don't mind if i introduce myself...

Hi everyone. Inspired by the name of this forum, I decided to introduce myself immediately after discovering the site. My name's Dave and I'm a tri neophyte. I've been running for about 7 years, and I guess I became interested in triathlon during college when I had to wake up at 0-dark-thirty and bike to all my running races, run the stupid things, and bike back. Those days get pretty hard when I have a half marathon or something, but the bragging rights of such adventures are unbeatable. So I got to thinking, "hey Dave, if you include swimming in the mix, you can pretend to be even TOUGHER," and a triathlete was thus born. I probably won't get a chance to compete until next year, because I have a string of marathons planned for the fall, but I will be training. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm out there, furrowing my brow in a desperate attempt to understand your triathlon lingo and asking the occassional stupid question. Like this one: I'm supposed to replace my cables and housing for my bike's....shifter dealie....but see, I don't know what housing is. What is it?