Sunday, March 31, 2019

2019/03/31 - Tire Levers

Tire Levers
I’ve used these tools for a long time but I’m embarrassed to admit that I never knew what the hook end is used for. 

I thought it was used to break away the tire from the rim. I have to admit that I supected that I was using it wrong, because it would typically crack and break off. 

DOAH! I feel like such an idiot. 

Sometimes changing a tire and tube can go smoothly, but sometimes it’s a royal pain in the ass, especially during a ride. 

I got a flat last week 4 miles away from home. I tried filling it with compressed air, hoping it was just a slow leak, but it went flat again, right away. I chose to walk the bike home rather then go through the hassle of changing it outdoors. 

I’ve been changing tires for years, but like I said sometimes it doesn’t go smoothly, and I suspected that I was possibly doing something the hard way. So I went to YouTube and watched a short video. 

Then I saw what the hook was for. 

Jeff is probably laughing as he reads this, but just in case I’m not the only idiot out there:

Once you grab the tire away from the rim with the flat side of the tool, you use the hook to wrap around a spoke and free up your hand. 

I was always holding it down with one hand while working another tool, and sometimes running out of hands before getting the one side of the tire to totally break away from the rim. 

DOAH!


Wednesday, March 27, 2019

2019/03/27 - Rap Music

I’m not a big fan of Rap music, but one thing that’s great about Rap is that it makes you listen to the words. 

That may sound obvious and a little dumb, but it’s the opposite of the music that I grew up with. 

I have about a million songs in my head, most of which I can whistle the melody note for note, but can hardly remember more than a few lines of words. 

I think with Rap it’s the exact opposite. 

And when I do listen to the words of some of my songs, I’m sometimes very surprised. 

For example, did you know the The Beach Boys classic “Help Me Rhonda” was about a surfboard named Rhonda?

Or that “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul was about cheating?


Tuesday, March 26, 2019

2019/03/26 - Getting old

As I mentioned in a previous post, the doctor scarred the shit out of mom last Wednesday.

By Saturday, we still haden’t heard from the doctor. She said she would get back in 2 days. 

Meanwhile I got a notice from Kaiser that mom’s test results were in. I checked them and something looked very BAD! This one kidney test showed a result of 171 and normal was less than 30. 

I wound up making an appointment as “Jeanne”, but planned to show up as her son to speak with the doctor alone. 

Bad idea. When they called her name to go into the private waiting room, they noticed that I wasn’t an 89 year old woman. What was their first clue?😎

And when I told them I just wanted to talk to her doctor alone, they said OSHA wouldn’t allow it. 

Meanwhile mom was calling me, leaving crying messages. I was on line at Kaiser when I got them.  

“Why aren’t you answering the phone? I know it’s bad news and you’re afraid to tell me” 

Soon after, her doctor called me and said her kidney functions are stable, even better than the last test!

And she said the 171 number was not bad for an 89 year old kidney. 

Mom was relieved to hear the news after 4 days of worrying like a psychotic.

Somewhere alone the timeline, mom asked me “What should I do?”, meaning the choice between dialysis and a painless death in her sleep. That’s a heavy question I won’t answer. She has to decide for herself. 

The 30-something doctor never should have been so nonchalant when talking about death choices. 

Have a little empathy for us older folks. 



Monday, March 25, 2019

2019/03/25 - Does this look good?, Now allowing comments



I guess I’m old fashion, preferring the Marilyn Monroe body type, but this looks awful to me, almost scary. It looks like a pretty woman with a skinny man’s stomach. Kind of creepy. 

....

BTW... I updated this blog to allow comments. Please test it. 

Saturday, March 23, 2019

2019/03/23 - I Used to Could, Fish Love

Do you know the Mark Knophler song “I Used to Could”?

I never heard that expression until I dated a woman from the hollers of Tennessee. 

Debbie: “I don’t do it now more, but I used to could”.

———

I’ve raised tropical fish all my life, but never before had a relationship with one. I never felt a friendship until now. 

I got two really big fish in my 125 gallon tank. They were sold to me 4 years ago as Silver Dollars, but I knew better. They might have long lost cousins that were Silver Dollars, but these two were something different. Turns out they are Pacu, which is a relative of both the Silver Dollar and the Piranha. 

They are like vegetarian Piranhas! Seriously, they don’t eat the other fish so I can keep schools of little fish like Neons with them, and they don’t bother them. 

I recently noticed that, while all of the dozens of other fish in the tank are just swimming around aimlessly, the biggest Pacu is at the front of the tank just watching me. And when I turn around and look at him, he reacts with a little wiggle. He or she likes me. 

It’s kind of spooky. 

Thursday, March 21, 2019

2019/03/21 - Pedophile?

“Show me the way to the next little girl
       Oh, don’t ask why...”

Does that sound like a pedophile to you or what?

It’s actually a line from a Jim Morrison 1967 song: “Alabama Song” (Whiskey Bar)

I don’t think old Jim could service in today’s Me Too culture.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

2019/03/20 - Big Day

My day started out with my iPad not opening. I've had this problem before, but I was always able to eventually open it. I also know figured out that it happened every time I let it charge overnight, so I stopped  doing that. I knew there was  a problem, but I found a workaround. I don't like driving to Apple in Boulder. 

Then I got a notification saying that I had to bring mom to Kaiser at 11:00 AM.

I made an appointment to fix the iPad with an Apple "genius" in Boulder at 1:25 PM, so from 10:30 AM to almost 3:00 PM, I was busy with these two chores.

Turns out my iPad battery was fried, and they gave me a brand new replacement for $99! I was elated!

The doctor's appointment did not go as well. Mom’s kidney function was a little worse than the last visit. But that's not unusual, in the past it had gone up and down. 

Instead of just saying "We want to monitor your kidney function. We should check it every 3 months", she told her that if it get's much worse she would have to go on dialyses or die a painless death in her sleep, and asked her what she would prefer.

Mom was in no condition to respond. At this point she was crying and shaking. The doctor tried to calm her without success.

I told her not to worry, that if it stays the same, she would be ok for the rest of her life (and to drink plenty of water).

Then I went for a bike ride and had to abort because of bike problem which I will figure out tomorrow.

Later,
Steve

Friday, March 15, 2019

2019/03/15 - No Problem

When did “No Problem” become an acceptable response to “Thank You”?

Whenever I say “Thank You” to someone, inevitably they reply by saying “No Problem” or “Not a Problem”. When did that become an acceptable reply? How could my thanks be a problem?

I was brought up to say “Your Welcome” when someone said “Thank You”. 

“No Problem” is more of a reasonable reply to “I’m Sorry”.