Bike to Work Week

It just so happens I purchased my bicycle during Bike Month and this week is “Bike to Work Week”. I was planning on riding my bike to work anyway to see how far it was and to see if I could actually tolerate biking to work. So far I have ridden my bike to work every day this week, today being day three. It is not bad at all. It is almost exactly seven miles to get to work from my house. I try to ride on the sidewalks as much as I can on the way to work. When the sidewalks are not available, most of the time there is some extra room on the road between the solid, painted line and the edge of the pavement. On the way home, I take the street where I would normally take the sidewalk during the day. There is less traffic at night.

A Ride in the Countryside

It was a great day for a bicycle ride!

Here are a few photos I captured in the countryside!

Riverside Gardens – Leo/Cedarville

Fishing with Dad

This past Wednesday and Thursday, my days off from work, I went up to Lake George to do some fishing with my Dad. I like fishing and I want to learn more. Who better to learn from than the master himself? I have done some fishing in my younger years with my Dad, but I have been the age where I can actually bait my own hook, bring the fish in, and get the hook out of the mouth of the fish. It is more enjoyable to me now than it was when I was younger. I can probably vouch for my Dad by saying it is also more enjoyable for him now that I am older.

Both days did not have ideal weather conditions for fishing. It was too windy. We did better Wednesday than Thursday. We caught a total of sixteen between my Dad, uncle, and I. I think I had brought in the most that day. I think I caught six or seven “keepers”. We were fishing for Crappe, but caught a few other kinds including Rock Bass, Walleye, Perch, and Bass.

A Rock Bass and a Crappe I caught

New Bicycle

I bought a new bicycle! It has been awhile since I have owned a bike. I bought a bike, because I wanted to ride it for exercise, ride down the county roads and city trails, and possibly use it to commute to places. I know I wanted a road bike, because they go faster and there really is not any mountain riding in Indiana. Northeast Indiana is very flat. I am thinking I could possibly ride it to work on nice days. It is about seven miles from my house to the hospital. I think that is pretty feasible.

My Awesome Work Schedule

I am working part-time at the hospital with a .6 equivalent of a full-time position, or 24 hours every week. I work eight hours each day, so I only have to work three days a week, which is enough for me. Even in the summer I like to have time to do things. The pay is the right amount so I can have some spending money and also save some of it as well. I like my schedule a lot. I have every other weekend off. Also, my schedule is set so I work the same days over and over. This way, I can plan things in advance and not worry which days I will have to work in the upcoming week.

The good ‘ol time clock. Most of them are digital now.

In two weeks I work Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Then the two weeks of these same days just keep repeating themselves. The weekend I do work seems very long with four days in a row, but when I get through that, I have a couple of days off, work one day, then have a few more days off. I like it this way. I can get most of my work days out-of-the-way in one spurt and then take it easy.

Wrong Name

So far my job at Parkview is going pretty well. I can say I definitely like the pay checks as well! Everyone I work with is nice and all the employees working in the hospital are cheerful as well. There is this guy in the gift shop that is super nice and easy to talk to. He always has something to say and always asks how my day is going. There is a funny problem though. He thinks my name is Curtis for some reason. When I first met him, I am pretty sure that I introduced myself as Justin. Yet, I think the second time I saw him he started calling me Curtis. I just let this go, because I think it is simply funny. I am wearing my name tag that hangs from my collar everyday! It has my name right on it, yet he is convinced my name is Curtis. There was a volunteer working in the gift shop I had not met yet, so he introduced me to the volunteer as Curtis. So now, I am known as Curtis by two people!

Godsmack and Staind Concert

Thanks to a photo contest put on by IPFW’s newspaper, The Communicator, I won two tickets to the Godsmack, Staind, and Halestorm concert at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The contest was to take a photo of yourself reading this newspaper in a strange place. I submitted a few great pictures that my sister helped me capture.

The winning photo!

That picture was the best one out of the group, I thought, and apparently the staff did as well. It took a few days to pick a winner, and there were not too many submissions by other people. I was looking through other submissions and, without trying to be biased, thought mine was most strange or outrageous I guess you could say as well! I went to pick up my tickets and I was so excited!

I asked my good friend Alex to come with me to this concert. This was one of a few concerts that I have been to. My last concert I went to was a Styx concert in Muncie back in 2010 I believe. That was awesome, but this concert definitely topped that one.