Monthly Archive for May, 2007

Back on board

Published on May 31, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Went straight home after work yesterday.  There was a bit of a drizzle but it didn’t seem like it was going to last long.  The artwork for the Rockabilly Surf Show was done and submitted, so it was time for a long-awaited ride.  It took a while to get my riding s#%t together, but eventually got out and rolled around a bit.  The new ’08 Fox 32 Vanilla RLC feels good on the bike – no geometry issues with the extra travel over the old 125mm Fox.  It was the first time it was really ridden, so it feels a little sticky – I think it needs to break-in before it gets that buttery-smooth Fox feel.   I swapped out  to the purple “light” springs when I installed it last week.  I guess I could have gotten just the “R”, but the “L” and “C” functions parallel some of the functions on the DHX 5.0 rear shock, so I got the full-featured one.  Granted I run the compression and anti-bob settings really low anyway, but “just in case”…

The mysterious contamination of the rear brake last week is still causing issues – it still doesn’t seem as grabby as before.  There is still some dark glaze on the rotor that probably has to be worn through before things are back to normal again, or maybe the pads need more heat-gunning…

I was just taking it easy since I haven’t ridden in a couple of weeks – I was just enjoying being back on the bike after the absence.  Distance was 9.83-miles, 56-minutes, Vavr = 10.4 mph

Rockabilly Surf Show

Published on May 29, 2007 in Art by risu. Closed

Finished my pieces for the Rockabilly Surf Show this weekend.  Had a battle with brain-fart trying to get properly sized frames… bought 16×20, thought they were too big since the working areas of the 12×16 sheets was 8×12, took them back and got the next size down which was 11×14, got them home and discovered those were too small, and went back to re-get the 16×20’s – that was $15 in gasoline I didn’t need to spend!  Dropped them off with Eric at the gallery this morning on the way to get my morning ITM at Lion’s cafe.

Three watercolors – two “pin-up girls” and one “monster hot-rod”.  Originally was going to make two of each, but  the second “monster” image, a turbodiesel chopper, didn’t resolve in time.  Had to crank out the pieces in less than 2 weeks, but if I had advanced notice, I’d probably have procrastinated until the last moment anyway (like the upcoming Showcase 2007 at the HAA…)!  I’ll put the images up on the gallery after the show opens. 

Show opening and reception is Thursday, 31 May 2007 from 18:00 to 20:00 at the Chinatown Boardroom, 1160 Nuuanu Avenue (one door makai of the Pegge Hopper Gallery).  Scat, Tracy (not Stacy), and Kris Higa will also have works at the show.  I was a last-minute addition through Scats’ influence (thanks, Scat!), so my name isn’t on the manifest.

Gainax

Published on May 24, 2007 in anime by taro. Closed

Leave it to Gainax to kill off a major character and inject some darkness into what’s been a pretty lightweight series. And leave it to them to have done a recap ep only six in with massive amounts of reused footage, but to appease fanservice make the new stuff an onsen.

No A/C

Published on May 23, 2007 in car by taro. Closed

Well, no surprise the FX has no A/C. Both the original & new one at one time did. The new one was striped of it & p/s, but in order to get p/s into the new one, I had to mount the compressor even though I have to suffer with no A/C. I found the bracket & pulley I needed on ebay to replace this, and amazingly got a really good price on it. From Toyota parts I was looking at something like $300. I got it for basically the cost of a work weeks worth of plate lunches.

img_0590.JPG So here we have the compressor sitting in here acting as a big heavy idler.

Here’s the original bracket & compressor being removed and the new bracket & pulley that is replacing it.

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Scale is kinda off, but this should save a good amount of weight & clean things up a bit. Here’s the arrangement now.

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I’m melting….

Published on May 20, 2007 in anime and bike by taro. Closed

Holy cow, I just took a shower, and I feel like I need another shower. Oni, having Okinawa flashbacks yet?

Glad we rode yesterday and not today. Thought yesterday was hot? Sheesh, today’s worse! Chuck would have been kicking my ass even more! Guess I shouldn’t laugh at golf, hasn’t hurt him any!

And you’ll have to excuse my jumping topics all over in one post, this heat & humidity is adling my brains. It also made me want to do absolutely nothing & I ended up sitting in front of the computer all day. Most of it spent editing the sub for Toki wa Kakeru Shoujo for my satisfaction. Oh yeah, I should have realized the character design is Sadamoto of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame.

Ride pictures

Published on May 18, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Yeah, yeah – it’s been almost a week.  I’ve been busy,  okay?!  I had the images on my USB drive all week, just didn’t have time to upload them.  The pictures from the 12th and 14th are up on the gallery – you know where…  There are some neat slow-sync flash shots from Monday’s freeride session.  Interesting colors.  and check out Root’s styling air.  There’s a long exposure shot at the concrete rest stop that looks like it should be on an album cover.  

Daylight? St. Louis F/R

Published on May 15, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

I guess summer is upon us.  We got down most of the trail in daylight, with twilight colors and darkness setting in at the rest stop on the concrete road.  Just Ckucke, Root, JT, and me again – Chris should be back next week, since it was the last night of birthing class.  Dropped into upper dumps for a change, but there was a lot of deadfall leaning into the trail and one big, old ironwood that had to be limboed under.  Somewhere up on the side of the park access road was a dead thing – it could be smelled out into the neighborhood.  Nothing bad-smelling or dead on the trail.  At agave, climbed up to the normal out line and descended.  The original D/H trail has been recut, and there looks to be some work being done on the trail that heads out to the point (the “right” off the mainline that is the alternate choice for the “left” to the old ladder trail).  Must check some of that out next time…

Ride time of 27-min. with a distance of 3.87-miles.  Vavr was 8.5 mph.  Vmax was 18.6 mph on the trail – rather slow this time.  Too many photo-op stops… 

Denno Coil

Published on May 14, 2007 in anime by taro. Closed

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Looks like we have a winner here, I couldn’t wait for fansub & watched it raw. Having seen the teaser trailers for it, this intrigued me very much. Interesting art & designs, can’t help but be reminded of Ghibli works. The little girl (younger sister of the girl pictured in the right but not in this pic) is a ringer for Mei from Totoro, and there’s funky bizzarre creatures too. From what I know so far, the story involves a world where virtual reality is quite advanced. The kids are kind of playing a hyper real pokemon almost, they’re out looking for virtual animals. But it seems there’s some strange black thing loose in the system regarded as a virus that seems to be responsible for dissappearances of virtual pets. This is a show I’m definitely keeping my eyes on.

Chiropractic ride

Published on May 14, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Rode Wailuna to Royal Summit on Saturday afternoon.  Root was a little late, but since it was in the waning part of the day, it was another half-hour for the world to cool down from the noontime burn of late spring.  The climb was as heinous as ever – it seems that the more I train, the worse the climb feels.  I saw a trail off to  the left of the water tank road, possibly leading over to the terrain between Wailuna and Waimano.  It was well-used, and there was a concrete marker with 2 initials and “1928” written in relief on it.  Continuing up the road and transitioning to the dirt, my legs felt burnt too: I had to drop granny for the climb arond the back of the water tank.  I might be training “wrong” or we’re just going harder and faster now. Continue reading ‘Chiropractic ride’

Anime Quickies

Published on May 13, 2007 in anime by taro. Closed

OK, a slept the whole day away, I think yesterday’s ride & eating a complete half tub of Haagan Daaz asian girl ice cream put me out. Doesn’t help that I had/have a dang headache that this nasal congestion I’m sure has something to do with. Damn these plants & their reproductive cycles. Anyway, since I’m not doing much of anything today, guess I’ll catch up on some anime mini-reviews.

Lesse, there’s this show, El Cazador de la bruja

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Again, it’s all things we’ve seen before. Mysterious cute little girl is actually some subject of mysterious experiment that gives her powers. Tough on exterior hot shot girl bounty hunter ends up taking the girl under her protection, resulting in them becoming the object of everyone’s attention. It’s done well enough to be entertaining for now. Continue reading ‘Anime Quickies’