role models

an ex-intern stopped by today. he actually stops by about twice a week, just to hang out or whatever. we enjoy his company (a lot more now, especially since he's just there for the hell of it, and we don't have to put up with his 23979383498 questions if we don't feel like it).


youth: "i got a suit today. it was free, from this program at the place i'm staying."

me: "FREE?"

youth: "yeah, and they have these counselors that help you find a job and stuff. . ."

me: "damn, i never got a free suit . . . you should sell it. and buy. . . . stuff."

youth: "what?! why? it might be useful for finding a JOB, you know?"

me: "oh yeah, thats good. get a good job, then sell it."

youth: "boy, you really are a good role model for at-risk youth."

me: "well, you're no longer an intern, so we aren't required to be good role models for you anymore. just regular role models."

youth: "you don't have to worry about that, i've got plenty of 'regular role models' in my life. . . "


that made me laugh.

supermarket street sweep 2008

we did this charity alleycat race yesterday, to collect food for the SF food bank. 5 checkpoints(grocery stores) throughout the city, with a manifest listing what specific items to pick up from each store. it was SO fun.

clare and i decided to do the entire course backwards, which ended up tacking on 8 extra miles to the loop. oops. the cool thing was, as always, we got to explore parts of SF we'd never been before. we rode a total of 29 miles, lots of climbing. the farther we rode along, the heavier our bags got. it was fun. i typically only ride about 2 miles with a full bag of groceries. . .

i did it on my track bike, she took the fuso. it was fast and fun. when the afterparty wrapped up, we grabbed dinner in the tenderloin, then i slept for 11 hours straight. seriously.

wheels, rims, and tires. . . not the same thing

rim= the rear hoop of a wheel, the outer aluminum ring.
wheel= the collective build of a rim, hub, and spokes.
tire= the rubber part that mounts on the outside of the wheel.


guy: "hi, i wanted to see what the price of a rear rim would be."

me: "just the rim, or the whole wheel?"

guy: "uh, i guess the whole thing."

me: "ok, what kind of bike do you have?"

guy: "uhhhh. . . ."

me: "is it a road bike, mountain bike, hybrid?"

guy: "well, its wider than your average tire. like if you cut it in half, see, it would be like 2 feet.""

me: "uhhh. . . .tires are measured by width, in millimeters. not by diameter. if its a road bike, there are 2 diameters of wheels, one is called 700c, and the other is 27 inches. you can tell by reading whats on the side of the tire. the price differs between them, as well as you choices of options."

(somewhere in there, the dude hung up. he probably resorted to yelp to write a bad review. fuck.)