a very mixed day
I’ve been annoyed at my performance at work these last two weeks. Yesterday it was really coming to a head, as I was accomplishing too little /and/ was having incredible hand pain. I even put aside my beloved IBM m101 to use a Belkin split keyboard. So far, so good. I need to see if I can find one with the \ in the right place, though, above the carriage return.
At the end of the day, yesterday, I wrote a set of TO DO items for today, and some for next week. Today, I got to work and got started. I managed to finish everything on the list, which made me feel good. Most importantly, I faked the multi-column-key relationships I needed in some CDBI code, got CDBI deploying automatically to the machines that need it (with the patches needed for MSSQL) and wrote some user-level documentation for Querylet. I paid better attention to Workrave, and my hands seemed to hurt less. Unfortunately, I reached my “daily limit” around 14:30. I tried to minimize typing after that, but still went at least half an hour over. Even as I type this, I can tell that the setting is a good one. My hands hurt.
After work, Gloria and I headed to the gym, where I had a very routine workout. After that, to Genesis Bicycles. See, I replaced the tube on my bike yesterday, and when I turned it over I found that the head shock was being /very/ rough, and even noisy! At Genesis, Tomias said, “It sounds rusty,” which is what I feared. He cut open the rubber sleeve around the shock, and it was pretty awful. Clearly a good amount of water had gotten into the shock, and once inside the seal it was sealed in. There was also some general filth and awfulness.
He said that his recommendation was to send the shock to Cannondale for a rebuild, which is what we’ve done. I’m expecting that it will cost a few hundred dollars, which is not the best thing ever. Also, I noticed that with my new tube inflated, I saw that the little slice in my rear tire is much worse than I’d thought. There is no chance of riding on that tire. Tomias gave me some advice on what work I most need to do on my bike, which was helpful. He also told me that CAT (the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation) holds courses on learning bike maintenance, and I might try to have a go at that, too.
I think the damage to the shock was preventable, but I didn’t prevent it, so there’s nothing much to be done now. Once I have my bike back, I think I will begin its Big Maintenance Cycle, which may well last into and through the winter.
On the way back from Genesis, we got dinner at Golden Gate. It was so-so, but even so-so dinner there is always enjoyable. I had some pumpkin pie.
Once home, Gloria built a Lego jack-o-lantern. (It’s the 3D one, if you follow Lego.) It’s pretty cool.
Now, I go to bed. Tomorrow, when my typing counter is back to zero, I will try to continue being productive.