new brake pads.

monday, january 1st, 2024.

Happy New Year! I hope 2024 will be an awesome one for everyone.

My time off from work is about to come to a close and it's been positively delightful. I've enjoyed spending a lot of time with my family, exchanging gifts, going ice skating, building a swingset for the little one, and all sorts of nice things. My sleep schedule has definitely slid to the right, but that's OK. I'll readjust just fine after a few days of holiday hangover.

Since it's about time to return to my work commute, I needed to give my bicycle a little TLC. In particular, my rim caliper brake pads needed replacing. I got a new pair of 'em from the local bike shop, but I've been putting it off. I pulled the old pads off and wow are they shot. Basically down to the metal. My rims seem to still be in good shape, but I'm definitely going to keep a better eye on my brake pads from now on.

Since it's my first time replacing the pads, it took me probably 45 minutes to get the brake pads properly positioned on the rims and the brake springs adjusted appropriately. Now that I've a better idea of what I'm doing, I suspect it'll take me less time. Also, one interesting tip I picked up from Sheldon Brown's page about rim brakes: the groove on the rim (seen in the above picture) acts as a way to judge rim wear. Works kinda like the groove on an automobile tire tread.

With the brake pads replaced, I rode around town for about 7 miles to make sure the brakes were in good working order. Everything seems ship-shape! It's nice to have a reliably short stopping distance again. I won't be putting that off next time!

Some of my friends, my partner, and I had a Christmas gift exchange a few days ago. One of my friends got me two packs of spoke reflectors. I went ahead and put 'em on while my hands were already filthy. Pictures don't do these reflectors justice, but rest assured— they're bright as hell. There's a video on Youtube showing them in action if you care to see how bright they are.

Between those reflectors, my high-vis vest, and my head and tail lights, I am certainly going to be seen on the road in the dark! I'd rather be obnoxiously visible than hit by a car! Still, it'd be nice if our bicycle infrastructure were entirely separated. Reflective clothing is the lowest tier of bicycle safety according to the NHTSA, after all. None of this stuff will protect me from a driver distracted by their phone.

If this year's tax refund is good to us and we can afford it, we might get an e-bike for my partner and a bike for the little one. It'd be real nice to be able to get around town on our bicycles as a family!

more Diablo!

I finished Diablo on Normal difficulty for the first time the other day. And thus, the Wanderer began his journey to the east.

Man, I really enjoyed this game. I've played all the games in the Diablo series except their mobile game, Diablo Immortal, and I think the first game might by one of my favorites. I especially like that there's an open source engine for the game, DevilutionX, that lets me play this game on Windows and Linux without dialing into battle.net for DRM activation.

I'm currently playing through Diablo II: Resurrected, but I think it sits in that uncanny valley between Diablo's retro simplicity and the raining loot fest and set bonuses of Diablo III. Perhaps I'll come to appreciate it more once I get some of the Horadric Cube recipes down.

That said, I'm also playing through the second "Nightmare" difficulty of Diablo with the same Warrior that I first beat the game with. Since the quests and dungeons are randomly assigned, this is the first time I ran into The Butcher. My character was already at level 25, so I didn't get insta-killed like many who first encounter The Butcher.

I can't sing the praises of Diablo enough! It's like the ARPG equivalent of playing the original Doom, where Diablo II is more like Quake and Diablo III like Quake II. It's gritty, delightfully dithered and dark, and the gameplay is *chef's kiss*. This might be one of those classic games I keep installed on every computer from now on!

Anyway, that's quite enough flapping about Diablo for now! There's laundry to fold and groceries to get before work begins again.

Until next time, be well and happy new year! :)