post-birthday euphoria

yesterday was my birthday and it was incredible. i didn't bring my camera but i believe there was an incriminating photo shoot at one point that i'm sure will make it's way to the internet within the next couple days. chicago definitely feels like the place i need to be right now. my life feels so right right now. i still need to get a job that actually pays the bills, but that doesn't even matter at the moment. i've got a great family, wonderful friends, and a killer boy in my life and for now, that's more than enough. thanks for all the birthday wishes. i love you all.

the prez throwing the shocker.

um. holy hell.

If you work from your home, and Johns call on the phone...

I've spent most of my morning reading Letters From Johns. It's a blog that posts real letters from men who seek the company of working girls. The posts are fascinating. They show a pretty wide spread of characters, from a recently divorced professional to a sufferer of Christian guilt to a female medical intern. They're surprisingly personal. These people aren't two dimensional, though some are self-absorbed. Though I still can't detach myself from the atrocities of the sex trade, it's interesting to see the complex reasonings behind sex for money. There's a corresponding Letters From Working Girls, but I haven't made it that far yet.

In other news, at the moment, my life is awesome.

surprise, surprise

every time i try to tinker with my bike, i get half way through only to realize i need some tool or random bolt. sometimes, i get lucky and realize sooner, but normally that only means i'll run into another problem later on.

tonight, i was attempting to convert my 10-speed to a 5-speed by taking off the smaller chainring but discovered i needed smaller chainring bolts:


they are necessary in order to make these:



come together as this:



but tomorrow, hopefully, i'll get moving early enough to make it happen and make my bike once again rideable which will make me happy. plus i got to use my brand new (like most of my tools) crank puller, the tool you use for taking off the arm of the pedals.

yesterday, i finally finished changing out the front brake system. my old brakes were old and unreliable which are not the most desirable of traits for brakes to be. the project was way over my head but with enough time and trips to home depot, i figured it out which made my feel like a badass.

in conclusion, bike repair is fun.

now that i have a job, though it isn't so much of a money maker, i clearly have an unfulfilled need for drama, tension, and intense haphazard planning, including but not limited to extensive list making and excessive firefox tab-age. so my latest far-fetched scheme in search of happiness and self-satisfaction is a bike tour across america.

obviously, this plan is in it's infancy so now is not the time to get bogged down in the insignificant details like "where will i get all that money?" or "won't i be catapulting myself into the uneasy waters of unemployment yet again during what will certainly be the second great depression?" of course there are some kinks to be worked out, i've only just decided to do it. but that's why i'm giving myself a year and a half to plan. hopefully, that will be enough time to get it all together to make it happen.

at the moment, i'd really love to go across the north of the country down the western coast and then back east. but that is an enormous undertaking that would probably take more time than i could devote to it. so no time like the present to start slowly hacking away at the dream in order to create something more feasible albeit less idealistically awesome.

and have i told you lately how much i love the internet? i've found a bunch of references already. one website, Crazy Guy On A Bike, is one guy's journal of his trans-am bike tour which he later expanded to include similar journals from hundreds of other bikers. from what i've already gathered, reading about other people's journey and more importantly their mistakes will be an enormous asset for doing it myself. want to see what i've already learned?

• RV parks have discounts for bikers.
• using less than current guide books can put you in sticky situations
• Charlottesville, Va has a Cookie Lady that's been offering cyclists water, cookies and a place to stay for over 25 years. how amazing is that?
  

i'm excited about this new prospective journey. but then, aren't i always?

i heart neil gaiman

recently, neil gaiman went on a US book tour. i got very excited when i learned about it. moments later, i got very sad because i realized i would be at work while he made his stop in chicago. then i started concocting a scheme to drive 6 hours to minneapolis in order to see him a week later. then i realized that was silly and settled back in to my incredibly uneventful life. but then i found out that his readings from the tour are available on his website. you can hear the whole book there.

i liked it very much. but i'm a sucker for neil gaiman. here's a trailer for it. it makes it sound all spooky, but it's really not.

putin turned 56

and got this tiger cub as a birthday present.


i want a tiger cub for my birthday.