Laughing at Life

Never seems to fail, when I‘m having a bad day, I have it all day long. Murphy’s  law: “If it can go wrong, It will” works well at my house.   More often than I would like to think about. A case in point was just a few weeks ago.

Our coffee maker kept overflowing.  It was a known brand bought new at our local department store.  When it first started overflowing, I packed it up in the box, carried it back in to the store and got a replacement. I thought I had just bought a defective one. I had no idea the whole darn batch of coffee makers were garbage. The second one was worse than the first. You would turn it on or program the timer, sit back and wait for that first cup only to find it never went in the carafe.  Instead, it ran over, down the cabinets, onto the floor and all over the place. Not only did I have a mess to clean up, I had zero coffee.  I was going to be late to work cleaning up the mess. My day was shot before I had even gotten out the door. I drove too fast, risking a ticket. My boss was upset I was late. I missed one of those endless staff meetings.  At 10 o’clock I still had no coffee. The phone rang off the hook.  No one was happy with anything, and my patience was running low.  Murphy’s Law was working well that day.  

My husband was convinced I was doing something wrong making the coffee, so he decided he would make the next pot. I guess he was doing something wrong also, because the darn thing made another mess. He said, “Okay tomorrow we want a refund.” The next morning he woke up to a cup of coffee by his bedside. “What happened,” he wanted know.

“I Fixed it.” I proudly proclaimed.  He went in the kitchen to look. Sure enough there was no mess on the floor or on the cabinets. I had set the worthless contraption in the sink. The overflow went down the drain. At least we can say we each got one cup of coffee out of the thing. We bought another brand. If you would like to help us pay for this new more expensive piece of machinery, buy something from our great motorcycle shop. www.agelessparlor.com  We’ve got a little something there for every motorcycle or Off Road rider.

Life happens all the time at our house. My daughter and I were sharing a car. She was driving to school one morning and I was riding with her so I could use the car. We were talking and in a hurry. We both got in the car, fastened our seatbelts. She started it up, threw it in reverse and backed right through the garage doors.  The good news is the foundation of the house was still intact. At least that is what I told my husband when I called him. The bad news is the doors are a bust and the car is slightly damaged was the next message he got. He called the insurance company. I will have to give them praise here. They came through. For my home owner’s deductible, $500, I got new garage doors, my car repaired, a long lecture about safe driving and a rate increase. When you least suspect it, life will happen to you.

To minimize the damage an unexpected life happening can do while you are on your motorcycle try to think ahead and be as prepared as possible.

Keep your bike in good running condition. Do not ignore small or large repairs that need doing. My husband likes to say he’s cheap and he can be. He likes to spend just enough to get something fixed. I, on the other hand, want to spend enough so the problem does not reoccur. He will wait until the last minute to buy windshield wipers for the car. It drives me nuts. I buy wipers for my car whenever the rain starts smearing the windows instead of clearing them.  I do not like limited vision. I check my tires on the bike and car regularly and get them replaced when the treads starts to wear. He waits until he starts having flats. I top off my gas whenever it gets below the halfway mark. He drives until the light comes on or the gauge is rocking on empty. Needless to say, I spend more than he does on the vehicles I drive. Has it made any difference? No. He gets by as well as I do and has more money in his pocket. Why do I continue this spending and anticipating things going wrong, when he has proved to me over and over his plan works just as well. His plan is: “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” I thought a lot about this and I think it is because I cannot fix it, so I want to prevent it from breaking down. He has mechanic skills and knowledge and can fix it. This confidence carries him through. If you are like me and not a walking talking book of knowledge on how to fix a broken down motorbike, then keep it in good shape. You will be safer on the road. Life won’t happen near as often.

Wear Protective Gear. You really don’t want a life happening without a Dot helmet on, Do you?  One spill with a hard bang on the head and your brain stops working all together or will put you in a vegetable state. The only way I want to be in a vegetable State is when I’m traveling through the Mississippi Delta and I am reading the signs on the fields of what company these vegetables are being grown for, then I will know I am in a State known for it vegetables.  At our new helmet site www.helmetsforfun.com  you will find a great selection of DOT helmets at prices you can afford. Protect your head.

Lighten Your load. Yesterday I saw an unusual site on a motorcycle, even for the south where there are thousands of bikes on the road at any given time and you just might see anything at any time.  It was a pretty cool day for Southern living with a high of about 40 degrees. A rider had a child about 5 or 6 bundled up in a fur coat and a helmet riding behind him. The little girl was sound asleep and leaning way over the side of the bike.  I hope the driver’s excuse was this is the only transportation he had, and he was taking her to the emergency room, because I can’t think of another reasonable excuse for the child being there and being  hauled around like that.  It also reminded me of top heavy driving.

 Weight not properly secured becomes a top heavy hazard you cannot control, Use a good sissy bar bag or saddle bags to carry the things you are hauling around with you. The range of the bags today is outstanding. There are even travel bags with wheels. Secure them with the tie downs and locks. Make sure you cannot feel a weight shift when you start up. Everything is important to your safe ride.  If something is loose it will shift or come off.  You will either lose the luggage or the bike. Take a look at our motorcycle bags www.agelessparlor.com  If you don’t see the one you are interested in,  let us know. We will be glad to look for the size and design you want.

Laugh a Little. When your next life happening comes along, laugh a little at it. What else can you do?  Need a new job, can’t find one, reinvent yourself and do something different.  You may not make what you were making, but work is out there. Car or bike broke down and no money to fix it? Trade a few jobs with a good mechanic. They work long hours with little off time, and always looking for yard workers, house repair people, and babysitters.  Kids need clothes and money is tight? Shop the thrift stores. The possibilities there are endless. Want entertainment but you are on a tight budget?  Take in the local museum. Take the kids, wife or friend on a bus ride.  See the city you live in.  Go hiking.  Go on a picnic in the park in the snow.  Try trading videos with a friend.  Bills got you down?  Cut back to the bare bone. Make sacrifices.  Ask the kids to make sacrifices. Have a yard sale.  Try selling on eBay.  Take one day at a time.  

Life happens all the time to all of us. We can wallow in it or meet the challenge.