bonnie & jason

Happy Halloween!

Bonnie put this little montage together of Alissa at different ages in different Winnie the Pooh costumes.

Another bike! Panasonic Sport 500

I’ve been eying a stripped down bike frame that Terry has had hanging in his garage for decades apparently. It’s an 80’s era Panasonic Sport 500 which apparently, was the low end model that they had to offer back in the day. Using this thing called “google” I found out that the lineup went something like this:

$159: Sport 500 (Hi-Ten steel with stem mount and 27×1-3/8″ steel rims
$184.95: Sport (was only in the line a few years, basically a Sport 500 w/allo wheels)
$219.95: Sport Deluxe
$279: Sport 1000
$329: DX2000 (Midgrade components and the first 700C bike in the line)
$399: DX3000 (fitness bike with Tange Infinity Tubing and 700C wheels)
$499: DX4000 (Tange Double butted Fast Fitness entry level race bike with 700C wheels)
$599: DX5000 (Prestige frame and fork with Shimano 600 Ultegra 7speed)

Anyway, Terry was nice enough to just give me the bike. Here it is in all it’s glory:

It’s in pretty good shape for how old it is. A few chips here and there but no real rust. And the headset and bottom bracket both operated very smoothly. That being said, I can’t leave well enough alone so I spent a little time today tearing apart the headset, re-greasing the bearings, and reassembling. I’ll do the same with the bottom bracket as well once I pick up a pin spanner tool. Besides, it has been hanging in a garage for quite a while… it deserved a little TLC.

Clearly, there’s still a lot to do before it’s ready to ride. I’ve ordered a few parts here and there. I still need to figure out a number of details, but hopefully, I’ll have it together before too long. If anyone has any old bike parts lying around that could go to a loving home, let me know.

I got a new bike - Dawes SST review

I’ve been riding a beater mountain bike to go to work the last few months but it finally started giving me problems. Specifically, the chain was hopping off and the seat stem was starting to bend. So I decided it was time to replace the Motobecane Messenger that got stolen last year. (I’m still bitter by the way.)

I went to bikesdirect.com again since I was pretty happy with my last experience. But I figured I’d try something different this time. And it turns out the Dawes SST was exactly what I was looking for.

It had bullhorn bars, matte black finish, and a pretty easy geometry good for my commute. Plus, it was actually a little cheaper than my last bike. So… without further ado, here’s the review:

1. Ordered 52cm matte black on 10/3/08 (I’m 5′8″ with a 30″ inseam). Received 10/10/08.
2. Everything was in good shape upon delivery. No scratches or dents or anything like that. The only minor things I would mention are that I found a small tear in the bar tape and it looks like one of the welds on the chain stay (on the back end) looks to be slightly incomplete. In other words, there’s a small gap where there should be weld. Not happy about this, but I don’t think it will fail on me either.

EDIT: Bikesdirect is sending me some new bar tape. Yay!

3. Assembly went as expected with the exception of one thing. The rear brake mount seems to be angled a bit such that the brake pads aren’t parallel with the wheel. Not sure if it’s a bad weld or if the mount just wasn’t aligned in the fixture when the guy tacked it down. Regardless, not very happy with the result. I checked the wheel itself and it’s in line with the rest of the frame. Here’s a pic to demonstrate:

I know it’s not a huge deal… I actually was going to remove the brake entirely. But I commute daily on this thing and I figured the rear brake might help me stop a few feet more quickly than without and who knows if that could mean the difference between getting into an accident or just avoiding one.

EDIT: I just bent the brakes a little with some channel locks and now the pads are parallel. TADA!

4. I slapped on a 17T Soma cog and a generic lockring so I’ve been riding fixed. The gear ratio with the supplied 16T freewheel is a bit tall for me. The 17 seems to be a good balance. I might even go up another tooth or swap the chain ring for a slightly smaller one. I’ll have to ride a bit more and see if my legs get stronger or if I really should modify the gear ratio one way or the other.

5. Otherwise, I’m pretty happy with the bike given the price. It’s not the best quality piece of kit out there but it will do the job. I figure I’ll just replace things as they fail or wear out. If bikesdirect could give me a discount given the rear brake thing, then I would be satisfied. Shipping back to them in exchange for another one seems like a big waste of time, money, and energy.

California Academy of Sciences

We decided to try the California Academy of Sciences again today after our failed attempt on opening day. There were still tons of people there and traffic was a mess when we left. Still, we had a good if brief time there. We spent the bulk of our time in the aquarium as we figured Alissa would like that section the most. After about 30 minutes of “Look Alissa… fish!” I think she got a little bored. So we made our way up to the ground floor to check out the Planetarium but were told that little kids can’t go. Instead, we got tickets for the 3D bug show which was supposed to be kid friendly. It was borderline kid friendly, and in my opinion, not really toddler friendly. First of all, there was no way Alissa was going to wear the 3D glasses. Secondly, they had bug mating and killing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was quite a high quality production. But kid friendly, it is not.

Anyway, by the time the bug show was done, Bonnie was starving and Alissa’s nap time was looming. So we figured we’d take off and save the rest for another day. After all, we did get the annual membership so we’ll want to take advantage of that.

Here are a few crappy pictures… I should have brought a faster lens and Bonnie’s dad’s 5D. Oh well, next time!

We visit the Pumpkin Patch on 19th Ave at Sloat

We had originally planned on making a trip to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch but it seemed like a big production for just a pumpkin. There’s the cost of gas, having to deal with traffic, twisty roads (with a nauseous pregnant wife), and finally, the time commitment. So instead, we thought we’d check out the corner of 19th and Sloat which is the “seasonal” corner. You know what I mean… in October, it’s pumpkins. In December, it’s Christmas trees. In February, it’s roses. Anyway, it turned out to be perfect. They had everything decorated all nice and Alissa had a fun time picking out the perfect pumpkin. With the exception of some traffic in the background, you would practically think we were in Half Moon Bay. Here are some of the pictures.

So many to choose from!

This pumpkin is too big!

This pumpkin is too small!

This one looks about right…

I’m ready to go pay now.

I wonder how far I can throw it.

It didn’t break… must be a keeper. I guess we’ll bring it home then.

Alissa is a big girl now

Apart from the potty training (which is going pretty well actually) Alissa is turning into more and more of a big girl every day. Today, she wore this big girl dress that my grandmother gave her so we could take some pictures to send to her as a thank you. While in it, she played with her doll trying to make the doll say “Cheese!” as we were with Alissa. She also got her first big girl toothbrush yesterday and took it for a trial run this morning after breakfast. Furthermore, she’s getting better at remembering her Do-Re-Mi’s and putting on her shoes, pants, jacket, etc. I’m trying to teach her the ABC’s and 123’s and have had some success. Finally, she continues to make progress eating with utensils as well.

Our baby is growing up right before our eyes. Oh well, maybe it’s a good thing… we can teach her to change diapers and clean bottles by the time the twins come!

Ashlyn’s first birthday party

Alissa made friends with yet another baby today at Ashlyn’s first birthday party. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stay for the whole thing as it was way past Alissa’s nap time and she was getting cranky. As such, I didn’t take that many pictures (link to them here) but here are a few highlights.

To infinity, and beyond!

We had bought this pop up Buzz Lightyear spaceship as an “emergency” gift a while back but decided we might as well put it to good use so Alissa has been having a ball with it the last few days. It’s even more fun than the big Amazon cardboard box she was playing with a few weeks ago. The main difference is that it’s big enough for her daddy to crawl in and out of.

0.3235

That my friends, is the statistical probability of having two girls in a twin pregnancy. Ironically, that’s also the probability that the father of said twin girls ends up prematurely gray. I kid. (More precisely, I kid-kid.)

The important thing is that everything appears normal with the twins as far as size, heartbeat, organ development, placenta location, etc. They’re both about 7 oz and are right on target for their gestational age. Also, since they’re both girls, we’ll be able to re-use all of Alissa’s stuff as well as “store” them all in the same bedroom for who knows how long. Anyone know if they make triple decker beds?

Anyway, more to come as we’ll be having monthly ultrasounds. Hopefully, there are no more surprises now that we know the genders. In the meantime, spread the word… and let me know if you see any sales for anything pink.