Pretty Charlotte

Hi Everyone,

I spent last night giving Charlotte some tlc and making her pretty. I picked up a bright pink chain and put it on. I wanted to get purple but the bike shop wasn't expecting to get any in for the next while. I said, "But I don't think pink would go with my red bike." They then said, "Well, your helmet is red and pink." So they got me. My bike and helmet are becoming co-ordinated. All I need is an orange water bottle and I'll be set!

So, after an ice-cream date with Jerry, I went home and got myself all dirty and greasy. I took the new chain out of the box and cleaned the packing grease off it. You can ride with the original lube but I was told if I have time, to do a proper cleaning/lubing. I then broke my original chain and cleaned it. What a mess! I think I've been over lubing which means dirt sticks to the extra lube and makes it really dirty. It's good for winter since it protects the chain but in summer you want a pretty clean chain. The main problem I had with putting the new chain on was rejoining the chain. Basically, there's a little pin that joins the links and to break the chain, you need to remove the pin but only until it's out of the middle section and still sticking in the outer part. I only had a small chain breaker on my multi tool and although I could remove the pin, there wasn't enough distance between the pin and the crank used to shove the pin in and out. I ended up lining everything up and using a hammer. Not an ideal situation but in the end it worked.

After all this work, I was rather tired and went into my room to get ready for bed. Next thing I know it's morning and I'm late for work. The tv was on, all the lights were on, the furry family was hungry...

So, I opened the window for Mike (he's happy), bribed the other two with strawberries (they're happy) and sent an e-mail to work letting them know I'll be late (they laughed). Had a nice ride in, chain working well, no weird noises or grinding.

So, I've got a very busy week ahead of me. My payroll mid term is next week and I'll be getting the apartment ready for Mom, Dad & Christine's visit. It's suppose to be a nice weekend so I can get a bunch of laundry done.

Had some problems with my kitchen sink pipes. There was/is a clog somewhere and I didn't pick up on that being the strange smell in my kitchen until 11:30 Wednesday night. Since it wasn't standing water (just took a super long time to drain), I used Drano kitchen crystals to help clear it. I think most of the clog is gone - when I was running the water to test it, it took a long time for it to back up and it did drain much faster when it did back up. I'll continue with these crystals over the next few days to make sure everything's fine. Mind you, I did learn how to remove the pipes under the sink to see if there was something caught in the U shaped section (and there wasn't).

Have a great day!