Nothing interesting today, so enjoy my dogs

Riding my bike home from work after having a closing shift

Today I was originally supposed to work a 4 -8pm shift at Arbys. That's a decent shift for me and I thought it would be a good chance for me to ride my bike home from work because it would still be light out around 8 so I would have no problem getting home. I did the previous night because I worked the exact same shift. However, I forgot that earlier today I had agreed to taking someones closing shift. (7 - 10:30 shift, I would just work 4 - 10:30) So when my shift was finally over for the night I finally had the chance to test out my new bike and the new lights for the first time. Not only did they work perfectly, the worked better then I expected them to. Riding home was a breeze. I find it easier to ride home at night, too. The streets are less crowded, it's less noisy, it's much cooler, and the street lights are on for me. If anything, I would prefer to ride at night from now on. And if there ever were to be any problems, like a "creep-o", (in the words of my concerned girlfriend) I'm pretty sure they should be more afraid for themselves if they met up with a large 19 year-old boy at top speed on his bike.

 It also helps to have a manager who is willing to make sure you get home, too. My manager Kasey passed by me a few times as I was heading home to make sure I was still alive. It's good to know people have my back when all I have are my two wheels.

Its's safe to say that my car is becoming obsolete this summer and that I no longer have to buy gas for myself. Though, gas was usually paid for by my parents, so it's not like I'm saving myself any money. If anything, I spent more money by fixing up my bike then I will spend buying gas...

I think I'm more busy during June then I was during school

Our calender was finally changed at work so that means we can start the process of requesting the days the days in June that we need off. At first I didn't think I would have that many because I'm not a very busy person and I am usually free all summer. I started off by going through all my graduation invites from my friends and made a list of those days because I will only work morning on those days and go to the parties in the evening. Then came my orientation for +Kent State University and I made sure to request those 3 days off. THEN I remembered my graduation gift and requested the days off for my trip to Seattle. NEXTTTT I made sure to get the days off I need off for Katie's brothers' wedding. AND FINALLY I requested the final day in June off for my own graduation party!

The list kept getting bigger each time I thought of something else. It's a bit overwhelming because I'm sure Arby's is going to try and cram me with as many hours as possible because I need to get my manager training in sometime this month so I can learn to be a manager in July and the better part of August. And if that wasn't bad enough, I still need to find time to get all my mowing completed, which usually takes place every 4 or 5 days.






So I guess to sum up my month of June. Yeah, I don't really have one...

(Some of the people whose parties made me request off... +Graham Reese  +Austin Edler  +Erica Beverly +Tyler Axline   ;] )

I felt like a manager this evening

Through no fault of her own, the manager who was supposed to be running shift this evening was having some issues. It was a combination of stress, blood pressure, and probably heat. Put this altogether and you get a manager who is unable to work to the best of their ability and you're left with a crew without a leader. As she sat in her office most of the night it gave me the chance to step and try and keep things from falling apart. Granted, the crew that was working this evening was a great crew and are great at handling things on their own, it felt nice to keep asking them to clean things, make sure stuff was stocked, and to make sure the food was getting to where it needs to go. It was also nice to see that they didn't mind to take orders (if you could even say that I was giving orders. I was more-or-less making sure they kept doing what they already know how to do.) from me and that they turned to me with questions when the manager on duty wasn't around. It makes me hopeful  if/when I become a manager this summer because it seems like I already have a fan base for myself!

Some of my activities for the night including sanitizing the ice machine, checking beef, and cleaning the friars. All of these duties are typically the managers job but I figured they weren't going to get done by themselves this evening so I stepped in. It's a shame that I had to leave at 8:30 otherwise I would have tried to do more. It's also a bummer that I don't know how to do the end of the night paperwork because I would have gladly stayed and did the paperwork for the shift. But I'm sure that will all come with my training this summer!

Pimpin' out my birthday bike like an amateur

I was out and about pretty early today because I needed to take a final exam for English this morning. When I got that all done it was still before 11am so I decided that I needed to be productive with my day since I also did not work this evening. I thought about what I could do and then I remembered that my new bike that I had gotten for my birthday had not had a trial run yet. So I went to the garage and attempted to take it for a spin. After riding for maybe a block I realized that this bike needed some serious work done. The seat made me lose feeling to my balls in about 3 seconds, the steering wheel was loose and didn't line up with the front tire, the break pads were on too tight, the tires felt like mountain bike tires and I felt like I was riding off road the whole time, and the handle bars would twist if you gripped them too tightly. Even as I list all these flaws, I still love that bike because it was a good deal and I am able to call it my own. That it was I felt the need to fix her up today and unlock her full potential.

First on the list was the bike seat that came with the bike. It may look like it can comfort a butt, but do not be fooled, as soon as you sit on this you will lose all feeling to your lower extremities. I went out and bought (along with everything else for the days project.) a memory foam seat. That's right, like the stuff you sleep on. So now my butt feels like it is being pampered instead of plundered when I ride my bike.





These two tires were the original tires on the bike. They aren't terrible tires, so don't think I'm picky. But you need to keep in mind that these tires are made for off-road biking and that is something that I cannot see myself doing. So I took it upon myself to learn how to remove and change bike tires. Let me tell you that this endevour is not easy when you're doing it solo. I had bought a tire thinking that tires came in a 2 pack, little did I know that it was just a single pack. So when I got home and opened the package, there was only one tire inside. Not only that, but it was not what I expected it to look like. Like I said, I had never done this before. I decided I would try and change the first tire and tell people that I only bought one tire because I didn't know if it would fit for sure or not. (That might be even more embarrassing because that would have meant I didn't even check the dimensions before buying them it.) So I was able to take off the front wheel and pop off the tire by prying it off with a screw driver. In hindsight, that was probably the most stupid way to take it off because I could have punctured the tube, but again, I didn't know how bike tires worked at the time. So after I got everything off I spent some time deflating the tube, putting the deflated tube inside the new tire, filling it up a little bit so it kept a shape, then I tried to fit the new tire inside the rim of the wheel. THIS MIGHT BE THE GREATEST FEAT I HAVE EVER ACCOMPLISHED. After wresting that tire around the rim for about 30 minutes I finally decided that if two hands weren't not enough, I would have to use my legs as well. I was able to squeeze the tire between my thighs and hold it long enough for me to be able to put the rest of the tire in the rim. Once I was done all I had to do was pump it back up and screw it back into place. I was sweating harder then if I were to actually ride the bike by that point.
(Katie came over later and we went back and bought another tire and changed the back wheel, you know, the one with all the messy gears, and it went smoother because we had two people to tackle the problem. But it was still a giant hassle. I'm hoping these tires last for a while. )

I thought that since I will now have a street worthy bike, I better think about how  I will ride. I plan on riding to and from work, and sometimes I get off work when it's dark out. I'm Mr. Safety, so I made sure that (along with the original reflectors) I had proper lighting. I bought a pack that had a front light (which doubles as an emergency flashlight. SCORE. ) and a rear flashing light. Not only will people see me from far away but I'll be able to see for some distance in front of me so I don't wreck into anything.

Here is the business section of the bike. I had to tighten the rear and front breaks because they wouldn't even touch the wheels when I pulled them. Not only that, but I also had to tighten the handle bars because when you actually did pull the breaks they would twist completely around on the handle bars. It was one unsafe thing after another. After those were taken care of I added my accessories. My phone case for my Galaxy S3 and my emergency light had to fit for a spot to fit on my handle bar but I was able to make sure everything had a place to sit.

This is the finished product in all her glory. She may not look original, sleek, or like she was put together by a professional, but I don't really mind. I am able to say that I scrapped her together and did all on my own and that is enough for me.  After everything was said and done though, I found it a bit funny that all of my add-ons cost about as much as the original bike did. At least I can ride in style, be safe, and know that this bike is all my own and that there is not another one out there like it.

Sleeping in tents

Last night (or this morning) was the first time I had ever TRIED to sleep in a tent. A group of friends and I thought it would be a fun idea to have a bonfire and spend the night outside in a tent to celebrate our graduation and our last event as a Show Choir together. The experience was... well... an experience. Everyone else came prepared with about 3 comforters and blankets each and I came with 1 pillow and 1 afghan. I figured that if we were all going to spend the night in one tent that it would stay pretty warm from body heat and being close to a fire. I WAS HORRIBLE WRONG. I think I was only able to finally fall asleep (for maybe 3 hours) because my body began to shake and shiver from being so cold that I was finally able to lull myself to sleep. To top it all off it started to rain shortly after we entered our tent for the night. At the time, we stayed completely dry and didn't think we were going to be affected by the rain, but I was the first one to wake up in the morning (because I had to work today from 10am to 5pm) and my pillow was completely soaked and I could see everyone else's pillows and blankets were, too. By the time I got home from work everyone had left and they had cleaned everything up, so I'm guessing nothing got to trashed or out of hand, and I'm just glad I didn't have to deal with a messy clean-up.

Needless to say, my first experience with sleeping outside in a tent could have gone more smoothly, but at least I was with some good friends to make it all better. (oh, and I was able to power nap when I got home from work, so that makes it all better, too!)

Return of the morning shift

Another upside of being done with high school (beyond, you know, being done with high school...) is that Arbys can now schedule me for any shift that they want to. Mornings are the best because all you really have to do is worry about the customers. It's going to be a nice change switching from working 5 to Close every school night to working every morning then having my whole night be free. Not to mention I will be able to ride my (NEW) bike there for morning shifts.

Sure is hard to find anything negative about finishing high school at this point.

The spoils from turning 19

Another birthday has come and gone and of course I felt it would be appropriate to show the spoils of what I was able to rake in this year. Nothing too crazy and nothing too personal, but all-in-all I got some very practical gifts that I plan to use many times this summer.

A new bike, a helmet, a pump, and a bike rack. All very practical gifts because this summer I plan on riding my bike to work a lot. When I start college in August I plan to be biking around campus a lot as well, so the bike rack will help me actually get my bike there!

Some new ties. A good gift for me this summer because I am currently training to become a shift manager at Arbys. With this, I will be receiving a new shirt, and because of this I plan to wear ties with them. (Not to mention, these ties I just got are washable, which is a good idea since I plan on stuff getting myself dirty during work.)

This is just any normal piece of pie. This was some of the Peanut Butter pie that my sister made for since she was home for my birthday week. Nothing like getting home from school (last day of high school, y'know.) and smelling this amazing treat. 

 As if the pie wasn't enough, I got a personalized cake AND a red velvet cupcake. Red velvet is my weakness so I'm sure once I finally bite into it I will appreciate it a lot more. These two cakes were both gifts' from my girlfriend and her mom. They know me oh so well. 

These pictures sum up my day pretty well

Today was my last day as a student at the Kenton Senior High School. As I walked down the sidewalk (which was covered in chalk from the Calculus class) I decided I should probably take in the last time I'll be getting to leave this building as a student. It left a some-what bitter sweet feeling inside me but right after I took the picture, I did a complete 180 and...

....I saw these words written on the way to the parking lot. Obviously it was by some of my friends in the Calculus class ( +Graham Reese , +Erica Beverly ) and it completely changed the mood from "Oh wow, I'm leaving this place" to "Oh wow, I'm 19 now, time to start something new!"

Everything seems to be working itself out

The school year is ending and all of our final projects are finally being presented, all of our last tests are being taken, and all of our goodbyes are finally being said. 4 years has gone by so fast and at the same time they seemed to drag on forever. It's strange to think that after tomorrow I will no longer be obligated to go to high school. (Of course I have some final exams, but those aren't REALLY mandatory so I could totally skip them if I wanted to.)

The fact that it is slightly rainy and gloomy out today mixed with the fact that I am turning 19 tomorrow doesn't really help with the emotions occurring lately. I can't say that I am sad to see everything go, but I can say there is surely an emotion going on within me. I know for sure that I am happy to be moving on because I have so much planned for my future already, but it's just crazy to be able to look back and think about everything that has been accomplished so far and see what I can continue to do.

Opening Day

My Senior year of high school is coming to an end, I'm about to turn 19, and my life is just getting itself into a damn hurry. I realize that if I want to keep up with what is going on around me I need to give in and join the many communities of the digital era. That being said, I am here making my first blog and my first blog post. It feels nice to finally get myself into the whole blogging thing. I'm sure I will come to find that as I transition from my old life style into my new hectic one, having a place to post and keep my thoughts organized (to an extent) will be useful.

Hopefully other people will find my daily life interesting or entertaining enough to keep up with my daily ramblings and happenings. We'll see where this goes!