Finals, and...

I'm getting down to the last few weeks of school.  Just past the drop w/a "W" deadline.  Last week was a bunch of panic about student's grades, and a lot of stress of G. Berg's retirement party and how much to charge.  Then the Grilled Cheese Invitational is tomorrow, I'll be spending the whole day helping out.  And then Easter is sunday, along with my mom's birthday.  It seems every day is filled with something to do, somewhere to take the kids, a stack of paper to grade, or a something I have to attend.

Next weekend is the retirement part, then the weekend after is finals, and the Cuddeback trip with Mike L.  Summer break, here I come! 

CycLAvia

I had a totally fun afternoon at the cycLAvia event.  I went by Rachelle's place and fixed up her fixie (mostly pumped up her tires, and diagnosed a broken spoke).  There was an amazing contrast between riding on Wilshire with buses, cars and general downtown craziness; and the arrival at the suddenly empty side streets feeding into the route.  And then, totally cycling bliss!  I laughed out loud so many times as I was surrounded by traffic jams of riders at the crossing points, at the sea of riders around, at blowing past stop signs in front of police, legally.  We rode to the bicycle kitchen, and had an awesome pizza and beer.  I haven't seen so many bikes outside of the playa.  wonderful!

back from my conference

Went to my annual chemistry teacher's conference this weekend.  It was an hour drive, last year was in SF.  It was also a bit smaller, but had some nice stuff.  A good talk on the value of on-line homework systems and how they actually do work.  A good presentation on the OWL system of on-line homework, and a chance to chat with more faculty I met last year, including the trio from East LA college, the fellow from Cabrillo college, the CCSF crew, the LA city college folks.

Spring Break

Just finished up spring break, a pretty uneventful one.  I cleaned all my bikes, gardened, went to a party at Patrick's.  Went skiing twice at mountain high, both times it was really slushy and warm.  Of course, as soon as vacation ends, they have the biggest storm of the year!  Back to the grind today, six more weeks until summer!

Nashbar touring frame build...

Everytime I build a bike, there that moment where you realize you need to order yet another part. This time, I found that the frame doesn't accommodate road brakes. Well, I could try and put long reach calipers on it, but I don't have any. So, I ordered some cheap v-brakes, and, after talking to forbes st the dojo, I ordered some new brake levers as my old ones won't be compatible with linear pull brakes.
I also had to order a front derailleur, as the frame doesn't have a braze point, and I don't have the right clamp.
So, I'm back to waiting for the ups man. I think I'll be able to build the whole thing in one swoop on the weekend. So long to wait.

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And so it begins

Building a new bike, here are the boxes! Nashbar touring frame and fork and crank. More to come...

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Birfday

I had a small gathering at the house for my birthday.  Linda got me the espresso maker I had been saving up for; yeah, espresso!  I was a nice time, I ate about 4 cupcakes, which were even better after a month of no sweets.  Speaking of which, I'll never not eat cake again.  But, not eating cake did make me realize that I had fallen into the trap of eating sweets at nearly every meal.  or instead of a meal.  After the initial indulgence, I'm trying to taper into a more reasonable carb intake.