Mid summer.
- Road bike is fixed. A call to the builder confirmed my suspicions- the frame, built in the late 90’s as a full-blown race bike was built with what his notes say were “minimal” clearances. He was certain I could get a 25c tire through (which is still better than my current 23’s), and he thought maybe, depending, I might be able to squeeze a 28c through- but I wouldn’t know until I tried and there were too many variables to wager a guess. So: I ordered some 26’s (that should come today), and that should do the trick. I wasn’t willing to wager $200 on tires that might not fit, so 26 seemed like a decent place to start. I fixed the broken rear spoke, too- it was nice to get the new spoke in there, bring it up to tension, and have the rear wheel come right back into true. I might have built those wheels properly 20 years ago.
- Tracking down a re-foam kit for old loudspeakers is… annoying. They exist, but they’re a pita to get ordered and shipped and all that. So: on the list, but trying to find the most elegant solution.
- Looking at power management solutions for the rack system (again). I’ve got the 120v AC power mostly dealt with- planned, anyway. But the 5v DC USB powered stuff needs to be sorted out, too. While it’s convenient that so many things are USB powered, it’s annoying to have an endless array of tiny power supplies eating up space on a power strip. To that end, I’ve had good luck with Ankler PowerPorts (they do 120 AC to 5v DC with 6 ports), and the two I have are fully occupied, so… it’s looking like I’ll need a third to deal with the stuff in the rack. And some more USB micro cables, too.
- I’m about ready to start devoting some time to that new video series I mentioned a few weeks ago- building out a proper full-sized set of videos about William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. I’m pretty excited to work on something like this for the first time in a while, and I’m also wary of putting work out into the public like this (as it’s always rough on the ego).