Over It

Published on May 3, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

I’m over it already.

I think we’re all over it.

We explored central Oahu again this Saturday. The payoff was not quite worth it considering all the effort it took to get to where we wanted to go. Although the main valley did not appear to be in use, some of the plots over toward the old access road were. We verified a second route over to the plateau, by crossing the road and going through the old paint marker gaming area. We found a quicker way to access the valley near the familiar steep climb through the eucalyptus trees. There was a steep climb-out to the bottom of the ridge where the abandoned structure is located. We rode through squealing pig to the doubletrack, then explored several dead-ends along the dirt road and the road itself. Access to the old flume trail was not available because of an active agricultural usage. The trail across the end of squealing pig is blocked off, and because of disuse, the trail further in was blocked with a lot of deadfall. After all the in-and-out exploration, we didn’t want to go all the way around and out the back side, so we looped around the way we went in the last time and went out that way. Continue reading ‘Over It’

Sweet Home Café

Published on April 28, 2009 in Culture and Food by derek. Closed

Word of a new Taiwan Style hot pot restaurant had been circulating around for a while, so after reading and deliberating, and schedule making, I rounded up some of my eating buddies (K and J) to go check it out a few months back.  We found it to be very economical, and every left with a Euphoric Sense of Well Being™.  Unfortunately that time noone had a good camera with them.  We finally managed to get everyone back together again for another visit this evening

sweet home cafe

sweet home cafe

Continue reading ‘Sweet Home Café’

Outlaw Deathmarch

Published on April 27, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Sunday morning was cool and cloudless, which meant the day would shape up to be sunny and brutally hot. What better a day to go on a long ride in central O’ahu! I met Ckucke, Kevyn, and Root for a recon ride out in the forbidden zone where we used to ride back in the day. Rumors through the grapevine indicated that the former tennant who had erected fences and signs was no longer in leasing the property, either because of an upcoming housing development in the area, or perhaps from repercussions over alleged illegal activity in a structure on the property. Continue reading ‘Outlaw Deathmarch’

1951 Chevy door shaving

Published on April 26, 2009 in car by derek. Closed Tags: .

So after friday eve’s rumblings about shaving the door handles on J’s ’51 Chevy, the call went out to do it in the afternoon, when its not as hot.

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So the basic idea is to smooth the lines of the car by removing the exterior handle.

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Lots of Cut! Weld! Grind! involved.  Lots of re-learning how to weld.

It all went pretty fast, and after the project, we’re pretty confident we can do more difficult projects, like frenching the headlights, or replacing the doorskins.

Heres a video of the project.  Five hours in 3 minutes.

[flashvideo file=media/chevy_door_renewal.flv /]

Difficultly: Moderate (you need someone that can weld)

Stuff required: Welding gear, angle grinder, Bondo, and related accesories

Flash Flood Ride

Published on April 24, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

The weather report on Wednesday called for locally heavy showers beginning midday Thursday, so heavy in fact that a flash flood watch was in effect. With a reasonable expectation of bad weather, I packed my ride kit and brought it in on Thursday. Throughout the day, the cloudy skies grew progressively darker. Webcams showed the H3 corridor and the windward side socked in and shiny with rainwater. As quitting time approached, I went outside to check visually on the top of Tantalus, and lo, even though the thick ceiling of clouds was an ominous dark grey, it was high up and not in the act of relieving itself of its precipitable moisture. The air outside did however feel thick and heavy: It felt like it was going to rain any minute. Ckucke and I had eaten heavy lunches from Young’s in ‘Aiea, so we were feeling lethargic. We kept waffling on whether we should call it or go. In the end, inspiration won out over apathy and the call went out that it was mission “go”. Continue reading ‘Flash Flood Ride’

Raraya

Published on April 24, 2009 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

p1010160Discovered by Scat, just newly opened at 1145 South King Street, a new ramen-ya, Raraya. located next to The Bike Shop and across the street from Precision Radio, near the intersection of S. King and Piikoi. The sign notes that it is iekei ramen, which some quick Net searching indicates it’s a style of ramen from the Yokohama area and seems to have originally been a chain of ramen shops. It features a broader flat noodle, slices of cha siu, spinach, sheets of nori and the options of specifing oilyness, saltyness, and firmness. Continue reading ‘Raraya’

Beer Is Good – “33” Export Lager

Published on April 24, 2009 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

33_export_label33_exportHad this hoppy Pilsen from VBL Tien Giang Limited, Vietnam with dinner at Hale Vietnam. This beer has a convoluted history, originally being a product of the Lao Brewing Company in Laos until 1990, but now produced by various breweries and sold in various idiosyncratic markets around the world. The particular USDM-labeled specimen I had was labeled that it was brewed in Vietnam. It still had the LBC tiger logo, but it was all-red, instead of the brown tiger inside a red circle that is the current LBC logo. Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – “33” Export Lager’

It Ails

Published on April 23, 2009 in car by taro. Closed

Curses. Checked the AE86 this morning since when I got home last night after break in drive it was sucking water. Filling water int almost dry radiator yielded a puddle on ground as water came seeping out of water pump. Nuts, guess its going to be another week before it goes anywhere. See what happens when you clean and flush stuff, you upset the delicate crust layer holding everything together….

It Lives!

Published on April 23, 2009 in car by taro. Closed

The AE86 is rolling again! This past weekend was spent changing the brake rotors and pads in preparation of going for safety check. Things conspired to keep me from taking the car out to break in until tonight. I recharged the battery too, so the car started right up. Didn’t sound or smell beautiful, but it was running.dscf2467 dscf2449The brakes before were lousy, and there’s no surprise looking at how crusty they were.  Here we got the rear on the left, and the front here to the right. Discovered the front rotors are a little more involved to replace than on my other Corolla. Continue reading ‘It Lives!’

Back Leg Burn

Published on April 22, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Pain.

It’s been two days since the Monday night St. Louis downhill and jump session, and my body hurts the same as if I had done a full day of snowboarding two days ago. My messed-up shoulder is stiff, and my back muscles, triceps, and forearms hurt – just like I repeatedly stacked in the terrain park or something. My back leg quad and calf really hurt – just like from riding deep pow all day with not enough stance setback.

I hope I can recover for tomorrow’s Tantalus ride! Continue reading ‘Back Leg Burn’