Osmosising My Brain, Desperate Measures

Today, while I was toiling over a spinning wheel, the mail person stopped by and dropped off some stuff.
Usually I fly out the door, heart beating with expectations as the mail truck comes by.
This time, I barely noticed as I had my hands stuck in the mud.
So anyways, I've been waiting for a couple of things, mostly books, but there were a couple of things I forgot about.
I spend way too much time on evil eBay.
One thing was bicycle related:



Forty two tooth chain ring for the mugs.
The fifty two was just a bit too large, it wrapped around practically half a mug.
We'll see how this ring works.
I also got something to help me at work:



Nothing really new there, but I think it helps to read that stuff to reinforce things and put them into practice.
In the situation I find myself in, it helps to practice these strategies until they are second nature.
Sort of like how I trained in sales.
There's only three weeks or so left in the semester, and I've been told that reassignments are coming but it's still good to fill up the ole tool box.
If you've been following along at home, you, the reader, know that I've been trying to reacquaint myself with the French language.
Not an easy task.
I've gotten better though. When I first started, I figure I was understanding about ten percent of what I was reading, now it's up to like twelve.
Percent, I mean.
So I decided that a more scientific method was called for.
These came in the other day:




That's right sports fans!
French music!
The plan is to listen to this stuff every night as I sleep and hopefully some of that lingo will seep into my brain.
Osmosis don't you know.
Actually I'm not sure if that's a good plan or not for understanding French folks is even harder when they're singing.
Sounds kinda cool though:



I'm also thinking of tackling Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo in a parallel text.
That though, is a whole 'nother ball game.
The book comes in like six volumes.
Not exactly a Sunday afternoon read.
Finally, I put a couple of more coats of that New Zealand dye on my tires. The reflecto strip got a bit darker, not real black but okay.
Kinda sorta.
I'm telling you that reflecto strip is resilient stuff!
I think it was designed to shine through all kinds of road gunk and dirt.
Three coats of dye and still going strong:



You can see the unaltered reflecto strips on my seat bag. The tires haven't seemed to have lost any intensity.
Boy, I may have to bust out the right angle grinder.