bike 4

After some serious brain power and effort, I managed to attach my new handlebars. I reconnected and adjusted the brakes and shifters and this morning went for a short ride. I haven't been on a bike in 3 years. And yet, it all came back to me...

I went up and back my street pretty quickly, just to check the gears out and get used to the saddle (yeeouch!). The brakes needed some more adjustment, and the seat height seemed about right. So I came home and climbed the stairs to my apartment and was going to puke my brains out. I wanted to die. I'm never riding again...

Until I get home from work tonight.

After my stomach settled, I watched some quality programing and ate one of my favorite cereal creations: Trix/PB Crunch/Crunch Berries. It was almost like I was eating a PBJ sandwich... in cereal form.

bike 3

Still waiting on some parts to come in the mail... it seems like forever (it'll probably come today). I haven't really done much to the bike in a week, just cleaned more grime and trying to rig a rubber band/Velcro system to attach my GPS to the stem or handlebars. Kinda lame if you think about it.. having a bike sitting there in the hall in pieces. Everything should work out once it all comes together.

Some more bike related stuff:
After looking around for some parts I came across www.fixedgeargallery.com/

One gear? why? well, I'm not quite sure but the cult of the fixed-gear is gaining members daily, and taking an older bike and converting it to a fixed-gear racing machine is the hip thing to do these days. Owing to the bike messenger underground, fixed-gear bikes are now becoming more common. If I come across a cheapo bike in the future, I'd like to make one.

On a side note:
Moving soon. We found a new place out west, and it will give us some room to breathe. I'll get a room for myself to store all of my music projects, guitars, books, equipment, and experiments. My wife will get a room to put all her stuff in. Looking forward to living there, not looking forward to moving all our stuff.

done.

By formal decree from my wife:

She does not appreciate the game we've been playing lately. While it may have been funny at first, all the gay jokes have got to go. I withdraw from the stupid game and would appreciate it if people would leave me and my wife out of it.

If there was anyone that I offended, or mistreated I apologize. I'm done.

job

I hate my job. I need a new one.

bike update

Well yesterday I went and bought some cheapo tires and some tubes and went to fix my bike. I spent the better part of the afternoon removing the grime and gunk that had built up around the sprockets and derailleurs. The bike cleaned up really well and I didn't see any serious damage or wear considering how old the bike actually is. Getting the tires on was a complete girly struggle for me. I don't know if it was because I am a little sick, or just because I haven't repaired a tire in a long time, but it took me forever. I guess I'm just dumb. With the tires on, and the chain on a gear, I went up and down my street really easy, and the bike didn't make any crunching sounds or weird noises. The derailleurs need some serious adjustment, and the brakes need to be tightened. I'm still going to replace the handlebars to make it more of a touring/commuting bike monstrosity, but that will have to wait until later because I'm going to have to order the parts. I'll post a picture later.

bike

My first bike was a huffy mountain bike that my mom ran over with her van. I'm sure I should have fixed it, but Nintendo was more important than exercise at the time. Yesterday I saw some guy riding a bike, you know, one of those racer guys with nothing better to do on a weekday than race around town like he's doping on steroids. I first thought that guy must have a sweet/no job to let him do that during the work day, and second, I wanted to be out there on a bicycle instead of wasting gas inside my car, stuck at a red light. Honestly. Why do I drive around anyway?

My brother just got a new bike and left behind a semi-usable bike for me to work on. After salvaging some bike parts from my parent's house, it looks like I've got a bike now. It just need some new tires, a little cleaning up, and then I have the ultimate two wheeled commuting machine. I don't see myself clutching a yellow jersey anytime soon, but I'd like to get back on two wheels. I'd theoretically like to ride to work, but it may be too hot to do that right now. I think after work I'll just hit the bike path up the road and ride to my parent's house and back. Thinking about riding around in heavy traffic makes me kinda nervous. But hey, I used to do that all the time when I lived in Puerto Rico. And I'm sure it surprised my wife last night when she went into the kitchen and saw a bike sitting there. I like working on bikes anyway, and piecing together a worthy road machine is great when the bike itself is free. That's initiative my friend. That's super power.

vacation 1

A report of our trip to California.

My wife and I drove down to California last week to visit Disneyland and go to the beach. It was my first real vacation since our honeymoon trip to Denver last year, and probably my first real vacation in 3 years. I thought the trip down would give my wife and I time to shoot the breeze and enjoy the ride. Along the way I made some careful observations:

1. Even while driving the speed limit I should slow down.
2. My wife points out every police car she sees and then looks at me like I'm a criminal. I tell her, "Just act casual dang-it!!!"
3. I saw like 15-20 people with blow outs... it made me question the structural integrity of my tires. Then I imagined one of our tires exploding and our car flipping like 7 times...
4. Gas is cheaper in Vegas.
5. Driving through the Mojave desert is really boring. It was lame until my wife dumped an entire bag of melty Reese's throughout the car (accidentally she says).
6. Gas is cheaper in Anaheim.
7. That stupid van with the roof rack is NOT going to beat me this time!
8. I am a wuss when it comes to hot weather.
9. Not having a bubble tea place where we live = total suckfest.

I'd say that the trip down and back was pretty uneventful. We stopped at some outlet malls and didn't really get anything. For as cool as outlet malls are, all the crap they sell is just the same as anything else. The same polo shirts, the same cargo pants. All that walking around just made me realize that I can get any of this crap online. For as lame as Vegas is sometimes, there are some cool things to see there. There's more to talk about, but I'll get to that later.