Time flies... 40 is the new 20, but 60 is still 60

So this past Saturday I go and see the old rivals, the Penetrators down at the Casbah. They were in fine form considering the amount of time since I'd last seen them (1982?) and such and so forth. There's a lot of water under that bridge, and time has mended some fences I guess so I went to enjoy and take in my youth all over again.

It was immediately noted by myself and later validated by an old friend (and you still look marvelous my dear!), that the average age was well into the 50's and probably older and we were out flanked by the geriatric scenesters. I felt young again, real young (which was later validated by the fact I could squeeze into size 29 skinny hipster Levis 511's, but adult sensibility kept me from buying them). My wee bit o'gray hair now seemed insignificant compared to the white and gray tresses flowing that night.

Opening up the show were Manual Scan (missed them, they must have started at 9pm), The Latino Uncles (El Vez and Mario Escovedo) and The Loons (Mike Stax and Anya, his wife). Since I didn't see Manual Scan and haven't seen them since the last reunion back in 2001, I have nothing to report other than I trust they can still hold it together well as they have in the past. The Latino Uncles were a riot, a righteous one at that and with El Vez's and Mario's Latin gesticulations and animated stage presence how could one not but laugh, sing along and at a minimum stamp one's foot.

The Loons are well, loons. You have to be crazy to get up on stage, turn back the hands of time that far and get it right to boot, plus making a racket that one might enjoy. What I didn't enjoy was the fact that there was no stage, it was cramped in the back bar, the sound was meh at best and I had a lousy spot in which to shoot photos. So I went back to the main area and scoped out a place before the Pen's hit the stage and got a Guinness as well. All was fine until I spilled part of god's ambrosia onto my photo gear. Rats... I tried my best to blow the liquid out of anything I could see (which wasn't much...) thank god the flash worked as I not excited about the built in one.

Gary Heffern hit the stage and everyone was ready to relive the glory days, which admittedly the Pens amply and ably provided. I only heard a few gaffs somewhere between the guitar and bass, but for the most part they played well and threw in a new song or two of which Gary needed some prompting from a sheet of paper. Jeff Kamack provided drumming as Dan McClain had sadly departed sometime back, but did his job with authority and dignity. Joyce Rooks later joined them onstage for a few songs, I hadn't seen her since 1981 and she still looked as sweet as ever. Scott Harrington, an original member also joined them for the set and provided steady Les Paul meat to Chris Davies' tortured Fender wranglings.

It had been pointed out a few weeks back at another reunion gig by Lydia B. Tim LaMadrid that that evening was our high school reunion, and it sure felt that way that night as well as this past Saturday. So throw into the barrel that it was my birthday recently and I'm getting all wistful and whatnot...

oh crap now I gotta dust off some other memories I suppose. Or not...

Here's some pics for posterity

Ongoing list #3

Ok...

-BMI -> Done. No royalties for me lol..A least they know where I am now.

-The Lemond needed some further tweaking so I brought it home and did just that. Now it's raining and the forecast is more of
the same so I test that when possible.

I need to do some of the other items now as well as get something to hold the shed roof up, like hatch pistons... ;)

Weekend Accomplishments...

For You Doohickie:



I can fit one more in there for sure. The trick is this: loosen up the handlebars, turn them 45° and viola! Nesting them by putting one facing left then one facing right also helps.

I put the 170mm cranks on the LeMond, rode it on a shakedown ride today and brought it back to tighten up the bottom bracket (that I took out to inspect, clean and relube). I'll try again tomorrow to see if that helped. Chain is clean and lubed.

Laurie bought some tires today.

To do:

I need to call BMI and sort out my account

I need to write Marti Emerald an email concerning Kearney Villa road, since it's in her district. Paste a link to the Bike Forums thread discussing it in detail...

Shoulder!

Stem and handlebars...

Weston! Clean Your Room!!!!!

One liners for the week

So I biked in the past 3 days, got 4-5 hours of sleep each night and I'm feeling fine!

I'm well on my way to the Denny's discount as of Wednesday.

My shoulder still hurts and I need to have that looked at before it falls off or I become a zombie.

The shed's built but needs to be cleared of construction debris and filled with bikes.

I need to put the 170mm cranks I finally got onto the LeMond, and I need to clean and oil the chain.

I need to order a shorter stem and wider bars for the LeMond.

Laurie needs tires.

Weston needs to clean his room.

Thank you Tim for scanning the Unknowns pics.

Time for shed

Ah yes finally the shed is done... OK I need to get all the tools and crap out of it and put away, but all the cutting, cursing, banging and screwing (hmmm that sounds mildly randy...) is fini! And here's some pics to prove my prowess in the shed:











Hopefully Saturday it will see some action, bike action...

Good in shed...

So my holiday time was spent (and I'm still spending or rather projecting spending...) building a shed for the bikes:







Winging it takes time, but then I fly by the seat of my pants so hold on!
Thanks to Mag the Tool Gal, a master of the pun and tape measure...

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Update, for Doohickie who asked for a DIY, here's some links to the sites that I got my design (mostly) from.

http://www.homeenvy.com/db/6/86.html

http://www.southernpine.com/diyplans.shtml

Basically I came up with my own dimensions based on what I thought I'd need for 3-4 bikes by simply placing them on a tile floor and counting the tiles. I left out the front brace to facilitate easy bike entry (but makes squaring up the frame rather difficult).

When trucking lumber home in an Elantra Hatchback, 2x4's and such can slide in fine and may stick out. But plywood is another matter. I had to have it all cut up to suit both the shed and what will fit into the car. It was a bit of a pain but it all worked. I did have to go back in with a couple of pieces to have them cut again...

Measure 5 times and cut once... okay twice, but make the first cut on the other side of the line.