Joey pointed out that I should take high steps and simulate running. She assured me that it was easier on my joints than pounding the pavement. I started out with twenty minutes and alternated between full speed and slower periods. It was similar to what I did for speed training.
I’d used a rowing machine when I attended the Elite 11 camp. At the time, I thought I wanted to get one because it kicked my butt. Somehow, I’d never gotten around to it, and after thirty minutes, I cursed whoever figured we should get one.
I could already tell that the combination of the two had worked muscles that I usually didn’t use. I predicted I would feel it in the morning.
◊◊◊
After my shower, I checked my text messages from Dare. I’d thought he was just being a pest earlier. I guess he did follow my directions and only sent me text messages I needed to see. The first one said he was sorry that Brook had left.
In the second one, Dare wanted me to talk to Megan and get him more money for the stealthy drone. His Russian contacts had a set of blades that he said would make the drone whisper-quiet. He promised they would deliver. I still thought they were a little shady for my taste, but I wanted to see what the kid would come up with. So I sent Megan a text to give him what he wanted.
The third one wanted to know what had happened to my drone from California. I’d had it shipped back, and it hadn’t arrived yet. My mom and Dare had passed their commercial test and could now use the drone in my mom’s real estate business. They were eager to get started using it to film properties from above.
The final text made me bark out a laugh. Dare wanted to know what he should do with his girlfriend, now that he had one. As my Grandma Felton would say, ‘Bless his heart.’
◊◊◊
All my classes had started last week, so I had some catching up to do, which meant a heavy reading load this week.
Of all the classes I had, I was most interested in Economics and Virtual Enterprise. The basic concept was that you would create a business from the planning stage all the way up to the actual day-to-day operations. It was supposed to simulate everything you would encounter when starting an actual business.
The class had spent the last week coming up with and refining their ideas for their enterprises and had started working on their plans. This week, they would determine their financial needs and figure out what legal business structure they wanted.
Mr. Quiroz had me come to his desk after he got everyone else started on their tasks.
“I thought you already owned several businesses. Why are you taking this class?”
“That’s true, but I have people who handle the running of the day-to-day. I only get involved with the big-picture decisions and provide the money. I want to learn everything they’re doing,” I explained.
“That’s actually a good answer. Do you have any idea what you want your business to be?” Mr. Quiroz asked.
“I might have a couple, but I’m not sure yet.”
I shared with him some of the services they had in LA, but not here. We narrowed my choices down to the food delivery business and the grocery delivery service.
“Why do you think people in LA are willing to spend money on that?” he asked.
We discussed it for a few minutes, and two primary factors seemed to drive the businesses. The first was that many people in LA had the disposable income to pay for the services. The second was the horrendous commute times. If you got off at five and had to drive over an hour to get home and then cook, you might not be eating until eight. With the food delivery, you could time it to arrive shortly after you got home.
We looked at the clock, and our class was almost over.
“I have two tasks for you to do tonight. First, I want you to talk to some people and find out what they would be willing to pay for the delivery and whether they would use it. If they would, how often do they think they might order. I think you need to determine whether there really is a need for this,” Mr. Quiroz said, to make me doubt my concept.
I nodded.
“The second is I want you to look for a way to cut this down in scope. You have a lot of moving parts here that are going to overcomplicate the project for a classroom exercise.”
“Like what?” I asked.
He smiled at me.
“That’s for you to decide.”
I hated adults.
◊◊◊
After school, I went to get some time in the batting cage. I found Joey and Cassidy waiting for me. They weren’t done with ‘shocking’ my system. They added an elliptical exercise machine to the climber and rowing machine exercises. The elliptical machine was another low-impact exercise machine, meaning it put less strain on my joints than running. It also worked my upper body, so it was considered a cross-trainer.
