The boys are back in town

OK, not really the boys. Mostly just me.

I hitched a ride back to Boonetown this afternoon. I'm hanging out for a few days until I meet with some sort of advising type person on Monday. I'm not sure if they will let me back in, but I'm gonna do some sweet talking. Show some nip if necessary. We will see what happens.

I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be up here, I want to just be here, get around campus some, check out some places to live, see some folks, participate in some stupid activities hopefully.


lane

Deer hunt!

I'm going on my first deer hunt in the morning. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm going to a my friend Jordan's farm at the hairy butt-crack of dawn. Neither of us is entirely sure what we would do if we DID shoot a deer, but we're going to do our best.

Wish me luck!!


lane

Quickie

I've been out riding with my brother and James for about the past four hours. So much fun.

I love riding, but for the past several months, I have only done it alone. I got a little taste of riding with someone else this weekend, but got it full force tonight. It is so much more fun, and makes me ride harder and faster and think about it less and less. The brain gets taken more out of the equation and the body and bike just take over.

Anyways, I am very tired and have an early morning tomorrow. Up at 7:30 for a quail hunt with my dad and brother, so I need to keep this short. I have more to write, but I'll do that later, maybe tomorrow (now this) afternoon.

Sleep tight, don't the the bedbugs bite!


lane

I would walk 500 miles...

I left Boston at 10AM Saturday morning, and got to Greensboro at 6PM on Monday. It was a very successful trip. I was planning on going from Boston straight to Richmond to visit a friend I hadn't seen in like a year. I ended up taking a little detour to Dulles Int Airport and then Harrisonburg.

I finally got into Richmond sometime around one on Sunday. So much fun. I had a great visit, got to meet some new friends, and got to go to one of the coolest things I've been a part of in a long time. There was a prayer meeting, I kinda want to call it, on Sunday night that was incredibly powerful. I can't begin to put it into words, but it was exactly what I needed.

I delivered Cleo to her final destination, which was a happy meeting. The finished bike turned out very well, I'm extremely pleased with it. I'll put up a finished picture after I get some onto the computer, but it's a good lookin bike, if I do say so myself. Carra and I spent a good bit of Sunday riding around Richmond, learning to ride her new bike, exploring the city and whatnot. Great fun was had by all, or at least me, and I discovered Richmond is a very bike friendly city.

I left for home around two and got back to Greensboro at about 5:30. Vicky (the GPS I was borrowing) did a pretty good job of getting me home. She did get a bit big for her britches a few times and tried to get bossy, but I put her back in her place. Which was my center console. That shut her up nicely.

Grand total of miles driven was exactly 900 miles from my apartment to my front door at home in something like 58 hours. What is the lesson learned? Never buy a used car from a highly overweight person, they break the seats, which in turn breaks my back. All in all, a successful trip, and I'm happy to be home.

lane

The pilgrimage

Today is the last day! I'm excited to head south and get home in a few days. If everything goes according to plan, I will be breathing clean, wholesome air in roughly 30 hours. I will also be making a point to stop at the first Bojangles I come across. It may delay my trip by a few hours, but I will be happy with good, terrible, awesome, greasy fried chicken.

I do want to amend my list of things I will miss about Boston.
4. The food- Boston has a phenomenal selection of restaurants that are highly delicious. It is easy to find anything or any type of food you want, with any atmosphere, for almost any price. It would be very plausible to never have to go to the same place twice.

5. Riding in traffic- I know I already listed this, but it is one of my favorite things. A whole new kind of rush for me. Its kinda like the adrenaline from climbing, or any other "extreme" sport, knowing if I screw up, I will be hit by a car. Very dangerous, but very worth it.

Ok, thats all I wanted to add. I'm sure there is something else, but it doesn't come to mind right now. Maybe later something will spring into my brain.


lane

"You're crazy!"

So, apparently, I'm the crazy guy at work. It was about 22 degrees with 15 mph wind this morning. I ride my bike everywhere, especially to work. Everybody I've talked to has told me that I'm out of my mind. I don't think I believe them, because I realize it's freezing, but there isn't anything I can do about it. Strangely, it is colder at home than here.

It is snowing and like 18 degrees in Boone, so I somehow have the milder weather yet again up here in Massachusetts. Oh well, I'm moving back south in T minus three days, and I can't wait!

I have a drive back south that I'm looking forward to(I really enjoy driving), a fun little layover in Richmond to deliver an important package, then Thanksgiving at home and all the goodness that comes with that, then hanging out until I start school back up in the spring(AKA January). Oh, and Appalachian football playoff game next Saturday. I have to pack a whole season of going nuts at games into just a short playoff series. I can't wait.

Pretty much I'm just bored at work. And it isn't even 10:00 yet. Well, I need to pretend like I'm working. Later y'all.

lane

Coffee!!

Too much coffee this morning + no breakfast= shaky Lane. Haha, not gonna make that mistake again. This makes it way harder than it should be to work on bikes and try and make myself lunch. Oops.

lane

Flyin purple people eater...

Done for the most part with color. A few spots to touch up in my secret painting lair, then clear coat and assembly. I'm picking up my parts this weekend, and should have the final assembly done by next Wednesday or so. Until then, this is all you get! Haha, I'm so excited about this little project.

lane

Experience life at Sprintspeed (TM)

Here's the project thus far.

Started with a 10 speed Schwinn Sprint that I believe was made in 1978. It was in pretty good shape, some surface rust and 1 small dent, but nothing to be worried about. It was a pretty cool gunmetal gray that I considered keeping for a second, but I've got other plans so it had to go. That wasn't the only thing that had to go either. The bike weighed probably 40 pounds! It's a heavy mother, but dang near indestructible, from what I have been able to research. So I spent all last night stripping the bike and prepping it for paint by sanding it down and washing it.

I laid down the first 2 coats today, just primer. I was this to look good, so I'm giving the primer a few days to cure before I continue with the color paint. This is the hard part, I want to just blast it and see what it looks like, but I know if I want good results, I have to play the waiting game. The waiting game sucks.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to spray some color this week, and go pick up the few parts I still need for it this weekend.

lane

Excellent!

Today is a phenomenal day. It's completely gorgeous outside, perfect weather. I have a bike to work on. Not only do I have a bike to work on, my bike has given me the perfect reason to make a trip to the bike store to buy bike tools, and two separate trips to hardware stores. Maybe I'll put up some teaser pics of the bike later on...

lane

2 weeks

Until I am no longer gainfully employed. I gave my boss my 2 weeks notice today. I'm going to go back to App in the spring.

lane

I will miss...

I was thinking tonight in the midst of doing a few things, and realized I will miss a few things about the North when I eventually go home.

1-Craigslist: Craigslist up here is awesome. It has literally everything, and for ridiculously cheap. I have used it a few times, to great success, and will continue to do so as much as humanly feasable.

2-City riding: Riding a fixed gear in the city is awesome. I love cutting through traffic, weaving in and out of cars stopped at traffic lights, getting dirty looks from all the drivers I am faster than.

3-Paychecks: Ok, this one isn't specific to the North, more specific to just having a job. But I will miss having a job and getting regularly compensated for my time and my efforts.

Thats about it, at least for now. I have orgainzed them in order of importance to me, but 1 and 2 are pretty much tied for the best thing about the North.

lane

Tinker

I love to tinker with stuff. I enjoy taking things that are broken, and making them work. And even if I can't make it work, then I at least have the satisfaction of knowing I did what someone else didn't, taking the time and effort to try and make something better.

This is just another reason I love bikes. So simple, in comparison with other transportation machines. This struck me as I was working on my roommates bike tonight. I had no idea how to fix the problem he was having, but decided not to let something as trivial as that stop me. I knew I was going to have fun trying, and that I might even get lucky and do something right.

It ended up being a simple fix that I was able to figure out in just a few minutes. I then spent the next half hour tweaking stuff and fixing things that didn't really need to be fixed. Oh well, it's better than when I started, and I really enjoy it. I also appreciate my roommate letting me use his bike as a guinea pig when I don't have anything on mine to mess with.

Not just bikes though. I love taking any bit of random hiking gear, or flashlight, or pocket knife, or anything I can get my hands on and taking it apart, figuring out how to make it better for what I will use it for.

When I was a little kid, I did this with all my toys, just to see what the inside looked like. It got so bad that when my parents got me my first Gameboy, they got the clear one, so I could see inside and not disassemble it.

I want to fix and build stuff forever. Put me in a room of broken things and tools, and I may just pass out from excitement. Or I'll get all giddy and start dancing and giggling like a schoolgirl. Not sure which. I hope somebody gives me the chance to find out (hint hint!)


lane

Lane 1, Boston motorist 0

I feel like all that is man. I just raced, from a dead stop, some random Bostonian driver who I'm sure would have liked to make me a smear on their car and a bum on the road, for over 2 blocks.

Not only did I fight valiantly for the cause, I triumphed! I successfully took my fixie to new heights and outsped a car. needless to say, I'm extremely pleased with myself. On the downside, I somehow lost my rear light on the way home, so now I need a new one of those jokers.

Perfect end to a weird day. At work today, I didn't have that much to do from 8:30 until 4:47. Then all hell broke loose and I had an entire day's worth of calls in slightly over 40 minutes.

I think this promises to be a good week though. My roommates fiance is in town, which is good, cause she's a cool kid, I'm going to order new bike wheels Friday, new glasses over the weekend, and a teensy-weensy announcement also on Friday. Ok, maybe it's not this week that will be good, mostly just Friday. But I'm looking forward to it.

To combine two entirely different things, latas y'all.


lane