Uncomfortable Footwear

26 February - Biked into downtown to get some potentially expensive repairs for baby blue and was given a much grimmer picture and a consequently bigger quote than what i'd already heard but was also told that I could postpone it for at least a month, perhaps more. Still pretty disappointing. Met with Jason and Colleen for a tolerably overpriced brunch in a much quieter core and we ranted about work for far too long, which and discussed Corporate's attempts to lure us from our current positions. Both of us have got a very limited future with Novex because of our own short term plans to (both of us will be leaving BC in the next few months) and leaving for another company would be potentially financially damaging (although almost certainly the oppositie), it wouldn't show much loyalty (not that there is ANY in this industry) and it would not really give me any more of an experience anyway. When Jason learned of my determination to probably stick it out with Novex he said well, if you stay, i'll stay. I was quite touched by his reasoning but he's certainly the workmate who I have the most in common with. Both of us came out of IT because we were frustrated with it and needed a sizeable break, both of us wanted to do this job for fitness and basically we both just wanted to ride around on a bike all day. We have the same frustrations about the job (which, admittedly, are shared by everyone in the company) but I don't like to brag but we're certainly the best workers at Novex (which is partly due to the inexperience and lack of enthuiasm of our co-workers) and I know it's recognised (at least by the dispatchers). And he's a heck of a nice guy to boot.
After this I headed out to Cheapskate at Dunbar and 19th (quite a bit further than i suspected) to check out the possibility of some consignment ski boots that might actuallyfit me. I was told over the phone that there was no chance of finding US13 skiboots but i'd tried on new boots at another store and the found that the sizes were a bit variable so there may have been a chance. Very unhelpful staff but was lucky enough to find a very decent pair for a very reasonable price, still pretty expensive but cheaper than a couple of days rental so I bought 'em. Getting the boots home was going to be a problem however - they're heavy, solid blocks of plastic that were not even going to come close to fitting in my bag. However, moving inconveniently sized and heavy packages has turned out to be something i've had a bit of experience with over the past few months so I velcroed the straps together and slung them over my neck and went off that way. It was raining pretty steadily and the ski boots felt more like an albertross than a set of specialised sporting footwear and the journey home felt like an age. The boots kept on bumping against my legs and I couldn't stand up in the saddle even when climbing the hills - hellish. Eventuallymade it home with my shoulders and back burning, I could barely lift my arms over my head to take the noose off. But, have almost completed my kit now. Spent about an hour trying to install the bike computer mounting on Baby Blue, kept on dropping screws and nuts on the floor and was getting increasingly frustratetd by my inability to get the f**king thing to stay on - my head bracket is way too busy with the light mounting and gear swtiches and the forks are too far away from the spokes to get a reading but eventually managed to get a precarious fit - the thread on the screw for the magnet is gone so I need to get a new one tomorrow but i'm hoping that sometime during this week I may actually have a quantitative measure of how f**king fast I actually am at this job.