Bogging down

Well, seems like we are settling into things here in Huntsville. Just picked up my first pay check on the new job. That's cool. Good to get on with the pay cycle. Fortunately we really didn't see much of an effect on our finances. It is always a bit sketchy just walking away from a job and getting into another. You kind of end up in a limbo where you don't know for sure when you will see money coming in again. Well, it is a relief. Got paid for a week and got the signing bonus. Bonus is a misnomer since it will likely just cover the expense of COBRA insurance until January 1st when medical through the company kicks on.

I am still squatting out at Teledyne. I am getting to tour some cool facilities and meet some of the team that I will be working with. So far everything looks promising. At this point it looks like there is several years worth of work to do on this rocket and there will be others to follow. Kind of cool to be hooked into the next space transport vehicle. Well, probably more cool once I actually start working. I am feeling pretty good though. I have been able to wade my way through a massive amount of paperwork in the time I have been "working". I was able to get my temporary clearance within 2 weeks. The 2 engineers I am working closely with have taken 3 and 4 weeks to get theirs. I guess a bit of pestering and playing dumb really does expedite things. I think I would go nuts if I was sitting around for 4 weeks with nothing to do. One of the engineers actually sat down and read a GD&T book cover to cover. He doesn't even have internet, so I guess it was more entertaining doing that than staring at the wall.

Riding. What's that. Not getting much time on the bike right now. I get a distinct feeling like I am sneaking off when I am working on or riding my bike. So I haven't been doing much. Just collecting some spare parts and maintenance components. Finally got around to swapping the Gravity Dropper back to the 3" drop. I also re-strung my hydraulic lines. So now I have cables and housing all cut to length for the Sultan. I received my 32t chainring today, so I will swap that out tomorrow. The 36t up front worked for the 26in bike, but turned out to be too steep for the 29er. Not much else to show, but I did end up tooling around for more than 2 hours last night between cutting lines and bleeding the brakes. The Goodridge lines are a lot easier the second time around once you know how they work. I decided to keep the pads I have been running (Galfer semi-metalic in the rear, Shimano resin composite up front). Some people have been saying that mixling 1 composite and 1 sintered is the hot ticket for more power, yet still avoiding brake howl. Maybe after I do a bit more getting used to the bike I will play with that. Overall I am very stoked on the Turner Sultan. Very capable bike both climbing and descending. Only problem I have is that I don't have more time to ride it.

Heading to Chattanooga on Monday. Nice thing about government contract work is that you get the govt. holidays. So a few guys in the SORBA club are heading up to Raccoon Mountain for a day trip. It has been on my list of places to check out, so of course I am in. I will post up some pictures and a report after, so check back.