Grocery day and free stuff

Another grocery day with lots of free stuff on my customer appreciation app. For some reason the free stuff all seems to be yogurt of some kind this week. Sometimes lots of yogurt, sometime a single serving. Interestingly enough the single serving has a higher regular price than the lots of yogurt package.

I have accepted that short of a miracle I won’t be riding a bicycle ever again, so I have put all my bikes on the for sale page of my bike club. At this point it has been almost 5 years since I last rode a bike without crashing at some point in the ride, usually getting on or off the bike and getting a foot caught in the frame. So I’m waving bye-bye with a tear in my eye. I came up with this one on my own, because it makes me sad to look at bikes that never get ridden. Bikes that aren’t ridden aren’t really bikes, they are a mutant cross between a bicycle and a kinetic sculpture with none of the advantages and all of the disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is when they don’t get ridden they get rusty, and I hate to see a rusty bike.

Something else that made me sad was the realization that I don’t have enough income to pay for gas and insurance to drive the Bucket even if I somehow get it built. I could have a free car and it would have to just sit in the garage because I couldn’t afford to drive it into the alley. This makes me angry at the guy that tried to kill me all over again, because his actions led to my not being able to work which is why I can’t have a Bucket now. And he’s still dead so I can’t recover anything from him for my losses or pain. But I’m not bitter, at least not now. I might have been bitter before, probably was early on. But now it’s just a sadness over lost opportunities.

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Groceries have been purchased

And we are stocked up on milk and PopTarts. Big deal of 2 gallons of milk free w/purchase of 4 boxes of 12 count PopTarts. Now we have a gallon in the freezer and I’m switching back to coffee in my milk in place of the iced tea I have been drinking since August. Also we have about 2½ pounds of candy to give away pretend we don’t have for Halloween.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post I had pretty much used up my hand downloading pictures from eBay of that race car chassis T Bucket that I had found when searching for a picture of something else. Don’t forget to mouse over the picture to read the description.

This series has actually given me food for thought on the engine and body install on the TGS2. Cut the back of the body wide enough to fit over the engine and let the transmission hang out the side behind the body so it won’t need a cutout and the body line can remain. That would move the axle centerline just in back of the rear of the body so the suspension can travel without having to cut the side of the body. Lots of room for the frame to catch the engine mounts. Make a fake P.U. bed from HDPE and faux woodgrain the surface.

Mrs. the Poet is out of town on grocery day

My daughter got concert tickets to an out-of-town venue that will require them to spend the night away from home, and the concert is not suitable for our 5YO grandson. So Mrs. the Poet is spending the night with the grandson, and I’m doing the grocery shopping. This is kinda last-minute as my daughter only found out about the tickets yesterday. That also means I have to make breakfast tomorrow

I have been thinking about the cooling on the TGS2, specifically getting the hot air away from the radiator. My initial idea was to use side vents, actually to have the nosepiece as wide as the frame and have the bodywork to narrow down as it passed the driver’s feet to leave room for the hot air to get out. The alternative is to have an extractor between the radiator and the cockpit on the top surface of the car. This would generate more downforce, but would make summer driving less comfortable as the engine heat would be blowing back into the driver’s face for the entire trip. So potentially driving to the AZ Goodguys round could result in heat injury for me. I mean I can handle some heat but 100+°F ambient plus the heat from the radiator would cook even me.

And my hand is bothering me again, so no more typing,

This just ain’t my week

Yesterday was grocery day where I discovered all my money is in the wrong accounts and I didn’t have anything spendable at the grocery store. Fortunately my son was able to cover the <$20 tab so we could get out. I did manage to grab the last $0.50 pumpkin pie. I'm not pulling your leg, there was a 9" frozen pumpkin pie for 4 bits on my preferred shopper card.

Outside of the grocery store I’m having a shingles outbreak on my left arm, lots of itchy little blisters on my forearm. Also I’m dealing with an allergy attack that kept me awake all night when I couldn’t find the allergy/sleeping pills, so I’m on my 28th hour of semi-wakefulness. My biggest problem is itchy burning eyes, which is also my normal “Hey, Dummy, get some sleep” body response.

On the TGS2 mockup I’m still not happy with the way the layout of the cutouts for the front wheels has been going. The good thing is I just need to get the shape of this floor piece right and tack some wheels on it than tack the bucket on it and the cover on top of the body and it’s picture-taking time. Making the front fenders will be fun so you can see what I have been looking at in my mind’s eye. I’m still debating if I should completely enclose the back of the fender or leave it open for less drag. I don’t know which way will actually have less drag so I’m making both styles and doing A-B-A testing for gas mileage to determine lowest drag by seeing which one has the highest highway mileage. Lacking a wind tunnel or access to a long straight for top speed testing this is the best method I have to determine comparative drag.

I’m on my third car race of the day on the idiot box, Global Rallycross, which followed the 350 lap Indycar race from Iowa, which followed the Indy Lights race from Iowa. I was in bed trying to sleep during the Austrian F1 Gran Prix telecast. Of the 4 kinds of racing the Lights cars are closest in appearance to the TGS2 simply because of the expansive floor pan in front of the rear tires. Of the 4 kinds of racing my preference is the Indy Car, I mostly watch F1 for design inspiration, the Lights are the guys I will probably see in Indycar in future seasons, and the GRC are a bunch of guys getting dirty and sideways that looks like a lot of fun.

And I need to go to bed now before I faceplant into the keyboard again.

I was supposed to be playing D&D today

But because of all the pollen I exposed myself to while I was coming back from the Lab Rat Keeper I woke up this morning in whiteout conditions. I managed to text the GM that I couldn’t see when I woke up and did not feel safe in walking to the bus stop when I could not see the cars coming while I tried to cross the road. Bad thing is I haven’t gotten a reply back to that text.

Speaking of what went down yesterday… I had to get up at 0500 to get dressed and eat breakfast for the day so I could leave at 0600 and catch the 0613 schedule bus. Basically all I did was get my BP taken and wait around to have it taken again, then schedule a time to get fitted with the ambulatory BPM, which is a BP cuff that stays on my arm for 24-48 hours, depending on the study and the model monitor. I wore one back about 8 years or so and they beep about every 20 minutes and do a blood pressure test, the beep is to let you know you need to keep still for a bit while the test is conducted. After I got done with the appointment I decided to make a quick run up the street to the Carrollton branch of my credit union, where I got stuck for over an hour because I came up on a bus that did not have a return route because it was at the end of morning rush. So I decided to stop at a noodle place for lunch as it was now 11:30-ish and I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since before 0600. I got the small cup of noodles and veggies and got done just in time to watch the bus go by the stop with a 60 minute gap between schedules. So I decided that since the bus went by the comic book store I would drop in and get this month’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (which was delightfully goofy BTW). There are 2 different lines that serve the building housing the comic book store so I took a different one back to the transit hub so I would not have to wait the rest of an hour for the bus I took from Carrollton. Well it was a good thing that this particular line serves one of the local HS and they change from a minibus to a regular bus for the two schedules right after school lets out, because my wallet did not go inside my pocket when I put it back after using my day pass and fell on the floor between the seat and the wall of the bus. When the driver came back we found the wallet on the floor right where it had fallen on the last run before changing to the full-size bus. That was a relief. Then I got home just in time to leave for Grocery Day. I got done with the grocery shopping right before 1800, so pretty much running non-stop (except for waiting for the bus several times) for 12 hours. And factor in the panic mode when I couldn’t find my wallet for about 90 minutes with my ID, ATM card, and all the money I took out for groceries for the next two weeks, and well I have had better days.

So, how was your day? Leave a comment.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Grocery day again, and the Feed

I did a resupply run this afternoon. Picked up some ramen, and frozen pizza, some hot fried chicken and canned green beans, plus the usual milk and yogurt supply. Also I picked up supplies for game night. We decided that having water in bottles was equally as important as having caffeinated beverages so I picked up a case of water to go with the other stuff that was on a serious sale this week. We don’t want to have any more people passing out from dehydration or getting buzzed on sugar and caffeine, like we did today. That’s right, we played another RPG today. I’m getting more socialization this month than I usually get in a year.

There is precedent for charging the driver in that head-on wreck in NYC with murder. When a Driver Had a Seizure and Killed Two in Manhattan, It Was Murder The driver in this wreck was very similar to the driver in the wreck this week right down to neglecting to take his anti-seizure meds before the wreck. It all hinges on what the DA thinks about the value of a cyclist’s life.

More on that wreck mentioned above. Beep calls for safer roads around Barclays after cyclist killed in crash As I said on another article about the wreck, given the circumstances about the only thing that would have prevented this death was installing jersey barriers between the bike and motor vehicle lanes.

NOLA has a problem keeping killers in prison. Widow of Ironman cyclist outraged as husband’s killer paroled after 14 months Fourteen months on a 60 month sentence for killing a person with the judge’s statement that he wanted to make it longer on the prisoner’s record. And don’t forget that the driver injured the other cyclist who was in the street with the deceased cyclist then left the scene. More Man who killed 1 cyclist, injured another is released after 14 months

The previous paragraph doesn’t make me sanguine about getting real justice for the murder killing of this cyclist. Man wanted in death of New Orleans cyclist surrenders I am glad he was at least put behind bars initially…

Two nearly identical wrecks in the same intersection in less than 2 weeks tell me there is an infrastructure problem with that intersection. Second cyclist injured in car crash at same Janesville intersection Both cyclists ran the stop sign at the bottom of a hill in front of a car that did not have a stop sign… Maybe a 4 way stop? I really don’t know, but there is obviously a problem here.

A swoop and squat road rage attack on a pair of cyclists in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Sanibel cyclists allege road rage in crash video The doctor admitted to using his vehicle as a weapon against the cyclists but that was before he had been Mirandad, so the statement could not be used in court. But it still can be used against him in a civil suit.

This would be the perfect time to fix this broken infrastructure instead of make it like it was before but with a better surface. Crandon Boulevard repaving, bike-safety improvements to start on Key Biscayne There needs to be a barrier that can stop a car between the bike lane and the motor vehicle lane(s), not paint and a rumble strip. How much does it cost to replace a human life? Less than putting up a barrier that can stop a drunk driver from entering the bike lane?

This is a very misleading headline. Gov. Snyder signs bill to drink wine, beer while biking This has nothing to do with drinking and cycling, it is about being the engine to a large open vehicle for many people and allowing ethanol as a fuel for what is essentially an HPV bus.

This does not seem familiar at all to me… United Airlines Employee Accused in Hit-and-Run That Killed Des Plaines Bicyclist I wonder if he was related to the low-life that hit me.

The cyclist was not at fault in this wreck. Austin Robert Gilliam: Family of cyclist killed by semi-truck pleading for drivers to be cautious And cue the troll in the comments ranting about “Bikes don’t pay taxes!”

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: More fallout from fatal Gardena police shooting; Lance calls the Froome kettle black Yeah, glad I’m not covering that rotten kettle of fish…

There are still a lot of good people out there… NDSU student bikes cross-country to raise money for brain injury victims

From West Canuckistan. Driver arrested following hit and run accident involving cyclist Funny but I never see any articles about “Vehicle used in hit-and-run seized by police to be destroyed after trial”.

From Jolly Olde road.cc has an article on the coroner’s inquest for one of the cyclists killed in London this year. Cyclist’s death down to ‘moment’s lapse of concentration’ says coroner And if the infrastructure is such that a “momentary distraction” can kill you, your infrastructure sucks.

And finally I’m done. Gaahh! [slump]

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Tired

We has munnie now on Grocery Day, and the Feed

We got paid this week here at Casa de El Poeta, so we re-stocked the pantry, to the tune of about $140. We rebuilt our stores of breakfast cereal, and Pop Tarts, but that was mainly because we had the combination of an outrageous deal on 12-packs with a coupon that took a dollar off three boxes of any count that combined to net a cost of $0.148/pastry. The breakfast cereal restock was also a combination of a sale and a coupon. We also had to buy a bunch of meat to replace consumed supply. we missed the french fry deal because of lack of space in the cart and the back of the car, but they will be on sale even bigger tomorrow and I have a backpack. I will also be picking up supplies for the sole employee of WoaB, security cat Bryan. Just because he’s a trusted and valuable employee does not mean that I won’t pinch a penny to get his preferred payment (besides, what is a cat going to do with money?).

And more good news the property hearing has been set so I can get back Blue. The bad news is it will be 0900 on 03/04. I’m not up that time of day, normally. I will be for Blue, though.

Up first it turns out that there is solid data on not running your tires as high a pressure as it says on the sidewall. Tire Pressure: Data and Details This is a summary of a much longer print article. It may pay to do a coastdown test with different air pressures on your bike.

Hub or crank assist on your e-assist bike? Hub Motor Hills Testing, February, 2015 It looks like when you have significant hills the crank drive has the advantage. I’m not entirely sure there will be any significant difference when it’s just flat riding, but most people don’t have e-assist for flat rides.

A CA rider gets a little extra because fighting the lawsuit was judged to be a lost cause. City settles lawsuit from injured cyclist The defendant in the case would have spent almost as much if the case went to trial and still would have to make the rest of the payment, so the settlement was the more sound fiduciary decision.

On other legal fronts, I wonder if this driver’s 8 year driving ban starts before or after his 2 year prison sentence? Vernonia man sentenced to 2 years in prison for cyclist’s Highway 30 death At least he might spend most of a year in prison for running over a cyclist.

Can I like this? Judge puts the brakes on scientific defense of school-zone camera ticket In this case the owner of the car used the known length of the vehicle and the stated time between exposures to determine his wife was not exceeding the speed limit by any appreciable amount. The problem is, was the stated amount of time between exposures the actual time? That is literally a state secret…

Another memorial ride for Milt Olin, killed while riding in a bike lane by a texting deputy sheriff. Cyclists to rally in Calabasas

More on the bill proposing mandatory adult helmet wearing in CA. Lawmakers consider making bike helmets mandatory for adults I strongly question the validity of their 91% “helmetless” fatality rate as there is no corresponding helmet rate for people just riding and not getting hit. If there was a large difference either way then that figure might be significant. Otherwise it is just a meaningless number.

Another example of using data-driven corrections to infrastructure, data collection phase. Maps Show Where Thousands of S.F. Cyclists, Pedestrians Hurt or Killed The data is shocking when you remember that every one of those dots and circles represents an injured cyclist or pedestrian, the “x”s represent a severely injured person, and the skulls and crossbones represent a fatality.

Round one of Our Daily Ted. Afternoon Links: Kicking cars off H’wood Blvd, silly season for bike laws, and MyFig now a year behind schedule

And here’s round 2. Update: 17-year old bike rider killed by DWP truck in Granada Hills

Moving from CA to GA. Pedal Medal Award Celebration honors those who make Savannah better for bicycling Let’s celebrate people making a difference for cycling wherever they are.

Cyclists and the civil rights movement have a lot of parallels. Selma-to-Montgomery bike ride a way to #seizethedays Not sayin’ bike riders have it anywhere near as bad as African-Americans just that there are parallels between the middle of the previous century and the beginning of this one, one was a fight for the right to vote, the other is a fight for the right to travel without getting killed indiscriminately.

They are starting to get “riled” about the money being spent to make crap infrastructure in the UK when it doesn’t cost much if any more to do it by the book (CROW Manual). EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cyclists are an afterthought’ Campaigners outrage at road safety standards

Similar sentiments across the straights in Eire. Record level of cycling injuries and How cycling injuries are spiralling – a medic’s view

Still in Ireland, they are having some problems setting up their latest bike share. Cork bike-share scheme starts with a rattle I see some of the problem as they are putting in the infrastructure required to support mass cycling while trying to maintain motor vehicle dominance and that ain’t going to work when there is barely room for a single car on most of the streets, where they could be bi-directional if they were bicycle-only.

Back to the UK, more pointless twaddle about cyclists hitting pedestrians. Legal Eagle: If a cyclist injures a pedestrian, do they face the same penalties as a driver?

More on the debate on a 1 meter passing law in the “down under” WA. Cyclist safety: renewed calls for safe passing law in WA

Last link, what if your e-scooter had 4 wheels and 4WD and tilted? EV4 four-wheel-drive electric scooter leans into turns It has similar problems about crashing sideways if it loses traction as a 2 wheel scooter, but less likely for that to happen with twice the contact patch.

And it’s time for me to hit the hay, it has been a busy day for me.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet (and still an unkillable badass)