Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.
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Here’s a photo of tonight’s dinner, a masala dosa from Rangoli Express in Sterling Heights, MI. It was served with sambar and coconut and tomato chutney. I stopped here for dinner after swinging by the ATM. Food is always good and the people working there are quite friendly. It’s one of my two favorite places in the Detroit area for getting Indian food.
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I hadn’t realized it existed, but while poking around some unsigned single track at Stony Creek today I came across what seems like some older bandit downhill and freeride stuff at Stony Creek.
I made my way down some of the downhill stuff, although the ~16″ drops were a bit of a surprise. I didn’t attempt the bridge shown above, but instead just turned around and walked my bike back up the hill.
After riding around some I started heading back to the parking lot, but just after passing some folks and crossing over a small jump-like area on the double track between signs 2 and 1 I saw what I initially thought was a wallet and a bunch of ID laying on the ground. Heading back I found that it was just a Genuine Innovations Patch Kit Large opened and spread across the ground. I picked it up, posted about it on the MMBA forum asking if anyone lost it, and I’ll just hang on to it unless someone claims it.
Leave a CommentYou can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.
Winston Churchill
Well, it looks like a wrap. Even Fox is calling it for Obama. Let’s just hope that Obama (and his appointed administration) do some good for this country. We need it.
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Voting this morning only took about half an hour, despite the polling place being almost completely full of people. I arrived at about 7:04 AM and departed the parking lot at just about 7:40 AM. The roads seem to be quite crowded this morning with areas around schools and churches (polling places) fairly crowded. Work itself is quite empty.
Now, to see how it all plays out… After this meeting and finishing up some other tasks, of course.
Also, my phone’s camera doesn’t have anything remotely like a macro mode. As demonstrated last night it also doesn’t do well in low light. Oh well. A crappy picture is better than none.
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I ended up some tickets to see Coldplay at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Upon collecting them we found that they were in a rather nice location, and while this isn’t the sort of music I tend to listen to it was quite an interesting show. It was also the whitest show I’ve ever been to, but I guess that’s to be expected.
We were about five rows up from the front corner of the stage, just high enough up that we could easily see everything happening on stage without being too high up. As can be seen above we or in the links below we were close enough a basic cell phone photo without digital zoom just barely fit the main part of the stage. There were some really nifty effects as well, including spherical screens with internal projectors, video feedback displayed on a large screen behind the band, and die-cut fluorescent plastic butterflies dropped while the venue was lit with blacklights.
Here’s the five cell phone photos I grabbed during the show: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5
Leave a CommentI think I’ve found what I want to do for my next electronics project. Fitting with my usual idea of taking another OSS project and adding fit and finish (and hopefully accessibility) polish to it, I want to take Atari SDrive by C.P.U. and make a new PCB and enclosure for it, and possibly sell some of the PCBs.
I intend to make the following changes from the current design:
Leave a Comment· SIO connector to the Atari. Option for DB15.
· SMT parts.
· Double-sided PCB with soldermask.
· Different enclosure design, possibly with different label / pushbutton / switch configuration.
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This morning Danielle made pancakes for breakfast. Mmm.
Here is the recipe, although you may wish to cut back on the amount of baking powder in them.
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Today was a good day. After fitting a new set of Avid FR-5 levers on my bike to replacement the one I snapped in a rock garden I put my bike on the car and headed over to Stony Creek. A bit under an hour later I left, having covered all the single track and a second go through The Pines.
The trails were in excellent shape, as many of the freshly fallen leaves have begun breaking down which both keeps them from being as slippery and reveals the roots and rocks they had obscured for the last couple of weeks. This made for a very nice ride, and I felt like I was able to push myself a bit harder than normal and right to the edge of my ability quite a few times.
Danielle had been hoping to ride the paved areas while I did the XC trails, but a really bad headache kept her back at my house. Normally her and I would split up for some riding then I’d join her for another lap around the park, but that just didn’t work out this time.
After getting back here and showering we headed out to
Now I think it’s time for bed, then tomorrow will be a birthday party, some cleaning up around the house, returning a few unwanted things to REI, and likely some other, unforeseen things.
Oh, and here’s two photos:
· Looking down a short piece of single track, past some old fence posts, at Stony Creek on a very nice autumn day. (As Seen Above – Full Res)
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· Part of the single track in the first third of the Roller Coaster at Stony Creek. (Full Res)
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Now that I have a new office chair I would like to get rid of my old one. Are any of you interested? I’d like to get $20 for it, but I’d also take some pizza, order of decent Thai food, or whatever else you’d want to trade for it.
UPDATE: Sorry for not updating sooner, but the chair is now spoken for. Thanks for the interest!
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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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