The Good News Thread

[interzen]

Just had about the best bit of good news I could hope for:

My Alfine 11-speed hub has finally arrived at the LBS .....

 

[clarion]

Kewl.

[her_welshness]

Last night, I helped Mrs B to compose two e-mails about work issues she's been  hassled about by management, & advised her who to copy them to.

Today, both problems miraculously disappeared! One has become an inter-departmental argument conducted by managers instead of through her, & the other one has evaporated completely.  Mrs B is very grateful.


Having been given the run-around by politically-motivated bosses & learned how to survive it is transferable experience.

Well done to you and the missus 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Just had about the best bit of good news I could hope for:

My Alfine 11-speed hub has finally arrived at the LBS .....

 

Nice! Are they to replace whatever that is in your avatar, or additional? And if you're getting rid of that, then, well, what will you be doing with it?

[Polar Bear]

I've got a very good lead on what will be my biggest photography job yet. 

Excellent news.   

[interzen]

Just had about the best bit of good news I could hope for:

My Alfine 11-speed hub has finally arrived at the LBS .....

 

Nice! Are they to replace whatever that is in your avatar, or additional? And if you're getting rid of that, then, well, what will you be doing with it?

It's an addition. The hub in my avatar is a Sturmey S3X which lives on my 'usual' Audax bike - the S3X still holds the record for 'longest time between ordering and actually getting my hands on the bloody thing' by quite a significant margin. The Alfine was a mere 4 months by comparison

The Alfine-11 is going to be built into an off-road tourer based on a Surly 1x1 frame and forks - I also have an Alfine 8-speed hub on my 'usual' work bike as well as a 'traditional' fixed gear. Four bikes, and not a derailleur between 'em

[clarion]

Last night, I helped Mrs B to compose two e-mails about work issues she's been  hassled about by management, & advised her who to copy them to.

Today, both problems miraculously disappeared! One has become an inter-departmental argument conducted by managers instead of through her, & the other one has evaporated completely.  Mrs B is very grateful.


Having been given the run-around by politically-motivated bosses & learned how to survive it is transferable experience.

Well done to you and the missus 

Ah yes.  Excellent news.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Just had about the best bit of good news I could hope for:

My Alfine 11-speed hub has finally arrived at the LBS .....

 

Nice! Are they to replace whatever that is in your avatar, or additional? And if you're getting rid of that, then, well, what will you be doing with it?

It's an addition. The hub in my avatar is a Sturmey S3X which lives on my 'usual' Audax bike - the S3X still holds the record for 'longest time between ordering and actually getting my hands on the bloody thing' by quite a significant margin. The Alfine was a mere 4 months by comparison

The Alfine-11 is going to be built into an off-road tourer based on a Surly 1x1 frame and forks - I also have an Alfine 8-speed hub on my 'usual' work bike as well as a 'traditional' fixed gear. Four bikes, and not a derailleur between 'em

Aha, it's an S3X - I had a good gape at your avatar but couldn't make out the 3. I plan on converting one of my bikes from derailleur to hub gears, if I can work out how to do it - but I have to figure out the best way of getting it out of FiL's snowbound cowshed first!

[Cudzoziemiec]

I forgot to post my own good news. My pottery teacher said the face I created last night was "brilliant". She seems to be a bit generous, but I was pleased.

[interzen]

Just had about the best bit of good news I could hope for:

My Alfine 11-speed hub has finally arrived at the LBS .....

 

Nice! Are they to replace whatever that is in your avatar, or additional? And if you're getting rid of that, then, well, what will you be doing with it?

It's an addition. The hub in my avatar is a Sturmey S3X which lives on my 'usual' Audax bike - the S3X still holds the record for 'longest time between ordering and actually getting my hands on the bloody thing' by quite a significant margin. The Alfine was a mere 4 months by comparison

The Alfine-11 is going to be built into an off-road tourer based on a Surly 1x1 frame and forks - I also have an Alfine 8-speed hub on my 'usual' work bike as well as a 'traditional' fixed gear. Four bikes, and not a derailleur between 'em

Aha, it's an S3X - I had a good gape at your avatar but couldn't make out the 3. I plan on converting one of my bikes from derailleur to hub gears, if I can work out how to do it - but I have to figure out the best way of getting it out of FiL's snowbound cowshed first!

Conversions aren't that difficult, although it makes life a lot easier if the bike you plan to convert has horizontal or rear-facing dropouts. Having said that, my work bike has vertical dropouts and I use a chain tensioner with an Alfine 8-speed hub without problems. Not much different from a fixed conversion, really, except that you've got a bulkier hub and a shifter to deal with.

I went down to the LBS at lunchtime to see the hub for real and, to my delight, I had ordered the black version so it'll match the frame - uploading the 'unboxing' pics to Flickr as I type

[Wowbagger]

I have 4½lb of finely sliced Seville oranges simmering with 9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water. 

I am heartily sick of slicing oranges. It's take me well over an hour.

[Andrij]

In 90 minutes this working week will finally be over!
 

[Bledlow]

I have 4½lb of finely sliced Seville oranges simmering with 9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water.  .

9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water? Surely that should be 6 pints of water in 9lb of sugar! 

[Wowbagger]

I have 4½lb of finely sliced Seville oranges simmering with 9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water.  .

9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water? Surely that should be 6 pints of water in 9lb of sugar! 

The water, already containing the sliced oranges, is a far greater volume than the sugar. It doesn't take long for the sugar to dissolve and then you haven't got any sugar left, just rather stickier water!

[Bledlow]

Weelll . . .  [pedantic mode] the bulk density of granulated sugar is actually lower than that of water, so your 9 lbs of sugar should have taken up more volume than your 6 pints of water, as well as weighing more. Allow for the air between the granules & the density goes up a lot, but the total volume is still similar to that of the water, so 'far greater volume' only applies to the mix, not the water.[/pedantic mode]

[robgul]

I have 4½lb of finely sliced Seville oranges simmering with 9lb of sugar in 6 pints of water. 

I am heartily sick of slicing oranges. It's take me well over an hour.

Ah, that's this evening's task for Mrs G - she already has 8 jars of the Nigel Slater version and 7 of the Delia variety in stock - Mr Slater's seems a preferable product, I think it'll be that one for the remaining (what looks like) hundredweight of oranges.

Rob

[matthew]

Corridori have just sent me an email. Having stated a delivery time of 10-12 weeks for my new bike they have it in store.






In less than two weeks  *Bounce Bounce* 

[hellymedic]

Grand daughter weighed in at 23lb 3oz today, which puts her at the 100th centile for someone 7 months old. 

My brother's daughter was also hefty as a baby, but seems to have slimmed down acceptably now at 27 months.
She was put onto semi-skimmed milk early and her cheese intake was restricted. General walking/running about seems too have burned off the rest. Said little girl is still bigger than her nearly 4-year-old cousin but older child has a tiny mum.

[Ham]

(1) A PR company has bribed me by thrusting a new wizzy smartphone into my hot sweaties

(2) In three weeks time I will be away skiing for the second time this year

(3) I am having a day's holiday on Monday

If I ignore the fact I'm going to be waving paint brushes and rollers around over the weekend instead of riding anywhere, I'm all happy.

[Cudzoziemiec]

When I lived in India there was a plot of 'waste land' at the other end of our street, right opposite the playschool our son went to for a few years. It was a small green space with a small house in the middle. Just before we left the occupiers were evicted and their house pulled down. A sign went up saying the land belonged to Bangalore Development Authority and we assumed it had been earmarked for more shops. But Mrs Cudzo's out there now and told me today that it has in fact been turned into a very pretty little park with children's play area. That's good. 

[Wowbagger]

Grand daughter weighed in at 23lb 3oz today, which puts her at the 100th centile for someone 7 months old. 

My brother's daughter was also hefty as a baby, but seems to have slimmed down acceptably now at 27 months.
She was put onto semi-skimmed milk early and her cheese intake was restricted. General walking/running about seems too have burned off the rest. Said little girl is still bigger than her nearly 4-year-old cousin but older child has a tiny mum.

We have been told this evening that Martha stood unaided today. I am sceptical of the definition of "stood". In my experience, the chubby kiddies tend to be the last to start moving around. She's not crawling yet.

[hellymedic]

Grand daughter weighed in at 23lb 3oz today, which puts her at the 100th centile for someone 7 months old. 

My brother's daughter was also hefty as a baby, but seems to have slimmed down acceptably now at 27 months.
She was put onto semi-skimmed milk early and her cheese intake was restricted. General walking/running about seems too have burned off the rest. Said little girl is still bigger than her nearly 4-year-old cousin but older child has a tiny mum.

We have been told this evening that Martha stood unaided today. I am sceptical of the definition of "stood". In my experience, the chubby kiddies tend to be the last to start moving around. She's not crawling yet.

I was not a fat baby but did not walk until at least 18 months. (I remember weighing in at 2½stone (15kg) when I started school at 5.)

My not-so-little niece has been very mobile for ages.
Methinks Martha will not turn into a whale.

[Wowbagger]

My younger daughter was very... er... robust as a child. A well-remembered incident was the occasion that she went to my mother to complain that one of her brothers had kicked her. "I expect he thought you were a football, dear!" came the sympathetic response. That daughter is now a very shapely 24-year-old, but she'd never be a catwalk model, thank a deity of your choice.

[SandyV]

1. The lift is working again.   In the 3 weeks it's been out I've walked up around 200 storeys (and down again).

2.  It has stopped raining.   

[epa611]

Got a new job back in Scotland 

25 mins from my home!  means I can live at home with my wife during the week AND at weekends