Reassembly [stuff, bicycling]
May. 17th, 2023 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterIt is a somewhat strange feeling to have recently replaced three of the everyday objects I interact with frequently: the water bottle/coffee mug I use for rowing practices, the laptop, and the pannier I transport it in.
I don't think I'm entirely finished with the predecessor to this laptop, nor with the predecessor to this new pannier. The new pannier, manufactured by a company called Po Campo, is designed to be a convertible pannier/backpack. I think I mentioned previously that I've been looking, on and off, for new panniers for a little while now. I have gotten so much use out of the 25-year-old Overland Equipment pair, and in general I like how they are designed, but at this point they are so very old and tired and it would take an unknown amount of time and expense to attempt to rehab them.
The Arkel shopper-pannier is now also probably about 10 years old or so, and also showing some wear-and-tear, and the whole system of keeping the 10+-year-old North Face backpack inside of it isn't doing a whole lot for me, from an organizational standpoint, anymore. In Texas and California I'd often pull out the backpack and fill up the shopper with shopping items, but out here I don't tend to swing by stores in the same fashion. Along with that, some of the zippers on the North Face backpack failed some time ago. Once again the backpack is an item that could potentially be repaired. If I still lived in California I would be tempted to bring these things to Narain's, but I don't know of any equivalent stores in this area and I suspect that even at Narain's they would look at everything, look at me, and just tell me to get replacements.
So I don't entirely know what I'll do with the worn-out items yet. I hate to send them to a landfill.
So far the new pannier has been pretty great. The magnetic rack buckle system is more cumbersome than the Arkel cam-lock system, but it is nice to be able to wear the pannier as a backpack, and its pockets are so nice and easy to put stuff in and keep organized. And it just looks good. I haven't yet used the integrated pannier cover, so it remains to be seen just how protective it is - a fairly important test.
Yesterday I was able to get started on the project of moving files over from Beryl, the Ubuntu-machine, to this new laptop, which I've named Jade. This is an interesting reunification of personal and professional files; when I got Beryl, I split off all of my work-related files onto the work desktop, keeping personal and rowing club files on Beryl. My conclusion from that experiment is that it is SO much more convenient and easier on my brain to just have everything in one place. I am not entirely finished with file migration, but I'm already starting to feel more like my head is all in one place, which is very helpful for being able to think straighter and get back to tackling academic work.
Now I just need those darned dongle adapters to show up, and then maybe I can take a break from the 'stuff and things' acquisition show.
I don't think I'm entirely finished with the predecessor to this laptop, nor with the predecessor to this new pannier. The new pannier, manufactured by a company called Po Campo, is designed to be a convertible pannier/backpack. I think I mentioned previously that I've been looking, on and off, for new panniers for a little while now. I have gotten so much use out of the 25-year-old Overland Equipment pair, and in general I like how they are designed, but at this point they are so very old and tired and it would take an unknown amount of time and expense to attempt to rehab them.
The Arkel shopper-pannier is now also probably about 10 years old or so, and also showing some wear-and-tear, and the whole system of keeping the 10+-year-old North Face backpack inside of it isn't doing a whole lot for me, from an organizational standpoint, anymore. In Texas and California I'd often pull out the backpack and fill up the shopper with shopping items, but out here I don't tend to swing by stores in the same fashion. Along with that, some of the zippers on the North Face backpack failed some time ago. Once again the backpack is an item that could potentially be repaired. If I still lived in California I would be tempted to bring these things to Narain's, but I don't know of any equivalent stores in this area and I suspect that even at Narain's they would look at everything, look at me, and just tell me to get replacements.
So I don't entirely know what I'll do with the worn-out items yet. I hate to send them to a landfill.
So far the new pannier has been pretty great. The magnetic rack buckle system is more cumbersome than the Arkel cam-lock system, but it is nice to be able to wear the pannier as a backpack, and its pockets are so nice and easy to put stuff in and keep organized. And it just looks good. I haven't yet used the integrated pannier cover, so it remains to be seen just how protective it is - a fairly important test.
Yesterday I was able to get started on the project of moving files over from Beryl, the Ubuntu-machine, to this new laptop, which I've named Jade. This is an interesting reunification of personal and professional files; when I got Beryl, I split off all of my work-related files onto the work desktop, keeping personal and rowing club files on Beryl. My conclusion from that experiment is that it is SO much more convenient and easier on my brain to just have everything in one place. I am not entirely finished with file migration, but I'm already starting to feel more like my head is all in one place, which is very helpful for being able to think straighter and get back to tackling academic work.
Now I just need those darned dongle adapters to show up, and then maybe I can take a break from the 'stuff and things' acquisition show.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-17 05:22 pm (UTC)imo, keep old panniers. It may be worthwhile to have pattern created from the Overland. That could even be an interesting project for my mother, who is basically begging for sewing projects. She asked about the casserole carrier, btw.
Dealing with racks and eyelets and panniers and foot strike is part of what's making me think about Bakfiets. A big wooden box large enough for two children would make a lot of stuff really easy.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-17 08:06 pm (UTC)https://www.dillpicklegear.com/ might be a place you could send the old panniers for a replication-with-improvements. (I have a front bag and a seat bag from Dill Pickle, and find them excellent.)
The Arkell Bug is a thing; https://arkel.ca/products/bug-pannier-backpack if you should find yourself looking again.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-17 10:11 pm (UTC)There's something about the shape of the Po Campo backpack pannier that was really appealing to me. But Arkel's stuff is generally pretty great. So, who knows where I'll go from here? :^)
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 01:09 am (UTC)You're welcome!
(I did know, having read her account of the Paris-Brest-Paris on a fixie with some combination of admiration and horror.)
Oh, not trying to suggest that you ought to like the Bug better! Just that you'd noted you didn't know if the Po Campo leaked yet, and the Bug (at least the Bug of former days, since mine has no recent use and is certainly not recent production) when covered, doesn't to speak of.