Jan 12 - things to do

Thursday was an off-bike day, but I found a mini bike project nonetheless. Ken Mercurio says that I'm analytical ... George Cederholm will tell you that I'm hasty ... yesterday had two examples of where those traits came together.

However, taking things in chronological order ...

Sandy was off to a 9am appointment and I headed off to Great Clips. When I got home Patti Himes was in the driveway, delivering the Smyrna Yacht Club application. I pulled onto the "lawn" beside her. It's not really a lawn -- doesn't a lawn have grass ? I thought that Patti was leaving but it turned out that she'd just arrived. She was just back from her aerobics class at the SYC -- something that Sandy may join -- and luckily she had not yet rung the doorbell, because Sandy was out the back. I don't know if you can actually hear the doorbell from outside -- we should test that out.

Anyway, I went straight into the bathroom to wash my hair. The lady who cut my hair gave me a once-over with some sort of smelly hold before I could stop her. I always have to wash my hair right away anyway because the fine hair & dust from my own haircut will bother my sinuses for the rest of the day if I don't. Yesterday I couldn't even stand the smell of myself ! Luckily I had done my two errands at the strip mall by Great Clips before getting my hair cut -- Lowes for some electrical connectors and Target for some AAA batteries.

I came very close to leaving Target without the package of batteries. There are 25 registers, all numbered, across the front of the store. Numbers 2 and 23 were open. There were a couple of people at 2 -- in the distance -- with grocery carts. Number 23 had a line of 4-5 people also with carts, just not groceries. A guy at the jewelry counter spotted me, came up from behind and waved me over, opening up a register so that I could pay my $6.99. The store was basically empty. I don't have to go to CNN to discover that retail is in trouble ! I have to commend that guy on customer service though.

Patti was only there for a few minutes. After Patti left, Moe the USPS lady pulled up, got Abby all worked up, and handed me a package. Oh good -- from the U.K. -- my replacement seatpost. I opened up the package and knew at once that there was a problem. It was too fat. Aaron had pointed me to an Amazon website selling my replacement seatpost, but I'd found it cheaper ... only it wasn't cheaper because it was the wrong diameter. Now I have a nice Easton EC90 Carbon Seatpost with layback that I've got to sell on EBAY, unless Aaron needs it. I'll get what I paid for it, or close to that, but it's a pain. I went back to Amazon and luckily the seatpost was still for sale. This particular seatpost has a 25mm setback and Easton does not make it anymore. I needed a 27.2mm post; I ordered a 31.6mm post. What's a few mm among friends ?

Even though I knew it was too fat I pulled the old seatpost out to look at it. When I put it back in I tightened it as usual with the Allen wrench but then decided to look up the proper torque for this bolt. I found that I had not been tightening it enough, got out the torque wrench and did it properly. Of course that was properly for a different manufacturer's bolt ... and when additional reading told me that I had probably overtightened, I went to loosen the bolt and found that it had snapped. Ok ... now I cannot tighten my seatpost. I drove to the nearby Kayak and Bicycle store, a place in which I'd never been -- he had a replacement bolt -- so $5 lighter, I went back home. This brand of bolt was "keyed" -- it had a slight bump at the one end of the bolt meant to fit into a corresponding notch at the seat binder. I used the grinder to smooth out the bump, installed the bolt with my Allen wrench and left well enough alone at that point. At some point I'll order another bolt configured the same as my original, with splines at the one end to stop it from turning.

So there -- analytical in that I found a "cheaper" seatpost; analytical in that I tightened with the "proper" torque; hasty ... well you get the idea. Will I ever learn ?

Having completed the SYC application, using George Cederholm and Bob Lopes as personal references, completing banking references, signing the form allowing them to do credit and criminal background checks ... isn't this ridiculous ? -- we dropped it off with Patti and Norm on our way to the Port Orange Wine Warehouse wine tasting. If we go through with this club membership it will be our first. I've never been a "clubby" person, don't play golf, didn't join a frat at college, I'm just not particularly social in that way. I've had opportunities -- was invited to join a frat -- they've probably never had people turn them down -- was encouraged to join a club in Philadelphia by my boss Frank Tetz back in the days when Companies paid for club memberships ... but never did. Other people join clubs -- mainly golf clubs these days among the people that I know, and that's great for them ... they play golf ! We'll see ... we'll have an interview at the SYC with "The Commodore". I cannot imagine them turning us down, but who knows. If we don't join it's more likely because this process drags on and we'll throw in the towel. Perhaps they'll find out, as I told George and Bob in an email, that we are axe murderers in another life. It's Friday the 13th today ... but I'm not Jason. He's our friend up north.

Back to the wine tasting. They have wine tastings every Friday and they're free. You only get a tiny sip of each of the wines because this is a tasting, not an opportunity for free booze. We've only been to one of these. Contrast that with the wine tastings that they have at the nearby Publix grocery store where there are lots of old folk wandering around with glasses full of wine eating crackers and cheese.

The "Valentines Day" tasting at the Wine Warehouse was billed as something special with snacks. What the heck, for $10 each we went. It was a waste of money. First, I didn't like the two reds that I tried. They had a weak Chianti and a crummy Cabernet. She said that the Chianti was a "Riserva" as if that made it hallowed ... not. Yellowtail Cabernet would have been better than the Cab that they served. They also had a Merlot that I was not interested in trying. I'm not a fan of varietal Merlot. They had two white wines that I was not interested in trying. She seemed surprised when I turned down the whites -- why would I try something that I'm not particularly interested in ? Sandy said that the whites were better than the reds ... perhaps I should have gone back ... but I'd have wanted a glass, not a taste. A little bit of cheese, some ritz crackers, some meat comprised the snacks. Sandy tried all the wines, but even at that would not have gotten $20 worth -- her $10 + my $10.

We did come home with some wine. We had not been there since September and our small cooler/cellar was getting depleted. Next time we go wine shopping, however, we'll go at a quiet time. The proprietor, Peter-from-the-Netherlands, is very good, knows his wines and we can usually rely on his recommendations. With the mob of people there last night we didn't even bother trying to talk to him. I brought home a couple of bottles of a Bordeaux that I have already tried and like, a California Petite Syrah to try -- I'll buy more if it's good -- and why not -- Pourquois Pas -- a Cotes du Luberon that I've already had. It's not a refined wine but robust and easy to drink. It leaves your tongue black, it's so heavy. Sandy got a case of a Portugues white that she's been drinking -- hard to go wrong at $8.99 per bottle -- and three other bottles to try.

I saw a few other people go out having purchased a bottle of two of wine. We left with two cases. We'll have to tell Peter not to count our purchases in his evaluation of the success of this event. We were due anyway ... bought none of the featured wines, and might have purchased more without the mob.

The wines are getting more expensive. The USD decline has hit the wine prices, or perhaps it's simply that volume is down and they need to charge more. Perhaps we should wait until volume being down forces them to unload ? He does carry some expensive wines, ranging from $30 to $300, and not in a properly cooled environment. It's never hot in there, so he keeps the temperature controlled in a tight range, but you wouldn't go in there for wines intending to lay down for a long period of time. We buy wines in the sub $20 range. I'm finding, as does Sandy, that the wine prices are creeping up. A $2-$3 per bottle price increase in is a lot, percentage-wise.

For dinner we had tuna. This time it was not tasteless tuna. Sandy talked to the fish store yesterday to see what they made of our tasteless tuna from a few days ago. They had no idea. Tasteless it shall remain, we'll probably never know why it was that way. Zucchini and small potatoes -- everything on the barbie -- plus a salad -- as usual we ate well.

I see a male Cardinal on our clothesline post. They like our birdbath. We used to have a lot of Cardinals in Radnor but they don't venture as far north as Loring. I'm not sure of their upper range. They are territorial but the young males would be tolerated by their old dad for their first season because after all, they're family. We did not have any bird feeders in Mississauga because they would have been hanging over the pool. We already had laundry hanging over the pool, but that's another story.

Speaking of red, Sandy put the second coat of red on our front door. It's looking good. We went for a walk after dinner and the red really stands out under the front porch light. Perhaps I should replace it with a red light ?

That's it for now. Sandy will be getting up shortly. I'll be thinking about going for a bike ride shortly but will probably do my usual and wait until later, after an early lunch. The sun is on the trees; it's warm; hopefully it's not too windy and I can again try out music-on-the-roll.