Stupid Hurts

I have been been meaning to replace my brake cables for sometime several months, and I figured as while as I was doing it, I might as well write a guide on how to do it as well. Before you start replacing your own brake cables. Read all the directions all the way through, and make sure you have everything you need first.

First off you need need Cables.

Teflon grease.

Cable ends.

Something to cut the Cable Ends.

And a 3 Way Hex Key.

It is nice to have a towel.

We are going to start off with the front brake.

You will start off by opening the the hex bolt on the side of your front caliper, and then removing the existing cable that’s already there. You cut off a cable end if there is one there already.

Now open up the front of the shifter and this is what you are looking for.

You are going to pull that all of the way out, pay attention where you pulled that cable from.  You take that white bushing that the arrow is pointing to and put Teflon grease on the sides and top of it, then put that bushing on your new cable like so.

Next you rub Teflon grease on the side of your cable, it will help it last longer. Then you stick the cable back into the hole it came from. Sometimes you have to move the cable around to find the hole, the is also part of the reason you lubed it. Once you have fed the cable out of the bottom. Pull it out of the bottom and screw your adjustment screw all the way in before adjusting your brakes.

Cut off about “2 fingers”  of cable. and put on a cable end.

Tighten as needed, and there you have it. You did the front, now for the rear.

The beginning is the same, you will start off by opening the the hex bolt on the side of your back caliper, and then removing the existing cable that’s already there. You cut off a cable end if there is one there already.

Now open up the shifter and this is what you are looking for.

Pull that bushing out. Lube it up with Teflon grease like last time.

Cut off about “2 fingers”  of cable. and put on a cable end. Tighten as needed, and there you go.

Now make sure both levers have about the same amount of movement. Try to stretch them as well and make sure they stop the bike consistently. Also make sure your weight does not move the handle bars.

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If there are any questions don’t hesitate to email, oh and wash forget to your hands once you are done, the cable ends are lead and I don’t want to be responsible for that.

I haven’t been called “Cowboy” in a very long time. And truthfully I sorta miss it, but really only when a certain person does it. I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and she brought up the last time we hung in Alabama together.

Here is more or less how it happened
We were walking downtown headed away from the Alabama theater. She teased me so I spun her around pinned her to a wall and looked into her eyes. She looked at me and her eyes flashed mischievously, her lips curled up at each end into that beautiful smirk she has. With my hands on the wall at both sides of her head, she just titled her face playfully to the side and said.

“Cowboy I think today is the luckiest day of your life.”

Looking back I think Sarah was right.

I have been putting off anouncing this, because it does seem a little unrealistic, but I am moving to Seattle Washington next week.

Jake and I are moving in together. Of course this might be a mistake, last time we tried to move in together, I ended up with epilepsy, and he ended up with tuberculous. And most importantly someone died.

I was talking to Sarah a few nights ago and I pointed out the fact that it has been a year since I started having seizures, and ended up in the hospital. We also came to the conclusion it has been a pretty long year and me getting sick was a catalyst for a hell of a lot things at once. Unfortunately or fortunately, I haven’t really figured out which yet, every time I tried to properly feel sorry for myself I ended up having to deal with some new issue. I keep getting told hold I am handling my issues really well. I’m not really, I just don’t talk about it too much.

I also realized last night that I have been to the Emergency room enough times in a short enough of time span to lose count. Scary no? I know I have been more than 6 times since I got to Atlanta, and more than 6 times before I left Birmingham. I don’t always blog about it, sometimes I walk out, or they happen so close together; (like on my birthday ,and the day before when I went to two different E.R’s). My real thought is if everyone knew how often I crashed, I doubt they would continue to allow me my personal privacy or freedom. It is only the last time where I near destroyed my fixed gear and got hurt that I was really forced to cut back.

Lastly I was told recently “When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Usually, that individual is crazy. ” Considering I have been commended for my ability to take control of situations when things get out of control, and I have also had three separate doctors recommend therapy or a psychologist. Maybe there is a connection.

So I haven’t been looking forward to going to the doctor ever since I got out of the hospital the last time. That is, because this is the one that would determine what the next step was as far the brain surgery was. Well that was if they had found anything. My MRI series came back clean. No lesions, no excessive scaring, basically no real reason for the seizures. I got what could be interpreted as good news to most people. That I don’t need brain surgery, but unfortunately I focused on the underlying part which was surprisingly depressing. They once again don’t know what’s causing my seizures.

My doctor told me that once again we are pretty much back to square one. My options are once again to try different drugs to see if they manage the seizures our maybe the Vargus implant. So here we are, almost a year later, and I was told once again, “you seem to be coping well, and we will keep trying.” I know all the doctors are trying, and I know it is sort of a trial and error and patience thing. It just doesn’t make it any easier. After hearing my doctor say, “I don’t know.” I had to spend the next few minutes choking down tears as my doctor talked and went through the paces.

My doctor did give me a a fairly clean bill of health which, unfortunately after speaking with Bob was not enough to get me put back on the schedule at the bike shop. He still feels like I am too much of a risk at this time. Oh well. Speaking of risk, I was asked to stay off my bicycle by my dad again, I guess I shouldn’t tell him about the unicycle or that I am in the market for a new track bike or that I am looking to repair my Allez still.

And lastly, I finally managed to get new glasses while I was in Birmingham.
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So here I am sitting out side of the Caribou Coffee in The Edgewood Shopping plaza. When two guys try to sneak up behind me. I turn my look over my shoulder several times before making it a point to turn around once they began to invade what I consider my personal space. One asked me for my laptop
“Give me your laptop”
I laughed at them both and replied
“You better want it a lot more than me,” and then proceed to case it up and place it inside of my messenger bag, while continuing to chuckle to myself.
They both look surprised as I then got up and asked them “what else do they want.”

As they both nervously look at me and then at each other I noticed one start reaching around his back, I figure he should be my main target. I am hovering leaning forward ready to lunge, and while I hoped it didn’t get to that. I really kinda wanted it to, I can tell you to the day the last time I got to choke someone out legally.

They chatted between themselves for a bit and started posturing about how they just got out of jail and what not. I wanted to point out I used to get paid to hurt people, but I felt it wasn’t the best time to divulge that fact. I stepped forward to place myself in position to strike and one of them places his hands out and ask me not to do that I was making him nervous. Apparently they just wanted to talk at this point. I figured my stuff was mostly safe now and listened to what they had to say. They said how they were walking, and I pointed out I was on a bike, so I told them I would let them go, that only went to piss them off. They accused me of treating them like bitches, I agreed with them and made a deal. So I gave them some of the change in my pocket in an effort not to re-escalate the issue. They left and I decided to do the same before they returned with friends.

I have been trying to wean myself off of the anti-depressants since I left to fly to California. I quit taking them about the second night I was there. Seemed like the best time to do it. I would be on vacation so I would be semi-happy most of the time and too busy to notice the changes. Because I know the first week going on or coming off anti-depressants is nearly unbearable for me, I got suicidal last time. When I first started taking the Elavil I found myself constantly crying and dealing with horific mood swings. Really coming down hasn’t been that much different. I have had my mood swing within seconds from happy to complete and utter contempt for a person or situation. To make matters even more interesting I have found myself facing several aggravating situations in the past couple of weeks.

The other side effects from the drug have been sorta difficult to live with which is why I am weaning myself off of it. The list cant be found here. The worse one being the constant nausea and vomiting. Of course the nightmares, those are fun apparently I have waken up looking like what ever woke me up was truly disturbing haven’t helped any.

Unfortunately since I quit taking them I haven’t been able to sleep more than 3-4 hours a night. I am really exhausted. I tried to sleep during the day today. I am tired but not sleepy at all. I just lie there and nothing happens. Of course I was going to go out to a bar to celebrate with friends tonight until I had a seizure and went home instead. This is really getting old really quickly.

In other news. Today would have been the one year mark for Alison and I but thats a no go. One of my favorite places to go with her was the botanical gardens. So I made this card.

The gate at the gardens
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Originally I was going to send it to her today, but then I saw her and chose to keep it. I thought of striking a conversation, but my mood swung quickly and I changed my mind. Not out of any real dislike or anything. I just couldn’t find anything to say that seemed appropriate.

You know I thought December was the one year mark, but I was wrong. Stupidhurts.org had been up and running for over a year now since the last time I broke the sever.
I think I have owned the site for close to two years because the domain name had to be renewed a bit back.

Anyway thanks everyone who has stuck with me for this long, and I hope I can keep you all entertained with my antics for a long time.

To date I have had well over a million hits and more than one hundred thousand unique visitors.
Thanks

So last month sometime I wandered on to a sale at my local [tag]fabric[/tag] [tag]store[/tag]. There is a roll of [tag]cordura[/tag] there that I paid $13.95 a yard for in when I made my last [tag]bag[/tag]. Last time I was there it was on sale for $1.95 a yard so I got a few yards in the hope that I would make another [tag]messenger[/tag] bag.
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Well the past few days I have been [tag]visualizing[/tag] and drawing up a new bag design. Tonight I finally got my math to add up into numbers I liked, so I took a few hours to draw up and cut out the first piece of my new bag.
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I see pockets in my near future.

My [tag]work[/tag] assignment today carried me down to [tag]Dothan[/tag], [tag]Alabama[/tag]. The last time I had been there was in december during the “Tour De Stupidity.” After we were done with our work in Dothan and headed back to the warehouse, we followed part of the route I took north to [tag]Montgomery[/tag]. For a moment it seemed like time in the truck cab sighed, and then swallowed me whole.

I watched the shoulder of the road get smaller and rougher. And a since of pride swelled up in me. The part of U.S. [tag]231[/tag] we were on was the mentally toughest day of my bicycle trip. Fighting fast traffic without a real shoulder and coping with my own near exhaustion has left me very close to the point of breaking. That was the day I spent an hour in lying in the grass staring at the sky till I was able to convince myself to get back on my [tag]bike[/tag] and fight for a few more miles.

I still feel like I know that bit of road almost intimately. It was like hugging an old girlfriend, and remembering how she liked to be touched. I was reminded how I fought with that road for a few miles at a time, and how it fought back to make me quit. After seeing the condition of the road it doesn’t even seem realistic that I made it home at all. I wonder if my [tag]determination[/tag] was really that blind at the time. Could I do it again if i had to?

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Then we passed the big metal chicken and I realized my legs hurt. Turned out I had been subconsciously flexing them and unflexing them the way I do when I pedal, for about the last 40 miles. Did a single stretch of road leave that big of mark on me?