Word of the Day

Yesterday was one of.... "those days."  I went in to Holmes Cyclery to pick up my T-shirt, the one Trek bikes gave me for riding more than 100 miles in July.  The store has undergone a large renovation - it's very modern now.  My description of EZM Cyclery is based on the way it looked for years, and old store from the 1920's.  I didn't say the word of the day because... well, I was happy to pick up my gift.

I went to the store, did 4 loads of laundry, a little cleaning.  Got everything ready to make a quiche for dinner (mushrooms, asparagus, and Swiss cheese), and then went upstairs for a ride.  Squeezing my rear tire, I though it might be able to use a couple of pounds.  Bicycle tires have tubes so you don't really need to worry about them once they're pumped up.  Occasionally, though, you do need to add a pound or two.  I unscrewed my clutch knob to release tension on the back tire and grabbed my pump.  It didn't take much.  As a went to tighten my clutch knob, it clicked once and then spun freely.  Word of the day.  That's right, the damn thing broke.  I've had this trainer for 21 months....  I've only put air into that tire, oh, maybe 8 times.  Word of the day.  So, I went to the Cycleops website to see if I can order a new knob and... this model is "no longer available."  Word of the day.  I called Cycleops and they're send me a new clutch knob because it's still under warranty.   This surprised me.  The clutch knob is one of the things the warranty doesn't cover.

My clutch knob

I was more irritated rather than angry.  If I start to take this bike out on the road rather than the X6, that new knob is going to get turned quite a bit, which is why they're not covered in the warranty.  Word of the day.  The end result was I started looking at other trainers, ones that don't require a clutch knob.  And I began to rationalize the expense of a new trainer.  Sometimes that's an easy thing to do.  Of course, that also meant pondering about upgrading as well.  Till all was said and done, I ended up ordering one of these:

It's supposed to arrive tomorrow.  Since it was rather expensive, I will go to work for a little bit and then come home.  I don't want this little baby sitting on my front porch.

As for my Word of the day, I'm fairly certain it's not nearly as bad as Rudy Giuliani's Word of the Day.  And the Idiot Jerk's Word of the day?  Holy Shit!  And with 45% of the American people now saying the Idiot Jerk should be impeached, his base is beginning to shriek their own Word of the day.  And those Republican Senators up for re-election?  If they have to chose between their career and the Idiot Jerk, you know which way their vote is going to go.

As for my Word of the day?  Well, it's not just one word.  It's a phrase.  I'll give you a hint.  The first word is 'son.'

On day 2 of my StayCation

I got up at my usual time, 0500.  I'm having my car serviced, either at 0715 or 0730 - I didn't write down the specific time when I made the reservation.  Silly me.  Shit, I hope that's not what they call a senior moment.  I should have paid better attention.  After I made the appointment I got a notice, "add to calendar," which I clicked on - well,  the date was scheduled but not the specific time.  Shit.
Yesterday I completed my 100 mile challenge... barely.  I had just completed a little over 5 miles when I received an error message.  The route I was downloading failed and that shut down my system.  Everything stopped.  The video, which had been locking up briefly stopped and I was taken to the 'ride completion screen.'  I'd had ridden 3/4 of a mile past the necessary 100 miles.  Golly!  I wanted to put in at least 11 or 12 miles.  I will add those miles this afternoon.  And, what do I get for riding over 100 miles?  A Trek T-shirt.  It's should be read for pick-up at Holme's Cycling in Camp Hill in mid-September.  This is funny since I'm a Cannondale man and ride Cannondale bikes no Trek bikes.  Will I wear it?  Don't know.
My neighbor got a bull mastiff puppy.  He was out in the front yard yesterday doing the house training bit.  He and his wife already have one... but it must be around 6 or 7 years old.  I gave him a 'thumbs up' as I drove by.

Big dogs are great!

Update... my appointment was for 7:30 so I got here 20 minutes too early.  Shit

Starving the Ego

When I got this morning at 0500 the temp outside was 84 (F).  That's warm.  The forecast is for thunderstorms this afternoon.  They're supposed to be cooling things off for the next week.  People need to remember that these are the dog days of summer.
As for my Trek Cycling Challenge?  I have 4.5 miles to go before I hit my hundred miles.  That will happen this afternoon.  What happens when I hit it?  Well, I get this little badge for my Strava Account and a T-shirt.  If I managed to get a total of 500 miles in before the end of July, I'm entered into a contest to win a Trek bike.  I'm a Cannondale man, so that doesn't excite me too much.
The store is most likely not going to be busy today - the heat.  Those who do show up will be there to buy portable A/C units.  I don't understand their lack of fore planning. Every summer they show up, and then they white "that's all you have in stock?" We only get so many units.  Corporate does not keep shipping them in on a weekly basis.  When they're gone... you're shit out of luck.  Plan ahead.  Don't wait until we're in the middle of a heat wave to decided you want a little A/C comfort.  People do the same thing with snow blowers and shovels and icemelt.
And, of course, now I'm going to need to change my body wash.  Shit!  For years I've used Nivea's Body Wash for men for my after workout shower.  I like smelling fresh as a daisy, you know?  Well evidently Nivea has decided that they don't do gay.  What's is that their ad agency does... gay.  In fact, one of the owners is... gay.  So, the ad agency pulled an Nsync on them and sang "Bye, Bye, Bye."  There's no way I can support a company that doesn't do gay... you know what I mean?  So I'm in the market.  I'd like to avoid products by Unilever is possible since they do a lot of animal testing.  Suggestions are welcome.
Finally, I understand the Idiot Jerk in the White House is still verbally attacking Rep. Omar.  What I find interesting is that he's not making headlines... at least not the way he had been after his rally in North Carolina.  Fox News likes to smear around his shit, but most of the other media outlets seem to be playing it down.  There blurbs and and articles about racism, no doubt because his decision to play the race card is directly related to the White Republican Party.  However, there are no banner headlines and that must piss him off.  His ego needs feeding.  He does this by stoking anger and fear.  It's time we started starving that sucker.