I am the camera slut. The digicam manufacturers dream customer. I’ve bought so many digital cameras that I would have to sit and give it serious thought to count them, and most of them still work fine. Maybe later I’ll gather them all together for a group photo. The latest in the lineup is this Canon Powershot D10. The outstanding feature that prompted it’s purchase was it’s waterproof and ruggedized construction. That category seems to be the new growth category for the manufacturers, almost every one is comming out with a model now. The Canon is 10m (33ft) depth rated, just over 1m (4ft) drop rated, and “freezproof” rated to -10c (14f).
Well, the PC was quite dead. A RAM and P/S swap borrowed from D could not revive it. So I procured a replacement. A refurb Dell monster. Decent price for a basic core 2 w/2G RAM, 500G HD, DVD drives and a video card. Housed in a monstrous XPS series case with 700W power supply. This monolith has 1/8″ thick aluminum exterior panels and weighs a ton. BTX format, space inside for 4 SATA HDs with its own fan, 4 external accessible 5.25 bays, 2 external 3.5 bays. I harvested the hard drives, DVD burner, card reader from the old machine and installed into the new machine. Powered up, everything pops up fast, and the floor of my room is bathed in a blue glow. There are eights LEDs on the front of the PC, and some on the back that all they do is glow. You can even go into BIOS and configure the color. Sure, it’s cool for dramatic effect, but I can see it being annoying if I leave the machine running at night. Thankfully one of the options is off.
Anyway, so far the machine looks good. Going through the pains of reinstalling software and shuffling files around.
Monday’s St. Louis ride didn’t transpire, so I met Kevyn and Root up there on Thursday for some XC riding. Thursday is usually Tantalus day, but I really felt like riding dirt for some reason. Kevin’s truck was there when I arrived, but he was nowhere to be seen. I figured I’d take a little spin up the ridge trail to warm up then come back down and see if he was back. It immediately became apparent that my legs were feeling the effects of the beer ride on Wednesday, so I dropped it into granny just past the water tank and spun easily to where the trail jogged to the left. Returning back down the trail, I took a little left side trail into the strawberry guava thicket and re-explored the sideline that I had seen over a decade ago on a ride with Chris Clark. The trail along the edge of the ridgetop was still open, but disuse had obscured the line a little with a heavy layer of ironwood needles. I passed a DLNR pig monitoring enclosure complete with rain gauges and automated camera. It was looking rather dilapidated, and disused. Continuing down the tight singletrack, I dumped back out onto the main trail above the moonscape. Continue reading ‘Thursday Dirt’
Cade Roster and Ryan Higa are part of the “manga-inspired” group art show, Kawaii-Kowai at fishcake opening this evening. The opening festivities run from 18:00 – 20:00. Fishcake isn’t really a gallery per se, maybe more of a furnishing/interior decor store, but they deal in art pieces too. Check it out if you’re in the area!
Today marks the last day of the tax break on ethanol-fortified automotive fuels in Hawaii, so along with the price increases due to the jump in crude oil prices, we have to pay an additional $0.12 USD per gallon in State excise tax. Consider also that to this day, not a single drop of ethanol has been produced in the State of Hawaii – all that ethanol going onto E10 is being imported into the state from the mainland USA or from foreign sources! Even when the first proposed plant opens here in a few years out at Campbell, it will be producing ethanol from imported corn. Where’s the logic in that? Good going, Auntie Linda! I hope you all remember this half-baked legacy of hers the next time an election rolls around (she’s done, but her implied successor, Dook, is aiming for the big chair). Her ethanol junket raised the cost of producing automotive fuels, increased our dependence on foreign or imported products, made our cars run bad, and decreased fuel mileage by around 10%. Continue reading ‘Protest Ride’
Two weekends ago, I stripped out the handle on the front RWS thru-bolt on my DT-Swiss 240 front hub. Everything was tight enough for the ride, but I had to switch the good rear handle over to the front in order to remove the front wheel so the bike would fit in the FJ80. I emailed DT on Saturday night, they passed my message along to DT-USA, and by Monday morning Hawaii-time, I had a response! After confirmation as to which skewer it was, David over at DT-USA’s Colorado office put a new handle in the mail for me. It arrived on Thursday morning and I was good to go for the weekend ride! Now that’s great after-purchase service! Jeff has had extremely good results from DT-Swiss service-wise on previous occasions also. Not only do they make exceptionally good products, they back them up with great follow-up service.
Four out of four customer service monkeys
Wednesday was clear on the Windward side, so I went for an easy spin to get the cobwebs out of the head and the sluggishness out of the legs in preparation for Thursday’s Tantalus ride. Again, I kept it easy so as not to wreck anything prior to the “real†ride. I played around with the rebound settings on the fork and rear damper to dial in the handling a little more. As is almost mandatory, as soon as I started riding, the sun went into hiding behind thick clouds, shadowing where I was, but still shining brightly down the hill and out into the bay.
D = 12.91 km (8.02-miles), Vavr = 16.1 km/h (10.0-mph), Vmax = 37.3 km/h (23.2-mph), T = 48-minutes
I got stuck in heavy traffic on Thursday, so by the time I got to the top of St. Louis, Root had called Ckucke to say that he was on the way. We waited for him to show, so we would have a complete crew for the full descent. We dropped Upper Dumps through the stunt garden, then climbed out to mainline. Someone had recently gone and chainsawed the perpendicular logs out of the escape route to make the ride up to the inner loop easier. Good job! Turning off onto Taco jumps and continuing across mainline to the rock drop, we switchbacked down to the rock waterfall to agave. Backtracking up to the second switchback sortie, we rode down behind the water tank then connected to the trail above the concrete road to the exit trail. While recovering at the concrete road, JT found a mongoose skull. We rode out to the street then decided to go over to UH for some urban riding. We happened to run into Fabio in the Marine Sciences building courtyard on the way to Kuykendall wall. Continue reading ‘Bone Collector’
The days running up to the weekend grew steadily more and more rainy. It rained hard on Thursday night through Friday morning, but the trades brought blue skies by midday. If this weather held, we would be good for a revisit to the Luana Perimeter trail, but Friday evening brought more heavy rains. In retrospect, conditions might have actually been okay, but on Saturday morning I called Chris and Root and we made the switch to the alternate venue. Ckucke was out camping; JT had a car show to attend; and Jeff, who amazingly expressed interest in riding a bike once again, bowed out at the last minute. Continue reading ‘Cadaverous Cavorting’
This Stout from Hokkaido Beer Pirkawakka brewery in Chitose, South of Sapporo, is a thickly rich example of the variety. The aroma is mildly hoppy, and the flavor malty, with an almost chewy mouthfeel. Since Guinness is the base standard by which other stouts are often judged, let me compare the two. Being in a non-widgeted can, this stout is slightly carbonated so it can form a head, not unlike the Guinness Original Extra Stout. Similarly, there is the associated bitter, dryness from the carbonation, and less of the creaminess of the nitrogen enriched Guinness Draught. When poured, it forms a 15mm head, but beyond that, there is no “bubbling†from the light carbonation. The color is almost opaque dark chocolate. The chosen hops are more bitter than flowery, so like Guinness, the dark roasted malt flavor takes the forefront. The initial taste is smoky, with a malty middle with a bitter back-throat undertone, with a unbelievably smooth, sweeter malty finish. The taste is generally more bitter when cold, and more sweet as the temperature rises. Insofar as Japanese Stouts go, this is the best I’ve experienced, although this is a more uncommon variety amongst Japanese brewers. Compared to the most recent example that I tried, Kirin Stout, this one is significantly better. I would rank this one closer to the Irish Beamish, Guinness, or Murphy’s counterparts. This is a delicious, well-balanced stout. After this and the Pirkawakka Pilsner, I have become thoroughly impressed by Pirkawakka brewery! Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – Hokkaido Beer Pirkawakka Stout’