Some assembly required.

Although this phrase was first being thrown around in reference to the work tables we were putting together to make our bike shop a bike shop, it now far too accurately, describes the whole program.

Our goal is to get the first round of students (probably about three of them) going by February 15. At this point we've got a bunch of bikes, which is great! the only problem being that they are all working great because we used them to practice our own bike savyness. Which, I must add, I have some reservations about. Especially since I seem to be the relative bike mechanic expert. Despite the fact that even when I am feeling cocky, I would not call myself an expert. 

But, hey! we can totally teach highschoolers about bike maintenance! so. moving on. In order to do so there needs to be highschoolers to teach. That was the presiding topic of conversation today. So far it looks like we'll have to wait till next week for opportunities to get to speak in some highschool homerooms, and also wait till next week to share in the group counseling session that takes place next door to the shop. 

Then, going back to our smoothly running fleet of nice road bikes that working too well... we need to get some donations! So come on people! send me your old bikes! But seriously. That needs to get happening, whether it be from Goodwill or Salvation Army or the police department. The only problem is, word has come down to us from on high that we are to let our bossman take the lead on that so as to have one identifiable and responsible voice when dealing with donors or the public at large.

Then we also need to figure out how on earth this freakin program is going run anyways! It'll be an after-school thing thats a given. How many times a week will we run? How many hours a day? How much material can we cover? And on and on. It kinda makes my head hurt. So I'm going to move on to more exciting news. Like moving!

I'm going to be living in a shed!!! the real excitement comes when I think about how much I'm saving on rent!  Instead of paying $350 a month to live in a house/ apartment with ready access to toilet and shower and stove and refrigerator and cooking supplies and internet and a living room, I'll be paying $150 a month! That means there is an extra $200 in my monthly budget that I can put towards making up for the lack of all those above mentioned amenities. Thats a LOT of beer money! (see: definition #1)

Also, apologies for the lack of photos. I'm working on doing better. We'll get a good documenting of the job site, the shed site, and Tucson site up here before too I should hope. In the meantime enjoy the surprised kitten. You can never get enough of the surprised kitten: