Homebrew electric-assist recumbent bike

During our stroll tonight, we ran across this handsome DIY electric-assist recumbent bicycle outside of Armand's (yes, of the famous fish sandwich). We didn't see the owner. Alas.

Wonders of remodeling

While Bethany was at yoga tonight, Silas, Guthrie, and I took a stroll around Bloomfield. The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern has undergone some interesting renovation in its years. It is sad that the stained glass window no longer ever sees the light of day (in photo above).

The picture below shows a great faux-bricked in doorway as well as a brilliant retrofit set of windows. I wonder if the board was intended to keep the rain off the mailboxes or if it has some other purpose that's unclear to the casual observer.

Warhol Museum

Silas and I met up with some friends from work to spend a little time at the Andy Warhol Museum on Friday. Bethany was at a yoga teacher event at the studio she at, so it was another nice boys night out.

We all thought the Silver Clouds installation would be really fun to watch Silas take in. However, I think he thinks much in this world is pretty crazy and mylar balloons aren't that much more clever than all the other great things he sees every day. He was pretty neutral about it all. Evidently, he's not developed such rigid expectations for the world that it was all that remarkable. He didn't not enjoy it, but it didn't elicit much of an emotional response.


He was particularly fond of Debbie Harry.

And staring at a film of a three-foot eyeball proved pretty interesting for him.


He was also very curious about Mick Jagger flailing around wearing eye makeup in a some Rollings Stones concert footage from the mid-1970's. Although, it's possible he was fascinated by the cathode ray tube used to play the film. He'd probably not seen a CRT before.

Disappointment and embarrassment

This is what I found in my company's dumpster after work Friday. That's right, 30 or so six-foot T12 fluorescent tubes. I saw the two people replacing them during the day. One actually participated in the greeening of the company meetings when we were having them last year. I'm not surprised they threw them away instead of recycling them, but it still tears at the small amount of soul left in me. Pretty impressive for a company with a vision statement that includes six mantras, two of which are "health" and "environmental responsibility."

These guys know about the mercury content. They know the tubes are suposed to be recycled. They also couldn't care less.

I'm also pretty sure it's against city ordinances to throw them away like this. Not that the city enforces this sort of thing.

Brake replacement

The rear brakes on my road bike have been acting up for a while. I suspected the brake pads were worn, but hadn't really taken the time to pull them apart and check them until yesterday. Turns out that they were less worn than I feared. I was worried I'd blasted all the way through the brake material into the metal substrate. Luckily, that hadn't happened yet, but you can see in the first picture below that it was very near at hand on the inboard pad. The big problem was that the retaining/return spring had broken. This forced the outboard pad into misalignment and allowed the grab tab on that pad to rub on the rotor. The wear on the rotor is visible, but it doesn't appear to be seriously grooved. I'll be keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't warp or rust out.


For comparison, here is the set I pulled from my parts bike to replace the pair shown above. The spring has much more spread to it, not to mention is still whole. The pads have a little wear, but I didn't have many miles on that bike before I got hit on it and destroyed the frame.


For reference, these are for an Avid BB7 road mechanical disc brake. The pads have something like 1,500-2000 miles on them, including this past winter's commuting.

Downtown kayak rentals (and canoes)

Venture Outdoors rents kayaks and canoes on the Allegheny River at the base of PNC Park. It's a wonderful way to see the city from an uncommon perspective. The rivers were the key to Pittsburgh's growth and persist as probably the coolest thing about the city (sorry, Steelers fans).

Beauty in the mundane

At the Korean War memorial, Silas found the broken electrical box much more interesting. He knew the two were supposed to be connected, but couldn't figure out how to get them together.

Similarly, he found the sprinkler head and the surrounding wood chip mulch fascinating, completely ignoring the flowering tree sculpture in a courtyard in the Cultural District. The trees are well made and sort of interesting to look at in the dead of winter. However in the summer, it's a little sad to see man-made trees when real plants have been flowering like mad for the past few months. Maybe if I worked downtown, the perpetual blooms would brighten my mood on the overcast and rainy days, and I'd be more appreciative. The ivy is real, I think.

Civil engineers

I wonder if they're thinking, "wow, I wonder how beautiful this area was before our kind concreted it all over with roads, buildings, and parking lots." Was it then that the wicked witch of progress came and froze them where they stood as penance for such anarchist thoughts...?

Pittsburgh robot

We visited the robot down by the Allegheny River. He's got parts made of bridges and is Pittsburgh yellow. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what the inspiration is. We do have a robotics lab and Carnegie Mellon University. Perhaps that's it.

I love in the picture above that there is a bird perched on the robot's bridge head.

I have heard that the yellow used to paint the bridges over the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh is a specific yellow and that perhaps it's been trademarked. I can't find anything about it on wikipedia nor from a quick internet search. So, I'm just spreading unsubstantiated rumors here...

More from yesterday's art stroll with Silas

After we strolled around the North Side riverfront for a while and then over to the Warhol Museum to find it was closed, we wandered over the Warhol Bridge into downtown. There is a courtyard in the Cultural District with a water feature and these crazy eye benches. There are also chessboards. The guy in the hat was playing air drums for a long time and then asked the monk if he wanted to play chess. I don't think they played much chess. From the bits of conversation I overheard, it was a pretty metaphysically heavy discussion...


The walk back to the car provided a nice parting view of the city on a fine evening.