#NewBikeDay

 

Chuck has been waiting for this day for a very long time! Ever since that fateful day in 2014 when his beloved bike was stolen. He has done research. He's watched countless bike videos on YouTube. He even has a detailed spreadsheet of all the features he wants listed by bike manufacturer and price point. The only thing he was undecided about was the timing. He thought he'd buy the bike closer to the end of Spring when the weather was nicer for riding. 

But we now live in a town known for biking. There are trails EVERYWHERE. And a quick google search lists at least 30 bike shops. People are crazy for cycling here. What better place to start his search. He would often go out at lunch and look at bike shops, talk to sales reps, and gather more intel for his Bike Buying Spreadsheet (Do people even have spreadsheets any more? Is that even a thing?). During the course of one such scavenger hunt, he came across some very disturbing news. The bike supply is reaching a dangerous level of scarcity. The pandemic created a drastic rise in demand for bikes since it was considered a safe social distance activity to do outside. He was told that if he ordered a bike today, because of such low supply, any new bike wouldn't be available until the beginning of next year! What?!? Not acceptable! This was not fitting in the time frame calculations on his Bike Buying Spreadsheet. 

Suddenly he was afraid that there might not be any bikes left to purchase come springtime. So, we did what we always do. We talked about it and realized we'd have to just be flexible. That course of action has always seemed to work best for us. We make plans, but stay flexible. In this instance it meant moving the "buy date" up a few months so he could get the bike he really had his eye on. 

So this past Friday, we went to one of the 30 bike shops around town and ordered the bike his heart desired. Luckily, they had one in stock in his size (yes, bikes come in sizes....I had no idea) it was just still in the box. The sales rep offered to get it to show us the color since that was the only thing he couldn't really see very well from the online pictures. Come to find out, it was even more perfect that he could have imagined. What guy doesn't want a Matte Nautical Navy Trek bike?! 

I present to you, the happy researcher with his newly purchased wheels. Actually, this was yesterday, the day we got to pick up the bike. It took the service team a full day to assemble and align the bike. While we were at the store I asked Chuck if maybe we should put the bike he was looking for me on hold since there was a shortage problem. Yes, this was a two person event! We like to have fun together and what better way than to ride around our beautiful town on gorgeous days getting tons of fresh air and exercise. We vacillated between two different bike styles and sizes for me. But ultimately it came down to the color. 

Because I love pink! And we found a pink one in my size only an hour away. So we headed up to Evergreen in the mountains to pick up my bike on the same day we got Chuck's. It was #NewBikeDay for both of us. What a fun turn of events! This is the guy at the bike store who calibrated my bike and made sure it was a good fit for me.

 

 

To our wonder and excitement, we happened to spot this quaint little sign in the same parking lot as the bike store. It piqued our Mexican Food Interest. It was the best spur of the moment eating experience we have ever had!

 

 

This is the real deal. These were the best tacos I've had in YEARS. And all on #NewBikeDay. This was shaping up to be the #BestDayEver!

 

 

This restaurant spoke our love language - homemade chips and salsa. Plus, we've hardly gone out to eat during the pandemic. It just seemed fortuitous. The spreadsheet can now be filed away. The bikes safely parked in the garage. And we can dream of delicious Mexican food in the mountains while picking up our mountain bikes. The perfect ending to the perfect day!

Licking Rocks

 

 

 

This dog though. She's been with us for 10 years now. She has us wrapped around her little pinky. I mean...just look at that face. For whatever reason, she has chosen me as her "alpha." Apparently, that means her world revolves around me. Chuck says when I'm not home she just mopes around. She doesn't care about eating, drinking, going outside. Nothing matters until mom gets home. But the minute I walk through the door, she decides to show me how much she loves me by letting me do things for her. Suddenly she's famished. She needs water NOW. She needs to go out NOW. She's highly jealous of Chloe - they vie for my attention equally. It's as if she's saying, Mom, look, these other people in this house don't care about me. Only you do, mom. Only you can meet every one of my needs as soon as I have them. And I need everything from you the minute you get home. I've been waiting all day." It's called bullying. Yes. My dog has learned to bully me. She comes and snaps at me to get me to do things. She needs me when I'm in the middle of cooking, or helping Chloe, or bringing in the groceries. It's urgent. It must happen immediately - whatever it is.

 

Take her water bowl for example. She might not have drunk an ounce all day. But the minute I get back from work, she's famished. Her throat is parched. She purposely waits to do this in my presence. And the way she tells me this is by going over to her bowl and licking the rocks. We can hear them clinking together. Supposedly those rocks were to help the pH level of her pee. It was to prevent those ugly yellow stains in the lawn. I don't think they worked, but we kept the rocks none the less. So this smart old lady knowingly goes to her bowl, licks rocks, and looks at me forlornly as if to say: you're okay with this? I kid you not - this happens within the first two minutes of me walking in the door every day. She's a conniving, manipulative, sly old dog who has learned new tricks. Her name fits her aptly. 

Moral of the story....if you're thirsty, just lick rocks. Someone who loves you will notice and take care of you. At least that's Ninja's understanding.

The Perfect Way To Start The New Year

 

I apologize for the lag in my blogging. It's not for lack of stories, I assure you. Rather, my laptop decided to die 2 days before Christmas. It literally died, We just all the home remedies...hold down the shift key + space bar + power button....etc, etc. Nothing. Nada. I had to come to terms with the fact that I could not breathe life back into it. It was gone. And all my data along with it. 

The reason the last sentence is sad is because I have been earnestly interviewing for Season 2 of the Gramercy podcast. I had some incredible conversations with 8 guests that were still sitting on my dead hard drive waiting to be edited and produced. That was the most sickening part, not knowing whether we would be able to retrieve all those interviews. 

I brought it to the computer store and was told it would take up to 2 weeks for them to look at it. Good thing it was Christmas season because I had no plans to work on the podcast while all the kids were home anyway. So it wasn't that huge of a loss. But when I got the call that, "we can't fix this...we need to send it to Apple, " then I knew to be scared. 

To my surprise, a few short days after I was told they sent it out, I got it back. And the good news - they recovered EVERYTHING! My motherboard was fried, my battery was expanding, and something else about the keyboard and trackpad. But my data, all my saved websites, passwords, and everything was in tack. I was beyond thrilled.

Now I'm back to blogging, editing and producing my podcast, and general computering. All is right in the world again. 

So my stories might not be in chronological order for a few days, but at least they'll be back. Which reminds me of my favorite "Hamilton" song which I'll leave you with for your viewing pleasure because it makes me happy.