Looking at Yehuda’s tongue, maybe he was just making a joke with Joe – Y is in a ‘funny’ mood of late and when we are bored everybody does strange things. Thinking about some of the stories of the antics of bored kids etc – graffiti just being the tip of the pyramid!
Hey K’Tesh, I looked at the photos you posted yesterday for the storm drain grate, and noticed that you have what looks like speaker mounted on your handlebars. I’ve been thinking of getting some for my bike as well. Do you happen to remember the brand/model? Would you recommend those? Anybody else out there have experience with music on a bike, sans headphones?
@Joel… You’re right I have a speaker system attached to the stem. It’s a “HMDX Audio Speaker on the Go” system (YouTube review here). It uses 2 AA batteries to power the speakers and is pretty good at pumping out the tunes w/o headphones.
I’ll put mine inside a plastic bag when the weather is bad. The mount is 2 uninflated pencil balloons (Qualatex), one that loops over the unit, under the stem, and over the unit again, the other is tied in a loop (around the handlebars) where I attach the clip to prevent it from falling to the ground if something goes wrong. I found my system at both Fred Meyers ($13 USD) and then later at BiMart ($12 USD).
I found, accidentally, that if I squeeze the case (near the left speaker) it will pause my iPod.
I have a wee stereo on my bike, too. A cheap one, connected to an even cheaper mp3 player I found in a stuffed toy designed to crank out the “High School Musical” soundtrack (ick) that was on it when I found it at a yard sale. It now rocks E.S. Posthumus, Arcade Fire, the Killers, and Tears for Fears. Not an expensive jobby, but I have tuneage when I want it on a ride.
Yeah, I had to look a few times to see his toungue. But, I think it’s because he’s concentrating on what he’s doing. Like when Michael Jordan was shooting a free throw.
We run into this all the time at the place where I work. The inevitable customer who just HAS to talk to the manager (or department head or the person he perceives to be in the important/authoritative position) because nobody else can possibly handle his concern.
Of course, the concern invariably turns out to be something that the part-timer who sweeps out the shop could easily handle. Like the classic “how long are you open?”
Here’s a tangentially-related story: During my senior year of high school I worked at a fast-food place. One customer always insisted that *only* a certain employee take and make her order. The customer wanted a milkshake “so thick you can turn it upside down” and believed that only Debbie could do it right. Of course, we all knew that what she really wanted was a large cup of ice cream, but that was more expensive than a milkshake, so she saved a few pennies by ordering a shake so thick it had to be eaten with a spoon. The rest of us resented her assumption that the we were too incompetent to give her what she wanted. One night she came to the drive-through with her daughter when Debbie wasn’t working. She was very unhappy that she had to settle for me instead, and gave me very explicit instructions for making her super-thick shake, plus a regular shake for her daughter. I made the two shakes and gave one to her, which she immediately turned upside-down to “test it” and dumped the whole thing in her lap! I managed to keep a straight face while handing her the super-thick shake and saying, “That was your daughter’s shake. This one is yours.” We all nearly fell on the floor laughing as she drove away.
You NORMALLY don’t get the “I need to speak to a manager” calls unless/until it’s a “Customer Service Issue.” Usually. I’m looking forward to the rest of the strip comments, where we’ll get everyone’s retail clerk abuse stories. One very crude metric as to how good a bike shop is, by the way, is the quality of their Shraeder vs. Presta tire valve comparison. If they don’t have such a visual aid, they’re either new or …..
When I worked at Bike Wave in Indy, 3 out of every 4 callers said “Is Jeff there?” Jeff was the owner. They would ask him stupid things, such as “What are your hours today?” Never mind the fact that we had lots of good employees who could answer their questions; they always asked for Jeff.
My Presta/Schrader visual aid is one of each stapled to a piece of cardboard with each valve type labeled. I also have a printout showing the difference between a wheel, a rim, a tire, and a tube. Yes, I’ve needed to use it many times.
I wasn’t at the charity shop long before it became clear that such an aid would be useful to help the STAFF who were often there to learn how to maintain bikes! I used old tubes and made a little model labelling the parts. I printed a simple picture that labelled the main parts of a bike and left it on the wall near the door. etc. I even cut a cartridge BB apart (Mainly to see how it was made!) and stuck the bits together like a ‘cutaway drawing’ to explain why THAT BB couldn’t be repaired so we had to wait for a scrap bike with one to donate!
This reminds me of the time my Granny called me to the phone whilst I was having a post-ride shower (about 25 years ago)…
I rushed to the phone in my towel and the caller was silent, after saying “hello” and asking who was there a few times I hung up and asked my Gran who called.
Gran: “it was one of your friends”
Me: “which one?”
Gran: “I don’t know”
Me: “Well what did he say”
Gran: Nothing”
Me: “he must have said something”
Gran: “no”
Me (puzzled!): “well… how did you know it was for me?”
Gran: “he was out of breath”
I can just imagine the heavy breather’s reaction when my Granny called for me!
Can you imagine the look on my Grandmother’s face when I explained.
This really demonstrates the yin and yan of the relationship; Joe is the detail oriented guy, the one concerned with the material world, the concrete thinker, whereas Yehuda is the emphemeral one, the abstract thinker, concerned only with the perfection of his art to the exclusion of all else … or not.
Rick has asked that we not discuss the specifics of the previews here before they become generally available, so perhaps it would have been better not to mention Sprocket’s reappearance.
That said, it looks like there will be a little surprise on April 3rd, unless Rick gets back from his trip by the night of the 2nd.
I am a patron, that is true, but I hadn’t checked the previews yet, when I made my comment, since they usually come out on Mondays. Hence there were no spoiler till you said that there was, Widsith.
As a general remark, I wish that more people here had enough of a life to stop trying to rule that of others.
Jean_M, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t the one who gave away the spoiler. It was paulmetz who said, “Premium users (can) know Sprocket will appear in two days” and that is the comment I was addressing.
As a general remark, I wish that more people here had enough reading comprehension to stop trying to respond to things they haven’t read carefully enough to understand.
You don’t hide the cash register pens. They disappear all on their own. That’s one reason why the usual register pen is either a) one of the quantity for a dollar ballpoints or b) capless. Sometimes both.
Mr Moon has some autistic characteristics. Perhaps Aspergers syndrome? His singularity ofpurpose, focus on one subject foresaking all others, and fanatical devotion all point to my hypothesis.
Perhaps I am just an old romantic, but could not Joe be explaining to a new, previously unsuspected, potential significant other that he cannot meet her until 7? I hope so-it’s about time he had a love interest, and this could develop into a great storyline.
I thought maybe he was looking for a leak in an inflated inner tube. That’s how I do it; wet the area of the suspected leak to look for bubbles, then rub my finger over the area where the bubbles appeared and listen for a change in the sound of the hissing as my finger passes over the punture. Some punctures (like those caused by “Michelin wires”) are so small that I can’t see them even after locating them by sound or feel.
Yehuda…man…Dude bugs me sometimes….Joe should give him a swift kick in the you know what! Can you imagine what frame 4 would look like if Joe actually did it…Yehuda’s Beard would come off!!! GO JOE!!!!
On the subject of repairing leaks: I’ve been using Park glueless patches for a couple of years now. A month ago, I had a slow leak in my front tube, very hard to find. It turned out that one of the Park patches had cracked over a previous hole. The tire itself was intact. (I commute in cold winter conditions, and I imagine the harsh temperatures are especially tough on the plastic of the patch).
In any case, I wonder whether anyone has dealt with this. If so, how? Is it possible to remove one of these glueless patches to replace it with a fresh one? Is it possible to place a second glueless patch over the first? I tried gluing a piece of old tube over the glueless patch, but it didn’t stick.
Park rip-n-sticks work well for a temporary solution. I’ve had them last for up to 3 months before encountering exactly what you mention.
Use some mineral spirits and remove the offending patch slowly and carefully, so as to keep from tearing the hole open any wider. Clean up the surrounding mess of remaining self-adhesive patch goop by lightly wiping with a high-grit sanding paper. Then apply a “real” (glued) patch as usual.
Thats my experience anyway. I had a tube last me 4 months of riding with 2 patches in it, the TTone patch kit works wonders. The tube finally went flat (yesterday) before my circuit race :/ due to some tearing at the stem….. I then ripped the bead from the tire today during my crit (I somehow still have all my skin)…. In my experience, when one thing goes wrong, they all do…..
I still have (if I’m remembering it right) 3 such patches in use, both since last summer – 2 on a MTB tube, still no problem at all. one on another tube on my commuter (700C), now having a slow leak (since mid-february or so), but so slow I don’t really care – I just have to add some air to the tube every week or two – so far it means much less work than replacing the tube however, if it gets worse or if I get to take down the tire for whatever reason, I’ll just replace the tube and probably not worry about the old one. it has about 4 patches in total anyway/
so, a theory – maybe those “glueless” patches work better on lower pressure tires.
OMG – serious flashback, there. As a former shop owner, let me just say that I used to experience this on a daily basis. Everyone knew me, and many of them would not talk to anyone else, even if the question was …..so many times….shudder…..
we have cordless phones in our store, useful when checking something is in stock (it is possible for our stock system to be wrong as head office can update it with the next shipment they send or something could have been put to one side for a customer order) also means you can walk away from the busy areas of the shop so that you can hear properly.
they tend to not get misplaced unlike the ones in my house which often end up down the back of the sofa
Um… I’m not sure I get it. Does Yehuda not know the store hours? Or just wants to stick Joe with the admin calls?
Looking at Yehuda’s tongue, maybe he was just making a joke with Joe – Y is in a ‘funny’ mood of late and when we are bored everybody does strange things. Thinking about some of the stories of the antics of bored kids etc – graffiti just being the tip of the pyramid!
I’ll take the liberty of liking this on behalf of widsith
Y’s already done his round with graffiti…
Hey K’Tesh, I looked at the photos you posted yesterday for the storm drain grate, and noticed that you have what looks like speaker mounted on your handlebars. I’ve been thinking of getting some for my bike as well. Do you happen to remember the brand/model? Would you recommend those? Anybody else out there have experience with music on a bike, sans headphones?
@Joel… You’re right I have a speaker system attached to the stem. It’s a “HMDX Audio Speaker on the Go” system (YouTube review here). It uses 2 AA batteries to power the speakers and is pretty good at pumping out the tunes w/o headphones.
I’ll put mine inside a plastic bag when the weather is bad. The mount is 2 uninflated pencil balloons (Qualatex), one that loops over the unit, under the stem, and over the unit again, the other is tied in a loop (around the handlebars) where I attach the clip to prevent it from falling to the ground if something goes wrong. I found my system at both Fred Meyers ($13 USD) and then later at BiMart ($12 USD).
I found, accidentally, that if I squeeze the case (near the left speaker) it will pause my iPod.
I have a wee stereo on my bike, too. A cheap one, connected to an even cheaper mp3 player I found in a stuffed toy designed to crank out the “High School Musical” soundtrack (ick) that was on it when I found it at a yard sale. It now rocks E.S. Posthumus, Arcade Fire, the Killers, and Tears for Fears. Not an expensive jobby, but I have tuneage when I want it on a ride.
Thanks! And thanks to Tee as well. I’ll definitely look into this.
That’s not Y’s tongur, that’s his lower lip. Also he’s smiling in the last panel, notice the sudden discontinuity in the line of his moustache.
his tongue is sticking out of the right hand corner of his mouth, and sticking up, looking like I do when concentrating.
@ Opus
In the last box this little patch of pink is definitely Yehuda’s tongue.
Yeah, I had to look a few times to see his toungue. But, I think it’s because he’s concentrating on what he’s doing. Like when Michael Jordan was shooting a free throw.
We run into this all the time at the place where I work. The inevitable customer who just HAS to talk to the manager (or department head or the person he perceives to be in the important/authoritative position) because nobody else can possibly handle his concern.
Of course, the concern invariably turns out to be something that the part-timer who sweeps out the shop could easily handle. Like the classic “how long are you open?”
I doubt it was a stupid customer, Joe told Yehuda to find another way to entertain himself.
Next might well be the “..do you have and pedal files there?”
Here’s a tangentially-related story: During my senior year of high school I worked at a fast-food place. One customer always insisted that *only* a certain employee take and make her order. The customer wanted a milkshake “so thick you can turn it upside down” and believed that only Debbie could do it right. Of course, we all knew that what she really wanted was a large cup of ice cream, but that was more expensive than a milkshake, so she saved a few pennies by ordering a shake so thick it had to be eaten with a spoon. The rest of us resented her assumption that the we were too incompetent to give her what she wanted. One night she came to the drive-through with her daughter when Debbie wasn’t working. She was very unhappy that she had to settle for me instead, and gave me very explicit instructions for making her super-thick shake, plus a regular shake for her daughter. I made the two shakes and gave one to her, which she immediately turned upside-down to “test it” and dumped the whole thing in her lap! I managed to keep a straight face while handing her the super-thick shake and saying, “That was your daughter’s shake. This one is yours.” We all nearly fell on the floor laughing as she drove away.
I want to “double like” Widsith’s milkshake story
You NORMALLY don’t get the “I need to speak to a manager” calls unless/until it’s a “Customer Service Issue.” Usually. I’m looking forward to the rest of the strip comments, where we’ll get everyone’s retail clerk abuse stories. One very crude metric as to how good a bike shop is, by the way, is the quality of their Shraeder vs. Presta tire valve comparison. If they don’t have such a visual aid, they’re either new or …..
When I worked at Bike Wave in Indy, 3 out of every 4 callers said “Is Jeff there?” Jeff was the owner. They would ask him stupid things, such as “What are your hours today?” Never mind the fact that we had lots of good employees who could answer their questions; they always asked for Jeff.
My Presta/Schrader visual aid is one of each stapled to a piece of cardboard with each valve type labeled. I also have a printout showing the difference between a wheel, a rim, a tire, and a tube. Yes, I’ve needed to use it many times.
I wasn’t at the charity shop long before it became clear that such an aid would be useful to help the STAFF who were often there to learn how to maintain bikes! I used old tubes and made a little model labelling the parts. I printed a simple picture that labelled the main parts of a bike and left it on the wall near the door. etc. I even cut a cartridge BB apart (Mainly to see how it was made!) and stuck the bits together like a ‘cutaway drawing’ to explain why THAT BB couldn’t be repaired so we had to wait for a scrap bike with one to donate!
I guess the caller has talked to Yehuda before and now just asks for Joe straight away if Y answers because he’ll actually get some help/info from J.
This reminds me of the time my Granny called me to the phone whilst I was having a post-ride shower (about 25 years ago)…
I rushed to the phone in my towel and the caller was silent, after saying “hello” and asking who was there a few times I hung up and asked my Gran who called.
Gran: “it was one of your friends”
Me: “which one?”
Gran: “I don’t know”
Me: “Well what did he say”
Gran: Nothing”
Me: “he must have said something”
Gran: “no”
Me (puzzled!): “well… how did you know it was for me?”
Gran: “he was out of breath”
I can just imagine the heavy breather’s reaction when my Granny called for me!
Can you imagine the look on my Grandmother’s face when I explained.
This really demonstrates the yin and yan of the relationship; Joe is the detail oriented guy, the one concerned with the material world, the concrete thinker, whereas Yehuda is the emphemeral one, the abstract thinker, concerned only with the perfection of his art to the exclusion of all else … or not.
Yeah he ignores details like store hours I think.
Yehuda lives there, so I guess store hours don’t apply to him…?
Yehuda never stops thinking about bikes. He’s mocking Joe and pointing out that Joe doesn’t live biking to the max.
Y needs that Sister Sprocket comes back: she always know how to keep his mind… occupied and alert…ed
Premium users (can) know Sprocket will appear in two days; I’m trying *not* to read them, so I can enjoy them as they come up.
Rick has asked that we not discuss the specifics of the previews here before they become generally available, so perhaps it would have been better not to mention Sprocket’s reappearance.
That said, it looks like there will be a little surprise on April 3rd, unless Rick gets back from his trip by the night of the 2nd.
Speaking personally, I’d really, *really* rather not be exposed to spoilers.
I am a patron, that is true, but I hadn’t checked the previews yet, when I made my comment, since they usually come out on Mondays. Hence there were no spoiler till you said that there was, Widsith.
As a general remark, I wish that more people here had enough of a life to stop trying to rule that of others.
Jean_M, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t the one who gave away the spoiler. It was paulmetz who said, “Premium users (can) know Sprocket will appear in two days” and that is the comment I was addressing.
As a general remark, I wish that more people here had enough reading comprehension to stop trying to respond to things they haven’t read carefully enough to understand.
Well, right you are, on all accounts.
Really sorry.
Apology accepted. I apologize for the harsh tone of my earlier reply.
Oh well, nobody died.
Ciao.
So when’s Yehuda gonna hide Joe’s 3way allen wrench, wire-tie the wrenches to the hooks, or hide the register pens?
You don’t hide the cash register pens. They disappear all on their own. That’s one reason why the usual register pen is either a) one of the quantity for a dollar ballpoints or b) capless. Sometimes both.
Maybe it’s his way of getting Joe to stay late instead of himself?
Mr Moon has some autistic characteristics. Perhaps Aspergers syndrome? His singularity ofpurpose, focus on one subject foresaking all others, and fanatical devotion all point to my hypothesis.
I think your way way way way overanalysing this…
Wogster, you may have a good point there. LOL.
I agree – you are describing many of my own problems!
As someone on the spectrum, I resemble that remark.
I am watching ITV that is showing ‘Bean’ – he acts much like Yehuda is at the moment!
We know Yhuda. The caller may not. We are blaming Yahuda based on our knoowlledged of him rather tha the facts of this situtation.
I used to that just to annoy the boss…
Perhaps I am just an old romantic, but could not Joe be explaining to a new, previously unsuspected, potential significant other that he cannot meet her until 7? I hope so-it’s about time he had a love interest, and this could develop into a great storyline.
Joe lives in a house with his wife.
I think Yehuda may be looking for the sharp object in the tyre causing the puncture and found it in frame 4?
I thought maybe he was looking for a leak in an inflated inner tube. That’s how I do it; wet the area of the suspected leak to look for bubbles, then rub my finger over the area where the bubbles appeared and listen for a change in the sound of the hissing as my finger passes over the punture. Some punctures (like those caused by “Michelin wires”) are so small that I can’t see them even after locating them by sound or feel.
Yehuda…man…Dude bugs me sometimes….Joe should give him a swift kick in the you know what! Can you imagine what frame 4 would look like if Joe actually did it…Yehuda’s Beard would come off!!! GO JOE!!!!
On the subject of repairing leaks: I’ve been using Park glueless patches for a couple of years now. A month ago, I had a slow leak in my front tube, very hard to find. It turned out that one of the Park patches had cracked over a previous hole. The tire itself was intact. (I commute in cold winter conditions, and I imagine the harsh temperatures are especially tough on the plastic of the patch).
In any case, I wonder whether anyone has dealt with this. If so, how? Is it possible to remove one of these glueless patches to replace it with a fresh one? Is it possible to place a second glueless patch over the first? I tried gluing a piece of old tube over the glueless patch, but it didn’t stick.
Park rip-n-sticks work well for a temporary solution. I’ve had them last for up to 3 months before encountering exactly what you mention.
Use some mineral spirits and remove the offending patch slowly and carefully, so as to keep from tearing the hole open any wider. Clean up the surrounding mess of remaining self-adhesive patch goop by lightly wiping with a high-grit sanding paper. Then apply a “real” (glued) patch as usual.
Thats my experience anyway. I had a tube last me 4 months of riding with 2 patches in it, the TTone patch kit works wonders. The tube finally went flat (yesterday) before my circuit race :/ due to some tearing at the stem….. I then ripped the bead from the tire today during my crit (I somehow still have all my skin)…. In my experience, when one thing goes wrong, they all do…..
How about buying a new tube?
No Fun?
Well, when I called the LBS to ask when they closed, the guy just passed the phone off.
I still have (if I’m remembering it right) 3 such patches in use, both since last summer – 2 on a MTB tube, still no problem at all. one on another tube on my commuter (700C), now having a slow leak (since mid-february or so), but so slow I don’t really care – I just have to add some air to the tube every week or two – so far it means much less work than replacing the tube
however, if it gets worse or if I get to take down the tire for whatever reason, I’ll just replace the tube and probably not worry about the old one. it has about 4 patches in total anyway/
so, a theory – maybe those “glueless” patches work better on lower pressure tires.
I want to know where they got that retro phone for a brand new biulding.
Movie set designer?
Are those phones not still standard issue in business settings? I’ve never seen a cordless phone used in an office.
That phone cord is stretched tempting close to Yehuda’s neck!
OMG – serious flashback, there. As a former shop owner, let me just say that I used to experience this on a daily basis. Everyone knew me, and many of them would not talk to anyone else, even if the question was …..so many times….shudder…..
Last!
we have cordless phones in our store, useful when checking something is in stock (it is possible for our stock system to be wrong as head office can update it with the next shipment they send or something could have been put to one side for a customer order) also means you can walk away from the busy areas of the shop so that you can hear properly.
they tend to not get misplaced unlike the ones in my house which often end up down the back of the sofa
“Empire Records, we’re open till midnight. ” …. “Midnight”