Monday was warm, dry and sunny, unlike last week. Chris arrived back in Honolulu after a trip to the Pacific Northwest around noon and joined us for a St. Louis ride after doing a couple loads of laundry. There was not a cloud in the sky, contrary to the National Weather Service forecast that called for a 70% chance of rain. The winds were blowing strongly, though. We had loads of fun – even after Chris’ dumb-side crank came off. The climb back up to the parking lot was heinous as usual, but since there was no weekend ride, I was able to make most of the ascent pedaling rather than pushing. Continue reading ‘Spring Sun’
Monthly Archive for March, 2009
JeffW saw this place on the Channel 8 “Cheap Eats” segment earlier in the week, so we went there for lunch on Friday. I didn’t make the adventure down to the old Hamada Store location on Queen Street just a little ‘Ewa from Ward Avenue on the makai side. Apparently, even with the phoned-in order, my coworkers still had a half-hour wait for the food. The interior layout was apparently not set up for efficient customer or workflow, and the staff level was insufficient for the level of work subsequent to the TV spot publicity. We couldn’t even get a phone call in on Thursday! Continue reading ‘Queen Street Cafe’
Got these a while back from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK (that was a story unto itself!) and put them on the Chase back in December of last year. The winter rains and switchover to snowboarding mode kept me off the bike until recently, but now with the lengthening days and drier weather, it’s two-wheel time again. Outwardly, these are similar to the XTR SL-M970 shifters, with blocky pods, long, awkward looking finger levers, and skinny perches. Shimano has purposely gone with a more “prototype” or “werks” appearance on their newer MTB parts instead of the fluid, beautifully sculpted look of their earlier parts. Unlike the XTR’s, these are provided with optical gear displays. The release levers are dual-release (push or pull) like the XTR’s, but aren’t multi-release (only one shift per pull). The pods are adjustable laterally on the perches, but only two positions are available, instead of the stepless slide. Continue reading ‘Shimano Deore XT SL-M770 Shifters’
Hooray! It’s finally out! I picked it up on release day so I could catch up on those episodes I missed on TV and rewatch those where I came away with, “huh? what?”. All 13 episodes of season three are presented in letterbox high-definition (the first two seasons were produced in standard definition, so don’t expect a BRD re-release of those). The extras are limited to deleted scenes (which basically amount to the recorded dialogue with storyboard art), and commentary tracks. It’s all so gloriously wrong! It’s the only US-produced animation that I watch regularly – maybe religiously. The quality hasn’t degraded over the seasons, probably because the creative team has remained intact, and the network hasn’t gone all Nazi on them like Nickelodeon did on Ren and Stimpy. Continue reading ‘The Venture Bros. Season 3 BRD’
Met Ckucke and JT for a climb up Tantalus. Root got busy at work at the last minute, so he didn’t make the start. I was rolling some new slicks to take some of the resistance off. It was indeed easier and the control was better, but the comfort level decreased by an amount inversely proportional to the increase in performance. Being Kuhio Day, the bottom of Makiki Heights Drive was heavily infested with road bikers, so we parked down on Makiki Street, lengthening the ride a little. With the lower rolling resistance and some new pavement above Euco, I was able to push a couple gears higher than with the 1.85 Hutchinson Scorpions. As usual, my legs burnt, my lungs exploded, my heart pounded, and my lower back knotted up. The swarm or roadies were sessioning the circuit between the one-lane bridge and the top parking area. We rested briefly after reaching the top, paid our respects to hopping rooster, then descended backtracking down Tantalus Drive instead of dropping Roundtop Drive. Continue reading ‘Buk, Buk, Buk’
Bastage! Bandai USA cancelled the Lucky*Star volume 6 (final) premium edition! WTF!? Their explaination was that the premium editions haven’t been selling well. At least finish what you started then discontinue producing premium editions! Double F!
(0)I didn’t get to watch the finale of the WBC with Japan defeating South Korea for the championship, but I’m imagining that the South Korean contingent (fans and athletes) exhibited what could generously be described as “poor sportsmanship” – like even worse than if they had happened to win!
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I can’t really be happy about this right now because of all the krapp that happened today. I broke my Oakley Wisdoms in Japan hitting my face on a tree branch. These Oakley Crowbar Asian-fit goggles came along on Brociety just in time. Yellow frame and black iridium lenses. Base lens tint looks like VR-28 color. Ventilation looks about as marginal as the Wisdom, so they should fog-up under similar circumstances. Foam fits my face nicely. Nice, shiny, and new. Whee. Okay, I’m a little happy… maybe. Continue reading ‘New Oakley Crowbar Snow Goggles’