Jonathan Smith is a web designer, graphic designer, and photographer in Harrisburg, PA.

I’ve had asthma for most of my life. Ever since I can remember. For most of my late 20′s I thought it was under control. But recently it seems to have gotten a lot worse. My allergies are often the cause of my asthma getting worse. So I have been taking allergy medicine since April. But I stopped taking my allergy medicine about two weeks ago and I haven’t had any allergy symptoms since that time.

The heat and humidity this weekend was extremely difficult on me. In these conditions I feel that the air is so heavy that I can’t breathe outside for even two minutes. Yesterday I went to work and the walk from my car to the office at 8am had me gasping and I could feel a tightening in my chest. I soon decided that I should go home and rest in front of some air conditioning and drink plenty of fluids.

Later in the day I ended up going to the emergency room at Harrisburg Hospital. I was still having some trouble breathing and every so often I would feel some pressure in my chest. They gave me a nebulizer treatment, ran a test on my heart to make sure nothing was wrong there, and gave me two Prednisone pills. I was breathing ok after that.

This morning I met with my doctor and we discussed my asthma. I am very aware of what causes my asthma to act up and do what I can to prevent those things. But for some reason my asthma is out of control. She asked me if I am under any stress. There are some things that stress me out but I don’t consider myself to be under a lot of pressure. But maybe I am miscalculating my own stress. Stress and anxiety can lead to asthma attacks. So we are going to try treating my stress and anxiety to see if that relieves my asthma symptoms. This weekend I will be starting Lexapro to see if that helps my anxiety.

As I drive down Front Street and see all of the people out walking their dogs, running, and riding bikes, I feel jealous that I can’t enjoy those things in my present state. Hopefully some day I will be able to enjoy these things again.

My daughter has been asking me when I’ll teach her how to drive. Now she’s only 14 at the moment. But she will be turning 16 next Summer. I would actually like her to take the motorcycle permit test too. But all of this thinking of my daughter learning how to drive has really got my mind going.

She currently lives in rural Pennsylvania. And I can remember growing up in that area. It was very difficult to find a job nearby. And with today’s gas prices, it almost seems like a waste of time to commute 15 or 20 miles for a job that pays minimum wage. The closer the cost per gallon of gas gets to what she may be making per hour, the more ridiculous the predicament seems.

All of this thinking seems to back up the notion that people should live close to where they work.

The current minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.15. If gas prices reach $5.00 per gallon by the time my daughter is 16 years old. She will most likely be working for one hour just to put one gallon of gas into her vehicle (after taxes are deducted). And since most “economical” passenger cars these days get about 30 miles per gallon, that’s about an hour or more each work day just to put gas in her vehicle to get to work.

I can see how things will quickly get difficult on the teen drivers growing up in rural parts of the United States. No longer can we top of the fuel tank and go drive around with friends and goof off. It seems that everyone is trying to find ways to make their gas tanks last longer between fill-ups.

Yesterday was an amazing day for riding. My daughter and I woke around 7am and geared up to head out to breakfast with the BMW Dutch Country Riders. It was a beautiful morning and the temperature was great.

Later in the day I was out exploring some of my favorite roads here in Dauphin County with the addition of my new helmet camera. After about 50 miles of riding I pull up towards the gate at my back yard like normal. I pull in the clutch to put the bike in neutral but the clutch didn’t have any tension on it and freely came back to the handle grip. And the bike was still in gear! Quick thinking, I hit the kill switch to turn off the motor before I hit the fence. I then proceed to mash the bike into neutral with my foot and put the bike on the side stand. After a close inspection I come to the conclusion that the cable must have snapped. Luckily I was at my house and simply pushed the bike into my back yard. Too bad I wouldn’t have a bike to ride on Memorial Day.

Tomorrow I will call the dealer and see if I can get two replacement clutch cables. One to replace the broken cable, and another to keep on the bike as a spare in case this should happen again and I’m a long way from home.