Holy Spoke!

"The bicycle spoke may be one of the handiest non-tools ever". I am writing this post because I had that thought once again last night after using a spoke to fish things out of our bathroom sink's drain. There were cotton swabs, a toothpick and other stuff, all efficiently removed using a bicycle spoke, which saved me from having to drain and possibly take apart the trap. I have posted some less-than-appetizing pictures on this blog, but not even I would inflict a picture of what I found on my readers.

I will, however, post a picture of the mighty bicycle spoke; let it be praised with full voice!

I took this picture myself and so hold (or held) the copyright for it. In this age of rampant online image stealing I often wish for completely baggage-free images. Creative Commons designations are awesome, but I did a little research and went a little further. You can read my non-copyright statement if you view the picture full-size, but here it is for your immediate easy-reading:

Hey, wait a minute... that's an image too. Should I put my non-copyright notice on my non-copyright notice?

No "by" designation, no conditions of any kind. This is a FREE image! As in free to wander the globe and appear in any form for any reason (including commercial) with no strings of copyright holding it back, ever. Ahhhh.

Be Free,

R A N T W I C K

PS - Hey, I went off on my copyright tangent and forgot to ask you to please submit any and all excellent uses you have found for bicycle spokes. I think that might actually be educational, so please comment!

SARATS - Last Post

Well, JAT's maple syrup has finally been produced and is ready for shipping, hopefully today. I had placed a pre-order for his bottle, and when Jakeman's called me and I went to pick it up, I asked the lady working there why Extra Light was so hard to find.

I thought it was only a difference in processing of the sap... I was wrong. Apparently in order to make Extra Light the temperatures had to be cold enough (which hasn't happened much this Spring) and the lines (tubes down which the sap flows) had to be clean, as in free of heavier sap that may have run previously in warmer temps. In any case, Jakeman's came through for me:

When I was a kid I used to buy books for my brothers for Christmas and read them first, being super careful not to crack the paperback spine. If I could have snuck a teaspoon of JAT's syrup without cracking the cap ring thing, I probably would have. What can I say, I am morally bankrupt when it comes to gift (or prize) giving. Still, some say say the best gift is often something you want to keep for yourself...

I stuck it in the window so you could see how light in colour it is. This ain't no run of the maple maple syrup. Because I know everyone is fascinated by maple syrup and the differences between its various grades, I thought I would include this:

There are 5 different grades of maple syrup.

•Canada # 1 Extra Light maple syrup (sometimes known as AA)


•Canada # 1 Light maple syrup (A)


•Canada # 1 Medium maple syrup (B)


•Canada # 2 Amber maple syrup (C)


•Canada # 3 Dark maple syrup ( D)


The very finest of maple syrup, # 1 Extra light, is very light in colour subtle in flavour and delicate in taste and most often used to make maple syrup sugar candy as it can be concentrated and still maintain the light taste and colour. The # 1 Light is most often used in our Italian glass bottles to capture the rich gold colour while remaining translucent on the shelf. # 1 Medium is the most preferred table grade, with a distinct maple taste, great with your morning cereal, baste pork or poultry, ice cream, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, toast, waffles, tea, coffee or your favorite liquor. # 2 Amber is preferred for cooking, food flavouring and places you wish to impart lots of maple taste. # 3 Dark is restricted for use in commercial flavourings where the heavy bitter taste goes a long way.

 source: http://www.themaplestore.com/maple_syrup_facts.html

I've boxed up the prize:

Please don't interpret that photo as some sort of environmental or other type of Cisco bashing... I use Cisco gear for lots of things at my work and I therefore happened to have this great box for syrup shipping. Now all I have to do is affix 43 stamps in a fun random pattern all over the box (maybe I can make more trees!) and I'm sure it will find him. I mean, everybody knows JAT, right? 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - I am something of a cynic, and when I look at this post critically I fear people could think I have some sort of sordid sappy monetary relationship with Jakeman's (or Cisco). Please rest assured neither of these corporate titans know what I'm up to, and I have not received (nor will I receive) one thin dime from either one of them. 

Fat Head

As some of you may know, I recently had to replace my bicycle helmet thanks to an idiotic wipeout. I have always known that I had a large noggin. I bought the biggest helmet Canadian Tire had and it just fit if I dialled the thingy to the largest possible circumference.

Yesterday and the day before were the first days in a long time that I've wanted to cover my head and ears, and that meant I could try out this awesome balaclava my kids got me for Christmas. It is made of warm windstopper material but also has nice features like lighter material over the ears so I can still hear and a square mesh breathy hole. I had cut a small hole in my old crappy balaclava for breathing purposes. Not necessary with this baby!

The crummy picture I took doesn't really show the breathy hole.

Today wasn't cold enough to warrant covering up quite that much...



I think I look quite attractive in this. I am now considering wearing a nice light fabric Hijab around the house just for kicks. Anyway, with the nice new balaclava on, my helmet wouldn't fit anymore. So I removed all the soft bits velcroed to the inside. The little scratchy velcro dots where the soft pads are supposed to attach were, well, scratchy, so I took them out too.

Now everything fits again. I left one soft pad in the helmet, repositioned to protect the head bump my phrenologist calls my "centre of kindess". Can you imagine? How bad would it be to accidentally lose your centre of kindness (what could be more important, really?) all because your stupid head was too big to fit inside your bike helmet while wearing a present from your kids? I mean, what use is honouring your children's gift if you turn around and can longer be kind to them or anyone else? Thank goodness for my phrenologist, Mordecai McBumpanoggin. He's great. You should look him up if you live here, or even if you're just passing through. As you can see, it has changed my life.  

Yer Pal, R A N T W I C K

PS - Does anybody else have trouble typing the word "helmet" without making a typo? Just curious.

PPS - No covering up this morning, 12 C with a tailwind. Damn near perfect.