monitron’s Neighborhood

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

TypePad Micro

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A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

A new cycling journal made by women for women.

Cover

"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on wheels..the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."
     Susan B Anthony

shePedals is edited by Dena Eaton, a 20 year veteran to the sport of cycling. After taking a 4 year hiatus to race Ironman , and with 5 top 25 finishes, and the elusive Kona Championships under her belt, she has returned to cycling. Always her first love, she now trains full time as a track cyclist.

As both an elite as well as a masters cyclist, Dena is publishing She Pedals as a way to give back to the sport which not only continually defines who she is but one that has given her a life full of stories , adventures and friends.

shePedals' mission is to inspire all women who ride, be it the consistent podium girl, the touring diva, the persistent middle of the packer, or the philanpthropic charity rider. This journal is dedicated to the women who inspire: to ALL women on wheels!

I put down my $30.00 for a year subscription and support.  Haven't received the first issue yet but I'm anxiously awaiting it.

It was Carl Sagan day last week.  A reminder of how much we miss him.  I try to imagine the books and articles he would have written, the stuff he would have continued to teach everyone.  He is one of the greatest individual losses of human life since I've been alive. 

Here is a nice tribute by Symphony of Science.

And another by the same people:

I received most of my tools yesterday.  Got them hung and rearranged my board a bit.  I was just waiting on my truing stand to be the final piece for now.  I did get the stand but there is one problem.  the wonderful Park Tool company sent me an incomplete box.  Two of the three control knobs are missing from the box.  I have called Bike Tools Etc to tell them and they were very helpful and apologetic, especially considering that it is not even their fault.  They simply sent me  the sealed box that they had on their shelf from Park.  There was no way for them to know it was missing parts.

So while I wait for Park to call me back and send me the control knobs I set up the stand anyway.  Here is the (almost) finished Toolboard and work stand.

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WOW I just spent the last 5 minutes trying to get that picture to post, great job VOX, my days here might be numbered with your crappy service.

Then here is a quick pic of the hub, rim and spokes that are waiting to be made into a wheel if Park Tools decided they ever want to send me all the parts of what I ordered instead of just some of them.

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This is an old rim and hub that I've had since the 80's.

Well I thought that I was set with the toolboard until my big tool order arrived but I got a little antsy about it and said ta hell with it and decided to hang the board with the tools that I have and just add as they arrive.

So I cut some 2x8's to length and coaxed them tight between the ceiling and floor.  Then I had to hang that sheet of 3/8 plywood by myself, which isn't easy, then I put some of the tools on and put the bench back.

So until my new stuff gets here this is what I have:

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Another angle of the cycling room.  That's a new cable and housing set on the bench ready to go on the Colnago.

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Not too much progress today as I'm still waiting on stuff to arrive.  Don't want to start attaching things to the board until I have everything that is going to be attached.

One thing I did get done is the vise attached to the bench:

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Finally had some time today after work to get to work on my new tool board.  This board has to have a couple of capabilities.

• It must be large enough to hold all the bike tools I'll mostly use.
• It must be portable to the extent that it will be moved about twice a year.

So I decided on a piece of 3/8 plywood.  I did not use pegboard as I have now in the barn because I didn''t want to have to buy a ton of hooks to fit it and can instead use finishing nails of which I have a ton.  Also, pegboard looks kinda sloppy, and by using nails I can be more flexible with where I place items.

So away I go building a new tool board.

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A clean slate to start.  Obviously the goal here is to put the most used tools in the middle and center and trying to anticipate the best fit for the lesser used tools.

As a guide I have a little help from Jim Langley's bicycle tools toolboard site

Here is his toolboard:

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It's also difficult getting started at this time as I made a huge tool order this week and I'm waiting on a bunch of stuff to get here next week.  Important things like my truing stand, spoke wrenches, chain tool, spoke ruler, etc.

I do have enough to get started though and here is where I currently stand.

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That's a magnet strip in the middle that will be removable and currently has feeler gauges, small metric ruler and some scribing tools.  To the right is a small board that will hold screwdrivers and some 1/4 inch drive ratchet extensions.  Next to that is a set of three ratchets with 4,5,6 hex wrenches attached.  Above those are some regular allen wrenches and an allen Y wrench.  Then above that is a set of metric open end wrenches and to the right of those is an assortment of bottom bracket tools.  Over to the left is a chain whip, pedal wrench, 3rd and 4th hand brake tools a metal hammer and a rubber hammer.  Finally at the bottom is some pliers, a digital caliper and a few sharpies (one black and 2 silver, very important tools as BBI taught me)

So for the winter this board will be placed in the basement above a small workbench that I have down there.  One problem:

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It's a bit of a mess!!!...:)

A few minutes of organizing though and it's much better.

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Much better, now it's ready for a small vise.  I'm thinking a small vise on the left side of the workbench so that the truing stand can sit off the right end of the bench and be mostly out of the way when not in use.  Tune in tomorrow.