A very much lighter wallet…

So, about a month ago, I was riding home from work, and as I was riding right by JBLM, I thought I felt something caught in my bike chain (like a tree branch). So I stopped, got the flashlight out, and noticed that there was nothing wrong with the chain. But when I turned the crank, there was one spot where it stuck. I was able to ride the bike home, albeit very carefully that night. I then noticed for the next couple of weeks or so, my bike was making various clicking sounds in the vicinity of the bottom bracket. Never a good occaision, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Then I couple of weeks ago, the bottom bracket stopping making noises, but it had become loose. Not loose to the point that it was unrideable, but it was loose and getting looser.

Last week, my tax refund arrived. And so yesterday I took my bike to Bonney Lake Bicycle of Sumner in Puyallup (I think that’s what it’s called), and they said what I had feared the most: that I needed to replace my bottom bracket. But the price that was quoted was what I could afford. And I also mentioned an issue I was have with my rear derailer, and was offered a tune-up. Initially I declined it, but then I decided to go for it, since it was going to be a professional job.

Today, I picked up my bike, and my wallet is now $157.00 lighter. Got off the bus a couple of miles short, and rode it home. No clicks, no looseness, and for the first time ever, I can now use all 24 speeds…

Stuff has been on my mind of late….

I don’t get it. I find myself feeling jealous over something that isn’t really there, and in all reality won’t ever be there. I need to let it go. To stop deluding myself….

This is partly the ramblings of another introvert with a blog, but there is much I want to write about this. But to do so would reveal too much. I’ve learned my lesson from previous posts about posting TMI. So I guess I should stop obsessing about nothing, stop mourning that which never was, and face Reality, who never was a friend of mine…

Another do nothing day....

With the weather being as screwy as it has been of late, I din't go to work today. They were saying flurries turning to rain this morning. But they were also initially saying cloudy weather on Wednesday, and we ended up getting close to two inches. But I think we've seen the worst of it now, so I'll be back to work tomorrow.....

So, today was essentially a do nothing day. I stayed home all day. Though I did bring my back-ups up to date (no small feat, considering how my Steam backups are close to a tB in an of itself. Though that's because I now back-up the whole program directory in addition to using the back-up tool).

Get me….

Get me razor blade, a straw, and a rolled-up hundred. Its currently raining cocaine in Parkland. Fortunately, it’s my day off, so I can enjoy the view, and hope that it clears up by the time I go back to work on Thursday.

Riding home on Saturday night, I encountered a phenomenon for the first time: a flat tire. Fortunately, I was only a mile or so form home, so I just walked the bike home, and then I patched it. Then when I got up on Sunday, and saw the white stuff being blown horizontally, I decided to Uber home that night. And last night, it was in the 20’s, but I rode the bike home. The two pairs of hand warmers I had in my sweatshirt pockets kept me from freezing (and the cardio I got from cycling didn’t hurt either).

But it’s still snowing today. ANd it’s my day off. Let it snow…

Render Unto Ceaser, 2018 Edition

Just filed my taxes. Online. At Mrs. Fields, courtesy of my laptop. The three months I went without health insurance (from getting fired from one job and starting another) did have an adverse effect on my refund this year, but I still came out ahead. I’m getting a refund. Now to wait and see if the IRS accepts my return, though it shouldn’t be a problem since I filed electronically….

On the bus home….

Went to Mrs Fields this morning to get my W-2 so I can file my taxes. Those will be in tomorrow. So, I’ll be in tomorrow again. Now I’m on the bus home. Blogging on my laptop. Almost forgot that I have a Sprint USB modem. Traffic in Federal Way to Puyallup os horrendous….

For some odd reason….

For some odd reason,, I want some cake today. I don’t really know why. Oh wait, now I realize why. Happy Birthday.

February 2…

It’s Groundhog Day. If the Groundhog see his shadow, then it’s 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, then it’s an early Spring.

Actually, the real truth is that the Groundhog’s shadow is irrelevant. The Groundhog is irrelevant. If it’s February 2, then it’s just going to be another Bill Murray movie…

So, the state of the union was tonight…

And I didn’t watch it. I watched college basketball and hockey instead. There is enough incompetence and corruption in this administration that I don’t need to hear anymore of it. I admire his call for more bipartisanship, though. But let’s face it, his tax reform package that he just passed is essentially running up the nation’s debt to give the 1 percent a tax break. And the rest of us (who really can’t afford it) will end up footing the bill down the road.

Only under Donald Trump can the same party control both houses of Congress and the White House, and yet we still have a government shutdown.

But there is still hope. We still have the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The mid-term elections are coming up. America may not be in a good spot right now, but we’ll overcome. We have before. We even survived 8 years of Dubya. I just updated my voter registration recently, and I intend to make sure that my vote counts.

You can tell it’s my day off today

It’s my day off. I can tell. The sun was out today. And right when I take out the garbage is when the hailstorm passes through….

Just another day off….

It’s just another day off again. And yet I feel like today I’m mourning something I’ve lost when it reality I never had it. When I keep boating to myself that I have no ego, and yet I’m still reeling from that which I’m not supposed to have is still being bruised. When I keep bragging that I’ve let certain things go, and yet deep down, I’m still attached.

Sometimes I think it’ll pass. That I just have to keep vigilant. But it doesn’t. But I shall overcome. If not today, but tomorrow. Maybe….

Yes, I’m just another introvert with a blog….

So I was Googling tonight…

And I realized that one of my mentors who helped through some pretty bleak times (right around the time my Mom came out of the closet) had actually passed away almost ten years ago. There is something to said about the frailties of life. Never take it for granted. Take a moment now to tell your loved ones that you love them. Balance your worrying about the future with living your life today…

A not recommended use for a garbage can….

A laptop stand. Usually when I’m at the desk, I use the Tower. But there were times when the tower was down, or I had to do maintenance on the laptop. And so I set the laptop on the wastepaper basket next to my desk. Not really the best for the laptop or for keeping my room clean. So, I’ve invested in a portable desk (think TV tray) to set the laptop on over the wastepaper basket. This way, the laptop is not resting directly on garbage, and I can throw stuff out again. And it’s foldable, so if I want to watch the 55” set from my easy chair, it’s not the end of the world.

Another Tuesday off…

Day off today. Usual stuff. Did laundry (currently in the dryer). Main thing I did today was installing the fenders on my bike.Took a few minutes with a 4mm hex to install the front fenders. The rear fender/cargo rack just clamps to my seat post (it’s a quick release. Also with the rear fender came two reflectors, so I can use my old cargo rack, if I actually had to carry stuff. I had to raise my seat up to make enough space on the seat post, so after I installed the rear rack, I took the bike for a test ride in the apartment building parking lot, and I can still ride it.

If you remember I had tried running Windows 8.1 and gave up on it after encountering issues trying to restore my Steam games. So last week I went with Windows 10. And I also tried a different approach. Instead of using Steam’s backup/restore feature, I simply copied the Steam program directory from my laptop over to my tower. Problem solved….

The growth of data….

When I got my first computer, I specified a CD burner when I ordered it. And I could back everything up onto a couple of 700 megabyte CDs. Then the amount of CD’s I needed  grew, and though I added a second hard drive, I still needed about 20+ CD’s to do a system back-up.

So I bought a DVD burner, and larger and larger hard drives. Eventually, I became adept at using my second hard drive to back up my stuff. There were times though (like when I was partitioning both hard drives) when I had to back up everything to external media. I could do everything to 6 DVD’s at first. And the last time I did a DVD back-up set, it was 8 DVDs.

Then with my second computer, I switched to using my second hard drive for backing up my data (and I would pop the side of the tower off and unplug the drive so the data wouldn’t be corrupted if I had a system meltdown). I then bought an external USB hard drive enclosure, and I started using them exclusively for backing up. Archives were now in the size of 100-200 gigabytes.

At the time my second computer died, I was using 3 1 terabyte hard drives (2 in the tower, and 1 in the usb). After I got my current computer, I put a 4 terabyte drive in the tower, and I started using a 2 terabyte drive in the back-up drive, which was now backing up my laptop, too. Then, due to a sizing mistake when I visited Newegg last summer, I got an extra 4 terabyte, which is what I use now.

I’ve gone from a couple of 700 megabyte CD’s when I bought my first computer, to 1.2 terabytes that I copied over last night. And I have another 600 gigabytes that I might need….

So, here I am at my other job….

So, here I am at Mrs Fields. Main task is actually fixing the owner’s laptop. So I pulled mine to compare them side by side. His is slightly smaller, and is designed for more power-business use (why else would you have a fingerprint reader?). But he has a good laptop (even better, now that it’s running ubuntu). Then again, the drawback is that it’s running Linux, and my skills are limited. But I’ll what I can do.

No weekend for me this week….

Today and tomorrow are supposedly my weekend. From one job. But I had to go to Mrs. Fields today, ostensibly to fix the owner’s laptop. He didn’t bring his laptop. But I bought coffee, so he still let me in the shop. And I have to work there tomorrow. But I’m ready. Laundry is already done and put away. Though I’m still disappointed that I don’t have an actual, do-nothing day off this week. C’est la vie….

Almost a record….

I’ve had Windows 8.1 on my Tower for over a week. And we’re done. The issue de jour was when I restored my Steam backups. But my workaround for that was simple. Just copy the entire Steam installation from my laptop. When I went to restore my Origin games, my system froze. And then crashed. I’m now currently backing up certain files. And then I’ll probably go to Windows 10. Why not? It works on my laptop…

A Surprisingly Productive Weekend

I started out my weekend with the intent of doing nothing. Ended up doing quite a bit. Wiped my tower twice (seems like when I switch to a different OS, it usually takes a couple of tries to get it right). But I got everything going right on the second try. At least with my laptop, I still have access to a working computer. While the 1 tB of my data (documents and such) was copying over from my usb backup drive. I also adjusted the front brake of my bicycle (there’s something to be said about not wheels not squeaking and squealing at 1 in the morning). And I pulled out the pump and I put about 20 lbs. of air in my tires. I’m going to take my cargo rack off the bike as soon as the fenders that I ordered arrive. I was only using it as a rear fender, and I figured I might as well get a matched set.

Laundry was done yesterday, of course. But all things must come to an end, and it’s time to get ready for work tomorrow. Goodnight.

Try, Try, Try Again

Well, the first attempt at putting Windows 8.1 back on my tower went well at first. Got it installed, debloated, upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro, resized the partition, and got the updates installed. And then I couldn’t open the Windows Store. I tried all my tricks, and no luck. So, I’m starting over.

I guess it’s a good thing that I have a laptop….