Tag: sidewalk

My Cycling Accident on March 16th

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Health, Noom, Weight4 Comments

map to store accident

So this is how it happened. As you can see from the map on the left, I ride my bicycle with the blue line towards Albertsons going south on Chester. I lock my bike, go to the store, come out, unlock the bicycle and then head North on Eye street (now in red). I could go all the way back to my street, but I have bullies that live in the apartment building (note the X on Eye street). If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have broken my arm.

Anyway, I turn right on second Street, ride through the parking lot of the restaurant to get to the sidewalk on Chester Avenue. I normally ride along the sidewalk in front of the church until I get to their parking lot then I ride through the parking lot until I get back to my street behind the market.

What happened instead was that I hit the sidewalk bumper in front of the tax place. As you can see from the Google Map it does not exist, so it’s new. Here is the picture to prove it.

bike accident curb

I hit the corner of the little curb with my front tire and went head over handlebars and landed with all of my weight on my left shoulder. Here are the x-rays to show where my injury is and the bones broke in 3 places. There are only 3 x-rays.

xray1 xray2 xray3

I had my MRI today which took about 45 minutes. Most people probably don’t like to sit in a machine for 45 minutes, but thanks to my friend Jeff, I was able to meditate the whole time. The attendant mentioned something about breathing hard making blurry pictures and I learned how to take small breaths in meditation so I took small breaths and she told me that nobody has ever done that before and that she wished all of her patients did that.  I won’t know anything until April 2nd, so i will blog again then.

Someone showed concern about my weight loss program. Because without the bicycle, with a broken arm, it’s going to be difficult to get any exercise. Well, to be honest I haven’t been really doing much exercise and I lost 35 pounds. So I really don’t see how it’s going to be any different. I’m positive that I will continue to lose weight because I will continue to eat healthy as long as my arm is broken. That’s not going to change. My motivation is still here, I am still 110% motivated to lose this weight. Just wait until Saturday when I weigh in.

I broke my arm

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Health3 Comments

So funny story…  I broke my arm.

What happened was, last night I rode my bicycle to the store and on my way home I was riding through a parking lot to go to the sidewalk on Chester Avenue. In the parking lot of the restaurant is a tax place and they put in a walk way to the front door. For some reason they decided to put a curb on both sides of the walkway. There’s really no reason for it. Long story short, I was riding through the parking lot and it was dark so I really couldn’t see the curb and I rode right over it . I went head over handlebars and landed on my left arm. All of my weight broke my arm.

I sat there on the ground for a few minutes because I couldn’t move. My arm was in so much pain that it hurt to even flinch. I decided that I had to get up, but it was very difficult. I got up anyway and went for my phone which was in my left front pocket. Of course I couldn’t pull it out with my left hand, so I had to reach over with my right hand to pull my phone out. I called home and said “help I’ve been in an accident.” I told my partner where I was and he drove right away to pick me up.

He put my bicycle in the car and drove home because I insisted that he put the groceries in the refrigerator and freezer. He drove me to the emergency room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and they took me to get x-rays almost immediately. It took maybe an hour and a half before they finally called me to go into a room to tell me the results of the x-ray. I just assumed that he was going to tell me that I dislocated my shoulder or just badly bruised my arm, but he told me that I did in fact break my arm. He didn’t put me in a cast and I didn’t have any surgery, he said that the bones were in place, so I just need to keep my arm in a sling for the next month.

I feel very stupid for not paying more attention because I have gone that way a million times and nothing like that has ever happened before. The thing that upsets me the most is that I’ve never broken a bone in my body my entire life. 42 years with not one broken bone. Oh well, I guess I was due lol.

Well, the positive thing about this is that I am able to type this by using my voice on my android cell phone lol. So I guess most of my computer activity is going to be with my voice. On the plus side, I don’t have to do any chores for a while lol. I can find a silver lining in anything.

The doctor said it will take a month to heal.

Plumbing Troubles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

About 2 months ago, I was in the back yard trying to get it cleaned up so we could use it this summer.  I had big plans for pulling all the weeds, tossing all of the junk and pruning the orange tree so it wasn’t taking over the place but still have it so we could continue to enjoy the oranges year after year.

One day as I was out there with my ho… er um I mean my hoe, you know, a gardening tool… anyway, I was pulling weeds with the hoe and I ran into a snag.  The dirt underneath the weed was soaking wet which made it virtually impossible to pull on the roots of the weed because I was pulling huge chunks of earth instead.

Darrin called a plumber to look at the leaky pipe.  He came and he did something which seemed to have stopped the leak for a day or 2 so he called the plumber and said never mind, I don’t know what you did but it stopped leaking.  He spoke too soon.

A month later I noticed that the water was leaking in a 2nd spot.  I thought it was coming from the original leak, I was almost sure of it too.  I could see in my head that the water had eroded the earth under the cement over time and was making it leak out in that other spot.  But, I’m no plumber so I can’t really diagnose the problem in my head lol.

Darrin told me that he was going to get the plumber in here last week but he forgot to call him to make the appointment until the day before and naturally you can’t expect him to just cancel his appointments so we had to wait another week.  He came yesterday with his son, they were here for about 7 hours.

He dug out the sidewalk and all the dirt, found the problem and fixed it.  Turn the water main back on and that second place is still leaking.  So turn the main back off and destroy our patio floor to find that leak.  He thought that it was coming from another place on the other side but he was wrong.  He was able to patch it and they turned the main back on and another leak comes and he patches that too.

Turn the water back on and everything is good.  No leaks anywhere WHEW!  Our back yard is really bad though, now we need to have new cement poured to fill in the places that there is no concrete floor.  Either that or an area rug.  Or we can put plants in those spots lol.

The next morning, this is the 2nd leak.

The next morning, this is the 2nd leak.

The next morning, the original leak.

The next morning, the original leak.

The next morning, an area that they thought they would have to dig but turned out it had nothing to do with the 2nd leak.

The next morning, an area that they thought they would have to dig but turned out it had nothing to do with the 2nd leak.

It sucks having all of these open spots but it really sucks having a leak so I think I will settle for not having cement over a leak any day.  I’m going to be fixing up the back yard over the next few months to get it looking good now that everything is back to normal, somewhat.  Eventually we will have that all patched up with new cement before we have any visitors to have a BBQ.

So, my project went away but now it’s back.  YAY!

Who do you think is responsible for childhood obesity?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Amplify, Diet, Exercise, HealthLeave a comment

I just voted in a poll on the SparkPeople website. Who do I think is responsible for childhood obesity. I voted parents because they are the ones who are supposed to teach good eating habits from infant to adult. If you feed your children with the right foods they will learn good eating habits.

I also feel that the reason children are so fat is because they have become so spoiled with the technology of today. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love my computer and video games but children shouldn’t be allowed to be so obsessed. They should be encouraged to go outside and play with their friends. The parents should encourage their kids to get involved in an after school activity like soccer or football or karate.

My parents did not encourage me to play sports but they did allow me to play outside unattended. I would ride my bike through the neighborhood and jump rope and play hopscotch with my sister. We would roller skate up and down the sidewalk. We were constantly playing outside.

That is until I was 11 and was of working age and then I became the handy child for the apartment building. Painting, changing locks, plumbing, fixing electrical outlets, gardening… you name it, I had to do it. But when I was all done with that work I was allowed to play before dinner if there was time. On the days that there wasn’t as much work to do around the apartments I was allowed to do whatever I wanted which was usually playing outside.

So, I don’t blame the schools because despite the burgers, fries, pizzas and whatever else they served me during my childhood, I never gained any weight because that was only 1 meal out of the whole day. During the weekends and school breaks we would eat things like Peanut butter and jelly or Bologna sandwiches for lunch. For breakfast I would usually eat cereal but sometimes oatmeal (or malt-o-meal) and for dinner it was a well-balanced meal with meats, grains and vegetables.

My mother taught me good eating habits but it was up to me to learn them and carry that on after I left the house. Unfortunately for years I let my cravings and laziness get the best of me but once I started to remember the recipes and food groups my mother fed me I started to eat them again and I have started to lose weight and all thanks to my mother may she rest in peace. I have lost 35lbs since the last week of May 2010 because I’m eating right.

I don’t blame schools because it’s only 1 meal a day.

I don’t blame tv & video games because it is the parents obligation to give or taketh away.

I don’t blame fast food because it is the parents who take the children to fast food. They don’t have the money to buy their own happy meals.

I don’t blame communities because how is a community supposed to teach your child good eating habits? That is the parents responsibility.

I don’t blame advertising (commercials) because they are in it for the money. I can sit here and watch pizza commercials all day but I have the good sense to know that pizza is too fattening. Parents should tell their kids that pizza is good for special occasions like when you win that baseball game or when it’s your birthday. Or when Mommy is too sick to get out of bed then we can order a pizza.

And since I took that poll, I see that 16,781 other people agreed with me which is 74% of people who took that poll.

Amplify’d from www.sparkpeople.com

Quick Poll Results

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/9enx

Goodbye Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well so much for exercise.  I went to the grocery store and as soon as I got on the bike to come home something felt a little strange with the chain.  I rode in front of the store from where I locked my bike at and tried to fiddle with the pedals to find out why the chain was giving me trouble but I couldn’t figure it out.

So I was fine to ride to the street I turn right on but then it started acting a little strange, the wheel didn’t feel right, it was wobbling.  I got off the bike in the middle of the street and had to walk it over to the sidewalk.  At first I thought the townie basket was coming off and was pushing against the wheel so I took the heavy groceries out.  That wasn’t it.

I still didn’t see it because the sun was almost finished going down so it was too dark to see, but then I saw it.  The bolt that goes all the way through the wheel was sticking out too far on the left.  The 2 nuts on the ride side were gone, I don’t even know what happened to those.  So since there was no long bolt to hold on to the frame on the right side the wheel couldn’t keep me balanced since it was only holding on the left side.

I had to walk the rest of the way home carrying 1 heavy grocery bag on my left hand and 1 light but still annoying grocery bag on my right hand while both hands held onto the handlebars.  The entire time I was walking the back wheel was rubbing against the brakes and making this awful noise which I can’t explain how it sounded.  Well, it sounded like some deep voiced animal either dying or giving birth.

I have 2 missing bolts and no idea where they are and no money until next week to be able to do anything about it.  It’s not going to be expensive, well, I don’t think it will be.  I mean it’s just a matter of screwing the bolt centered again and buying 2 nuts right?  Maybe?  I’m sure the nuts aren’t too expensive at Home Depot or maybe the bike store has them cheap.  Or who knows, maybe I have to bring the back wheel to the bike store and have them fix it and charge me $20 for it.

I wonder how this happened.  Last weekend when I rode the bike on my 22 mile trip I tightened everything .  In fact I did a full maintenance job on the entire bicycle to get it ready to ride with no issues.  How in the heck could that bolt screw itself all the way to the left?  It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter.  I’ll get it fixed and everything with be fine… blah blah blah.

Update 2011-01-28: As of this date I still do not have a new back wheel.  I just can’t afford it.

Pedals, Mirrors and Shorts

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Daily BlogLeave a comment

Well I just came home from Snider’s Cyclry.  I bought brand new pedals that are metal, not the cheap metal ones either that cost $7.  No these were $20 and they are a lot heavier than the cheap ones.  Weight on a bike is a huge issue but when it comes to something like that you need them to be as sturdy as possible for standing up on.  That’s why the pedals that came with the bike are breaking, from having 230lbs of weight standing on them.

I also bought a helmet mirror.  When I was trying to put it on, I was having a hell of a time finding a good spot because the mirror isn’t that adjustable that I can just put it anywhere I want to.  I wanted it to stick to the plastic on the outside but the arm on it is so tiny that it had to be on the Styrofoam part in front of my face.  I finally found the perfect spot for it and stuck it on.  I had to go stand outside on the sidewalk, or more in the street, more the gutter really to be sure it was right.  It was so I stuck it on and then looked again without my arm being in the way.  The only problem is I have to look up with my eyes to see it.  That kinda hurts my eyes lol.  So for tomorrow mornings ride (at 4:30am that is) I’m going to bring both mirrors so I can see which one is better.  Who knows, I might need both.

I went to the thrift store before I went to the bus stop to look for shorts and to see if they had any bike shirts at all which they didn’t.  I picked out 2 pairs of shorts but they were so big and I went to hold them up to myself to see if they would fit but wasn’t quite sure.  They don’t have any dressing rooms there so you have to look at sizes and hold them up to yourself lol.  So annoying.  Anyway, I just took them to the register and figured if it’s too tight, it will fit me eventually lol.  One of them was $7 but the tag says $2 and I said well forget it then.  I know they have to charge the lower price, well, I know that applies to everywhere else you go lol but apparently not there.  I said forget it because I didn’t really like them anyway.  So I got 1 pair of shorts with a Hawaiian print on it.  It was only $2.  It’s a bit tight but… it will fit me eventually lol.

24 Hour Fitness

On By Michel McDonaldIn Exercise, HealthLeave a comment

I’ve always wanted to go to 24 Hour Fitness but they always charge you so much money up front.  You can’t even get a membership unless you have $200 in your pocket (or debit card) so I’ve just given up hope.  Also I’d have to take 2 buses to get there and wait about 45 min for the bus.

The bike trail is near where the 24 hour fitness is so I could get to the bike trail from home then when I get to Rosedale Hwy I can just start riding on the sidewalk (because it’s on the wrong side of the street) until I get there.  They have a special right now that is $19 down, $19 a month.  Now I can afford it and I can be exercising on the way there then get a couple of hours of exercise in before leaving where I will be exercising some more to get home.  Good plan.  We’ll see if I do it when I get my used bike.