Monthly Archive for October, 2007

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The Bloat

Published on October 12, 2007 in Food and rant by risu. Closed

Oh, the agony.

As I sat down in the Fj80, I could feel my stomach contents fighting agaist the change in the volume of my abdominal cavity.  There was a belch brewing , but I was afraid it would come out liquid.  All the way home I could feel the tightness.  Even after a shower and heading to bed, I still felt bloated.  This morning, all the retained liquids had processed and came out – 4 full bladders worth by 08:00

Overindulging at Maharani was not to blame as much as the level of salt or MSG that was in the food.  Tandoori Grill in BC and India Bazaar here have nothing to fear about losing my business…

Suck

Published on October 9, 2007 in bike, car and rant by risu. Closed

It rained all weekend, so no XC ride.  That sucks. 

It rained yesterday, so no St. Louis FR ride.  That sucks. 

This morning the failing Optima battery on the FJ80 went too flat to crank the engine over.  That sucks. 

I can’t spin by Lion Coffee Cafe off Waiakamilo since I’m behind a desk all day, so I’ve been bringing coffee from home.  I ran out of “Premium Roast” and opened a bag of some flavored variety that was originally destined to be a holiday gift.  I don’t like flavored coffee.  That sucks.

Cutey/ie Honey The Live

Published on October 3, 2007 in anime, Culture and jdrama by taro. Closed

Through the wonders of the Net, I’ve been able to watch the first episode of the live action TV series just days after it aired in Japan. I’m not quite sure what to think yet. I don’t think Hideaki Anno had anything to do with this incarnation, I believe its directed by a dude responsible for a bunch of current modern tokusatsu Kamen Rider shows. Perhaps its best going in not knowing anything and entering with an open, blank mind. But with how many versions its been through and originating from the mind of Go Nagai, how can an J-pop culture otaku not. Continue reading ‘Cutey/ie Honey The Live’

Car-ma, Second Act, Prologue

Published on October 3, 2007 in car and rant by taro. Closed

Someone tell me what have I done wrong?! Allen just called me with the wonderful words everyone loves to hear, “I’ve got good news and bad news.” Crp. There’s that alarm and remote start thing we talked about in email. Well, the truck delivered the cars fine to Matson dock. Matson guy was about to sign off on it, and no one’s really clear on what exactly happened, but the FX decided to go off on a jolly jaunt on its own. They managed to chase it down, someone jumped in open window & grabbed the e-brake and it was eventually stopped. But not before running into a Coke machine though. Sounds like damage is not severe, paint on bumper. They’re going to try and disable the alarm and get a new key made, it broke in the chaos, and get it back to Matson by Friday. It could have been worse. Sheesh, sounds like I better go visit jinja and get a blessing! And don’t install remote start in a manual tranny vehicle, and don’t let Circus City install it.

New Japanese Rubber

Published on October 3, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Panaracer RampageMcBike just got in some folding Panaracer Rampage 26 x 2.35 tires.  They look pretty nice, and are reasonably light for tires of their size.  The pattern is not too different from the Fire XC and FR, with a mix of square core knobs and staggered edge knobs.  Intended for the all-mountain crowd, the knob height is low (noticably lower than the Fire XC) to promote lower rolling resistance even with a large carcass.  The center row paired knobs have one square thrust edge for traction, with the opposite edge being ramped/buttressed to promote low rolling resistance.  They look like they’d be good Whistler XC tires.  They are all black with big white outline letters.  According to the Panaracer website, they’re 700g each, and have 66-tpi casings.  $40-something each.  Made in Japan! 

Carma, The Second Act

Published on October 3, 2007 in car by taro. Closed

Okay, I haven’t written much about the ongoing saga of me and my cars. Well, after much delay, the “new” cars are on the way! yes, I said cars, as in plural. The original FX was carted off by the guys from Lost when they returned the Cruiser. So here is she is in her last days having donated most of what was worth keeping:

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_dsc0066b.jpgAnd so in an somewhat odd turn of “car”ma, the new Corolla’s are coming from non other than the guy who gave me the first FX16, which by the way was a great little car and ran way better than the second FX which got smacked around. The new ones were picked up Tuesday in Vegas!

Reborn

Published on October 2, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

broken and newIn Whistler I had bumped my Shimano XTR rear derailleur on a boulder whilst rolling backwards, thus bending off the little tab on the B-axle (top pivot bolt) backplate that keeps the spring tension when the derailleur is unmounted.  Thankfully, Shimano sells the B-axle assembly as a set, so I had Jarrel bring one in for me.  I switched out to my spare RD-M971-GS so I could still ride my Ellsworth.  Last week the part came in, so I brought in the old derailleur to the shop and installed the new backplate. Continue reading ‘Reborn’

Ole-skool Technical

Published on October 2, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Since it had been raining all weekend, I was not confident that we would be getting a Monday night F/R in.  The weather was windy and partly overcast all morning, but toward the afternoon, the clouds retreated back up the mountaintops, leaving blue skies accented with swirling sumi-e brushstrokes of high altitude cirrus clouds.  My throat was feeling “not right” all morning, so I was considering bailing, but the change in the weather made me change my mind.

Continue reading ‘Ole-skool Technical’

The Return of “Ass-Poppa”

Published on October 1, 2007 in bike by risu. Closed

Chris was free for a ride on Saturday afternoon, so we planned to ride if the weather wasn’t terrible.  Jeff checked the radar in the morning, and it had been rainy all night on the Eastern half of Oahu, so Ditch was out.  We met up at Wailuna at 14:30 and rode up the heinous hill of death.  If there was one thing I learned biking in Whistler, it was not to fight the hill in mid-ring and to conserve energy in granny.  It was sunny and breezy, and I reached the top of the road fairly fresh.  The legs were reasonably OK, but the lungs and heart were feeling it a little, and the ass was feeling it a lot.  Continue reading ‘The Return of “Ass-Poppa”’