flatty melt
I was so busy writing different things about my ass in yesterday's post that I failed to mention anything about Tuesday. And although it was otherwise comparatively uneventful, one rather annoying thing did happen on Tuesday: I got a flat tire on my bike. Again. The back wheel . . . again. Two weeks to the day after the last one!
Only this time, it happened on my way to work. Less than halfway here. I was basically at the bottom of the hill riding down Pine Street, just past what continues to be the gaping hole that is the construction site for the Convention Center Expansion (and used to be Convention Place Station for buses). I walked it a couple of blocks and then rode the bus with it up 3rd Avenue the rest of the way to work.
I thought about taking it to Velo Bike Shop in Belltown. That's actually literally the company that Shobhit bought the bike for me at, for my birthday in 2008 -- at that time, their shop was located on 11th and Pine, at what is now a club called The Rhino Room. They basically grew out of the space, I guess, and moved to Belltown . . . and then left my own neighborhood without bicycle service. Well, I now go to 20/20 Cycle on 20th and Union, which is smaller, much more neighborhood oriented and less corporate-like, and most pertinently, cheaper. They also have excellent customer service.
But! Coming from work, 20/20 Cycle is far further away than Velo Bike Shop is. And the only reason I ultimately still decided to bag the Velo idea and go back to 20/20 Cycle anyway was because it was so soon after the last time I went, and I figured there was at least an outside chance that whatever caused the flat this time was related. Maybe they would give me a discount or something. Also, Shobhit suggested taking the #2 bus since that’s the only one that gets me all the way from Lower Queen Anne to the Central District without a transfer. I just almost never take it otherwise because it takes the longest, often longer than even if I do transfer downtown to go straight up Pine. But, this time I had a bike to take with me on the bus.
Anyway! No such luck on the discount. I had heard something clicking with every rotation of the back wheel when I walked it to and from the bus stops, but could not figure out what it was. The very nice guy at 20/20 Cycle -- a different guy from the one I assume is the manager or owner who usually helps me; he was on the phone with someone -- found the problem right quick: an industrial sized staple was stuck into the wheel. God damn it!
The guy said he felt like a lot more flats than usual seem to be happening to lots of people lately, and he theorized it may have to do with all the construction sites all over the place. This would actually make sense; I even told him I ride right by the Convention Center Expansion construction site nearly every day. There are maybe two or three other construction sites roughly located along my commute route, but only this one is a full block right on the street I ride on. And, my flat had happened right by there. Now, it's entirely possible that staple actually had nothing to do with construction, although it was the size and thickness of something you might find in a 2x4, as opposed to, say, a packet of papers.
So, it was just random coincidence, bad luck, nothing that would justify any discount. I had to pay just under $17 for the part and labor, yet again. If I had any mechanical skill whatsoever, I could have patched it up myself -- a young woman who usually locks her bike right by mine in my work building's garage rode past me walking my bike out yesterday and she said, "Flat tire? I'm sorry, that sucks." And then she stopped and offered me the tire patch kit she had in her bag, saying she wouldn't need it anymore anyway. I guess she's getting a new job at Rainier Square and won't be riding here anymore after this week. And, you know what? If my flat had been the front tire, which I now have plenty of experience removing so I can fit the bike into the trunk of Shobhit's car, I might very well have managed a pretty easy and quick fix. But, the back tire? Dealing with the chain and gears and all that shit? I knew that, although I probably would have figured it out, it would have taken way too long and I would have gotten way too dirty. No thanks! I stuck with the plan to bus to 20/20 Cycle. But, if and when I next get a flat on my front tire, I will have the packet handy, and that's very nice.
I probably should get better familiarized with how to fix these things, even if only temporarily. I just don't want to get my hands all greasy or, worse, break any nails. Laugh all you want! This keeps me willing to pay someone else to do it for me, and it's been a pretty workable system for the 11 years I have had the bike, even though I probably wind up paying to fix a flat once or twice every year.
I was then able to ride for about 5 minutes home from the bike shop, and so far that's still the last time I rode. The weather has been kind of wonky since, and I never want to ride in the rain, so I bused to work both yesterday and today, walked home yesterday and will again today. It rained briefly yesterday afternoon and was actually dry for my walk home, so in the end I really could have ridden my bike. Whatever, I got some reading done of my library book, Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered, which I am very much enjoying.
Today may be a repeat of that weather pattern, although this morning it actually did rain a bit on my walk from the bus stop at 3rd & Pine to work. So, I was glad I did not risk biking here today. I probably won't tomorrow either, with a 40% chance of showers then as well.
Tomorrow kicks off Pride Week, and tomorrow evening will be Trans Pride -- Seattle's eighth, but the fifth I have attended. I never miss it, especially now that Gabriel has a trans daughter. But really I should not miss it regardless; being a gender nonconforming person myself, it makes sense for me personally -- and it's the least I can do considering the gay community's pretty shameful history of treatment toward trans people in their own rights movement in decades (and, just years, really) past. I'm sure I'll see Gabriel and Tess, maybe Lea.
Saturday I'll meet up with Laney for Capitol Hill Pride on Broadway. Last time I saw her she said she was leaning toward bowing out of Pride Sunday this year, in favor of hanging out with one of her sisters. I'll hardly feel abandoned, though, with the potential for 11 people in my group this year at the Pride Parade on Sunday. Just knowing what a landmark number that would be actually makes me hope it gets reached.
So . . . oh, right. Last night! Shobhit worked; I made veggie burgers for dinner (Shobhit's a portobello mushroom burger); and I watched the Democratic Primary Debates -- for the first time in my life, I think. I was impressed with Julian Castro and would be happy to vote for him; my primary vote continues to be reserved for Elizabeth Warren.
. . . And, finally, I just got back from lunch with Karen down at the Six-Seven Restaurant at the Edgewater Hotel. As it happens, she just got back last night from a two-night trip to New York that was kind of both business and pleasure; a casual acquaintance, who is apparently a prominent knitter, had lunch with her and posted a photo to Instagram yesterday. This is a woman with 12,600 followers, so the photo had a lot more reach than Karen quite expected -- so much so that, just yesterday, Susan tweeted at me asking if this was "my Karen." Well, setting aside the fact that I actually know multiple Karens, it sure is!
So, I had to show Karen that Twitter exchange at lunch today. And then, knowing she was just in New York, I had to show her this post on Instagram by prominent Seattle fixture drag queen Dina Martina, apparently at a private event in Manhattan, to ask her about that Manhattan skyline, which I find astonishing. I have not been there since Valentine's Day weekend in 2013, and clearly a lot of development has occurred in the meantime -- with supertall skyscrapers that are bizarrely thin. I told Karen today, "That looks like an old movie set in New York in the future!"
Karen and I shared an item from Six-Seven's brand new specials menu, something I do hope they have available for a while: a veggie melt, which was fucking delicious. It costs $2 more than the gyro sandwich we usually split, so at least it's still not as insanely expensive as the truffle macaroni and cheese used to be (gyro: $14; veggie melt: $16; macaroni: $20). My half thus wound up being only $1.40 more than I had budgeted. So I guess I'll be budgeting $11 for these lunches for the foreseeable future, rather than the $9.60 I had been doing for a while now.
The weather was quite beautiful for my walk there and back for lunch. But I won't be deceived! I know more rain clouds are rolling in this afternoon, and I will be prepared!
[posted 1:21 pm]