Crash Slam Kaboom Goes My Life

It's crazy how you mention something bad comes along and sends you down a muddy path, and then how the situation worsens, and how you keep thinking things will get better but instead they keep squeezing you down the drain of despair? I usually see stuff happen to people in movies, but I never really figured my life would end up being like this. It's crazy how different things turn out, no matter how you plan for them, life WILL HAPPEN!

So if you've read any of my previous posts, they've been pretty melancholy, but I've had high hopes for things to get better. So...they somehow got worse. A while back I mentioned losing my car, job, and/or body would be the only way my life could get worse. Well guess what? You don't have to be a guessing wizard to know something of that list got worse...drum roll please....if you couldn't figure out from the giant picture of a damaged car, I lost my car. So now, my financial situation has progressed from crappy crappy poo poo...to just shoot me in the eyeball and call it surgery.

I was on vacation when it happened, and it was 100 percent my fault. SMH. Now I have to purchase rentals until I can get it back. My previous credit card bills were around 2 grand a pop, and I only pull in cough cough I'm not saying how little I make cause it hurts my soul cough cough a month. Which is considerably less than 2 grand. So two months of being in the red was bad enough, now it's 3 months and this one will be worse. Right now I'm pretending life isn't so hard. The bill is only 1 grand at the moment, but of course I haven't had my week's worth of rentals added on yet, and I also haven't had to pay my 500 dollar deductible yet...not to mention how crazy expensive gas is when you drive across 4 states in one day. Sigh...who knows...maybe I'll hit a recent record high of 3 grand...only did that once before, and it was when I was making a bunch more money.

On a brighter note, the vacation was still fun. Minus the car troubles, it was fun to see my old friend from AmeriCorps, my old mentor, and my old friend down at Duke. Wish I could have seen my other friend, but meh, there's always next time. This little distraction cut back my training (again) and I"m preparing to be the most unprepared cyclist this summer. I will still do my best, and I'll still fulfill the commitments I made, but lets just say my life is completely horrible until August...then we'll see how much worse it gets when I usher in unemployment.

One thing I've learned from all of this is that planning is for lames. Leave it to God and let go. What will happen is going to happen regardless of what you do, and life will continue on. The only thing that can make matters worse will not be uttered, because so far I'm on a pretty good average of making the bad possibilities a reality. If you want to cheer me up, donate to bike and build and cheer up some family in need of affordable housing. At least I can say I have a house to live in, though it's not my house, it's still a house. Here's a link if you want to donate .

So on to the next thing. Hope it's better than where I am, but if it's not I'll make it the best worst place I'm in and that'll be that. Welp that's all I have time for today. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes. Try to find some one today that you can treat kindly, and treat em as kind as you can bear. Then tell them to donate to Bike and Build too ;-)

Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

The old song mentioned in the title comes to mind when I think of all aspects of my life. Recently, I've been hit with disappointment after disaster and things aren't getting any better, but in the end I have to keep going. Not too long ago I got a flat tire during a 30 mile ride, but thankfully I was near my house so my mom was able to come pick me up. I don't mention that because it's just another thing that's gone wrong in my life, but I mention it because it's an example of exactly how my life has been. Great picture of the good, the bad, and the family.

So I got the nail in the worst possible spot on my tire, literally right next to my previous puncture. As you might be able to see from the picture, it's far to close to try and patch this again, but I tried anyway.

After failing, I had to buy another inner tube and replace that. I could have just said screw the whole thing (yes that was a horribly bad joke reference nails and the like) but I did what I could do to fix the problem. Bike and Build isn't coming along poorly, just the training every now and then, but overall still one of the brighter points of my life. I received my new bike and here are some pictures of the thing post and pre assembly. 

Not sure if you remember my post from a few months back, stating that I was currently in the worst financial situation of my entire life, but that there was hope things would get better. I believe that was back in early February or late March, right after I spend 2 grand on various things, most of which were necessary. My thought process was that March would be a better month financially because I wouldn't have any required expenses. Plus I should get a tax break. Well March rolled around, and instead of getting a tax break I ended up owing the government 1100 dollars. So again, had a horrible financial month after adding on the other expenses I had (also ended in about 2 grand for the bill). Again I find myself saying next month will be a good month, but I can't help but think the same thing will happen. Some sort of nail will deflate my bank account.

No buying a new bank account to fix this problem, but I can keep rolling down the path that has been set before me. I can't always control what happens, but I can control how I respond (credit to whoever said that first). I still have my family and I still have a tiny fragment of my sanity (Just kidding, I'm totally out my mind). So cheers to the obstacles in life. Thanks for keeping things interesting.

So on a brighter note, thanks to everyone who has donated thus far. I'm at 2,800 something and the goal is 4500. Almost there! If you're interested in helping out a great cause and helping families in need of affordable housing, click here to donate! The donation is tax deductible so you don't get hit with an 1100 dollar tax bill like me, hopefully. Welp that's all for now, so thanks for listening with your eyes. Have a blessed rest of your day.

Still Raining, No Umbrella

Last month was certainly the worst financial month of my adult life. Money kept getting sucked out by the vacuum of necessity, but life just couldn't seem to put it back fast enough. Had to dip into savings to pay bills, but I had high hopes for the month of March. Most of my big expenses were taken care of in February, and my optimistic stupidity failed to foresee any big situation smashing my wallet to shards. Of course, that's when life gets you the best, when your back is turned and your chin is up.

If you didn't read the Facebook posts, I ended up owing the government around 1100 dollars for taxes. Not back taxes, just regular old, run-of-the-mill taxes. What baffles me is the fact that I claim 0, and am pretty sure I'm below the poverty line. If I'm not below then I must be straddling the darn thing because I'm certainly not above it. So now the government gets more of my hard earned money. Well, I take it back. The government gets money I have not earned yet, and will have to earn to pay them off. Sad, but this is life.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Graduate school, and at the moment the answer seems to stand as the pivot point for how happy I'll be in the coming months. Naaaahhh. If you know me you know I can't look, act, or be sad for longer than a couple of days, but it would be a nice boost to all things Jeremie if I hear back with a yes! Plus Bike and Build is still coming up (and yes I still need donations so click here to help out a great cause) so at least my summer will be amazing! I DO believe the answer to grad school will be yes. Why else would they take longer than they said they would to respond? Obviously because they're writing a nifty acceptance letter. Duh!

Welp that's all for now folks. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes. Until we meet again.

PS: Here's a link to a video of me doing the impossible. breaking eggs

When It Rains It Technically Always Pours

Usually when I think of the term when it rains it pours I think of bad things getting worse over time. But, this weekend was awesome, and today somehow was pretty darn tootin close to being awesome as well. Since most sensible things follow a linear train of thought, I'll start from the beginning of the weekend.

Friday was actually really rough. So it probably shouldn't be included in a raining and pouring positive post, but I guess that goes to show that the rest of the weekend went well because I forgot Friday sucked until just now. Work went okay, but after work I tried to find a local bike shop to finally get fitted for my bike. Of course the address wasn't in my gps, and I couldn't remember where the street was, so I drove 20 minutes on the street I thought it was before getting frustrated and going home (only to Google map it and find out I was on the right street, but going the wrong direction >__< ). Then mom wanted to bug me, but whatevs, it was off to my g/f house after.

Saturday was actually semi-rough, and I'm starting to see a real pattern her. I promise one of these days during the weekend wasn't bad. Just go to a farm and grab some reins so you can hold your horses. So I was supposed to volunteer with some BB people, but again, my gps didn't have the address. So I woke up early and got in my car for nothing, also frustrating. But after that I just edited my book, worked on someone else's book, edited an article, wrote up some letters for BB and then played video games. That was were the cool awesome goodness started.

Sunday I went to church with the g/f and then we decided to celebrate Valentines Day this weekend instead of after the 14th. So we went out to eat at a restaurant named Gordon Biersch Brewery in Tyson's Corner. Took me back to my AmeriDays in Milwaukee when all we did was tour breweries. The food was awesome for the most part, but came at a pretty penny. Here's the beer I had (also yummy) and the food and the menu (cause you love the front of menus!!!)

Oh yeah, look at that waist of phone memory

Missy's main entree, California Cobb flat bread pizza with house-made cheese. Not too shabby. Conversation upon her receiving her pizza. Missy: Why does it look like a salad. Me: You know Cobb is a type of salad right? Missy: Ooohhhh

Southwest Egg rolls - it was aight...but they thought they were slick...saying you get 4 egg rolls...pish this is two egg rolls cut in half...can't trick me you swindlers!!

The beer I got. Actually really good. Description below, it was the Marzen

My entree. Lobster and crab cake sandwich. Actually pretty darn good. I was debating if the crab meat was fake since it was only 16 bucks...no way to know for sure though. 

So to make Sunday even better, we decided to go to Coldstone and the movies!! I'm not a pirate so I didn't take any pictures of the movie we saw, but it was the Hansel and Gretel movie. PS...this movie is super violent and not like the fairy tale at all! Lol but it was still okay. Here's a picture of the wonderful Coldstone Hot stone thingy. Soooo good. It's A warm cookie with warm cookie dough with vanilla ice cream with Oreo pieces on top. Yeah, my mouth just got a little moist thinking of it again. The picture does NOT do it justice at all. 

To make sunday even even better, Missy's roommate's boyfriend John gave me a 200 dollar pair of Oakley sunglasses for when I go bike riding. Definitely a need for the trip. Never in 30 years would I even think about buying a pair of glasses as high quality as Oakley, but God moves in mysterious ways. So thank the Lord for wonderful people! I always think of donations to my trip as monetary help, but I never imagined someone would donate materials I need. Here's a picture of the snazzy things, though I dare not wear them until I'm on the road.

Crazy shades came with a second pair of lenses, replacement nose thingies, a cleaning kit, a big carrying kit, a small carrying kit, and a taste sample of how people with money live. Whodathunkit. Then Missy gave me a really nice thermal and a long sleeve shirt and some sweet coupons (she def stole my idea)

To wrap up this wonderful slew of two days, today was awesome. Work was cool, but the weather was amazing! So warm I could have rode my bike today with just a T-shirt and shorts and been okay. I ended up being hot and wanting to take off layers for the first time since I started training!! Then my workout was crazy crucial in the gym, and the ride home was even easier in this mild weather. Boy am I excited for constant warm weather. Welp, this post has already gone too long, so as a reward here's a video of me swinging on a vine and falling into a creek.Video Figured it went with the theme of raining and pouring and such. Anywho, thanks for listening with your eyes!

Another Bridal Showcase and Mother Nature's paddle

This showcase was good, but the food was lacking. Normally they have plenty of good caterers, but there was mainly cake at this one. And is it just me, or is Famous Daves NOT an appropriate wedding caterer? RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT
If you put fast food at your wedding, what's the point in getting a caterer? Might as well just hit up Subway and buy 5 dollar foot longs for everyone. Or Micky D's and buy like 50, 20 piece nuggets. Or just jump in front of a bus! Okay, maybe not jumping in front of a bus, but for real. Famous Dave's is good, but screams a harpy-like "you don't matter, guests, so you get fast food for my reception."

Okay, enough of the rant. I apologize if Famous Dave's is your favorite spot and you were thinking of hooking up some BBQ at your next wedding. In hindsight,that rant was unnecessary, and yes I could delete it, but obviously I'm not.

BTW here are the pictures from the showcase, check here if you want to know the names for everything.

B&B update! I made it to my February fundraising goals a bit early! Thank you once again to everyone who has donated so far! You're awesome. Isn't it wonderful to be a part of building a better world? If you haven't donated and still want to donate, click the smiley face =) to be a part of this awesome adventure.

Mother Nature spanks hard. Definitely did not realize how hard it is to bike while it's currently snowing until I tried to for the first time. I'd been out in the cold, but there's nothing like having ice pellets biting at your eyes and nose while flying down a hill with no control because snow isn't the best surface to stop on. As one fellow bike and builder said to me, safety is sexy, so I guess I won't be biking during snow storms anymore. Because if there's one thing I absolutely have to  be, it's sexy. And if I have to be safe to be sexy, than gosh darn it I guess I'll be safe. That means no more rides at 4 in the morning because last time I almost got hit by a drunk driver. Though Alcohol was probably involved with his drunk driving spin out  I guess I should still be safer by only driving when there are cars on the road for the drunk driver to hit instead of lonely me on my bike. Really though, i"ll be safe.

PS, if you have an odd mind like me, and you're ever thinking of using aluminum foil as insulation for your cold weather endeavors, don't! Especially not as hand warmers. I literally thought I would lose my fingers after 5 minutes of being out in the cold with the foil wrapped around my appendages.

You may be over there laughing up a storm, saying, "Oh Jeremie, didn't you know that would make you colder?" Obviously not. I know metal retains cold, but for my defense, I figured my body heat would stay inside since foil is such a great heat trapper. But I forgot mother nature is much colder than I am warm, so that's why it didn't work. Easy mistake for anyone to make...right? I also did a foot wrap with foil, so here's a pic of that for your amusement.

Welp that's all for now. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes.

Nothing like the first time

So I've worked yet another Bridal showcase and the hunt has still been a failure. If you're wondering which hunt I'm referring to, it's because I never mentioned it until now. Come to think of it, I didn't even really think about it until just now, but that doesn't make the event any less of a tasteful disaster. Ever since I went to that wedding with my buddy Becca, I haven't experienced a wedding cake as awesome as the one there. So three Bridal showcases later, I'm still looking. This showcase had bland cake, but awesome food. Makes me want to get married just to have some catered yum yum. Then again, I could always just find my royal look alike and pose as a king or prince until caterers work to fulfill my every need. Anywho, here are pictures of the yum yums from this time around. Go to my Facebook Album to see the names of everything

As you can see, not as many desserts and yes I am disappointed in that. The event will be happening in VA again so there's hope it will turn out with a better array of pastries for my pallet.

Random pictures of the GF and GF roommate...and other junk...oh and yes that woman's dress is covering the table she's sitting inside of...cool right?

On an ongoing side note, I'm almost at my January goal for affordable housing fundraising! Just 50 more bucks. You, yes you young reader can help make that goal so reached I won't even have a corny metaphor to place with it. So donate away by clicking here, and make a family in need a happy and homed family.  Enjoy this bicycle art.

Welp, that's it for now. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes. Be blessed!