Corporate Hippy

This time last year, Ray’s Mountain Bike Park held a women only day at the park.  It was on a Friday and my friend Kristi was planning on going.  She and I went down together on Friday, stayed overnight and the boys came down to meet us on Saturday.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to go this year because of the MMBA annual meeting on Sunday – in Lansing this year.  But, when we were at Ray’s a few weeks ago, Nick suggested I go just for the Friday-women-only part.  For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me.  Kristi was game, and so I took the day off work and we hit the road at 7:30 am yesterday.  A great way to spend my birthday, I say.

I just can’t seem to express how great this place is.  And to be able to go there on a day when its not open to the public (read: really crowded) is just so fantastic.  And then, to have awesome women instructors in every section is the best birthday present I could have asked for.  I had a great time .. for a little while ..

Before lunch, I was working on the rock garden in the beginner room and after a clean run through, I went for a little more speed on my second run.  Well, I lost my line and as I was falling, I put my foot down .. and my ankle twisted .. then my knee twisted .. and then the whole leg collapsed underneath me ..

Years ago, I sprained my knee while downhill skiing .. I don’t think it ever fully recovered ..

So, I was laying on the rocks, my leg collapsed underneath me, and my bike on top of me – I was kind of still “strattling” the bike – with my left leg underneath me, and my right leg still over the bike.  I was stuck.  And as I was trying to straighten my left leg, I felt exactly the same (although MUCH less intense) as when I was laying on that ski hill .. I was pretty sure my day was done at that point ..

So, we hung out for lunch and swag and Kristi went out to ride some more .. I was gonna use my fancy camera and grab some video .. I was heading into the intermediate area when I saw a group of women looking concerned over a women who had fallen.  It was Kristi.  She’d gotten caught with no momentum at the end of a line and as her bike was slowly-coming-to-a-screaching-hault, she had somehow managed to twist her ankle – one that she had sprained badly in September or October.  So, she hobbled back to the table where our stuff was, and we decided it was time to call it a day

Regardless – it was a fantastic day.  I got to spend ~30-45 minutes in the pump track (its usually too crowded to go near the pump track there) .. and I worked on a line in the intermediate room that I was scared of – and totally cleaned it 3 times in a row.  I cleaned the rock garden in the beginner room on my first shot (also usually too crowded to try).  I met some fantastic women, and there were quite a few women back from last year – which was really cool.

I absolutely, highly recommend this event – its already scheduled for the same weekend next year!  Nina and Dirt Rag put on a really great event and all of the women are so energetic, patient and supportive.  It is really a welcoming environment for women of ANY level.  Fantastic!  Happy Birthday to ME!

And, the knee will be allright.  With some ice and ibuprophen, I was pretty mobile as long as I was careful – walking is fine, but I have to be very careful to not twist or turn.  Stairs and downhills are tough because its very wobbly and doesn’t want to take the weight of me by itself.  But – it was no problem driving home (We took the pickup – manual transmission – clutch – heh).   Hopefully I’ll still be able to spin on the trainer …

All in all – a great way to turn 34!

Like, groove on this, man, biking hippy, corporate hippy, life hippy

I get to go see Modest Mouse in ONE WEEK!!!

One week from tonight in the cleve land …. w00t

and if i’m lucky, we’ll go see Joe Walsh the night before at meadowbrook

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“Who knows,” he said “I might grow it long again some day”. After years of long, pony-tail length hair, Nick now cuts his hair with clippers – no guard. “Yeah,” I respond “but then you’ll dreadlock it, right?”

“Well maybe.”

We got quiet for awhile. I wanted to tell him that if he were to grow his hair longer and dreadlock it, that I’d recommend he wait until we’re out of the corporate world. Dreadlocks in the corporate world are a constant conflict between the carefree, low-maintenance idea of dreadlocks and the ever-present need to make them look neat and tidy for the office environment – and the work that comes with it.

But I didn’t tell him this. Corporate hippy has become my persona. Dreadlocks and facial piercings are my ‘fuck you’ to corporate society. The look I carry requires confidence.

But lately, I feel like I’m loosing that confidence. Some days, I look at myself in the mirror and think, “god, you look like a lazy slob” or “these just look ridiculous”. I’ve been thinking, if I didn’t have to go to an office, if I didn’t have to wear kakhi pants and unwrinkled shirts to present the right appearance every day, I could let my dreads go, and not worry about how they look. They could be that low-maintenance hair that I’ve been longing for. But instead, I have the most high-maintenance hair style I’ve ever had ..

Some days, I just want to cut them off. Once or twice, I’ve seriously considered it.

But I need to remind myself, that being a hippy is not just about simplicity and being minimalistic. Hippys also stand up for what they believe in. And what I believe in is this: It doesn’t matter what I look like or what clothes I wear. Extra metal in my face and frizzy hair does not have any affect on my ability to do my job. Traditionally, hippys are against big-business and ‘working for the man’ .. But its been 40 years since traditional hippys fought their fight. My hippy movement empowers me to ‘work for the man’ without becoming the man. And to me, that is what’s most important.

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Nick and I are very compatible on bikes when his is a 26″ knobby tire mountain bike and mine is a 700c slick tired road bike.

We were hoping to ride with Jess tonight, but we never heard back from her in the afternoon. My guess is she had a meeting gone haywire. And, since it was close to 5:30 when I got home from work, it made more sense to stick over here and enjoy the sunlight while we had it.

That’s right folks, I said sunlight! This was the first time I rode outside in weeks and it was glorious. Perfect temperature, sunshine and fresh air.

Thanks ma nature, I needed that

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When I first heard this story, I thought the guy was crazy for taking the $800k payout (before taxes), rather than the $50k over 30 years, pretaxed. But then I started to think about it. Their payout is ~$575k after taxes. If I were given a check for $575k, I could pay off my house, both of my trucks, buy new trucks (paid in full with cash), pay off all of my other debts, fix my house up a bit, and still put $200-300k into investments.

We’d still work. But that’s ok. We’re still watching the youngest grow, and wouldn’t be ready for ‘retirement’ until he’s close to high school graduation. But, with all of our debts paid off, we could easily stick one of our paychecks in a high-yield savings account and live off of just one paycheck. Even with only one paycheck, we’d have more spending money than we do now with all of our monthly bills and debts. We’re not extravagant.
This would make one HELL of a retirement fund in just a few years.

*sigh*

Of course, I don’t even buy lottery tickets, so I don’t know why I bother fantasizing about winning the lotto. Guess its just nice to dream.

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As ‘hippie’ as I try to be, recycling is someplace I continually fall short. I admit, right here, right now, I throw away returnable bottles, use paper plates more than washable ones, and toss magazines and newspapers in the same plastic garbage bag as everything else.

I’ve been thinking lately, that I should make an effort. I just haven’t actually made the first step. This article below was in our company newsletter (i added the image for effect) …

If you believe that life just won’t be the same without a hard copy of this week’s fascinating factoids about paper recycling, think about this:

Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper annually, which is about 580 pounds per person.
Every Sunday, Americans throw away 90 percent of recyclable newspapers, which wastes half a million trees.
Every day U.S. businesses generate enough paper to circle the earth 20 times.
Paper products make up the largest part —approximately 40 percent — of our trash.
There is good news, however (and it has nothing to do with saving money on your car insurance):

A single tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year. Recycling just one ton of paper saves 17 trees (not to mention 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water).
Making recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy and 58 percent less water than making new paper.
In 1990 we recycled 28 percent of the paper produced in the U.S.; by 2000, that number had increased to more than 45 percent.
Visit the Michigan Recycling Coalition or the Environmental Protection Agency web sites for more information on what you can do to help America’s recycling effort.

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