Aidan, Melissa and I had a Christmas celebration with her mom's family tonight. After 7 hours, you'd think I'd be exhausted, and during the ride home, I was. But, now I'm not feeling too terribly drowsy. So, I thought I would write a little in my blog.
Strangely, I'm looking forward to Christmas tomorrow for the first time in several years. In the past, even when we lived in Lawrence, I didn't care for it much as we would wind up spending the night at one of several houses, all of which had no extra room for us. It's an unfamiliar place and Aidan would have to sleep in the Pack 'n Play, which means he'd wind up in our bed, and none of us would sleep well. We would then stumble through Christmas exhausted and irritable, and we would have to do our presents to one another and for Aidan the day before or Christmas night, when everyone was tired. Well, that's not happening this year. We are doing presents in the morning, going to families throughout the day, and if all goes well, we'll be home by 7. I'm looking forward to that! Aidan should get to bed at a decent how, and I'll get the chance to relax a little Monday and Tuesday, before going back to the grind. It's much needed considering how terribly work has sucked. I can't give out too many details, but I've gone from having a potential new $7M in commercial loans as of September, to no new ones at all. They have all fallen through. One isn't dead yet, but the deal is on its last legs. I'm also struggling to retain a major client, and have been spending a vast majority of my energy on making that work. In what I do, you can have a perfect year lined up, but in the blink of an eye, it can all disappear due to events out of your control. The idea is you keep trucking and make it a good year regardless of what happens, and I mean no excuses, but it's hard to not feel discouraged by the process. I've half committed to another year after my two years in May, but I'm already looking around at new opportunities. I'd prefer them to not be sales driven, but as long as it would be more in line with the analysis and portfolio management I want to do, I don't care.
I also decided to do a little bike build update. I had mentioned in my previous blog I'm building a mountain bike for myself, but didn't mention how far I am. Unfortunately, I'm not very far at all. I have the frame and suspension fork, two of the most expensive parts, but that's it. I'll post pictures when I get them, as I an rather proud of them. I still need a lot of other things, most of what I won't mention, but I need new wheels, tires, a drivetrain, and various miscellaneous things. It's costing more than I had figured, but it'll be worth it in the end. I will have a bike that is built to exactly what I want, versus many off the shelf bikes that have a mix parts, some of which I could handle, others I couldn't.
The frame is a Canfield Brothers Yelli Screamy. I got it second hand from a local guy who bought it from the CBs company as a demo bike. Basically, it was used to give others test rides, and once the season for test rides was over, CB sold the frame at a discount. I also got the fork from him. It's a Fox F29 RL. It's third hand, but only 2 years old. For the non-bike junkies, the frame, and ultimately my whole bike, will be designed as a trail bike/all mountain bike. That's bike lingo for a bike meant to handle most trails and a fair amount of jumps and drops. Nothing big, like the crazy people who do downhill races, but pretty much everything you would encounter on a typical trail, and then some. Because of the design of the frame and the parts I plan on using, it won't be the fastest bike in town. No, I don't want to race cross country right now (the standard mountain bike race, much like running cross country, but with rougher terrain). Maybe some day I'll try some minor local racing, but not at this time, and that would require a different bike. Instead, this bike will be a little heavy but very sturdy and comfortable. It won't steer too quickly, but will it will be stable, so it will handle descents and rough terrain with ease.
I will say, I haven't been passionate about anything like this in a long time, not since I played music. I just enjoy it so much. For one, it results in plenty of exercise. However, unlike road biking, the scenery is constantly changing, and the terrain itself offers a multitude of challenges.
Finally, I'm getting tired. Better go to bed and rest up for the big day tomorrow. Merry Christmas everyone!
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