Yesterday afternoon, the first breaking reports of the arty exchanges between the DPRK and the ROK were all over the news in Japan. Lee Myung Bak is a paper tiger, so he won’t deliberately escalate things, but who knows what the nutballs in the North who believe their own myth will do. If the DPRK launches their nukes at Seoul and Yokosuka, I might not be getting home as expected next week…
(0)Monthly Archive for November, 2010
Page 4 of 5
The base at Sapporo Kokusai had been steadily shrinking from the 50cm on opening day with no resupply in sight, so instead of blowing cash to ride out there on the bus and risk injury on the concrete-hard refreeze, I decided to head for the hills in a different way – on foot. I loaded up my pack with foul weather gear in case the forecast rains did arrive, and headed intop the hills above Sapporo. As a warm-up, I went up and around Maruyama. The trailhead for this 3km loop is just down the road from the Maruyama Zoo. There were about a dozen other people out on the trail with me that morning, along with a bunch of crows that followed said people, waiting for them to drop potentially edible things. On the return to the trailhead along the stream that runs down alongside the zoo, I found an Ezorisu that was hoping for a handout. Making squirrel noises kept him hanging around, even if I didn’t give him anything. I’m not sure if MTB riding is prohibited, but the amount of wooden steps would make this about 30% portages. Continue reading ‘No Snow? No Bike? Hike!’
Didn’t really think about it until the alternator konked out after yesterdays rally-cross, but man, I’ve got a pile of alternators! Didn’t especially want to deal with this, but it’s the daily driver and it should be a quick fix. The hardest part is working it through spaces like a 3D puzzle in order to pull it out of the engine bay. It still spins ok, but on closer inspection I see bits of some beige plastic/bakelite stuff, that can’t be good. I dig out three other alternators from my shelf of parts. The mounts match, but the plug placement is different, no big deal, the wires reach. In fact I think 3 out of four alternators say that the broken one is the “wrong” one. Continue reading ‘Alternator Lifestyle’
Sam Adams seasonal, and I’m buying it in season! Hm, dunno what happened with this second bottle from the six pack, poured with weak head that quickly dissappeared, first bottle had bit more of a head. The taste is still pretty good, but as I write this, the carbonation has all but died. Medium dark amber, but no strong smoky aroma or flavor, a fair amount of bitter middle. Nice malt and the adjunct spices I find to be a nice addition, although I say this with impeded sinus once again. I would drink this again (this is my second tonight 🙂 3 out of 4 spicy monkeys.
Damn Chine tires. So today was the second SCCA Hawaii Rally Cross. Still using the daily driver FX16, the other is not ready yet. It was another blazing ewa day out at Kalealoa, no surprise there, though in the shade the air was cooler. Looks like the track people packed down the oval track area a bit, it was a little firmer and not quite as rough, but eventually it did become rutted in areas. Enough that on my final run, this proudly designed in Taiwan tire debeaded. Silly me, when I went to Sears and asked for cheap tires and they pulled up these Nankang tires, I asked if they were Korean and the sales guy replied affirmative. I didn’t notice until last night when I was hurriedly changing out to the wheels that these were instead “Taiwan Design” Made in China tires. Actually some were marked Made In Taiwan, but one had the Taiwan Design thing going. Damn it, they tricked me! Fortunately airing it with compressor reseated it and I even went for a couple fun runs. And on the drive home they felt just as crappy as on the ride out. Did I rant yet on how crappy these tires drive on the road? Does Taiwan Design mean wiggle like a wet noodle? Continue reading ‘“Taiwan Design”’
Fabio’s favorite news anchor, Grace Lee, is leaving to take a job at the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area.
(0)Driving home yesterday, I saw a dude in a flourescent work shirt with a Litespeeed Ti road bike several houses down from the Cachola Clinic on Kalihi Street. Nothing screams “stolen bike” more than a road bike that’s the wrong size with the drop handlebars rotated back so the brake levers are beneath the hands!
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Man, it took until after nine at night to get everything cleaned up after this Sunday’s ride. The weather looked fine for a ride earlier in the day, but as ride time approached, a wall of grey clouds came rolling over the Windward side, drawn by the weak trades. Stronger trades would have moved the rain-dumping clouds through faster, leaving the trails slightly dampened at most, but the slowly passing clouds were given the chance to fully saturate the ground. When I arrived, Waikupanaha at the trailhead was dry, but within seconds, the downpouring that I had gone through along Kalani’ana’ole caught up. Continue reading ‘Mud Slog’
JB Weld It” is the tag line on the packaging. Well, I don’t have much choice since the part is discontinued from Toyota, and is specific to the FWD 4AGE so harder to find at junkyard. So time to test out the this metal filled epoxy that is JB Weld. I got the stick putty form instead of the classic liquid stuff, since I was going to be creating a lot of missing flange instead of just filling some cracks or holes. 
The specs shows its not quite as strong as the liquid, but hopefully it’ll be strong enough. Cut off a piece of the ‘tootsie roll’ and mushed it up good, then squished it onto the cleaned fitting and molded it into rough shape. Let it set up for day and half and here it is. I then took the Dremel to it and shaped it. So far it looks pretty good. Hopefully when I put it all together it holds! Continue reading ‘“Don’t Scrap It-‘