Hipster conversion

Hipster conversion
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Now that he finally has a pair of Sidis, Jerry's just waiting for his
trust fund check to roll in so he can go drink some PBR.

Today's forecast: continued cold

Today's forecast: continued cold
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

The view from my office this morning.

I managed to overheat this morning despite a temp of 2 below zero.
Except for my toes. My new winter cycling boots are great, but nothing
keeps your toes warm when it's that cold out. I guess chemical warmers
would. Or Sidi Toasters, but who wants to spend another $300?

Bath time

Bath time
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

We gave Monty a bath on the coldest day of the year. I hope he'll be
dry by his evening walk.

If it were just my brother riding with us, I would subject him to the
smelly dog. But since Cheryl will be with us, we want Monty to smell
like a sweet little baby.

Happy holidays

Happy holidays
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Bike winter

Bike winter
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Sorry it's so blurry; the iPhone is a terrible camera. This was after
my ride home in yesterday's heavy snow. It took Jerry and me more than
an hour to get home, but we were faster than everyone who drove, even
the snow plow guy.

Lumbar support

Lumbar support
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

This is a lumbar support I made until I can purchase one. I've been
going to physical therapy because I have a knot in my upper back just
next to my shoulder blade that's been there for 10 years. Ten years! I
kid you not. It's amazing what people can put up with.

Now I'm trying to unlearn all my old, bad habits and replace them with
new, good ones. It's not easy.

Rough night

Rough night
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Dog wearing hat

Dog wearing hat
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Scones

Scones
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

Jerry made scones for breakfast.

Holy rotten vegetables!

I started my compost project 13 days ago. The website I visited said that when you make your initial compost mix, you shouldn’t mess with it for two weeks. So I mixed my vegetable trimmings and shredded newspaper (in lieu of brown leaves) and let things go. I peeked in occasionally, but I resisted the urge to stir things—despite my acquisition last weekend of an actual pitchfork that I was dying to use.

This morning I went out and stirred things up, and it was compost! Already! It smelled earthy and looked like peat. No identifiable lime peels or cucumber chunks or tomato bits. I suppose it helped that it’s been about 90 degrees F all week. Yay, compost!

So now we’re cooking.

VA

VA
Originally uploaded by mmmmissy.

It's coming down.

Hot

It's been hot here this week, in the low 90s, but of course I continue to ride my bike.

A couple of days this week I decided to ride European-style, in my work clothes. It's not bad if you don't carry a backpack or a messenger bag, which is possible because I have a very nice set of panniers in which to carry my stuff. And as my friend Alex says, if you're sweating, you're going too fast.

However, yesterday it was so hot and muggy that if I'd gone any slower, I would have fallen over. I would have been dripping sweat just standing there. Ugh.

A runner (in a large pack of runners) yelled f*** you to me yesterday morning when I pointed out that the group was crossing against the light and cutting me off. "Nice," I told him. "That's really nice. Classy." That noise you hear is civility's death rattle.

Lost and found

So satisfying to find lost things.

This morning I found my pocketknife (in my messenger bag, right where I put it a week ago) and my goggle defogging drops.

Now if only I could find my Fisher space pen, my black Coach change purse, my red anodized spoke bracelet, the two silver bracelets that fell off my wrist (one was too large, the other's clasp failed), and my Sterling silver Parker fountain pen. That last item will never be found--I lost it almost 10 years ago when I was taking science classes at Northwestern. I think someone stole it. It was a nice pen, and Parker doesn't make it anymore.

Speaking of stolen, someone ripped off Amanda's bike seat last night. Ah, the indignity.

Camera

When I was in medical school, Jerry and I finally joined modern people and bought a digital camera. We settled on a Canon PowerShot G2, which was a fairly advanced camera at the time. It takes great pictures for a point-and-shoot, but it's a little bulky for a pocket camera and not as nice as the new digital SLRs, which aren't that much bigger than the G2.

Since we've been back in Chicago, the LCD screen has malfunctioned. It's the kind of screen that you flip open and then twist to put it flush on the back of the camera. The screen works when it's flipped open, but when you twist it, it goes dead. So you can't have the working LCD screen flush with the back of the camera. Which is kind of inconvenient.

I was going to send it to Canon to see if I could get it repaired, but I have a feeling it would cost more than it's worth. I mean, really, I'd rather have a digital SLR or a pocket-size point-and-shoot (or both, of course). So I took the camera apart, but I couldn't fix it. I didn't ruin it either! It still works enough to use but is still broken. Sigh.

Anyway, Derby is tonight. I should be napping.