“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” _Heraclitus

The repetitive nature of Fate never ceases to amaze me!  Little subtle coincidences,  the perpetual, and all too familiar happenstance that never fails to occur.  That of which I am speaking, in particular, is the inevitability of beginning one project only to be, invariably, inundated by others.  Hence was my prediction yesterday, that when I began the most inane of tasks,  something else would come across my bay! 
We have, over the last few weeks, obtained a plethora of "used" tubes.  Let me qualify that for a moment.  We DO NOT resell tubes with patches, nor do we patch ourselves.  They don't make good patches anymore (THANK'S a LOT Wal-Mart!) so we don't bother.  No, any tubes from a tear down, are overinflated, then hung up.  If after a few days, they go limp, we cut them into even strips and use them for handle bar wraps.  Well, we had accumulated so many, that the bar we hung them from was bowing, and you had to duck to get out the back door.  So as I had free time, I reflated all of them (about 80) and did the water test for each one.  Submerging them in a bucket of water and slowly turning them, looking for air bubbles.  Surprisingly, only four failed the test.  Oh well, at least now I can wrap about a dozen bars!!  It was at this point, after inflating all the tubes (and much to the chagrin of Suzanne, who has a REAL issue about having anything obstruct her passage through any particular area)  blocking the small path around my bay.  Well, at that point, the real work started to come in!  Yep, sent the real sharp looking refurbed Triathlon bike to a new home.  LOVE those kinds of departures.  She came in, took one look, then a short three minute test drive, and didn't even bother to bring it back in when she came in and said "LOVE IT!!!"  Cha-CHING!  Then, it was three minor repairs back to back.  Once those were finished I could refocus on the tubes!  That's a heck of a lot of fun.  Once they're tested, you have to roll and deflate them, then bag 'em up and label them.  Took me all of MST3K "The Black Scorpion" and half of "The Projected Man" to get THAT done!  Shortly before finishing, got in two more newbies!  A real sharp looking Murray men's 18 speed, and a five speed cruiser.  Finished up the Murray, which quickly left this morning with another one of the Spring Trainers over from Jay's Stadium.  The cruiser is in my rack, which I ended up doing a flat black repaint on.  Haven't decided if I'm staying stock or going Rat Rod.  Love the old cantilever frames, they make for a sharp looking ride, but, as we have a custom already, may just stick to stock.  Enh. The Muse will direct me!  I took a break at that point from building, as the all too familiar twinge in the back of my throat forbore the onset of the creeping crud that has inflicted some of the family over the last week.  Ugh!  Took the last hour of the day to just hang out at the counter and bang away on the book.  Finally got the story out of space and into Nazi Europe.
FINALLY found a prime tandem bike on Craigslist for the "truck" conversion we have an order for!  YAY!!  Hopefully, we'll have that one in soon so we can get to work on her!  It's the perfect single speed, with only the single seat and chain stay in the back, so I can adapt it to a three speed rear...hopefully. As with the first one, never done one before, so it will be a learning experience!
Also, found a new home for the Raleigh 6 speed conversion, which will end up being converted...again.  OK, this is an interesting one to say the least.  Seems a gent, who somehow hooked up with Uncle Chippie, has decided he is going to undertake a 4500 mile, cross country trip.  As laudable as that undertaking is (and I truly envy him the journey!) I don't think he has seriously thought the endeavor through, thoroughly.  See, that kind of an endurance trip (especially when he has only allotted six weeks to do it in) is something that you really have to train for.  Not to mention, you  need to be adept at bicycle maintenance in order to survive!  Trouble is, he has NO formal training, no working knowledge of repair...and he's not even a daily rider?  His exposer to cycling has been primarily, on a stationary bicycle in a gym. 
You see where my hesitation lies.  No, I am NOT trying to doom this trip, really.  I wish him all the best and we will be modifying the bike to survive the rigors of the estimated 100-120 miles a day he plans to ride, as much as one can, that is.  We will also be trying, diligently, to get him to change a few of his plans , such as relying on his support driver to carry all necessary items in the car as opposed to the bike.  It's great to have back up, but I seriously doubt he's going to be able to travel on a variety of different roads being followed, slowly, by a car with it's flashers on.  More than likely, the driver will have to go on ahead each day, and wait for him.  What happens if the inevitable flat happens and your cell phone is dead?  Or any other multitude of flubs that may occur. 
It's going to be interesting, to say the least!
On the Home front!  OK, not holding my breath on this one, but Angela informs me, that pursuant to our discussions with Elijah, something has apparently set in, and he was nothing but helpful, courteous and considerate yesterday.  No folks, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but we have been here several times before and, sadly, the effort has not, historically, lasted.  There is a difference between acting contrite and being so.  As far as Kaleb is concerned, well, there is a time when the roadblocks of youthful wisdom (or lack thereof) become so insurmountable, you just have to back off and wait for the inevitable "crash".  Here's another stubborn, pig headed "yute" (YEP!  No prize if you get THAT ONE!) that is just going to have to find out on his own just how "right" Mom and Dad are!  Although, quite frankly, if the "attitude" keeps up it may be "Wood Shed and 2X4 time" for that one! 
ALLRIGHTY ROO!
I am going to get my keister in gear!  Just heard that the tandem HAS been secured and is "On it's way here!!!"  So, I'm going to get the cruiser rebuild out of the way to make some room!  Have to hang it up, and stare at it awhile until how it will come together....comes to me!  Heh.  I am by NO stretch of the imagination...and engineer.  In the word's of the immortal Indiana Jones "I'm making this up as I go!"
SEE YA!!