Old Fools Journal: What's That Noise

My ears do not hear that noise as good as the camera does. At first I thought it was just dry bearings in one of the pedals but the pedals are fine and have been eliminated without a doubt. I have gone over everything else and so far no luck.

It only happens when I am peddling and not when coasting. I have checked the chain and chain guard but no problem there. I'll check the bottom bracket tomorrow. but that is all new and unless I left a lizard in there I don't see how it could be.

The maddening thing is I can't duplicate it in the shop. It only happens under load on the road.

I just hope its not in the rear hub as I'm not looking forward to looking in there. I really don't want to know how that part works but since that is the most complicated and the most inaccessible part "Murphy's Law" comes in to play. I'm probably destined to become a Sturmey Archer 3 speed expert. Right now I'm just a pert.

Old Fools Journal: The Dog, The Walking Stick and the Way to Stop A Bicycle Quickly

The new old bike in full dress. I have a temporary basket for the front should I need it but this bike combines fun and utility so it will mostly get left behind.

I think I'm finished setting up the new old bike. I have changed over the rack and folding baskets on the back along with the tool bag. The bell, rear view mirror and computer were not changed over when I test rode it the other day. I was kind of lost without the bell and the mirror. The bell because it tells a couple of the dogs it's me and the the little kids like it. The mirror because I don't have eyes in the back of my head. I did find that since I last rode without a mirror that I have gained some flexibility in my neck and can turn my head far enough to see behind me both ways now. What a pleasant surprise. I wonder how that happened.
The seat was the real time consumer. Even though I find the bike comfortable the way it is I like the seat set back so that I am not right over the pedals.This part is made
from this.

The cargo bike, the Schwinn and my folder all have the seat set back three inches. I thought I wouldn't on this bike but I tried it and it is much more comfortable set back. The fabrication of the part that makes it possible took some time and metal work. It has been so hot and humid that I am really limited to when and how long I can be out there in that Turkish bath I call the bike shed. The seat itself is too wide for me so I'm using the seat from the Schwinn which is just right.



So I set off to fetch some dog grub for the dog pack from one of the local stores and return some magazines to the library. I ride through a modest quiet little neighborhood on this route that has a few short little dead end streets that I sometime ride down just to aggravate the ankle biters that run free in violation of the law. Of course they came out in a pack like the cowardly sons of bitches they are (that is not cursing it's what they are). I was riding dead slow and went for my weapon (walking stick) with the intention of making the bravest one less brave. I fumbled, lost control of my shillelagh and jammed it into my spokes. It was a very effective brake. The bravest of the brave was so close the he ran into the bike, scared himself and took off, his cowering cohorts right on his heels. I could hear them barking from deep under the house trailer where they took refuge. Brave Sons of Bitches indeed.

One spoke very slightly bent but the wheel appears to still be true. I will take it off and check it the next time I can stand to be in the shed. (It has been checked and it is fine)

This bicycle rides sweet. I wonder what the chances of finding three old bicycles that fit me for free are. Pretty long I'd wager.

The long suffering and abused 35 year old Schwinn is in the tear down phase for a rebuild. It's going to be better than ever. I have yellow paint but I may paint it red to make it a little sassier. I do like ladies in red.
Road Hazard, there be horses in these parts.
Essential bike tool.

Old Fools Journal: Warning! This Is Not Nice.

Does Anyone Remember The Exxon Oil Spill?

It's been 21 year and 4 months since the Exxon Valdez destroyed the fishing in Alaska and they don't have to pay for it. Our government sees to that. The environment and the people there were decimated and they still have not been compensated as if they(we) could be. Exxon has spent billions to not pay for its negligence.

The State of Alaska still loves oil as a whole but not the people who live from the land. Because of the money they will suck on that pipe until it kills them.

So BP is supposed to pay 20 billion dollars for their damages in the gulf of Mexico. Believe me it will never happen. They lie and the government will help them to weasel out of it. They say they have paid 4 billion already and I truly doubt that. They say that the safety of the cleanup workers is paramount but I know that is a lie. Those people are bought and discarded like a boxes of Kleenex.The news media loves it because they have a disaster to talk about and as a group they don't want it to go away (it sells cars). I'm sure that individually they think different but as a group they need disaster to survive but survive for what.
BP is a sleaze ball company and right now they are at the top of the sleaze ball heap but there are others to take its place on a moments notice.

I have known hard drug addicts and they don't ever get over it. They might stop using but the vast majority will use until it kills them. We humans will keep mainlining oil until it kills us all. It shouldn't take long and I may actually live long enough to see it (not something I look forward to). Unfortunately many other beautiful living things will go before us and we'll get to see that as well.

People with the money that live above all this will be affected as well as those of us who live in it and with it. The ignorant will wonder what happened and try to pin the blame on someone else. Man is only an animal and will go the way of all animals in due time. Meanwhile man is helping the animals go.
Things have a way of evening out.

I think I'll go take drugs now. I've obviously lived too long.

Pictures are from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. I decided not to put more because these few made me sick to my stomach. I apologize for being weak.

Old Fools Journal: How To Waste Three Days

PCLinuxOS

Just when I thought I had this computer figured out I made the mistake of upgrading my operating system. There went three days. I don't use Microsoft of any kind so I can't blame it on them. I use a Linux compilation call PCLinuxOS. You can find it on the interntwebtubespipes. It wasn't its fault either. The fault was mine.

I have been using this system since 2005 and it wasn't the first Linux I tried. I sampled six or eight compilations but they were all lacking in some way or other. I had gotten used to Microsoft windows to the point that I could help others. I gained my skill and meager knowledge because it was always rolling over and playing dead. By burning incense, mumbling incantations and shaking my rattle I always seemed to coax it back to life. In the end I was reinstalling every six months and that was getting old. I fiddled with it more than I used it.

The problem with the Linux compilations were varied but what I wanted was something like MS-DOS with a shell over it that looked like windows, was intuitive and that I could use without having to work on it all the time. PCLOS was it. It looked like MS windows and whatever I did on MS windows I did on it and it almost always worked. When it didn't it was either easy to figure out or there was online help. One other little perk is it was free. So I went for it.

The problem started this time when the latest version came out. I was using the 2009.1 version and the 2010.07 version was offered so I downloaded it and installed it and my PC rejected it. It acted like it would work then it wouldn't. Fortunately I had the old system on another partition so I could keep working while I tried to figure this thing out. I tried re-downloading, burning another copy and re-installing it again to no avail. Meanwhile I was having trouble with my remaining installation and the repository where I get my fixes and updates rejected me. Panic city. I downloaded Kubuntu and it worked but was klunky, Ubuntu but it was like trying to instantly learn a foreign language. Finally I decided to install Ubuntu and learn to use it.
My desktop, Riggs Library, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
I could live in there.

Talk about an exercise in frustration. I was used to the KDE graphical interface and this was something that for me was just not intuitive. I could get online but some of the programs that I know it had I just could not figure out how to access. It would access all my files that I had on PCLOS partitions and get online so that was good. Then I tried to work with it and it just did not feel good so...

Screw this. I reinstalled an old copy of PCLOS 2009.1 (20 minutes) and resolved to use it without updates and several apps that I had been using. OK there's two days gone. Then I downloaded PCLOS with the lxde graphical interface and ran it as a live cd and it worked fine which told me that it was the new version of KDE that was killing me. You see my PC likes KDE 3.5 but throws up when fed KDE4. So KDE for me has been fixed until it's broke.

So finally I went to the forums, something I should have done three days ago, thinking that I couldn't be the only one having this problem (no, really?). I found the answer posted on May 8 in three minutes. I guess you could say three days and three minutes. Three days of beating my head against the wall and three minutes of thinking. I wish I was inclined to try thinking first.

I apologize to the geeks at PCLOS that developed and give away this wonderful operating system for all the cursing, wailing, gnashing of teeth, expressing doubts about their ancestry and taking of their name in vain. I'm crawling back on hands and knees begging forgiveness and please take me back. I'll be good.

Now for something a little lighter. Here is a couple that put real meaning into "Pole Dancing". If it doesn't want to play right click and select watch on youtube.

Now try to flush those sexual fantasies you just had and come back down to earth.

This made me feel really good just knowing that this can be done but I have feelings of inadequacy knowing I can not. I do like dancing but I'm not a big fan. I found this to be most beautiful.

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike. I did go for a ride and I can't wait to tell you of the dog, the walking stick and how to stop a bicycle really quick.

Old Fools Journal: I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bike

This is how I felt this morning so I did.


Some of the public didn't seem pleased but then you have to cram FUN down some peoples throat. The behind the scenes video is good too. 160 people and 4 months to spring this "spontaneous" production on the unsuspecting public. Why doesn't this ever happen to me. I guess it's just as well that it doesn't because like the barefoot boy watching the summer circus parade through town I'd likely follow them like the children did the Pied Piper

I started changing the racks and other paraphernalia from the Schwinn to the New Old Bike yesterday. The Schwinn's last maintenance was the summer of 2005 so it's due. The rattle can paint job needs a little touch up as well. I didn't finish moving everything but I did enough so the there were no lose ends. So this morning inspired by this video I went out for an hour to see how I like it. Believe me an hour was enough today. It's back in the shed now for tweaking.

I think I mentioned that the bike is a full fendered Free Spirit made in Taiwan with a Sturmey Archer 3 speed. The date on the Sturmey Archer is 1987. Before I started putting all the stuff on it the weight was 31 pounds (14k). When I went out today it was 41 pounds (18.6k). I'm not worried about weight just curious about how much additional weight it cost to be able to carry even more weight.

I visited my neigh -bors heh,heh.

Then I had my meager lunch.
Tasteless foreign shrimp (south American probably. Damn BP anyway) but the home made shrimp sauce and the homegrown tomato make up for it. Finished with a slice of sourdough with pure no added anything peanut butter for desert and a glass of beer. Oh how I suffer.

Old Fools Journal: Breathing Underwater

This weekend was so humid the going outdoors was like breathing underwater. At least yesterday it was. Today it's raining so it's cooler and the the air is more satisfying to take in. I have been trying to get back to riding my bike at least a little bit everyday but for the most part I don't find riding in the rain all that much fun. Sometimes it is but most times not. Besides riding down the street in the rain screeching in my highest wicked witch voice "I'm melting, I'm melting" makes people look at me sideways.
Seemed like a good time to finish some sewing projects that I've been putting off for a year or so (conservation of energy) and to catch up on my reading. So I transformed my hovel into a sewing room and went to work. I had more stuff to do than a thought on Kilts that went back to my first one. I put in about 6 hours at the machine and hand sewing and still didn't get finished.

The surprising thing to me about sewing is how messy it is. As you can see I have the iron and the ironing board out and a couple of sewing kits plus the machine. Sewing with a machine is wasteful of thread as I always have lots of thread ends and tangles I've had to clear away after I screw up. The floor ends up littered with thread and scraps of cloth not to mention the wet crap I track in when its raining.

Sewing is, like working on bicycles, very satisfying for some reason. It can also be frustrating as in when I start to get tired and the machine and I have a disagreement. Sewing machines are like computers. You have to do everything exactly right. I am happy to say that today I mostly did.

Anyway I got it all done including ironing the shirts, one silk, one rayon and one cotton. What a pain in the ass. Oh well it's work I can do nekkid standing in front of the air conditioner and a fan.

Old Fools Journal: Rack Hack

Whilst out and about on my usual Friday Walkabout I ran into this gentleman on his way to the store I think. I didn't ask and he didn't give his name but this is apparently his primary transportation as in no car and no drivers license. I liked the fact that he had a red shirt, a red Schwinn and and a rack hack.
He said that hanging his tool box from the handle bars made the bike handle funny so he slapped the rack together from what he had. It worked and he saw no reason to improve it.
I personally think that is a wise move. I like to think of it as conservation of energy. It's also a good example of re-purposing things instead of sending them to the dump.

I hope to run into him again as I think he is a kindred spirit.