Agh, haven't posted in ages. The bike building has been frustrating lately, but I accept (intellectually, at least) that there are skills which develop in time and experience that I don't have, and I shouldn't be frustrated with myself that I don't magically acquire them two seconds after they are demonstrated.
Right, that's out of the way. The bicycle is almost finished, so I could be riding it by next week (schedule permitting).
More later...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Hello, a reader?
It's possible that at this point I may have an audience for this blog. I told someone it exists, and now she's insisting on knowing the address...
Hi! *waves*
More news on the bike. This week was a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of thing. I'm not happy with the shifter, mostly because it was chosen for me by someone else, with not very much clear explanation. I don't understand gears. Bah. Also, I will probably have to find a new derailer (and derailer hanger?) if the current derailer proves to be too close to the gears. Part of me want to fix the whole thing in one gear and have done. No derailer necessary then! or a blasted shifter. meh.
But, I'm pushing through my frustration. At least I know *how* to install gears now, even if I don't understand why or how they exist. I re-adjusted the brakes, too, in the process, which gave me more confidence. The third-hand tool is a work of simple genius.
In fire-spinning news, I'm making a proper set of practice batons. Which is to say, I went to Home Depot - a nightmare place of too many options and not enough customer service - and found some 1/2 rods that need to be cut down to three feet. Now I need to attach the appropriate amount of weight to each end and wind some tape around them or something. You can see how much effort has gone into this. I've been desperately procrastinating by reading a tome for work.
Also, haven't worked on my own writing for four days, and the withdrawal is making me twitchy. Hopefully tonight, after the season finales of Glee and Justified, I'll get on that.
How am I going to boil down a thousand pages of fictional medieval history to five pages of summary? Oy, vey. It's not like I haven't done it before, but seriously, it never gets easier. Not really. Just faster. I'm not used to reading about things I'd rather not read, though. I've gotten out of the discipline of just pushing through and vomiting later (and no, that's not a metaphor). I'm taking refuge in this blog, and other forms of procrastination. Bad blogger.
Back to the grindstone.
Hi! *waves*
More news on the bike. This week was a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of thing. I'm not happy with the shifter, mostly because it was chosen for me by someone else, with not very much clear explanation. I don't understand gears. Bah. Also, I will probably have to find a new derailer (and derailer hanger?) if the current derailer proves to be too close to the gears. Part of me want to fix the whole thing in one gear and have done. No derailer necessary then! or a blasted shifter. meh.
But, I'm pushing through my frustration. At least I know *how* to install gears now, even if I don't understand why or how they exist. I re-adjusted the brakes, too, in the process, which gave me more confidence. The third-hand tool is a work of simple genius.
In fire-spinning news, I'm making a proper set of practice batons. Which is to say, I went to Home Depot - a nightmare place of too many options and not enough customer service - and found some 1/2 rods that need to be cut down to three feet. Now I need to attach the appropriate amount of weight to each end and wind some tape around them or something. You can see how much effort has gone into this. I've been desperately procrastinating by reading a tome for work.
Also, haven't worked on my own writing for four days, and the withdrawal is making me twitchy. Hopefully tonight, after the season finales of Glee and Justified, I'll get on that.
How am I going to boil down a thousand pages of fictional medieval history to five pages of summary? Oy, vey. It's not like I haven't done it before, but seriously, it never gets easier. Not really. Just faster. I'm not used to reading about things I'd rather not read, though. I've gotten out of the discipline of just pushing through and vomiting later (and no, that's not a metaphor). I'm taking refuge in this blog, and other forms of procrastination. Bad blogger.
Back to the grindstone.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Back to the Bike!
Skipped a week on the bike, mostly because I got caught up in a writing project and Monday evening slipped away from me.
Tonight I made a lot of progress, I think. It's hard to judge when the bicycle essentially looks the same for a long time. But, I flipped the cranks (they were on the wrong side), put a derailer hanger and a derailer on for the gears, found a shifter and spent a whole hour learning how to tighten and adjust brakes. That was the most satisfying part. Getting the brakes to the point where I could spin the wheels, squeeze the controls and make them stop - JOY! ACCOMPLISHMENT!
Anyway.
Stagnated a bit with the batons. I need to get off my butt and watch some educational videos and get over the whole I-was-never-a-cheerleader-therefore-I-suck thing. Because seriously - I'm having a junior high crisis NOW? At my age? Is this penance for not going to junior high?
I'm looking forward to Burn Club tomorrow, as always. I just want to learn a new trick to show off, darnit. But I have work tomorrow morning.
Also, new laptop to play with! But that's a whole other kettle of fish.
Tonight I made a lot of progress, I think. It's hard to judge when the bicycle essentially looks the same for a long time. But, I flipped the cranks (they were on the wrong side), put a derailer hanger and a derailer on for the gears, found a shifter and spent a whole hour learning how to tighten and adjust brakes. That was the most satisfying part. Getting the brakes to the point where I could spin the wheels, squeeze the controls and make them stop - JOY! ACCOMPLISHMENT!
Anyway.
Stagnated a bit with the batons. I need to get off my butt and watch some educational videos and get over the whole I-was-never-a-cheerleader-therefore-I-suck thing. Because seriously - I'm having a junior high crisis NOW? At my age? Is this penance for not going to junior high?
I'm looking forward to Burn Club tomorrow, as always. I just want to learn a new trick to show off, darnit. But I have work tomorrow morning.
Also, new laptop to play with! But that's a whole other kettle of fish.
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