I went to pick Nefarious up at the airport today — there was a snafu with the tickets, so she came back a little early and flew on her own (“unaccompanied minor”, where the airline helps out with customs and so on) and had a great time with it. I said sometime to the effect of “you deserve a reward for being so brave!” and she replied, “why…? I’m always brave!”
So true! She got her ears pierced while in New York — given that immunization injections didn’t even phase her, I suspect there was similar bravery at the piercing place.
I have to admit that driving up to the airport was a little nerve wracking (I on the other hand, am not so brave). I think that when my brakes were done on the truck a while back they messed up the front end in some way — it’s pulling erratically, the front tires are wearing quickly (not that they’re not worn already), and it just doesn’t feel stable. I’m hoping to get a bit more lift done before the winter — now that I have a “new” bike! — to fit a set of 35″ boggers (like the ones on this truck). I don’t know or not if stores are open tomorrow… I don’t think they are, but in the next couple days I’m going to take that bike apart, clean it up, and paint it…
I’ve got to get some wood panels in the next couple days as well to paint on. I’ve been slacking on painting and I want to get going again. Oh, and our Rock Band party was fun enough to have the old man next door pounding on the wall for us to shut up (me on guitar, Caitlin on drums, and Saira singing)… But he smokes on his balcony, so f**k that guy — as long as he’s poisoning me, he can put up with some occasional noise. I actually have a fan permanently blowing from my balcony toward his which keeps 99% of the smoke away.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Caitlin and I found this bike in the garbage today. The frame is a bit heavy, but it’s the exact right size for me, and rides fine with good brakes and shifting… So now I won’t have to borrow her bike any more, and the kids at Nefarious’s school won’t tease me for riding a “girl’s bike”! On the other end of the tech spectrum, there’s a good feature on Project Orion posted on Dark Roasted Blend. The TED talk by Dyson is worth watching if you’re a sci-fi (or just “sci”) fan.
Edit — After a discussion with my father on this subject, an important but obvious point was raised… If you look at the perfectly good items (from food wastage to stereos, bikes, building supplies, whatever), these far far far outweigh the $700 billion bail-out. If Americans (and probably most first-world cultures) were more conscious of what they threw away, the idea of “economic crisis” would be distant foolishness.
I played a few more songs on Expert at 100%. I’m going through and doing all the easy ones — or at least getting gold stars. I still can’t get past about 84% on Green Grass And High Tides… Perhaps I will have to play Caitlin’s various brain training games to get farther.
My better songs I’m ranked around #100 on the worldwide rankings. I figure that’s pretty good. I’m #15 on “Gone Away”, but because that song just came out I imagine that ranking will drop down to a similar rank as the rest over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow Saira and perhaps others are coming by so we’ll finally have a full band, which I’m looking forward to. Oh, what a small world I live in and what humble dreams I have nowadays.
Nefarious said to me the other day that it was OK with her if I cut my mustache but that she wanted me to grow my beard as long as possible, ZZ Top style (she did not reference ZZ Top of course, but she described what she meant). Not sure if that’ll happen — it grows in to this length pretty fast but then it sort of hits a wall I think… Yes, I’m bored and Caitlin is working late today.
