48...49....FIFTY!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Kind of feels the least bit alien right now.  Funny how one can shift gears to a new way of doing things, but have a weird time shifting back.  Coming back this morning to open up and do the weekend shift was slightly akin to being a visitor...if that makes any sense.   But it' cool, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, and so far this morning have been kept quite busy!  I love that!  Last night was an oddity too, not having to go to bed before the sun set!  Actually got to watch a couple episodes of "Lost" before I had to coax a very exhausted Angi to bed.  She passed out half way through the second episode with her head on my lap.  Poor pooped mamma.  And talk about a chaotic evening!  SHEESH!!  Mamma and the boys had shifted into a regimented routine in my absence and had all the little kiddos in bed by nine, then it was relax time for the older "working" folks.  On the contrary, last night, we didn't leave the shop until seven, then arriving home, had to decide on dinner.  Mamma opted for meatball subs, so we sent out our runners to the local Wal-mart (don't hate me for that folks, it's the only bloody grocery store LEFT in our area!) only to discover that out of ALL the freezers they had in that place, the one holding the meatballs had broken down and the morons that run the place didn't have the sense to MOVE the stock to a freezer that WAS working!  SHEESH!!  SOOOOOO, the boys brought home everything for meatball subs....except the meatballs!!!  In the end, I got mamma a Subway meatball sub (always feed the wife's cravings, folks!) and as it turned out, the kiddos were in blissful rapture at the treat of "cheesy fries" for supper!    That's called making a silk purse out of a sows ear!
The other weird thing is, it wasn't until I sat down at the computer today, and was doing the whole Craigslist thing, that I happened to notice the date...
It would appear, that today, I turned 48 years old.
Ouch!
Been so busy, all but forgot!  Which is OK, because last year for my Birthday I had a "mild cardiac episode" that landed me in the Hospital for three days!  SO not wanting the same gift this year!  Best to let the day pass, unnoticed!  of course, this close to 50 and one begins the inevitable retrospective evaluation of "life choices".  Ugh.  Nostalgia is SOOOO NOT what I need!   
ANYWHO!
On the "working on bikes front", it didn't dawn on me until a couple days ago that "HEY!  I work in a fabricators shop now!"  (DUH!) that has, not only a FULL range of metal working tools BUT  a sandblaster big enough to put three dozen bike frames in at one time!  HO, HO!! At that point of realization, the wheels in my head groaned into rusty, grinding and creaking motion and formulated the slightest sliver of an idea!  Needless to say the weather worn (and poorly repainted) Dawes road bike Angi picked up will become the first frame to go under the glass beads come Monday!  (yea...it's not sand, but microscopic beads of glass!  I had NO idea!  No wonder it itches so much when you accidently get it down the front of your shirt!  And let me tell you...you get a fine film of that stuff on a concrete floor?  It's like trying to do the tango on marbles!) The lug work on this frame is so pretty!  When you sandblast the metal, it turns a uniformed dull silver/gray.  I'm going to see how that looks, and if it works, might just finish it up with a light hand sanding and a durable clear coat!  I think that would look sharp, maybe with an accent color on the wheel set, as I'm going to do an urban Mixie with it (but may keep it a five speed rear...we'll see!)  The creative part of this job is the BEST part!  WA-HOO! 
But today.... Picked up a full re-hab on a nice old Caloi MTB yesterday where the owner had the misfortune of snapping off the rear derailleur mount on the frame.  Gonna take a little creative tinkering to mount one that'll work on it, but I am up to the challenge!  See, this is one of those "hacker-fixers" that any other shop would get an offended look on their faces, snub their noses and exclaim with righteous indignation " You can't DO that!!"
Enh...
if it keeps the bike on the road, keeps the customer happy, and doesn't make us look like all the other snobbish "boutique bike shops" compelling us to coerce the innocent Veloist into buying some over priced NEW bike, we're all for THAT!!
(oooo.  Did THAT sound venomous?)
Oh well. 
Beyond that, have a couple other rides to tinker with, and so hoping we get some NEW blood in today!  YOWZA!!  That would be SWEEEEEEEEET!!!!
ALLRIGHTY!
Best ta git at it! 
See ya all WAY soon!!!