Navin323i
Practically Family
- Messages
- 770
- Location
- Maryland, USA
Hello Friends,
It's great to be back here after a long leave of absence... mostly medical related but still one heck of a journey for me. As you may recall, I'm a 5 time open heart surgery survivor over the past 39 years of my life with a partly mechanical heart made of carbon fiber and wasn't expected to survive the surgeries due to a congenital heart condition I was born with, but with a lot of love and prayer I defied the odds, married the woman of my dreams and saw the days that my 2 little girls were born now ages 9 and 4. To show my gratitude, I've dedicated the rest of my life to inspiring others to live heart healthy lives. Back in early 2012 I wound up having knee surgery due to constant internal bleeding issues in my left knee (turned out to be an issue with my blood thinning medication plus leaking capillaries and torn meniscus which were both repaired and no further knee issues). Then later that year in June 2012 I was diagnosed with possible testicular cancer which required permanent removal of one of my testicles which was swollen for biopsy... turned out not to be cancer (thank God!) but internal bleeding again so my blood thinning medication was reduced and I've been fine ever since. Then a week after that surgery I was told by my federal government agency that I and 6 other IT Specialists were being laid off which ultimately led to me landing my dream job with a different federal government agency using my IT work to ultimately help provide healthcare to folks who can't afford it. Then earlier this year I was diagnosed with the early onset of Parkinson's disease (my only symptoms being muscle stiffness and shaky right hand) but because it was detected early I've been responding very well to medications and should lead a normal, active life as well as playing with my daughters and coaching them in soccer and basketball.
As you all can see, life has a way of knocking me down, but the true joy in life that I've found is that it's the DIFFICULT times and how we choose to deal with them that shape and define our character. I choose to see life as the proverbial "glass half full" and not half empty. Life tries to knock me down but then I just get right back up with a smile and continue to fight the fight. I wake up every morning, take that first deep breath, and thank God for that privilege.
Life has been good for me otherwise... I'm enjoying the motivational talks I give to people and will be the keynote speaker during National Heart Month at my federal agency. At the advice of my friends I'm considering writing a book about my unique life journey and making it a motivational thing at the same time.
Anyhow, now onto my jackets. First my beloved Aero NYPD jacket that I had made in honor of my police chief grandfather in India who died a few years before I was born, made it into a major international car magazine and I'm including a picture below plus the link to the online magazine feature in case any of you wish to read more about my story.
The second jacket is a project I recently completed. Some of you may recall a thread I made a few years back (feel free to search by my username) about a turquoise leather café racer jacket I had made by a company called MakeYourOwnJeans located in India. Since turquoise is my favorite color and car color, plus is symbolic of "open communication of the heart" from a color symbolism standpoint, I had this jacket made. However, I took this a step further and wasn't happy with the traditional café racer jacket so I decided to create my own style of jacket that combines a café racer style with a car coat/jacket style and came up with basically a longer café racer style jacket. Recently I decided, due to the fact that I'm affected by the U.S. Government furlough and stuck at home, that I'd undertake a project to repaint that leather jacket the exact color of my car which is a metallic turquoise BMW color known as Atlantis Metallic. Wearing this jacket will be particularly good for me when I give my motivational talks so the audience can see the color that symbolizes my heart work. The jacket repaint project was an absolute success and what really helped the jacket in the end to retain the paint color was using the Leatherique products that I typically use on my BMW car seats... that helped the jacket retain the paint, make the leather supple and resist cracking, etc.
Onto the pics...
Aero NYPD leather jacket in Eurotuner Car Magazine
http://www.eurotuner.com/featuredvehicles/eurp_1305_2000_bmw_323i/
Old color of the turquoise jacket. Love this pic... I'm one of the coaches on my daughter's basketball team and this was a complimentary picture given to me
New color of the jacket - BMW Atlantis Metallic paint color... though you can't tell from the pics, the shoes I'm wearing match the jacket and are probably the most comfortable driving shoes I've ever worn... Ferragamo Parigi in a dark turquoise colored suede
Jacket is already developing a nice patina in the elbows, shoulder area and anywhere else where movement is common...
Thanks for looking!
It's great to be back here after a long leave of absence... mostly medical related but still one heck of a journey for me. As you may recall, I'm a 5 time open heart surgery survivor over the past 39 years of my life with a partly mechanical heart made of carbon fiber and wasn't expected to survive the surgeries due to a congenital heart condition I was born with, but with a lot of love and prayer I defied the odds, married the woman of my dreams and saw the days that my 2 little girls were born now ages 9 and 4. To show my gratitude, I've dedicated the rest of my life to inspiring others to live heart healthy lives. Back in early 2012 I wound up having knee surgery due to constant internal bleeding issues in my left knee (turned out to be an issue with my blood thinning medication plus leaking capillaries and torn meniscus which were both repaired and no further knee issues). Then later that year in June 2012 I was diagnosed with possible testicular cancer which required permanent removal of one of my testicles which was swollen for biopsy... turned out not to be cancer (thank God!) but internal bleeding again so my blood thinning medication was reduced and I've been fine ever since. Then a week after that surgery I was told by my federal government agency that I and 6 other IT Specialists were being laid off which ultimately led to me landing my dream job with a different federal government agency using my IT work to ultimately help provide healthcare to folks who can't afford it. Then earlier this year I was diagnosed with the early onset of Parkinson's disease (my only symptoms being muscle stiffness and shaky right hand) but because it was detected early I've been responding very well to medications and should lead a normal, active life as well as playing with my daughters and coaching them in soccer and basketball.
As you all can see, life has a way of knocking me down, but the true joy in life that I've found is that it's the DIFFICULT times and how we choose to deal with them that shape and define our character. I choose to see life as the proverbial "glass half full" and not half empty. Life tries to knock me down but then I just get right back up with a smile and continue to fight the fight. I wake up every morning, take that first deep breath, and thank God for that privilege.
Life has been good for me otherwise... I'm enjoying the motivational talks I give to people and will be the keynote speaker during National Heart Month at my federal agency. At the advice of my friends I'm considering writing a book about my unique life journey and making it a motivational thing at the same time.
Anyhow, now onto my jackets. First my beloved Aero NYPD jacket that I had made in honor of my police chief grandfather in India who died a few years before I was born, made it into a major international car magazine and I'm including a picture below plus the link to the online magazine feature in case any of you wish to read more about my story.
The second jacket is a project I recently completed. Some of you may recall a thread I made a few years back (feel free to search by my username) about a turquoise leather café racer jacket I had made by a company called MakeYourOwnJeans located in India. Since turquoise is my favorite color and car color, plus is symbolic of "open communication of the heart" from a color symbolism standpoint, I had this jacket made. However, I took this a step further and wasn't happy with the traditional café racer jacket so I decided to create my own style of jacket that combines a café racer style with a car coat/jacket style and came up with basically a longer café racer style jacket. Recently I decided, due to the fact that I'm affected by the U.S. Government furlough and stuck at home, that I'd undertake a project to repaint that leather jacket the exact color of my car which is a metallic turquoise BMW color known as Atlantis Metallic. Wearing this jacket will be particularly good for me when I give my motivational talks so the audience can see the color that symbolizes my heart work. The jacket repaint project was an absolute success and what really helped the jacket in the end to retain the paint color was using the Leatherique products that I typically use on my BMW car seats... that helped the jacket retain the paint, make the leather supple and resist cracking, etc.
Onto the pics...
Aero NYPD leather jacket in Eurotuner Car Magazine
http://www.eurotuner.com/featuredvehicles/eurp_1305_2000_bmw_323i/
Old color of the turquoise jacket. Love this pic... I'm one of the coaches on my daughter's basketball team and this was a complimentary picture given to me
New color of the jacket - BMW Atlantis Metallic paint color... though you can't tell from the pics, the shoes I'm wearing match the jacket and are probably the most comfortable driving shoes I've ever worn... Ferragamo Parigi in a dark turquoise colored suede
Jacket is already developing a nice patina in the elbows, shoulder area and anywhere else where movement is common...
Thanks for looking!
