Hmmm, an eventful day...

The LDS Mission office called to inform us that they were selling off the old Mission fleet cars and we could get a really nice cavalier if we acted right NOW...

...uh-huh, no thanks.

If I promise to build another bike for someone, shoot me!

I have had Don Holborn's bike hangin' around our place for the past MONTH or so. I was going to do a simple tune-up: you know, oil this, tighten that...

...instead, I ended up doing a complete frame-up overhaul and upgrade. aggg...

Don has been giving me rides to work for the past couple of years and has asked NOTHING in return. So I offered to fix his bike for him when he mentioned it was riding a little rough. About the time I got his bike over to our place, my Father in Law Bob found a nice Custom ATB that had been picked up by a city road cleaning crew. I figured I could offer Don a really nice upgrade instead of just a tune-up.

...and it was going so well...until I discovered the Rock Shox (tm) fork on the Custom bike was SHOT. I had to put all the parts (old and new, I still upgraded a few bits) back on Don's old frame. Things snowballed from there as I discovered frayed cables, broken shifter, seized bearings and a mis-aligned rear axle...

...So I ended up doing a frame-up rebuild. I was going to replace the pedalcranks, wheels, and derailleur anyways, so I just took the repair efforts to the next level...

I began in earnest at about 8PM, and finally got finished about 1:30 in the morning. Which isn't too bad, a complete strip/clean/re-assembly and adjustment usually takes me about 6 hours. I got up for work and called Don to gimme a ride (again!). He got to borrow his dad's truck this morning so carting the bike (and mine!) to and from work was easy.

I injured my neck a couple of days ago. As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with work or with bicycles...I just slept on it wrong on Thursday night. I had a healthy dose of "vitamin T" this morning, which didn't take away the discomfort, but reduced it to a manageable level.

Speaking of a pain in the neck, (nice segue', huh?)the west side walkway of the Alex Fraser Bridge is now closed off to all bike and pedestrian traffic while they attempt (YET AGAIN) to lay down some sort of non-skid coating on the walkway deck. I know of the remnants of at least two previous attempts, both complete failures. Thermal expansion properties in the metal deck ensure that almost ANY coating (particularly latex paint mixed with sand) will pop clean off the decking in less than a year. Thursday was interesting as they hadn't yet opened up the east side walkway (it's open now) and I had to negotiate my way around 8 PALLETS OF BAGGED SAND!!! - just to get over the bridge. I should mention the bridge walkway is only 5' wide and those pallets are 3.5' to 4' wide. Made for innnteresting "squeeze play" - and all at an altitude of over 100 meters. Taking the detour over the east side of the bridge is gonna take me about another 5-10 mins in the morning. Must be mindful and leave a little earlier.

New Milestone: got home in under an hour (58 mins)

Passings: Bro. Raymond Charles died June 10th. Everyone knows his music, did anyone know him??

Passage: Former President Ronald Reagan's State Funeral. Didn't watch, ain't interested, much as I admired the man.

Other news: Our neighbors; the Rabies (ok, it's Rabey, but that spelling is far more appropriate.)Have ratted us out to the SPCA about our "nuisance dog". We now face a 2000$ fine if she barks up a storm again and disturbs Mrs. Rabey's slumber. So, we is keeping the dog indoors when we aren't there...I have already delivered ultimatum to wife: if we cough up two grand for doggie; doggie goes bye bye...and I start collecting tape recordings of the Rabey's boxer barking (you CAN get a boxer to bark if you play a constantly looped recording of a high frequency whistle).

The corporation of Delta has sent us a warning about our midden pile. Only hitch: the letter was written THREE DAYS after the midden pile was taken to the landfill. Someone's a little behind on their correspondence, I guess.

My Daughter Coral has taken an interest in Drawing...cool! She drew me...and I could recognize it as ME! Not too shabby for an untrained nine-year-old. She has a good eye for line and proportion. My only complaint is that she didn't draw me clean shaven; I look AWFUL with whiskers!! :)

I am voting...Marijuana Party in the next election...their platform includes less government and eliminating most taxes..and with the legalization and all-out industrial production of the world's most popular "cash crop", we could DO it too...