I have defeated the day
I've been up since 5:30am. For some people on my f-list, this counts as "sleeping in" but for me, anything prior to 10am may as well still be yesterday.
I finished a 5 day job this morning. Loading out after these big multi-day jobs is always bittersweet. And difficult. The cables seem to grow roots and tangle themselves up despite your best efforts to keep them segregated from other cables, or route them in ways meant for ease of extraction later.
Got home just after noon, with lunch in hand.
The plan was, since I knew I'd be done early today, to spend most of the day napping and catching up on rest since I've been up this early every day since Saturday. However, as usual, my body had other plans. So while roaming the house looking for trouble to get into, I picked up female end of the 12v wire I'd made in order to hook my old GPS unit into my bike. It worked at first, but due to the placement of the components of the cable, and the fact that the 12v charger for the TomTom isn't weatherproof, it soon corroded and stopped working. The wiring was fine though, and able to be reused. I just had to rethink where I was going to place the receptacle and route the wire. I settled on a spot between the tripletrees, just behind the headlight. It gives me access to plug in the charger, while still being out of the way, and doesn't limit turning the handlebars. Some cable ties, wire cutters, and heat shrink tubing later, and I'd rewired and cleaned up the installation and had my GPS plugged-in, charging and secured to the bike.
I decided that as a test ride, I'd head over to Advance Automotive. They have a product called "Never Dull" that I recently had the chance to try on my band uniform belt buckle. It works much better than the caustic, stinky and largely ineffective metal polish I'd been using, so I got a can of it. While strolling around I happened to spy, with my little eye, a rack of car covers. Inclusive of this rack was a few motorcycle covers as well. I need a new cover, since mine sort of disintegrated over the winter, so I grabbed it along with some bungee cords to affix it to my rear fender.
Next I planned to head up to Great Falls Village, where there was a leather shop next to the hardware store. My glove split a seam and I wanted to see if I could get it repaired. Well, that shop is now a pool supply store, so I was bummed. I headed over to Loudoun Leather, which was on the way home anyway, and asked in there if the repair was something that could be done right away. No. They have to send it out and get it back. The lady working there pointed me at a store near the house, one that I'd been meaning to check out, that sells Red Wing boots and Dickies and Carhartt stuff. They have a repair shop in back and were able to stitch up my glove quick snap. They were very friendly and the service was excellent. The repair was high-quality and should last a long time. The shopkeeper mentioned that they also do work on all kinds of leather as well. So I asked him about a project I'm working on to get my saddlebags to mount a little better onto my bike. He's willing to help me out when I'm ready to commit to the modification.
So I got a whole bunch of stuff done today, there's a new Mythbusters on tonight and I've got a Sammy Smith's Oatmeal Stout in the kitchen waiting for me. This is awesome.
I finished a 5 day job this morning. Loading out after these big multi-day jobs is always bittersweet. And difficult. The cables seem to grow roots and tangle themselves up despite your best efforts to keep them segregated from other cables, or route them in ways meant for ease of extraction later.
Got home just after noon, with lunch in hand.
The plan was, since I knew I'd be done early today, to spend most of the day napping and catching up on rest since I've been up this early every day since Saturday. However, as usual, my body had other plans. So while roaming the house looking for trouble to get into, I picked up female end of the 12v wire I'd made in order to hook my old GPS unit into my bike. It worked at first, but due to the placement of the components of the cable, and the fact that the 12v charger for the TomTom isn't weatherproof, it soon corroded and stopped working. The wiring was fine though, and able to be reused. I just had to rethink where I was going to place the receptacle and route the wire. I settled on a spot between the tripletrees, just behind the headlight. It gives me access to plug in the charger, while still being out of the way, and doesn't limit turning the handlebars. Some cable ties, wire cutters, and heat shrink tubing later, and I'd rewired and cleaned up the installation and had my GPS plugged-in, charging and secured to the bike.
I decided that as a test ride, I'd head over to Advance Automotive. They have a product called "Never Dull" that I recently had the chance to try on my band uniform belt buckle. It works much better than the caustic, stinky and largely ineffective metal polish I'd been using, so I got a can of it. While strolling around I happened to spy, with my little eye, a rack of car covers. Inclusive of this rack was a few motorcycle covers as well. I need a new cover, since mine sort of disintegrated over the winter, so I grabbed it along with some bungee cords to affix it to my rear fender.
Next I planned to head up to Great Falls Village, where there was a leather shop next to the hardware store. My glove split a seam and I wanted to see if I could get it repaired. Well, that shop is now a pool supply store, so I was bummed. I headed over to Loudoun Leather, which was on the way home anyway, and asked in there if the repair was something that could be done right away. No. They have to send it out and get it back. The lady working there pointed me at a store near the house, one that I'd been meaning to check out, that sells Red Wing boots and Dickies and Carhartt stuff. They have a repair shop in back and were able to stitch up my glove quick snap. They were very friendly and the service was excellent. The repair was high-quality and should last a long time. The shopkeeper mentioned that they also do work on all kinds of leather as well. So I asked him about a project I'm working on to get my saddlebags to mount a little better onto my bike. He's willing to help me out when I'm ready to commit to the modification.
So I got a whole bunch of stuff done today, there's a new Mythbusters on tonight and I've got a Sammy Smith's Oatmeal Stout in the kitchen waiting for me. This is awesome.