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It is hard being on the road over 200 nights a year...away from your family, isolated in many ways. It definitely isn't for everyone. This blogs represents the thoughts of just one such person. Read along and find out if the road is for you.
This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Georgia, Gainesville, Unity of Gainesville, English, John, Male, reading, RE Investing. :)
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Friday, January 02, 2004
I make flipping over the motorcycle handlebars look easy!
I said I wanted to get busy started on the New Year, but this certainly wasn't what I had in mind.
My dentist friend had been been asking for the past year for me to ride motorcycles with him and for one reason or another, we just never sync'd up.
But we had seen each other at the Burning Bowl Service on New Year's Eve and commited that New Year's Day would be perfect with the weather for a quick ride in the mountains.
I mentioned it to Julie on the way home and she seemed pleased with my socialness. By and large, unless it is in a business setting, I don't think I am that socialable. Not that I don't want to be, (a self confidence thing) but that is who I am.
We stayed up till around 1 and went to bed on New Year's Eve, with Julie not feeling well.
New Year's morning, she still wasn't feeling well and I went upstairs to catch up on sending out expense reports when the phone rang about noon.
It was Rick and was wondering if I was still going to come ride. I told him I would be there in about an hour.
The day started off easily enough. Rick has every motorcycle that he has ever owned still, so it was easy finding a bike for me to ride (750 Yamaha).
And off we went. It was a beautiful day and we headed up to the mountains and stopped there to hike and just medidate/talk. He commented on how good a rider I was and how the bike always seemed aligned perfectly behind him. (I have had a couple of bikes and took motorcycle riding classes years ago...no bike now and for a reason :)
It was getting dark on the ride back and on one of the curves I hit a rock on the road. This brought the bike straight up and the only good thing about the next 10 miliseconds was I wasn't going fast and the trees were back from the road.
I tried to hit both brakes and rode it straight for about 20 feet when the bike went down and I rolled several times.
Fortunatley, except for a cut over my eye, a badly bruised hip and a couple of minor scrapes, I came though pretty well.
The bike is going to need some work however and we had to go back to his house for a trailer to get it home.
I was more worried about the bike and how this was going to effect our friendship than my personal wellbeing.
And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by his reaction. Rick was gracious and more concerned about me than the bike (which says alot about him, because he really does love his toys..something that he is successfully working on I might add)
He even offered to let me go dirt bike riding with him on Friday. I declined. I knew that my body was going to be pretty sore (which is an underestatement).
Julie looked at me when I finally got home around 9:30 and wanted me to go to the emergency doctor. I declined, but did tell her I would go on Saturday.
I do have a splitting headache and my ego is going to need healing as well, but I am most grateful for the outcome. It could have been so much worse and it wasn't.
Back to bed. (I can't sleep very well, even with the new bed...I can only imagine what it would have felt like on the old one.)
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 4:40 AM
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Party's Over...Now, let's get busy!
Well, it is the start of the New Year and I have to say that I am feeling pretty good about myself for what has transpired over the last year. I probably whinned too much, but hey, who else was going to listen???
* Financially - very rewarding...almost 6 digits from my primary source. Not bad. With my outside endeavors, I went over 100K for the first time in over 5 years.
* Business wise - up and down with the future looking totally up. The pool business that I started definitely had its' moments, but for the first year, I was satisfied with it. It defintely did not make money, but will this year. Julie has volunteered to take a more active role and that is going to be a major plus.
The real estate investment business really has just got started and might yet qualify as 2004's new business (although a coffee house is another consideration). I actually think I can make as much part time in real estate as I do at my primary job full time. Now, there's a thought :)
* Relationships - I won't even pretend that I have the perfect relationship. The fact is I don't. On the other hand, I don't know of anyone who has a relationship that is flawless. But in looking back, who else would put up with what I have put Julie through here over the last couple of years and still love me, while making me a better person? NO ONE! More than money, career, or any other material things that I strive to accomplish over 2004, I have made creating and maintaining a perfect relationship with Julie the highest priority.
* Health - mine is good and getting better. After spending $4,000 on my teeth with maybe another $3k to go, at least my smile will look good. But health overall is something I am going to be working on as well. I have visited my Dad several times over the last year and see not only his health, but his wife's as well. It definitely isn't great. It hurts me just to think about living like that. He is in constant pain. When I was out there for Thanksgiving, I had to literally help to lift his leg to get it into the van. On top of that, we made a trip to the doctor/hospital every day I was there except Thanksgiving itself. I am going to do whatever I can to insure that I don't find myself in that situation.
* Spirituality - could always be better. I think overall I am a spiritual person. What I want to work on more this year is judgement (as in not judging others for their actions/behaviors). I also want to take a few more workshops to help me be a better person. We never know who we touch and I want to make sure that I leave everyone with a good feeling about the situation that we both just experienced. I can't make all the transactions be perfect, but what I can do is endeavor to make sure that people have been heard and I have done all that I can to achieve the right and perfect outcome for all parties.
* Career -- aye...there's the rub. My plan is to leave Da Company this year. It is not like I don't enjoy my job. The fact is I really love what I do. But when I have a long stay (for me that would be anytime more than 2 nights in a row sleeping in my bed at home), then I can see how my life might be if I did get off the road from traveling 6 days a week. We will see what happens. Stay tuned.
ps - Speaking of beds, we got our new SleepNumber bed in on Tuesday. It is AWESOME. A little pricey, but since I am also working on my self-worth this year, I am worth it.
I am excited about the new year. Julie and I sat down last Saturday and mapped out our goals for 2004. While I always do this (usually in the Fall though), this is the first time that Julie actually sat down and we discussed what would make our lives perfect in 2004, along with our conscious desires for a better life.
I am going to make some other changes, most notably to this blog this year.
Enough for now.
Blog on!
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