Jackie:
Nice intro!.....Welcome aboard!
BC........................I don't get into the talk to much, just fine sitting on the sidelines or f@@ling around with the bike stuff!
Baron Corpuz............................Holland!
> As a newcomer to the list, I thought it would be neighborly to introduce
> myself before I throw myself into the fray.
>
> My name is Jackie O'Sullivan, and I live in Cambridge, MA with my
> teenaged daughter and two cats. Among many other endeavors, I used
> to work as a mechanic and shop manager, back in the days when SIS
> was still a bad idea on some mechanical engineer's drawing board, no
> one wore helmets (amazing there are so many of us left!) and riders
> would smile and nod as they met. I was asked to leave my position as
> shop manager lo' these many years ago, in the wake of some serious
> differences in customer service philosophy (I worked for a *R*ambling
> *E*xercise *I*nfrastructure that shall remain nameless ;-), like when the
> customer complained that I wouldn't fleece him 50 bucks for a new
> derailleur when all he needed was a new 13t cog to replace the one he
> sharktoothed, and a new chain. "12.00 bucks while-u-wait..." He left the
> shop screaming. Yikes...
>
> I just wasn't fun anymore.
>
> After rambling around, I found myself in seminary. I received my
> Master's degree last month, and am back on my newly overhauled '81
> McLean custom road bike after an embarassingly long sabbatical. I rode
> it to the Somerville Wheelworks today and turned heads (the bike, not
> me) and made Robert of myth and legend a very happy man when I
> bought some tubies.
>
> I also own a '75 Grand Record set up as a fixed gear and a '87
> Ponderosa ATB, which is actually a fairly pleasant ride for the breed. I
> like buiding wheels, working on bikes that I can fix, computers,
> collecting books, and racking up student debt in grad school.
>
> I am surprised by the list volume, and have been enjoying the convivial
> banter that is reminicent of the time I spent in the back rooms of shops,
> where I was the ONLY woman these guys had ever seen change a tire,
> let alone build a wheel. I worked with some great, very crazy mechanics
> from whom I learned a lot (including the value of a large ball pean
> hammer and 12" punch), and who always treated me like one of the
> guys and not some oddity.
>
> Glad to be aboard,
> Jackie