Just another Monday Night

Since my massage was canceled due to Mr. Massage not being in his office tonight, I headed home to maybe get a bike ride in...after some sweet corn and a BLT Gayleen and I headed out. I mentioned once we got our bikes out that I thought I needed some air...after hopping on, Gayleen confirmed that it looked like I was a few pounds low.  We headed to the Kum & Go to air up and be on our way.  I filled my back tire, and moved onto the front.  The more air I tried to put in, the more that came out and the tire just got flatter. We decided that I must have a hole by the stem and started the trek back to the condo, walking our bikes.  We made it back and headed off to Scheels with my bike on my car.

We walk into Scheels and find the tubes, as we're looking thru the dozen different sizes and types, a teenage kid comes up and asks us if we need help. Yes, we need help. He comes out from behind the counter and helps us find the right tubes.  As we walk away, Gayleen asks the tech if he'll do it for us. He says yes and since I have my bike with me, we head out to the parking lot to get the tire.

I'm going to call the bike tech, 'One Dimple' because he had the same one dimple by his eye that I do. I bring the tire in, and he takes us into the back area so I can learn how to maybe do this for myself sometime.  Prying off the tire from the rim looked like a challenge. One Dimple told me to be careful when prying it off because it can be difficult and the tool can slip and you could end up hitting yourself in the face.  I looked at him and go, 'I feel like you know me'. He finishes getting the tire off and removes the tube.  Not sure why, but he filled the used tube back up to find out where the leak was...guess what, it filled up very nicely...no hole at all.  He said that if it hasn't been changed out in the past 6 months it may need to be replaced anyway.  Not sure why, but I went along with this theory and walked off with 2 new tubes and the $5 cost of One Dimple fixing a tube that wasn't broken...now to get a lesson on using that stupid air compressor at Kum & Go. Such a moron. 

10th Anniversary of my 20th Birthday

As I quickly approach a major milestone in my life, making it past my 29th year and all, I thought I'd share a piece of history.  If you've known me long enough to know some of my past, you know why I dislike New Year's Eve. Yes, I dislike all the hub ub of spending a bunch of money on the first night of the year, yes, I dislike couple-centric holidays that make single people feel like festering piles of loser, and yes, I have some tainted history with the holiday.  On January 1, 2001 at approximately 2:13 in the morning, I was with my BFF Julie, sitting in the Co-op parking lot at the T intersection in Ossian, trying to figure out why my lights weren't working.  There was a short in the fuse, but we wouldn't find that out until the next day when my dad dropped me back off there on our way home from the Winneshiek County jail.  Officer Felton, my DARE officer of 5th grade, found Julie and I there, snacking on Munchos and other Kwik Star fare, flickering my lights, an SOS call of sorts I guess you could say...well, I was a little under the influence, and he was uninterested in letting me walk home thru the cornfield to my parent's house that was lit up like a Christmas tree. I even pointed it out to him. He wasn't having it. I think he was still kicking himself for just giving me a warning when he pulled me over for passing a school bus with it's lights on a few years earlier.  Long story short, I made a mistake. I spent the night in jail, and the following 6 months without a license and a serious constant guilt trip from my unimpressed, let down mother.  Which brings us to my birthday.  Below you'll find the poem she wrote me for my 20th birthday.  Coincidence of the current day nearly 10 years later, is that I will (hopefully) be moving soon, and living amongst unpacked boxes. This is why you should save your birthday cards, kids...they will bring you more enjoyment when you find them 10 years later. Love you, Mom!