Bike Stuff
I got a bike stand for my bike. I bought new. I couldn't find a free one or a decent used one on craigslist or kijiji. It works great for me and cost about $120
Brake Squealing:
Recently both the front and back wheels squeal when braking.
I cleaned the back wheel with a 3M green scrubby using car soap and water which fixed the issue.
The front squeal is still with us, haunting our dreams and annoying the fine people of Toronto.
I have tried the following steps to remedy the issue:
1. clean with a wet wipe
2. Toeing in my original brake pads
3. sanding my original brake pads
4. replacing the brake pads with new
5. cleaning with a green scrubby using car soap and water (with oomph)
6. Using sand paper on the rims
7. applying a tiny bit of fluid film to the rims (marginally effective but reduces braking power)
Tomorrow I am going to try my Mr. Clean magic eraser on the rims, I think I have isolated this to a rim problem now because I get the same problem when using toed in new pads.
I also had to repair my bike on my way home from work with my little repair kit. My chain fell off and got lodged between the frame and the pedal crank shaft. I am not good mechanically so this was a proud moment.
Stock Market
Can't say I like my options right now. Market appears overpriced by most metrics (p/e, CAPE etc.) Not many good dividend growth stocks at the right price.
Researched small cap value investing. Very interesting area but not my cup of tea because i don't have the time to devote to this. However if I was able to invest into a large enough group of
Net-Net stocks I would probably throw some money into this area. The portfolio diversification should reduce the risk substantially enough for me to likely make excellent returns. They aren't very common in the US market but you do see a good amount in Canada compared to the US. Ben Graham used this technique successfully during and after the great depression.