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Month: October 2008

Bike Clothing and Otherwise

Published October 17, 2008

Pearl Izumi Gavia gloves and Canary Razor Convertable Bike Jacket, 2007 model.

Needing some warmer clothing for biking I stopped by REI today in hopes of finding something to keep me a bit warmer while riding. I ended up picking up a pair of Pearl Izumi Gavia Gloves to (hopefully) keep my hands warmer in colder temps, all the way through winter riding.

I also came across a bright yellow Canari Razor ’07 jacket at REI for $43.93. It is a size medium, but after trying it on I ended up purchasing it. I’m still not sure if it’s too small and should be returned for a large or not. It fits well over another layer and I can comfortably move my arms around, but it feels slightly snug in the shoulders if I wrap my arms around as if hugging myself. Maybe a slightly larger size would be better, just so it’s more free while riding and I can wear more layers beneath it, if needed. That said, I don’t want it too large otherwise it’ll just flap in the wind. I’ll decide tomorrow before leaving on a ride, I guess.

Kohl’s has the jeans I prefer (Levi 569) on sale for $29.99 a pair, and with both of my current pairs having growing holes in the knees I picked up two new pairs. I also grabbed three cheap ($5.40/ea) plain t-shirts to add to my growing collection of comfortable t-shirts without logos. Yes, I still prefer to wear t-shirts and jeans.

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restrict default ignore

Published October 17, 2008

In setting up NTP on nuxx.net I ran into a bit of a problem: time wouldn’t sync. My configuration was fairly simple, following the information on support.ntp.org for using the pool of North American servers, blocking external access, but allowing ntpq (et al) to work from localhost:

server 0.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 1.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 2.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 3.north-america.pool.ntp.org

driftfile /var/db/ntp.drift

restrict default ignore
restrict 127.0.0.1

However, it seemed that no matter what I tried (disabling the firewall, adding exceptions for TCP/UDP 123, changing order of the restrict statements, etc) the box wasn’t able to contact its peers:

c0nsumer@banstyle:~> ntpq -pn
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 217.160.254.116 .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
 209.132.176.4   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
 209.40.97.141   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
 216.14.98.234   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00

After some more digging I found that the restrict default ignore option, which is widely recommended to keep external folks from connecting to your ntpd, prevents synchronization from happening, even with the exception for localhost.

Having realized that, my ntp.conf is now just the basic config for the NA servers and the drift file, and it all works great:

server 0.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 1.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 2.north-america.pool.ntp.org
server 3.north-america.pool.ntp.org

driftfile /var/db/ntp.drift

Yep, it’s syncing just fine:

c0nsumer@banstyle:~> ntpq -pn
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
*217.160.254.116 18.26.4.105      2 u  200  256   17   37.192    4.619   1.461
 209.132.176.4   66.187.233.4     2 u  201  256   17  101.819   21.118   9.529
 209.40.97.141   192.5.41.40      2 u  197  256   17   38.565  -31.122  21.081
 216.14.98.234   216.218.254.202  2 u  200  256   17   18.731    3.940   4.848

c0nsumer@banstyle:~> ntptrace
localhost: stratum 3, offset 0.004619, root distance 0.043540
server.donkeyfly.com: stratum 2, offset -0.000686, root distance 0.006361
bonehed.lcs.mit.edu: stratum 1, offset 0.000018, root distance 0.000000, refid 'CDMA'

Now I just let pf restrict access to NTP. That works just fine.

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Forced Air Heat: Go!

Published October 16, 2008

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The furnace filter has been changed, first ignition was observed, and warm air is flowing out of the vents.

It’s not that cold out yet, and the heat won’t need to be on for long to bring things up to temperature, but I like to be sure everything is working before it’s really needed. Also, I’d like to get the first-furnace-use-of-the-season smell out ASAP. It reminds me of being little and the seasons changing, but it also smells of burning.

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Cold Weather Gear

Published October 16, 2008

Tonight’s ride was just over 29 miles, because I parked a bit further out than other folks. The distance was fine, but the cold (~50°F) was making my knees hurt. I think if I’m going to keep riding in this weather I’ll be needing some cold weather gear. It’s been suggested that I look at the Pearl Izumi AmFIB tights and either some shoe covers or cycling boots. With it getting dark so early I think a bright colored cycling vest (with lots of reflective bits) is also in order. Oh, and also some full finger or maybe lobster-type cycling gloves.

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Coffee Grinder: “Fixed”

Published October 15, 2008

My coffee grinder, after cleaning a relatively minor clog, in the midst of figuring out how many servings I can make from one two pound bag of coffee.

It seems that my efforts to establish cost savings performance metrics for making coffee at home distracted me from coffee grinder maintenance responsibilities. My aforementioned coffee grinder problems were because of some manner of clog.

Good thing this never happens in real life.

(It seems that during a single day of disuse the grinder stopped working, and the only “fix” needed was to empty and clean it. Also, can you tell how I occasionally have to write?)

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Coffee Grinder: Fail

Published October 15, 2008

Toilet paper (for my nose) and coffee (for my soul) on a desk at work.

Almost every morning before work I grind some coffee then prepare it in an AeroPress. Not this morning. Today when I went to press START or GRIND or whatever the button is labeled nothing happened. Because it appears to be somewhat microprocessor controlled I don’t think the problem is mechanical, which means that hopefully I’ll be able to easily fix it.

Unfortunately, this was also half-way through a study I was doing on exactly how many cups of coffee I can get out of two pounds of coffee, how many grinds it takes, how many filters are used, etc. Although maybe this will just prompt me to restart and this time take into account amount of electricity consumed, cost of the grinder, etc. I’m wanting to know just how much money I’m saving (or perhaps not) and how much less waste I’m generating by making coffee at home every day, using what I perceive to be an easy process.

Since I uploaded a few more photos today to my moblog, I’ll point them all out:

· This praying mantis was found next to a gas pump. It was alive, but its abdomen was full of ants which were eating it.
· My coworker Brian gave me some Airborne to try and help make me feel better. It doesn’t taste horrible.
· Some of the urinals at work have these new scented mats in them. The result is that hot urine makes a very strong fragrence waft up while going. It’s unplesant.
· One of my coworkers gave me this cupcake. It’s very, very good.

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Not Comfort Food

Published October 14, 2008

Falafel, hummus, and garlic from Lebanese Grill in Shelby Township, MI.

I really like Lebanese food and when I couldn’t decide what to have for dinner (I didn’t want leftovers again) I decided to go get some falafel, hummus, and garlic. It tasted really good, but it just didn’t hit the spot while sick.

That said, Lebanese Grill between Costco and Hall Road in Shelby Township is pretty darn good. I’m glad to have that place close by, because it means that I can get good Lebanese food pretty much whenever I want it.

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Boxes Are Gone

Published October 14, 2008

Breaking down the large pile of cardboard boxes in the basement and carrying them upstairs has worn me out. It’s a good thing I didn’t give into temptation and go for a bike ride.

Now to find some dinner. Last night was some nice Thai curry, but as I also had that for lunch, three meals of it in a row is a bit off putting. Pizza is tempting, but unhealthy. Someone come make me soup? And bring a movie?

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Rear Hub Fixed

Published October 14, 2008

With a few minutes to spare I pulled apart the rear hub on my bike and put it back together. Why, you ask? Well, as I was checking things over before Massive Fallout I noticed a gentle rolling/rattling sound coming from the rear hub. This got me realizing that I must have knocked a bearing out of a race when reassembling the hub the last time, not noticed it, and had it rolling around inside the hub body.

Being a bearing shy isn’t a horrible thing, but I did want to get it sorted out as quickly as possible, especially as I’d put 100-200 miles on the bike since noticing the bearing. Having a full set of cone wrenches (three dual-sized ones, doing the 13mm-18mm range) and a bench vise makes this job trivial.

Also, my lower GI has now realized that the rest of me is sick and begun following suit. Fun.

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