Caffeinated Ramblings

Gas Electric Hybrid Cars

2009-01-14T08:48:00.000-05:00

I just read an article on the slow sales of gas-electric hybrid cars as compared to the already slow sales of cars in general. I almost passed on reading the article as I have felt for quite some time that a simple, lightweight car will be cheaper, handle better (making it safer and more fun to drive) and potentially get equal (or close) gas mileage to a hybrid car. However, my curiousity drew me in. I was pleased to see that the calculations for "years to break even", where the additional cost of the hybrid drivetrain is offset by gas savings, had already been done. This, however, ignores lost investment potential of the money spent (not that anyone's investments are making money these days), financing cost, and additional maintenance and repair cost that the hybrid drive will add over time (a simple mechanism will always be cheaper- it won't break if it isn't in there). Anyway, using the simplified model of purchase price vs. gas savings the best of the vehicles shown was the Toyota Prius, which at 12,000 miles per year would take 4.3 years to break even (if gas were at its peak of $4.11/gallon from last summer) or 9.9 years (with gas at its unusually low price of $1.79 from a few days ago). The worst break-even period
shown at 12,000 miles per year was the hybrid Camry which would take 6.8 years to break even (at $4.11) and 15.7 years (at $1.79). I wonder how many people actually keep a car that long. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving gas, but I think it makes a lot more sense to do it by driving less (and riding more) and by driving smaller, lighter cars. In a market full of already heavy, bloated cars it doesn't make sense to use less gas by making the cars heavier and more bloated- unless, of course, you're trying to make the business of building cars more profitable. Then it makes perfect sense.

Too Long

2009-01-14T08:03:00.001-05:00

I haven't been biking in too long a time. This morning as I sat drinking my coffee, Bucky the cat jumped up onto my lap to sit. To my dismay, he started kneading my lap with his front paws. You know, like when a kitten kneads his mother's soft belly to stimulate milk production, or like an adult does when finding a soft cozy place to bed down. These are not things that a bike rider likes to have associated with his formerly strong, muscular quads. That's all I have to say about that.

Great Quote

2008-12-23T11:39:00.001-05:00

I saw a quote at Austin Bike Blog that I thought was too good not to share. Like to hear it? Here it go.

Today is Black Friday, the day retailers are supposed to be in the black for the first time all year. The way things have been going the last few months, I doubt very few retailers are coming close to being in black. Indeed, there are signs that American's 60 years of rampant consumer consumption may be coming to an end. Still, that has not prevented the "Opening at 5 AM" hysteria that comes each year on this day including stories of the loss of life and limb over buying loads of crap. All this to celebrate the birth of a man who said "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." (Matthew 19:21)

Well said.

Is it Any Wonder More Americans Don't Ride Bikes?

2008-12-04T20:53:00.002-05:00

While flipping through the paper today on my way to the comics, I ran across a "gift guide" for the holidays. It was a silly little full-page spread of various items which some of the staff writers apparently thought would make good gifts, or maybe which were included in the special section as a paid endorsement. Whatever the reason, it caught my eye because one of the gifts was a tandem bike. A sub-$300 department store tandem, but then any kind of bike gets my attention.

Here's the accompanying text:

The family that bikes together on this cycle has no choice but to stay together. The 21-speed (nondescript bike name) tandem bicycle is a great option for cruisers, with a low frame in the back for shorter riders. Something else to consider: Tandem bicycling has been shown to reduce tremors for patients with Parkinson's disease, and taking the rear seat is a great way to exercise for those suffering from vision loss. (some dumb, old discount department store) $279.

OK, so it forces you to spend time with your family members and if you are going blind or have a neurological disorder it may be good for you. Hmm.

I read a little more and found another gift with this description:

Here's a treadmill with all the bells and whistles you'd find at a premier fitness center: The (Huge fitness equipment company machine) includes a flat screen TV with digital tuner, an iPod-compatible music port and a great sound system. No excuses for not exercising! (Big store at the mall), $1699.

Now, how is it that they can make an exercise machine sound exciting (it even gets an exclamation point), when in reality it's a solitary mind-numbingly boring piece of exercise equipment that is only made tolerable by stuffing it with electronic entertainment gadgets so that you forget that you're in a stuffy corner of the basement walking, but going nowhere so that you can avoid driving to a gym where you'll pay a gym membership then wait in line for a machine so that you can walk, but go nowhere on a solitary mind-numbingly boring piece of exercise equipment while listening to your iPod so that you don't have to talk to the people around you? Then on the same page they make a tandem bike- a vehicle for getting out, getting fresh air and exploring while talking to and spending time with your significant other and getting exercise (perhaps even better exercise than the treadmill) without really minding it because you're having fun- sound like a mundane physical therapy device, suitable only for those with health problems. If nothing else, the bike would make a much cheaper and more effective towel drying rack than the treadmill.

Election 2008

2008-11-05T22:42:00.000-05:00

I suppose I should comment on yesterday's election.

Hmm.

It's good that the soon-to-be leader of our country can pronounce the word "nuclear". It's true. I heard him. Maybe the rest of the world will stop making fun of us now.

Rawk!

2008-10-25T12:16:00.000-04:00

Y'know, a few weeks ago I thought my neighborhood was in for a major annoyance. I got home from work and fed the cats as usual. As I was policing the cats and making sure that each stuck to his or her own bowl I heard a loud "DOOP!" from somewhere outside. Then again.

My first thought was that the neighbor's adult teenage son (a thirty-something who lives upstairs with Ma and Pa so that he has more money for Lexuses with twenty-something inch chrome rims and stereo equipment that can be heard two blocks away) was home in said Lexus. Maybe he had a new CD. But it wasn't. It was hardly rhythmic at all.

Then it went on. "doop-a-thock.. Doop-thock.. doop-a-thock.. Doop-thock.." It continued for ten or fifteen seconds with the broken rhythm of an infant taking his first steps. Then it stopped. A minute or two later it started again. Then it stopped just as quickly. This continued for a while as I discovered which house the arhythmic thumping was coming from, but I decided not to let it annoy or upset me. After all, every musician has to start from the beginning. Still, I had visions of late night jam sessions- the neighborhood
tossing and turning. Then it stopped. Nice and early.

A week or two later, the evening thumping commenced. To my surprise, the previously choppy and awkward beats were now replaced by more fluid and sustained beats. But not only that.. There was also a bass guitar. They played what might even have passed for music. They enjoyed themselves for a while. Then they stopped. Nice and early.

Last night the garage band started up once again. The duo had apparently become a trio with the addition of a guitar. The beats coming through the closed windows were complex and driving. Someone had been practicing.

Out of curiousity, I stepped out to the patio and pulled up a chair, and quickly found myself grooving to the music. These guys weren't half bad. I heard a dash of Neal Peart here and there along with a smidge of Les Claypool now and again to keep things interesting. Between the shrubs colored lights flashed off and on. After several minutes, the song ended to howls of glee. A "Yee-haw" came from another direction. An apparently sarcastic mocking gesture. Suddenly I felt self conscious. I was not the only one listening. Worse, I was not just a bystander, I was a nosy eavesdropper. Would the musicians look out and are me sitting alone on my patio and take me for the mocking listener? I sat quietly and they went right on with what they were doing. Well maybe listening to a garage band rehearse two doors down with their amps set to eleven can't be considered eavesdropping. It still felt like a guilty pleasure. Then it stopped. Nice and early.

Jewelry

2008-10-17T20:58:00.000-04:00

I always enjoy taking my bike to the bike shop. I guess it's bitter- sweet, of course because the fact that I'm taking my bike there in the first place is because there's a problem with it that I just don't feel comfortable tackling on my own. But I digress. The reason I like taking it in is that it always gets a reaction from the mechanics. It's not that it's an expensive or high end bike. A gray teen-aged mid level steel bike may be fun to ride through the woods, but you wouldn't put it up in the shop window.

What gets the attention? Very simply, the brakes on my bike are a bit odd and they're bright red against a gray frame. These days, in the world of mountain bikes, if you want simple, you go with direct-pulls. If you want power, you go with discs. If you want even more power and nice feel, you go with hydraulic discs. If you told most people these days that they can also have hydraulic RIM brakes, the reaction would probably be "why".

Well, because the clamp down like a putbull. A good set of direct pulls with boosters could likely do as well, though. They have a positive feel and they're virtually maintenance free, but even that isn't all of it. In addition to working well, they're out of the ordinary. The make a bike which isn't much to look at (at least not for most) into something wild and exotic. One of the mechanics mentioned that he had only seen hydraulic rim brakes once before, but there's a chance he's only remembering the other time it was in the shop. That's what I like to think. Real bike geeks appreciate stuff like that. Those brakes are my bike jewelry.

Re-Thinking the Mountain Bike

2008-10-13T18:17:00.002-04:00

I found myself commuting to work last week on my mountain bike with somewhat narrow (38mm-ish) slicks installed, as the freehub on my road bike has lately been threatening to "go fixie" on me. What I'm finding is that with the exception of the lack of an aero position for the stiff headwinds and higher speeds, and a really good high gear for the occasional sprint up to motor vehicle speeds, the bike really makes a nice all-around ride. It's set up fairly stretched out with flat bars, a long stem, and full bar-ends. Although I would probably wish for more hand postitons on a longer ride, it's a treat having that "roll over anything" feeling when it comes to shortcuts through parks, trips up and down stairs and traveling the heavily pot holed New Jersey roads that often cause pinch flats when I'm not paying close enough attention on my road bike. I love the bike, its versatility and its durability, but I've just learned to live with the flat bars as a fact of life for mountain bikers, using the bar-ends whenever possible.

Going back to the road bike for a second- when I bought it, I intended to take the drop bars off and replace them with something more familiar, most likely a flat bar with some old MTB brake levers. Looking back, I really can't say why this was, but after riding it as-is (as-was at this point) for a while I realized that drop bars, in addition to bring efficient and practical for how I ride, are actually pretty comfortable. My wrists much prefer the palms-inward position to the palms-downward position for longer distances.

Over the summer, most of my time was spent on the road bike and very little time on trails on the mountain bike. When I finally did get out with the mountain bike, I found that in the miles spent on the hoods and drops of the road bike I had picked up some habits that did not really work well with my mountain bike setup. Specifically, I wanted to ride on the bar ends practically the whole time. This was fine climbing and while cruising along on smooth, level terrain. The problem arose, however, when I approached a big obstacle, such as a pile of logs, and took a good grip on the bar ends out of habit. That position really feels strong and stable. Going up and over still worked well, however, on the downward side things tended to get a little tricky as I attempted to shift my hands back to the flat bar (where the brake levers are) halfway through a technical section. Bad idea. That could be ugly.

Anyway, back to the recent past, the good people at Salsa have presented the Fargo to us, which seems to strike a chord for those of us who want something fairly speedy (after all, it is a 29er) yet still able to roll over anything. I really hope that Salsa does well with this one. While it's designed for a very specific activity, long distance off road touring, it seems like the demanding nature of that activity makes it a very good fit for practically all non-racing conditions that I would encounter.

P.S. I should add that I am aware of some of the bikes sporting drop bars from the early days of mountain biking and hope to build up my own rig in that image. Anybody know where I can find a set of hydraulic road brake levers for my HS33's?

One Million Dollars

2008-10-08T22:20:00.001-04:00

I've never really been fond of politics. I generally stay away from politics as blog topics. We've been hearing so much about this seven hundred billion dollar bucket of cash (or is that credit?) that the government is spreading willy-nilly around the financial industry. I can't claim to fully understand what it's supposed to do, since everything I've read about is says that it will do absolutely nothing. Maybe I need some new reading material. Anyway, it's been said that this sum of seven hundred billion dollars is just "a drop in the bucket" of our national budget. I tried to wrap my mind around this figure, from my own small bill spending point of view. I couldn't. In fact, my calculator does not even accept enough digits for such a figure. So I broke it up a bit. One million dollars is a lot of money. Still, I am able to put a number like this in perspective by comparing it to the price of my house. This "drop in the bucket" became more manageable when broken into bite-sized million dollar chunks. In fact it makes seven hundred thousand bite-sized chunks. That's a rather large number by itself.

That's when it hit me. If the government wants us to be optimistic, why not throw out some big wads of cash. How about a national lottery. I can just see it now. Every person, or every household in the country who paid income tax last year is automatically entered in a lottery to be one of seven hundred thousand winners of one million dollars each. If the aim is to get money to those lending it, I believe that this would do the trick. I imagine a scene similar to an elated Jimmy Stewart at a table in his living room with a basket collecting payments from smiling customers as they file past, happy to have paid their mortgages in full, while helping that nice man who owns the bank. Now I know that wasn't the plot of "It's a Wonderful Life", but in my little world the sentiment is the same.

Then after the credit cards, the school loans, the car loans and the mortgage are paid off, and there is still money left, the best part happens. Dreams get fulfilled. Sure, some may choose to blow the wad on a Bentley or maybe blow it at the race track or the stock market. Others, however, may have had their eye on a vacant corner deli. Maybe others dream of raising alpacas in the Ozarks or building fine hardwood furniture. Perhaps they will even hire a few of their neighbors to help out if things take off.

With seven hundred thousand chances there have to be at least a few success stories. For the rest of us there's the hope that next year our social security number might be chosen in the federal lottery. Hope is worth something too.

JORBA Fest!!1!

2008-09-14T11:23:00.001-04:00

I couldn't say how long it's been since I've gone out to ride trails on my mountain bike. I've ridden rail trails a couple of times and maybe even taken a few short cuts where I'm glad to have been on an mountain bike, but mostly my riding has been on streets.

Yesterday, however, I attended the first annual JORBA Fest at Waterloo Village. It was a great day with an amazing (and probably unexpectedly high turnout). There were bands playing, raffles, contests and much else on the concert field, not that I would really know- I spent most of the day in the woods on group rides on the great trails in the surrounding areas.

Honestly, it took me a little time to re-learn how to ride off-road. How to hold a line on uneven surfaces and how to clear obstacles took some time to come back to me, but thanks to my bike commuting, I was still strong and fresh when I finally started "getting it." I now remember how much I love riding trails and just how right a good hardtail bike feels.

Speaking of which, the people partaking in yesterday's festivities tended to have pretty nice shiny high-end gear. As much as I like the Fishy, early in the day, I found myself a little humbled by all of the full suspension, carbon fiber and state of the art bike tech. Sure, I saw other less interesting bikes, and maybe even a couple of older bikes, but it was still hard to get past the notion that the Fishy was just a little more odd and cobbled together than the other bikes in attendance.

That was until the rides started. Out in the woods I was reminded why I love that bike. It feels quick and lively like a steel bike should. It responds to what I ask. It just feels right.

At times I wonder if maybe it's just an OK bike and just happens to be the best one I've spent much time on. The complements I received from those who have been around lots of bikes for a long time told me different, though. This one is a keeper. It's not about shiny geegaws, it's about the ride.

Odds and Ends

2008-08-19T09:39:00.002-04:00

For those who like fresh fruits and vegetables. Here's a little advice. Small, thick-skinned grape tomatoes do pretty well riding on a bike rack. Large, juicy tomatoes.. not so much. Same with ripe peaches. If you must transport these items on a rack and not on your back, try submerging them in a sealed, completely water filled wide-mouth container (eg. a peanut butter jar). This works best with juicy tomatoes. Some heirlooms I've had tended to have air pockets inside, causing them to float, and bump against the top of the container.

There's another thing I had to share. As an old mountain biker, I'm always surprised by the speeds that can be reached on a road bike with nice high gears, skinny tires and drop bars. As I was leaving work last night, my boss was walking out to his car, a BMW X5. He quickly caught up with me, pulled up beside me and rolled down his window to offer a draft. My muscles were still pretty cold, but I fell back and took a place on his rear bumper. The X5, while being fairly tall is still a somewhat streamlined vehicle and most of my body was above the roofline while honking on the pedals, so not the best to draft behind, but still a help. He increased his speed gradually, then leveled off. I waved him faster then picked up a gear and cranked. Soon a curve was coming, and my cold muscles were beginning to cramp, so we backed off and went our separate ways.

This morning, as soon as I could hear activity in his office, I went to find out how fast we had gone (I don't use a computer).
"Good morning. I have to ask..." I said.
"Thirty five." he interrupted, grinning.
Cool. I had at least one or two gears left. Had I not been cold and cramping, I might have had a few more miles per hour left. Maybe I should get a computer to avoid a speeding ticket.

Like Wow!

2008-08-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

If more people knew how much fun this bike riding thing is there would be a lot less cars for me to negotiate! (note: Cafn8 is currently extremely buzzed on endorphins from the ride home from work. Please pardon is for any inconvenience.)

A Good Thing

2008-08-18T09:12:00.002-04:00

This morning, I arrived to work bright and early, heaved my fully laden bike onto the loading dock, hopped up behind it and began wheeling it toward the office door. Since my office is toward the back it generally is better to come in through the factory during the summer when the loading bay doors are usually open. It means I don't have to wheel my bicycle all the way through the office hallway, potentially dirtying the carpet. Today, however, I wished I had gone the carpeted route. The moment the assemblers in the factory, whose work day starts an hour and a half before mine, saw me they motioned me over for engineering guidance. Then, seeing my sweaty state, they quickly changed their minds, and said "when you get a chance." Today, riding to work gave me a few extra minutes to get settled (and cleaned up). A should mention, though, it also has a calming effect, to help me to cope with the stress that today promises to deliver.

People are Noticing

2008-08-07T08:58:00.003-04:00

August is here and the summer seems to be reaching its home stretch. The weather is still warm and the days are still long, but I can't help but think about the upcoming change in seasons and what it means for me if I will continue riding during the cold months. At the same time, within the last week I've had more questions about bicycling than most of the rest of the summer combined. A couple of days ago, as I heaved my bike onto the loading dock and wheeled it inside, the shipping guy pulled me aside with several questions about my bike. No matter, I always jump at the chance to talk about bikes. More notably, though, within the last week, no less than four different people, both neighbors and co-workers, have commented on how much weight I've lost and about biking as the cause. It feels good, I'll admit. Why now, though? My pants have been noticeably baggy (to me) for well over a month. Recently there's been a dip in gas prices, some places a full thirty cents below its peak earlier this summer. Why the dip? Who knows, but I hardly think the recent increased interest is the result of friends and neighbors reaching the end of their collective ropes. I hope that my example that it can be done and my involuntary glow and slight giddiness when I start talking about bikes and riding gets more people to go out and try it, whatever their reason might be, though.

I Am Mighty!

2008-07-21T11:17:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe that's a little overstated, but lately I've been bending axles on my road bike like it was built for a small child. My first reaction was that I must have hit a large pothole. In my years of mountain biking, I've never bent an axle. I stripped a freehub once, but no matter how gnarly the roots nor how big the drop offs, I haven't bent an axle. At least not noticeably.

I guessed that it must just be its road bike-ness and subsequent fragility combined with my own 200+ lb mass causing these failures. So after swapping a fresh new axle I set out to avoid all manner of rear wheel trauma. I avoided all road imperfections, shifted my weight to the front of the bike when crossing train tracks and even removed my cargo rack in favor of a sweaty backpack. It worked for about a week.

One day, however, it failed. I was making a left turn, when suddenly a kind soul driving from the oncoming direction, who I expected to cruise right through, stopped and waved me across. Not wanting to allow anyone to change his or her mind, I proceeded across in double time. As I did, I noticed two things. First I noticed I was still in a mighty tall gear, as the car's slowdown and stop was unexpected. I was now nearly stopped, in a high gear instead of carrying speed and turning behind the overly kind motorist. No problem. Stand and mash it! Halfway across the lane I noticed the second thing. Suddenly, the resistance to pedaling was much higher. The force needed to just keep moving lessened when I backed off on the force to the pedals. When I stopped halfway down the block I found that my rear tire was rubbing the inside of the left chainstay. Strangely, the nut had not slipped. The axle had simply bent. I guess that comes from having a half inch or more of axle protruding between the bearing and the frame. I hope to have better luck with a freehub style rear wheel with less axle protrusion.

Doom and Gloom

2008-06-26T20:39:00.002-04:00

Originally when I started this blog it was conceived as a place to air whatever random thoughts happened to float through my consciousness. As time has gone by, I've dropped the ball and left it rusting in a field with grass growing through the floorboards as for months at a time, only to come back, brush it off, and start blogging where I left off. I have to admit that lately I've blogged on practically nothing but biking. There was a time in my life when I lived for nothing but mountain biking. Then as the pressures of adulthood, homeownerdom (if that's a word) and husbandry (wait, no that's something else, oh well I'm going on..) came on strong, the part of my identity that was bicycling sat in the basement, rusting on flaccid tires. I suppose having that pedaling part of myself back feels so good that it's all I want to think about, to blog about or to read about.

Eventually, though, if one reads enough bike blogs, the topic of peak oil comes up. I try not to think about it too much, since the whole thing scares the pants off of me. Then global warming. Flooding, extinction, depression, etc. It's worst that such a huge majority of the population seems either ignorant, skeptical or apathetic. It really seems like we may in for one of the hardest times that modern civilization has ever known and everyone thinks everything is fine. It really makes a guy feel helpless. Then I go back to my happy place and think about bikes and biking. Then I realize that I'm already doing something that makes a difference, however small it may be.

Did I mention that I saw a Jack Russel Terrier in the park this morning on my ride to work? He was out for a jog with his person and stopped to chase a rabbit. Wow, those rabbits can move.

Maintenance. Who Would Have Thought?

2008-06-17T08:45:00.004-04:00

It's funny how sometimes you don't realize how bad things are until they improve. It's like the time I found that a small animal had climbed into my car's engine compartment and chewed through the insulation on a couple of the ignition wires. Sure, it ran in that condition. I don't know why I didn't notice when it got worse, but the improvement was immediate and quite noticeable when I replaced the wires.

Well, today was another one of those times. Having spent very little time with friction shifters, with the exception of with my old Schwinn Varsity that I rode before I knew how to or why to really use all of those gears, I honestly wasn't quite sure what level of shifting ease to expect when I started riding the old 12-speed. It shifted like it shifted, and that was that. Never mind that it was a 20 year old bike with 20 year old cables, housings, parts and oil on those parts. It just did the job. Well, after my recent cable woes, which really weren't that woeful I gave my rear derailleur a bit of attention. New cable, new cable housings and new clean oil on all the moving drivetrain parts back there. You know, the kind of things that a more conscientious person does periodically, and not just when something fails catastrophically.

I set out in the cool, sunny morning and was startled by the difference. It still did its job with minimal complaints, only now everything was quieter, smoother and more immediate. It may have just been in my head, but I even felt faster relative to the motorized traffic. I'll have to do the front derailleur next.

Simplicity

2008-06-15T08:54:00.000-04:00

You hear a lot of talk about the virtues of simplicity among fixie and single speed enthusiasts. As a designer working as an engineer, I can certainly appreciate that school of thought. After all, the less "things" that a system contains, the less potential opportunities there are for that system to break down. Additionally, at a given price point, the less "things" a product contains, the more money available for higher quality, more durable "things" to make up that system. The point here is that complexity without sufficient cause is bad. It is less reliable and more expensive than it needs to be. Simplicity, on the other hand, where all needs are met, is ideal for the reasons I mentioned before. This philosophy can easily be applied to practically any aspect of life.

Since I am me, though, I'm going to bring this back to biking. Friday, as I rode home from work, I had an unexpected mechanical malfunction. As I came to a stop, I shifted my rear derailleur to the slow end of the freewheel and was quite surprised to hear a "rip" accompanied by the loss of tension in my rear shift lever. The shift cable hung limply from the bicycle as the rear derailleur pushed the chain toward the small cog. The cable had broken at the shifter. I was somewhat disheartened by this, as I was still 3-4 miles from home and looking forward to a relaxing evening at a baseball game. The solution was an easy one, though. Remove the hanging cable and its housings, crank in the high limit screw as far as it goes and adjust it so that the rear derailleur is roughly centered under the lowest cog possible. In my case it was 3rd from the top. About 17 or 18 teeth. This had the effect of giving me an easy enough all purpose gear for stop and go traffic (40-17ish) and a respectable overdrive gear (52-17ish) by shifting only the front derailleur and leaving the rear in service as a chain tensioner. I adjusted my route to avoid my usual steep hill climbs, but the result was surprising. I liked it. I suffered a little on hills, but generally this combination didn't leave me wishing for more. It just did its job. That being said, I will fix the rear derailleur since I like the ability to climb all the local hills while seated, even when I'm wiped out from a long day. It did start me thinking about a nice 3 speed or 5 speed gear hub, though. Maybe I can justify a new wheelset when this old 12 speed drivetrain gives up. I have a feeling that there's plenty of action left in those gears, though.

Challenge!

2008-06-02T10:51:00.001-04:00

Friday, after a long day at work, and on mile 7 of my 8 mile bicycle ride home, I rounded a corner and trudged up a slight grade in a high-ish gear. Just then, I came upon three wholesome suburban 'tween aged boys on BMX bikes, lazily cruising along from the opposite direction. As I approached I heard one whisper something to the others, a little to low for me to hear. Just then, he broke from the group and pulled a u-turn, like a fighter escort pursuing a bogey. I played it cool, and stayed in the same gear as the hill levelled out. I stayed seated and eased ahead as my pursuer bounded and flailed on the long BMX cranks to pull up and match speeds with me. As his his acceleration faded, I paused a moment, grinned at my challenger, grabbed my drops, stood up and ended the contest. Sure, I know the whole scene played out the way it did due to "the right tool for the job", but it still felt good to be the "old guy" on the fender-clad steel bike embarassing the cocky young challenger on the flashy stickered, fat tubed bike. I'll watching for them from now on. Bring it, boys!

Less Boring... More Fulfilling

2008-05-15T10:31:00.002-04:00

Today's ride to work was relatively uneventful, but at the same time I was reminded of the little diversions that make riding a bicycle more interesting than driving a car. I suppose that it helped that I wore my Charlie Brown t-shirt today. That tends to make people smile, even if it only to say "look at the nut job on the bike."

As I cut through the park, I slowed a bit as I came near some geese. As I came closer, I noticed that one of them was leading 4 or 5 little yellow and gray goslings. It was terribly cute. I fumbled for my phone to snap a quick picture, but they were already on their way into the stream. Now, when I think back to times when I've seen geese while driving it was rarely a pleasant experience. In fact there was probably some car horn honking involved.

Then, as I neared the park exit I overtook an older man pushing a beaten up old mixte-framed 10-speed up a small hill. I slowed and noticed the improvised front cargo rack, supported by a single oxidized metal strand of linguine on either side. I offered my wrenching services. His reply was "no unnestan English". I wished him a good day and continued on my ride. As I rode away, I guessed that he most likely just pushes the old mixte up the hills for lack of shifting ability. Regardless of the reason or level of language comprehension, though, it's nice to interact with other people in a way that's impossible while confined behind energy absorbing steel crumple zones.

Addicted

2008-05-05T10:50:00.003-04:00

OK, so it's been a while- almost a month since I last posted. My email has a few posts that I started but never finished. I guess that's how it goes. Life continues to blaze by and something has to yield. Usually it's the blog. I'll fill in a few things that are new, just in case anyone actually reads this.

The 12-speed, my main commuter rig recently
received a long awaited upgrade. The long reach, dual pivot calipers fit nicely over the fenders after a little creativity and some good advice from the website of the late Sheldon Brown. Stopping power has increased noticeably- important for someone of my considerable mass, and the new brake levers add more hand positions. It was a very worthwhile upgrade.

A couple of days after the upgrade, I had my first collision since I started commuting by bike. Luckily, though, it was with a little kid in the park, also on a bike and not with a motor vehicle. Here's how it happened: I took a shortcut through the park as I always do. It's a little slower than the street, but it's shorter and makes for a nice breather. On a narrow stretch of path I met a mother with two young boys, traveling largest to smallest. The mother (largest) gave no sign of altering her path even slightly, so I steered into the mud about a foot off the paved path. Her sons followed her lead, and gave no room. The last in line (smallest) actually swerved toward me, caught my hand with his handlebar and took out my back wheel. Very little damage was done to my bike. The back wheel should be OK with a little truing. My hand was a little cut and bruised, but didn't cause too much anguish. Looking back, though, maybe I behaved a little harshly. I was pretty shaken from having been knocked from my bike and I was a bit on the defensive, expecting his mother to lay onto me for knocking down her little boy. I just hope I didn't turn off anyone to bicycling in general.

But back to my intended topic. I think I'm addicted to biking. I find that when I start my day with a bike ride I'm more alert, I focus better and have more energy all day long. In contrast, when I drive my car to work and have no physical activity, I feel groggy, irritable and sometimes even a little jittery and anxious. I have to wonder if this is how I felt on any given day before I started getting exercise. I think I'll keep it up.

Happiness is...

2008-04-06T22:06:00.001-04:00

Happiness is tearing apart the front hub of your bicycle and finding that you have an even number of ball bearings.

Even better is the fact that much of the grease in this 20+ year old hub was a clean light brown. This bike clearly has been pedalled very few miles. I was very lucky to find a bike like this at such a low price. I would imagine that thousands of similar "ridden twice" bikes are out there gathering dust in America's garages. Kind of makes you think twice about buying a poorly assembled klunker from a super size department store. Then again, maybe YOU have an old 10 speed in your garage.

Huh?

2008-04-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

I had to make a trip to the mall yesterday for a stop at Radio Shack to get a couple of parts for a project. I was pleasantly surprised that there was actually a bike rack outside. I was a little confused by the sign, though.

No Bicycles
No Rollerskating
No Skateboards
No Peddling
No Loitering
No Soliciting
No Hand Billing

So just what IS this rack for?

The Right Hook

2008-03-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday on my way home from work, as I chugged up a slight hill at a decent speed (my guess is about 15-20 MPH) I approached a side street. As I generally do in this situation, I edged to the left by a couple of feet to place myself about 3 to 4 feet off the curb for better visibility by cars both pulling out and approaching from behind. When I was about 20 feet from the corner a silver Mercedes Benz zoomed up beside me and I knew I was in trouble as it seemed to be decelerating. About 10 feet from the intersection, the car, still going pretty fast began its right turn with me roughly even with the back passenger side door and now traveling faster than the decelerating car. I grabbed the brakes and wrung the levers for all they were worth, while screaming out whatever expletives came to mind. For an instant, both of us decelerated at the same rate as the driver squeezed me closer to the curb. It was at that moment that the driver heard me, stopped a few feet into the side street and allowed me to pass. The whole event took place in about 3 seconds or less. I was lucky. My hope is that the driver of that car learned something other than "cyclists have short tempers". Still, It may be time to upgrade my brakes.

PS I stole the image from bicyclesafe.com , a very good resource if you plan to ride in traffic.

A Decent Ride

2008-03-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

Daylight savings time is in full effect, and I've been enjoying it to its fullest. Last week I rode to work Tuesday through Thursday for a total near 50 miles then yesterday I used the bike for a few errands for several more good miles. I wasn't sure that I'd like the friction shifters on the old 12-speed, but now that I have spent a good number of miles with them I can usually shift without thinking, which is good when sprinting along with traffic.

Anyway, I didn't pay very much for the old bike, and haven't had to replace too many parts, so maybe I'm thinking about it as a beater a little too much. After all, when it's cleaned up it looks pretty nice. Apparently others think so too. My first clue to this was Thursday, when my boss came in to my office, and began asking questions about the old bike. I realized that he was getting a little sentimental, as he squeezed and released the brake levers several times and enjoyed the "clack-clack" that they made as they snapped open.

Yesterday, as well, when I returned to my bike at the supermarket, corned beef in hand, I ran into two shopping-cart attendants taking a brief break from their rounds to fondly ogle my bike. They had plenty of questions about it and suggested I use a more secure lock than the thin cable snowboard lock that I've been using. Funny, the same thought had already occurred to me as I saw them taking such an interest in my old steel speedster. I'd like to think their intentions were good, but who knows, I might have just gotten a lucky break. Sigh, it's too bad. I thought my baby was one only a father could love, but it looks like the grass may indeed be greener on my side of the fence. Guess I'll have to start carrying the heavy locks.

Mountain Bikes

2008-03-04T23:47:00.000-05:00

As much as I'm coming to enjoy riding a road bike, I really have to say that some of the most gratifying moments of my life have occurred while riding mountain bikes. When I think back to the trails I've frequented, I think of certain sections of trails that make me smile on the inside. When I think back to those happy trail stretches, I'm always riding a certain one of the three mountain bikes I've owned on certain stretches.

My first mountain bike was an inexpensive bike. It was an entry level Diamond Back with a straight gauge chro-moly frame and low end components. As it was not really an exceptional bike, I can't say I feel much when I think about it. Nevertheless, the summer that I spent in Arizona following my graduation from college was filled with countless miles on that bike. The fast, straight hard packed desert trails are what I recall most fondly when I think of that bike. Eventually, I gave up on the effort it took to keep that bike functional in frequent off-road use.

My second bike was given to me by a good friend who received it from a college roommate in lieu or rent money. It was a late '80s Trek 950 "Singletrack" in a sad state of repair, and mostly unrideable. It was, however a lugged, butted chro-moly frame (yes, lugs on a mountain bike) with common seatpost and headset sizes, which meant it would be much less work to find parts for. It turned out to be a nice ride. While it was slightly too small for me, what really impressed me was how it put the torque to the ground. I get sentimental when I remember standing up and mashing the pedals as I climbed hills, seemingly aided by some unseen force. That was one stout goat of a frame. It loved to climb. It's a shame that it now lives in my basement, stripped of its components.

My current mountain bike was offered to me as a frame and fork by a former co-worker whose husband was about my size and wanted the money to put towards a motorcycle. The fork was an old, worn out Mag21 suspension fork, but the frame is a keeper. It's a double butted chro-moly Gary Fisher "Hoo Koo E Koo" and it fits me perfectly. The fork was quickly replaced by a nice plush and adjustable Manitou unit and I could only be happier if I had more time to ride it. Its defining trail sections are twisty and fast. The Fishy loves to dance over the roots, rocks and ruts. When riding these types of trails I feel connected to the trail, yet almost like I'm traveling just above the surface of it. I feel almost out of control as I cling to the machine, yet even my smallest corrections in direction and speed seem to somehow change my path just the intended amount. It feels quick and live like good steel bikes are often described. Not bad for an old beater.

It's almost spring. I need to get out. Bad.

Brakes

2008-03-03T08:10:00.002-05:00

As much as a retro grouch like myself likes to grumble about how nothing was wrong with that old stuff that's now considered obsolete, I must admit that sometimes new stuff is better than old stuff. Brakes, for instance. I usually identify myself as a mountain biker. I have become accustomed to the stopping power of my mountain bike, with its "old skool" hydraulic rim brakes. The suckers just clamp down. If conditions are bad enough to degrade braking, conditions are likely bad enough under the tires that less clamp-down is probably a good idea anyway.

So I've been zipping around on this old road bike and noticing that its single pivot calipers don't really haul my ample mass down from high speeds the way I'd like. Rather than running right out to buy a new set of dual pivot calipers and matching levers, which would cost roughly four times what the bicycle cost me, I planned to try some parts from the old junk box. I have no idea where I scrounged these nifty center-pull clampers, but they've shown me that maybe some new equipment might be warranted. Why? How were they? Sponge-O-Licious! This is probably no surprise to seasoned roadies, but the performance of these brakes prompted me to switch back to the original front caliper immediately. Stopping distances went from mediocre to dangerous.

In the first half inch or so of lever travel, they felt normal. They really felt like they would dig in and slow the bike down well. Then something else happened as more tension was applied. The stopping power leveled off as the lever was squeezed all the way to the bar. Not a situation I'd like during a panic stop. Upon close inspection, it was clear that for that first half inch of lever travel the pads were indeed tightening. Then after reaching a certain threshold. The caliper started flexing, and the pivots could be seen visibly spreading. That's all this caliper has to give.

Thinking a little more about this brake, I could probably improve its performance. If I disassembled the rear caliper and replaced the pivot bolts with longer bolts, adding the cross piece from the rear caliper to the front of the front caliper with pivot bolts first going through one cross piece scavenged from the rear, then through the cantillever arms, then through the other cross piece (similar to the "brake boosters" once available for mountain bike brakes) I could likely reduce the amount of flex significantly. Is it worth it. Hmm. Maybe not this time. My local bike shop will be pleased.

Having Flashbacks

2008-02-26T08:02:00.002-05:00

I was reading Dave Moulton's Bike Blog the other day when I was hit smack in the forehead by a hazy memory which I thought was gone for good. In his post "Is it time to re-think the derailleur?" he throws out a few different concepts at the end, including "fixed rear sprockets, and a chainwheel that freewheels, gears could be shifted while coasting." To which I said to myself "hey, thats how my old Schwinn Varsity worked." I remember very little about the specifics of this bike, as I was content to just ride it and in the time period in which I did ride it, I never had any problems with it. At least non that I, a tween ager at the time really cared to tackle. I knew that one lever made the front go "rattlerattlerattlerattlerattle" until I pushed it far enough, at which time it was harder to pedal but I went faster. The other lever made the back go "ticketa-ticketa-ticketa-ticketa-clack" four times with a similar result- and the chain always moved when the bike was moving.

Back to Mr Moulton's blog, the ensuing comments suggested that I hadn't just made that last detail about the constant motion of the chain up. In fact it had an oddball system called "front freewheel system" which guaranteed a new bike purchase or ex(t/p)ensive upgrades if anything ever broke. I did a little digging out of curoiusity and found that the system was also quite heavy, which confirms what I remember about the old bike. Isn't technology great.

A Goodbye

2008-02-15T19:33:00.002-05:00

I hold in my hand an old treasure. My WTB SST saddle has accompanied me on countless blissful singletrack miles, and dozens of morning and evening commutes. It has always done what a saddle does very well. It's light. It's comfortable, yet narrow enough to slide back off of when the trail suddenly drops downward. You might even say that the nose is the perfect shape for an "almost seated" climb when the trail points back to the sky. Its chromoly rails stood up to years of the worst pounding my 200+ self could dish out. Alas, thousands upon thousands of pedal strokes have worn the covering material (leather?) thin, and the softer under layers now quickly make black streaks on any pants that come into contact with it. Rather embarassing. It will be missed. Perhaps a handsome corduroy replacement cover would look nice.

Bike Lust

2008-02-10T20:13:00.000-05:00

The transformation of my twenty year old sport bike to a sensible commuter machine has begun. It is now sporting a dapper new shiny black set of Freddie Fenders to keep the splashes down. My first thought was "yeah, that will work." Then I found myself compulsively wiping smudges and fingerprints from the glossy new fenders. With those clean, I found myself powerless to stop picking up a cloth to clean the years of crud from the black metal-flake paint on the frame, now very dull by comparison. Next, still unable to stop myself, I saw my own hands reaching for the wax and carefully applying a nice coat from front to back. As much as I love my mountain bikes, I have never felt drawn to fuss over them in this way. I guess road bikes are just sexier.

New to Me

2008-02-06T08:31:00.000-05:00

I'm really looking forward to this spring. Mostly I'll be happy when the daylight lasts long enough for me to start riding to work again. Why? I'm itching to get back on my bike and resume riding to work. This is especially true due to my new bike. I can't really call it new, because it's actually around 20 years old, but it's an honest-to-goodness road bike. It needs a little freshening up, but to my crude mountain biker sensibilities it feels lightning quick. My plan is to make it a full time commuter bike. Nothing fancy, but hopefully I can pull off "racy but not uncomfortable", "practical but not boring" and "cheap but not dumpy" all on the same bike. Right now, the intended setup is fairly close to its 12 speed "sport" setup, with drop bars, 27 x 1-1/4 tires, etc. Which I will leave intact for now. However, I plan to install full fenders, a rear rack, and am considering replacing the 12 speed derailleur setup with a 3 speed internally geared setup. I think a Sturmey Archer AW geared in the mid 70" range would suit me nicely if I can get my hands on one. I've been curb shopping lately for old cruiser bikes in the trash, so we'll see. I understand these hubs are pretty indestructable.

A Thought for the Day

2008-01-31T08:54:00.000-05:00

I'd generally consider being decisive, and knowing what one wants to be a good thing, but it can be taken too far. For example, I know a man who will only eat "Boar's Head" brand cold cuts. He has repeatedly expressed his preference for this brand, even though I can't recall anyone ever asking. This preference seems to go beyond just a preference and really seems to be a source of pride. In this case, he just seems finicky because of it. Maybe his very vocal loathing for vegetables in general doesn't help his case. Or maybe he's normal and I'm just jealous of his iPhone.

A Busy Year

2008-01-25T08:17:00.000-05:00

Well, what can I say? It's been quite a year, and as I just noticed, I still have a blog after a full year of letting it gather edust. So, here's what happened, in a nutshell.

Changed jobs: Early this year, I changed jobs. In fact, I went back to the job I'd left only about a year and a half earlier. I had left on good terms and when they heard I was back on the market they immediately called me up, as they were adding a position to the engineering department. It felt like going home. The updates and upgrades in the factory were a nice assurance that business was good, too. It's been a busy time, but knowing what I know now, I never would have left. Perhaps even as exciting is the fact that I'm back in a place where I feel safe biking to work again, a benefit which I've been trying to take advantage of as much as possible.

The Garden: I still enjoy gardening when the weather is nice, although my dreams and schemes for building a temporary dome greenhouse for winters have succumbed to real-world reality, a did add a terraced garden area to the sloped back yard. Ever seen a cubic yard of dirt bags in a Subaru? This year I'll look into actually pruning back the tomato plants.

Biking: As I said before, my current job allows me a fairly nice route for riding my bicycle to work. I have once again become a fair-weather bike commuter. However, I have purchased a nice old 12 speed road bike which I am rebuilding as a commuter bike. I still haven't decided whether I'll keep the derailleurs, convert it to singlespeed or add a nice internally geared hub. Whatever I do, the current rear hub, which has a bit of a wobbly gear cluster needs to go, if I'm going to trust this bike to get me to work on a daily basis. A nice lighting system would also add a lot of time to my riding season, which currently is shortened, not by weather, but by lack of daylight. My problem is in finding/funding a good lighting system. More of the latter. Whatever happens, though, I really miss riding on a daily basis, and recent events, which I won't go into, have really been a reminder that I really need to get out of the car and off of my ass more often. Sure, it's fun to ride, but it's become a lot more than that.

How Far Does a Penny Go?

2007-01-19T21:18:00.000-05:00

Several days ago, I was out in the car running some errands. Nothing special, just a little zipping around the local area, but the time spent driving and sitting in traffic was enough to start me thinking about the fuel I was using. In general, I wish there were a way that I could safely ride a bicycle, or in the winter some enclosed human powered vehicle (google search "velomobile"). We would all be happier and healthier if this were more practical. Before I take my place atop my soap box and start making excuses for why my (not to mention much of the rest of the US's) weight and blood pressure are up and my energy level is down, let me get back to the point. Gas costs money. We Americans still get it pretty cheaply, but nonetheless, I started doing calculations in my head. I noted that, at the time, gas seemed to be going for around $2.10- $2.20 per gallon. That made the calculations easy, since my car averages around 21-22 MPG. 10 cents per mile somehow seems a bit more concrete than thinking in terms of dollars per gallon and miles per gallon. Then I took it a step farther. The limit to this seems to be the penny. With 5280 feet to a mile, my car will consume one penny worth of fuel every 528 feet. Thats about 161 meters for those of you metrically inclined. Put in different terms, at a nice leisurely 35 MPH average speed, the car is consuming one penny worth of gas every 10.3 seconds. It's enough to make me want to brave the elements and traffic and start riding again.

Ahh

2006-08-19T06:35:00.000-04:00

It's a good feeling when you wake up thinking you overslept, then realize it's Saturday.

Hydroponics

2006-07-19T19:24:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, when my greenhouse dreams were just mental sketches, I had the notion that I would like to grow my plants in the greenhouse using some sort of hydroponic method. It was almost as much a part of the concept in my head as gardening right through the winter.
I went right out and bought books on the subjects of greenhouse gardening and hydroponics. As I looked through the greenhouse book (which I've since heard referred to as "the greenhouse bible"), I found only a couple of paragraphs devoted to hydroponics where the author explains that he does not use hydroponic methods, and is somewhat biased against them, but still throws in a good old Seinfeld style "not that there's anything wrong with that." He is careful not to discount hydroponics, but simply explains why he does not use those methods of growing plants. I remained open minded to both watery and dirty gardening, though.
Time passed, and I fully digested all 400+ pages of the greenhouse book. Then I went back to touch on a few areas of special interest. It's clear why this book is thought so highly of. Then I went on to read about hydroponic gardening. I quickly became aware that while gardening in soil has something spiritual about it, hydroponic gardening is all about sterility and automation. It's about carefully measured nutrients and pumps, timers, vials and vessels. I can't say for certain that the subject, and not the writing was the source of the dryness, but it seemed that most things that attract me to growing things are missing from hydroponics. That's my feeling on the subject. I have come to the conclusion that while it's interesting, and I may dabble in it someday, hydroponics are not my style. I've had jobs where I've worn a white lab coat, but when it comes to hobbies, I'm more the dirty t-shirt type.

Seeds

2006-07-19T07:21:00.000-04:00

I just came pretty close to wasting a lot of time. Last night for dinner my wife used our first tomato of the year (see below) for a nice tomato and mozzarella salad. It was delicious. In fact, I was so excited about fresh, home-grown tomatoes that I decided it would be a good idea to collect some seeds for the next growing season. I collected some of the goo that encases the seeds and spread it on a paper towel to separate in the morning. This morning, I spread out the smeared paper towel and a piece of waxed paper to put the seeds on. As I picked through the seeds I thought about how quickly this variety produces fruit, and how nice it will be to have several plants like it. That's when I realized that early varieties like this often have these traits because they are F1 hybrids, meaning that they are the first generation of cross pollenated plants from two separate lines. I don't know why, but if seeds are collected from an F1 hybrid and grown, the resulting plants will usually not have the special qualities of the F1 generation, and become sickly, poor producing plants. Good news for the seed companies, bad news for me, because a quick web search revealed that the "celebrity" variety (which that plant is) is indeed a hybrid. Rats! I almost made a really stupid mistake. At least I caught myself before I went as far as trying to grow the seeds. I threw the whole mess in the trash. Maybe I'll see if I can get some clippings from that plant to grow.

Had a Stump.

2006-07-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

Had a Stump.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Yesterday we had a barbecue.

Yesterday we had a stump.

Today we have leftovers.

Today we have a 5 foot hole where a stump once was.

After scratching my head and trying various things to remove that stump, we finally found just the right thing. My father-in-law brought over a 4 foot long, 2 person saw and a pair of splitting wedges late in the afternoon for a little sporting activity yesterday prior to our little barbecue. While the women watched from the shade of the patio, and the neighbors heckled from their swimming pool next door (this was not my first attempt), we sawed down into the old, weathered stump as far as we could. The $5 rummage-sale-purchased saw was unaffected by rocks and dirt the way any chainsaw would be. We cut several pie-slice cuts into the top, then hammered the wedges in to the cuts with a big sledgehammer, along with some coaxing from a hefty pry-bar to finish the job. If this had been a fresh stump, the roots would have been a problem. As it was, however, they gave up easily. My next task will be to break up the chunks into a more manageable size, but for now I'm satisfied.

Mmm.

2006-07-14T07:20:00.000-04:00

Mmm.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Fresh Basil - Check

Mozzarella - Check

Fresh tomato - Check

It's the first ripe one of the season. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Plants

2006-07-09T11:58:00.000-04:00

Plants
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I guess you could say that recently, I've discovered gardening. I've always known it was there. I was always very close to it growing up. In fact, almost every summer day after work my dad could be found out in the garden in cut-offs, tending to the plants. Like most kids, though, I saw working in the garden as work. I kept my distance whenever possible. I wasn't within striking distance of the gardening bug. Dad, on the other hand grew up on a farm. Gardening seems to be very deeply a part of who he is. In fact, even though Mom and Dad now live in the Arizona desert, Dad is still able to keep an impressive garden all year around through the use of technological gadgets. The blast of the Arizona sun is no match for shadecloth, a network of mist nozzles, an automatic watering system, and a strong will. The urge to grow things is strong for those who have it.

I think I have it too. For the past couple of years, I guess we've just been too busy, or didn't get things out in time, but we really didn't have much of a garden to speak of. A few annual flowers, and maybe a couple of other plants put out late in the season were all. This year we did more. We cultivated it and added a lot of rich compost. It really has taken off. It's a good feeling. I couldn't really say why it feels good. Maybe it's the feeling of being closer to nature. Or maybe it's the feeling of having made something (although the plants mostly grow themselves as long as they have all the things they need.) I guess it's also just calming being surrounded by healthy green plants. Whatever it is, I think I'm hooked. This is why I plan to build a little warm place where the plants can keep growing this winter.

Something Edible Soon to Come.

2006-07-04T19:16:00.000-04:00

Something Edible Soon to Come.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Although I'm far from being a seasoned gardener, I've really been enjoying cultivating and tending to our little strip of garden and seeing the results. Many of our smaller plants suffered a set back early in the season when some unknown animal helped him or herself to many of our plants, actually devouring two and a half of our four hot cherry pepper plants and a good part of our basil plants before we were able to block off the garden with a rabbit fence. Everything seems to be doing fairly well now, though. The pepper plants that were formerly razed by the neighborhood animals have recovered and are starting to set fruit. The basil plants have become tall and full, and the first tomato has started to turn from a deep green to a slightly rosy green. Maybe it won't be long before we have our own home-grown veggies. I never would have thought that vegetables could be so exciting.

Greenhousing- Getting Serious

2006-06-03T13:17:00.000-04:00

Greenhousing- Getting Serious
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

OK, most of my follies remain plans and dreams inside my head, or maybe even pencil sketches. This greenhouse thing is starting to pick up steam. I actually went out and bought books. You know, stacks of printed paper with glue along the edge. During a recent barbecue, a friend saw my sketchy, flimsy dome model and after a brief overview of my idea he volunteered his services for a good old fashioned (or new fangled) barn raising on the patio in the fall. Now others are involved. Now I have to make this work. This is gonna be fun.

A Budding Gardener

2006-05-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

A Budding Gardener
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

OK, enough of the bad puns. Although we've been in this house for nearly 2 years, there always seems to be something that keeps us from planting things in the little strip of dirt running along the south side of the house. Well, no more. The month of May is drawing to a close, and this year, aided by a healthy supply of compost from my wife's father, we cultivated and planted that strip full of veggies. It looks nice, and everything really seems to be thriving. I'm looking forward to a nice crop of tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries, blueberries, hot cherry peppers and 11 herbs and spices (OK, well at least 7 or 8.) It's much more fun and rewarding than I had expected. While it's still early in the growing season, I've already taken the opportunity to start planning ahead for the fall when the weather turns cold and the growing stops for the year. I'm still in the research/ what-if stage, but when the fall comes, and the barbecue season is over, it seems entirely feasible to build ourselves a little greenhouse. On the patio. Of course, with my fascination with Buckminster Fuller's works, I can't see building anything other than a nice little Geodesic Dome. I built a study mock-up last night from rolled up strips of newspaper and staples. It's surprisingly stable for what it is: a sloppy collection of semi-rigid pieces. The frame for the real thing should be cheap, relatively easy and strong, when built from steel conduit, nuts and bolts. However, I still need to find an affordable material to cover it. The quest for garden-fresh veggies all winter and a 12 foot soccer ball on the back patio goes on.

How Funny?

2006-05-09T18:29:00.000-04:00

Did you ever notice how sometimes people get away with saying things that make no sense by counting on the fact that nobody is really listening? I just heard one of those instances on the radio while I was driving home from work today. A reviewer was quoted as describing a show as "blisteringly funny". Although I was only paying a small amount of my attention to the radio at the time, I could swear that's what I heard.
Then I started paraphrasing what I had just heard, and the nonsense just got worse. They could have said "so funny that sores will develop on your skin" or "so funny that your skin will peel off." They might just as well have said "so funny that you will break out fluid filled lesions, which will break open, leaving behind weeping sores." It would take some truly exceptional comedy to do that.

Five Bucks Well Spent.

2006-04-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

Five Bucks Well Spent.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I enjoy a nice martini.

This morning, the mrs. and I went to a few rummage (rubbish) sales. We picked up a few useful things, but what I'm most excited about is this swank little glass cocktail shaker, which I picked up for a tidy fiver. It's not really big enough for more than a drink or two, but I rarely make more than two at a time anyway. They even threw in the ice tongs and a set of three cocktail glasses emblazoned with the "Beefeater" logo for free. Life is good.

Am I Spoiled?

2006-04-06T07:15:00.000-04:00

I, like millions of others worldwide, spend my days staring at a computer screen. I'm lucky enough to have a nice big, clear flat panel monitor. It's kind of necessary for me to see what I'm looking at, though, since I spend a lot of time using CAD and other graphic applications.
Yesterday, I used another computer for a few minutes and could not believe the effect it had. The moment I nudged the mouse and the CRT screen blinked to life my eyes immediately felt the strain. Within seconds I felt a headache coming on. It was like staring into a strobe light. A check of the display properties showed 60hz. Sure, it's low, but I don't remember being that sensitive to the flickering. It's hard to imagine that someone else stares at that box all day long sometimes.

It's the Little Things

2006-04-03T18:38:00.000-04:00

It's the Little Things
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I'm jazzed over one of the most unlikely things. As I strolled through the supermarket after work one night after work, I stopped in the pen, pencil, etc aisle to grab an eraser. That's when I saw something I didn't expect. Bic now makes a cheap 0.9mm mechanical pencil. I had a fairly expensive and, so I thought, somewhat rare one for drafting in college, and always liked it for general purpose writing and sketching. It's thin enough that it doesn't need sharpening like a lead holder or a good old wooden pencil, yet thick enough that you can get rough with it without the dreaded "tick" sound of the tip of the lead becoming a projectile. $2.50 for two pencils with extra lead and erasers ain't too shabby either.

The Springsteen Effect

2006-04-03T18:01:00.000-04:00

I live in New Jersey. I do not come from New Jersey, though. There are many things peculiar to New Jersey that tend to make an outsider like myself raise an eyebrow and scratch his head. One of those things is "Springsteen". You know, "Bruce"... "The Boss"? I won't dispute the fact that he's a great entertainer, a great rock musician or even a really nice guy, as people will tell you. However, in New Jersey his following borders on cultish. It's to the point that your average Jersey guy, while listening to his radio at his desk at a reasonable volume between the hours of 9 and 11 will risk disciplinary action by cranking the volume the moment his well trained ears hear the first chord of "Born in the USA". Now, I'm not saying that only people from New Jersey like him. I'm quite sure there are fans from all over, but there seen to be a lot of really devoted Bruce fans in this state. I can only whether he's so well liked because he is from close by or if his music has a certain something that only New Jersey natives are in tune with. The world may never know.
And what's up with Bon Jovi?

Newsworthy?

2006-03-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

Newsworthy?
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

What the... For yesterday's newspaper, the "Wheel Woman" ,Ann M Job, penned this piece of cutting-edge journalism about the trend of customizing non-sporty cars. I can't help but wonder how a car journalist, of all people, could think this is a new phenomenon. I'll admit that I'm not the hippest guy around, but this is not something that's just happening "these days" unless that means "for over 10 years." I really hate it when the "Star Ledger" tries to publish anything about popular culture. They just make themselves look more out of touch.

Who knows, there are probably other factors at work. Maybe the folks in Dearborn, MI wanted to see a little feature on how customizable their new Fusion sedan is. Wouldn't it be a shame for those advertizing dollars to stop coming? Really, though, that's just unfounded speculation for why this article was written in the first place. Who knows?

How True..

2006-01-28T19:17:00.000-05:00

I just ran across a funny/cool website called woodenbkes.com. One thing that the author seems to say quite often is "Bike design and execution are actually very forgiving if your expectations are low enough." I guess that's true of most things if you think about it.

Success

2006-01-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

The Ubuntu install ran automatically and without a hitch as expected. The difference in speed between running from a CD and running from a hard drive is also pretty substantial. In all, I consider it a good alternative to re-installing Windows 98 or 2000 as XP was never really an option with this computer. It even recognizes my ISA to PCMCIA adaptor, and Orinoco Silver wireless card. It will take some futzing to get it to get it to actually connect to the router and transmit data, but it's a promising development. It's just like a real computer now.

Sick Days. Perfect Times for Geeking.

2006-01-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

Sick Days. Perfect Times for Geeking.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

What can I say? I'm told that I have some sort of viral bug. Judging by the mild severity, it's not the flu, but still I just don't feel up to doing anything that involves standing upright or moving from place to place. Seems like the perfect time to install Ubuntu to the old Pentium III. I've been using it off and on, just for fun, for some time now with a "Warty Warthog" live CD since its own hard drive died. I also tried "Breezy Badger", but on this old box it didn't run very breezily. Ubuntu live is pretty nice, but I want something a little more permanent and customizable. To that end, I yanked the drive out of an old Compaq with a terminal case of proprietaryness before carting it off to be recycled. It's a 4gig Bigfoot drive. No frills here. Just a 5.25" half height drive to put my OS and a few files and programs on. I installed the drive some time ago, but have not had a chance to put the OS on it yet. So, here we go. Wish me luck.

A Fad? A Trend? I Hope.

2006-01-25T20:27:00.000-05:00

Velomobiles. I have to say I've become a little obsessed with them lately. Last summer, I found that riding a bicycle to work can be a really great way to commute. It's healthy, it's energizing, it's cheap and it doesn't pollute the air. What's not to like? There are even electrically assisted bikes for those whose want to get there fast is greater than their level of fitness. Well, there are some difficulties. Weather, for instance: in most climates, if you don't plan ahead for it you will eventually have problems. Didn't bring your rain gear? Tough luck if you get caught in the rain miles from home. Even bigger problems if it's not a warm summer shower. Want to carry a couple bags of groceries home from the store? I suppose that with the proper accessories (packs, panniers, trailers, etc.) you could get the job done on a bicycle, but it might not be an easy task. While velomobiles may be heavier than most bicycles, they do help to address these problems as well as others with enclosed storage and cockpits and offer a practical alternative to driving a car for most short trips around town. I can't say that I expect great numbers of people to sell their cars (or even second cars) in exchange for velomobiles, but if they were more common, or even if the average American knew what one was I think they would at least have a bit of a presence in this country. (I'll stop short of predicting popularity.) I think, at least in my own web-headed version of reality, that awareness is growing. For instance, Wired magazine recently ran a story on velomobiles. Out in the world, people are seeing this and making it part of their knowledge. I like to use del.icio.us as a way of guageing popularity. If a del.icio.us user sees something and wants to be able to find it again he or she will most likely link to it. Since that Wired article, links tagged as "velomobile" have started getting more popular. There's a long jump from linking to a velomobile-related website to dropping thousands of dollars on a velomobile, but nobody will make that jump unless they know about it.

You Know...

2006-01-20T08:03:00.000-05:00

You Know...
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Now I wish there were some way that I could be outside riding a bicycle... in the rain and not get wet. Now wouldn't that be great? Hmm?

Hard to Handle

2006-01-19T23:16:00.000-05:00

Hard to Handle
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

As of yesterday, Boots has been confined all day, every day for three weeks. In another week we'll take him back for more x-rays, but for now we're doing the best we can to keep him contained. He clearly feels better and has a lot of excess energy. Where his brother Bucky once would reach into the cage to bat at him and tease him (and still often does) Boots now often reaches out to start trouble when Bucky passes close by. When we do allow Boots out for a brief break from the cage we must give him our undivided attention or risk seeing his tail disappearing down the hall to jump, run and explore the places he has been kept from. However, we've been dealing with this situation for much too long to risk letting him re-injure himself. He wants out. We want to let him out. We can't, though. Not yet.

Boots' Captivity- Day 10

2006-01-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

Boots' Captivity- Day 10
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

It's been 10 days since Boots' fracture required us to begin keeping him confined. At first it was hard. He cried almost constantly, but eventually he learned to accept the situation and just make himself comfortable. For a while. Fortunately, the rest he is getting does seem to be helping. He now is able to walk normally, and seems comfortable moving around. This is proving to be a problem. He now feels more like running and jumping and less like sitting in his cage. Just this morning, as I opened the door to place a fresh bowl of water there for him, he sprang over my hand, which had been holding him back, onto the sofa and off the other side within the space of about a second. I seriously hope he did not re-injure his back. I don't know how much longer any of us can take this.

No, I Meant..

2006-01-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

I know, I haven't been posting. There's been so much happening lately, that I haven't had time to post on any of it.

Lately, I've had a growing interest in human powered vehicles, also referred to as velomobiles or HPV's. They are an idea which hasn't really caught on, I guess. Most are recumcent bikes or trikes with some form of aerodynamic shell, which tends to make them pretty fast, as bikes (or trikes) go. Imagine a kayak with wheels. In the interest of finding out a little more about them, I went to Yahoo groups and did a search in the groups for HPV, having come up a little lean when searching for "velomobile". "Jackpot!" I thought as I saw that there were over 300 groups with HPV in their descriptions. Joy quickly turned to discomfort, however, as I realized that practically all of the groups had something to do with herpes. As it turns out, HPV also stands for "human papillomavirus." Heh. Reminds me of when a friend did a google search at work for "swing dancing" and wound up with some unsavory links. Time for some new search terms.

Oh, the Indignity!

2005-12-29T11:25:00.000-05:00

Oh, the Indignity!
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Well, Christmas is over. The used wrapping paper and boxes have been packed away. The house guests have all gone home. My wife and I took the rest of the week off with the intention of finishing a few projects around the house which we never seem to have time for.

However, things are not turning out like we had planned. Tuesday, my wife and I both seemed to be brewing some sort of upper respiratory bug. Wednesday, our respective bugs were in full swarm. We would have been content to simply sleep all day, but that couldn't happen. Our house guests needed a ride to the airport for a 7:15 am flight. That was not a big deal. Traffic is very light at that time of the day.

I came home and slept until it was time for Boots, the cat's appointment at the vet. He has had a bit of a limp to his gait for a couple of weeks. We've had him to the vet twice for this problem, but it just seems to come and go. This was the earliest we could get in to see the veterinary orthopedist. The news was mixed. He had been injured (a spinal fracture, which luckily is not pinching the nerves), and was healing, but seemed to be re-injuring himself whenever he would start feeling better. The solution: cage rest for 6 weeks.

We brought him home, went to the doctor ourselves (the human doctor), to try to take care of ourselves, then off to the pet store for a home for Mr. Boots. It's a nice 42' cage with doors on 3 sides, and enough room for a litter box, a bed and food and water bowls. He still doesn't like it, but at least his needs are taken care of and he can't run or jump. It really is hard keeping him caged up, but that's the only thing that will help him. We're considering getting him a black and white striped suit and a tin cup to rattle on the bars.

Merry Christmas to All

2005-12-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to All
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Well, today was another milestone: Our first time hosting Christmas at home. I didn't know if we would survive up to Christmas, as crazy as things have been. It seems like we've been spending every spare moment for the last month cleaning clutter, preparing the guest room (recently known as the storage room), buying living room furniture, and all of the other little things that in along with having a dinner party for a dozen people.

The time leading up to this weekend has had its share of drama, but in the end, I think everyone realized that we all rather do like each other and since we aren't all together that often we should just have a good time. I think tonight we all did. Merry Christmas.

Time to unload the dishwasher for the third time today.

Something I Never Knew Existed

2005-12-13T14:46:00.000-05:00

Something I Never Knew Existed
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I spotted this little gem last night while doing a bit of Christmas shopping. It's a liquor dispenser made to look like a gas pump. It is labelled "high octane racing fuel". I couldn't help but find the drinking and driving theme a little troubling. I suppose it works like a water cooler where the bottle stands upside down and bubbles as the fluid level in the bottom part goes down. Neat idea. Bad idea for styling.

Cats

2005-12-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

Cats
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I don't have children, but it seems like taking care of cats must be a little like taking care of a young child. A child that has learned how to get around on his own, but hasn't learned to say what is wrong. A child that can easily hide under the dresser wielding a switchblade. You do your best to give them everything they need. Sometimes they happily take what you give them and cheerfully run off to play. Other times they will not eat their breakfast and sit in their little private place to let you guess why today's kibble, the same flavor as yesterday's which was gobbled down in two minutes flat, just isn't attractive. I guess all that can be done is watch them closely and give whatever our best guess tells us they need, while trying not to tick them off too much.

A Pet Peeve

2005-11-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

If you have never designed something you may not understand just how annoying this is, or why I find this annoying, but here goes:

1/16" is not 0.062"!

Those of you out there may not know off the tops of your heads that the actual decimal equivalent is 0.0625". You might also wonder why 5/10,000" matter. The truth is that in the real world that's something that one could never see. The little things add up over a distance, and things get ugly when somebody tries to put dimensions on it. Make a CAD monkey happy. Crank that machine up to 6 places and enjoy. The next person to use your file will respect you so much more.

About Those Onions...

2005-11-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

I've been informed since I commented on how much cats love french fried onions that onions are very poisonous to companion animals. I'm not sure if that includes kinkajous, but I'm pretty sure that rules out feeding them to cats and dogs. Fortunately, there doesn't seen to be much actual onion in a french fried onion, so our furry guys seem safe. For the record, the comment was made after a tiny crumb of french fried onion fell to the floor during Thanksgiving preparations and was devoured before its second bounce. This turned out OK, but no more of those onions for the kitties.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T15:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We learned something interesting today while preparing a vegetable dish. Cats love french fried onions.

And Speaking of Gas

2005-11-19T10:08:00.000-05:00

We have a gas dryer. Well, actually we have 2 gas dryers. One is brand new, shiny and still has the shrink wrap over the control panel. The other is an ages-old "Lady Kenmore" with a bad igniter. As much as we didn't want to replace the dryer right now, we didn't see the point in paying the public service repairman $150 to fix a dryer that has dozens of other 30+ year old parts, any of which could break at any time. So we bought a new one.

As it turns out, the delivery guys have a policy of not installing a gas dryer unless the shut off valve is directly behind the dryer. Never mind the fact that the valve is about 6" below the floor in the basement directly below the dryer. I might add that it would have been nice to have known about this when we bought the dryer so that we could make proper arrangements. So there they sit, as they have been sitting for three days. A plumber, however, is on his way to save the day, though. I expect that we'll also be charged an exhorbitant fee for a few short minutes of work, but I suppose that's what is to be expected. Ahh, the joys of home ownership.

Gassy Days are Here Again

2005-11-19T09:50:00.000-05:00

It was a milestone occasion yesterday as I made my way home from work. At the Delta Station in Rutherford, they were actually selling gas for less than $2 per gallon ($1.999 to be exact.) I can't say how long it's been since I saw gas below 2 bucks per gallon. Granted, this price is not typical for the area. I have, in fact, sworn off of buying gas there, as the one time I succumbed to the siren song of cheap gas and braved the blaring Middle Eastern music to have my tank filled there, I was unable to pull smoothly from a stand-still for over a week until I refilled elsewhere. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not, but I digress.

Although one won't likely find sub-2-dollar gas in very many places, prices do seem to be coming down, which is very good. After all, the station where I buy, which seems to have satisfactory quality gas was also down to $2.11. Not too shabby. I still miss riding my bike to work, though.

Much Ado About Blending

2005-11-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

It's always a good idea to pay attention to what you're doing, especially when you don't really know what you're doing. Here's a good example. My wife and I were trying a recipe tonight. It was some sort of pumpkin spiced tofu mousse sort of thing. We figured it was worth a shot. You'll never experience new and exciting things unless you.. uh.. try new things. Anyway, the idea was to place the ingredients into a blender and blend until velvety smooth. Well, it became clear immediately that the blender wasn't going to handle the whole batch in one go, so we poured it into a bowl and put a little into the blender at a time. It was a pretty tedious process, as we weren't able to put more than a cup or two in at a time and get any sort of mixing action.

Then as I poured a small portion into the "blended" bowl, I saw something that caught my attention, When the thicker part of the mixture poured off the top there appeared to be a void below it where the blades were. The blades were spinning around in a little frothy air bubble at the bottom of the container, leaving the top almost untouched. We put the next little bit into the blender and cleared the front of the container so that we could see what was going on. The moment we hit the power, the thick mixture opened up in the center, swallowed up a gulp of air, closed up and then sat there. Then I had a "eureka" moment. By starting the blender on low speed and gradually adding speed, the thick mixture started turning little by little and quickly settled inta a neat little swirling funnel where all of the contents were well mixed. Increase too quickly and you end up with a bubble. We were able to get nearly all of the batch swirling in the blender at once. Neat. Incidentally, this only applies to thick stuff. Put thin liquid in it and you can just crank it.

Image(1337).jpg

2005-11-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

Image(1337).jpg
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I am so smart.

S-M-R-T

Geek Schwag

2005-11-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

Geek Schwag
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

One of the good things about being a "Nominal Engineer" is that people sometimes send you things for free hoping that you'll spec their stuff in actual products. Such is the case with my new AVR Butterfly Demonstration board. I'm excited about this. I can't say how long I've been looking for an excuse to buy a PIC programmer and begin dabbling in microcontrollers. All this thing needs is a free serial port. Now what excuse do I have? Oh yeah, the hard drive on my computer is hosed. Well the board is still pretty swell.

Adventures in O.S.susses

2005-11-09T07:39:00.000-05:00

Anybody who read the comments associated with my last post (probably nobody) will already know that I've been having computer issues. In case you're not inclined to go back and read it, here's what's happening. My hard drive has been complaining and begging me to run scan disc with a surface scan for about a month or two now. I did that some time ago and after about 5 days at 50% progress, I gave up, backed up what I wanted to keep and just decided to ignore its pleas.

A couple of days after finally getting DSL installed, I sat down at the computer to try to burn a copy of the most recent Ubuntu Linux Live CD which I had downloaded the previous day. Unfortunately, the computer hung up while booting. What to do? What to do? I remembered the Ubuntu Live CD that I recently downloaded at work and burned to a CD. It wasn't the latest release, but neither was the Windows '98 that was installed to the hard drive. I dug out the CD and within 10 minutes I was up and running. No Hard Drive, just a plain old CD whizzing and swooshing away. It saved me a lot of trouble.

I can't call this a permanent solution, really, though. I suppose it was intended to give people a feel for what it's like running a nice, lightweight and user friendly distribution of Linux. I'll be honest, the whole idea of manually editing configuration files makes me bite my nails. Fortunately, there was none of that. When it starts up, there are a few options to choose from. I found out which one works for me by trial and error. Beyond that everything just works. The GUI is quite easy to navigate, and the programs, the ones I've used anyway, will be familiar enough for any experienced computer user to comfortably get rolling.

Not everything is wonderful, though. The main problem is the fact that it does run from a CD. this seems to make it a bit of a memory hog. To browse the web with my 128MB, I have learned that it's necessary to turn the amount of cache waaaaaaay down, otherwise everything slows to a crawl rather quickly. This, of course must be done every time I start up the computer, because after all, there's no place to save that configuration. It's a little like the movie "Groundhog's Day" in that I find myself going through the same few actions every time I start the computer, learning what works as I go, starting from a blank slate every time. There also seems to be a problem with plugins such as flash, shockwave etc. I assume, however, that these issues are due to potential licensing issues of including them in the CD. Most likely, those issues would all be resolved by installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu on a functional hard drive. At any rate, I don't think I'll be installing Windows '98 when I get around to replacing that hard drive. I really recommend Ubuntu Live (or another "live" distribution) to anyone considering dabbling in Linux.

Dizzle-Sizzle in tha Hizzle!

2005-11-02T06:52:00.000-05:00

I finally got one of the computers connected via DSL. I know, welcome to the 90's. It isn't fast DSL, but it's a fair bit faster than dialup, which was my source of data up until now. It was also quite a bit cheaper (believe it or not.)

Anyway, I can't say it's been easy. first the modem arrived on the doorstep and taunted me for a few weeks while I waited for my "Service Ready Date" to roll around. As the service ready date rolled around, it became clear that there was a big problem (not directly related to DSL.) Our phone line was crossed with someone else's. Calls out showed some mysterious number on the call recipient's caller ID and calls to our normal number did nothing. Calls to the mystery number made our phone ring along with the phone of the person who calls that mystery numbeer his own. I should also note that that person doesn't have DSL service. Drat.

So we called the phone company and waited. The line was to be fixed on Sunday, but it wasn't. Then the repairman was to come on Monday, but he didn't. Our phone service was finally restored yesterday (Tuesday.) Ugh.

Almost connected, but not quite. Before I could connect, I first had to put a line filter in line with each phone. there were a couple problems to be sorted out, though. First, the phone in the kitchen was ghetto rigged by the previous resident. There is simply a phone wire coming from a hole in the wall, and going directly to the phone. It works, I guess. It will need a couple of adaptors, though, if it's going to work with a line filter. I just unplugged it and set it aside for now. Next was the basement phone. It's an old rotary dial phone, and it was hard wired to a terminal block of some sort in the basement between the joists. I had to temporarily hard un-wire it in order to get things working. It works, though.

Now to get this sucker on a network.

Concerning $1,250,000 Cars

2005-10-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

I read an article last night in Car and Driver magazine about a dozen or so four cylinder "tuner cars". It was a comparison in two classes. In one class, the front wheel drive class, we had a Focus, several Civics (of course), a Mini and a Neon- excuse me, SRT-4. All were fast by most standards, but FWD is not the class to be in, if you really are serious about putting power to the pavement. The other class, rear wheel drive and all wheel drive was the quick bunch as you would expect, with a couple of cars reaching 60MPH in under 5 seconds. This class consisted of Evos (Mitsubishi Lancers), Elises (Lotus that is), an Sti (Subaru Impreza), a Miata, an Audi and Toyota pickup (yes, you read that right.) most of these were purpose-built speed machines from the factory, but tweaked and boosted to within an inch of their lives. The price of a car similar to most of these would be somewhere over $50k, with some reaching nearly $100,000. Too rich for me, but fun to read about.

After reading that article, however, I flipped to the cover story. It was a test drive of the new Bugatti Veyron. Practically every one of this car's statistics is a superlative. Highest top speed of any production car (253MPH), most expensive production car ever ($1,250,000), highest horsepower of any production car (claimed 1001, but this figure is also claimed to be a bit conservative), 16 cylinders, 8 liters of displacement, all wheel drive, 4 turbos. No expense was spared.

It was easy to come to the conclusion that if I somehow came into a huge amount of money and could drive anything I would want one of these. Imagine driving around in such a capable car. Then I started looking at the numbers. 0-60 blows past in 2.9 seconds. Imagine merging on to the highway. From a dead stop (not that you ever would from a dead stop) to merging on to going so fast that the windstar in the left lane looks like it has suddenly shifted into reverse and floored it would take about 5-6 seconds if you decided that you wanted to really open it up. You might even get to shift before backing off the gas if traffic was light.

Now, imagine driving around town. I can only imagine what it must be like. You'd most likely pick 2nd or 3rd gear and ease off the brake (I think I recall that it has no clutch pedal) the enormous amount of torque that the 8 liter, 16 cylinder engine would have even off-boost should get you going along with traffic. That pedal on the right (I've forgotten its name now) won't be required.

Aside from at the track, I can't imagine such a fast car being anything other than an exercise in self control. I can't imagine that being much fun. That's not the sour grapes talking, either. I think I'll just keep on daydreaming about Lotus Elises- the plain non-tuned ones.

Happy Halloween!

2005-10-31T10:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

It's Finally Here!

2005-10-20T08:23:00.000-04:00

It's Finally Here!
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Actually it didn't take long to get here at all, but it's nice to be able to actually hold something in my hand. The "it" I'm talking about is our new DSL equipment. As anyone with a TV knows, the phone company has been pushing very hard lately to gain new customers for their DSL service. The price is certainly competitive. At 15 bones a month, it's actually much cheaper than the dialup I currently use (don't look at me, I'm ugly) Yes, that's right. I still use a good old modem to connect to the internet (that's when I'm not using good old GPRS.) it's a big blow to my geek cred every time I tell someone that they shouldn't send me those big files because I still have dialup, or that I've been putting off setting up a network because I need to figure out which computer to put the modem on and how to dial it up to share the glorious 56k with the other computers. This service, while not the fastest option, should solve my home connectivity woes.

I'm not counting my chickens yet, though. Up until recently, every time I checked for its availability, I was disappointed. Since we don't have cable TV, and would rather not pay cable prices, that left us to rely on dialup service. It struck me as a bit odd that the moment the prices came down, the phone line was suddenly ready- or so I thought. It turns out that we actually have to wait for our line quality to be verified. Good grief. This doesn't look promising.

The KNL Posture

2005-09-25T23:17:00.000-04:00

The KNL Posture
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Here, Boots is demonstrating what is known as the "KNL" or "Kitty No Legs" posture. As you can see, the body and head are upright, and all four legs are folded neatly under the body, giving him a flat-bottomed appearance, much like the shape of a loaf of bread.

Reaping Benefits

2005-09-21T21:16:00.000-04:00

I haven't been blogging too much about biking to work lately. There actually was a period of a few weeks when the weather was so hot and/or rainy that I didn't ride at all. Lately, though, I've been back at it, usually 2 or 3 times per week.

Usually, when talking about why I ride my bike to work I mention how it makes me feel good, eases stress and gives me more energy. Today, however, I stayed home from work due to a sinus infection. It's not the first I've had. In fact, I used to get them every 3 months, so I'm very familiar with how they feel. However, I went to the doctor anyway, with the hope of getting something to shorten the suffering. Well, to make a long story short, (oops, too late?) I found that my blood pressure had gone down by over 20 percent since I started biking. Where I had a borderline high blood pressure, I now have quite normal, safe blood pressure. Neat.

The Generation Gap

2005-09-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

The Generation Gap
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I just read an article in the newspaper. It was a silly little piece about how cellphones have become teenagers' lifelines. The writer details an instance when the home phone rang and she and her husband watched in amazement as their teenage daughter took the call- her first land-line call in who-knows-how-long and how she looked so uncomfortable tethered to the wall (never mind who was on the other end of the line.)

She then talks about how amused she is by the fact that these teenage cellphone users actually use all of the non-talking functions on their phones, such as the date book, alarm, address book, etc. She seems to consider these functions silly, frivolous add-ons to what should simply be a portable version of the big, black rotary phone plugged into the wall. She echoes my co-workers who show off their expensive new high end cellphones as they boast proudly about their shrewd negotiations toward getting cheaper service by disabling the extras like text messaging and data. Why not just get a free cellphone and an expensive watch? The tone of the article was a bit condescending, as she compared cellphones to security blankets. Perhaps the comparison works, but I think cellphones are the new PDAs. Most do everything PDAs from a few years ago did, plus they benefit from being connected to cellular networks for data. In the end, the writer proves one point, although unintentionally. She just doesn't get it.

Your Acronym and You.

2005-09-02T14:11:00.000-04:00

Recently, I have noticed that acronyms can be a bad thing if care is not used in selecting one. Here's an example. I was reading an article about a conversion which can be done to an everyday Ford Focus wherein the engine, transmission, much of the suspension and a few pieces of the floor are torn out and replaced by a nice big V8, a rear-wheel-drive drivetrain and all of the miscellaneous bits that go along with such a major modification. Anyone can buy the parts. They're made by a company called Kugel Komponents (yes, with a "K"), but the whole project was initiated by a part of Ford which is responsible for motorsports activities, known simply as Ford Racing Team. Sure, it's a fine name, but one that should not be made into an acronym. It's almost as though they aim to poke fun at the "import tuner" crowd by selling FRT Cans for the exhausts of their cars.

Another case in point which comes to mind also happens to be a motorsports division of a major automaker. I'm referring to Toyota Racing Development. You can see where I'm going with this. I guess Toyota deserves a bit more slack, since they are a Japanese company, but I still can't help thinking "TuRD" every time I see a car with this unfortunate acronym emblazoned on its body panels in bright vinyl letters.

If you listen closely on a still summer night, you just might hear the sound of a TuRD Corolla engaged in an all out drag race with a FaRT exhaust equipped Focus in the distance.

Cold Beer. Fast.

2005-08-28T23:31:00.000-04:00

We went to a little barbecue at a friend's house this evening. Our friend loves to cook, so there really wasn't much to bring. We called this afternoon to make sure that everything was going as planned and to ask what, if anything, we could bring. He got back to us as we were about to leave the supermarket. The only thing that might still be needed was beer. "Fine", I thought. "The supermarket sells beer, and usually has a very good selection." All we had to do was drop the groceries off at home, and be off to the barbecue. It seemed like a decent plan except for one thing. The supermarket doesn't sell cold beer. I was counting on a trick I had run across on the web once a while back.

We paid for our groceries and went home. At home, I went to find a cooler first thing. It was just big enough for the 6 bottles to stand up in. I filled the spaces with ice up to the bottoms of the necks. Then I added some salt (maybe a tablespoon or two) and about an inch of water in the bottom. I left it while I put the cold groceries away. To my surprise, when I checked it in about 10 minutes the ice had almost completely melted. I poured off most of the salty water, taking care not to get any salty water on the tops of the bottles, and added more ice and salt. We hopped in the car with the little salty cooler and arrived at our friend's house a short time later. No more than 45 minutes had passed since the cooling process had started, but I was amazed by how icy cold the beer had become in a short time. It was a great success. I'm sure I will use this many times in the future.

Lazy Saturday Morning

2005-08-20T09:42:00.000-04:00

Lazy Saturday Morning
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

A kitty and a crossword puzzle. Life is good.

"The Handbag Posture"

2005-08-07T14:47:00.000-04:00

"The Handbag Posture"
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

Here we see a good example of the handbag posture. As you can see, the body rests on the floor. The rear feet are on the floor far to the rear with the heels and hind quarters elevated. The head is held erect and the tail is curved forward, sometimes to the point that it touches the back of the head. Bucky is an expert at this posture.

Air Conditioning

2005-07-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

It's been hot out. Really hot. So hot that I overheard the bigwigs considering letting the factory off early. As busy as we've been lately that's a pretty big deal. it seems like when it's hot out, the company turns into a large scale production of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" but without the blond chick.

The factory guys on the non air conditioned shop floor mumble, "We're too hot."
The computer jockeys in the windowless interior offices grumble, "We're too cold."
The management and the higher-ups look from their desks in their sunny window offices and say "The temperature is just right."

I feel kind of bad bundled up in fleece to keep warm when the guys come in from the factory to ask a question with sweat dripping off their foreheads. Maybe I'll go out at lunch again to defrost. Brr.

Buyer Beware

2005-07-16T17:16:00.000-04:00

Buyer Beware
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I went to a tool sale today. I figured it couldn't hurt to look around. After all, it was held a walking distance from my house, so anything I bought would have to be carried back over the hill. I can't say I was really expecting much in terms of quality, but I figured that some issues might be OK if the price was right.

So I walked over. I have to say that their method of selling this stuff should a enough to make anyone apprehensive. Here's how it works. First, you grab a pen and clipboard as you walk in. One example of each tool is laid out on several rows of tables, each with an identifying number. I might mention that there's no guarantee that the display tools are of typical quality. When you see a tool you want to buy, you write its number and description on your clipboard. When you are done shopping, you pay, then go outside to where a semi is parked. There you hand the attendant your receipt, he finds your tools in the truck and brings them to you. It's a rather risky system for buying refurbished tools if I do say so. It also has a very shady feel to it. Rightfully so, though. This literally IS a fly by night operation.

So, did I buy anything? Well actually yes. I did. I decided to shy away from anything expensive. Shopping there was a gamble and I decided not to gamble anything I wasn't prepared to lose.

So here's what I bought:

A dial caliper for $20- quality seems decent, if not high.

A 24" bolt cutter for $10- It took significant force just to move the handles open and closed when it was new. I had to spend 20 minutes filing powder coat off mating surfaces, loosening tight joints, and lubing each joint with clean grease. Now it's like butta. I can't say if that was a good deal. I guess I can look at as a kit to make a tool.

A voltage tester for $4- the kind that senses AC voltage when when placed near a wire. Haven't tried it yet.

A laser pointer for $1- You know, for cats.

I guess it was an OK trip.

An Early Morning Game of "Spot the Icky"

2005-07-14T03:53:00.000-04:00

I believe my wife and I may be living with a hound cat and an attack cat. Boots, the black and white one woke us a few minutes ago. He was running around on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with his front paws against the wall and barking (yes, he barks when he spots prey. No kidding.) It turns out that he was tracking a house centipede as it made its way around the crown molding of the bedroom.

Given a choice, I tend to let house centipedes go their own way. They are very creepy, surprisingly fast and are predators to smaller creepies. On this occasion, however, I could ignore the bug but not the barking cat (imagine a short percussive meow. Sort of like "mra...mra." It's pretty cute during the day, but not when we're trying to sleep.) So with tissue in hand, I reluctantly stood up on the bed to kill the leggy little creature.

That was where the real drama started. In an attempt to avoid an ugly mess on the wall, I attempted to grab the house centipede from the sides instead of simply squashing it. Unfortunately, this allowed it to leave behind a half dozen or so legs in the tissue and begin sprinting down my arm. I immediately felt a case of the willies coming on and flung it to the floor without thinking. At this point Bucky, the gray cat was in pursuit of the little beast, and flushed it out from under the bed where it became tissue fodder.

Much too much drama for 3 AM. Maybe now I can get back to sleep.

Acceleration as Safety Feature

2005-07-13T13:05:00.000-04:00

Although you would have a tough time convincing a insurance agent, a speedy car can be a safe place to be in a hostile environment such as New Jersey traffic. As I write this my hands are still shaking a bit from what took place on my way back to work with my Chinese take out. It was a normal day. I was on my lunch break, and taking my time as I rounded the corner on the side of the strip mall near work. Just then, I spotted a run down old brown Toyota Camry headed straight for my side (I was on the outside of the corner.) For a split second I hoped he knew what he was getting into, but it was immediately clear that he didn't. I heard the "SHHHHH" of sliding tires on the wet pavement and saw that the car's front wheels were cranked fully to one side as the car plowed in a straight line, completely out of control. I floored the accelerator as all four fresh tires gripped the pavement and shoved me clear of this buffoon's path. What happened after that was his problem.

Yum.

2005-07-12T13:24:00.000-04:00

For a while now, I've been looking around at a site called del.icio.us and have run across many things online that I otherwise wouldn't have. I had just been using the site as more of a spectator to see what other people are bookmarking for a given subject. That, in itself is pretty handy. For some reason, though, I never went to the trouble of figuring out how to make my own bookmarks until today.

It really is handy, though. I just decided to start using my account and bookmarked a handful of websites. Now I have a list of bookmarks on a server that I can access from any computer (or my cell phone.) In addition, I can also see who else bookmarked those sites and check out their bookmarks- the assumption being that we have a common interest and would be interested in similar websites. Likewise, others can see my bookmarks. It's a little creepy to have others looking through my bookmarks, in a way, but I don't really see the harm in it. The process of sharing knowledge and experience is mutually beneficial and seems to make it worthwhile.

Tires

2005-07-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

Tires
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I had been putting off buying tires for quite a while now. I first started looking at tires about a year and a half ago after going four or five different places trying to get a slow leak patched. Pretty annoying, but eventually somebody got it to hold air.

Recently, however, the tread on my tires had just been getting too thin, and I knew it was time. After all, nothing affects the way a car behaves more than tires. Your choice in tires can make the difference between a sloppy, cushy ride and a tight handling, tooth rattling ride. The tires even allow for a great deal of fine tuning by varying their pressure. Generally, I can tell a difference of only about two or three PSI in a car I'm familiar with. In addition to my handling enjoyment, proper tire pressures also greatly affect safety, tire life and even the longevity of drivetrain parts. For this reason, it amazes me how little attention auto repair shops, and even some tire centers pay to tire pressure.

A couple of weeks ago, as I said, I bought new tires. I bought them from my local warehouse mega store in nearby Clifton, thinking that there's not too much difference between installers. All was well until I picked up my keys and went to my car. I decided to check the pressure, as I've dealt with these mokes before (remember the tire I tried to have patched.) Everything was fine, except that the front and rear tires were switched on one side. That means the 29 PSI on the front and 32 PSI on the rear and the opposite arrangement on the other side of the car. This would not be kind to my differentials. I fixed it and was on my way.

Yesterday, I had my 30k mile service performed at ye olde Subaru dealer on Rt 46 in Parsippany. I was happy with the service (although $600 poorer) and enjoying my nice smooth running engine. Something was wrong, though. The handling was noticeably vague and sloppy. I knew right away what had happened, though. I had rolled in off I-80 with nice warm tires. Shortly after I dropped the car off, it was taken inside, tires still warm, where the tire pressure was "corrected". As anyone who drives a car should know, the listed inflation is for cold tires. All four tires were about four PSI low. A professional mechanic should (would) not make this mistake. It makes me wonder what kind of buffoonery takes place under the hood when I drop the car off. It's not the first time this happened, though, and it probably won't be the last.

Clever Song Title

2005-06-23T10:10:00.000-04:00

I was driving to work yesterday and the song playing on WBGO, my usual jazz station, sounded a little too laxative for my taste (or maybe it was just my mood at the time.) At any rate, I started making my way across the dial and landed on WSOU, Seaton Hall's "Pirate" radio station. That's "pirate", as in their sports teams' name, I think, not "pirate" as in unlicensed and broadcasting illegally. Anyway, the DJ announced a song called "Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends" by some metal band who I've never heard of and whose name I can't remember. The song kind of stank, and caused me to continue flipping through stations, but what an amusing title.

Too Much is Just About Right.

2005-06-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm grilling again. This time I'm determined to start the coals right. I used my usual setup of a large steel can with no top or bottom. The bottom was packed with three loosely wadded pages from an old telephone book, one of which was sticking out from the bottom as a wick. Next came the partially spent coals from the last barbecue (with the white ash knocked off.) Those coals and the telephone book pages were sprayed liberally with lighter fluid, then the can was topped off with fresh coals. Those coals received more lighter fluid, then the whole setup was brought to life with a match to the papers at the bottom.

The can shot flames from the top for about 10 minutes, then the moment of truth came the flames died down as the lighter fluid burned off. At this point the light was either a success or a failure. A faint crackling sound, however, confirmed that the coals were indeed still burning. 20 more minutes and the coals on top were nice and white. I had nice hot coals ready for some sun-dried tomato sausages. It was a textbook start.

How Much is Too Much?

2005-06-15T19:45:00.000-04:00

How Much is Too Much?
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I've been grilling out a bit lately, and I've noticed that some times I get funny looks from neighbors when I start putting the lighter fluid on. Once or twice they even went inside to escape the fabulous two foot plumes of flame rising up from my grill after the initial light up. I began to wonder if I might just be putting on a bit more fluid than is prudent. I began easing back on the juice.

It seems like my moderation might be causing more problems than it solves, though. There is nothing worse than waiting in vain for the flames to rise up them concluding that the coals have died. It also seems less than ideal to re-apply fluid to smoldering coals to give them an extra kick. Soaking the coals and giving them a good hot start has never failed me. I'm wondering if maybe too much is just about right.

Noise, Vibration and Harshness

2005-06-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, I gave a little attention to a problem my car has been having for months. The problem was a pair of loose heat shields. There was really no problem with the functioning of the car. The problem was that at certain RPM ranges and levels of engine load, the heat shields would resonate quite loudly. It sounded a bit like a drumroll on a trash can. It was getting worse too. It would make the noise more often and more loudly. After a little ingenuity and a trip to the Home Despot for some parts, however, it seems to be practically silent.

On my way to work today, I was astonished by what a difference the lack of noise made to the driving experience. Where before I was constantly concerned with how much noise it was making and how to keep it quiet by varying my shifting and throttling, it now seems almost strangely quiet. It's like a different car. It's a treat to climb a hill and not be concerned that my car sounds like a giant junk heap. Driving the car, it almost seems smoother, although I keep reminding myself that I didn't really make any mechanical changes. Maybe I'm too concerned about appearance, or too concerned about disturbing others. I guess I just like to think that I'm driving a nice car and not a rattling junk heap. I guess this is why auto makers put so many resources into making their cars quiet. It seems pretty superficial, and maybe it is, but the psychological effect is pretty profound.

Speaking of Heat...

2005-06-11T18:58:00.000-04:00

Speaking of Heat...
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

I just found a great way to quick dry a T-shirt. It's kind of like those inflatable lawn ornaments, but sweatier.

Heat

2005-06-11T18:38:00.000-04:00

Heat
Originally uploaded by cafn8.

We've been having a bit of a heat wave lately out here on the East coast. Everyone began to complain that it was June but felt like October, them wham, it started to feel like August. The heat we're having is a wet, sticky heat. There's little that can be done about it other than moving to an air-conditioned area and/or dressing more lightly. It's hot and sticky, but having grown up in the midwest, it's what summer feels like. That being said, I would have ridden to work the last few days regardless of the heat if the heat were the only factor. Unfortunately, the cats also factor in.

The cats, as it turns out, don't like the hot weather very much. They lie on the floor all day trying not to generate any heat inside those warm fur coats. This accomplishes two things. They stay cooler, and they conserve energy... Which they like to expend when the temperature goes down. This, of course, is when we, the people, are trying to sleep. It's just too tempting to sleep that extra hour and drive to work when the house has been kitty gymboree all night. Call me a pansy. I can take it.

iPod Alternative

2005-06-06T11:53:00.000-04:00

I saw something a little bit amusing on my way to work today. I was driving along and happened to spot a pedestrain cradling a full-sized laptop computer on his right arm with the screen open and the base braced against his hip. On his head sat a large hockey puck sized pair of headphones. As he walked along on the sidewalk, slowly and awkwardly, he fiddled with the keyboard and/or pointing device. I can only assume that this laptop was serving as a digital audio player. Seems a little forced to me, but to each his own, I guess.

If he really wanted to do it right, he would leave the laptop in his backpack and use some sort of handheld (phone, PDA, etc.) to interface it wirelessly. I seem to remember such an application for Symbian Series 60 phones conecting via Bluetooth. There's still the issue of battery life, weight, heat in an enclosed bag etc. but at least his laptop would be a bit safer. I can just see it now. He's strolling along when he looks down to switch tracks. Just then he stubbs his toe on a crack in the sidewalk. Said $1000 dollar big-screen music player crashes to the pavement. Much weeping and gnashing of teeth ensues.

I'm all about forcing gadgets into roles they weren't originally intended to play, but usually I work toward making applications more portable, not less. Let's keep those lappies safe out there. OK, Kids?

Back in the Saddle

2005-06-02T11:17:00.000-04:00

After a brief day off to rest my legs and let my saddle sores heal, I'm back on the bike. Today was as easy as Tuesday. I reached work feeling refreshed and energetic. I sent off a quick email to my wife from my phone when I arrived at work, only to receive an "Out of Office" reply moments later. I got a bit of a grin as I realized that I had left after her and arrived at work before her. It's not really that big an accomplishment, though, since she goes twice the distance I do.

As I approached the front door, I realized that the boss had not come in yet. this means That the front door would still be locked. I wish I'd had a camera to capture all of the incredulous stares as I walked through the factory wearing my bike gear with my bike tucked under my arm, the seat hooked over my shoulder. Strangely, that look seems to be the norm, even out on the street. Riding through neighborhoods, people will stop what they are doing and stare at the guy riding the strange two wheeled thing with no motor. It's as if I were riding a giraffe. It makes me feel like some kind of crazy radical. It's kind of cool.

Off to Work

2005-06-01T11:35:00.000-04:00

From the "What was I Thinking" file comes today's trip to work. Yesterday, I had a good ride to work and home. I felt great and was brimming with energy. Sometimes I don't know when to draw the line, though. At the Gym where my wife and I are members, spinning classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Who cares that I already rode to and from work and that I'm not really used to long distances anymore. I felt great. That was until the first sprint. My legs suddenly started to feel like I was wearing weighted kneepads and work boots. I suffered through the hour long class and started looking for an excuse not to ride to work in the morning.

Well, morning came. It was a gloomy, overcast morning. The kind where it looks like it could start showering down a cold, clammy drizzle at any time. There was no rain in the forecast, but it was enough of an excuse for me (that and my stiff, rubbery feeling legs.) Tomorrow is another day. Another spinning class too. We'll see how it goes.

A Fresh Start

2005-05-31T12:00:00.000-04:00

Faithful readers of this blog (yes, both of you) will recall that my plans to begin riding my bicycle to work have been foiled for about a week due to rain. Well, after a nice Memorial Day weekend I finally had my chance. I can really say that the trip went quite smoothly, and, as far as I know, I cleaned up adequately when I got to work so that I don't stink. Mission accomplished. I'm at work, in one piece and by the price of the gas at the station I passed, I have saved 75 cents worth of gas (another 75 cents tonight too.)

The real benefit, however, is the way I feel. I reached work feeling fully charged and ready to go full steam. My mind is clear and despite our current email issues I don't feel overly stressed. Endorphines are a beautiful thing. I think I'm really going to miss riding to work on rainy days and in the winter.

More Rain

2005-05-27T08:01:00.000-04:00

What can I say about the weather? We haven't had rain in weeks, but when I'm finally ready to start riding my bicycle to work there's rain forecasted every day for a week. According to my weather source, accuweather.com, we should have rain until next Tuesday. I'm starting to think that this is never going to happen. I guess I should just buy rain gear. That would ensure that it won't rain.

WELL, I NEVER!

2005-05-25T08:32:00.000-04:00

It seems that some people are never happy- not while there's so much injustice in the world. They raise their banner to fight against whatever ills of the world that they see as the most threatening to our social fabric. These people are important, I'll admit, but often their efforts seem a little bit misplaced.

This morning's newspaper included an article about a certain blond heiress, who shall go unnamed in this blog, (although I'm sure that 99.8125 percent or more of the population know who I'm referring to) posed in a fast food advertisement wearing *gasp* a swimsuit! Well, I never! Call the networks! Call the AP! Call the lawyers! This trend of sex in advertising must be nipped in the bud! Meanwhile, said heiress and burger joint reap the the benefit of mountains of publicity. I can't even buy a "spicy six dollar burger" on this coast, but now I know what one is. Mission accomplished.

Closer to home, an 8 year old girl, having been unable to find karaoke for the "Little Mermaid" song she chose to sing for an after school talent show, went with her second choice of material, a Christian pop ballad. Well, I never! She was banned from performing her song, as it could imply that the school endorses religion, never mind the fact that this was an after school event (i.e. voluntary) and material was chosen by the performers. Both sides are digging in and preparing for a legal battle. The ACLU also plans to become involved if this issue reaches the courts.

Further into the world of "are you serious", there is actually an "Association of Drivers Against Daytime Running Lights." The fact that this group even exists astounds me. These people have taken something as benign as daytime running lights and made it their personal crusade, citing reasons like annoyance of other drivers and increased fuel consumption. Sure, these are valid arguments, but I can't imagine feeling so strongly against the headlights that automatically come on that I would take up a fight against them.

I think I'll go on a crusade against frivolous activism, yeah. That's a worthy cause.

BTW (Biking to Work)

2005-05-23T08:13:00.000-04:00

Well, Monday is here. The weather looks pretty nice at the moment, but there is rain in the forecast, and I have no rain gear. It's just as well, though, my wife just left for work and is going away for 3 days. After helping her get everything packed, there's barely enough time left to drive to work. Guess I'll see about tomorrow. Weather reports don't start clearing up until Thursday, though. It's not looking so great for riding.