Chain-Geek

With around 4000 miles on it, it was about time to change the chain on my commuter bike.
As you can see from the photo, the pins were quite worn. This is the cause of what is called "chain stretch."
Bike chains do get longer with use and wear, but they don't actually "stretch"; it's the accumulated wear of the pins like the one shown here that add up to the extra length. And when a chain is a little longer, it doesn't fit into the sprockets very well anymore.
Now that I have a new chain (and new "cassette" of rear gears), the bike literally runs like new. I should have done this repair a long time ago! I can't believe how smooth and quiet the bike is now.

Chocolate-Geek

If you like chocolate, and don't care about your health, this is the dessert for you!
The ingredients are as easy to remember as they are shocking. When people ask what's in it, they are usually taken aback.

• 1 Pound Chocolate (I use semi-sweet chocolate chips)
• 1 Pound of Butter (yeah, a whole package of the real thing)
• 8 eggs
• 1 cup sugar

That's it. 4 ingredients.
Here's how to put those crazy ingredients together:

Line bottom of 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper or wax paper (this is important if you don't want to have to use the bottom of the springform pan as the serving dish. It will not come off otherwise). Coat bottom and sides of pan with vegetable oil spray. Wrap outside of pan with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil to prevent seepage (seepage is messy!).

In a double boiler, melt chocolate with butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. While chocolate is melting, crack eggs in a bowl and whisk until frothy.

When chocolate and butter are melted and combined, transfer to a bowl. Slowly whisk in sugar until dissolved, scraping sides of bowl. Slowly whisk in eggs until well combined. Mixture will be somewhat elastic.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Set pan in a larger baking pan. Add hot water to larger pan so that it comes 1 inch up sides of springform pan (this is important for even baking; you don't want the edges to overcook while the middle is undercooked).

Bake in preheated oven 50 to 70 minutes. When it is done, it will rise and feel somewhat firm in the center. It may also crack near the center like a cheesecake.

When done, carefully remove pans from oven. Remove springform pan from pan of water, then remove foil from springform pan. Cool on wire rack. When cool, refrigerate uncovered at least 8 hours or overnight (I've gotten by with just a couple hours in the fridge with OK results).

Do yourself and your guests a favor and serve this with some really good fresh ground coffee. It's extremely rich, and you will enjoy having something nice to sip on while you enjoy this desert.

Coffee-Geek

Why would a Coffee-Geek who roasts his own beans, and brews with a french press order pre-ground coffee and an electric drip coffee maker from Gevalia??
Thats what I was wondering when I happened to look at my credit card activity on-line yesterday and saw a charge from Gevalia for $35.90
I called and talked to Joy, who was very polite, and told me that she would cancel my account, and reverse the charge. Then later that evening, the people living at our old address stopped by with a package from Gevalia with the aforementioned items in it, and my name on it. So I called again this afternoon, and asked what they wanted me to do with the package. The person that I talked to this time (don't recall her name) also told me that she would reverse the charge, and said that I could keep the stuff (she thought maybe I'd like it and become a customer in the future, but I doubt it).
The part that really has me scratching my head is: how did they get my credit card number?
This really strikes me as a very questionable business practice. If they had sent the stuff unsolicited, and billed me, that would be bad enough, but to charge my credit card for something that I never ordered (and never would consider ordering), is pretty scary.
I'll keep an eye on my credit card statement, and if the charge doesn't get reversed within a few days, I'll call Visa and dispute the charge with them. I'm glad we keep a close eye on our finances, and avoid these scams!

Music-Geek

It's past time for another update to my quest for easy to purchase music that will work with Linux and iPod.
I had been buying music from the Wal-Mart MP3 store, but now Amazon.com is selling MP3s, and it's even easier than Wal-Mart.
With Amazon's one-click purchasing, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader software for Linux installed, it is finally easier to pay for music on-line than it is to steal it! Hurray!
The Downloader automatically places the music in my music folder in the right place, and all the ID3 tags seem to be working fine so it works perfectly in my Rythmbox player in Ubuntu, as well as iTunes on my wife's windows PC, and on our iPhones and iPod.
It's nice to have something that finally "just works" the way I expect after years of hoping.
So Amazon is getting all of my business from now on.

So what have I purchased lately?
I just bought the new Casting Crowns album for my wife's birthday. I like it too, so that's a win-win. ;-)
I've purchased albums from Warren Barfield, Superchick, Kutless, and a couple singles from Mark Schultz.
All excellent music!

Light-Geek

As the days start to get shorter here in North America, I'll be commuting to and from work in the dark on my bike. Being visible to automobile traffic is of paramount importance for safety, so I have lights on my bike so that motorists can see me and then pass me safely.

On the front, and have a CatEye HL-EL410. This is a white light with three LEDs that takes three AAA batteries. It's not really bright enough to see by, but the point is to be seen by motorists. I really like this light because it's durable, weather-proof, and lasts for years on a single set of batteries!

On the back, I have a Planet Bike Superflash. I've tried a lot of different lights over the years, and found nothing that is as durable and noticeable as the Superflash.
Here's a video that shows the difference between a standard light and the superflash.
As you can see, this is once very noticeable light.
You can certainly find cheaper LED blinky lights for your bike, but when your life depends on it, go ahead and spend a couple bucks more for the best.

Also worth noting, it's important to have passive reflectors on the bike too. There's always a chance that something will go wrong with my bliky lights (like I forget to turn them on), but the reflectors will still catch drivers' attention.

Fender-Geek

As someone who rides to work everyday, rain or shine, it's pretty important to have fenders on my bike. Riding in the rain is actually quite refreshing usually, and the rain that falls from the sky is not a big deal on a warm day, but the water that comes up from the tires off the road is nasty and I don't like having a stripe of it up my back when I get home.
The solution of course is to have fenders on the bike. When I purchased my bike from the LBS a few years ago, I had them add a pair of fenders for this very reason. The pair that they added were some no-name brand that worked OK, but were hard to adjust, so they were sometimes rubbing on the wheel, and tended to rattle on bumpy roads.
So last time we were at the REI store, I picked up a pair of Planet Bike fenders. I finally got around to mounting these to the bike, and I couldn't be happier! The bike is so quiet now!
This week, we've had a lot of rain, and I was really able to enjoy riding through it in part because of these excellent fenders.

Beer-Geek

Being a fan of Monty Python and beer, I really enjoyed this ale...