When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Blog Post August 18, 2013

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Benjamin Franklin

In the past 61 years I have accumulated a lot of things and a lot of memories. Ruth and I will have been married for 43 years in September of this year. Our children have grown from babies to adults 3 of our grandchildren are now in their teens or older. Through these years I know I have changed, hopefully for the better, we are all “works in progress”

I am sure that right up until the day I die I will be learning and changing and hopefully becoming better because of the changes, of course no one can do that alone and that is why I put my faith in Jesus. Last weekend at Heritage Church in Moultrie I seen what many would call a miracle that I would like to share with you.

There was this man that had been a sniper in the Army probably Viet Nam, he mentioned that he was stationed at Fort Campbell and that he had enjoyed his job as a sniper too much. He enjoyed killing people. I was military too in the Navy during Viet Nam and then joined the Army National Guard when I got out of the Navy. I started as a Machinist Mate then ended up as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy and a Combat Field Medic in the Army. I did my best to save lives, so while I understand the military mentality I never understood why anyone would “like” or maybe even love killing other human beings. This man not only killed a number of enemy soldiers but he enjoyed it. He carried that attitude on over to his civilian life.

This hard hearted man was a person that no one really liked, and I think from hearing his story he really did not even like himself. A member of the church befriended this man and showed him a lot of love and understanding and reintroduced him to Christ.  The service that Sunday Morning actually ended with this gentlemen being baptized.  That was a huge change from a man that loved killing other humans and did not even like people to a man that now wishes to live his life for the lord.

I pray that the changes he made so far and the changes that I am sure are in for him in the future will improve his life and strengthen his faith. 

His story reminds me of a song by one of my favorite artists Marty Robbins that I heard many years back and actually have sang many times in my life, Of course I doubt that my own rendition could ever come close to Marty’s, but the name of the song is The Master’s Call and if I did this right you should be able to click here and listen to the great Marty Robbins sing The Master’s Call 

BIKES:

Let’s talk a little about bikes. I test out almost every bike I repair except the small bikes like say a 20” or an 18” or 12” I let my grandsons test those for me. Jason is now 14 and he is getting a little big for some of the bikes but he is a great tester. He can tell you if the bike does not feel right and is almost always right on the money. He is learning how to repair many of these problems but his ADHD does get in the way sometime. He does love to test them out though.

The BMX Race for this Thursday evening has been cancelled, but they are hoping to have it on Saturday. If they do race Saturday Jason, Kevin and I will probably all 3 race. Kevin is racing an SE Ripper X, Jason is racing a Free Agent Speedway, and I am racing an old Dingo that I built up from parts. All of our bikes are getting a little old, but they are still solid though the bearings need to be changes out in Jason’s Bottom Bracket, which I will do this week, so he can use it Saturday.

If you ever get down to Albany Georgia, stop by The Parks at Chehaw and check out the Zoo, the train and the BMX Track. There is also a pretty nice Mountain Bike trail there. The Pecan City Pedalers have been a tremendous help to the BMX Track and their members near completely built the Mountain Bike Trail.

Don’t forget that September 14 is coming up quickly and that is the date for the Nut Roll. As always it will start at The Parks at Chehaw and the riders will take any of several routes the longest being a 100 Mile (Century) ride through some lovely South Georgia Countryside.  I expect to be helping park the Cars before I head out, the length of my ride will depend on whether or not there is a BMX race that day or not.

If you need a bike, need a bike serviced or just want to talk about bikes or cycling I am usually around in the morning, if I don’t answer leave a message and I’ll give you a return call.

Have a great day

Jerry

Rain and more rain, Bikes and stuff

Blog Post 8-17-13

Today is Saturday, August 17, 2013 it is about 1:00 AM as I write this. I am working nights at the hospital and working Blood Bank/Microbiology departments. It has been a little slow so thought I would write something just to stay awake.

It has been raining a lot this week here in South Georgia and they have mentioned the possibility of flash floods. I drove from Moultrie to Tifton last evening with it raining nearly all the way.  Some areas here are expected to get as much as 5 inches. That much rain could cause creeks and rivers to back up and flood a lot of low areas.

Have you ever heard of Web.com?  They have a unique way of doing business that I would like to tell or maybe I should say warn everyone about. Back in July of 2012 they called to promote their product which is web site building and promotion. The sales person was very nice and offered me a 30 Day (He said 60 day) FREE Trial, the company would not even bill me until after the trial period and if I was not happy with their service I could cancel and owe absolutely nothing. With that sort of confidence in their product I told them fine, we would try it and see.

The sales rep had been very specific and I had asked at least 4 times during the “presentation” if the FREE trial was actually a free trial or was it a money back guarantee. It was made very clear that it was a FREE TRIAL and that my checkbook would not be debited for 60 days, he even gave me the date that the funds would be removed from the checkbook which was a date in September.

Imagine my surprise when I received notice from the bank that they had “Paid” and ACH for the exact same amount that we the Web.com rep had told me but it was less than 2 days from the time I spoke with them. When I called I was rather upset that they had done this. The person on the other end was very kind and said that he would cancel the account and refund the money, it took about 2 weeks but I did get the money back into my account.

That  particular account is one that I have had for years and do not use very often, I put some money into it each month and have one or two small bills that are paid with it through ACH. I always put about 80-100.00 more than what is suppose to be debited. I hardly ever check the balance.  I will start checking it a lot more now though. The next month after they refunded the money and cancelled the account they began again with taking out the monthly fees.  Like I said, don’t check that account very often, but about two weeks ago I was checking and it looked like the balance was not where it should be with me having put extra money in the account for the past year. Web.com had been taking monthly fees that added up to over 1800.00. I called and spoke with a young lady there that confirmed that the account had been closed and that they owed me a refund of over 1800.00. She said she would be sending a refund request to her supervisor and I should be getting the money back in my account within 10-15 days. So far it had been about 10 days and there have been 2 small amounts one for 260.00 and 1 for 120.00 refunded to my account, I have no idea what happened to the other 1300.00.  The plan at this point is to call them Monday morning, find out if they are willing to tell me anything and if not turn it over to an attorney. 

This could have all been a mistake and I am willing to overlook it as long as I get the money back.  I do think they should clean up their act though, one of the young ladies that I spoke with said that the sales force does this sort of thing a lot where they offer the customer one thing such as an absolutely FREE trial, you won’t be billed for 30 or 60 days, then sending it through as a “money back Guarantee” where they charge you up front and if you are not satisfied they return the funds.

With all that going on you may wonder what about bikes, isn’t this blog suppose to have stuff about bikes in it? Yes in fact it is about bikes. Every 2 months Heritage Church here in Moultrie has a Huge Yard Sale. This is held in a large old commercial building across from the church. Sometimes people donate bicycles. When people donate bicycles the people at the church think of and often call me.

There were 4 bikes donated to the “Storehouse” as it is called, they sent me one to be repaired which was a small 24” 18 Speed (triple on the Front and 6 on the rear). It had a bent derailleur and also a bent frame, the derailleur is not that hard to fix, unfortunately the frame is bent also, which quickly turned that bike into a parts (boneyard) bike. They had 3 more which I purchased from them. First there was 2 Huffy’s both ladies 26” bikes. 1 green, 1 grey, the third bike was a Takura 10 Speed.  I paid 30.00 each for them.

The green Huffy bike took about half a bottle of WD-40 to get everything loose as it had been sitting for quite some time. The tires were still acceptable and the tubes held air, so I cleaned it up checked the gears out and sold it for 40.00.

The Grey Huffy ladies bike is actually in better shape than the green one and I have a customer that has been looking for one like it for her daughter so can probably get 50 out of that and that will cover what I paid for all 3 bikes.

The Takura Competition 10 Speed is a real nice looking 10 speed bike that would fit someone with at least a 32” inseam, It is really too tall for me. I put new tires on it and cleaned and lubed everything and it rides great. The main drawback is the downtube shifters, but it does shift very well and smooth.  I am thinking 125, but would probably take 100.  I also have a nice ladies blue 10 Speed 26” Road Bike with downtube Shifters, which I am asking 99.00 but may take as low as 75.00.

When a customer buys a used bike from me they receive a 30 day warranty, they also receive 2 FREE Tuneups that can be used anytime in the first 2 years after the bike is delivered (4 tuneups and 4 years on a New Fuji or KHS bike).

If you ever get to Moultrie Georgia, give me a call, If possible we may have a cup of coffee at Beans and Strings a neat little coffee shop on the square that also offers music lessons.

The last few months, actually closer to the last year now has been a real drain on our budget with Ruth having to be treated for Cancer and me having some other health issues so I have been checking out different things to make some extra cash. I have tried MLM or Network Marketing companies in the past and have never really done well with them. I guess I am just not someone who gets into recruiting.   I do like helping people find what they need and I also love bicycles and cycling. Many of the links on this blog lead to products or services that I have either tried or that I receive a commission when they are sold through links on this site. While the amount I earn from these sites is small, it does help quite a bit, so if you see something you think you might want to know more about please click and check it out, many times I get paid a small fee if you just click the link.

Great news though is that Ruth is Cancer Free, she is now on a pill to keep the Cancer from returning.  My health is improving considerably and I expect it to just keep getting better.  Due to a change in work schedule I will be able to get some training rides in before I race in Grovania, so things are looking up.