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I am opening a new salon/restaurant.

I hear you booing all the way over here.  Some of you are still saying huh?!!?  I get that reaction quite often.

Sometimes you strike out, but for those who keep swinging there is the occasional home run — quite possibly my new life theme.  Not only does that philosophy apply to bad jokes, it applies to the way life can be approached.  Don’t look at me as the best example because I strike out a lot.  I live for those times that the ball meets the sweet spot, however.

Karma bites some times.  For the last nine days, I have not been able to ride my bicycle, a condition that is absolutely driving me batty.  Compounding the consternation (and maybe the constipation) is the possibility that it may be a few weeks more before I can ride with any effort.  It will be a week or more before I can ride at all, according to the doctor.

Why is it karma?  Karma stuck out its tongue and called me a whiner.  On August 11, I played softball in the post season tournament for the team I played for this summer — when I wasn’t whining about batting last.  As it turned out, when the coach put together season stats, I was leading the team in batting average and he moved me to the clean up spot in the batting order.  He never quit sending me texts to make sure I could play, making me feel even more like a whiny baby.  So maybe it’s appropriate that I popped a calf muscle during the third tournament game of the night.  Karma literally bit me, the feeling of the muscle tearing as I moved an excrutiating terror, not just because it hurt but my mind instantly told me that I would not be biking for a while.  Seriously.  I was playing first base, finished the play to get the runner out, then my night was over.  Since then I have spent my free time icing and elevating the muscle to keep the swelling down.

The team played four games that night, won the tournament.  They played their best ball once I was out of the line up.

Strike out.  Whiff and auger.

Karma also forced a foul ball.  All riding season I have been struggling with a rebuilt rear wheel on my road bike, new Velocity hoop and spokes with the free hub reused.  I had to take the wheel back to the shop twice, the first time because several spokes loosened on the first long ride, the second because the wheel went impossibly out of true after two rides.  So, at the beginning of this month, my friend and bike shop owner Pete, kindly replaced the entire wheel at no charge.  He told me that I had invested enough in the rebuild and subsequent repairs that I could have purchased a decent rear wheel. The replacement is a nice Mavic Open hoop with Ultegra hub.

I was rewarded for my patience.  I haven’t had a chance to try the new wheel out, though, and won’t have a chance for a while.

Two strikes, but good contact.  There is hope.

Then comes the home run.  After many months of waiting, with hospital and ambulance bills sent to me many times, the bill collectors kindly understanding that I was waiting for insurance to make a decision, the waiting has paid off.  The insurance company that represents the driver that rear ended my car at the beginning of the year called me last Wednesday.  They offered me a settlement that includes enough money to pay all of the hospital/ambulance bills, plus extra for “suffering”.   It’s not a huge amount, but it will take care of some of the extra expenses that have stressed me a little lately.

Home run.  That ball rocketed out of the park.

 

 

 

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