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just got my report back from the instructor. no errors! it's hard not to get cocky, but i will have to be very careful with lesson 4... it introduces all the complex rules i've already told you about.
i worked on it last weekend, and it made my grey matter shiver. so, i guess that's good.
except for shipping.
they're going to accept my used fenders as crappy. i just need to yank them off the bike and throw them in a box. my friend, joe, has a business in which he does a lot of shipping and has graciously offered to cover the cost back to oconomowoc. so, for the $28 installation, and $11 shipping+tax, i get nothing but a wet backside.
after getting my bike stolen on my birthday, and buying a new trek bike, i needed some fenders so i wouldn't get back-spray during wet bike rides. so after quite a deliberation, and some back and forth with trek, i bought these bontrager approved fenders.
after unsuccessfully attempting to install them, i paid revolution cycles another $27 to install.
they are the hugest pieces of crap i've ever bought. they have a "safety feature" which allows the fenders to be popped off the stems in the event they get tugged on by something. well this wonderful feature causes them to pop off after going over any sort of bump. so, after this happened three times on my way home last night, they received an email:
i need to return these fenders for a refund. they are subpar and completely unreliable. they were installed by a professional retailer and the "safety feature" that releases them reacts upon every bump i encounter, rendering them completely useless.i no longer have the packaging or receipt. can you let me know what i need to do to send these back? i am entirely disappointed in your recommendation and the manufacturing of these terrible fenders. i won't, ever or at all, suggest these to any of my bike-riding friends.
i'll even bring them to waterloo if it is necessary. i will not pay return shipping for such an outrageous piece of crap.
let's see how this goes.
sorry if the braille bores you.
i worked on lesson 4 this weekend; i had forgotten about all the itty bitty rules. like the list of single letter abbreviations that must be memorized. but, can, do, every, from, go, have, just, knowledge, like, more, not, people, quite, rather, so, that, us, very, will, it, you, as. and then there's the whole word contractions: and, for of, the, with... which can (unlike the previous list) and have to be used inside words in which they fall... as in c(and)y. but not if they cross a major syllable division! like professor.
in crafty news, i knit a little bit this weekend with my plarn. it's a very difficult medium with which to knit.
i had a few seconds before a meeting yesterday, so i added up my amazon wishlist and to get me everything i want would cost a mere $489... with free shipping!
my back has recently been giving me more grief than usual. i've gone to the chiropractor every friday for the past four... if i bend my neck back and to the left, a tingly sensation happens down my left arm, and if i do it for too long, my fingers fall asleep. kind of a neat trick, except now it's interrupting my sleepytime; resulting in being moderately more crabby.
i haven't mowed the lawn in a over two months and really need to before the winter sets in. i apologized to the neighbors and she chuckled... what i'm most concerned with now, is not the act of mowing, but picking up two months worth of dog poo in the back yard.
single and double quotes, apostrophe's, parens, and brackets.
i forgot how hieroglyphic braille is... i successfully completed lesson 2, my only error was that i started each sentence in cell 4 instead of cell 3; the instructor said i did not need to resubmit the lesson. i apologized, citing it as a fundamental flaw in my ability to read instructions; she said lots of students get that wrong in the beginning.
so i completed lesson 3 (for the fourth time) and submitted that yesterday. lesson 4 is where it's gunna get tough. there's a slew of single-cell whole-word contractions to memorize.
this month, we'll be conducting a rommegrot challenge. i'm to make rommegrot and bring it to work in a crock pot. jesse is to eat a full lunch and then two cups of the delicious dessert (normally, a quarter cup is enough).
i found a annual lutefisk dinner is coming up on november 6. it's up to a whopping $15, and down to only 4 seating times (it used to go practically all day!).
i just canceled home phone service for my deceased mother-in-law. i feel sorry for the guy who had to take my call. he was nice enough.
we've also had her mail forwarded here so we can deal with bills, etc. it seems medicare didn't cover $6 of the total expenses of her treatment. i'm not sure what to think about that.
we also have to prove the address change to her bank because of the privacy act.
back in may, i sent some positive feedback to the subway website. knowing their restaurants are franchised, i figured it would take a little while for the information to trickle down to the manager. i didn't think it would take five months.
the manager of the place i go for lunch does all the veggies, and she asked me today if i had sent in some feedback. we had a chuckle that since it was positive, it took that long because it's not as important as negative.
i can't believe it's october already. in less than a month, we'll all be setting our clocks an hour back and it will be dark before i leave work. depressing.
also, the pinched nerve in my neck has started interrupting my sleep. it's only tolerable when laying flat on my back, which means i can't fall asleep so i roll around all night. i've been to the chiropractor twice in two weeks and i don't know if i can afford the frequency with which he wants me to return.
also, i finished lesson 3 yesterday, but will wait to hear back about lesson 2... and i'll probably braille it a couple more times just for practice before handing it in.
sorry i've been so mute. life's been quite distracting lately.
i handed in lesson 2 yesterday for my braille certification. hopefully she'll be able to turn it around quickly as i've read lesson 3 several times already.
work has been ok. two huge projects launched in the last 15 days and we've started work on one for next year.
here's me and the dogs trespassing in garver field:
