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GM Eliminates Retiree Healthcare

Published July 15, 2008

As part of General Motors’ press release from this morning (this link may only work in IE), it has been announced that:

…health care coverage for U.S. salaried retirees over 65 will be eliminated, effective January 1, 2009. Affected retirees and surviving spouses will receive a pension increase from GM’s over funded U.S. salaried plan to help offset costs of Medicare and supplemental coverage.

This is awful. I can only hope that it helps push through some manner of base level (at least) socialized health care in the US.

Oh, and (as of right now) the stock is up almost 6%.

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PSA: Wipe Your Computers

Published July 14, 2008

Censored screenshot of bank info found on a computer I found.

This is just a friendly reminder that before throwing out a computer you should wipe the hard drive, lest people find things like this. Yes, I added the black blocks.

I acquired a computer today, and when checking it over found this. There were also some credit card transaction screens (I think maybe the owner had been saving these or something) and family photos, but not much else obvious. I think the owner had attempted to clean it with some antispyware tools and by uninstalling things, but there still were plenty of traces left. I didn’t dig too deep before beginning to wipe it.

So, what should you do when disposing of a computer and/or hard drive? Use a (relatively) simple utility like Darik’s Boot and Nuke to give the hard drive a few wipes before putting it to the curb or giving it away. Or just do what I did last time I had to dispose of some tapes and hard drives.

Anyone want a few year old Duron system? It seems to work…

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River Bends Spa

Published July 12, 2008

My legs with dirt lines after they spent a while being sprayed with mud, dirt, and water at River Bends while trying out The Captain Control tires.

Well, the new tires work well. I rode up to River Bends Park and did two passes on the 5km hiking trail, along with some backtracking to hit the more difficult hills a couple of times. I specifically rode through the most gravely and difficult parts of each of the hills and took sandy corners very quickly and I had no problem maintaining control. The tires are rather difficult when riding on pavement, though.

Most of the path was quite dry, but some parts still had a good bit of standing water. Going through those, along with the sand, led to quite a bit of stuff being thrown up on both me and the bike. After removing my socks it almost appeared as if I had tan lines, but it was all dirt. Once in the shower it felt like I was exfoliating when first passing the bar of soap over my legs.

Here’s two more photos of my dirty bike:

· Muddy front derailleur and bottom bracket area.
· Muddy down tube, bottom bracket shell, cranks, water bottle, etc.

I would clean it off, but I’m hoping to get out to Stony Creek Metropark tomorrow and ride some of the trails there, and I expect it to be equally messy.

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Dusty Table

Published July 12, 2008

The top of the tall table in my living room as Danielle was in the middle of dusting it. Yes, I let it go for too long.

I tend to let things go too long before dusting. Case in point, the tall table in my living room. This one has gone for… I’m not sure how long. Today Danielle dusted it (and other things), and I happened to catch this part mid-stroke and stopped her because it looked so nifty.

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The Captain Control

Published July 12, 2008

Specialized The Captain Control tire on the left and Fast Trak LK, the tires which came with my bike, on the right.

As mentioned earlier I had purchased some new wheels for my bike. While true, the spoke tension seemed a bit off and after a bunch of riding the spokes were making a bunch of noise. Not having (nor building) a truing stand and without a Spoke Tension Meter I decided the best thing would be to just take the wheels in and have them sorted out. So, I dropped them off Wednesday after work.

Not only was the tension off, but it was very uneven and the rear wheel needed to be re-dished. I guess this goes along with the disclaimer Price Point prints on the packing slips sent along with wheels:

All wheels come pre built and trued. It is common for any new wheelset to become untrue after its initial use, and is the buyer’s responsibility to keep the wheels trued. Spokes or rims damaged due to inappropriate use are not covered by warranty

Sure, I expected some some loosening of the spokes, but I didn’t think it’d be that bad. I also question if the wheels were that well built to begin with. Lesson learned, I guess: Cheaper pre-built wheels from online may need a bit of work. At least it was only $30 to get both wheels sorted out.

I’ve also been considering getting a set of more-knobby tires, as the Fast Trak LK tires my bike came with don’t work too well on sandier stuff and when climbing hills. They are good for two track and random trail / offroad stuff, but I’ve been able to spin them while seated on some steeper climbs. When picking up the wheels yesterday I also ended up getting a pair of The Captain Control tires, also from Specialized. As can be seen above they (on the left) are a bit knobbier than then Fast Trak LKs (right).

Here is an angle photo of the two tires, but unfortunately the Fast Trak LKs are a bit out of focus. At $39.99 each the tires weren’t cheap, but this seems to be a standard price for tires like this. Hopefully today (despite the rain and stuff) I’ll get out and give them a go. A quick run around the trails at River Bends would be good, and it’s probably not too wet even with today’s rain.

Oh, and one other nifty thing about them: it seems that Specialized offers some manner of unconditional guarantee that the purchaser will like the tires. I was specifically told that if I don’t like the tires to bring them back and pick out another style.

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Lots of Driving

Published July 8, 2008

These last two days have found me driving to Lansing each day to work towards sorting some work stuff out. It was about 240 miles each day, and thankfully that’ll be reimbursed.

Today when I got home I ended up going on a 15-16 mile bike ride, just to get out and about a do something. Unfortunately, after the 55 mile ride and today, I’ve found that the spokes in the new wheels are creaking a bit, and some of them are quite loose. I think I will need to take them to someone who can properly tension / readjust them. I’d do them myself, but the tool is $55, and I’m still without a truing stand.

Now that I’ve finished replying to email and balancing my checkbook I think I’ll relax for a bit, then get some sleep. I’ll probably need it.

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Fun Day

Published July 5, 2008

Today has been a fun day. First the bike ride, then hanging out with #mi2600 folks and going to see the Clawson fireworks. Now Danielle will be here soon and I can get snuggley hugs. Yay!

The only thing I didn’t do well today was eat. After the bike ride food I ended up eating a large fry from Wendy’s, then a bunch of random junk at the party. Tomorrow I definitely have to eat something more in line with what I normally consume. Curry and rice should be on the menu, if possible. For now, though: bed. I’m profanely tired.

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Work is 15.4 Miles Away via Bike

Published July 4, 2008

On the Fourth of July I rode to work, then up to Lake Orion, then back home. Total of about 56.5 miles. Since Google Earth would only save this as a blank black image I had to take a screenshot instead.

I’ve been curious how far it is to work via the safe route (no riding on high speed roads), so today I tried it and found out: 15.4 miles.

After getting to work I used the bathroom, refilled one water bottle, ate a food bar, then rode up Squirrel to Tienken, down to the Paint Creek Trail, up to Lake Orion, then back home. Google Earth (even the latest version as of today) wouldn’t save the displayed route out as an image, so what you see above is a screenshot.

If you’d like to see this route for yourself, here is 04-Jul-2008.kmz and here it is in Google Maps. There is an odd mis-track there, which I don’t quite understand, but it seems that my GPS occasionally figures itself to be somewhere it isn’t.

Total food consumed before and during the ride was:

· 1 each GU Energy Gel in Chocolate Outrage and Lemon Sublime flavors. The Chocolate Outrage and Vanilla Bean (both with 100mg caffeine) are my preferred flavors of these.
· Approx. 1 cup of mixed golden raisins and raw almonds.
· Vegan Organic Food Bar (These are very, very good. Sort of like a nut and fruit smoothie paste in a bar.)
· Four hard boiled egg whites, some overly salty hot smoked salmon, vanilla yogurt with granola, an english muffin with olive oil and black pepper, and a pint of coffee (this was the before-ride breakfast).

The stats for today’s ride are, per the bike computer:

Total Distance: 56.55 Miles
Moving Average Speed: 13.3 MPH
Maximum Speed: 25.9 MPH
Moving Time: 4:13’54

This is the longest ride I’ve been on, particularly if one figures during my last 50 mile ride I stopped at home, ate a pile of leftover Thai food, packed some stuff up for shipping at the post office, then set out again. The only time I stopped for a period of time today was at work (~10 minutes) and to sit in downtown Lake Orion in a park and eat nuts and raisins (~15 minutes).

Now to shower, eat something, and figure out where I’m going to end up this evening. Party invitations are three deep, and all sound very good. I’ll consult with Danielle (who is at her house at one of the parties) first.

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33 Miles == Working Brakes

Published July 3, 2008

After riding 33 miles this afternoon the new brakes seem to be working great. The intermitant creaking sound still has to be worked out, but I’ll try to do that tomorrow when double-checking torques before riding.

I ended up riding down to Dodge Park, through there, up to Riverbends, then I wound my way around some neighborhoods there and back to my house. Part of this included two runs through the 5km hiking trail. All in all, a nice ride.

Tomorrow I’m going to try and do a long ride. Hopefully that’ll go well.

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