Something yellow

My bike is in the shop right now. I took it there Friday night after work. I asked them to do a complete overhaul on it. I also asked them to replace all the parts that were worn out. Based on a quick once-over, this includes the tires, the handlebar wraps, the brake pads, and the chain. The cost of the overhaul is supposed to include the cost of replacing all the cables and the ball bearings, but the guy I talked to wanted to charge me for those, too. With any luck, they’ll replace the rear tube, as well. The estimated cost of the overhaul and parts is $330. If done properly, I should only have to get an overhaul once a year, with maybe a $40 tune-up at 6 months.

The overhaul includes taking every part off the frame, and cleaning everything and replacing all the ball bearings and the cables. So, my bike should very much be in good condition when I get back to it this afternoon. Very much ridable. Very happy. Very good. Yay!

Something old

I have a whiteboard in my sitting room. At the top it says “What do you want?”. For a long time, the only other thing on the board was “rest”. Over time, I found myself more and more able to rest. my insomnia has passed, perhaps for a season, perhaps for longer, and I am able to get a good night’s sleep. Then, after considering it for a long time before putting it up, Saturday morning I put the word “write” on the board.

Later that day, as I was walking someplace else with yard tools on my mind, I passed a yard sale and I saw a typewriter of a style that … very much appeals to me. I was able to purchase it with the last of the cash in my wallet at the time, $14. It works, and with a replacement ribbon, should be a wonderful tool. I have already written a page or two on it. It feels good.

It is an old Remington Portable Model 5.

Standing stolidly in the rain

Last night it rained. I was hanging out with a friend who gets very excited by the rain and who had a very good time just running around in the rain for a couple of hours while I stayed indoors and dry, watching HBO original series with my new stuffed monkey, Edison. At one point, she got me up and dragged me out into the rain. As a general rule, I like the rain.

Or maybe I like the idea of the rain. I don’t seem to like riding my bicycle in the rain, or immediately after a hard rain on an overcast day. Being soaking wet and freezing cold for nine hours at work isn’t what I put at the top of my list of things to do. The things in my backpack tend to agree. Still, I like the smell of rain, and I certainly appreciated the sub-100 degree weather this morning on the bike ride in. Sometimes I like to watch the rain fall, but not usually from under it. Usually from someplace dry and warm. I like what rain does; living in a barren, dead wasteland only has a little appeal to me. Still, I like blue skies.

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