Nuts and bolts

Today, I reached a breaking point. Too many logistics to manage.

Last night, riding back from the bar, my bicycle started to rattle. The loc-nut holding the front fender in place had started to work loose. I suspect that had to do with the several-hundred-mile car trip where Froinlavin was held in place by a rear wheel clamp and one of those j-hook things that hooks over the front wheel. Those j-hook things are convenient, up until they interact with fenders. A j-hook thing caused the Jolly Roger's front fender failure, and I think the j-hook may have contributed to the present loosening on Froinlavin.

Shortly thereafter, the nut flew off completely. Shortly after that, the fender got caught on the rubber of the front tire, traveled upwards a short distance, and then wedged. Fortunately, I wasn't going very fast and there wasn't any traffic.

Sometimes I feel like bicycles hemorrhage small nuts and bolts.

When I tried to find a partly-related replacement bolt for the Jolly Roger recently (the one my finger is holding onto in this photo), I had a damned hard time at the Home Despot. Prior attempts at Lowe's have been equally futile. Neither big-box store can manage fasteners worth a damn. There's an Ace Nut & Bolt shop in town, but they're only open Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm, and prior experience suggests that obtaining anything from them will require a minimum of two trips, one to place the order, the second to pick it up.

I found a recumbent bike shop selling sets of bolts and nuts online, except they sell way more bolts and troublingly few nuts, and in combinations that may or may not be useful.

So instead I just paid ~$50 to McMaster-Carr to obtain:
-Type 316 Stainless Steel Socket Head Cap Screw, M5 Thread, 10mm Length, .8mm Pitch, packs of 25
-Type 316 Stainless Steel Socket Head Cap Screw, M5 Thread, 12mm Length, .8mm Pitch, packs of 25
-Type 316 Stainless Steel Socket Head Cap Screw, M6 Thread, 16mm Length, 1mm Pitch, packs of 25
-Type 316 Stainless Steel Socket Head Cap Screw, M6 Thread, 20mm Length, 1mm Pitch, packs of 25
-Metric Type 316 Stainless Steel Nylon-Insert Hex Locknut, M5 Size, .8mm Pitch, 8mm Width, 5mm Height, packs of 50
-Metric Type 316 Stainless Steel Nylon-Insert Hex Locknut, M6 Size, 1mm Pitch, 10mm Width, 6mm Height, packs of 50

Maybe I should just keep the entire assortment in my toolkit.

I don't know if that was a good idea or not, but I'm moving on.

First manuscript review of 2015

Dear manuscript, I deeply wish you were better written, like your predecessor. I am grateful to you for letting me think about subjects tangentially related to the current Acro manuscript. I am frustrated that so many things keep derailing me from working on the current Acro manuscript.

Current cricket manuscript, you are frustrating me, too.