Bikes!

 I listed 10 things on Ebay last night, and got a good practice session done on the shakuhachi. I can do 15 long tones in a row now and I'm finding that when I play pieces they're flowing a bit more smoothly. 

This all had me up right around to 8AM so I went right to bed afterward, and woke up at around 1. I got up and had my coffee and so on, and left here at a bit after 2. 

The "Viva Calle" thing was going on where the streets were shut off to cars from the middle of Japantown to downtown to South of downtown at a park. It was kind of neat, riding along with all different kinds of bike riders. The thing ended at 3 and I only got to ride in the last 15 or 20 minutes of it but this beats last time when I didn't get out early enough at all. 

I rode as part of this almost all the way down to Walmart where I locked the bike, and went in to buy some things, then went back in to see if they had cheapo "work lights" preferably battery powered. They didn't have any kind of flashlights. I went into Big-5 and they had two - and only two - really neat ones for $12 each so I got those. They run on 3 AA batteries each which I have a ton of. 

I need to make "extenders" to mount them on, then I can use them to take my Ebay photos and they ought to be just right - they're kind of too bright right now, using an AC powered LED light I found around here and mounted at the top of the window. The thing is, I have to climb up on the desk and hook up the extension cord, and I can have light, or power something up that I'm taking photos of, not both. 

The extenders I have planned will be made of PVC pipe. I'll still have to get up on the desk to turn them on and fold them out, and when done with photos, turn them off and fold them back in, but such is life in Silicon Valley where things are very "second world" for 99% of us. 

I rode back home with these ideas in my mind, and stopped at the Amazon place for bubble mailers and also, that's where I solved the mystery of my bike making a funny sound when I'd hit a bump. I was pretty sure it was coming from the front wheel somehow, and it turned out one of the axle nuts was very loose, as in halfway off. I hand-tightened it and got home, put things away, and tightened it down properly with a wrench. 

Then I set out again for Dai Thanh for a couple of things, 99 Ranch for a couple more, and H Mart where I got a 1.99 "Lunchables Cracker Stackers" kit with crackers and little slices of ham and cheese, and a can of black coffee. I just ate the ham and cheese without the crackers and it was actually a pretty nice little snack. 

I walked over to Sprouts and got some macadamia nuts and something called potassium citrate that I want to try taking. I also got a beef stick which I ate out front. 

By this time it was about 8PM, the equivalent of 11PM in the before times. Honestly, long ago I used to take my postal service mailing to the post office just before the lobby with the chute, which worked well then, closed at 9. Then I'd shop at H Mart before they closed at 10, and be out looking for packing stuff past 10 at night. So I'd be out until 11. Those times are long gone now. 

I was going to stop at Lowe's for parts to make the extenders for the lights but decided I'd done enough and came straight back here.