Waiting . . .

Well you'll be glad to know that I got all the bits and pieces of my shifter back together after doing exploratory surgery the night before. There's one particular spring connected to the thumb shifter that is quite difficult to get back into position. The rest is fairly easy. Of course, since I didn't actually replace any of the obviously worn-out components, I'll have to wait until I decide what to do about it all. In the meantime, it's shifting just as badly as it was before, but at least now I know why! I figure I have a few choices here, and the decision won't be an easy one. I could just bit the bullet and buy a new Record shifter, but I doubt I can really afford that. I could wait and lurk on eBay and see if I can get a lightly used one at an affordable price, which might be quite a wait. I could buy the $65 or so in parts needed to rebuild my existing lever, which would be fairly easy and satisfying, but could put me not all that far from the cost of a used replacement one. The other issue here is whether to upgrade to 10-speed at the same time. The bike needs new rings, chain, cassettes and jockey wheels. I don't even want to add all that up, though. It would be too depressing. Anyway, the car's brakes have the first shot at the next available cash. I'm just waiting until I've got enough in the bank. On the plus side, the brakes on the bike are working fine now, thank you.

This morning's ride was a nice 20 mph spin on the levee with five or six other guys. Even Rob, who showed up a little late after catching us from behind, was under control today. I was glad that my shifter was at least minimally functional, since I put it back on the bike at about 6:15 this morning, half-asleep, and didn't even touch the barrel adjuster on the derailleur.

Right now I'm waiting for a couple of folks from Congressman Jefferson's office who will be here for a meeting with the architects designing our Riversphere project, which is actually pretty cool. Later, they'll be visiting Dawn Wesson's arbovirus lab over in the Johnston Building. Can we have about $5 million please? Pretty please? We'd better act fast, because the Feds recently busted into his office and home and hauled off a bunch of "evidence." Nobody's giving me any juicy details on that, but I'm sure we'll hear about it sooner or later. I think they found a large wad of cash stashed in his freezer. Hmmm. We'll just have to wait and see . . .

On the home front, we're awaiting The Daughter's 21st birthday at the end of the month. Now there's a truly scary thing from the parental perspective. I've been feeling quite out of touch with her lately since her house's wireless router left town. She said they are on the list for new service, but don't expect it to be up and running until the end of the month. I'm not sure if they even have a hard-wired telephone any more, so dial-up to the university's system might not even be a possibility. Maybe somebody next door will get a new wireless system going and she will be able to get a signal??