Dear So and So

[ultraviolet]

Dear "Friend",

That thing that happened this evening, where I shut down conversation and walked out of your house? That's what happens when you decide to turn something that should be a simple discussion into a debate.

Just a reminder: I was doing you a favor! You asked if I would look over your friend's business model and funding presentation and give some feedback. That's what I was doing. Just because you didn't like that I found big gaping holes in it doesn't mean you should get an attitude with me about it.

I'm sorry I don't think your friend's idea is as brilliant as you think it is. I'm also sorry that he and his partners haven't thought through all of the problems that their current product path presents. Just because I found problems with it doesn't mean it's a bad idea, it just means it's an idea that needs a lot more thought behind it.

Trying to put it on me to articulate solutions, rather than just ask the questions to expose the problems, isn't fair. This is what I do for a living. It's how I keep the bills paid. I'd be happy to help your friend's company out with defining solutions, but there's a price that comes along with that--that price involves a fee and/or equity. My professional advice doesn't come cheap, and I don't give it away for free to people who intend to profit from it. Exposing the problems and asking the questions is actually way more than I usually do for businesses who haven't signed a contract with me. So, consider both yourself and them eff'ing lucky.

Maybe I should invoice you for my time. A little sticker shock might do you some good.

/Me

[Owlie]

Dear Rain--
GO AWAY. I want to get some riding in, but can't between you showing up or threatening to show up.

Dear "adjustable" stem--
Stop sticking, or I'll take you in to the bike shop, and let them do what they want with you...

Dear BF--
In the name of all that is cute and fuzzy, how on earth did you manage to get yourself into the same situation you were in in 2009/10 again? (Well, I can guess, but...) In all seriousness, quit while you're not too far behind. Transfer to ASU before undergraduate studies kicks you out. Really, you should have done this last year. It would have been cheaper, and you'd have been done next year, as opposed to two years from now. I'm flattered that I was one of the main reasons you came back to Ohio, but you're staking your future on this relationship. I am not a valid reason for you to screw up your education and take on an ungodly amount of student loan debt.
Go to ASU, pay two years' worth of in-state tuition, and graduate. I don't really care when that will be, just do it. If you need to (because I have a feeling you need to get your head screwed back on straight), take a few years off and go work in a bike shop or something.
Love, me.

[Biciclista]

Dear Owlie
you CAN ride in the rain

yours truly
Seattle bike commuter.

[Xrayted]

^^^ What she sed...Portland, OR rider. ^^^

[Pax]

To the Portland and Seattle mossbacks above... riding in the rain is un-fun, those of us who live where it doesn't rain 350+ days a year usually wait until it stops to ride.

[OakLeaf]

Riding in a warm rain is actually very pleasant. What isn't, is spending two hours cleaning the grit out of every part of a bike. So I don't do it unless it's an organized century. TOSRV's coming!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

To the Portland and Seattle mossbacks above... riding in the rain is un-fun, those of us who live where it doesn't rain 350+ days a year usually wait until it stops to ride.

LOL, so true!
Of course, if we had to ride to work every day with no choice, that's different.
The (almost) scariest ride i ever took was 10 miles from home in the rain and my brakes were barely working- a horrible feeling!

Mossbacks...

[Crankin]

That, and the fact that no matter what I do, my clear glasses (and all the other lenses) fog up.
I had to ride many miles in the rain, 50 degrees, in the Czech Republic. It sucked. And I didn't even have to clean the bike; Trek Travel did.
I have had a couple of warm rides where it sprinkled/lightly rained, which was OK, but I dread how the rain will affect my braking.
I avoid it.