benz fleet

granted it's a very small fleet... but we like it. yannick's is an '81 wagon with 225,ooo miles. apparently over 75% of these cars are still on the road. mercedes has a high mileage club.


left to right: curtis, liz, pia, jenne, turbo, consuelo, zoe, yannick


jenne has named her evinrude. we gave her a wash and wax today.

birthday weekend

george's birthday was pretty quiet and strangely exhausting. he ended up with the poached pear and almond tart, which turned out not perfect, but better than expected-and it's delicious! he spent the morning working on the dashboard and the display for the rabbit and in the afternoon we went into san francisco to say bye to karl and lindsay and to track down the elusive krylon spray paint for plastics in the color orange (we were hoping it'd be perfect for the dash.) driving through san francisco is always stressful and irritating (always), but more than just driving, parking is a nightmare. being that it was george's birthday and i was already exhausted he did all the driving, which he soon regretted.

karl and lindsay sent us home with various householdy things (like a totally sweet salad spinner), then it was back to marin and off to dinner with the boss & co. at the pub/brewery up the street. which only lasted until about nine but felt like two am.

yesterday was quiet. ish. we drove all over looking for a seatpost for my bike, never found it, had sandwiches in sausalito, and finally picked a color for the dash. the color is a nice light green (more like a celery and less like a mint), we think it'll be perfect.

the bike is coming together well; we've got everything we need save for bar tape and a seatpost. because the frame is old it uses a post with a smaller diameter-26.0mm as opposed to 26.2 mm. we went to six different bike shops yesterday and none had the correct size. we did discover our new favorite bike shop, the village peddler. george ran all of the cables for me and has been working on the brakes because after fighting with them and being defeated three or four times, i just couldn't bring myself to work on them. hopefully today we'll be doing some derailleur alignment.

as for the cats:

more exploding tires!

after trying again and having the tube explode again george and i decided to just set the project aside and wait for some more informed help. i did, however, get the bottom bracket, cranks, and some pedals put on yesterday:



Rivendell's wheel-builder, Rich Lesnick, emailed me yesterday to say my rear wheel was all assembled and ready to be picked up. this morning we headed out, with a box full of pastries, to get the rest of the missing components.

in order to get to walnut creek from here we get to do exciting things like go over the richmond-san rafael bridge and through the caldecott tunnel; at these two places we realized what is wrong with california drivers: they can't merge! that's right, all these instances of traffic being jammed, backed up, out of control and ridiculous are because people can't grasp the concept of merging- preceded, i suppose, by sign reading. by chance, we thought our car was making a terrible burning smell so we got off the interstate to check it out. it turned out to be someone else's car and when we got back on the interstate, just before the tunnel, we managed to miss almost all of ridiculous waiting.

once there we picked up the wheel, a saddle: the women's b.17 because it really does suit the bike better, two burrito wraps, new brake pads, and little nut/bolt combo missing from one of the brakes. they took a look at the wheel and tires and determined that (surprise!) a smaller tire would hold to the rim better and more safely than the ones they'd previously given me.

all that's missing now is bar tape and a seatpost (which we'll have to scrounge around for, apparently this frame requires a fairly skinny one.)

george installed his new, wider handlebars and got some red bar tape for them which turned out to be a pale red so it looks kind of pink. he's pleased, but may shellac them to try and redden them up. it's a good look for his predominantly silver and red bike.

in cat news: it's true and confirmed, the cats have fleas and ringworm. this means lots of baths and anti-fungal cream for them, which by this point they're fairly okay with. they're not clawing our eyes out, but they're really not happy about it. there's been floor and laundry bleaching and scrubbing all around. i mean, it's not like we're living in a filthy hole or anything, we clean and launder regularly, the windows are always open, they get advantaged regularly: what the fuck?

saturday is george's birthday (the big 2-5) and hopefully we'll be going to the beach with liz and mike. i think he's decided that instead of a cake (i had suggested carrot cake with strawberries and whipped cream filling, frosted with either whipped cream or buttercream) he'd like a tart. and quiche. but not at the same time.

birthdays!

happy birthday to:
- my mom, kim!
- george's brother, jonathan!

nothing will make a birthday more special than being in a bulleted list of other people celebrating a birthday.

as it turns out these people also share a birthday:
- george
- liz o.