I hadn't considered writing about this in previous months, although I may have mentioned a few times about my aching leg.
What I think is going on, is a surgery I had almost a decade ago needs some attention. A family on their way to a Hawaiian holiday crashed into me on my way to work on the 405 freeway by LAX while I was riding my motorcycle. Broke my ankle in several places. Basically left my foot dangling by the ligaments and muscle. This was two years of my life in hell to say the least. Anyway, after the lawyers and hospital took their cut, I had a few bucks left over. Rather than spending the money on a bunch of toys and throwing it all away, I attempted to start a business. As it turns out, I'm not a good business man. Believe it or not, loving what you're doing, and getting over a million hits per day on your blog is not a recipe for success.
So I went back to plumbing as a master plumber with the union for a few years, then the work stopped. Yeah, I was building an orthopedic hospital in Santa Monica when I was hit. The work stopped long enough that I couldn't keep up with my dues after a couple more years from hell. I took a job with a motorcycle buddy of mine as an apprentice electrician. It payed some bills, Thanks Larry at South Coast Electric!
I was desperate when I saw the add for bicycle assembly from Beachbikes here in Torrance. I was working part time as apprentice electrician and apprentice A&P mechanic / Mechanics helper at Torrance Airport when I saw the add for Beachbikes. I was still a teenager the last time I had that airport job! Yeah, I'm too old for that now. Too boring without Chief Lineman status anyway. Just a bunch of avgas and a rag! If you've been there, done that, then you know what I'm talking about.
So, to keep this story from being too long, what's happening now is that I can hardly walk. My bum leg is starting to interfere with my work. I can't finish one bike without having to sit down to rest my leg. When work gets busy next spring, the company may need another guy to pick up the slack. Less money for me to pay the bills. I can forget about loading up pallets from stored returned bikes to sell at discount. I'll try loading them right off the truck for a while straight onto the pallet for resale, but that may not work much longer. Hell, I can barely walk the 50yds to my carport or trash dumpsters this week. Disability (a dirty word to me) has been mentioned by family. I WOULD RATHER JUST BUILD AND SELL BIKES AND ELECTRIC BIKES!
I don't know what's going on yet. I'll have to go to a county hospital to figure it out. Not looking forward to that! This is the slow sales season in the bike business, and I may not have the cash till the spring for such luxuries as medical attention. I may even go down to Old Mexico. At least south of the boarder medical services have not been affected so badly by mandatory insurance, and all the other BS like it has been here! Yeah, not looking forward to that either!
Lets face it. When you're faced with a major disability like this (can't walk), it's time to make some big changes in your life!
I'm not ready yet to do a go fund me account. If I were to do that, it would be for some bad ass ebikes to sell, not for my personal needs. I like to work for my money! I'm not opposed to giving to charity, but as long as I can, I'm opposed to taking any!
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