RE-Cycle: You Folks SOOOOOO ROCK!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

You Folks SOOOOOO ROCK!!

WOW!
Ask and ye shall receive! Apparently a LOT of you heard the pleas in my boredom yesterday and decided to help do something about it!
WOWEE!!!
OKAY, where to begin?
Well, the optimist in me, says get the annoying crud out of the way first.
Remember, WAY back in the day, when banking was done in a bank....with checks? And when you wrote a check the tellers ACTUALLY read the check? Well, last month, when I sent out the taxes, I sent the check two days before the due date, thinking that would be more then enough time to get from Dunedin to Largo. I was wrong. Arriving late, I got an annoying e-mail, and letter. SO, this month, I sent it out a week before it was due, but post dated the check to the due date. Apparently, dates on checks don't mean anything anymore. They deposited it yesterday, two days BEFORE the date on the check, thereby making it impossible for me to pay the rent.
UGH!
So, I had to make an emergency call to the landlord letting him know to hold off until the weekends proceeds hit the bank.
Jeez!
Then, as I normally do each morning, I was updating our Craigslist ads and noticed we are being "Trolled" again! Happens every now and then, as you can flag what you consider "inappropriate" ads, and they are automatically removed. No one at CL actually REVIEWS the ads to make sure they are, in fact, inappropriate, thereby making an appeal useless. No, you just have to go in and repost them, and see if they are flagged again. Every now and then, we get attacked by someone, TRYING to do what we do, and they are threatened by just how cheap and proliferant we are, so they attempt to remove the competition. Yea, pretty crappy, but it's just an annoyance we have to endure.
OKAY!
That's the bad, and in the light of a new day, doesn't really seem all that troublesome!
Now ON TO THE FUN!!!
Monday started off on Sunday evening, with a series of texts from a gent interested in the Stretch Dyno cruiser we had. He came down first thing in the morning and snatched it right up, after we had a real good conversation about the virtues of older cruiser, his forte, and he stood salivating over the pre-fix JC Higgens we have sitting in Bone Row. We may be doing some horse trading on that one as he has some other vintage cruisers, refurbed, he may be willing to part with.
As we were talking, more friends were coming in, and we sent home the Ladies 7 speed cruiser I had built on Sunday, with a diminutive young lady, who didn't want to be stuck riding a "kids" 24". I'm glad we could end her LONG search! Shortly thereafter, a gent, who KNEW what he wanted, came in to snatch up the Schwinn replica custom three wheeler, by simply entering the store and stating he would take it. Seems he's a three wheeler aficionado, having just acquired a couple of projects, but wanted a cool finished one to ride about. As he was loading up, a father and son team came in. Obviously the young man (seeming somewhat disinterested) didn't WANT a bike, but for obvious reasons, needed one. It was an unspoken cue, given by the father, that tipped me off and it didn't take much for ANOTHER father of an "over-eighteen" to recognize this was a "get off my bloody couch and get a DAMN job" bicycle purchase. They snagged up the dual shock Mongoose. I guess the Video Games will have to wait!
At this point things quieted down a bit, and I jumped back to the new builds, putting the finishing touches on a "DAILY BANGER SPECIAL" Three wheeler we had got in on Saturday. Full re-furb with new tires and such, but the Black Raspberry paint job was a little less then professional. I took a pic for posting and had no sooner sat down to post when I got a call from a gent looking for a pre-owned (IE: CHEAP) three wheeler. I told him about it, and he asked me to hold it, which we don't do (first come, first serve) so he used his CC over the phone and bought it, sight unseen.
Of course, I had to put aside the project I had just started on, as the late morning early afternoon rush of repairs came in, but made quick work of them, so I could jump back at it. Quickly put out a real sharp looking Focus Road Bike (having recently been overhauled, hardly needed anything) then popped a ladies vintage Schwinn Colligate cruiser in the rack. Took a couple hours of intense cleaning to bring it back, with a new set of tubes and tires to boot, then propped it up against the sign to take a pic, and as I was doing that, a vacationing couple strolled in. The lady had an all to familiar look of "oh God, ANOTHER bike shop", but the husband appeared undeterred. However, once her eyes alighted on the Collegiate, and she inquired, hopefully, if "this one was for sale" I stated, yes, and she sighed. Seems they have been to MANY other shops in town (and in other towns) looking for a basic, simple, classic looking single speed cruiser, that would not break the bank. They had all but lost hope of finding one, and we were actually there last stop (having noticed our sign) on their way to settle for a Wal-Mart Huffy. Fate apparently stepped in!
Closing in on....closing, a regular swung in, looking for another ride (this will make the seventh bike he has bought from us over the years) and he tested a few, and was happily impressed with the feel of the ladies six speed hybrid. OK...so it's purple...you got a problem with that?
And thus ended our programming day (cue annoying test pattern).
Heading home, a little worn out, I found that apparently the little talk (yes ANOTHER talk) Angi had with Elijah had had some impact. He apparently spent a good amount of time inquiring about job opportunities and had secured an interview for today. Plus dinner was on the stove, the house was relatively clean, the laundry pile dwindled down and I had a clean, fresh towel in the bathroom. Surprise, surprise.
However, no night is complete without SOME troubles, and the kiddo's were in rare form, all being a little off the chain (remember, I said yesterday, that everything ran smoothly in the morning? Well, it never sticks. They come to realize "WAIT! We didn't drive Mommy and Daddy crazy today! We're slipping! QUICK do something destructive or annoying! We have to level the bell curve!") SO, having been fed, washed and dressed for bed, Angi and I visited while keeping one eye on the clock, ticking down the seconds until bed time.
ALMOST made it.
Miranda got upset, as she didn't want to be in bed, as her newest, bestest buddy Elijah had not PUT her to bed, and started having her fit. Unfortunately, we were not quick enough to have him bring her a second bottle, and tuck her back in and....well, I hope you're not eating, but when Miranda get's upset, she likes to show off her half digested dinner...and lunch....and breakfast...
....everywhere.
Oh yea.
SO, while I bathed her, Angela broke out a couple towels...a mop....some Clorox wipes...
Ugh.
At this point, while Angela took a shower and Miranda was snuggled up on the boys couch being pampered, I flopped on the couch and tried to keep MY dinner down!
But I'm here now...safe!
SO, with that, I am going to get right on it, as I have already accumulated five repairs so far today and need to bang those out so I can get onto more newbies!
See ya soon!
And PLEASE, don't hesitate to make TODAY as interesting as yesterday!