Yay! I finally scraped up enough cash to do two things - get my contacts replaced, and get new rubber and tubes for my bike. This is really important for me because I've been wanting to upgrade from disposable to that new 30-day-wear contacts - I'd heard about them about a decade ago - supposedly, their made of ultrathin polyurethane and allow oxygen diffusion across them and into the epithelial layers of the eye. THis is important, because apparently there are cells there that interact directly with oxygen in the atmosphere, and they die and infect your eye when you keep your contacts in too long. Gross, right? Tell me about it, I had to suffer through this some years ago, as a sophomore in college, when the stress of an all-night job, plus full-time school, led me to nap a few hours here, a few hours there, and never taking my lenses out. Well, two weeks later, my eyes got red and hurt like glass - and I went to the opthamalogist. Guess what he said?
"No contacts for three weeks."
Well, he forgot to mention photophobia as part of it, and the fact that an early class (8 am) meant I was driving into the sunrise every bleeding Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Even with shades, my eyes watered.
So I keep my contacts out at least one day a week, normally Sunday, and wear them the rest of the week.
And the rubber and tubing - I have some old Araya rims, so I have no idea what kind of valves fit, and what is the best option for me. They are 27 x 1.25 and when I blew my inner tube, I found out that the tubes inside were 700 x whatever the appropriate measurement is - and I do know from reading at www.bikeforums.net that the two are NOT compatible - but apparently the person who put the tubes in did not. This would explain why the bike was only inflated to 50 psi when I got it - the blowout happened when I inflated back to 90 psi - I imagine I would have blown it out while inflating if I had put the psi up to 125 like a good roadie....
And I'm still out of a job. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not being a bum (yeah, right) but my sub job is paying me like nothing, since they never call, and I've been on hiatus for 2 weeks, and my paycheck from when I did work hasn't shown up yet. So, I'm functionally unemployed, although not officially unemployed. However, the good Lord has provided - I sold a futon for $200, and that was enough to get the kids some Christmas presents, and my dad, who pressured me to lose my other futon and said he would compensate by getting me wooden bunk beds for my two oldest girls, is coming through this week. Matresses and all.
However, the bookstore I donate all my used books to said they might be hiring - that would be swell - as I can bike to it without crossing any major highways. If they'll give me a day job, I'll be pleased as pie, and interact with the kitties (it doubles as a cat sanctuary, so there's a billion and one cats there any given day). The place is called Nine Lives Books and they totally rock! I took our old CD collection in, with some real gems like Led Zep and some really old rock, and they gave us $100 for it! Granted, it probably would have been a grand's worth of discs purchased new, but our collection is in the computer and ready to play anytime, and we use the puter as a DJ anyway when we barbecue, so there is no loss there.
15 days before I descend back into the madness that is being a grad student with a family. My favorite professor managed it, but she was doing this with one child, and I have several. Oh, well.
Peace,
Mago
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