Monday, November 3, 2008

Weekend Business...a wide assortment!

Saturday I was going to get up and meet Travis down in Orange Park for the Saturday training ride with the About Bikes crew, but the weather was rainy and gross, and a little windy to boot. Travis called me to say he wasn't jazzed about the prospect of 60 miles in the rain, and I couldn't have agreed with him more, so we bagged the ride. Al would later tell Travis that it was a miserable day on the road, so I guess we made the right decision.

So Big Moma and the Baby and I all ran some errands together in the morning. We ran by Home Depot so I could snag a new faucet for the kitchen sink. The crappy little one-arm-bandit faucet leaks like an old British car, so we're going to toss it in favor of a conventional two-twistie-handle model. Grabbed some water supply lines and a 25lb bag of winter rye seed for the lawn and we were off to Target for a few warmer baby clothes items. Tough to find stuff not made in China these days, but we did, and now the baby will be warm and I'm not supporting the looming Asian environmental disaster. Job well done!

Got home and put the baby in bed for a nap and hit the shop for a little tinkering on the Klein. Mounted up the cranks and derailleurs, seat and brakes, and a few other little doo-dads. I'm closer to getting that bike done than I thought, and I don't really want to have it built and taking up room, but what can I say...the anticipation of getting back on a Rascal is driving me to do it!

Sunday morning Travis and I took the mountain bikes to Hanna Park and did about 10 miles on the trails. We're still shaking some mild bugs from Travis' bike, and I did the trails on the white single speed EWR, so the time-distance issue became a factor, otherwise we may have done more. The single speed work really worked my legs. I felt a little sluggish in places where I knew I was capable of going much faster, so I'll need to re-motivate and hit it harder next time. I also swapped out the stem on the EWR with one of a lower angle of rise, and that was a mistake...have to switch that back.

Then, after lunch with Big Moma and the Baby at Dick's Wings (Moma's choice! I swear!) I went on over to Emery's place to help him move to a new apartment. He lives downtown in one of the luxury high-rise buildings on the south bank, but since the management has begun to feel the financial pinch like the rest of us, they've dialed back his amenities but not his rent, so he bagged the place for a more affordable downtown apartment on the north bank. We got everything moved OK, but for the sofa. Poor Emery. He's got this HUGE comfy man-couch that wouldn't fit in the new building at all. We couldn't get it in the elevators, we tried the stairs. We moved it all over trying to get it in the joint with no luck. Poor man had tears in his eyes with frustration. Nothing like moving to a cheaper apartment to save money and then having to get rid of your sofa and buy another one to replace it. I think his plan is to put it on Craig's List and get some cash for it, and then go smaller.

Went home, and collapsed in bed! Weekend!? HA!

2 comments:

Steve Reed said...

Big Moma chose Dick's Wings??

That sucks about your friend's couch. I thought things like that only happened here, where we have old buildings that weren't made for modern furniture.

utahDOG! said...

Big Moma is a wing addict! Must be the Lakeland geneology!...or maybe the whole Michigan-Buffalo Great Lake "in the water" thing. Either way she loves them. Our first date was watching football at a wing joint and stuffing our faces with grease...all in the name of love!