The next stop will be…

Eliminate the words “disposable” and “one time use” from your purchasing decisions. Except for toilet paper, obviously. However, you can get 100% recycled TP which is better for the environment than the virgin stuff.

BTW, I think I’ve crossed over from regular green to annoyingly green. Why? I installed a battery powered LED light in my bathroom so I don’t have to use the overhead light for quick visits after dark. It uses significantly less electricity than the CF bulb and I can refill it with rechargeable batteries.

While I’m on the subject, progress has been slow but steady on my pedal powered generator. I’ve got the frame finished and bought almost all the parts I need. I got the wooden flywheel on Monday but it’ll probably be next week before I can install it. After that, I can start mounting the generator and wiring it up.

It’s been an interesting project. I’m generally much more of a take-it-apart-and-see-how-it-works and/or fix-it kinda guy as opposed to a build-it-from-scratch type. Nevertheless, the project has been moving along and I’m keeping with it so that’s good. The big question will be, how much will I use it, once I get it built. We shall see.

## RANT WARNING ##

I hate walking on a moving sidewalk that’s broken and therefore not moving, cause what’s the point? I don’t do it if I can see it coming but sometimes they sneak up on you in a crowd of people and you’re stuck walking on a really uncomfortable narrow sidewalk that’s doing nothing to move you forward.

The only thing I hate more than walking on a non-moving moving sidewalk is getting stuck behind people on a functioning moving sidewalk who think it’s a ride. It’s not, so move your @ss! Actually, now that I think about it, moving sidewalks in general are pretty useless even when they’re working so I suggest we get rid of them altogether.

## END RANT ##

On a more positive note, the blizzard (actually more like a snowstorm) today did little to impede my morning commute and for that, I’m grateful.

I love situations that force me to use the simian tool-making part of my brain; however, I didn’t expect one to come from our parking lot vendor at work. Here’s the deal, they instituted a new policy whereby Museum employees have to put a parking sticker on our bikes if we want to continue to park in the garage for free. The problem is they only give you one sticker and I have more than one bike.

90% of the time I’ll probably ride my single speed commuter bike to work but I wanted the flexibility to ride one of my other bikes if I chose to. Here’s where I had to engage my monkey brain. I needed a solution that would allow me to move the sticker from one bike to another yet be relatively permanent enough that someone wouldn’t steal it.

After considering and dismissing several alternatives, I came up with the solution below. I took the lid from a plastic takeaway container, cut it down to the appropriate size, cut slots for zip ties, put the parking sticker on it and voilà, a mostly permanent solution that I can still move to another bike by sacrificing a couple of zip ties. Monkey brain 1: Annoying parking rules 0.

From a person who shall remain unnamed.

“I lost one of my earplugs… the good one.”

—————-
Now playing: Iggy And The Stooges – Search And Destroy
via FoxyTunes

Saturday found me volunteering with Bike New York to teach adults to ride a bike. The program is called Learn to Ride and we helped over 50 people, most of which were riding by the end of the two hour session. It’s all the more impressive since it rained 2/3’s of the way through the second session of the day but some folks hung in there and we even had people show up for the third session.

The program teaches the “balance first” method whereby the pedals are removed from the bike and the students walk and roll until they can coast comfortably with their feet raised. We then we replace the pedals and the students learn to pedal, having already conquered the “balance” half of the process. It works extremely well and some students pick it up right away while others may need more than one session.

Sunday morning I woke up sore from the 100+ squats I did on Saturday while removing/replacing pedals. Oh, my poor knees. Nevertheless, I had tasks that needed doing so I got started after a coffee and bagel for fuel. First, I installed an A/C window unit in the back of the apt. I hope to not need it for a while but I’m ready when I do.

Second, I finally got around to doing a task that had been on my list for the better part of a month, installing solar shades and new curtains in the front part of my apt. That room gets the afternoon sun and usually gets much warmer than the rest of the unit so I’m hoping the solar shades will cut down on the heat.

The solar shade installation was pretty straightforward, just attach a couple of brackets to the inside of the window frame, tweak the adjustment, and you’re good to go. The curtain rod installation was a little trickier. I bought a laser level to help but, thanks to a wonky apartment, it proved to be both a blessing and a curse. In the end, I used a combo of level and eyeballing to get things more or less square. Anyway, once I got the curtains installed, I think they turned out pretty well and they’re a nice addition to the living room. What do you think?

Hey Sissy!!

A while back, I managed to replace my old grungy clothesline with some new rope so that I could use it for drying clothes without getting them filthy. Unfortunately, I had recently gotten used to the wash/dry/fold service at the laundromat so the line didn’t get any immediate use. It’s also winter, so hanging clothes out in freezing temps is not such a good idea.

Anyway, I finally accumulated a small pile of clothes and whatnot that I didn’t want to use the wash/dry/fold service for. Yayy, I get to use my brand spankin’ new clothesline at last. So I launder the clothes then bring them home to hang up. It’s at this point I should mention that this day was one of the most windiest days we’ve had in a while with sustained winds of 30-35 mph and gusts up to 60. I also live on the third floor. I’m not too worried about the wind though, I clip the clothes tightly to the line thinking it will just help them dry faster. I then leave the house to do some errands.

When I get back home about 45 minutes later, I go check on the clothes. Hmmm, there’s a couple of gaps in the line of clothes which is odd because I had put everything next to each other as you can see in the photo above. It turns out my black shorts and striped pj bottoms decided to go for a little flight thanks to the high winds. To make things worse, the clothesline itself had flipped over itself several times. So I’m in a bit of a pickle as to what I should do.

First things first, I managed to bring in the clothes that were still on the line and straighten out the clothesline itself. Now to deal with the items that had gone AWOL. The shorts had landed in the top of a cherry tree in the backyard of our building. I go downstairs and knock on my landlady’s (Sophie) door to see if she minds me going back there to get them. She’s happy to help as she has done it many times for my next door neighbor, who uses her clothesline all the time. Anyway, we go down the basement and get a bamboo pole then I head out to the backyard to go tree fishing for my shorts.

The bamboo pole is just a few inches too short to reach them but not to worry, Sophie’s got a backup plan. We find a broom handle and tape it to the bamboo pole with duct tape and I try again. This time it works like a charm, after a few swats with the pole, the shorts are back in my possession. I put the pole away and help Sophie close up the basement and give her my sincere gratitude.

Now about those pj bottoms, they were the more adventurous of the two items. They had landed in some shrubs a few buildings over. D@mn I thought, I gotta go ask a stranger if they’ll help me retrieve them? Well what could I do? They were my favorite pair of pj bottoms and I didn’t want to let them go so I swallowed my embarrassment and walked around the block. I found the building and rang the bell. A woman answered the door and I explained the situation… Neighbor, laundry (unspecified I might add), wind, her backyard, etc.

She gratefully went to get my clothing without hesitation while I waited out front. She returned a few minutes later to exclaim “I had to fight my rose bushes for them!” Awesome! Anyway, I expressed my thanks and returned home with my beloved pj’s in hand. The moral of this story? I have no idea.