Scattered Thoughts . . .

I wrote a few days ago about getting a new bicycle.  Each day, a new upgraded part arrives for this new bicycle so, little by little, I've been upgrading this rather basic bicycle.  I chose this specific bicycle because it had some features I wanted, the price was right, it was a larger model and I knew I wanted disc brakes of some sort.  I've had a difficult time finding larger bikes in summertime but a few popped up online after Labor Day.   Unfortunately, this bike arrived with giant fluorescent orange lettering across the whole bike frame.  In my opinion, the color orange is suitable for only oranges, pumpkins and some autumn leaves.  Fluorescent orange is not suitable for anything and should be eliminated as a color.  One of the first things I did was repaint the frame to cover up this fluorescent orange lettering.  The bike was already gray so all I had to do with order a flat gray primer and spray over the lettering.  The color m...

S heila took some much-needed time off yesterday afternoon so we headed up to Burlington for a change of scenery.  I was feeling rather lousy and my health was a bit unstable but everything turned out "okay" due to taking a bunch of extra medications throughout the afternoon.   Unfortunately, although it was dry, the weather was drab, overcast and very gray.  Also noteworthy is that Burlington looked like a run-down, filthy, abandoned ghost town.  There was graffiti everywhere and every building was covered in grime, dirt and chipped paint.  Burlington was on the verge of looking very much like a dying coal town. Traffic was almost non-existent.  Then, while we were walking around, we noticed that we saw very few other human beings.  Stores were empty.  Restaurants were empty.  A little bit afterward, I realized this was likely due to a lack of international tourism.   What was really bothersome is that all the storefronts were...

T his afternoon, I finally got out on my new bicycle for a short ride which was after a very disappointing and frustrating day. My morning started with a couple of packages arriving at the house.  This should have been good news because it was two packages for my new bicycle but both products are being returned.  I wasted about two hours screwing around with both of these products only to realize that they must be returned. The first product was a nice bicycle seat post that has a suspension within the post.  I installed it on my bicycle and rode down the driveway and up and down our bumpy road a few times and quickly realized that this suspension was doing nothing.  I noticed absolutely no difference between having this suspension seat post and having a normal solid seat post.  I packaged it up again and then set up the return online. The second product was a rack for the car to carry the bicycle so I can bring the bicycle to a few other areas for biking. ...