new bike setup

I have been saving change(mostly pennies though) for a few years now. Adam gave me a hard time about moving the weight of all that change from GA to UT and again to ID and said I needed to exchange it from bills for this move. I added it all up and went to the bike shop with it and got a couple of add ons.

The old handlebar tape got pretty gashed up in my accident, all the way to the metal. So I got new tape (yellow) to match my fenders. I got cross top brake levers put on. I would have done it myself but I have no idea how it all connects...both sets of brake levers work without being connected. They tried to explain it to me but I just never got it. Then, they sold me a used stem and mtn. handlebar. It took some talking to convince me that the stem they were selling me was not the same one that came with my bike originally. The original one was recalled and I, unfortunately, got to experience the reason why it was recalled. They had to make a metal shim because the stem was too big for my quill stem. They cut the mtn. handlebar to the size I wanted. The handlebar bag sits low on the new handlebar leaving room for the cross top levers. Still, my reflexes send me to the drop levers but I am getting used to having such easy access to the cross tops...it's expecially great when I'm with a dog. I can keep my hands up on the flat part of the bar and still have access to the brakes. I feel more in control. It's not prefect though. Having the cross tops takes up some room where my hands rest. I have to add tape on top of the cross top clamp in order to relieve some pressure created by the edge of the tape.