Tag: paying attention

Bike Safety 101: Riding the Roads

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, CyclingLeave a comment

This morning I had planned on getting up at 4:30am as usual for my bike ride but because I went to bed at 11pm last night, I was still too groggy so I decided to sleep another hour.  I don’t have any place to be so why not right?  Darrin, thinking that I’m awake comes into my room at 4:45am to make me read an article in the newspaper about bicycle safety.

When I got up at 5:30 I read the article and thanked him for thinking of me.  Fortunately I already know everything that was in the article so I was already covered.  Luckily I don’t have to spend too much time on the road with cars to have to worry, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be reminded of the rules of the road every now and again.

I noticed that the article was written by the Chicago Tribune so I went online to find it and here it is.  Bike safety 101: Riding the roads – Chicago Tribune

That article has some good points but there are some things that they didn’t mention so I am here to add something to the list.

When you are riding with a helmet, and make sure you are, also buy a helmet mounted rear view mirror so you can see the cars and cyclists behind you.  This helps me see the cars behind me on the road and it also helps me see when there are a bunch of cyclists speeding towards me.  The article says that assume that there are drivers who are either drunk, texting or just not paying attention.  You can’t be looking behind you constantly so it’s a good thing to have that mirror.  And not handlebar mirrors because in some cases you can’t really look down, that would be too distracting.

Unfortunately, as with cars there are blind spots, even with helmet mounted mirrors.  This morning as I was coming home, I left the bike trail and got back on the street with traffic and there is a stretch of road that curves.  Well, in my mirror I can see behind me but there is a blind spot.  Unless I turn my head to look completely, I won’t see the cars that are driving directly behind me in the right lane, only the cars in the other lanes.

I had stopped because of all the traffic.  I usually go out into the left hand turning lane in the center of the road to get back into the neighborhoods and it’s usually safe in that spot but this morning after all the cars passed by I started to ride again and as I was picking up speed I noticed out of my peripheral vision a black SUV that swerved to stop before it hit me.  That was my fault because I shouldn’t just look in the mirror, especially when I stop like that.  I need to turn my head around so I can see to make sure there aren’t any cars still coming.  I was still looking in the mirror so that’s why it was puzzling that I didn’t see it.

As I was getting in the turning lane I looked over at him and waved saying “SORRY!” and he waved back at me as if to say “it’s ok”.  If I had gotten hit, it would’ve been my fault because I wasn’t paying attention to my blind spots.

So that is another tip to think about when you are riding in curved roads with cars.  Check your blind spots before going into the turning lane otherwise you might get killed.

The funny thing is, I was thinking about that article when that happened so my mind was elsewhere.  I was thinking about bicycle road safety when I was unsafe.  Oh sweet irony.

I learned a huge lesson today about safety.  I also learned that if I can’t leave the house as early as 5am then perhaps I need to just stay home because it’s much easier to get into that turning lane early in the morning when there are no cars on the road.  I would much rather be safe with no cars than get hit by a car because of a stupid blind spot.

Bored with Copying Posts

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I’ve been copying my old posts back over here from YouSayToo for almost a week now and at first I felt under a lot of pressure to get it all copied and was hoping it would go really fast but now I’m just so bored with it that I don’t care how long it will take. I mean on one hand it’s all old information, who cares anymore? But on the other hand, I can see people are still looking for certain posts about certain old news stories like the girl with the stars on her face and the Elvira posts.

I have over 200 posts copied and even though I want all 1700+ of my posts back here, I don’t really care anymore. I’m sure it will all build up again eventually, it’s just the principle, you know? I want them all back but at the same time… it’s soooo boring. You have no idea lol.

I woke up early yesterday so I could get as many done as I could and I got 30 done then X-Play came on and then Attack of the Show and next thing you knew I had stopped working and paying attention to my blog and focused on that. I needed that break.

I’ve been meditating every day after lunch before going back to work and that seems to help calm my mind down but it doesn’t get rid of the boredom lol.

I don’t mean to complain, I’m just venting. If I was that bored with it I would stop dead in my tracks but I really want to keep going and get everything back here where it belongs.

I found out that my xanapus.wordpress.com blog has blog posts too but all the images are gone. Well that’s probably because I deleted them from my directory here because I’m having to upload them all over again so I might as well save space. So when I’m finished with this blog then I’ll have to export the file and import it over there so everything matches up again.

Well, I just finished copying 10 posts, I guess I should do 10 more before lunch then hopefully get another 10 or 20 before Attack of the Show comes on. Maybe I should turn some music on and that will take some of the boredom away.  Probably not but you never know.

Nashbar Townie Basket

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

Last week I bought this product for my bicycle from nashbar.com for carrying my groceries.  I got the rack for my birthday from Chips cousin and her girlfriend so all I needed was the bag.

The bag I got is called a Townie Basket and it’s small enough to carry a bag of groceries so I don’t have to keep wrapping the bags around my handlebars.  The more specific grocery I wanted to use this for was for the 2 gallons of milk I always buy because it’s cheaper to buy 2 gallons than 1 at $3.69.

So I got the bag today and put it on immediately which only took maybe a minute to figure out how it goes on.  I went to Albertson’s right away and got my 2 gallons of milk along with some other things that I needed which I ended up having to carry in my grocery bag on the handlebars… I’m gonna need another one for the other side lol.

The only problem is that with 2 heavy gallons of milk it was sagging outward.  I was petrified that they would fall out as soon as I hit a bump in the road or a pot hole, not paying attention to the road and watching the milk instead might make me accidentally hit a pot hole or a CAR lol.

Well, here are the pictures of the bag.  The first one is of the bag folded up on the rack, the 2nd one is the bag open and the 3rd one is of it with its handy dandy rain coat or as I like to call it, it’s shower cap.

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Ok, now to fix the problem with this bag sagging outward I had to think about how I was going to do this.  I remembered the metal with the holes I used to make it so the rack was secure on the bike so I grabbed the roll of that stuff and held it up then bent the top of it over then I held it on the clamp in the tool shed and cut off a piece, then I cut a 2nd piece.  Then I went back over to the patio table and started drilling holes in the hard plastic in the bag so I could screw these things in place and then I put it on the bike rack.  Viola, it doesn’t sag anymore so I don’t have to worry about anything falling out lol.  Well, for now anyway.

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It’s a really dark picture but you can see that it’s not black, it’s the silver or gray thing on the right.  Not only does it stay on the rack but because I used the pliers to curl it over the rack bar I know nobody will be able to steal it lol.  It’s too much trouble to be able to steal now.  I mean because it’s only on with bungee at the bottom in the 2nd rack hole then with the 2 metal pieces (the black one on the left) so it’s very easy to steal but not anymore.

So if I have any other problems I’m going to have to put a hole on the outside of the bag into the plastic and put a hook there so I can hook a bungee on the outside then hook the other side of the bungee cord to the other side of the rack to make damn sure nothing falls out.

Edit: While I was watching Stargate SG-1 today I was thinking of how I could make this even more secure to the rack, not so that it doesn’t make my milk fall out but secure as in security.  How do I keep people from trying to steal it?  Bracket it to the rack.  See, there are these straps at the bottom that you are supposed to put the rack through, the metal sticks that get screwed to the wheel part of the frame, those are supposed to go through these straps and you would think that those would be velcro so that just in case your rack doesn’t allow you to put them through, then you could just undo them with the velcro.  So I came up with something a little more permanent.

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This picture is taken from the inside of the wheel, as you can see the spokes on the right and left side.  I bracketed the bag to the rack so it would never be easy to separate.  Well, I mean it would if I was trying to but a thief couldn’t easily do it and the guards at the grocery store know me and my bike so they would know if someone was trying to take something off my bike anyway.  But this would definitely slow them down lol.

And to top it all off, I put an eye hook in the outside of the bag, you can see in the first 2 pictures, there is a little silver rectangle, that is the logo of the company I bought it from.  Well, I screwed the eye hook just below that logo so that I could easily attach a bungee cord to it then the other end of the bungee could attach to the other side of the rack.  This way everything will stay inside the bag and not fall out.  The neon yellow shower cap will be able to protect it with the bungee cord in place so that isn’t an issue.

Going Faster

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, CyclingLeave a comment

Today I rode the bike 12.6mph (average speed over 1 hour) which was totally unintentional.  When I first started riding the bike (or when I got my bike computer) my average speed was 10.7 then it gradually went up to 11.1 then 11.4 then 11.9.  It goes up and down every day so it’s not always the same but recently I’ve noticed my average speed as high as 12.1 and up and today 12.6.

As I said it’s totally unintentional.  I’m not paying attention to my average speed while I’m riding.  I’m not even paying any attention to the bike computer at all.  I’m just in my own little world listening to music.  But the faster I go the more calories I burn according to the bicycle computer.  That right there helps me lose this weight.

Hamburger Helper

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

I went to the store to buy something for lunch and also wanted something for dinner.  I sat and thought about what I wanted before I left to go to the store and Hamburger Helper entered my mind.  We used to have it all the time or whenever it was 10 for $10 at the store.  I’d buy like 10 of them and just keep them in the pantry until we wanted it.

I’m so glad I thought about it but when I went to the aisle that the hamburger helper was on I was overwhelmed with the variety of helper products.

It’s not just hamburger helper.  But then again they’ve had Tuna helper since I was a kid at least.  I seem to recall some time in the late 80’s or maybe early 90’s when I first started seeing Chicken Helper.  But I could be wrong, I wasn’t really paying attention to the chicken helper.  They actually have more than 60 different flavors.

There is so much of a variety of helpers that I just find it so hard to decide.  If you know you want a particular meat like hamburger or tuna or chicken then your choices are at least slimmed down a bit but even still there are so many choices.

I’m a simpleton, I like the original hamburger helper that’s like macaroni and cheese with meat.  I do like to get the stroganoff sometimes and the nacho.  We also like the tuna helper.

But I’m sure you don’t have to be limited to tuna, chicken and hamburger.  I’m sure you can put some other meat in there like say you want meat balls instead or you want to use ground turkey which is actually a lot leaner and healthier choice.  Or you can add ground sausage meat or even maybe spam ground up.

I’m sure all the hunters just love deer helper or bear helper.  Maybe they might like some other kinds of meats like maybe possum helper or road kill helper.  The possibilities are endless in the flavors you can have.  Even cannibals on the islands can have people helper.  There are even people in different countries (which I will not name for fear of being sued) who might like dog helper or cat helper.  Oh and cowboys and jockeys who have a horse with a broken leg don’t have to lose out.  They can have horse helper.

No?  Did I go too far with the horse helper?  Or was it all the way back to the people helper?  Oh come on, that was funny, don’t deny you are laughing out loud.

Stargate

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I’ve always loved the show Stargate SG-1 but only watched it occasionally but since I wasn’t a regular watcher of the show I was always lost.  So a couple of months ago I decided to sit and watch it every day when it came on Sci-Fi.  I started paying attention to it when Ben Browder came onto the show.  No reason why I paid attention to him, just a coincidence lol.  Don’t put any thought into it lol.

I know that I’m still probably lost and I figured that they would be nearing the end of the last season soon so I can start watching it from the beginning again but I don’t know when that will be.

Stargate Universe will be coming in the fall and I really want to be caught up by then.  Although, it doesn’t look like it’s from the same era, it looks like it might be in the future but I won’t know until it comes on.  I want to be really caught up with SG-1 before I start watching SGU anyway.

Yesterday I bought the original 1994 Stargate movie which I have seen before but I want to start it all over by watching the movie.  Plus I’m sure there are some bonus features.  Maybe.  I’ll have to wait until it comes in the mail.

I also bought another Stargate which I had no idea even existed.  “Stargate Infinity: The Complete Series” which apparently is a cartoon with half hour episodes.  There was only 1 season so it wasn’t a very good one I guess lol.  I can only assume they were trying to target the show to kids because some of the cast members were teenagers lol.  As if Stargate Command would have teenager soldiers fighting the fight.  Hilarious.  I bought it because it’s campy to me.

I was going to start buying each season on DVD but there are 10 seasons at $21 each and I can buy the entire series in a big box for $115 and get 2 bonus discs with all bonus features.  So I’m just going to do that.  I’m going to have to wait until next month though to set aside half then on my birthday pay for the rest so this will be my birthday present to myself lol.

When I’m done with all that then I’m going to buy Stargate Atlantis.  Although, I might wait until they have the entire series in a box.  Right now I think they only have each season sold individually.  I will work on getting that before the fall so I’m REALLy caught up hehe.