2008 has been a pretty life-changing year. As a matter of fact, I'll probably consider it among the most memorable years of my life someday. Heading balaclava-clad face first into the fourth real winter of my life, I'd like to reflect on what happened, not necessarily in chronological order:
1. I dated a hot mom (that might have been all last year, my memory is a little fuzzy)
2. I lived in a posh apartment in the Rich Whitey District of Pittsburgh
3. I moved to a new apartment across the street from a tow lot, in a neighborhood thought to be one of the city's most dangerous
4. I built and sold two bicycles of very different styles to people new to the idea of riding, and ran into both on the road months later
5. I stormed out of a job I didn't even realize I didn't enjoy, causing a crippling period of financial difficulty for myself that I'm still climbing out of, which made me happier than I've ever been
6. I started living for myself, instead of living to make meals for strangers who rarely appreciate it
7. I worked in a mall, whitening peoples' teeth on commission
8. I got my first office job, and love it
9. I made my longest bike ride yet, and hope to triple it next year; I raced seriously for the first time and won a prize; I learned to trackstand and skip stop; I learned to true a wheel, install a headset, remove and attach cranks, overhaul a hub with cup-and-cone bearings, and properly adjust chain tension
10. I bought my first bottle of wine, which was a Beaujolais; I bought a much better one weeks later, which was a Malbec from Argentina
11. I worked harder than I've ever worked in my life, and then hardly worked at all
12. On the first day of my vacation early in the year, I was hit by a car; months later, I was physically shoved off the road by a Mercedes; even more recently, a city police officer nearly hit me from behind and yelled at me to "get the fuck off the road"; I realized most people have their foot on the wrong kind of pedal and started doing what I can to advocate alternative means of transportation
13. On the subject of politics, I was charged almost $900 for a two-block ambulance ride and $400 for a bandage and a neck brace (and that's with a 15% uninsured discount) and became way more aware of ridiculous American issues that put us 30 years behind the rest of the world
14. I voted
15. I became ecstatic when gas prices reached record highs, and was pissed when they dropped again
16. I met someone I'm so fond of that I went to mass with her mother on Christmas morning
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I want to learn to weld. I've been looking at low-output stick welders on ebay, and I think I could get started for about 90 bucks. Maybe if I liked it I could move up to MIG welding. Building bicycle frames is a big dream of mine.
I'm one of about four people at the office right now, and most likely I'll be the last one to leave. Since I'm still a temp until mid-January or so, I don't get benefits or paid holidays, so I need all the hours I can get. There's actually a lot of work to do, since people try to get in here in great numbers towards the end of the year before their insurance deductible restarts.
In any case, my experience at the office does get continually better. I won a 50 dollar gift card to a grocery store at the office party, and drank a bunch of free Yuengling; at the office gift exchange yesterday, I got a case of Dogfish Head IBA, which is both delicious and challenging to carry home on a bicycle. People around here look at me like I'm nuts when I ride in here and the wind chill is ten below--I now work in a place full of the kinds of people who are completely unaware that bicycles are legal on the road. And that's great, really. I'm all for raising awareness that we who don't rely on combustible fuel to get from point A to point B aren't just athletic hobbyists, or kids who are taking longer than others to grow up and start driving, or homeless criminals for that matter; we're normal people that don't believe Wal-Mart should be the center of a community 50 miles wide.
On that note, Pittsburgh recently got a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, a position this city should've filled a long time ago. It's nice to see bike lanes popping up in a place that's still stuck in its industrial heyday from thirty years ago, and not just as a political movement for once. Some of Pittsburgh's most terrifying byways that cyclists risk every day just to get to work are finally being rethought, and I'm very excited to be merging onto fewer highways in the future, especially when I think about all the drunks in this town. Of course, the Liquor Control Board is another issue entirely that most people fail to realize has a huge impact on public health...
I didn't do a ton of Christmas shopping this year, but I have picked up some essentials for the bike for myself by taking advantage of the ridiculous consumer-fest of the season. For one thing, I quit being a cheapass and bought four nice tubes to keep around. About a week ago, I left work and had a valve stem explode at the seams on my front wheel; the tube was so worn out from being patched seven or eight times that it was just starting to decay. I also bought a new set of pedals, some Wellgos with clips and straps that I'm not entirely happy with, but do the job, a new KMC chain that isn't stretched out by a full link, and some pre-glued patches, because there's nothing worse than scuffing and cementing a tube with numb fingers. I switched to wax-based lubricant for the winter, too. I'm not an expert, but in my opinion it does a good job of sloughing the salt and grime off while the chain is in motion, and it lasts awhile before needing re-application. Gave the inside of the frame a good coat of Frame Saver, too. 32 years is a long time for a piece of steel to be around, but there's no reason it won't be around for another 60.
I'm one of about four people at the office right now, and most likely I'll be the last one to leave. Since I'm still a temp until mid-January or so, I don't get benefits or paid holidays, so I need all the hours I can get. There's actually a lot of work to do, since people try to get in here in great numbers towards the end of the year before their insurance deductible restarts.
In any case, my experience at the office does get continually better. I won a 50 dollar gift card to a grocery store at the office party, and drank a bunch of free Yuengling; at the office gift exchange yesterday, I got a case of Dogfish Head IBA, which is both delicious and challenging to carry home on a bicycle. People around here look at me like I'm nuts when I ride in here and the wind chill is ten below--I now work in a place full of the kinds of people who are completely unaware that bicycles are legal on the road. And that's great, really. I'm all for raising awareness that we who don't rely on combustible fuel to get from point A to point B aren't just athletic hobbyists, or kids who are taking longer than others to grow up and start driving, or homeless criminals for that matter; we're normal people that don't believe Wal-Mart should be the center of a community 50 miles wide.
On that note, Pittsburgh recently got a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, a position this city should've filled a long time ago. It's nice to see bike lanes popping up in a place that's still stuck in its industrial heyday from thirty years ago, and not just as a political movement for once. Some of Pittsburgh's most terrifying byways that cyclists risk every day just to get to work are finally being rethought, and I'm very excited to be merging onto fewer highways in the future, especially when I think about all the drunks in this town. Of course, the Liquor Control Board is another issue entirely that most people fail to realize has a huge impact on public health...
I didn't do a ton of Christmas shopping this year, but I have picked up some essentials for the bike for myself by taking advantage of the ridiculous consumer-fest of the season. For one thing, I quit being a cheapass and bought four nice tubes to keep around. About a week ago, I left work and had a valve stem explode at the seams on my front wheel; the tube was so worn out from being patched seven or eight times that it was just starting to decay. I also bought a new set of pedals, some Wellgos with clips and straps that I'm not entirely happy with, but do the job, a new KMC chain that isn't stretched out by a full link, and some pre-glued patches, because there's nothing worse than scuffing and cementing a tube with numb fingers. I switched to wax-based lubricant for the winter, too. I'm not an expert, but in my opinion it does a good job of sloughing the salt and grime off while the chain is in motion, and it lasts awhile before needing re-application. Gave the inside of the frame a good coat of Frame Saver, too. 32 years is a long time for a piece of steel to be around, but there's no reason it won't be around for another 60.