Worm bin maintenance

Worm Bin, originally uploaded by jarsyl.

Finally found the time this weekend to separate the worms from their nicely composted surroundings. It was a little overdue, but that gave me a good chance to see what things they really won't eat. There were plenty of the expected pumpkin seeds, persimmon tops, and insufficiently crushed eggshells. I was surprised by the amount of daikon peels and living plants that had sprouted from discarded seeds. Pretty much everything else had been turned to dirt.

Cable failure

I enjoy riding my bicycle to work. I get to avoid the jam-packed subways, and at the same time get some exercise. I also get to experience more of the city on a direct level.

It seems my bicycle hasn't been enjoying it as much as I. Last week as I up shifted my front derailleur, instead of the familiar click I heard a quiet metallic snapping noise instead. It wasn't until a few minutes later on down the road that I figured out that my front shifter cable had failed near the shifter lever and was now dragging on the road.

My bike wasn't too crippled though so I continued on to work, still managing to arrive on time. Afterward I cinched on the wire with a cable tie and headed to the store in Shinjuku where I had purchased my bike. There they charged me for a replacement part (613 yen) but not for labor. I guess one failure during seven months of 20 km rides nearly every business day is not too bad.