Archive for December, 2005
I could (and sometimes do) eat seafood every day. Fish, shellfish, crab, seaweed - it’s all good. However, having worked in Alaska a number of seasons, the academics of wildlife depletion in the oceans is more of a visceral memory to me than it is an abstract statistic.
I remember quite clearly the millions of pounds of fish and crab processed around the clock for months. And that was just at my one location.
In any case, I’m quite pleased to find this seafood guide maintained by the Monterrey Aquarium. Instead of feeling generally guilty for eating my favorite food, I can make informed decisions about what I eat while also influencing the purchasing choices my favorite restaurants make.
Very cool … small steps at an individual level.
December 29th, 2005
Got the front wheel off the other day, knocked out the bearings and inspected them. The grease looks brand new and overall they look in good shape. I have no idea if the previous owner had already replaced them or if they really are just in remarkable good shape.
Joe showed me how to test the wiggle room of the bearings. I think these sorts of diagnostics require a fair amount of experience. I wouldn’t necessarily differentiate “good wiggle” from “very bad wiggle”. I’m not sure the flange is supposed to be bent back that way, either. Doesn’t seem like it should.
I went to order new oil seals from MikesXS but strangely, Mike’s seems to only offer 1 of the 2 oil seals I need… which causes me to question if my wheels are from 1972 or some other year? How to tell?? So, the search begins - how to identify the year of the wheel.
In the meantime, I need to order new sprockets - the ones on there are pretty rough.
The gear ratio on the bike right now is 17:35 which from all reports should translate to a noticeable vibration at high speeds. From what I’ve read, a 17:32 ratio will improve the higher rpm vibrations. I just hope that bringing the ratio down like that won’t introduce vibration to mid-range rpms.
I researched whether I should consider a drive belt conversion. While I didn’t really learn any specifics, my gut tells me it’s just as much maintenance as a chain, and the chain is a known quantity so I’ll stick to that unless someone convinces me otherwise. So, after I’ve changed the gear ration, how do I figure out how many links should be in the chain? {sigh} more research
I read on new xs650 garage that the 2 into 1 exhaust that came with my bike seems to provide better power at high ranges, but the 2 into 2 exhaust is better for mid-range rpms. Hmm. The exhaust is fairly rusted so if it doesn’t clean up well (ie, cleaning the rust off leaves behind pin holes) I’ll have to think about what to replace it with. I like the look of the 2-1, especially black chromed.
So, that was this afternoon. Not much accomplished, but plenty learned.
December 28th, 2005
Over the past 5 years, we have not exchanged gifts, nor decorated the house or really even recognized the passing of Christmas. It’s been an interesting experiment and I think it takes about 3 years for it to feel normal.
We stopped exchanging gifts because we wanted to decommercialize our lives.
We never were very motivated to decorate the house because we’re not christians, the holiday holds no real personal significance and we particularly wish christians would stop trying to legislate our lives … much of “christmas tradition” feels like christian cultural legislation.
I like the idea and history of Solstice and we certainly enjoy solstice parties. The tradition of casting away last years concerns and baggage is a good way to end a year I think. But despite the likely historical origins of christmas, Solstice has little to do with Christmas.
Perhaps someday, Christmas will gain significance as a traditional time for friends and family. However, we do not currently have close ties, so placing that sort of expectation on ourselves would be a little stressful. No pretensions necessary.
Which brings us back to the issue of decommercialization - so many of our expectations of ourselves and holidays are a result of 60+ years of marketing campaigns - from the nuclear family dinner to the perfectly decorated house to all those things under the tree.
Yet, despite how we feel about Christmas and what it stands for, the past couple of years we seem to have gone on a spending spree around this time of year anyway. We assure ourselves that it’s to take advantage of those fantastic sales, or because we need to buy things for the business and might as well take the deduction this year rather than next.
Interestingly it seems to me that most of the people we see out there were actually buying themselves large items (cars, beds, etc) rather than gifts for others.
Perhaps we were acting on the Christmas commercial impulse after all. It is strange that we chose to shop for a new bed, a tv, and smaller tech toys at this time of year rather than any other. No matter how I rationalize it (new bed for pregnant partner, tv for the pregnancy, small tech toys for the business) it still seems as if an autopilot took over and dictated “must buy now” impulses to my autonomic system.
So, what exactly am I rambling on about??
Well, there’s a good chance that we’ll have a munchkin next year. And after 5 years of not celebrating Christian holidays I think next year will be baby’s first christmas and our first tree.
It’s not because we’re sell-outs, certainly not because we feel we’re missing out on anything. But when we so consciously decided not to follow christian holidays, we acknowledged to each other that as humans we all need to have seasonal celebrations whatever the reason. Yet in 5 years time we’ve failed to create equivalent seasonal celebrations. (of course we’ve begun some of our own traditions like most families do, but equivalent is the keyword here)
Perhaps a greater community effort is needed. And when we’ve connected with a community of like-minded people, we’ll happily re-evaluate.
Until then - happy last un-christmas!
December 25th, 2005
this was quoted on one of my lists - pretty much sums it up
I’ve never quite understood why people think Seattle is a particularly tolerant city. It’s just diverse enough that it’s difficult to get a majority together to approve of each other acting actively spiteful.
December 20th, 2005
After establishing a decent music station, I used my new motorcycle jack for the first time ($50 at Schucks was a great deal!) and took the front wheel off today. It took a little longer than I would have liked and somewhere in the middle of the day our classic December fog turned to freezing fog. 
Things I know I have to do with the front wheel:
- replace tire
- replace bearings, preferably with sealed bearings
- replace all seals & wearable parts while I’m in there
- drill the brake disc. I’ll post the drill pattern I decide on here
- (new discovery) replace speedometer cable
- (new discovery) replace brake lines
- find any high/low spots, adjust & balance spokes as needed
- clean up the wheel, polish and seal/wax it
My Haynes manual is pretty good but a couple of steps were unclear.
Before I took the wheel off, I tried spinning it and noticed it was catching badly enough to stop spinning consistently at one spot. I’ll have to look into that. I was going to look for high and low points but lost patience with the catching. Hopefully it’s just a brake caliper adjustment issue.
The manual tells you to disconnect the speedometer cable at the wheel end - I found that it was easier to disconnect it at the speedo end first. While disconnecting the speedo, I discovered that the cable will likely have to be replaced. Later, I noticed the brake lines at the reservoir appear to be leaking.
Next, Haynes instructed me to loosen the “spindle clamp bolts” which were nowhere to be found on any wheel-related diagrams. I finally located them on the bottom of the fork tube (duh).
Next, removing the split pin and castellated wheel nut. Haynes says to use a “tommy bar” to pound out the spindle bolt. I don’t know what a tommy bar is, but a 3/8″ oak dowel worked well.
I removed the valve core to deflate the tire a little so it would come off more easily. Now that the wheel is off it’s time to figure out how to break the bead on that old tire. The tire is most likely the original - - 33 years old!
December 19th, 2005
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