I am like everyone else - it is human nature to always consider the path of least resistance. Flat and downhill never sounds bad.
The problem is that if you do a lot of downhill the trip back up hill will suck really, really, bad. And make no mistake, you always have to go back up the hill. That is one of those hard and fast rules in life.
You see despair in people when they find themselves at the bottom of a couple of long hills and they are contemplating how to get back up the hill. There is no way around having to move back up the hill. You can postpone it but that makes its seem more daunting than it really is.
Everyone understands the things that are meaningful are at the top of those hills. Getting to the top does not require any magic or special gifts. You just got to get on the bike and ride, no magic just pedal the bike.
If I knew how to post pictures on this blog, I would post one of me, sweating through my neon PIG ROAST t-shirt at the top of my hill - the undisputed king of hill 34. I would want you to have that image when you find yourself looking up at a hill with your name on it. You will be the undisputed king of a whole lot of hills in your life. You already know what it feels like to get to the top of one. I hope you never lose site of that.
You have to be equally careful to not kill yourself riding uphill all the time. That is as bad as riding downhill all the time. Downhills are the rewards for the up hill climb. If you don't take time for the downhills and enjoy them, a lot of real joy will be sucked out of your life for no reason at all.
Joy belongs in your life.
Love Dad.
Every day I ride on that road, it looks a little shorter. It is still a butt kicking ride, but I feel that it kicks my butt a little less every time I ride it. I love that. I feel like a king when I get to the top of that hill. It makes makes the downhill after that seem so much better and I feel like I have earned it.
When I was looking for the best way to town, there is a way that is more flat and where the hill looks smaller. It never stops being tempting to take that road instead of that long hill. I am like everyone else - it is human nature to always consider the path of least resistance. Flat and downhill never sounds bad.
The problem is that if you do a lot of downhill the trip back up hill will suck really, really, bad. And make no mistake, you always have to go back up the hill. That is one of those hard and fast rules in life.
You see despair in people when they find themselves at the bottom of a couple of long hills and they are contemplating how to get back up the hill. There is no way around having to move back up the hill. You can postpone it but that makes its seem more daunting than it really is.
Everyone understands the things that are meaningful are at the top of those hills. Getting to the top does not require any magic or special gifts. You just got to get on the bike and ride, no magic just pedal the bike.
If I knew how to post pictures on this blog, I would post one of me, sweating through my neon PIG ROAST t-shirt at the top of my hill - the undisputed king of hill 34. I would want you to have that image when you find yourself looking up at a hill with your name on it. You will be the undisputed king of a whole lot of hills in your life. You already know what it feels like to get to the top of one. I hope you never lose site of that.
You have to be equally careful to not kill yourself riding uphill all the time. That is as bad as riding downhill all the time. Downhills are the rewards for the up hill climb. If you don't take time for the downhills and enjoy them, a lot of real joy will be sucked out of your life for no reason at all.
Joy belongs in your life.
Love Dad.
The Bike Chronicals #1
I have started riding my mountain bike to town. I log 10+ miles each way. I can manage the round trip now. At the age of 51, this is no small feat for me. I have discovered the wisdom of padded bike shorts and padded gloves. Like I always tell you, I am constantly learning the lessons that I am trying to convey to you. At the beginning, I turned up my nose at padded anything. Numb hands and a seriously sore ass (despite the extra big seat) helped me see the light.
Like a lot of things, it is easier to turn your nose up at things when you are not involved in them in any kind of meaningful way. For me, I just had not ridden enough miles to have a sore ass and numb hands.
There is a life lesson there. Opinions, motivations and drive change in direct proportion to the amount of time you put into something. If you have strong opinions about things you are not fully participating in, you are going to sound like an uniformed dick. Be willing to listen to people who are putting in a lot of time and effort in the pursuit of that specific activity. Listening never stops being one of the most powerful things you can do.
You will be happy to know that I follow the old school / old guy rules of fashion and dress age appropriate when riding my pedal bike. My padded bike shorts have a shell that is baggy and loose. I have recycled all of the PIG ROAST VOLUNTEER t-shirts. Those great neon orange & yellow colors help people see me and I like arriving at my destination profusely sweating in a PIG ROAST t-shirt.
Grandma called today and asked if you were both wearing sun screen. I told nobody was wearing a thing and that she should call you both up and yell at you. I will yell at you as soon as I start wearing some myself.
Love Dad
Like a lot of things, it is easier to turn your nose up at things when you are not involved in them in any kind of meaningful way. For me, I just had not ridden enough miles to have a sore ass and numb hands.
There is a life lesson there. Opinions, motivations and drive change in direct proportion to the amount of time you put into something. If you have strong opinions about things you are not fully participating in, you are going to sound like an uniformed dick. Be willing to listen to people who are putting in a lot of time and effort in the pursuit of that specific activity. Listening never stops being one of the most powerful things you can do.
You will be happy to know that I follow the old school / old guy rules of fashion and dress age appropriate when riding my pedal bike. My padded bike shorts have a shell that is baggy and loose. I have recycled all of the PIG ROAST VOLUNTEER t-shirts. Those great neon orange & yellow colors help people see me and I like arriving at my destination profusely sweating in a PIG ROAST t-shirt.
Grandma called today and asked if you were both wearing sun screen. I told nobody was wearing a thing and that she should call you both up and yell at you. I will yell at you as soon as I start wearing some myself.
Love Dad
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