Publius & Co.

Friday Rat Blogging

The boys enjoy some tiramisu. From left to right they are Arthur, Misto, and Rabscuttle.

Victor builds a bike, Part One dot Five

The part I'm most nervous about in building this bike is getting the headset adjusted correctly. I'm using a threadless headset, which is supposed to be easier to setup and adjust than the old-fashioned threaded headset is to setup. I've adjusted threaded headsets, and I can testify: They're a pain. Adjusting one of those is definitely more art than science.

No matter which type I was installing, though, the headset has more small parts than any other part of a bicycle--except for the chain, I guess, but I don't know anyone who takes apart and repairs/adjusts their chain.

I'm fortunate I have one headset that seems to have been installed and adjusted properly: the one on the old frame. I'm even more fortunate I took pictures of the headset as I removed the handlebar and stem:

Top bits on the left; bottom bits on the right.

One minor problem is my new headset has more parts than the old one. Another problem is you'll notice the ball bearings, which allow the fork to turn smoothly, are in a bearing retainer. That makes it easier to get the proper number and size of bearings installed in the headset; OTOH, you have to make sure the bearings are facing the right way. In the pictures, you'll notice the bearings "face" toward each other. The mechanic I spoke with yesterday, and the manuals I'm reading, all say the bearings should face away from each other. It is, to say the least, a dilemma.

Should I screw up the installation and adjustment of this headset, I can take solace in the fact that a new headset and labor is relatively cheap.

Victor builds a bike, Part One

Late last month, I mentioned I had purchased a new bicycle frame off eBay, because I strongly suspect my old bike may not fit as well as it should. I suspect it's too big and it's darn difficult to make a large frame smaller, while you can fart around with a slightly small frame and make it seem larger (if you want the nasty details of why I think the bike is too big, re-read the story of my last ride of last season).

Today, armed with a little experience at taking bikes apart from a county class I took close to ten years ago, a cheap set of bike tools, a copy of Zinn & The Art of Road Bike Maintenance, and a pretty good mechanical aptitude, I started transferring the components from the old bike onto the new bike. Not that I've ever done this before, but why should I let inexperience stop me?

There is one part of the job I'm not doing. The headset is that part of the bike that connects the fork to the bike and allows it to rotate smoothly. Removing the old headset and installing the new one require special tools for both procedures, and I'm not spending more than $120 for two tools I plan to use only once. I farmed that job out to my local bike shop, who sold me a $30 headset and charged me five bucks for two-thirds of the installation. They forgot one piece needs to be pressed onto the new fork (yep, another tool) so I'll take the fork and headset by there tomorrow to get that part taken care of.

I know some home mechanics have made their own headset press using a nut & bolt with a couple of washers and brass bearings, but you can trash not just the headset but the bike frame if this job is screwed up. I'd rather have someone teach me how to use a real headset press rather than risk a frame with some homemade thing that I'm not real sure how to use anyway.

The old frame, at my stopping point. The only thing of any real consequence still on it is the front brake, but since the new fork isn't quite ready (see above) I've no real reason to take it off.

Handlebars, with the bar tape, stem, shifters & brake levers, reflector, computer mount, and bits of cable still attached. The little yellow things are flags I made to help me get the cables right...just in case.

(Oh, and the reflector? My gf is a safety professional, which means I get laughed at by other cyclists, but at least my bike is legal if I'm ever involved in an accident.)

The new frame, with the rear brake calipers, front derailer, bottom bracket, and crankset installed. The reddish-brown stuff on the rear dropouts is primer. There was a bit of rust at the rear dropouts so they get repainted. To be honest, the rust wasn't disclosed by the seller, but it was almost all surface rust--most of it came off with a steel toothbrush. The bit that didn't come off was where I couldn't get at it with a piece of sandpaper; a little Naval Jelly took care of it instead. The rear derailer needs to be cleaned first, and besides, there's no real reason to install it until I cover up the primer.

Next steps will be to get the fork and handlebar installed and the rear dropouts touched up. Derailers need to be cleaned and installed, along with the front brake, then cables get run and adjusted. After that, I risk life, limb, and my neck on my first test ride...which will be about a million laps around the block in case something goes wrong.

Daniel's "Five Things" Meme

Ted has commented on Daniel's, "Five things that people are wild about that I just don't get." Now it's my turn.

1. People who think Redskins fans are arrogant: Hey, just because your team sucks...

2. Prohibition: If it weren't for alchohol, I'd be up on the roof at work with a rifle before COB every day.

3. The anti-TV crowd: Good gravy, how can you live without American Idol and Survivor? What are you going to do at work the next day if you can't talk, email, and IM about what was on TV the night before...work?

4. Arianna Huffington, the Detroit Project, and people who torch SUV's: No, ninety percent of the people out there don't go off road, but they *do* need something to run over all those grocery carts in the parking lot that inconsiderate asswipes leave in the empty space next to where their hybrid "car" was parked instead of putting it in the grocery cart parking area.

5. New movies: You know, I don't go to that many movies either. It's cheaper to rent 'em later on...plus you get all those scenes that were cut out! Bonus!

NOTE: For the humorly challenged among you, the above is (mostly) satire. By "most" I mean numbers 1 & 5 are how I really feel. If Ted hadn't insulted Redskins fans, I probably wouldn't have said anything.

Friday Rat Blogging

Zoe using Roo as a pillow. Kanga is in the background.

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NOTE: Be sure to check out the Friday Ark over at The Modulator's place, for more animal pictures!

OK, this one is bizarre to the highest of bizarrstivity!

Darned if I can remember how I found this one, but it seems to be true enough, even though I can't find it on Snopes. But still, there's tons of photographic evidence.

Mike the Headless Chicken was...well, a headless chicken. He was supposed to be Mike the Main Course, but Farmer Olsen did a crappy job of cutting off his head. He missed the jugular and left most of Mike's brain stem intact (apparently, chickens don't have a lot of gray matter between their ears, which is actually pretty self-evident) and darned if Mike was so stupid he didn't realize he was supposed to stop running around the barnyard and start falling over dead. Anyway, he lived for a year and a half with no head, until the day Farmer Olsen forgot the syringe he used to clear mucous out of Mike's throat, and poor Mike choked to death.

I've been unable to find out of the Olsen's finally had that chicken dinner soon afterward.

Yep, I was eating lunch when I read this.

In case you didn't know, the Nats beat the D-backs, 5-3, last night. Go Nats!

One thing I like to do, and thanks to the power of the internet, I can do, is read the sports section of the hometown paper of whoever played my team last night, just to get their side of the story. Of course, you see other little things...like this in online edition of The Arizona Republic: the tapeworm diet.

I'm sure it sounded like a good idea at the time.

Friday Rat Blogging

The girls enjoy their snacks--freeze-dried peas, in this case.

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Makes sense to me.

Scott Adams may have figured out the secret to life. In the latest DNRC Newsletter he discusses a thought he had:

* Microchip designers often embed microscopic messages on the surface of the chip as a way of signing their work.
* DNA has a lot of "junk" parts that don't seem to have any function.
* A lot of people think evolution is obviously "designed" by someone.

I wonder if any cryptographers have looked at that junk DNA to see if it's a message from the designer. I'm guessing that it's a code that says something like, "I am Kaloopah, from the star system Nebulon IV. I have sent this evolution program into space as my eighth grade science project."

It makes absolute and total sense to me.

All the excitement of seeing the cherry blossoms without the obnoxious crowds

The gf told you about our day. What we were after was simple...beautiful sights that we'd never seen before.

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Reality was a lot different, and it's all on the other side of the fold.

Reality was people. Lots of people. Too many people and they're all in Washington, DC. John Paul Jones couldn't bear to look at it.

But from the good admiral's statue, all the gf could really see was...people.

Notice how the gf is wearing a bike helmet, but she's not riding one? We couldn't move for the people...and the traffic...

Let's drive around the tidal basin get stuck in traffic and look at the cherry blossoms!

Most of these people aren't even looking at the trees.

We were secretly hoping to hear, "Just twooo more steps, honey!"

We gave in--just chained the bikes to a lamppost and joined the Great Unwashed in their Promenade Around the Tidal Basin.

Sonuvabitch. There was a trashcan not fifty feet away.

(Yeah, we picked it up and put it in the trash.)

Tourists. Can't even decide where to look.

More tourists.

Do you know which memorial this is? Do the people on its steps? (Click for bigger.)

You know, it's not like the path is fifty feet wide here...and I'll let you apply the word "wide" to the guy on the left.

I thought I should tell these folks (the guy on the left was taking a video) they look better in real life.

Sure, I'll just video tape the wife walking along the path, completely oblivious to anything that might be in front of me.

The gf thought she had a bad idea? Howzabout the folks who thought they could have a nice picnic after church?

We thought this nice policeman was giving the cyclist tickets...till we figured out he was ticketing the cars.

Heh. (Click if it's too small.)

Ahhh...lovely trees at 17th and something. And there were tulips there as a bonus!

The dog on the left has the right idea.

Friday Rat Blogging

Jack doesn't like waking up any more than you do. George is in the back.

It's World Rat Day!

Sadly, it's a bittersweet World Rat Day for the gf and me. One of our boys, Mr. Ratburn, died unexpectadly yesterday morning. He had been to the vet the day before, for a minor respiratory problem; when we gave him his medicine in the morning, he was limp as a dishrag. Panicked calls to emergency vets (none of them would see him) and waking our personal vet up at 8 AM (which, to his body, was 7 AM because daylight saving time)...it was a very hectic and confusing morning. The gf knew he was dying, and at about 10:30 AM, half an hour before our vet agreed to see us at his office, he started gasping and shuddering before he breathed his last.

He was a sweet little double-rex, with a coat that felt like a Brillo pad. He and two of his brothers would frequently get into dominance games; at first, I thought Mr. Ratburn was the aggressor. Later I realized more often than not, he was defending himself from Misto and Rabskuttle (giving yet another example of the-second-guy-in-gets-caught theory). He was the first rat we held while he passed away, so I take some small solace that he knew we were there with him at the end.

Mr. Ratburn, last October

Not an April Fool's joke.

Found via Ted and the gf: Read this, leave a comment, and do your best for breast cancer research. Trust me on this one.

April Fool's Day Rat Guinea Pig Blogging

Primary Guinea Pig Harley:

Emergency Backup Guinea Pig Teddy:

For those of you looking for rats: April Fool's! Don't forget Monday, April 4, is World Rat Day!