My Car

While I was driving to school the other day, I was thinking about what I should talk about in my next blog. I couldn't think of anything, so I started looking around at things on the side of the road. Maybe something would spark my eyes. As I attempted to drive through a traffic, it all of a sudden turned yellow. I slammed on my breaks and slid for about 15 yards. While cussing at the poor condition of my breaks, a spark lit. So I decided to write a simple post about my car.

I drive a 1991 Chevy Caprice. Although its not the coolest wheels on the road by any means, I still love it and I love driving it. My parents originally bought the car from an old couple down the street for my older sister, who was currently moving to the Twin Cities to go to college. After getting into various accidents, we quickly found out that the caprice was not a versatile city vehicle. So after a couple of months, the car was back at our house.

The caprice has been around with me through many interesting experiences. I got pulled over for the first time driving it because it was to loud. I crashed in the ditch the first time in it, quickly realizing that trying to do donuts in a snow storm is not cool. I got in my first accident in it, realizing that following someone closely with bad breaks is also not smart. But I can truly say that I am a wiser person after going through with these bad experiences.

As much as I love the Caprice, it definitely has its flaws. The radio hasn't worked for about two years. The air conditioning hasn't ever worked since we've owned it. The breaks are bad, the brights don't work, it doesn't have shocks, it doesn't have a grill. It sounds as if it has no muffler, although it does have one.

The Caprice was my first car that I drove on a day to day bases, but my first actual car was a Volkswagen Van in which I had for about 2 1/2 years. It was fun until it broke. Many people don't understand the relationship that guys have between their cars. As lame as that sounds, I still think it's true. But when someone else sees the Caprice as just an old rust bucket sitting in the driveway, I see a cool car filled with youthful memories that I'll remember for a long time.

Longboarding with Trempealeau Police

My friends and I have been longboarding in Trempealeau, WI for about three or four years now. It's fun to go in Trempealeau because I live there, so it's most convenient, and it has the best hills around without a lot of traffic. A lot of the hills in Trempealeau are being repaved, which is also a plus when it comes to longboarding. For those who don't know what a longboard is, it's a long skateboard used for speed and long distance. It's not used for doing tricks, like what a skateboard is used for. It can be dangerous at times when you're going 25 mph down a hill without a helmet or breaks, but if you're smart about it, it is a pretty safe sport. Longboards are convenient when living in a city because they're fast, easy to ride, and they're small enough to carry them around. It has become a very popular sport over the years, especially in Trempealeau. However, we've had a great obstacle to avoid when we've gone out to board for the past few months. The police have stopped us almost every time my friends and I have gone out the past summer. They pull us over and yell, give lectures, or threaten us with citations. It has become a big problem because every time I want to longboard in town, I can't enjoy myself for fear that a cop is going to give me a ticket for riding on the road, being a nuisance to drivers and pedestrians. It makes us angry because we don't cause any more problems than a person riding a bike would. The only difference I can think of is that the police see us riding a board with wheels and they have stamped skateboarders as punks, trouble makers, and bad kids. They think we're riding around on sidewalks, ruining private property and getting in the way of pedestrians, when we're just minding our own business riding on the roads, where we're supposed to ride. Personally, I think they're just bored because there isn't enough crime to solve in Trempealeau. One of my friends even went to another town to board and a cop pulled him over for no reason, took his information, then warned him that the Trempealeau cops were looking for him. I thought that was pretty ridiculous. It is true that longboarders can get in the way of other people, and it can be dangerous, but isn't this true when it comes to anything dealing with wheels on the road? We've been riding long enough to know what we're doing. We know we shouldn't blow a stop sign in a busy intersection, we know to look both ways before crossing a street, or to get on the right side of the road when a car is coming our way. The war between skate/longboarders may never end, but as long as I'm not being arrested, I'm going to keep on boarding.

Cooking in a Restaurant

Working in a restaurant can be both fun, and stressful. I cook at the Trempealeau Hotel and it’s anything but boring. On a busy Friday night, from the second you walk in until the second you leave, you’re on your feet running around, dodging waitresses, cutting up vegetables, or running back to the walk-in cooler. To be a descent cook, you definitely need to know how to multi-task. Orders are constantly coming back, and you and the other cook/cooks are throwing food on the grills or sending food out to the tables. You also have to remember how long food has been on. When you're cooking for ten tables orders, it's pretty easy to get confused to whose food is whose. A disadvantage of cooking would be our schedules. Restaurants busiest times are on nights and weekends, and that’s when I want to enjoy being away from school. Another disadvantage to cooking would be the customers. Everyone’s policy when working with people maybe that the customer is always right, but when you start working in a restaurant, you quickly find out that the customer is usually wrong, no matter how stubborn they may be. Some nights you get food sent back because the customers food is to dry, over done, not done enough, to hot, to cold, to salty, to bland, etc. Although, sometimes they are right and we made a mistake, but a lot of the times people are just looking to make their bill a little lighter. There are a lot of stressors when it comes to the restaurant business, but there are a lot of good things that come with it too. You meet a lot of new people when working in the food industry. There are always new waiters and waitresses who come and go throughout the year. A lot of the people who come to eat are from around the country and some are from different parts of the world too. Work friends are also an important part for working in a restaurant or any other job. I have met a lot of friends of all ages while working. Some busy and stressful night feel like they're never going to end, but by the end of the night, we can all look back and laugh on how we got our butts kicked. Another benefit to cooking in a restaurant is there is always something to eat when you get hungry. By the end of every shift, I am always starving and I definitely don't want to go home and cook something for myself, so can just make something really fast at work before I go home. And of course the best part of working in a restaurant is getting a paycheck at the end of the week.