Have You Decorated Your Easter Eggs Yet?

We had a little Easter Egg Deocorating party at my house.

This one is mine.


Here's a bowl full.

The bunnies held the dye. Fiesta ware is good for something.


This is a portion of the eggs.



These kids were pretty serious for a while.


Later, they had a competition to see who could make the ugliest egg.


My stomach felt a bit sick looking at these while the stench of boiled eggs still hung in the air.

The competition got out of hand when they began smashing the eggs in their grubby little hands and eating them on dares. We put an end to it then.

The Playmobil guy was helpless to stop the atrocities committed against the eggs.

A Somehwhat Narrow Sidewalk

I had my car windshield replaced last Friday morning. The glass shop told me it would take about 4 hours, so I dropped off the car and walked to a coffee shop to work using the laptop. The walk to the coffee shop took me across the bridge shown below. It's Lyndale Ave. over I-494 located in Bloomington, MN. The sidewalk is only wide enough for one person.

Take a close look at the sidewalk. The sidewalk is only wide enough for one person. If you walked across this and encountered someone coming toward you, one of you would have to step down onto the street. That would be a dangerous move, because this is not a street for pedestrians. The traffic lanes are very narrow and the car drivers are thinking about their next high-speed move.

The photo makes it look like the sidewalk might include some of brown stuff left of the snow-covered path, but it doesn't.

When I got to the other side of the bridge, I watched a city bus unload several people. Most of them walked over this bridge to their destinations. So the sidewalk is used frequently.

I believe they're replacing this bridge in the next year or so. I hope they improve the design for pedestrians. I have a feeling there will be more of pedestrians in the near future. I posted this, because I walk lots of places and I get frustrated by the terrible walking facilities. This is a perfect example.

I took the photo from the location of the red arrow in the satellite image below.

Star Wars Video

This Star Wars re-enactment is fun and proves that you don't have to do it well to be great.

New Blog Name

Given the number of comments the post about keyboard shortcuts received, I'm going to rename my blog Keyboard Shortcuts.

Trip to Museum with Family and Friend

We visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Sunday afternoon. Disclaimer: This post contains very little bicycle content.


My wife wants us to build a smaller version of this shelf for our house. But that's not my wife in the photo.


I was impressed by this chair. It doesn't look like it's strong enough though. Since it's behind glass, I'll never know. I took these photos in the modern commercial exhibit.

How big do you think this dog is? A photo that provides some scale is located below somewhere.


I enjoy perspectives like this stairwell.



The county jail? No, silly. It's an art museum.

The dog is huge. They had drawing supplies available at this exhibit. My kids enjoyed drawing most of all.
The security guys took the guy away in the blue shirt because he was doing inappropriate things with the dog.



If I get run over by a car, I want it to be by this car driven by an exotic looking woman smoking a cigarette in a long cigarette holder. She will be wearing high heels and she won't stop to help me. But she'll deeply regret the small dent my bike makes in the body work.
The car is a Tatra.

Sunday Ride in the Snow

I didn't get out for the Saturday Hiawatha ride again. My excuse this time is that I attended the DFL* Senate caucus for my district as a delegate. I and about 1100 others gathered at Roosevelt High school in Minneapolis to decide our party's platform and which delegates would go on to the next level. Other districts had their caucuses in other locations on this and previous weekends all over the state.

This was my first time serving as a delegate. Getting to the next level beyond this would take a committment of time and heart that I don't have. It was a great education though and I'd like to do it again. I once served on a jury for a criminal trial and found that to be a wonderful education about a slice of the legal system. I see serving as a delegate the same way. It provided me a small glimpse into the workings of a political party.
On Sunday, I went for a lonely ride. I mention that it was lonely, because I ride alone all week to work and I look forward to the group ride on Saturday. I have another conflict for this upcoming week, but I'll try to rearrange things to allow me to ride with the HC group.

With that in mind, I present the Lonely Guy Collection.




* For you out-of-staters, DFL stands for Democrat Farm Labor. It's Minnesota's Democratic party. It's a leftover from the days when the party was made up of farmers and union members. Those guys are nearly extinct now, but they kept the name anyway.

More Off-Topic Tips

If the topic of this blog is supposed to be something about bicycles, then this post is off topic.

I read a tip on http://lifehacker.com/ for getting to Gmail quickly: type g in the address bar of your browser and press Enter.

With that new knowledge, I tried to r for reader. That didn't work, but "reader" does. I tried b for blogger and that didn't work either, but "blogger" does. I'm a fan of keyboard shortcuts. It all started with WordPerfect for DOS. I think VI is pretty fun also, but I don't use it enough to retain the key commands very well.

My Daughter's Sketch Pad

My daughter has a secret sketch pad that includes lots of interesting things. When she falls asleep while drawing in her bed, I take a look.



This drawing is from the secret sketch pad. I don't know the story behind it, because I don't hear much yelling around here like the kind shown in the sketch. Maybe it's my daughter's fantasy to yell like that and she's feeling guilty for the thoughts. I don't know.

Glenn's Complete Bicycle Manual

I bought a used copy of Glenn's Complete Bicycle Manual from one of the Amazon sellers. It was a bargain. As I remembered the manual is full of very nice directions and illustrations for working on bicycles. It was written in the 1970s and reflects that time very well. Just check out the socks on the cover.

It contains detailed instructions for overhauling various hubs of the day, including the Komet coaster brake hub I recently posted about.


This girl reminds me of how my sisters dressed in the 1970s. The belt is right on.
This could have been me.


In the category of "strange but true," this mechanic dresses just like they do at Hiawatha Cyclery today -- mechanic's smock and neck tie.

Today's HC Ride and a Bold Comparison

I made it to the HC ride today. We rode East to St. Paul- into the wind. About two blocks from our food destination, Andre's front tire flatted. He brought the wheel into the cafe and fixed it. I wish I could do that when I have a winter flat. I mean drinking coffee while fixing a flat is pretty nice.Last week, I had a slow leak on my ride to work and decided to stop and fill it instead of fixing it. I had to fill it twice before I arrived at work. In warmer weather, I would have fixed it on the spot.

Another interesting thing about today's ride is that I chose to ride a bike that does not have studded tires. The ice has receded enough to make riding without studs pretty safe. The decision process I went through was notable, because I've become a real chicken regarding riding on ice. This is because I've become accustomed to riding studded tires and now think riding without them is dangerous. I only started riding with them two winters ago. Before that, I rode less in the winter, but I definitely rode on ice without so much trepidation. I've become a pansy and I blame studded tires.

I'll tell you why this subject is important. Riding studded tires is a compromise between safety (traction) and ease of pedaling. Studded tires are much heavier and I believe the studs slow you down. This is so noticeable that I've come to see studded tires like wearing a condom -- they almost ruin the feel of the bike, but I'd hate to have an accident.

Way Off Topic -- Vista Tip

MS Vista tip: to display the Task Manager, press Ctrl/Shift/Esc

*I'd post this on my work blog, but it's broken right now.

Komet Hub Identified

I found a bit more information about the coaster brake hub I mentioned in a recent post.

Thanks to those of you who helped me read the logo correctly. If my kids knew about the gaffe I made, they'd tease me. I mistook the word Komet for KonneA.

Anyway, the F&S.C stands for Fichtel & Sachs. The font used on the coaster brake arm is clearly the same as seen on other Sachs hubs. To see more, scroll down the page in this link to see the Torpedo logo.

I have Hubstripping.com saved in my RSS feeds. It's the site where I found this information.

Thanks to MichaelK for the tip on Glenn's Complete Bicycle Manual. I've wanted to find a copy of that for years. I'll order one. I checked it out a few times from the library as a kid. I'll probably get all nostalgic after receiving it and buy a rusty Varsity.

Three-Speed T-Shirt

I bought a new t-shirt at this weekend's Twin Cities Bicycle Swap Meet. It's an exploded view of a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub.


I love bike swap meets.

Coaster Brake Hub

I'm starting to get the old Hiawatha coaster brake bike put together. I disassembled the rear wheel and saved only the hub. The rim was doinked and the spokes were corroded.

I've never heard of the hub brand before: KonneA(?). Have you? It looks like a German word, but it doesn't have a "Made in XXX" anywhere.



I think the lubrication port is really nice. It looks like the hat the Tin Man wore.


It appears to be nicely made and it spins forever when I turn it with my hands. I've never found a smoother coaster brake hub. I just need some spokes and I'll get this bike running.

A Valentine's Party

We had a Valentine's Party at our house for nine 2nd grade girls (my daughter's friends). They made cards, decorated pink crowns, and decorated lots of cookies. It was fun and they were cute. Although, by the time it was over I was glad for an end to the squealing and screaming.We're still cleaning up sprinkes.

Things my Son Said

I was cleaning out a box of old papers and found a list of things my son said. This was probably from about two to four years old.

• The samurai monkey drank all my milk.
• My nose is untied.
• Welcome to my punch class.
• This is my rock and roll banjo.
• I have poison mittens.
• We shall have a funeral for the dough boy in my stomach.
• Welcome to my tickle class.

And one of my daughter's:
Some people celebrate Harmonica instead of Christmas.

Kill Clouseau!

Here's an article about New Mexico's supercomputer. A coworker wondered why a state needs a supercomputer.

Well, I've got the answer.

Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, is mad because he didn’t get the Democratic nomination. He’s a diabolical genius intent on ruling the world. His first plan was foiled, so he's moved onto plan B.

Plan B consists of gaining control of the Internet using the New Mexico supercomputer. After he controls the Internet, he'll take control of the world. Did you see the Pink Panther movies in which Chief Inspector Dreyfuss goes crazy and tries to take over the world? – similar situation. I can see Richardson wearing a cape, playing an giant organ right now.

Richardson even resembles Dreyfuss a little.


The question is: who is his Clouseau?

More Dog Poop Stuff

In one of my last posts, I told you about all the dog turds on the bike trails in the winter. Reverend dick added a comment with a link to this website full of fun with dog turds. Some people choose to have fun where others choose to complain (I'm the complaining type).

Watch the videos and look at the gallery.

It reminds me when I was a kid, I'd pile snow on top of dog turds laying on the sidewalk. I knew that some smart ass would have to kick my pile of snow. I don't like vandals.

Nice Packaging

I recently bought a 3-speed shifter cable on ebay. I haven't had the heart to break open the old packaging. I really like the illustrations.

Broken Spoke Photos

Here are a few photos of a spoke with a crack in it. I've never seen closeups of a nearly broken spoke and thought I'd put them out here.


The story behind this spoke is that I didn't use spoke washers when I built my most recent 3-speed hub. The old hub flanges are thinner than current ones. New spokes are made for the thicker flanges of the new hubs. I used new spokes on an old hub and that resulted in wiggliness in the fit of the spoke to the hub flange. Wiggliness leads to breakage. I broke two spokes before rebuilding the wheel with the proper washers. The spoke in the photo would be the third to break if I hadn't removed it.

Skillz Training

I woke up late this morning and missed the Saturday Hiawatha Cyclery Ride. So later in the day, I rode a few errands and stopped by Minnehaha Falls. It's frozen now and the target of someone with a message. I'm sure it was an important message, but I couldn't quite make it out -- something like "NOW."



The city is building a new pavilion and gazebos at the Wabun Picnic area at Minnehaha Falls Park. That would be a nice place to hold a bicyclist picnic in nicer weather. I counted one pavilion and 4 new gazebos. I've always wanted a gazebo. I'll have to settle for a shared one.




The skillz training came in because I had to dodge the numerous dog turds littering the bike trails. I don't know why, but in the winter I see lots more poop on the trail, left by miserable piece of crap dog owners. I'm glad most owners clean up their dogs' messes, otherwise it would be impassable.

There goes my G rating.