Power user on Boxing Day

I am not positive exactly how it occurred on the upstairs computer but TOPWLH requested tech support based on a pop up window every time she tried to print which informed her that her "Spooler SubSystem App (had) stopped working and was closed".

She could not print.

In other lives I am bicycle repairman hear me roar and other vaguely interesting characters but Power User is one of my most important household roles. I am tech support, I must make the printer print.

So I figured it out finally. First we tried the close all the windows, shut everything off and restart standard Microsoft fix. When that didn't work I checked the Microsoft solutions website. The Microsoft solution involved Registry edits, an always to be avoided area if at all possible. Suffice to say that the fix I decided to try was not the Microsoft recommended fix.

Eventually I settled on what is always an eventful trip to the Control Panel. This trip produced printer preferences edits in Administrative Tools followed by a printer uninstall reinstall. This solution ended up being a tad tricky to execute because of problems uninstalling a printer which still had documents in the spooled print queue.

But I am not any ordinary user, I am a power user (thanks and a tip of the hat to my truly savvy L&M friends for this sobriquet, mostly Mike, Perry and Tamiko). All is now well with the upstairs computer and its printer.

We had a really nice holiday. Here is one of my best moments, our girl sitting on our couch reading.Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night (and Happy New Year).

No other lights on in the house

It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas

The taped Christmas music is playing in the background (right click and open in a new tab). Wireless is in the house and she and TOPWLH have begun the decorating process. The gang, with a few new gangsters, has appeared on the bookcase.

Lands and Minerals holiday

I do not for a single minute of any day miss showing up at 500 Lafayette every day but even so I showed up there today.And it was very nice to see all my friends there, it was swell to get another opportunity to banter about this and that and nothing at all. I had a fabulous time.

Navy bean soup for lunch cross posted

Today's hearty lunch after cleaning up the mess left by the first big snow storm of the year.I had some Velveeta left from the last time so I prepared a toasted cheese sandwich following the old family recipe with the exception that this time I only had actual bread instead of the cheapest white bread in town.

Yesterday while out and about I stopped at Roundy's and got a one pound package of ham steaks and a one pound bag of Roundy's Navy beans.

Prepare Navy bean soup more or less according to Roundy's package directions. Soak beans overnight. Drain and rinse. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, the directions call for about an hour and a half.

Hold the onions out until near the end so they don't overcook. I think they should go in after about an hour. Also add some carrots and celery at this same time.

Season with a 30 year old bay leaf and Sel Marin Ile de Noirmoutier, French sea salt from Ile de Noirmoutier. Here is how you get to the island, the Passage du Gois at low tide. When the tide comes in the sea rises and covers the road. If you are unwise enough to be out there when that happens you must take refuge on that tower next to the road and wait for the sea to recede.And this would be an excellent place to acquire the ingredients for the soup, the town market in the village of Noirmoutier.Anybody want to go to France?

First of many

This picture is a little blurry but taking photographs in near darkness is a little tricky. I just got in from the first of many, the shoveling of the driveway.We didn't get as much as some predictions suggested but we have definite snow, enough snow to finally pretty much cover the grass and to pretty much guarantee that the plows will be here in the morning. It is still snowing.

Earlier in the day I had my car out to go to the grocery. When I came back into the garage I realized that I had snow on the car that was going to melt. I do not allow my bicycle to stand around in the garage when to do so would be to put its wheels into a puddle of cold water. This is it, the END. I brought LOOK1 inside, down to the basement to join this collection of really, really nice bikes.Welcome to winter in Minnesota.
Here is your fuel bill. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Her gardening shoes

They aren't there anymore, she must have brought them inside.

The conditions this morning on our deck provide a strong hint that bicycle season may be over.

LOOK on deck

I noted in the morning newspaper that the average high for the day is now 31. Who would live in such a place, where on an average day it isn't warm enough to turn ice back into its liquid form? Who would live in such a place?

Today interrupted the lengthy run of days 10 to 15 degrees above average by giving us just about average. I could probably ride at 35 or so but it is only 32 and I think that would be too big a change from what I have ridden and been comfortable in so far this fall and early winter. No ride again today.

The low hanging sun burst through for a minute or two at about 1:30 and I got LOOK again outside for some photos. I thought that pictures in natural light and with fewer distracting background elements might serve to more adequately display just what a pretty bicycle it truly is.And again from a little bit more of a front angle. See the shadows? Sunshine!!I decided it was too cold to ride but I still got in some bicycle related activity, adjusting the headset and switching out the cassette to my preferred cluster. I will be adding the water bottle cages here in a few minutes and I have a computer ready to go.

LOOK again

First off, two explanatory notes:

Today was a pretty nice day, a day on which an obsessed bicyclist could easily have gotten in some significant December miles for the first time in many years.

Second, there is a reason I published that LOOK appreciation a couple of days ago.

The explanation for both the fact that I didn't ride on a nice December day and for the appreciation post is this:A signature was required to receive this package, I had to stay home. And sure enough the UPS guy arrived at a time when I would have been riding had I chosen to ride. According to the UPS package tracking site, the entire package weighed 23.5 pounds. This box was seriously, seriously light.

The top of the box was crammed with crushed up brown wrapping paper and bubble wrap. After digging though all of that I lifted out the contents and placed the rear wheel in the stand, front wheel alongside just to show that it is, indeed, a two wheeler.I snipped the zip tie for the handlebars, removed some packing material from the fork and stood the whole thing up onto, now, both wheels. Attach the handlebars, seat post goes in the seat tube and . . .I do fit for a new bicycle by standing it next to one of the bicycles that I already own that I already know fits. I line up the fit points on the new bicycle with the fit points on the one that already fits and assume that the results are going to be satisfactory. The process puts the two bicycles side by side, so here, next to the Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel Special Edition Custom Build, I present LOOK 585, LOOK again.I ride a LOOK full carbon fiber bicycle, an extremely light weight machine. At least I thought it was extremely light weight. This new LOOK is seriously, seriously light weight.

I actually did get a few miles in today as once I had it all together I could not resist a short neighborhood cruise to check on fit. The fit is absolutely fine. The new saddle is the same brand that I have been riding albeit a different model. The initial report is that I think it is going to be fine.

I have more than 18,000 miles on a bicycle that I deeply appreciate. The only thing about that bicycle is that I have ridden beyond, in some cases far beyond, the design life of some of the parts. I am not worried about the drive train, that stuff is all re-buildable. The problem is the aluminum parts, the handlebars and the stem. I have seen recommendations for replacing those after as few as 5,000 miles. On the one hand I don't ride in a manner which requires replacement on that schedule but on the other hand catastrophic failure of one of those parts could have a severe negative impact on my health. The bottom bracket has a 10,000 miles design life, even the frame itself isn't really intended to last forever.

I started to look for a new frame on eBay thinking that I would build again, another new bicycle from parts. I ride a LOOK KG 381i, a 2002 frame. I was looking to update to the LOOK 585, the current LOOK frame comparable to the KG 381i. An eBay search for LOOK 585 brought up not just frames but also a couple of complete bicycles, including one that was already built mainly with the components I would have chosen, namely Campagnolo Chorus drivetrain and Mavic wheels. It is a 2007 which the former owner advertised as having been ridden about 400 miles. The price was right for a 2007, the price was an excellent bargain for a 2007 with 400 miles.

LOOK again.