That’s my observation, and after cleaning the deraileur and greasing the chain up well, things are running quite smoothly for the morning commute. Still raining a bit out this morning but should clear out by evening, which means I should be able to commute both ways to work without worry today.

You gotta ride when you can ride. 🚵‍♀️ At least this week with all the shit weather we have with hurricanes. I can’t believe the landlord was out grinding away at the building at 7:30 AM this morning 👷‍♀️ still working on the unit next door. Makes me glad I didn’t buy that that rundown homestead for $150k earlier this summer with all the foundation issues — I am sure I would still be spending all my time repairing the shit foundation, pouring concrete, ripping out rotted out boards. 🏘 That said, I know my current housing situation isn’t long in the making, the $700 rent last year that became $800 as of June certainly come next year will be $900 or more. 👆 I really should find a permanent place to live, but inflation is eating everything alive. New York is great for the legal grass 🪴 but the burn ban,🛢️ gun laws 🔫 and political culture 🦍 more generally is so obnoxious. But it’s where I make my money 💵.

I totally get it’s the panademic that is jacking the shit out costs. 👾 It was a fun summer while it lasted with remote work, but we are now paying for it everywhere. I got my car insurance bill for September 🤯 and I was shocked to see it went up to $660. Really? It was only $520 six months ago in March which seemed unreasonably steep as in 2021, it was only $378 after the panademic. A big drop then, but things are really out of control. 🚘 I get there have been a lot more crashes lately, 💥 cars have gotten so damn expensive for all those safety features and electricifation 🔌 and so forth. It’s not like that I’ve gotten any tickets or in a wreck in over a decade now, and that wasn’t even my fault.

Maybe a recession is just what we need now. 📉 God only knows. I have a feeling if the markets are in the crapper 💩 and lots of people are unemployed, then there were would be fewer car crashes and prices might come down all together. I mean, I didn’t feel good when my net worth dropped by $20k upon the stock market dip on Monday, but that’s part of the ride. Market is still up 15% over a year ago, and since June I’ve been hoarding cash rather then buying stock — outside of retirement — to buy that shit homestead next to my parents, 🏘 which I ultimately didn’t buy due to my concerns with getting insurance on it, and the foundation and rot issues I saw when I looked at it. Maybe I could have protected my assets by dumping a ton of money in it, 💰 and then moving out to country, but that’s not the option I chose. Maybe I was an idiot. Or I could have bought a nice house in the suburbs, either with a 15-year mortage or cash. But I want a place I can have hogs 🐽 and goats 🐐 and burn my garbage. 🔥 But I could have done something else. But right now I’m just the new landlord’s bitch. 🐶

It’s just money, I remind myself. 🤑 And I make good money, but I also see my future at such risk from inflation. But I’m better off then most people, I am not at risk of immediate homelessness, 🤪 and I can ultimately buy something if I have to rather then live on the street even if it’s not exactly what I want. But I still want to live rural eventually, 🚜 have my own land and livestock, 🐷 fires, 🔥 and grow and smoke a lot of pot. 🚬 Yet, I work so hard to get shit on by society and it’s inflation and taxes. 💸 And that annoys me to no end. Someday I’ll make it happen m

I got to admit it’s frustrating. 😡 I finally decided on a new employee and the day before she was to start decided not to take the job. $40k is not a lot of money I agree 👍 but it’s what I was alloted. And people where I work all are struggling to get by but it’s hard to ask for raises 🙏 without a plan to improve the agency’s performance. I have ideas and I’m working on implementing them but it’s a matter of figuring out where to get the data from and getting a line to buy data from commercial brokers. Matching the data and the coding is the easy part. I was just shocked 😲 to learn how much rot 🪵was in the agency when I took over. Things I need to fix – I have the technical tools and I can make it happen but it won’t be easy. But then again, I remember reading the Power Broker 📙 and things weren’t always easy for Bob Moses at first.

Big Red 🛻 is getting up there and realistically will need to be replaced in the next year, I believe. I guess it’s an opportunity to get something smaller and more fuel efficient ⛽ and consider car commuting 🚙. Maybe it will be the end of the adventures as they were and moving onto the next stage in life. I’ve grown comfortable with the way things have been over the past decade and unwilling to invest in change and a potentially better life. My run down apartment is such an embarrassment as an agency director who even in these inflationary times is doing better than most.

Yesterday was nice at the Pine Hill Arboretum 🌳🎄and truth he told it was rain free enough I could have biked to work but I didn’t trust the weather. The evening was cloudy ☁️ but only a few sprinkles here and there. This evening should be pleasant too ☀ but rain comes back tomorrow evening through Saturday. ☔ At least it’s not during vacation, which is now just a very colorful memory, somewhat lost in haze. 💭 I’ll also ride in tomorrow as well as I have that meeting downtown in the afternoon so it’s easier to ride 🚲 then try to take the shuttle back and forth. 🚀