I'm tired... like, 3CG/EXO/TR tired

I have been busy.  I swear...

Drinking beer outside is an "outdoor activity," so in many ways, I've been very active.  Sitting indoors with "people" is for people who like being around "other people."

BTW: The Pie is wearing my puffy which she has decided is "her puffy."  I'm happy for her, but less so for me.

I do tend to get most of this thing written at work on my down time, and there's been little of that lately.  I actually woke up early today just to keep the blerhg on life support.  This is the time of year where I feel overwhelmingly underpaid and sometimes unappreciated as an employee.  I honestly have nightmares about work, so I end up working eight hours a day, and then fever sweat dream about work another eight.  In the time between my commute home in the dark and when I lie down in bed to enjoy some good perspirative nightmare rest, I make some marginal progress. 

I bitched about not being able to check sealant levels with my Park Tool TB-1 (Turkey Baster 1) with a tire insert installed, so I decided to take a brand new $60 pool noodle and melt a hole in it with a hot drill bit that's the same O.D. as a valve stem I.D. (or close enough).  I'd since reinforced both sides with Gorilla tape but wasted zero seconds taking pictures of the end ressult.

It was during the process that I was reminded that I have "issues."

I had to line up the Vittoria logo with the valve stem before melting the hole.  No one will ever see it, but deep down in my heart, bowels, and loins, I would know if it wasn't lined up correctly.  No need to start having night terrors about asymmetrical logo alignments.  

Did it work?

Mebbe?

I can understand why tire liner manufacturers don't put a hole in their products at the factory.  Installing these sumbitches can already be an arduous labor of love, so adding the complexity of keeping a tiny hole lined up with the valve stem certainly can add .5 beer's worth of frustration.  I jammed a 3mm (I think) Allen key through the whole mess, and it seemed to work out kinda okay (after dropping it on the shop floor at least a couple times).

Is it gonna stay put or end up sliding just a few millimeters, thus making all my efforts meaningless?

Dunno.

How excite am I that I have my first tire with the Maxx Grip tire compound mounted on the rear of my "Pisgah single speed?"

Very.

I know they wear down faster, but I figure I'm not long for this world, so it's time to live my life like there's no tomorrow.  I'm hoping I don't fall too in love with all the added traction, as Maxxis doesn't offer any of their more XC-oriented tires in Maxx Grip (at least as far as I can figure as I sort through their seven billionty SKUs).  This thing is the closest thing to a tractor tire that I've ever run on my bike ever since I had a Panaracer Spike on my AMP B3, which if I remember correctly was marketed as a "race-only" tire because it would tear the trails up?

Mang, the '90s were so cool.

Anyways, I'll do my best to report back in a couple months when I finally get around to checking sealant levels again