roina_arwen

Well, yesterday's bike ride didn't go so well. :(

Newer bikes often have the gear-shifter and brake functions embedded in the same part of the handlebars. Pull toward you, and the bike brakes. Push sideways, and it changes gears. But... push just a tiny bit on the diagonal and it starts to chew through the derailleur cable.

So, I started to have trouble getting into the top gear a few days ago, and sure enough... I was trying to shift down for a hill yesterday, and there was a "zzzk!" sound followed by the bike going into the top gear and becoming a one-speed. :O

I had to stop and turn around, and then bike almost 5 miles home in the hardest gear. Worse yet, the bike shop is really backed up, so instead of getting my bike back today, they will not be able to even start working on it until Monday. That's forever! *cries*

I absolutely hate this handlebar design. I break a derailleur cable about once a year because of it, whereas the shift levers on my bike from 20 years ago never let me down. :(

Guess what I found at Amazon, while looking through Book Nook-style LEGO and peudo-LEGO sets? A Tardis set for all the Whovians out there. This is a wooden model-kit rather than being made of LEGO-style bricks, but it's still neat. There are a bunch of other Book Nooks offered by the same company, which include a variety of Steampunk-themed things and zodiac- and tarot-related sets. \o/

I did our taxes this weekend, and even with Turbotax it was more of a pain than it needed to be. We actually owe money this year, thanks to a bunch of capital gains that I didn't even know had happened. They typically get automatically reinvested. I.e., we often don't actually see any real money, just the changes in investment account balances. And yes, I realize that's a problem most people probably wish they had. Given all this, you'd think I'd be more sold on retiring this year. But I'm leery because of Trump and his effect on the affordability of healthcare. HalfshellHusband is a high consumer of health services, so having to get independent coverage makes me nervous.

I'm 3/4 of the way through Adventures in Calamity Physics, a coming-of-age novel about a high school senior who suffers a catastrophic trauma. She has an insufferably erudite Casanova of a father, and a rather pretentious friend group she was pressed into joining by a well-meaning teacher. Despite how it sounds, it's an amusing and mostly (drily) humorous read. It's work, though. Much of the prose includes references to books or films as passing supplements to descriptions or situations, so it's full of citation notes. And you find yourself reading every one of them.

Movie-wise... we watched Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning on Netflix last weekend. Ulllhhh. The inside-the-situation-room scene was particularly bad, with some of the worst and needlessly wordiest dialogue ever seen in Hollywood. None of the actors seemed to believe in what they were saying. Plus, there's the endless over-reliance on rubber mask disguises, which wasn't believable in the first film. :( There were some fun car chases, but a lot of the movie seemed like noise and flailing trying to disguise a lack of conviction. \o?

Now, in the throes of the spring-forward bleariness, I need to get ready to go bicycling. Today will be outdoors, after three days of being stuck in the garage because of excessive wind. Welcome to spring in Sacramento. :O