The hunt continues

I usually use Blogo to build my blog posts, on those rare occasions when I actually do post something. But today I notice that there's an error reported now. Following up on that, I learned that Blogo won't run under Lion, the next upgrade to Mac OSX.

So it has to go.

Now I'd like to have $40 to spend on MarsEdit, but earlier this year I tried it and for some reason, ended up with Blogo instead. I tried to try it out again, but MarsEdit remembers that I tried it already and won't let me have a second attempt.

I won't put out $40 so easily, so now I'm trying Ecto. Pardon me if there's silly images posted; IIRC, ease of image posting is why I went with Blogo in the first place.

So here's a pointless image, for testing purposes:

OK, that wasn't too hard.

Thanks for watching...

Flies like...

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Real Life interfered with posting, as happens even to the unemployed.
First was the trip to Roseburg to lend aid to my sister. Then Thanksgiving. Then cold weather. And December seems to have happened, too. No bike rides in all that time.
And no plausible excuse in sight. Oh, sure, it was cold, but not cold-cold! If I can ride at 50°, I should be able to ride at 45°, right?
Yes, the bronchitis (now on its fifth week) could, in theory, have made riding the bike unpleasant, but I didn't try it so I don't know.

Instead, I set myself a "100 things" challenge. Not the one from the book and the web pages; my own version. I won't be reducing my personal items until they number a mere 100. Instead, I am starting easy and making a list of 100 things I can get rid of.
Just as when I gave up all my unpainted wargame figures, I feel as though I'm being given back time I'd felt should be allocated to those hobbies.

So far I've sent away all the polymer clay: supplies, tools, oven, and pasta roller. That felt pretty good.
I have a slide projector and a few carousels to part with, as well as some art that I will never hang on my limited wall space. (more on that later)
I'm ready to part with the Delta bench planer, the vacuum system, and a band saw. Add the Japanese mortise chisels, the skew chisels, and a few wood planes, and I'm doing well.
But the biggest step so far has been the dismantling of my model railroad. If you count the building kits, the engine, the cars, the scenery, the wiring and controls, and the entire 5' by 9' layout, it's a huge step. And I now have 16' feet of wall space to hang art!

I will also part with the nice Trek mountain bike, the binoculars, a few camera bags, and a pile of railroad books and magazines.

I feel so much better!
Now if I could just kick this cough, maybe I could get out on the road bike before it snows...

Reflexes Rule

It's all about the reflex action on a bicycle.
I crashed today because my first action was mental rather than physical.
I was pedaling the mountain bike up a gravelly alley when there was a "thunk" and the pedals spun free.
Here's where the wrong reflex cost me. I looked down to see what happened.
In the time it took to look down and think "oh, damn, the chain has gone," I had come to a stop and was falling sideways. It was too late to get unclipped and I rolled into the gravel.

Looking back, it would have better to unclip as soon as there was a problem (the reflex) and THEN look to see what it was.
I wasn't hurt; I'd already stopped. It was less a "crash" than it was a Laugh-In tip over.
And of course, being a guy, the first thing I did was jump to my feet and look around to see if anyone saw me fall.
No one did, so I was safe.
I walked back and picked up the chain, wrapping it around the seat post for the long walk home. Three miles in mountain bike shoes. <sigh>

And before you ask, yes I had a chain tool in the tool kit. But without my glasses, there was no way I could see well enough to work on the chain on a cloudy day. And therein lies a second flaw in my preparation for bike rides: there's not much point having the tools with you if you can't see to use them.

So work on those reflexes. Unclip first, automatically. Then look around.
Look before you leap. Or crash, as the case may be.

Finished the 50-miler!

I wrote before about superstitions. This time, the word is "luck".
I was packing for the Tour de Whidbey and remembered the blown tube I had yesterday. I don't usually carry a tube on the road, but I had bought two of them, so I figured "why not?".
Lucky.
I'd finished the first big climb and the rear tube blew. The pry-bars I'd packed (at the last minute) don't work with my road tires. I didn't know that, obviously, but I do now. I eventually got the thing changed, inflated, and reassembled.
Even with the tire trouble, I finished the ride in 4 hours, faster than I had planned. I am afraid that I succumbed, on occasion, to pushing harder than normal if there was a rider in sight in front of me, but I finished and that's what counts.

Here's a pic or two:

Early start, long shadows.

First rest stop, Langley, WA.

Post-ride

Not superstitious

It's a good thing I'm not the superstitious type.
I went out this morning for a light "loosen up" ride. I intended to just cruise for an hour or so to keep my legs limber for the 50 miler tomorrow.
I had hardly begun when I noticed that the cadence transmitter wasn't working. No problem, I have spare batteries in the box at home; I can just swap it out when I get back.
On a fast downhill at about mile 5, I hit a rock. I never saw it, but I felt and heard it. I was doing about 25mph. At the bottom of the hill, I was going to turn around and climb back up. As I angled across the road to make the u-turn, I nearly crashed.
The front tire was flat.
I walked the bike a way along until I could find a comfortable place to sit and work on the tire.
I got it all apart and put the air cartridge into the nozzle, squirting some air into the tube. Bad news. The leak was under a patch from a couple of hundred miles ago. No way to fix it.
I have a cell phone but no one to call today, so I had to hoof it back home, a little under 3 miles walking the bike. It's a good thing I still have my mountain bike shoes with the thick rubber tread.

Along the way, I spotted a crow feather in the weeds. I like crows (sorry Cousin Tony) and thought I'd add the feather to my collection.
Instead of turning around, I just walked backward a bike length. That was the plan.
When you walk a bike backwards, the pedals turn. The pedal caught my ankle, I jumped, lost my balance, and the bike and I went down.
Nice feather, though.

Now I have a nice new tube in the front and a spare in the under-seat bag. Plus TWO air cartridges.

Tomorrow is the ride. Heading up the island at 7am, hope to be on the bike by 8am and done with the 50 miles before 1pm.

Check back this weekend to see if I made it!

3 Days to Go

Saturday is the big day, though it seems less big now than a month ago. The "Tour de Whidbey" is on 9/24 and I'm signed up for the 50 mile southern loop.

I told my pen pal that I was no longer as fired-up as I was about the ride. She suggested I was preparing myself to fail by lessening the importance of the ride.
For once, I think it's something else entirely.

In fact, I don't anticipate any difficulties at all.
I learned that the articles are correct: riding every day is better than every other day. If I don't go out, I put the bike on the trainer and pedal up a sweat.
I went out today and rode for 2.5 hours and though I drank both bottles of water (it was warm out, 64F according to the handlebar computer), I still was 1.5 lbs lighter when I got home.

I tested out a handlebar mount for my iPod, thinking to lighten the load on my helmet (the alternative mount). A brief test revealed that the audio is totally trashed on the bar mount. I suspect it's the styrene foam I used as padding in the mount. I think it's squeaking as the vibration moves the case against the cheap foam.

For the Saturday ride, I'll put it back on my helmet. I like the shock absorbing power of my own neck better than the bar mount, and the iPod only weighs an ounce or two. And I can turn and look at the scenery which has to improve the video a bit.

Not that I expect anyone to see it, but I'd like to learn a bit more about video editing.
Wish me luck, folks!

My Review of Kodak P570 Personal Photo Scanner, 5 x 7 inch Photos, 600dpi Resolution, USB 2.0

Originally submitted at Adorama

Kodak P570 Personal Photo Scanner, 5 x 7 inch Photos, 600dpi Resolution, USB 2.0

Kodak P570 Personal Photo Scanner, 5 x 7 inch Photos, 600dpi Resolution, USB 2.0

Scan that shoebox of photos...

By Old Mike from Langley, WA on 9/5/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: SD memory card, Easy to use, Great color

Cons: Can't if card is full

Best Uses: Getting old pix scanned

Describe Yourself: Casual User

Primary use: Personal

Computer Platform: Mac

I sit on the floor with a box of photos on one side, the scanner on the other. When the box is scanned, I pop the SD card (a 2Gb card holds about 2,000 pix) into the computer, rename the scans, and put them in their own folder.
Erase the card.
Repeat. Ad infinitum.
Do use the protective sleeves provided. It keeps the dirt and "stickum" from photo albums out of the mechanism.
I've only had a couple of mis-scans in 2500 photos, issues with the software mistaking the edge of the photo.
In all, excellent value for the money.
Take it on the road visiting grandparents, get those old pix into the digital age. You don't even need the computer with you, just a stack of 1GB SD cards.

(legalese)