Other Changes

Beyond diet, exercise, and changing careers; Taj and I have been making some other changes to our lives these last few months. We canceled our television service...... I know! Crazy right! Yep, no television service for us anymore. We are getting away from the TV and trying to engage life more fully. I have been spending a lot of time in the garage wrenching on bikes of course, Taj has taken up Yoga at the new Yoga studio in Gresham, Fluid Yoga. She has been pestering me to give it a try as well but I haven't got the time in my schedule at this point. A few more weeks and I will run out of excuses though!

We have both decided to take up sewing, Taj and I are both interested in the Steampunk and Pirate scene in Portland. We have attended several events locally in which everyone dresses appropriate for the genre, costumes are spendy! I was quoted near $200 from a Victorian style vest in my size. See they don't make vests for guys my size and it would have to be made custom of course. Eventually I will be small enough to start buying stuff off the rack but even then Victorian style clothing is very spendy.

I had my first sewing lesson at PDX Seamsters studio in SE Portland last night and it was a blast. We didn't do much beyond straight stitches and learning how to sew on a curve, but it was pretty cool. I was not the only guy in class either, two other male students were in my class and the person teaching was also a guy. We finished up the first class with a little hand stitching and I have to say, these huge hands of mine are not made for that sort of stuff. Gonna need a lot of practice to become half way decent at that. My hope with sewing is to be able to produce my own bicycle jerseys (way expensive to buy), hats and other similar items as well as costume stuff for Taj and I. With our new budget being what it is, saving money on anything we can will be a big help.

Minor milestone

I had a doctors appointment today. As I am getting laid off soon I wanted to make sure and visit with my doctor and get all of my prescriptions refilled, etc. They went through the usual routine of getting my blood pressure, temperature and a weigh in. For the last decade I have had to use a special scale in a separate room because I simply weighed too much to be measured by the scales they keep in the exam rooms. I didn't have to do that today.

This may not seem like much to some people, but it was huge for me. It made me feel, if not skinny, normal. I can be weighed using the same scale everyone else uses instead of needing special equipment to get the job done.

My doctor came in the room after I had gone through all of the preliminary stuff with a huge grin on his face. First thing he said to me, "You've lost a lot of weight!"

Best doctors visit ever!

I really need to post more often!

I know, I know! I haven't posted on this thing in forever. What have I been up to? Working, dieting, working on bicycles. I have lost around 80 pounds at this point, down to 342 from the 425 I was at when I started. I am also in the process of a huge lifestyle change beyond the diet.

I am getting laid off from my family business in May, just before I attend United Bicycle Institute. I will be attending UBI's Professional Repair and Shop Operation class. My hope is to get a job working in a local bicycle shop in Portland at first. What I really would like to do is open my own shop someday. Portland is a good city in which to get into the bicycle industry at least. I have been volunteering on Sunday's at the Community Cycling Center . Sunday's are the tear down days, we take apart donated bikes that aren't going to be used for their Holiday giveaway or Build a Commuter programs. I am looking forward to being able to attend their Tuesday night drop ins, they assemble and tune up bikes on those evenings.

As a personal project I have been rebuilding a 1974 Schwinn Varisty. This was my uncle's bike, he bought it brand new in 1974 from Hook's Cyclery in Gresham. He rode this bike everywhere back in the day, including down into Oxbow Park and back up that huge hill! The bike has spent the last 15 years under a tree in his backyard however and looked like this when I first got a hold of it.


It took a couple of months to clean all the parts but I managed to save most of the original components and reuse them when putting the bike back together. I got all new spokes and relaced the wheels, this was my first time ever lacing up a set of wheels and it took a few tries to get it right. Truing the wheels was no easy task without a proper truing stand, the rear wheel needed to be dished as well, again no dishing tool to work with. They turned out pretty good regardless, they could use some fine tuning but I plan to take care of that while at UBI. I also replaced the pedals as the originals were rusted and wouldn't spin anymore, I found a pair that would fit and take toe clips at the Community Cycling Center, not easy considering they have a 1/2" shaft instead of the 9/16" that modern bikes use. New cables and housing all around and new tires of course, the old ones were literally rotting off the bike. The seat was a soaked, slimy mess so that was replaced as well. I had the frame and forks powder coated at Brooker Enterprises for $100, they charge an extra $50 if they have to disassemble the bike but I did all of that myself.

Here is the bike as it looks now.