I perpetually have several entries rolling around in my head at any given time. I really need to get better about taking the time to write them down. Yes I've been busy lately, but that feels like an excuse.
I need to get the gist of one of them out, because the entry that I suddenly need to make relies on it for context.
So, while I'm doing that, I might as well sum up a few more I know I'll never get to.
Horus Goes Vertical
After more than a year of saying. "You know, I really should really . . ." I bought Horus a climber. (Yes, I had some help picking it out.)
After some initial scepticism (that quickly turned to euphoria at the catnip that we'd rubbed into the entire structure), it appears to be a hit!
A Real Bed
This one is many months old, but after a year of sleeping on a (wonderful, relatively) egg-crate on a futon mattress on the floor, I bought myself a real bed. After looking at Duxiana, I went to European Sleepworks (in Berkeley) and tried every mattress they had, with and without the (separate) pillow-top. In the end, I went with the ESW Nordic II with a pillow-top.
I also looked at their furniture selection, and found that I really liked the Edinburgh Bed frame from Vermont Furniture Designs. (I must say that most of their other furniture ranged from absurd to BFU.) But having just spent what felt like a small fortune on the bed, I wanted to think about ordering that, and see what else I could find.
In the end, I also bought the low-slung Edinburgh Bed (not picutred on the website), since it accentuated the lines on the foot-board. I saw this as an investment, I wanted something at least as sturdy as the bed I just purchased.
Over the course of the past few months I have not regretted my decision at all. The frame has proven quite a bit more sturdy than any I've ever . . . slept on. I sleep better than I have in years, and I know that it will last for many, many years.
Horus loves being able to crawl underneath, and that's the only downside. He's taken to collecting plastic bags and other KRINKLE! underneath the bed.
Yay! Road Bike!
Last weekend (actually, 2 weekends ago, now) Matt & I worked on Slackers.net foo, and while he was doing some of that I tuned up my road bike so we could go for a ride later. I retaped the bars, I put new brake pads on the front (and boy did they need it) and readjusted the rear brakes for good measure. (Bleah! I HATE CANTILEVER BRAKES! THEY ARE THE SPAWN OF SATAN!). I did a bit of tuning on the drive train, but it's SOO finicky that I decided to leave it as is, since it wasn't too far off.
Matt noticed that I've got a crack in my bottom bracket, so I need to fix that. Fortunately it's one of those new-fangled(*) cassette type bottom brackets, so I can just pull it and pop in a new one, no repacking ball bearings, I don't even need to get greasy, if I'm careful.
So that means I shouldn't go TOO far on it without getting that done, but all in all, I'm really happy to have that bike in working order again. Some time ago I came to the startling conclusion that for the short (3.7mi) trip to work, I actually prefer riding my mountain bike. This was a shock to me, because I normally hate riding my mountain bike on the road. Now that I have the road bike back in shape, I'm much more enjoying the ride to work. I'm REALLY glad I did this. I'm working harder to get to work, but I'm doing it a LOT faster, so it's almost like exercise again.
(*) It's funny, I say "new-fangled" bottom bracket, and yet every bicycle I've bought since I moved to CA eight years ago has had one of these, they're not exactly "new."
