TechnoEarthMama

Yes, this is the 2009 Xtracycle Radish in its unadorned state. Why did I do that? Because it’s raining, and the Radish got very wet. When an Xtracycle gets wet, moisture can get into the holes where the racks sit and create rust.

The people at Clever Cycles had told me to be sure to dry off these areas, which I’ve always done, but when I took my bike in for a tune-up, it turned out that the racks had actually rusted in place. Oops. So today I unstrapped and removed the racks to clean them off and let them dry. This requires no tools. You just pull off the SnapDeck, undo the straps at the bottom of the FreeLoader bags, and pull the racks off.

I haven’t been doing this every time it rains, but figured it’s a good idea once in a while.

By the way, Xtracycle recently unveiled the redesigned 2010 Radish, and some new accessories! They’re also selling the remaining 2009 models for only $880. You should check it out!

I created this entire post on my Motorola CLIQ. Pretty cool, huh? Also, I’m on a horse. No, I’m not. Sorry!

I’d been planning to get a smart phone. Why? Not just because everyone’s doing it. Mainly because when I’m out and about in the community, I’d like to be able to post things to my local news site, ParkroseGateway.com. With a smart phone, I can snap and post photos and write up instant blog posts, [...]

We officially started planting the vegetable garden this weekend.  I’ve been wanting to put in peas ever since a sunny Saturday in mid-January. I weeded the beds and stirred up the soil in short sleeves, reveling in the scent of rosemary, lavender, and good clean dirt.  I was tempted to sow a few seeds while [...]

In case you didn’t know, yes, I do blog elsewhere from time to time! Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been doing lately.
On What’s the Mission, I post spiritual reflections and book reviews (I belong to a great program called Viral Bloggers in which I get free books!).  Latest reviews include Picking Dandelions by Sarah [...]

If you don’t live in Portland, you probably don’t know that a Portland man, Aaron Campbell, was shot and killed by police at the end of January. This happened in an apartment complex fairly close to where we live, and many people believe the police acted improperly (although a grand jury cleared the officer of [...]

I complained only yesterday that I have a drawer full of old cords and power adapters at work, which I can’t really use for anything. So of course today, I read on Mother Jones that I can re-use those cords — as coasters!
Blogger Kiera Butler posted complete instructions for coiling an old power cord into [...]

I was intrigued when I read about Earthtechling on the Silicon Florist blog.
If there’s one thing we like in Portland, it’s the whole sustainable and green movement. If there’s another thing we like, it’s the whole shiny technology object thing. So why hasn’t anyone around here had the gumption to marry those two oh so [...]

Google Buzz appeared in the Gmail inboxes of millions of users last week. Does it matter? I’m not sure it does.
I’ve used it a little bit. I hooked my Twitter posts, blog posts, Flickr account and a few other things to Google Buzz, so anyone who’s following me will see those items in their Buzz [...]