Category: acquired things

Fenders For My Mountain Bike

Published December 18, 2008

SKS Shockboard and X-tra Dry 3 fenders for my bike, purchased at REI.

Today I purchased some extra dorky fenders for my mountain bike. I don’t really mind mud, but I don’t like glops on my face and a handful rubbed into my back when riding in cold, sloppy weather. This is exactly the kind of weather we will have here in Michigan on off-road paths through March or April.

They look a bit strange on the bike, but seem like they’ll do a good job of collecting / blocking spray and mud. I’ll try and get a photo of them mounted after I try them out in actual riding.

For reference, the fenders I picked up are the SKS X-TRA-DRY rear and SHOCKBOARD front mudguard.

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Locking Pliers, Furnace Issues

Published December 11, 2008

A pair of Craftsman pliers with locking jaws found in the road around my condo complex as I was leaving for work this morning.

This morning I found this pair of Craftsman locking pliers in the road as I was leaving my condo. I’ve been wanting some of these but haven’t purchased them, so this is a nice find.

Before that, I found that my house was 58°F (14.4°C) when I woke up this morning. The thermostat was calling for heat, but the furnace wasn’t igniting. This has happened in the past, requiring a quick reset of either the thermostat (Heat -> Off -> Heat) or the furnace (power cycle) to make it work again, but in the past couple of weeks it’s been happening with alarming frequency. I’m afraid that an electrical component of my furnace is starting to go wonky. I may end up just calling Mike’s Heating & Cooling who did a nice job installing a new air conditioner in 2006. While I normally wouldn’t mind fixing such electronics myself, reproducing the issue is difficult I can’t exactly wait for parts when it’s regularly below freezing outside.

Oh, and welcome to my first post from WordPress 2.7. Hopefully it’ll continue working nicely. As long as it goes well I’ll probably be upgrading the rest of the blogs I host sometime this evening.

UPDATE: Some things are a bit weird, and plugins like StatPress Reloaded and AdSense Manager need their management / control portions tweaked so that they show up under the right part of the Dashboard, but they still seem to work.

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Palazzo di Bocce

Published December 10, 2008

Playing bocce with some coworkers. Brad is on the left and Doug just rolled a ball.

Today some coworkers of mine and I went to Palazzo di Bocce to play some bocce as a group Christmas-ish outing. It was much nicer than the last times I went with work, because we had smaller teams which allowed everyone plenty of time to play. The last time we went there was a tournament-style game, fewer points needed to win, and four players per team which meant that I was only able to bowl six or eight times the whole day.

After work I ran to Trader Joe’s, then Danielle and I met up for some nice dinner here at home of sweet potato fries, mayo and Clancy’s Fancy dip, organic chicken sausages, wheat buns, and tapioca pudding. At TJs I was able to get some of the 2008 Vintage Ale, which being brewed by Unibroue will hopefully be good. I acquired quite a bit of it last year’s 2007 vintage and if this year’s batch is just as good I’ll probably get a bunch more.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to build up the hardware portion of a replacement PC for my grandparents, a meeting about some volunteer computer-ish work, normal work, and… whatever else comes up. This is right in line with how busy my days have been lately. I guess this is a good thing… I think?

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Sanyo “The Claw” CD/DVD Media Destroyer

Published December 1, 2008

Not long ago John pointed me to a sale at Woot for a device which destroys CDs or DVDs. Having a huge stack of discs to dispose of and costing only $4.99 (+$5 shipping) I decided to order one. Today my Sanyo “The Claw” CD/DVD Media Destroyer arrived.

Yes, that’s exactly what it says on the box, not far from the part which shows that it is Compact Disc and DVD compatible. Too bad it doesn’t do Blu-ray.

After eating some dinner I set to work processing discs, and with a ~2 second cycle time per disc I was able to get through 163 discs (one after another) before The Claw stopped working, with a FreeBSD 3.2 CD stuck in the drive. Thankfully it was just a thermal shutdown, and after allowing it to rest in the garage for half an hour I was able to continue processing the discs, chewing through the remaining 70 or so in no time flat.

The Claw works by pinching the media between two spiked rollers, which put a bunch of small indentations all over both sides of the disc while at the same time somewhat deforming the plastic so that the disc isn’t really flat nor round. A test audio CD made a bunch of horrible noises when placed in a top load radio, so I can only imagine what putting one of these discs in a normal reader would do.

Here is a detailed image of what The Claw did to a NT 5.0 beta CD and here’s similar damage to a CD-R, including delamination of the foil. Here is a 600dpi scan of a processed CD-R showing the typical damage pattern.

Now that I’m done processing that giant stack of discs I’m not sure what to do with it. I could relabel it as a DVD cleaner and drop it off a the Salvation Army, but that’d just be mean.

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Sears Free Spirit Bicycle and Manual

Published November 30, 2008

Side view of the bicycle as received. I think the drive train needs the most work.

Back in the early 1980s my grandma bought my grandpa a bicycle for his birthday, but my grandpa ended up not really riding it. So, for more than 25 years, it sat, until they were clearing things out and gave it to me; my very own Sears Free Spirit 10-Speed 26-In. Lightweight Bicycle.

Despite its name, this bike isn’t particularly lightweight, and probably is somewhere around the weight of Danielle’s Townie and my bike combined. It’s also not particularly high quality, as the various frame pieces and joints seem a bit undersized. That said, I think there’s something particularly nifty about it. Maybe it’s the bottle generator / dynamo and the lights, maybe it’s the big chrome pie plates, or maybe it’s just knowing that it’s a cheap department store from a time I don’t really remember.

Yesterday when visiting with my Grandparents they gave me the instruction manual for it, as they’d found it when going through some drawers. I’ve taken the whole manual, scanned it, then posted it online because it’s really amusing for someone interested in bikes to read. I find these line art drawings to be particularly entertaining. This exploded drawing of the bike is also great.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with this bike. I may fix it up, but being unsure of whether or not I’ll actually use it, I’m tempted to just give it away or donate to The Hub of Detroit / Back Alley Bikes. That’s a decision for later.

For now, please enjoy this album of photos of the new-to-me Free Spirit (Sears 10-Speed 26-In. Lightweight Bicycle) and the Free Spirit Owner’s Manual.

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NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB Plus

Published November 30, 2008

A while back I had the chance to acquire a NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB Plus bike / helmet light for a very good price. It took a while to arrive, but I received it just before Thanksgiving and decided to take a few photos of the unboxing of it. At 110 lumens it’s not a particularly powerful light, but it should be nice to throw on the handlebars to provide some contrast with my head light. I also hope to use it on both Danielle’s bike and, if I get it, a Surly Cross Check. It should be just great alone for paved area / path riding.

I hope to do a light comparison later with it, the TriNewt, and a few other lights, but for now please feel free to browse the MiNewt Mini-USB Plus album.

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Laphroaig Quarter Cask

Published November 25, 2008

Save for an awful cold, an Oyster Card, some cash, a few receipts, and two packs of ~~candy~~ chocolate bars, this 1L bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask purchased at a Duty Free shop at Heathrow Airport was the only real souvenir which I brought back from the UK. Cost was £30.99, and with the ~1.58:1 exchange rate we received, the state minimum price of $54.98 for a 750mL, and a 6% sales tax, presuming the same size bottle was available, this cost 63% of what it would back here in Michigan.

This is a very interesting whisky. Despite its higher alcohol content it’s not as potent of a flavor as I expected. It’s still nicely smoky, but there’s something much softer about it. I did mix it with about 40% water, and I may eventually work up to trying it neat, but that’s typically a stretch for Laphroaig. It’s almost always best with at least a small splash of water.

I guess I should go fill out the form to claim my square foot of land on Islay. Maybe one day I’ll end up there and have a chance to collect rent.

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Haworth Improv HE

Published October 30, 2008

A few days ago I received what I thought was spam from a company called ISCG offering up very cheap office furniture. After realizing that the email was actually from a local who sells office furniture from whom I’d requested info in the past, I gave it a closer look. It turns out that the message was an advertisement in which they offered up some demo, used, and otherwise unwanted pieces for rather cheap.

The message showed a table which I thought would work out well for Danielle to sit at in my office, so I called them to inquire about the piece. It turns out that they have a warehouse / repair shop over on Lincoln in Royal Oak, so I met up with someone there at noon today to check out the table. The table looked great and I ended up picking up two office chairs as well. What’s best is that the chairs are the same models I’ve been sitting in at work for the last number of years, the Haworth Improv HE and Accolade.

The total price ended up being $100, broken down as $25 each for the table and Haworth Accolade, and $50 for the Haworth Improv HE. This is an excellent price, as I was looking into a brand new Improv HE earlier this year and it was going to cost $375 or so. I figure that $50 for one with a few scratches is perfectly fine. The Improv HE can be seen above or here, and here is Danielle sitting at the table on the Accolade where it was first set up in the living room.

While most people have been favoring the Herman Miller Aeron chair I’ve found the plastic frame of the seat to be a bit awkward. I occasionally sit with one leg to the side, but on an Aeron the frame gets in the way. While researching chairs I’d realized that as I’ve been sitting on an Improv HE since moving to my current work facility in 2001 for hours a day with relative comfort and that maybe I should just get one of these. Now, I have one, and at a very reasonable price. Even better, Danielle has a proper place to sit, not just at the end of my desk.

Oh, and I just passed gas on the chair for the first time. I guess it’s christened and ready to go.

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Fox Run Garbage Disposal Screen

Published October 27, 2008

Back when I first moved into my apartment I purchased a nice plastic screen to cover my garbage disposal opening. It’s worked well, but due to my putting it in the dish washer, things being dropped on it, and general exposure to cleaning stuffs it’s begun failing. I suspect that it’ll break any day now.

Looking around online I found that I can get them for $2.49/each from Organize.com, but there is also $5.95 shipping. I also spent some time designing a replacement for it in to be made at eMachineShop.com, (screenshot of the part being designed is here) but their system was estimating a price of ~$400 for an anodized aluminum part, and ~$700 for ten pieces.

I’d prefer not to pay rather high online shipping prices, but I think that just ordering two will be worth it. I’ve been able to find plenty of other strainers, but they usually have too few holes and don’t drain well or are mesh and thus hard to clean. This one has worked out great for years, it’s just time to replace it.

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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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