I dropped off Fabio and Root at HNL this evening, then came back home to finish packing to head out to Ezo tomorrow. There was no electricity from H3 to Fabio’s due to that red crane stored in the vacant lot after the Maunawili intersection toppling and taking out the powerlines and almost crushing two tourists in a Jeep. Root and Fabio were waiting in the dark. The crew balked at joining me in Sapporo when the return of fuel surcharges raised the JAL ticket prices above the $800 USD mark., so they headed off to Salt Lake City to check on the conditions there instead. Sapporo has been pretty snow free for the past few weeks, so things were looking rather dire, but it started snowing in the mountains about a week and a half ago, so I should find a half-meter base at Kokusai and Teine, and about 30cm at Kiroro. There doesn’t seem to be a high likelyhood of fill-in snow next week, so I may end up riding krunk.
Author Archive for risu
Page 44 of 95
Hmm… For some reason, I’m not convinced this is a real Royal Palm tree. The fake Norfolk Island pine tree in Kalihi valley is a lot more realistic: If I didn’t see them putting it up, I might not have noticed it was a cellular telephone antenna tower.
This month’s contest is to identify the location of this specific fake tree. Again, give us the specific longitude and latitude. If there are several near guesses, the closest one as determined by a field GPS measurement will take the prize. Just register and post your guess as a comment on this thread to enter!
This month’s prize is a white SNM tee shirt with this image on the front. Large or medium size is available.
Again, if you’re outside of the United States, delivery of the prize may be an issue, so you may receive only the recognition of your alpha-geekdom. Contest rules and prizes subject to change.
Contest ends Monday, 30 November 2009.
Ow. The middle finger on my weak hand hurts. Jarrel requested I build a wheel for a regular customer, and I guess all the callouses and deadened nerves from years of wheelbuilding have reverted to pre-wrench conditions. Heck, I had a difficult time chopping off all the old spokes since the tendonitis in my left elbow has been acting up since before Kyoto. When was the last time I built a wheel? Was it the set on the Truth? No – there must have been something after that…
(0)I saw the later half of the “Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins†movie today, and the only understanding I can gather about all the complaints that they cast an “Asian†as Velma is that this is racism. The actress, Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft is half-Asian, so therefore is also “half whiteâ€. So what’s the problem? She’s no more Asian than she is white – why is she being labeled as “only Asianâ€? It’s like a famous American mixed-ethnicity politician being labeled as “America’s first Black President†or another mixed-ethnicity professional athlete being identified for only his father’s race. Do these complainers only see what they consider an “impurityâ€, and not the remaining white side? That’s seriously Third Reich thinking. Alcroft performs the role well, regardless of her ethnicity. The show’s producers were not trying to “Asianify†the character: They cast the actress that fit the role the best. Period. A syndicated reviewer mentioned the whole “Asian†thing and went on to say that she also didn’t have freckles like the original cartoon character, almost intimating that being Asian was mutually exclusive to having freckles, and therefore made her another level inappropriate. Sorry, dude – Asians get freckles too.
(0)It’s not that I didn’t feel motivated to ride this afternoon, but things just didn’t fall into place for some reason. My cardio-pulmonary performance was fine, but everything else felt off-spec. My knees felt a little sore, so I took the climbs out of the ride and just did the flats. My ass hurt from Wednesday’s ride, but when I stood up, my quads didn’t want to do the job. Fatigue? Just not on it? It got dark really fast so I just called it quits and went home. I think the winter malaise is starting already…
D = 12.76 km (7.93-miles), Vavr = 18.7 km/h (11.6-mph), Vmax = 38.6 km/h (24.0-mph), T = 41-minutes
That’s not right. A dark, dynamically moving column of smoke was rising from the area bounded by Kahekili Highway, Kea’ahala Road, and Anoi Road. Could have been a structure fire, or something burning in the wooded area. I didn’t see or hear any emergency vehicles. After work, I rode my bike over and did some recon. It was a structure fire at: 21.410377,-157.8063 (just put the coordinates into your favorite internet mapping site).
Those times of year when the normal Northeasterlies break down and Southerlies prevail bring clear, dew-covered mornings and picturesque sunrises and sunsets. Too bad they also bring torrid midday heat and irritants that exacerbate various respiratory conditions. Here’s a pretty picture of this morning’s sunrise to take your mind off the evil lingering heat and itchy eyes.
I keep hearing this radio spot about how “American-built [pickup] trucks from Ford, Chrysler, and Chevrolet outsell foreign-made trucks from Nissan, Honda, and Toyota”. Duh! Nissan, Honda, and Toyota build all the trucks sold on the USDM in North America! None of them are imported! In fact, none of these companies’ Japanese divisions even makes or sells pickup trucks for the JDM anymore. The ad wasn’t lying, but it definitely wasn’t truthful.
(0)I managed to get home at a reasonable hour today, so I went for a ride, having been off the bike for over a week. Although there was no rain, the sky was hardly clear. This morning was cool, cloudless, and still because of the lack of trade winds, so the volcanic outflow from the South filled the air with a haze that helped trap the day’s heat and create a thick, sweltering afternoon. Ground heating did generate some afternoon cloud cover, but the haze made it difficult to visually differentiate between the sky and the clouds. The light faded quickly and I concluded my ride in darkness.
D = 12.91 km (8.02-miles), Vavr = 19.0 km/h (11.8-mph), Vmax = 37.2 km/h (23.1-mph), T = 41-minutes
This strong, dark ale from Hitachino is in the classic stout vein, from the dark roasted malt and almost syrupy decoction, to the strong hopping. This stout from Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki Prefecture in central Eastern Honshuu, Japan was more in the vein of the heartier Guinness Extra Stout than the lighter nitrogen-charged Pub Draught Stout in flavor, body, and gas saturation. It was a different experience altogether from even Hitachino’s own Sweet Stout. Since this was my beer of choice at a “BYOB†restaurant, I didn’t have the luxury of a glass, so I didn’t get to observe the color, clarity, head, or carbonation. The first taste was very strong on the hop, but this moderated on subsequent sips, allowing the malt flavor to shine through. It was less hoppy than say a Deschutes Obsidian, but significantly more than a Guinness Draught. This would probably put it in “danger beer†territory for chronic light American lager drinkers. The flavor was initially very hoppy with a dark-roasted malt note. The hop flavor was flowery, but leaned more toward the astringent than the sweet, but it was only mildly bitter. The perceived dryness was added to by the carbonation, as opposed to the more mellow, creamy effect imparted by nitrogen in a widgeted stout like Guinness Draught. The malt flavor was not dark to the point of being “smoky†or coffee-like, and the mouthfeel was thick and spreading with a moderate level of carbonation. The hop and malt tones faded out evenly to the finish, the malt lingering maybe slightly longer. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Hitachino Nest Beer XH’