I’ve switched bike shops
After two years at Velo Bike Shop on Capitol Hill, I’ve jumped ship and started working for Pedal Dynamics in the Greenwood neighborhood in Seattle. The two years at Velo were a lot of fun and the folks there are completely wonderful people to hang out with and work with. However, Pedal Dynamics is a shop that is run by two friends of mine and they have been experiencing growing pains and so I started working with them two weeks ago. The last two weeks have been hectic as hell, since PD does a lot of events and the shop itself is pretty small. I’ve worked 6 days a week since starting there and tonight I was there til 1am before heading home and posting this.
Pedal Dynamics has a mobile unit. Dean (my buddy and the owner of PD) will take the van out to a company’s workplace, set up the mobile shop and work on employee’s bikes for the day or week. All of this gets set up beforehand and those mobile days are FULL. 
Next week is Microsoft and I’m going out there with Dean to crank out 80 tune-ups over the course of the week. I’ve done that for a day with him before, but this time it’s gonna be the entire week. Holy crap…
So in preparation, I decided that I needed more tools of my own so that I wouldn’t be fumbling around trying to find Dean’s tools and just getting in his way all the time throughout the week. I ordered a cool backpack that Park makes which is a toolbox for bike tools and then I thought, “Well hell, I have my own bike tools, but I need to fill this sucker with new tools and make it official!”. So after work tonight, Dean and I went to Sears and then Home Depot. $200 later, we were back at the shop and I was filling my new backpack/toolbox with the new tools I’d bought. Screwdrivers, files, hammers, T-handle metric allen wrenches, zip-ties, electical tape and one COMPLETELY righteous pair of scissors all went into the pack and now I’m ready for Microsoft, but also for any trip I may go on where I bring my bike with me. I took pictures of the old crappy toolbox and of the new pack in various stages of setup, but I don’t yet know how to get photos onto my site with the new WordPress protocol, so I’ll have to add them later.
Do NOT mess with me now, because I have the right tool to retaliate. I can file your face off, I can snip any body parts at any time, I can tape your arms to your sides, and I can zip-tie your toes together. Don’t even think about it…
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How many times have I said, “there’s nothing like having the right tool for the job?” Well, quite a few, especially when I DON’T have the right tool for the job and of course for those times after I’ve used the tool that is always in my tool box and can be counted on 9/10 times to perform to MY satisfaction.