Dumpstering pumpkins, trick or treating

Today we set off on a walk to go buy some last minute pumpkins from the Boy Scout sale that's been going on for the past month a few blocks away. Turns out that some genius decided that selling pumpkins on the (beautiful, sunny Saturday) morning of Halloween was a bad idea so we turned the corner to find an empty parking lot. We did, however, notice a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked next to an unsuspecting dumpster in that same parking lot. On further investigation we found a shit ton of perfectly good pumpkins packed away and destined for the trash. Seconds later an SUV pulls up as we are peering into one of the boxes full of squash. A woman and her daughter got out. Quickly I asked "Are you all in charge here?" I can't remember the woman's response but it was basically like "No, we're here to save these trashed pumpkins too." It was marvelous. Dumpster diving for perfect pumpkins. We ended up taking 3: a large, medium, and small pumpkin--as much as we could fit into our backpack.
It was awesome.
C carved a rad "spooky tree" in the medium size pumpkin, and I broke a knife trying to carve into the thickest, gray-colored pumpkin. I saved some seeds to bake later

Passing out candy is always a mixed bag of feelings. There are cute kids and I feel bad about giving them teeth-rotting sweets. Then there are the kids that show up not dressed up in any way, not even pretending, with their parents following in their SUV, and I just wish I had some shit to give them. Then there is the group of teenagers with skateboards and I make fun of them by guessing what they are dressed up as: "Ryan Sheckler?" is my most common guess. I overheard one kid of one group of teens say "I wish I had a blunt." I said loudly "Who's talking about blunts?" Half of that group decided not to come over for candy. A year or two ago, one stupid girl held out a pillow case with a lit cigarette balanced between her fingers. I wanted to throttle her. Go home you stupid teenager that is wasting my time and candy.

Anyway, I'm not such a grump. One group of teens was really funny and actually had funny costumes and I made fun of their costumes and they were cool about it and were just out to have fun and get some candy without being douchebags. Thanks.

That's all I got. Happy Halloween!

Effing A, Cotton. Effing Aaaaaaaaaaa

So, the internets have been pretty boring recently. And as I am getting amped on my morning brew, I am compelled to lay out my strategy for piecing together this new bike sooner than later... Here goes

So far I have the frame and fork, the insides sprayed with J.P. Weigle's Framesaver, and a bunch of parts that have been cluttering up my drafting table for a month

First thing's first: I need handlebars (Ritchey Logic Pro Biomax II - bam!).
Secondly, and maybe more pressing than handlebars, I need the steering column on my fork cut down. Problem? Yeah, I can't do it, and I don't understand how to figure out the right size... I kinda do, but it's like ordering a custom suit online in a way that you pray you got the size right the first time.
Ok, so I get the fork cut (and star nut pressed into the fork), then I can officially set up the frameset, including headset (Cane Creek S1) and stem. It's practically an intact bike at this point.
Am I on "four" yet? I want different tires (looking at white 28c Vittoria Randonneurs to replace the chunky treaded 32c's I have). I might need these tires before I get the fork cut cause the bike shop owner suggested having me "get on the bike" to see how it fits before cutting it down. "What bike?" It's a frame right now. So maybe I need to make it look like a bike (wheels, tires, crankset, pedals, seatpost, saddle...) before it is one? Nah.
Five: Now I get to put all the small parts on: derailleurs, cables, crankset, etc. I get to spend an obnoxious amount of time painting grease on all the tiny screws to repel water. I'm pretty sure I need a few replacement parts like a bit of cable housing that I messed up, maybe a new crankarm bolt that I think is stripped...
Six: I'm still up in the air about pedals. Clips (toe cages & straps) or clipless?  The price isn't too different between the two choices. I'm leaning towards getting some clipless pedals but I'm not convinced my regular 1.5mile commute will accommodate the hassle. On the other hand, soft-soled skate shoes get chewed up by the pedals pretty easily... Eff. Thoughts?
Seventh place goes to hooking up my brakes and shifters. That's probably gonna be a pain in the ass
Eight, wrap handlebars (the tan Cinelli cork tape I bought should look pretty dope)
Niner: figure out how to install my Nitto Mark's Rack on the front without tripping up the cable of the cantilever brakes. Don't worry if that doesn't make any sense to you. I've got a couple ideas and will probably post pictures if it ends up working out. I hope it does, cause it's a dope front rack that I got dirt cheap.
Ten? There has to be a ten. Ride it? Ok
Ch-ch-check it out: (by Mike Giant)

Marketing, Part II: Bikes

From Bikesnob:

The bicycle is a simple machine, and the significance of incremental improvements that are made to them every year is both debatable and relative. Sure, infinitesimal improvements in aerodynamics may, in theory, gain one seconds or fractions of seconds in competitive events, but in the end what matters is how much this supposed gain is worth to you. If you're a professional athlete this gain might be worth millions; if you're everybody else, it's probably worth nothing.

However, some people are willing to pay for the perception that their bike is the best, and since they can't actually prove this is true themselves because they're not capable of riding fast enough to make those incremental improvements count, they instead rely on the bike's manufacturer to create marketing campaigns that prove it for them.

sleep, coffee

My body still hurts from skateboarding on Sunday, but not as much today...

Woke up to a great cup of coffee this morning, thanks to the "delayed brew" function on our coffee pot, which might explain how easy it was for me to get out of bed. Haven't felt this rested in a hot minute

Thinking a lot about bikes... and a new mattress to help out our backs which are apparently aging faster than we are...

Skateboarding

Yesterday I saw a kid--"kid" but probably not much younger than I--skating in the street directly in front of our house. After maybe 20 minutes, realizing the kid was planning on staying there, I put on a long sleeve shirt, my skate shoes, and grabbed my board. Mind you, it's been well over a year since I actually skated beyond cruising down the street to pick up pizza. Maybe even two years. Damn.

Anyway, I went out and introduced myself to this kid, Joey, who just moved in to the apartments across the street. He was really pretty good. It took me a while to warm up and my goal was to finally land an ollie over the traffic cone that was out there. I finally landed it a few times, after a lot of frustration. I was trying all kinds of 180s and just reclaiming some comfort on my board. We didn't talk a lot, just talked a little about ourselves and talked about how we were old and skateboarding wasn't as easy as it used to be... ha

I was out there hardly 30 minutes before I was exhausted and had to call it quits. Joey was real cool and I'm sure I'll be skating with him soon. But seriously, my entire body hurts today. It hurts to walk, it hurts to sit, it hurts to turn, it hurts to think...But there's something wholly satisfying about these aches that makes me excited about feeling better soon and getting back out on my board, even if it is only in front of my house. Maybe I'll try to build a fun-box from some scrap wood I have for the next time I want to mess around...
--
Currently listening to a playlist of Jackie Mitto music on Imeem.com...

Putting the garden to bed

We've had a few frosts in the past few weeks and everything left (tomatoes, peppers, basil...) was looking really pathetic. The tomato cages were all crumpled over--I'll never get those shitty thin-metal cages again, what a waste. The basil was brown after the first frost.

Anyway, it's a beautiful, sunny Sunday, and with few things to do, I spent some time ripping those plants out of the garden and throwing them in a new compost pile...

I've still got some lettuce that is hanging on under a make-shift cold frame consisting of some 2-by-4's and an old glass picture frame.

Maybe next year I'll build some super tight, wooden tomato cages... More to come...

Album hunting

C and I biked to get some lunch this afternoon and ended up at Half Price Books today (for you not yet in-the-know, it's a used book/record store) were I was delighted, and a little sad, to see that some kid sold her whole collection of punk cds. There were 3 Bane albums, The Casualties, Dead Kennedy's, The Exploited, With Honor, Comeback Kid, Norma Jean, Bad Religion, The Damned, 7 Seconds, Evergreen Terrace... and every Punk-O-Rama compilation ever released... and a bunch more. I went home with the Minor Threat discography and "I Love You, Man" on dvd. Freakin 'ay. I think I'm gonna go back and get the Shai Hulud album with their demo, some live tracks, and a bunch of unreleased stuff that was priced at $4. Seriously.

I'm chuggin some dark roast coffee right now; the sun is shining. Bouts to transfer a lot of our downloaded music to our external drive for safekeeping.

Last night C and I drove to Cincy for a big, homemade rib dinner at my dad's house with all my siblings. Fun times...

My head is spinning right now. Everything is all good. Much love