Bicycle Repair Time

I finally fixed my front wheel. I had never done it before but it turned out to be easier and quicker than I thought to change a tube. It had been leaking very slowly for months, requiring me to pump it up before every trip. A real pain in the ass. But after taking it off the rim and submerging it in water several time failed to find the leak to patch, I finally bit the bullet and shelled out four clams (ouch!) for the new tube.
Great was my disappointment to discover I bought a dunlop valve tube, which doesn’t fit a regular pump; but greater was my satisfaction to learn that there are adapters and they are very cheap.

Even though I continued to squeeze the wheels before riding, I couldn’t help feel disappointed that the thrill of a properly inflated tire faded almost immediately. The imaginary Man-of-your-choice in the sky must have heard my prayers, because the back wheel was now rapidly leaking air slowly. And brother, that was a bitch, because the rear wheel is the one that bears the bulk of your fat ass. Even pumping up before a trip was not enough, before a kilometer was behind you the tire would bottom out on the smallest of bumps. In this town of cobblestone and tramtracks, it’s enough to make a man livid.

I was afraid to change the back wheel, because of the chain et cetera, but it turned out to be not so bad. And this time, the thrill remained and still does.

But just to make sure I learned my lesson, Gabriel broke my back light, which I then repaired, only to find he also broke my speed shifter. Actually, the hook that attaches to the cable that attaches to the speed controller snapped from fatigue. This is a part that is not so easy to replace, because it’s a Sturmey Archer hub. They are quite ingenious, really. But they require the constant pull of the tension cable to stay in gear. Thus, my bike is now stuck in third gear.

I’ve decided to wait a while before fixing that. It’s not that bad because Dresden is mostly flat until you get to the edges of the valley. (They used to call Dresden the Valley of the Clueless back in coldwar days because they couldn’t get West German TV signals, by the way.) But more importantly, I think it will keep my bike from getting messed up even more.

Long time no nuffin’

So it’s postarama time!

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re pretty excited about the Dylan show tomorrow. How can any punk band worth it’s salt do without a banjo player?

PC POOL DATES

There is only one date left, and it is for my Wednesday group: December 13 at 7:30. We are not meeting this week in the PC Pool!

I subscribe to a site that hooks up freelancers — I look for the flash jobs — and I couldn’t help but laugh:

Category: Graphic Design / Presentations / Multimedia
Description:
We own a peotry site and would like a total of 12 e-cards, to be sent to all
our members (+ 300). To be sent one per day before Christmas.

We will provide the poems who will be presented in stanses, with music and nice
images (different image per stanses).

PC POOL L2:

Follow this link:

Web Based Threats

Unfortunately, you’ll have to “register” for it. Just make stuff up.

The presentation is kinda long, but interesting. Answer these questions:

Give a list of the different web based attack methods the speaker mentions.

And

What conclusions does he make about how security software needs to change to combat future network security issues?

Please write it down and hand it in at the end of class.

PC Pool Time

Below is the plan for today’s PC pool class. There are five parts.

LISTENING
Working Abroad— 001 General. Listen to the audio, answer the questions. Read the transcripts and check your answers. There are five parts to this, the links are below the main block of text.

READING
Catch the Phish — Can you spot which examples are fraudulent?

VOCAB
Commonly confused words

GRAMMAR
Do the following:.
–Error Correction ex. 3
(scroll down)
–TOEFL Questions
–Test of Grammar & Vocab

FUNNY
Engrish.com.

New PC pool dates

here are the new dates for the pc ool:

Montags, 4.DS am 20.11.und 27.11.06
Mittwochs, 1.DS am 29.11.und 13.12.06
Freitag, 1.DS am 24.11.06

kindly note that there is no “P” in my ool — let’s keep it that way, huh? *dadum ching*

extreme pumpkins

-Mail that tax thing (check)
-Clean flat (sort of check)
-Pack for camp (working on it)
-Pay OTR tribute (here goes)

Old Time Radio Tribute: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar

Thanks to the magic of internet radio and broadband to make it possible, OTR is something I like to put on while I’m up and pottering around. And today I’d like to shine a spotlight on one of my favorite series: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Listen to episodes online here.

Dollar is a classic hardboiled investigator with a bit of a twist: he’s got an expense account and travels around busting bogus insurance claimants. The expense account makes him akin to our favorite hero 007. Still, while Bond tries hard to conceal this fact by spouting trivialities about fancy stuff that would make pre-revolutionary French aristocrats seem like phillistines, Dollar gives the lowdown of expenses (e.g. coffee, taxi rides, bribes to slimy informants). It’s something that strikes a chord in a listener, particularly one who, when the hero walks into a swank pad wonders, “how much would the rent be?” This show is planted firmly in both glamour and a very down-to-earth sort of materialism. I guess that combination is what makes it distinctly American. Folks must have liked it; it ran for a whopping 14 years and starred several different Dollars. More info here.