Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

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Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

This morning Pista and I went for a run. Afterward (and still), my legs hurt. My legs haven’t hurt from any sort of exercise in years. Dear lazyweb: What’s going on?

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

I hope Valve implements 1st-party support for the Wiimote...pardon the music:

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Gut the estate tax? Check. Toss the dividend tax and reduce capital gains tax? Check. Propose new tax on health insurance? Check.

In case it wasn’t already patently obvious where Bush’s priorities lie.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Tina at Alice’s Restaurant

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Mile 100

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Today, Tina and I rode the longest bike ride of my life. We covered Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo county, beginning before the sun came up and finishing after the sun was set. We rode 150 miles, spending 11 hours on the bike, the trip totaling around 13 hours. We cycled through pitch black Sausalito, frost-bitten Belvedere, across San Francisco twice, climbed Devil’s Slide and 3 incredibly long hard climbs out of Pescadero to reach the Skyline Boulevard summit between Alice’s and 92.

Google Map of the second leg

Interesting mile markers:

• At mile 49, we circled to my house to walk Pista and change up gear.
• We rolled through Half-Moon Bay at mile 75, our halfway point.
• Ate lunch in Pescadero at exactly 100 miles (at the really fucking awesome bakery there).
• The final moment of serendipity occurred at mile 150, exactly at the entrance to the South San Francisco BART station. This turned out to be fortuitous…we were spent and it was dark.

The second-to-last leg of the ride (before dropping down into Millbrae/San Bruno) was on the bike path paralleling the reservoir next to 280. It got scary dark.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Saudis ban the letter X?

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

Best overheard comment on Apple’s new iPhone:

It’s the same price as a PlayStation 3.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in January 2007.

I finally got to some long-put-off reorganization of my home office. Part of my procrastination was related to the task of relocating my monitor. I have a very shallow desk, and for that reason the monitor is mounted on the wall with a nice aluminum VESA mount. If you need to mount a flat-panel on a wall (or other), I highly recommend the Sanus VM-1. I have two; the second is used to affix the TV to the staircase.

Lesser Tools (and Pista)

At any rate, my previous installation had left the screws affixing it to the wall in less-than-adequate condition. The top bolt was nearly stripped, probably because I’d used a cheap allen key with a lot of slop. Secondly, it was really stuck in there. I tried a half-dozen different allen keys, screwdrivers, pliers, and even tried prying the head of the screw off with a hammer & screwdriver. That only succeeded in damaging the mount. I then tried filing down the edge of the bolt head to put a socket on it. Failed.

The Magic Tool

A desperate rummage through my toolbox yielded a vintage wrench that I’d found on the street a few years ago. It was small, curved, and according to a stamp on the handle: patented. What the hell, I thought and gave it a shot. The first attempt failed, but then I realized that the wrench was not only adjustable, but had a pivot as well. If I flipped the wrench around, then the tourque of pulling the wrench around (or the bolt resisting said torque) would tighten the wrench’s grip on the screw head. Aha!

After a few turns, I had succeeded in getting the rotten bolt out of the wall, and salvaged the mount base. Success!