Last one for the year…

Well…it’s down to this one for the year and I’m not sure what I want to do….could do the old cliche of a summary of what happened this past year but that would be a little boring…looked for jobs, didn’t find one…rode the bike a lot, but you know that…drove the Miata some but you know that, too….so there you have the whole year. Not really…I am happy for a few things…only one repair for the car that cost about 20 bucks and 10 minutes of my time and I am still amazed how a 20 year old car can be so reliable….so, thanks to the PO for taking such good care of it….I do still have most of my health…nothing really wrong but the teeth and I need to get those taken care of in the next couple of weeks….have been feeling pretty healthy and getting my exercise in…trying to eat better, too, but for the next day or so I’m not going to watch what I eat…I did get to over 2,600 miles on the bike this year so that leaves about 2,400 to do next year to get to 25,000…..don’t really have any resolutions since I do those all year long in the continuing efforts at trying to be a better person even at my advanced age….okay, can’t really think of anything else to say right now other than “Happy New Year”….

December 31st

Well…it was an okay day yesterday other than my stupidity with going out on the bike in 18 degree and 15 mph winds weather. Hands were so cold when I got back they had shifted from cold to pure pain and I had to just sit and not move them for 5 minutes for the pain to subside even after running them under hot water…then, the neat little surprise was that my frozen toes had a time delay to their pain that came in about 10 minutes after I got back here…needless to say, not going to do that anytime soon. But, the good thing is I have the bike fixed and the shifter is working perfectly again…I am patting myself on the back for figuring out the water in the cable problem that I fixed with a little WD. Slept okay last night even without earplugs since the furnace in the unit upstairs has stopped howling…weird…but cool. But, the lower tooth under the bad one killed me last night and I was up to 3 ibuprofens yesterday….going to have to get that taken care of soon…but, it’s okay right now so I am going to just enjoy that….not much to do today….have already done the grocery run but there will be no bike ride today since it’s going to be in the teens all day…may meet up with T for HH later but that is about it…more later….

Whiny cops….

Well…this one just popped into my head a few minutes ago so I thought I say something about it…after reading about all of the cops bitching and whining that no one respects them anymore and of the NY cops playing the silly game of turning their backs on the mayor at a funeral, I think the cops have become a bunch of whiny kids that are throwing tantrums because people aren’t kissing their butts every time they are on the streets. I wrote a piece a few years back on the hero worship that cops and firefighters got after 9/11 and this is the logical backlash…it’s like a kid being told that he’s the most terrific person in the world all of his life and then real life intrudes with the truth and he can’t handle it…he’s confused that he’s not the best at everything or that he has to earn respect in the real world…that is just what these cops are to me…spoiled, whiny little brats that throw fits if they don’t get their way…so, let’s get to the reality…that there are good cops out there but many of them are entitled pricks who think just because they wear a badge the law doesn’t apply to them…this has got to end….

A new record…

Well..I just noticed that I didn’t do a second one yesterday and that puts me behind for the month so I guess I’d better get moving….oh, the title….I did set a new record this morning for low temperature on the bike…it was only 18 degrees when I went out and it wasn’t bad for the first couple of miles…but, at about 8 miles out, I had to stop to put my full face mask on since it felt like I was getting frostbite on my earlobes and neck…that helped but by the time I got back here my hands were so cold and in such pain that I had to just sit and not move for a couple of minutes to let the pain subside…so, it looks like this record is going to stand for a while….but there is one bright side…I did get the shifter on the bike fixed…finally…there was a little water inside of the sheath that the cable runs through and after getting out in the cold, the water would freeze, binding the cable up so it wouldn’t shift anymore….so, I cleaned them up and lubed them and it is back to perfect shifting…that was an ordeal figuring out the two unrelated problems, though…more later…

December 30th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday but a little too busy for my taste….the shifter on the bike crapped out again but I think I may have figured it out…had to work on that, then out to lunch with T, then errands, some work around here, and then out for a couple with G….looking forward to a less hectic one today…slept okay last night and had dreams with kittens in them and I’m not sure what the heck that was about….and I feel a little run down today so I hope the coffee will do it’s work soon….I am still loving this weather even though it’s only 18 degrees right now and not going to get much warmer for the next couple of days…but without the snow I haven’t had to wash the car in two weeks and it still looks good….not much to do today…going to finally cook something different today after having ham for the past week and I am looking forward to that…I may even try to take the bike out to see if I do have it really fixed this time….more later…

December 29th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday…well…not really…with the bike crapping out twice on the trail and having to cripple it back here with it stuck in a low gear, it could have been better…and that doesn’t include the two hours of working on it to try to fix it…had cleaned the shifter the other day but I still ended up with grease everywhere and my nails are still black even with brushing them…it appears that it is fixed…at least from the adjustment rides through the lot here…will have to wait for it to warm up to know for sure….slept okay last night and had some dreams that were re runs and you’ve heard about them already so I won’t bore you with more of the same…the Lions looked like themselves yesterday and really stunk up the place so I’m not sure if I’ll watch the playoff game next week….just too disappointing….not much to do today…I do have some errands to run but that is about it…it is a little frustrating to have gas down to $1.91 and not needing any but that means I’m not spending any money and that is a good thing….more later…

Trying to think…

Well..I have been trying to think of a topic all day today with very little luck again so I think I’ll just do a mash up small thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain for a while now….first, it looks like Jim Harbaugh will be the new football coach at Michigan and I think I’m happy about that…he’s been successful everywhere he’s coached but so was Brady Hoke and we all know how that turned out…so, I guess I’ll just keep my fingers crossed as I wait and see…it will be a pain to wait through another rebuilding project and it looks like another lost season for next year…the shifter on the bike did a total crap out on the ride today…twice…so I took it off the bike and soaked it in simple green to see it that helps….I did notice that one of the pins that the action pivots on had worked out so maybe that was the problem? I did get it back together and all of the gears work now so we’ll see tomorrow when I take it out….it does have over 12,000 miles on it so it may just be wearing out…if so, they are only 20 bucks or so so I’ll just buy another one…more later…

December 28th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I finally got the bathroom done…not sure why it took so long to get to it since it only takes about a half hour to take care of it….even got some laundry done, too, so it was a little more productive than a normal Saturday.  Slept okay again but still no dreams but that appears to be the new normal so I won’t complain too much….even feel okay this morning which is a nice surprise and I will get on the bike in a little while but the Man U match is on right now so that’s more important…the bike still won’t shift consistantly into 8th so I do need to look at that before I go out…it’s still a little too cold to go out anyway…not much to do today……going to think about doing the kitchen and then watch the Lions play…notice I didn’t say lose….hope they don’t….more later….

322 squirrels…

Well…if you’ve read this thing before, you know that there are times that my attention wanders around like a dog…heading one place then the next, sometimes settling on things that are interesting…at least to me anyway….and that happened this morning heading out on the bike ride. By the time I had gotten to the outer drive to the complex here, I had already seen 15 squirrels and thought to myself that it was kind of unusual so I decided to count them for the entire 13 miles today…just like I do with caterpillars, snakes, bunnies, and other things I have seen…and, that leads us to the title…on the ride today I counted 322 squirrels and some of them were even of the suicide variety…running out in front of me like they were trying to get run over…not sure if this is interesting…it is strange, though….

December 27th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I won at pool so that was cool….slept okay last night but no dreams again and I am a little irritated about that….feel a little run down today so far but I need to do a short grocery run in a few minutes so I’ll have to gather it up and get going….tooth hurts a little this morning, too, just as I expected it to and that is a little disappointing but it still much better than it has been…..not much to do today…going to do the grocery run and get the bike ride in then maybe do the bathroom….and come back here for another one…more later…