Dashing All The Way!

Life needs to slow down soon!

After a hurried work day yesterday (http://www.onholdconcepts.com/) I dashed to Lutheran Church of Christ the King for the awards ceremony for Wendy and Phil's soccer team. (Seven year old girls, all of whom I've come to know a little and admire a lot). I was the designated "dessert giver" once the event started... dishing up ice cream into cups so the kids could take over and pour the root beer in over the top. There were other desserts as well but they were all of the "grab and go" type (cream puffs, seven layer treats) so that part was easy.

I took the ice cream out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to be sure it wouldn't be rock solid when it came time to dip. It was perfect timing and the perfect practice; only the very middle of a very large ice cream bucket was still frozen solid, so it was possible to serve everyone without it being a real chore.

This morning I got up at oh dark thirty and did my "bean thing" exercise, working up a respectable sweat in under fifteen minutes. I did so much bike riding over the weekend on my new bike that I'm plenty sore where people don't usually talk about, but nowhere else. And I've lost almost five pounds. Now, THAT I like, because I have enjoyed every minute of the exercise. If it weren't so dark when I get home at night this time of year, I'd ride my bike when I get home. But that's bad practice. Very bad practice. I read the bike owner's manual.

One really should read their bike owners manual. I'm not sure one would actually buy a bike after reading one, but luckily most people buy the bike first and read the manual second, if they read it at all. Turns out the people I polled had never read theirs. They should.

It gives one a respect for bicycles. These suckers can get you killed if you don't do frequent safety checks and have them serviced about every 50 hours of "general use" riding (every 25 hours if you're a hot dogger -- which no one is supposed to be on a bike).

I can't tell you everything I learned reading that manual but it did make me wise in the ways of bike ownership. The new bikes have easily-removable "clip-on" wheels, so when you stop and go somewhere else during your ride, you're supposed to un-clip the front wheel, place it next to the back wheel and, using a bike chain of sturdy caliber, tie the whole get-up to some sturdy, tall, intractable pole or cement-sunk bike rack. Not even a tree will do -- some bike thieves simply cut down the tree and abscond!

But the true worry in the book, aside from bike theft, is the danger inherent in riding a bike. Hence, no night riding for me.

The clip on tires, handy as they are, also pose another threat. If you don't clip them on properly after they've been clipped off, you can be riding down a nice slope at a nice clip and the front tire can come off, planting you face first in whatever medium of slope you were on. People have been killed because they didn't double-check the road-ability of their bikes before taking off. LOTS of them.

These things are not for kids without adult supervision! These things are not for ADULTS without adult supervision. They simply are not toys, but articles of rapid conveyance and can cause grave injury and death if one forgets this.

I'm not forgetting it.

But they're still a lot of fun, and great for aerobic exercise and weight reduction. I'm for 'em!

I'm still dashing -- will be for weeks at work as we sneak up on the tail-end of literally hundreds of on-hold holiday programs for clients. Then, as soon as Thanksgiving Day is over, we start the post-holiday programs, to get all these folks with holiday programs something for January 2, 2008! There's never a slow moment at On-Hold Concepts during October, November, and December, and on into January even. If we had to work this feverishly all year long, I'd ask for a thirty-dollar-an-hour raise! In fact, I probably wouldn't stay, if it was this frantic all year long. I'm sure I'd burn out. I spend my weekends "recovering" so I can charge at it again on Monday. We all do, in every department.

It's a monumental challenge. Especially when we also get NEW clients in 5-15 times each week, who take a lot more time than our regulars. This is because they are unsure and hesitant and can't decide what kind of music or perhaps even what kind of messages they want... and because there is much research involved on our part for new businesses. Once we get someone up and running, we know their history, their style, their products or services, their druthers, and can pretty much run with it and just seek final approval when we've come up with something new for them. The "newbies" just take longer, period, the first time or two. We take time to get to know them and to find out what part of their business news to use in the on-hold messages. After that, they trust us implicitly to send them a dynamite program -- and we always do!

Must dash again! It's almost time for work!