Enough, already!

I am tired of it being winter.
I want to go on a bike ride and go camping. hurumph.

also, and more interestingly,
Last week was the semi annual (bi-annual? twice a year, anyway) roaster cleanup at Northwest. We took the coffee roaster apart, ground out all the accumulated crap, and put it back together.
It was like taking the ventilation system out of your house, using power tools to clean out 10 layers of paint, then putting it all back together. It was okay, but the clouds of dust nearly killed me. Better mask next time. *cough* *cough*

Coffee bikes and juries.

Many updates to be had.
I had jury duty last week. They kept me for a couple of days, then they let me go without being on a jury. The defendant beat up his girlfriend, including using a bat. (!) she wants to go back to him, so the defense really needs to appeal to the emotions of the jury. I think they threw anyone off who seemed smart. Ah, well. I served my civic duty anyway. Yay civic duty!

A new opportunity came my way last week also. I'm a barista at Northwest Coffee now. I'm working at Velocity part time on bikes, and at Northwest instead of my cafe shifts. This is awesome. I'll get to learn how to repair espresso machines, and Eric (the boss at NW) knows more about the science of coffee than about anybody. That will be great.

That's all for now. Really it's not, I have lots to say, but I'm busy. :P

Velocity

I've started my new job.
And they're open for business.
I'm going to be wrenching about 1/2 time and barista-ing the other half.
It will be good to change things up some.

There is a catch, though. It is currently 5:20 in the am. I have to be at work in about half an hour. I can count the times I've gotten up this early since I was in college on one hand. It hurts.

~Brian

Goodbye old job!

My paycheck bounced today.
I got it on the first, but knew it was a little bouncy. They asked me to wait until this morning to cash it. At noon, I went to get the monies, and the bank declined to. The secretary told me to wait until Monday.
So, I quit. It leaves my direct co-workers in a bit of a bind, but the owner put them there, not me.

This gives me an unexpected few days off before I start my new job.

Other big news

My other news: I'm changing jobs! I'll be working at Velocity, a new bike/coffee shop in the CWE. It means a cut in pay, but my commute will be about 5 miles instead of about 20. That means bike commuting. Lots! On my new LHT! Which is built up and awesome! In fact, it is the R0X0rs. I would like to post pictures. It may also have a name. More on that later.

My adventure!

So, yesterday between 8:30am and 3:00pm, we got about 10" of snow here in St. Louis.

I had quite the winter adventure yesterday.

Against my better judgment, I set out for work (leaving extra time) at 9:00. Normally the drive takes me ~20-25 min. The roads were slick, snowy and getting slicker. When I saw that the highway was going under 20 MPH, I should have cashed it in right then, but I stuck it out. At 10:30, after 90 minutes of driving, I got the truck firmly stuck on the I-70 on-ramp. This held up traffic until a cop showed up, determined that I really was good and stuck, and called a tow-truck. The tow-truck (actually a rolloff truck) driver was nice, he pulled my truck up onto the back, and away we went.
After some sliding on the part of the truck (with my truck on the back) We eventually made it to the garage. Nothing was wrong with my truck, and I wasn't given a ticket, so that was all good. On the other hand, I couldn't really get anywhere. The driver offered to drop me off at the metro station on his way to his next pickup. (in fact a USPS truck stuck in a ditch) I got onto the train at the North Hanley Station.
Strangely, there were about three people waiting for the train, and about eight employees shoveling the platform. They were not shoveling the walk, stairs, or bus platform. Just the train platform. Over and over as far as I could tell. (it Was snowing really hard, but one or two people shoveling it over and over might have been enough, imo) Once I achieved train-dom, I saw that all the platforms had a similar surfeit of employees. Mysterious. At length, the train stopped at the old familar CWE station. Yay! My travails were almost at an end.
After a 30 minute wait for a bus, I secured a position of the number 93, which would take me the remaining 2.5 miles home. I spent much of that time standing under the canopy, watching the snow come down as hard as I think I ever have. It was nearly a white-out. The roads were getting slicker all the time, and the bus I was on had started to slide around more than I was comfortable with.
So it was, with some relief, that I disembarked by Anthino's Taverno, and trudged the remaining couple of blocks home. Anne greeted me with dry clothes, hot tea, hot soup, and fresh biscuits. Have I mentioned lately that she's the best ever? Thus, at 1:00 pm. My aborted trip to work ended. Four hours, and my car was still in Edmunsun, MO.
This morning, I got on the bus early to catch the train up to N. Hanley so I could pick up the car. The roads are much much better today.

Have I learned a lesson? Yes! St. Louis is blessed with a mediocre public transit system, but when the weather is awful, for god's sake, take it! it will save you hours and hours.

It is done.

Well, mostly.
We have all of the boxes and junk in our house.
Now begins the long slow uphill struggle to find each of our pieces of junk a place in the new house.

Additionally, it has been a remarkably busy week at work. I may be getting a promotion to be the manager of the store I work at. Certainly, Chris, the current manager is leaving. He put in his two weeks notice on Monday, but has apparently been told to go by this Friday. Woah! Alarming.


Troubles seem to come in packs. Not that these things are necessarily troubles, but they are certainly big stuff.

My faith in humanity died a little today.

How can so many people act so dumb? Are they drunk? Are they really as stupid as they act?

If that is the case, how did they manage to live so long?

They seem to not hear you unless you tell them what they want to hear. I got a phone phone call from a customer at the bike shop today.

Him: Uh... Yeah, do you guys uhhh fix uhhh hand brakes?

Me: yes, we do.

Him: how much would uhhh, it uhhh, be to uhhh, fix my hand brakes? Like it uhhh, doesn't work. (at this point, I've edited out the stammering, but it continues)

Me: Well, I can't really say for certain without seeing it. There are a wide variety of things that could be wrong. The best thing to do would be to bring it in, so I could have a look at it. Estimates are always free.

Him: well, like, how much would it be to fix?

Me: It's hard to say. I'd really have to have a look to say for certain. It would be about $10 to adjust them, or about $15 if you need to replace the cable and housing. That is a fairly common problem.

Him: well, like, the if you squeeze the lever it doesn't stop. How much to replace the cable and the back part?

Me: Well, the cable and adjustment would be around $15, and new calipers (the "back part") are around $20, though that depends some on the style.

Him: Uhh, I dont' think it's, like, the caliper. Like, when you squeeze the handle, it doesn't stop.

Me: Well, I really should have a look at it. If the caliper is not moving, it could be that your cable is seized up, and you would need to replace the cable and housing. Though I can't say for certain without actually looking at your bike.

Him: But like, how much would that cost?

Me: the cable and housing? That would cost right about $15.

Him: $15? thanks.

I mean WTF? Do people call car mechanics and say things like “so , my car doesn't run, what would it cost to fix?” ...Well, come to think of it, they probably do.

If provided with some actual information, I can make an educated guess as to what's wrong with a bike. Given a description of symptoms which are vague and possibly contradictory, there's not much I can do.

Why are people so dumb?

my fantasy conversation:

"uhh, what's it cost to fix my bike, so like when you push the thing the other thing goes "click" then it like goes thump and stops"

Me: Oh, that's the very common "thing, click, thump, stop" That's twenty billion dollars. then there's a lubrication surcharge of $1.50.

Big doin's.

I haven't posted in a while. I plan to have a more comprehensive post soon, but for the moment suffice to say that I've got big doin's.
Anne and I are buying a house, and the store I work at is closing. Like now. I'm going to (yet) another store in the company.

More later, I think.

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted.

So, I have lost track of my blog I guess.
I have been busy, but that's really no excuse, is it?
Anyway,
I went to visit my relatives on my Dad's side last weekend. There were 31 Romines there. That's a whole lot of Romines. It was pretty fun until the cops showed up. Work at the bike shop goes more or less well. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes enjoyable, it beats working in a cubicle.

Our van had some malfunction, so I've been riding my bike to work this week. Whoof! Two days this week I went 15 miles round trip, and today I went ~7, then got a ride home with Anne. Between the ride, and working on my feet 8 hours, my legs are pretty tired.

weekend visitors

We had some friends, Miranda and Shaun over last weekend. It was really fun!
We went to parks, did some cooking, visited a lot, and generally just had a good time.
With my new job, I've been working Saturdays. It's not my favorite, but I have been getting Sunday and Mondays off. I have to work this Monday, which is not my favorite. I would like to have a Memorial day. Alas, it is not to be.

On the other hand, Anne and I have a fun plan for Sunday! We're going to ride the metro downtown, then ride our bikes around, and look at cool architecture. Maybe we'll pack a picnic lunch.

I am going to buy Anne a slightly early anniversary present today. I'm going to give her a new bicycle. I can get a good deal on bikes and such now that I work at the bike shop, so I'm going to give her a good one. A sunfire 3.0 I would look into the 2.0, but I am not very familiar with those, and I would have to order one in her size. I know we have a 3.0 in the store which is her size.

Where has the week gone?

I started my new job this week, and Anne was at a conference.
I thought I would have tons of time, but she's coming home this afternoon, and I haven't done anything of interest, really.
I did get to go see my friend, Laminator_X last night, and that was fun. I also got to help with a house decorating with sheet steel project on Wednesday, and that was allright.
I did some cleaning this morning, in preparation for Anne's return.

The new job is good, even though my days off seem to be Monday and Friday. Oh, well. Hopefully I won't have to work every weekend ad infinitum.

Anne seems to be enjoying the conference. (Cell phones are fantastic!) I've gotten to talk with here while she's been gone.

I somehow thought this week would be more exciting, but it has not been.
That's okay. It's been pretty good.

On the Schedule...

So, after my rigmarole with jobs (see, well, April) I have continued to be a squeaky wheel over there. The owner returned from his trip to France, so I badgered him.
The short story is that I'm supposed to start Tuesday!
Yay I guess. Crazy crap.

Anne keeps telling me that it is possible to work places that are not run remarkably badly, but my experience certainly does not bear that out. Every where I work or try to work, run like the old Shrine Club. (my first job, my boss was an alcoholic, and crazy)


Not much else has happened of note.
(isn't that enough though?)

Big Doin's

So, it looks like the job is gone. Some B*S*, Huh?
Laminator_x's wheelchair ramp is built, and is wonderful.
Other big goings on in my life, there will be a full update when I have more information.

stupid crap!

So, I started an entry on Friday, but I was unable to complete it until today.
On Thursday, I started going around with resumes looking for a job.
On Friday morning, the first place I stopped, they offered me one!
Damn! I couldn't believe my luck. The guy (the owner) told me that I was hired, and I could start Monday.
On Monday morning, I filled out some tax forms and waited to see where I would go. This place is a small chain, and they have stores across the greater St. Louis area.
After an excessive amount of rigmarole, which I won't go into here, now I'm "probably hired"

What kind of BS is that, I ask you!?
and what does "probably hired" mean anyway?

So, for the past couple of days, I've been alternating between being frustrated, depressed and very angry. I'm only now clear and calmed enough to post. I'm not sure exactly what I ought to do now, but this morning I got back on the horse and went around to another couple places.

I guess in the long run, this place may only have been a minor hitch in job hunting, but... Goddamit!

Crazy day!

After extended thought on the matter, and for many and varied reasons, I decided to take a break from armouring. I may not go back to it full time.
Based on that, it was time to look for a different job.
How much of who I am do I have invested in what I do? Less than most people think I do, but more than I would like.
You are not what you do.