Gone like Flont

I'm no longer here. I've packed my things and moved across town. You can now find me at http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/. If your employer's pr0n filter says my site is pornography (it's not, and never has been), you can read the blog at http://s204106255.onlinehome.us/twosixteen/fivetoedsloth/.

Thanks!

Word verification

Today is the first time I've had to do this. Before I can publish a new post I have to do a word verification! What kinda crap is this? The little question mark link leads me to this:

"What Are Spam Blogs?

As with many powerful tools, blogging services can be both used and abused. The ease of creating and updating webpages with Blogger has made it particularly prone to a form of behavior known as link spamming. Blogs engaged in this behavior are called spam blogs, and can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site."

Let's go down the list. I can buy the irrelevant and nonsensical parts. That's pretty much who I am. But I don't think that's what they meant. Other than the low unique word count that comes naturally to an idiot like me, their repetitive text qualifier fails. Large number of links. Before this post, there are precisely two links in my blog entries. Plus the blogroll on the side. That's five more. So seven links that I created. I wonder how blogger defines "large number". "Pointing to a single site" - nope, not that either. But apparently I'm a spam blogger, and until they get around to looking over my blog I have to continue doing a word verification on my own fucking posts. This post's verification: wqogwsbz. Imagine that it's in red bold letters and all squiggly.

Look for fivetoedsloth to move to wordpress real soon. Thanks Blogger. You guys rock.

Sticky

Three days per week Megan goes to pre-school. So today, as we're getting ready to roll, Molly walks up to me holding the bag of marshmallows I picked up last night. "Cookie" she says. "No, Molly. Those are for s'mores tonight." "Cookie." Her eyes are starting to get puffy. If I don't tear that bag open right now she's gonna melt.

"You can have one." She's happy. "Daddy, can I have one?" asks Megan. I'm too slow for the girls. "Sure." "Can I have two?" Whatever.

Megan finishes hers and Molly's still munching as I load them in the trailer. Up hill, headwind, all the way there. Drop off the Megan. Molly's still munching. Roll home.

Half-way home Molly starts screaming. WTF? I crane my neck around and she's got a third of the marshmallow stuck to her hand. It's flailing violently back and forth and up and down trying to shake the sticky ball of mush off. It's not going anywhere. She screams louder and I stop the bike. She's covered in it - mouth, hands, face, dress, the seat in the trailer, the side window. And she's mad! So I take it from her and now it's stuck to me. Great. Now what?

I ate it and we rolled home.

Training log

Thursday is an off day. So I didn't ride last night, even though I should have. Wednesday is the "Wednesday Ramble" with the local cycle club. It's a slow ride (about 10 mph) that's supposed to last an hour or so. This last one ran an hour and a half and we still only went 11 miles. We had a new ride leader and the route she plotted put us on quite a few busy streets with too much traffic. She'll figure it out and the ride will get better, I'm sure. Wednesday's ride also started in a different spot than usual. 3.2 miles to get there, as opposed to 1. So I really got in about a 17 mile ride and I wasn't dead upon arrival back home. Wheee! Off on a long weekend today. Probably no riding until Monday.

On the plus side, Mom and Dad gave me a Brooks saddle for my birthday. I got it yesterday. Man, it looks snazzy. I can't wait to get some miles on her.

Training log

Blew off last night's ride. Watched TV and ate ice cream. So we're even. I'm going for a group ride tonight, which should be around 10 miles. Here's hoping they're flat.

Training log

I feel like total crap. Head cold, unproductive cough, swollen sinuses and lots of snot. Been like this for a week. I totally blew off Saturday's 20 miler. Friday was supposed to be a fast 9, but I went for an easy spin across the river and rode down Harrisburg's riverfront. They have a nicely lighted bike path that connects to the Green Belt. Stopped at City Island on the way over the river just in time for the ball game to let out. Whee.

Sunday was fun. Hooked up with some fine folks from the Harrisburg Bicycle Club for a 12 or 13 mile ride, followed by breakfast. I skipped breakfast. The guy riding his tandem solo didn't think my joke about his stoker falling off was very funny. Apparently, he had heard it once or twice before, which confirms that I am, in fact, an idiot.

Last night's ride turned into a trip to Wally World. For groceries. In the SUV. I'm out of excuses, but the training schedule says today is an optional ride. I ate two burgers and two hot dogs for dinner. Maybe I ought to make up last night's ride. 10 miles. At least.

Pretty fly

This guy thinks I'm pretty fly. What the fuck is he smoking?

Seriously, Doug can write. He occasionally shows us something better than the average published novelist. Plus, anytime the wife is griping at me to do something I don't want to do (like clean, or fix something) I just point her to the Flies and Dougie puts it all into perspective. Which gets me out of the dog house. And that's pretty fly.

Final Zefal update

The folks at Zefal responded this morning to my inquiry with the following:

"Hello,

There is no reason for the pump not to work.
In case there is no visible damage, may be the gasket has been damaged and
must be replaced.

Best regards
ZEFAL"


Helpful, huh? Looks like I'll be voting with my wallet. No more Zefal pumps for me. Just to be clear, as I didn't mention this previously, there is no external damage to the pump. It looks like new.

Training log

Bicycle touring appeals to me. Coming up this fall are a few possible weekend tours - riding to the in-law's house (about 80 miles), riding up PA bike route J to Williamsport and then over to Jersey Shore (about 115 miles), or out west of Carlisle to a valley that's home to about 8 or 9 covered bridges. I'm still fat. So I started a beginner's training program I found in the Bicycling Magazine Guide to Bicycle Touring.

About 10 miles last night. Tuesday is an optional day - I did about 5 miles. 7 miles on Monday. The miles get longer as the 8 week program progresses. I need a prescription for Albuterol.

Still no response from Zefal about their POS frame pump.

Zefal hpr update

Yesterday I spent a few words griping about a frame pump (Zefal hpr Graph) that failed prematurely. After the bike shop greased the pump it seemed to be working. They made it clear that without a receipt they wouldn't refund or exchange it. Fair enough. It even says that on their receipts. But still, how hard would it have been for them to swap it out for an identical pump and send the bad one back to their distributor? After two more uses it failed again.

I spent about an hour digging through the French/English jumble that is Zefal's web site looking for technical documentation, warranty information, an email address for someone who might be able to address the situation, and found nothing. Nada. So I shot my mouth off at mtbr.com. A couple minutes later I saw the plain-as-day contact link at the top of Zefal's site. Doh! So I clicked the linky, typed them a message, and clicked send. Pop up window. It says, "votre message a bien ete envoye. nous vous repondrons des que possible." WTF? I don't speak French. Babelfish tells me that means they received my message and someone will get in touch with me. Phew.

If I had been smarter about this I would have waltzed into ex-LBS, bought an identical pump, and then returned, receipt in hand, a few days later with the bad pump. Worst case scenario - same boat I'm in now. On the other hand I might have a working pump right now.

Strapping the floor pump to the bike is getting old fast.