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2010 Goals

Resolutions suck.  I never follow through.  So this year I’m setting some goals for myself instead.  These will all be closer to reasonable than impossible, and are guidelines for living better and doing more of the things I like.  I don’t expect to stick with all of this all the time.

Bike stuff first.

  1. 2400 miles.  That’s 200 miles per month, or 46 and change per week.  I’ve done this before and it shouldn’t be a problem to do it again.  Seriously, I ride 9 miles per week just getting the Molly to pre-school and back.  That leaves 37 per week to go.  Throw in a couple trips to the grocery store and a bike club D ride or two and it’s done.  This is a reasonable goal.
  2. Bike 180.  This started as a Flickr group last year whose members had a goal to ride 180 days during the year.  While I don’t really care about the Flickr group, the concept is kinda cool and goes well with the mileage goal.  In fact, they’re probably mutually inclusive.
  3. The 2 Mile Challenge.  I did this, more or less, during 2008 but really slacked off last year.  You can click the linky-link and read all about it.  The short version goes like this.  Get a map.  Draw a circle with a 2 mile radius around your house.  Don’t drive your car to any of these places.  Ride your bike or walk.  Andy over at Carbon Trace emphasizes the 1-Mile Solution.  It’s the same basic concept, but the circle is smaller and it only replaces one car trip per week.  Either of these is good and, IMHO, deciding where you need to get to on a regular basis and how much of it you’re willing to get to without a car is a step in the right direction.  If it’s within a couple miles there’s not a significant increase in time, it costs less than driving the car and it causes exercise to happen.  Those tree hugging hippies also tend to think that it saves the planet or some such.  These are all good things and, most of all, this is a reasonable goal.  I’m not going to lie to myself or you and claim that I’ll never drive the car to anything within 2 miles of my house, because I will.  As of right now I have no way to transport an extra large Hawaiian pizza from Villa Roma on my bike.
  4. Go bike camping more.  I went twice last year and once the year before.  There’s no reason I can’t throw in 2 or 3 S24O trips during the non-Winter months.
  5. Organize a themed ride.  I’ve been wanting to do this since I first read about the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour and l’Eroica.  Perhaps a Roadster Ride or a Steel Rim Ride.  With tweed and a brew up.  Bring your pipe and smoke it.

Weight loss.  I’m fat.  I like to eat.  I like to feel full.  I have no will power.  (Yeah, sure.  I quit smoking “cold turkey”, but I can’t quit eating.  Eating is not an all-or-nothing undertaking and I’m simply not going to subsist on protein shakes.)  My initial thoughts a couple years ago were to continue eating as I always have but burn more calories.  This, in theory, is not a bad plan.  Unfortunately, when I burn more calories I desire more fuel.  Fuck.  One year ago I weighed 247 pounds.  That’s a lot and it’s the most I’ve ever weighed, before or since.  I managed to shave off 20 pounds and then put half of that back on.  237 is better than 247, but it’s still too damn much.  20 pounds is a reasonable goal, and if I stick to the bike stuff up above it’s shouldn’t be hard to do at all.

Surroundings.  I have a bunch of stuff.  Much of it is in boxes in the basement.  It might not be a bad idea to get rid of something every time I bring something new into the house.  More or less.  The trash guys are going to hate me.  I also need to build some shelves and declutter the rest of the house.  This is my least favorite goal but it needs doing.

Photography.

  1. Shoot more.  I barely shot anything at all last year.  The MX is begging for just a couple more rolls.
  2. Build a portfolio.  Or maybe assemble a gallery show, even if I don’t have anywhere to show it.  Something like that.
  3. Print! Print! Print!

I have a few more goals that involve family and friends and spending less time on Facebook, but they’re not something I can quantify, so I’m not going to write about them here.

Happy new year!   Where’s the pie?

Posted 10 January 2010 † the Sloth § Photography § Fat ass § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

Dura-Ace! Dura-Ace!

Hold on a sec while I clear out the cob webs.

Tonight’s fun involved Dura-Ace hubs laced to beautiful Mavic MA-40 rims.  Seriously, who wouldn’t want that?  Probably most folks once they learn they’re dealing with Uniglide.  For the uninitiated, Uniglide is Shimano’s pre-Hyperglide cog technology.  It was coolio in the 80s, but it’s incompatible with pretty much everything these days.  Or, rather, everything these days is incompatible with Uniglide.  And that’s where the fun starts.

I got these wheels a couple years ago before I knew the difference, but I figured it out real quick.  The rear wheel went on a hook and the front wheel ended up on Christie’s little green mixte.   Once I found a new front wheel for the mixte I started thinking about my Dura-Ace “wheel set” again, and St. Sheldon had the answer - grind off part of the wide spline on each cog of a Hyperglide cassette.  For those of you who are still reading and who don’t have a clue what I’m rambling on about, this picture right here should help clear things up.  I have in my possession two old Hyperglide cassettes, an “i” and an “ac”, plus the first two Uniglide cogs, a 13 and 14.  And that, folks, is the makings of one weird block.  I also have a NOS hub body and the tool to extract the old one.

Following much grinding, cursing, grinding, filing, fitting, unscrewing, cursing, wrench-to-head whacking and general mechanical agitation the Dura-Ace rear wheel is fully functional with a 13-14-15-18-21-24-28 cassette.  I also managed to scrounge a NOS 600 Ultegra rear derailer.  This drive train is going on the Nishiki International, with a Symmetric down tube shifter, just for shits and giggles.  There will be more about the Nishiki.  I promise.

In other news, I’m almost done removing the paint from the braking surface on the Trucker’s front wheel.  Ugh.

Posted 16 December 2009 † the Sloth § Bloggity § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

The collection

Last time I mentioned that Christie’s Grandmother had given us a typewriter.  It’s an 70s era Olympiette 3 portable.  I haven’t taken any photos of it yet, but this one on Flickr is identical.  The few pages I’ve managed to bang out on it have taught me just how little strength is required for a PC keyboard, and the crack of the type bars against the paper and platen is wonderfully alarming.  But it needs a little attention.  A CLA, for you camera folks.  Should I do it myself?  Should I send it out?  And what do I type on while it’s out of service?

Good question.

Yesterday, I bought a Remington Rand Letter-Riter from a local woman.  Found it on Craigslist.  It needs a little work, too, but either is useable until one of them is cleaned.  Christie says my collection is complete.  Actually, she said some words that aren’t PG, so I won’t repeat them here.  Fair enough.  Besides, how could I possibly need more than one typewriter?

Bree has one that types in italics.  An old Underwood No. 5 would be relatively inexpensive and it has those nifty round keys with the chrome rings.  A noiseless for train travel.  And I saw one with a math keyboard.  Can’t live without that.  I hope Christie doesn’t read this.

Posted 30 August 2009 † the Sloth § Typewriter ‡ Comments (2)

2nd Annual Bone and Sloth Gorge Ramble

Or something like that.  Now that I’ve got the food rant out of my system, we probably ought to get down to business.  Last year, about this time, Bone and I started talking about a bike ride down the Pine Creek Rail Trail.  We went in October and had a grand time.  (We did have to cut the hookers into small pieces for the benefit of the boy scouts we met along the way, but that’s neither here nor there.)

We’ve both mentioned doing it again.  October was nice last year.  Couldn’t complain about the weather.  The weekends of the 3rd, 17th and 24th work for me.  Who’s in?

Last year’s fun:

http://bonius.com/blog/2008/10/05/pine-creek-rail-trail-camp-out/

http://twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/?p=114

p.s. - When I decided to call this the “Bone and Sloth” something or other, I did so simply because I thought it would be polite to not list my name first.  But if you say it real fast it sounds kinda dirty.  So I changed it to “Sloth and Bone”. Immediately after typing it I realized that the dirty version is not only more polite, it just sounds better.  So say it fast.

Posted 24 August 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (7)

Open Letter to the Food Industry

Dear food company executive nincompoops,

Prices go up.  We, your fat and sassy customers, know this.  It never goes down.  Not for long, anyway.  We know this, too.  As citizens of the fattest nation anywhere, anywhen we’ve eaten a lot and we know what tastes good.  We’re experts.  We also know when you’re yanking our chain.

It was bad enough when the Consumerist shone their hypocrisy exposing light on your shrink ray.  We thought you’d get the fucking message.  But no.  Your ears are apparently full of all that ice cream that’s not sold in half-gallons anymore.  Allow me to say this one more time.  ICE CREAM IS SOLD IN HALF-GALLONS YOU TERMINALLY RETARDED, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS JACK ASSES.  We know it got more expensive.  Just raise the fucking price like everyone else.

Today, you short bus riding twits, my uber-healthy microwave lunch tasted like crap.  It didn’t used to taste like crap.  It used to be edible.  But now, crap.  I imagine the price of basil went up a whopping 2 cents per bushel or something like that and it made the bean counters’ knees jerk too hard.  So the old men in the ivory tower just decided to leave the basil out and put feces in.  Because us food experts won’t notice.  Great move.

You inbreds in the food industry suck.

Sincerely,

Fuck you.

Posted 24 August 2009 † the Sloth § Fat ass ‡ Comments (1)

Typewriter

Christie’s Nana let us bring home a typewriter that she couldn’t sell at the yard sale.  Olympiette 3 portable.  Orange and creme.  Retro chic.  I banged out a page on it this morning after flipping the ribbon, even hit every ‘a’ twice.  My left pinky has no strength.  Hunt-and-peck typists are no longer a pet peeve.

Starting up the diet again.  The bike rides have dropped off and the fat has stacked up.  247.5 lbs this morning and that scale, well, that fucker don’t lie.  The old one lied sometimes.  This one doesn’t.  I hate it.

Cigarettes were easy.

Posted 24 August 2009 † the Sloth § Typewriter § Fat ass ‡ Comments (0)

LHTMF!

We drove over to the Pedal Pusher yesterday afternoon to pick up my new bike.  After about a half an hour, some new bottle cages, rack hardware and a couple handshakes we loaded it up on the rack and went to dinner with the girlies.  Christie took some pictures when we got home.  This one is my favorite.

From LHTMF

Of course, one of the reasons I chose the Trucker over a handful of other tourers is due to its accommodating nature.

From LHTMF

Thank the gods for that, huh?

15 or so easy miles rolled out behind us last night.  No one honked a stupid horn or shouted sidewalk curses.  I guess those same gods were looking out for us on our maiden voyage.

LHTMF!  You can figure it out.  You really can.  But for what it’s worth, it’s not mine.  The fine folks over at Point 83 apparently have a few in their group and came up with the phrase and some rules.  Credit where credit is due and all that.

The wife type person has declared herself to be the LHT Widow.

Posted 16 June 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (3)

Sunday morning ramblings

Rolled out at 6:45 or so on the Collegiate and ambled over to the island for the Sunday morning bike club ride.  The pot hole parade explored a bit of Harrisburg and I got to trade bikes with Bill for a little while and try out his very snazzy Traveler’s Check.  14 miles plus the 10 I did last night.  Slow and easy.  I don’t like being out of breath.

The Spotmatic got a workout this morning.  I exposed a few frames on the island before the ride started.  It figures that the kitchen needs to be cleaned before any film gets developed.  The light meter is acting kinda wonky, so it may take a trip to Tennessee for a CLA while I use the K1000 for my little project.

I’ll be 34 next month.  I guess I’m officially into my mid-30s.  Whoever decided to notate time needs an ass whoopin.

Flickr has quite a few groups dedicated to manual cameras and film photography. This one has the best group name.

Posted 07 June 2009 † the Sloth § Photography § Pentax § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

Name your axe

A few years back a fellow by the name of Mike Johnston used to write a weekly/monthly/occasional column called “The Sunday Morning Photographer”, and sometimes he wrote about some really interesting stuff.  Like how the Pentax Limited lenses are the best autofocus lenses on the market right now and how the photo industry hasn’t figured out that some of us want a digital camera that doesn’t try to do things a camera shouldn’t do.  He would also write columns about improving our photography, like this one.  I did something very similar after reading that article with a K1000 and an M28/3.5.  By the time I finished that little exercise I felt like my photos weren’t half bad.

The last couple years I haven’t liked my pictures very much.  Perhaps I’m taking them too seriously or not seriously enough.  Or maybe I’m just a bad photographer.  Really, though, I just need to focus and pay attention to what I’m doing, which means I’m going to limit the distractions, photographically speaking.

It sure looks like Mike is up to his old tricks.  He went and wrote a few more articles about using a Leica and one lens for a year.  Here and here and here.  Read them in that order.  In my opinion, the Leica isn’t necessary.  Mike wrote that from his point of view because he did it with a Leica and that’s what he knows (at least, that’s what I got from his articles).  You could say basically the same things about spending a year with Hasselblad or a Spotmatic or whatever.  Each of those cameras is going to impart a different way of seeing, of working, of taking pictures.  Also, there is the Leica tax, which is the thousand dollars you’re going to have to spend, minimum, to get a functional double-stroke M3 and a 50/2.8 Elmar.  Lots of folks say the tax doesn’t really exist, because once you spend your year with the camera you can sell it for at least what you paid for it.  I think that’s true, but I don’t have a thousand dollars right now to dump into a camera and I want to get started, which means the Leica is out.  Not that I need it, but Mike was generous enough in that third article to give us permission to use whatever we have on hand, so long as it’s MMM (metal, manual, mechanical).

Name your axe.

I picked the Pentax SP500 with an SMC 55/1.8.  I’ll be shooting Arista Premium, which, by most accounts, is rebranded Tri-X for half the price.  Since I don’t have any at the moment I ran over to the drug store and overpaid for a couple rolls of 24 exposure 400TX. There’s a new pouch of Xtol around here somewhere and I’ll soup it in that.  Negatives will be scanned and prints made using Nicholas Hartman’s methods for “single black ink”.  Christie says I should get off my ass and build the damn darkroom already, or something like that.

And that’s that.  One year with a Spotmatic and Tri-X.  A few rolls a week and more printing than I’ve done in my whole life.  This is gonna be fun.

Posted 06 June 2009 † the Sloth § Photography § Pentax ‡ Comments (2)

In the bag

Grant Petersen over at Rivendell Bicycle Works has a lot to say.  If you’ve never heard of GP or Rivendell or the iBOB mail list you’d do yourself a great disservice to continue on in ignorance.  I don’t always agree with everything the big man says, and neither should anyone else for that matter, but he’s been around the cycling industry for a long time and his words carry some weight.  He’s worth listening to, in my opinion, even if you don’t like what he has to say.

That said, I’ve been mulling the idea of responding to some of GP’s writings here on the blog.  I’m not out to agree or disagree, or to start flame wars or get under anyone’s skin.  Just to compare and contrast and maybe learn a little. There’s a new “GP” tag for this post and I’ll use it in the future when it’s called for.

“In the bag”, the title of this little entry, is a reference to the article about bag contents in issue 41 of the Rivendell Reader.  Page 40 is where it all begins.  Those guys carry some interesting stuff, from the normal tube and multi-tool to rubber gloves and what appears to be one of those little sacks that hold tent stakes.  Here’s mine:

Spiraling Clockwise from the top left.  Yellow tire levers.  A tube still in the box.  Notepad with pencil from the last club ride where they decided I should lead so I wrote down everyone’s name just in case I led them over a cliff and someone needed to identify the bodies.  Park multi-tool (with it’s own tire levers).  Two spoke wrenches (I doubt either fits).  A sliced-apart Hannah Montana free download card next to the carabiner it was attached to when I found it on the road.  Super glue (still sticky, as I so gracefully found out).  A Brooks saddle spanner (the saddle is on a different bike).  A little baggy with random odd nuts and bolts and a brake cable.  A Clif Bar wrapper.  And a patch kit.

Holy batflaps!  Ironically, the bike these were on has a solid rear axle, but I haven’t been carrying around the wrench that will actually let me drop the wheel if I get a flat.  Go figure.   My little Nashbar front rack bag has become my bicycle’s glove box.  Going back in are the multi-tool, tube, patch kit, tire levers, spoke wrench (if one of them fits) and a 15mm box end for the rear wheel.

What’s the moral of this story, you ask?  That Scott is a pack rat, that’s what.  De-cluttering now.

Now I just have to figure out which Hanna Montana song I want.

Posted 19 May 2009 † the Sloth § GP § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)