In and Out

I have been somewhat silent as of late, mainly because life has seemed unbloggable. Things are starting to return to normal, however, and I'm trying to resume my old habits.

I did something I've been kind of wanting to do for, like, years now and bought a new graphics card a number of weeks ago, which was exciting because it has its own RAM and its own fan and it's just cool looking. The problem was that after I tore my computer apart and installed the card and messed around with games I hadn't been able to run previously, my computer seemed to slow down significantly. After banging my head against the virtual wall of hardware trouble-shooting for a good long while, (and updating drivers, flashing my BIOS, cleaning up my registry, scanning my entire machine for spyware/viruses) I took the card out again because things had gotten so sluggish as to be unbearable. Except taking the card out didn't help. When I discovered this I gave up, and mostly left my desktop turned off for a number of weeks except when I absolutely couldn't avoid updating client's websites.

Today I finally returned to the problem, and after some more frustration figured out the hitch wasn't with the graphics card, but one of the drive emulators I installed to test some new game I was apparently excited to try out a few weeks ago. Gurgh. Anyway, I removed the emulator, put the graphics card back in my computer and now things seem hunky dorey.

But this episode has forced me to face the fact that my current installation of Windows is just getting beat up and sloppy (I'm a little hard on operating systems...). I've known in my heart for a while now that I need to do a clean wipe of my hard drive and reinstall everything, (something I used to do once a year, every year, around Christmastime, in my energetic youth) but now that my computer is larger and more vital to my livelihood than ever before, this just seems like a daunting task. So I've been putting it off, kind of hoping I can make it to the release of the new Windows 7 in October. Except I refuse to install a new OS within six months of its release to avoid the bugs, which means I'm looking at a really long span of sub-par operating.

So, we'll see if I can make it. And in the meantime I must admit that the games I've been daydreaming about being able to play for the last two years are a universal disappointment and not even worth one good binge. Oh well. I suppose I should count this as a blessing, be grateful that Photoshop is running faster, and use the saved time to do things like go outside and enjoy my life.

Act II

My long-time readers might remember something that happened just over two years ago now (boy how the time flies). My lovely Jamis Aurora was stolen from my front porch. I was heart-broken, but eventually moved on and replaced the bike with a "new" Fuji, which was actually a good deal older than the Jamis. I fixed it up, converted it into a single-speed and fell in love with it. I eventually recovered my Jamis, and put the whole experience behind me. I discovered, however, that the Fuji was a rather superior town bike, with its flat bars, simplicity, durability and basket. Since then, I've favored the Fuji for my daily rides.

Fast forward to last Friday evening. I was at work, my Fuji locked to the tree outside, and a huge thunderstorm had rolled in and was dumping copious amounts of rain. My boss offered me a ride home and I, looking at the river that was the street to my house, accepted, thinking I'd return for my bike in the morning.

Except in the morning my bike slipped my mind. I left my house before 8:00 AM, to help move Steen and the other horses at our barn from one side of town to the other. I didn't return home until early evening and was so exhausted my poor Fuji didn't even enter my thoughts. Also, I went in and out the side door by pure chance that day, so didn't see the empty spot on the porch where my town bike usually resides.

The next morning we slept in a little, drank our coffee and sat around reading. Brian finished his book, so went to the library to get another. I was still obliviously enjoying my lazy morning when he came home, a strange look on his face. "Steve just called to say he has your Fuji," he said.

Confusion. "My Fuji?"

"Yes, some guy brought it in to the shop trying to sell it. Steve managed to get it from him."

More confusion. "How did we not even notice it was missing?" I asked.

"You left it at work," Brian said.

Guilt. "Shit," I said.

We went and got my bike back. Whomever stole it picked my Masterlock and left the lock and cable by the tree. They also felt the need to abuse my bike between the time they stole it and tried to get money for it. The basket is mangled beyond repair. The grips are punched through at the ends. There are some scratches on the frame. A brake lever is bent out of shape. It was missing one of the fender bracer bolts too, but Steve (going well beyond the call of duty) replaced that for me. I have since done a little research and learned there are about a million instructional videos online teaching the masses how to pick Masterlocks. As Brian said, the information age has its disadvantages.

I am once again saddened by the people who have no respect for others. But at the same time I am grateful for the other kind of people - the kind who will recognize your bike when they see it in the hands of a nefarious impostor, and get it back for you.

Again

It worked once so I figured I'd have another go.

On Writing

I just read Stephen King's book On Writing. And while I don't say this often about books that involve one person telling another how to do something, I will say it for this one: It was truly useful and incandescently inspirational. I get the feeling I might read it many more times before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

The Start of Summer

It's been a busy few weeks for us newly-weds, with visiting family, parties in Chicago and some nice early summer weather. Work at the gallery had been interesting lately. I've had a lot of "take home" projects, from scanning and antiquing photos to organizing captions and formatting poetry. I also have been a bit accident-prone. I have at least one glass/paper cut on every single finger on my right hand, and a burn on my left hand. I seem to go through phases like this. I'll go for weeks without a single mishap on the job and then they all pile on at once. I'm sure I could draw conclusions on my broader mental state from this, but I choose not to.

In other big news, I took my yakima racks off my car for the first time in... um... well, since I've owned a car. This was not an easy decision for me as I always have liked the look of the racks, and for many years having them on was extremely practical. However, I don't think I've put a bike on the racks since I moved to Iowa City. It seems to work out here that if I'm going to need a bike somewhere, I will ride the bike to get there. If I'm going to take the car, that usually means I'm going to see my horse or hauling lots of stuff - activities which do not require a bike. So, as cool as they might look, I suspect the racks cut down on gas mileage and make a lot of noise at higher speeds. I am going to spend the next few tanks of gas gauging how much of a difference going rackless actually makes in these two areas and then make a final decision based on what I discover. I must say the initial change is somewhat unsettling. My car hardly looks like my car anymore, and I fear I will have trouble finding it in parking lots.

My Get-Rich-Quick-Scheme

Hearts have ruled for too long.

Green Grass and Pale Ale

It has finally reached that time of year where the ground in many places is completely covered in a wonderful snack for Steen, and he enjoys a little feast whenever I let him stop moving.

Brian and I thought we should spend some time enjoying some treats in celebration of the new season too, so when we both got off work at 2:00 on Friday, we pedaled over to our engagement spot in the park and participated in some hard-core lounging.

We sampled my new favorite beer, as well as a few others.

We enjoyed the warm sun and the green grass.

So much so, we decided to illustrate the view. Fascinatingly, we became better artists the more beer we drank!