A Wheelie Loaded Week or Two

By Amanda Guy

Have you ever had one of those days where you have a few (and by a "few" I mean like forty) different things, going on? You wake up, you make your coffee, because you know if you don't have coffee you won't want to converse with anyone for another two or three hours, and you sit and think about what you need to take with you. I know we all do this, it's almost like a game. 

I've had days where I get home from work and have armloads of objects to take inside from my truck. Only problem I'm facing is that I have a few staircases  to climb up, and at this point in the day, I've already gone to work, most likley pedaled my ass of in spin class or ran 4 miles, and I'm just ready to chill.
​But you still have to climb up those stairs.

Design Pony says have a great Friday!

This is where it gets fun! So you have this challenge you're facing. If you're like me, you immediately start getting competitive with yourself. You eyeball all the things you have to bring inside, and then you eyeball the obstacle. You blink, and it's like you've been transplanted into Super Mario World or something. All of a sudden it's a game. "How many things can I fit in my arms without falling on my face, dropping anything, and make it all the way inside to decrease the number of trips I really should take so I don't risk injuring myself." But that's child's play, because you will not face the fact that you might have actually make two trips, so you decide that you can carry everything!

I literally have carried my camera bag, purse, groceries, and my mountain bike up the stairs. I get really, really creative! My helmet is on my head over my beanie, my purse is around my neck, my camera case is a backpack so that's extremely helpful, and then the plastic grocery bags are all up one arm while my hand are around my bike. You just know that one of the grocery bags will break, because let's face it, that's what plastic grocery bags do! (Remember that scene from Home Alone where Kevin is walking home and he's almost there and the milk falls to the sidewalk? You know that could be you, but you just don't care!)

The reason why I bring this whole thing up is because that's what it's like on a daily basis for all of us here at Wheelie. In the morning, we have puppies, camera equipment, lighting gear, lunches, coffee, breakfast burritos, today in particular mountain bikes, and so much more that we haul into our teeny tiny office daily. It's actually pretty hilarious. Lisa has this carrying thing down to a science, until we had a scare about her laptop (turns out it fell behind the office couch). But when you have so much stuff in your hands, sometimes you forget something. Dan can tell you that I've left my purse in my desk like three times in the last two weeks. Half the time I get all the way out to my truck with my load of stuff and realize I don't have as many things on my right arm as I should. Anyone who's ever been busy, ever had forty things to do in one day, has ever slept through their alarm and felt that jolt of rush to get ready and grab everything you can carry, understands this.

I guess you might be wondering what exactly this has to do with design-- maybe not much-- but it's part of the whole organization thing, challenging yourself to carry loads that you hope you can handle (literally and metaphorically) and making sure you have your poop in a group. Yes, Poop - in - a - group! I said it and I meant it. I make lists sometimes with little check boxes so that I don't forget all the things I need to bring or do in and out of the office. Lisa thinks it's adorable that I do that, and she makes sure to add to that list periodically with fun little sketches or sayings for me so that I don't take life too seriously at times. And this is also why I thought it was important to talk about this little game we play with ourselves of "How many items can I carry at once?" If you're just going through the motions in life and not playing at all, you're going to fail. Trust me. It's important to be serious when necessary, and silly in between serious moments. We always joke about dressing up and being "Corporate" but don't mistake us for a group of kids that just create things--we actually have pretty big brains under our beanies and bike helmets. But if you're going to play, be safe about it, maybe don't carry several items up frosty wooden stairs. You might break your ankle or something.

I hope this has been informative if not a silly read for you all. Have a fantastic Friday, I know we will. We are off to shoot Spencer Trails for our portfolio. Cheers folks! Come back to the blog next week for another round of a A Wheelie __ Fill in the blank __ Week.

Mine and Dan's bikes are ready for Spencer action.

Dan showing how to have fun on the job.