Those shiny things rock!

That’s my problem.  I really love shiny things.  Shiny things are the newest thing that comes out and looks super cool.  Most of the time they are super cool, but not always. 

So, this year my goal is to avoid the shiny things and use what I have.  That includes using the tools my laptop came with and not searching around for something cooler and shinier to download and take up much needed space on my hard drive.

My Toshiba laptop came with some pretty cool stuff.  Microsoft finally got its act together and gave a free version of all you need with Microsoft Office Starter.  For once, it won’t expire. 

It has a cool sticky notes program and snippet tool, and I’ve even grown to like google chrome and started using the apps that work with it.  I like it!  I’m organised and set.

I’ve even set a limit on how many programs I load.  Most are for learning (biblical hebrew, talmud, talmudic aramaic, modern hebrew, torah, etc), and I’ve got a couple rpg games (Fate). 

This new laptop could possibly go down as the only focused computer I’ve ever owned.  lol

Alas poor Mountain Rex, I knew him well...

No more riding MR until his wheels are trued.  I didn't realise how bad they were until I set my bike up on the stand in the living room and got it under an overhead light.  Wow!  No wonder I can't get the brakes properly lined.  So, now the task at hand is to take off both wheels and take them to Athens Bike Shop and have them trued.  Hopefully, it won't cost a fortune.

When I was reading the customer reviews for this bike, there was a guy there who said he had to have the wheels trued when he got his.  A bunch of others didn't.  Another guy had to completely replace the breaking system. 

All of this leads me to say, Mongoose, even though this is your extremely low end, dirt cheap, bike - you guys could at least send the wheels trued.

Off to begin the first stage of editing my nanowrimo.

 

 

Technorati Tags: mountain bike,mongoose mountain bikes

Mountain Rex's First Big Adventure!

Took Mountain Rex on his first ride to Walmart.  We got splashed by a big truck, then MR decided, "Hey!  Let's just splash ourselves!" as we rode through a deep pool of cold water on the road.  Needless to say, it was an interesting ride.

The best part about the 23 mile trip was having awesome suspension.  Next, would be my right knee not hurting.  I've never had a trip in yet where I didn't think my right knee would be shredded.  Quite a few people who ride bent bikes all have the same problem - trying to find the right way to pedal without our knees hurting.  So far, I've not mastered it.

On the downside, that bloody seat on the mountain bike, even with the new gel cover, is nothing short of brutal.   It was ok for the first 12 miles, but after that it was hell on earth getting back.

All in all, though, it was a great trip.  I could ride as aggressively as I wanted without worrying about killing the bike, and I got to enjoy getting out of the cottage after days of rain, and countless hours at the computer hammering out my nanowrimo novel, which got done 8 days ahead of time.

Total miles so far this month: 102.22.

The tally

After burying the 3rd cat/kitten in the past 4 weeks, I decided to do a tally of everyone who has passed on in the past 13 months:

Bindi (Aug 2010)

Kitty  (July 2010)

Pudgie  (July 2010)

Blackie  (August 2011)

Frozen Fred  (August 2011)

Frozen Matt   (September 2011)

Not Frozen Amy  (September 7, 2011)

White Boy  (May or June 2010)

Stanley (Summer 2010)

2 kittens who were Stanley’s siblings  (Spring 2010)

Wooki (Summer 2011)

____________________________________________________

12 cats/kittens total. 

_____________________________________________________

Still remaining:

Jeffie

Dougie

Conner

Alex

Abby

Spotty

Squeeky

Tiny Tot

George

Little Bo

Lillie  (It’s Skyla’s kitten, not mine.)

Piper

Chuck

Twitchy

TOTAL 13 + 1 not mine

_______________________

It’s been a tough year.

Parents, Kids and Pets

The title should really be irresponsible parents, their irresponsible kids and killing pets for no reason, other than it’s a tradition or trend to have a particular pet.  Prepare for my k’vetch.

To my right, across the yard, in a pen is a dying dog named Emmy.  Emmy is the by-product of a couple kids saying, “Oh she’s so cute!!! I want her!!!”  Of course, in this generation of see, want, buy – the kids get the pet.  The parents know full well, unless they’re in some sort of sick denial, that their kids are irresponsible, and will not take care of the pet. 

However, the kids will run around telling everyone how wonderful their pet is and how much the love the pet they totally ignore.  The irresponsible parent’s try to pass the buck by saying, “If you get the puppy or kitten, you’re responsible to take care of it.  We’re not helping you.”  So when the moment comes that the pet needs to go to the vet, the parent will say, “I told you, it’s your responsibility.  We don’t have the money to take your pet to the vet.”  However, there’s always plenty of money to waste it on constantly eating out, rather than actually cooking a respectable meal. 

Meanwhile, the pet suffers because no one wants to take responsibility.

It’s shameful.  People like that have no business having a pet.  It’s cruelty to animals – literally. 

So!  I’m taking care of the pet and trying to get it put to sleep.  Unfortunately, not being able to drive and living 8 miles from the vet I can’t get it there myself.  I know very few people and none of them are available to help me get Emmy to the vet.  If it wasn’t for me, Emmy would have no water.  Emmy would have no food, because she can’t eat unless she’s hand-fed.  It’s shameful and right now I’m absolutely furious over the whole thing.

Sadly, same person who has the dog, is about to kill a sweet little cat as well, while all the while claiming (as the dog has been) how much they love the cat and can’t wait to take it home……blah blah blah….so they can kill through neglect.  I hate to see this little cat die.  It’s precious, and thankfully I’ve gotten to care for it over a month, so at least it’s had a good life, which is something it won’t experience later.  I hate this.  And right now, I’m hating every irresponsible person in the family for being abusive to animals. 

Stupid, idiotic, irresponsible, moronic, immature, redneck trash.

There, I’ve had my k’vetch and I feel a little bit better.

I’m sorry little Lillie, I wish I could protect you from the horrible fate that awaits you.  I wish I could stop it.  You don’t deserve what they’ll do to you.

Birds-eye view of where I live!

The farm is the 3 fields that look like a golf course, plus all the woods which goes back a bit further on the right than what’s shown.  It comes to 300 acres.  If you look southwest of the pushpin tip, there’s a cluster of white buildings nestled in that little corner of trees.  That’s where I live. If you squint really hard, you can see the pond east of the tip.  : )

The Farm

Some days you just have to stop

Maybe it’s the heat that's getting to me, because otherwise I can’t come up with any other excuse for why I’m not being productive.  I’ve had so many opportunities lately, but nothing is getting done.  The thing is, for every day that I don’t meet my goals – I lose money.  But as the honey badger t-shirt says, “DON’T CARE!”  Way too much of me really doesn’t care.  That’s scary.
Hoping tomorrow will be better. 

Feeling like a geezer

Ever since last Wednesday I’ve been so sleepy.  I can be sitting in a chair and wake up whenever wondering when the heck I fell asleep.   Took till today for me to figure it out – it’s taking my bloody meds in the morning.  Lamictol makes me sleepy.  Zanaflex makes me sleepy.  I’m taking them both at the same time.  No wonder I can’t keep awake.  LOL

Meanwhile, Alex the Farting Cat is doing his best to keep me awake – or trying to make me pass out. 

Deadly noxious fumes keep seeping from his butt, which is strategically located directly below my nose.   

Gears, gears, gears

No luck getting my gears working right.  Really close - but sooo far.  Anyway, Bent Rex should be running full speed Sunday, complete with canopy.  : ) 

A gut shabbos and a great weekend!

The Return of Bent Rex!

With Scooter Rex down and in the repair shop, I've had to pull Bent Rex out again.  I've avoided him like the plague because of my right knee being blown out and still giving me problems from a couple years ago when I was nearly taken down by 3 dogs hell bent on killing me.

But now, I don't really have a choice but put the ol' guy back in action.  Out of curiosity today, I decided to pull up my old records from bikejournal.com and see what my best year was and figure out how many miles I've ridden.

2005 - 1,057.57 miles
2006 - 465.86
2008 - 28
2011 - 10.60

Total:  1,562.03 miles  (That's almost as many as I have on Scooter Rex.)

The missing years are ones where I either didn't feel good due to Dystonia or my right knee was too squishy to ride with or the dogs got the best of me and I just didn't see the point in being eaten alive.

What surprised me by the figures was how many miles I managed to pull of in 2005 when I didn't feel all that great.  Can't wait to see what I can do in 2011 or what's left of it.  : )