7th May 2005

Posted May 7, 2005

Geeze I took my sweet time in writing. The crazy month of April is over now, and May has been crazy, in it’s own right.

Last Sunday I finally ended my two month search for an affordable used bike in the classifieds. I had to travel :45 minutes to get it, but it was a good deal. A “hybrid”, but a little on the thin side for the tires to be a modern hybrid, I was able to get a 21″ Bianci for $50. I immediately had to buy a back tire as the current one had rotted, and a bike helmet. But happy that it was finally time, Monday I was able to enjoy the nice weather on my ride into work, 14 miles roundtrip.

But, alas. It was not meant to be. My mom may laugh at this, but one thing I remember from my grandpa in his often brash behavior was that in a car, you need to be a defensive driver. Well, I employ that when riding, blading, or running as well. Always make eye contact with the driver, and in general, predict what they are going to do and react accordingly.

I didn’t have a chance to on Tuesday, as a car pulled abruptly in front of me into a parking lot. I was probably going 10-15 miles an hour at the time and slammed on the brakes, anticipating I may have to kind of jump off and stop with my feet. But instead, my bike seized and I flipped over the handle bars five feet before the turning vehicle. I was in serious pain, but my audience was kind, and helped me get dusted off.

I went into work and things just got worse. I had landed on my left shoulder and I could barely move my left arm below the elbow.

I went to the doctor, and found out that I just had some serious strain around the elbow, but that I had a level one seperated left shoulder and possibly a fracture in my clavical. There wasn’t much they could do, it wasn’t serious enough thankfully, so they sent me on my way with a sling and some anti-inflammitories.

So life has been interesting from me, from typing, to putting on shirts, to driving my car, all week.

Sarah had a flat on her car last Friday, which turned into a huge production. I wasn’t able to get the tire off, the lugs seemed to be rusted to the car. Then, I hurt my arm and wasn’t able to do anything about it. Fortunately, John Durkin was nice enough to come over, and he used a blowtorch to heat up the lugs and they then came off just fine. The final result, we replaced two of her tires.

We did get the lawnmover back this week too. But I wasn’t able to do that either. So Sarah cut the lawn for the first time in her life.

So, that was pretty much all of the drama for the week.

Sarah has been working what seems like late on school related things all week.

On Tuesday I had a PR meeting after my accident, so that didn’t make things better.

On Wednesday Sarah and I went out with Michelle and Chris for drinks at Charlie’s. It was supposed to be really cheap, it wasn’t. But that did make things much better for my arm.

On Thursday I went with Glenn and Chris to a meeting for AOIT on the northside. AOIT stands for Academy of Information Technology, and is a career path available in Information Technology at the Walker Career center here in Indianapolis. For just over a month Chris and I have been working with the students in developing assigned website design projects.

Thursday we met with the board to show them what the kids had done. I guess we are now on the board, which is an honor, but at the same time, a responsiblity I didn’t know I had even taken on. But I believe in this program for the kids, so I am happy to do it, and Esystems supports it too which helps.

Following the movie was a dinner for all of the different board members put on by another career center. Just an amazing dinner. But as we talked more with the board members and educators, Chris and I will most likely be largely driving the project directions next fall. So that is kind of exciting.

Friday I went to meet with a very large, very exciting publicly owned manufacturing company located down in Seymour Indiana early in the morning. They are doing some great things, and were hoping that our creative skills can better present the information that they are generating. Then, I had a ton of freelance work to do after work, and now that my arms had chilled a little, I was able to do that.

Today, Sarah and I went with Christine down to Edinburgh south of us by a half hour. There are a number of outlet malls there, and Sarah needs to get some underwear, so we got some ice cream and made a day out of it, ending the afternoon by walking Christine’s dog Lady in the awesome sunny weather.

So, that was a synopsis of what went on this week. I hope next week will return to normal.

Tonight I tried to add a bunch of things, including an all new software section in the Hot Topics area. This is a good place for me to gush about programs that I have come across to make my life simpler and easier, and to just be a little more geeky.

Sections Updated: Movies C-D, Movies K-L, Software