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Bike rebuild '05

I picked up most of the parts to rebuild my bike.

• Deore square taper crankset, 175mm - my old one has the pedals seized, can't get them off. I was going to replace it with a splined model, but I broke the cup on the bottom bracket set while trying to remove it [very, very seized!], so I'm just going to use a square taper model on the old BB axle. The axle's taper is ruined, but I've been getting by with a "coke can shim" so hopefully that'll continue to work for me. I tried to get the LX model but they were all out and the only other sets they had were Race Face for about twice the price. Too rich for me!


• New pedals - some Shimano model, they're SPD's with a cage. I'd rather not have the cage but I can't see how to take them off.


• Deore XT front and rear deraillers - my old rear derailler is semi-seized, the pulley wheel is trashed and nobody seems to have the proper replacement for it so I picked up a whole new derailler. Finally, after basically running on a single gear for the past year. My old front derailler never fit on my new frame, the tubing was too big around, so this will be the first time I've had a front derailler on this frame. W00t! More gears!


• New seat - same as the old one, cheapo model that seems to last as long if not longer than any expensive model I've purchased.


• New ODI grips - uses the lock-ring system, which is great, keeps your grips solidly positioned on the handlebars, once you've had these things you'll never go back to regular grips.


• New chain and freewheel block - all new parts for my drivetrain, which was what prompted me to do this upgrade in the first place as my old drivetrain was starting to get some rank skippage.


• New Deore LX shifters - I actually wanted the XT's but they didn't have any without the integrated brake levers [which I hate!]. My old XT's are broken, they don't 'click' anymore. I'm hoping I can fix them somehow, this is the second pair of XT shifters I've had fail on me like this.


• New brake pads, cable housing etc. - usual bike shit.

So I've got all the parts ready, I just have to disassemble the beast and reassemble it with all the new parts, tomorrow's project. Total damage, almost $600.00! Hopefully I won't have to do this again for awhile! At least it's all tax deductible.

New Games

Last week was really slow, so I picked up Final Fantasy I & II for my Gameboy Advance SP, thinking I could play it today at work. Nope, it was totally busy from begining to end, so I never even got to turn the damn thing on. I hate that, last week was so slow and I had nothing to do, even the batteries in my MP3 player died.
I also picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wanker for my Gamecube. So far I like it, I'm trying to save the little fag's sister trapped in some bird's tower, I think I'm almost there. Some people have complained about the sailing in this game, but I haven't got to that part yet. I finished the first Zelda, the second Zelda [which I really liked back in the day] but I'm still stuck in the fish's belly in Ocarina of Time. I read the walkthrough on how to complete this section, but it's damn hard. And frustrating, if you drop the girl in the wrong place, she teleports way back and you have to start from there again. I also have Majora's Mask, but I was trying to wait till I was done Ocarina of Time before trying that one.

Rise of Nations Sequel

Big Huge Games has announced their sequel to Rise of Nations [one of the best games ever IMHO], Rise of Legends. I'm glad that they decided to not do another "historical" game, as that could get boring and get them in a rut, just look at what happened with Impressions. [which had good games, they just did variations on the same game without breaking out of that mold until they reached a dead end] I was a little peturbed that they chose to do a fantasy game [like we don't get enough of that genre!] but it seems like they're trying to stay away from the typical Dungeon and Dragons type atmosphere that pervades most games of this ilk. Steampunk vs. Prince of Persia, could be cool.

I was checking out their site, came across this page for their programmer job. Ha.

Spy

I've watched a couple episodes of Spy, a BBC reality series where people are trained to be spies by real, former CIA and MI-6 agents. I thought this would be a hoot, a lot of fun, but I was struck by how intense and serious the "trainers" take this stuff. The first episode I saw was "undercover" where the candidates had to work in pairs using cover stories to work under cover. Some of them had to do a job interview where they had to convince an employer that they were professional photographers, even though they had no prior experience before the day of the interview. Talk about intense! And then, after going to a party and getting in a few drinks, they go home to sleep, only to be awakened in the middle of the night and interrogated by their trainers on their cover story! Ha, now that's tough because they interview your partner as well and if your stories don't match, you're busted. Tonight's show was on surveillance where the candidates had to follow a person around without being seen, and then clandestinely leave them a message. The thing is, the trainers' used the candidate's wives, boyfriends, best friends etc. as the people being followed, so it was incredibly hard for them to follow without being recognized. None of them got it quite right, one chick lost her mark, a couple got recognized, they all had problems. The trainers watch their every move, constantly evaluating them, it's really cool. I hope they re-air this series from the begining, I think I missed a bunch. It's on the National Geographic channel here in Canada.

In this factual entertainment reality series, 16 people from all walks of life are taught the secrets of spy tradecraft by former intelligence operatives from the CIA and FBI.
They undergo a rigorous regime of training in the real world, where candidates will be asked to try out their skills on real people and unsuspecting members of the public. They will have to infiltrate difficult environments and access confidential information, follow targets and mount complex surveillance operations on people and places.
Spy airs Saturdays at 8 pm ET

Cobalt blue eggsac

After not seeing anything of my Haplopelma lividum for the longest time, I noticed something weird in her cage yesterday morning. At first I thought it was a ball of dirt she was excavating from her burrow, but upon closer inspection, I discovered it was an eggsac! Cool, I've never had one of my tarantulas do that before. I've raised this spider from a juvenile and it's gone through a few molts, so this eggsac was definately infertile. I cut it open and I figure it had about 40 or 50 eggs maybe. It was pretty heavy too, the spider must have put a lot of effort into producing the thing. After I removed it from her cage, I saw her come out of her burrow and walk around her cage. She must have wanted her eggsac back! [Ooops, sorry!] Anyway, at least I know that she's a female now and ready for mating if anybody has a male out there.

Cyclist hopping around

Found a lot of cool videos on this site. I liked this one, although it's not really "stupid".

Brachypelma boehmei

And here's my little Brachypelma boehmei, isn't she pretty? ;)