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.