More photos of the trip will be posted over the coming weeks. I am going to make a real effort to keep this blog updated. We will see how that goes.

Review: So deciding I wanted to bike again I pulled the bike out and found, it was likely (After some Google searches) that I needed a new freewheel because I could peddle put not put any power to the ground. After hearing good things about Monkey Wrench Cycles in downtown Lincoln I gave them a call. Monkey Wrench is a service oriented bike shop. While they will sell you a bike they specialize in repair of any problem, big or small. These guys know their stuff! They are racers and hard core bikers, not some college student who are their just to pay the bills. They were able to get my bike in and explained a possible estimate on the price from the problems I had described over the phone. So the next day I dropped it off and explained all the problems I had been having and was told it would be ready in 2 days.

Two days later I went to pick up the bike. The best part of the service was how they explained to me everything they did and why. Being a detail oriented person and mechanical I like to know why and how things work, so this was great. On my bike they put on the new freewheel, and then went to test drive the bike. The technician felt more vibration in the drivetrain and went on to further diagnose that my chain was way stretched. This was news to me as I had no idea chains stretch but after further explanation this is a very common problem. If you ride your bike for 30-40 minutes a couple times a week they recommend you change your chains every 3 to 4 months. Don’t worry they are cheap about $12. A stretched chain can cause your other drivetrain components to wear prematurely. After replacing the chain they adjusted my brakes. The design of my calipers is poor, and because of this a cap cracks, falls off which causes a critical spring to not function as designed. As a result most of the brakes only pull from one side cutting in ½ your stopping power and causing uneven wear. Since this is a design flaw the part is no longer made so the solution becomes modification of the part. The mounting bracket was taken off and drilled for a new cable run location. Now the brakes work great and pull from each side.

At the end of the day I am very impressed. These guys did quite a bit of work on my bike, they spent time doing great work and then checked their work by going out and putting a couple of miles on it. The bike is now better than it has ever been even brand new from the factory. The price was very reasonable too for the amount of work that was done.

If you live in Lincoln, Nebraska or surrounding areas I cannot recommend Monkey Wrench enough. A+ Local business! Check out their website http://www.monkeywrenchcycles.com/ blog http://monkeywrenchcycles.blogspot.com/ and Google customer reviews as well for their address and phone number.

Monkey Wrench Cycles LLC
1225 P Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-1429
(402) 477-4104

It was really cool to watch all the photos people were posting to Twitter with the #LNK hash tag. You got minute by minute updates on the conditions around town with pictures. @MrWilson has created a cool website to follow the #LNK hashtag at http://inlnk.in/. Also anyone with a twitter account who wants to stay up to date with the weather should consider following these people/companies on twitter who announce current weather as well as any watches and warnings that are issued.

@LincolnNEAlerts is a neat service provided by SWAS Sever Weather Alert System that for most cities in the USA tweets hourly the weather conditions at the official weather station (In Lincoln its the airport). They also announce when watches and warnings are posted.

@NEZ066 is a twitter account that I believe is only for Lincoln, Nebraska that only posts the most up to date watches and warnings. It is very fast and almost instant from when the National Weather Service issues the statement.

So here are the few photos I took last night

As of right now it looks like we are going to get another round tonight!

Expect more blog posts this week I have some great ideas for future topics.

I decided to bring my camera to the game because I had great seats (Thanks mom and dad). It has been a while since I had shot sports but considering I was in the sands I think I got some decent results.

The pictures below are of the capitol during a evening when it is normally lit. I took these in the summer of 2007 I believe. They may have already been posted here but they are worthy of being posted again.

For more images check out the gallery here

I have lots of photos to update the blog with but this will take a few posts to do it. Keep coming back for new ones. I will try and post more regularly.

Last week a very good friend of mine asked me to take some photos of her, I've always wanted someone, who I like, to be my model for the day. She asked, and I said yes. The results turned out quite beautiful, she was very happy with the photos. It was a really relaxing day, taking photos, eating Mexican food, topping it off with cheese cake, and spending time with friends.

The photos below have gotten great response on Fred Miranda and other Photography forums. Look for more photos like this in the future especially when it gets warm out.

Here are 2 galleries that contain more of the processed images.

http://liquidretro.net/photo/gallery1/Jessi-vday-final/http://liquidretro.net/photo/gallery1/Jessi-vday-final/

http://liquidretro.net/photo/gallery1/jessi-vday/