Comedy gold:
Category: Uncategorized
The Day Of Grease
I had no plans for actual labor this Labor Day, but it kinda worked out otherwise.
Amy went to work, while the boys and I had a plan to take a bike ride before Asher’s nap. Before we could ride, I had to fix the flat on my bike (lousy patch job on the last flat). Last time I had a flat on the rear tire, I just left it on the bike instead of messing with the chain. This time, I planned on actually replacing the tube, so I got a little greasy with the chain. Easy repair though.
Next step was to hook up Asher’s tag-along bike to my bike for the ride. He hadn’t ridden it much, and I wanted it to be in good shape for the ride. I’ll spare the details but it took a half a dozen tries at various configurations before I finally removed my rear rack and used old inner tube to shim the tag-along clamp. More grease and I’m kinda frustrated now, since it took longer than I expected.
Ready to go? Not quite yet. Truman’s bike is at his cousin’s house. Load up the other bikes, and go get Tru’s bike. Kinda late now…need some food. We head to McDonald’s for take out on the way to the park where we’re planning to ride.
Wait! WHAT’S THAT NOISE? Sounds like something is seriously messed up somewhere in the front of the car. Lotsa thumping, especiallly when I apply the brakes. Not good. We pull over into the nearest parking lot to investigate. I remember that while I was working on the bikes, I briefly saw Asher squatting near the front passenger side tire. I gently ask him if he did anything with the tire. “No”, he replies. I’m sure he’s the culprit. We’re stopped now, so I question further, assuring him that he isn’t in trouble. Our driveway is gravel…I suspect there might be rocks in the brake shoe. Asher finally gives it up and we do a quick walkaround the car. He shows me where he put two rocks into the wheel. I investigate further and sure enough, there’s a large rock wedged between the wheel and the brake. I can move it around with my fingers, but it’s not coming out easily. Looks like more greasy hands on the horizon.
I head to the back of the car, empty out the kids bikes, figure out where the jack and tire iron are (they’ve apparently never been used before this) and get to work jacking up the car and removing the wheel. I get four of five bolts off and the rock drops to the ground. I walk it back to Asher and hand it to him, saying gently but firmly, “Never do that again.” He gets it.
Put the tire back on, replace the jack and stuff where I found ’em, load the bikes back in, and finally head to McDonalds. A quick bite, and no further complications.
We had a real nice ride around Champoeg Park. The bike odometer says we went 7.4 miles, which was pretty good for Truman. He only had to push his bike up one hill, though I did put my hand on his back up a couple of others. Asher was a champ on the tag-along and loved every minute of it. He also got lots of admiring smiles as we passed people. Must’ve been his attire. The shorts and cowboy boots are a trademark.
Asher had a looong nap when we got home, too. It was a good day to end the summer. Truman starts second grade tomorrow and Asher starts preschool next week. Onward.
Pray As You Go
I haven’t been much of a consumer of podcasts. Usually I’ll load a series onto my iPod and listen for a bit, and never finish an entire episode. Most of my listening so far has amounted to business or productivity-oriented podcasts. Some are nicely produced, some not so much. Regardless, I haven’t really found a podcast that can hold my interest. Until now.
The Pray-As-You-Go podcast (iTunes) is a very nicely produced series made by British Jesuits that focuses on a daily discipline of contemplative prayer. Each episode is about 10 minutes long, and follows a fixed format. The podcast format combines music and the spoken word to guide you into a mental stance of prayerful reflection and contemplation.
If you sometimes have difficulty with prayer longer than 60 seconds, you might try this out. It’s a really wonderful podcast, and I highly recommend it.
Water fight!
This is from a couple of weeks ago. I’m cleaning out the video camera today…
Posting from the iPhone
Just a quick post, written from the keyboard of the iPhone. Nice app, but kinda limited. Best used with straight text, since there’s no copy/paste function.
Geocaching with the iPhone 3G
There’s an article up today on TUAW about using the new iPhone 3G for geocaching. It’s a decent read, but following the process they’ve outlined is pretty painful. After using the iPhone to hunt down a few caches myself, here are some tweaks that I’d recommend:
- At the very least, as you go into each cache page on the geocaching.com Web site, just click the link on the left sidebar for Google Maps. It’ll transport you into the iPhone’s native map application and drop a red pin where the cache is. At this point, you can either proceed to the cache, or save the red pin as a bookmark for easy retrieval later.
- As the TUAW article points out, you can use the standard geocaching.com search tools to find caches near you. As some commenters noted, you can make liberal use of the Bookmarks feature to keep lists of caches you want to find in a particular area. Just visit that bookmark’s page to avoid all the searching. Also you can make nice collections of caches by using the “pocket queries” function (premium members only, I think).
Personally, I’ve had good success using all three options. I create a pocket query for the area and type of cache I’m interested in seeking. Then I bookmark the ones I’m going for. Then I visit the bookmark with the iPhone while in the field. Using the “Google Maps” link on each cache page, I’m able to easily correlate my current position against that of the cache.
Even so, all of this is kind of a hassle. I’m eagerly anticipating some geocaching applications to show up in the app store. I am personally acquainted with one developer who has made a very nice little app, and just received notification that he’s been approved to add apps to the store. And after reading that TUAW post, it looks like there are at least two other developers also racing to get a geocaching app to the store. Can’t wait!
One final note: before using the iPhone 3G to locate geocaches, I was using a Garmin 60CSx. That $400 GPS is an excellent unit. Unfortunately, I left mine on the top of my car and drove away, never to see the unit again. But having used both the 60CSx and the iPhone 3G to find caches in exurban/suburban environments, I haven’t experienced any notable difference in their accuracy. The dedicated Garmin unit has the advantage of being able to store maps and be used outside of cell/wifi range (the iPhone depends on a data connection to deliver Google Maps to the device).
Combine the use of pocket query results with the bookmarks function and the Google
Hai Karate
As a short appetizer, I offer:
And for your main course:
Not here to make friends!
Father’s Day Camping
We went to Tucker Park campground, just outside of Hood River, on Saturday. Had dinner in town and slept at the park. Spent the next morning bumping around Hood River. Very nice Father’s Day…thanks, family!
Not a wilderness girl
We’ve got this old running joke that Amy is “not a wilderness girl.” (You can ask her about the genesis of the phrase) It’s not as true as it used to be, but it’s still funny. Especially at times like this little clip.