Category: Life

The older we get, the more cynical and cauterized we can become about life’s experiences.

As we’re hurt, it’s easy to say, “I’ve experienced this before, so it shouldn’t hurt as much this time through.”

Wrong.

If you experience pain, it shows you’re alive.

I’m thankful to be alive.

Sometimes it’s better to fully experience our pain rather than avoiding it. The lessons we learn might stick longer. Our appreciation of life post-pain will be greater. And our ability to empathize with those who are in pain will increase – they know we understand.

If you are in Belgium or the Netherlands and need something to start your fire, you reach for … a lucifer.

Yes, “lucifer” is one of the Dutch (or Flemish) words for matches.

English is confusing enough – did you mean match, as in “tennis,” as in “they were made for each other,” or as in, “fire starter?”

Language is important. Even if we speak the same language, we need to strive to be understood. Tuning in to the person or people we’re speaking with, a tactic that some consider to be a basic survival skill, is far more than that – it’s a way to enjoy life by seeking understanding.

I’m burned out on Christmas music.

My brother and I used to both get a Christmas CD every year. The variety of interpretations of classic Christmas carols and songs was always interesting.

Until ten years or so ago.

Then stores and parking lots and hospitals and everywhere except your car or home began playing Christmas songs from the day after Thanksgiving onward.

It’s just too much. And there’s no choice.

Their bad = my bad.

My company is moving out of the current office that they’re renting to a building that they’re buying.

It’s financially wise, from what our CFO says.

But I will miss Coverall. Their Colorado office is in our soon-to-be past building.

My dad wore Coveralls. They were one-piece work clothes, kinda like this. (Little did I know that Urban Outfitters sells them now.)

Turns out Coverall is a janitorial service – with a 1-star rating on Google.

I never went into their office, but I have a few days left. Maybe I will.

I was sad to say goodbye. I didn’t even know they were leaving.

The Baker neighborhood of Denver is rapidly changing. I knew that – but when I tried to find a cheap place to grab a quick lunch on a recent Saturday, I discovered that all the inexpensive non-chain restaurants were now out of business. Every one had shuttered their windows within the last six months.

A small New Mexican restaurant – gone. Famous Pizza – gone. Several other small independent eateries disappeared, all to be replaced by empty storefronts, while their owners await increased rents from more upscale establishments.

I daresay those landlords won’t be looking for tenants who will provide cheap eats.

My tummy is sad.

Reminder to self… plan ahead.

At one intersection in downtown Denver, what were once beautiful street names are rendered in sunken brass letters.

As you can tell, most of the numbers either got stolen or simply knocked off through wear-and-tear.

The solution would have been for the street-name sign creators to have made the letters about three times deeper, so the surrounding concrete could have more firmly held onto the letters. Or for the letters to be made of a different material that would wear at exactly the same rate as the surrounding concrete.

But they were thinking the concrete was sticky enough and permanent enough to hold the letters in place for years to come.

No.

---

The obvious analogy is for me and you to build our efforts and things to last.

I recently took the plunge and bought my first new bicycle since eighth grade.

Electric.

Though many consider electric bicycles “cheating” (when they zip past regular bikes on a trail), I had many reasons for venturing into this new category of cycles.

1. In October-ish, my office is moving from 7.2 miles one-way to 11.4 miles one-way. The difference in my regular bicycling commute will be roughly another 40 minutes out of my day. A commute on this bike is close to the time of driving. And with the typically bad traffic along the new route, the electric bike might actually be faster!
2. Every time I ride the electric bike rather than drive, I’m preventing a significant amount of pollution. (I plan to ride as many days as I can.)
3. It’s still exercise… the motor won’t go unless you are pedaling. (It’s a “pedal assist” bike.) Even though it doesn’t provide as much exercise as a commute on my road bike, I am still getting way more exercise than I would be behind the wheel of my small automobile.
4. It’s a lot cheaper to charge the battery than pay for gas (once you factor out the cost of the bike).
5. Upkeep expenses will be undoubtedly less than for any of our cars.
6. It can only go 20 miles per hour, so it’s pretty safe.
7. 50% of the bikes sold in Belgium are electric (source). They must know something.
8. Ironically, the frame color is very similar to that of my road bike, which I had custom painted a million years ago.
9. It was a super good deal, via Performance Bicycles – like less than half of what most electric bikes go for.
10. It’s fun.