Master this Technology.

Jimmy and I disassembled the Boxxer last night to investigate the locking problem that caused my accident. The issue was immediately obvious. The lower bushings were driven far down into the slider and because the insides of the slider tubes are tapered this made the bushings overly tight on the stanchions. This probably originated because we installed the bushings too low in the sliders to begin with (we forgot to measure how deep the old ones were when we first replaced them). The reason we installed them too deep is because upon visual inspection there is a small ridge about halfway down the slider so we figured that the lower bushings were supposed to seat on this lip. As it turns out this was way too deep and the stanchions were actually disengaging from the lower bushings. When I did that large drop it looks like one side nailed the top of bushing, pushing it down farther, and then jammed into it where it was stuck until last night. Needless to say, the bushings are ratfucked and will need to be replaced. This time we will make the appropriate measurements to make sure the lower bushings are always engaged with the stanchions even at (and slightly beyond) full extension.

I will post this rebuild information on the dumbbox with pics when we get the new bushings in.

Last night we also went over the Straight-8 blueprints and I will begin collecting materials today at Homo Deposit.

Words of the Day
bowdlerize - edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
riposte - return thrust after a parry: retort
celerity - a rate that is rapid
aberrate - diverge from the expected
lummox - an awkward stupid person: lout, oaf

My neck is much better today. It seems that the swelling in the spine has subsided for the most part and I have near full range motion. I suppose it really has time to heal at night when the weight of my head isn't resting on it. Perhaps I'll be good for a ride this weekend. Now it just feels like I have pulled muscles in my neck (and shoulder).

Here is the speaker kit I will be building for the apartment. Unfortunately they are no longer available but Oliver has an unbuilt kit that's been sitting around for a year or so that I'm going to take over. Hopefully Jimmy and I can get started on that this week. Bottlehead is an awesome company for audio(phile) kits.

Words of the Day
coalesce - mix together different elements: blend, merge
massif - a block of the earth's crust bounded by faults and shifted to form peaks of a mountain range
pantomime - a performance using gestures and body movements without words
kreplach - Jewish dumplings
buxom - having a large bosom or pleasing curves (Gail)

I see that Stephen has started updating his blog again. This has motivated me to do the same. Although there is really nothing exciting about the work week, the weekends are definitely worth the words.

It appears that my last blog was just about 3 months ago at the beginning of the summer. All I can say is that summer went by incredibly fast. I can't possibly recall everything that's happened in that last 12 weeks but alot of the time has been spent moving into my new apartment, working on the jeep, and riding bikes.

This past weekend Ben and I drank and fought Friday night and then I headed up to Boston for some boozing and biking Saturday and Sunday. I met up with Stephen, Michael, (Abi)gail, and Liza at Michael's in Medford. We went out to the Beantown pub and proceeded throught the usual shenanigans (but they kept me away from the Harvard campus this time). Mams. Sunday Steve and I went for a ride at Bruce and Tom's Excellent Adventure out in Gloucester. It was a pretty serious freeride park and I fucked myself up pretty seriously on a double drop. I chipped a tooth and have given myself a horrible neck sprain complete with the sore throat. Basically its an over-extension of the ligaments in the neck vertebrae caused by some rapid movement of the head or body. Apparently it's a pretty common sports injury so I'm not too worried about it, but it will take a little while to heal. I'm blaming it on my currently rigid Boxxer fork. It needs to be taken apart again and the bushings need to be inspected because the stanchions aren't moving at all. It's not a very effective freeride fork at the moment.

I'll take some pics of the new apartment and post them on the dumbbox today or tomorrow.

For any of you outdoors folks I strongly recommend the following text: Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. Even if you're only into hiking this a very important text to have. Buy it, read it, know it.

Words of the Day
stasis - an abnormal state in which the normal flow of a liquid is slowed or stopped
evanescence - the event of fading from sight (yes, I had quite the evanescence after landing on my head Sunday)
miff - a state of irritation or annoyance
precarious - affording no ease or reassurance: perilous, shaky
nonpareil ["nän-p&-'rel] - eminent beyond or above comprehension: unrivaled, paragon