biking through life

Getting tough on my software

2009-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Children should have this option somewhere..

At least now I know why I'm having issues getting this program to do what I want. I'm going to "GET SERIOUS!" now and straighten this program's attitude out! Hehe.. :O)

"Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person"

2009-03-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is worth watching

http://smithsonian20.typepad.com/blog/2009/03/web-t.html

From the Smithsonian Institution, a dialog regarding library resources online.

This is an awareness test.. TRY THIS!

2009-03-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

I found this on another cycling-fanatic's blog. Very interesting and a little scary, too.

Marketing Genius

2009-03-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

How to offer money that no one will take

The image below is the lid from my yogurt breakfast. I love my morning creamy (fat-free!!) yumminess, but when I pull off the lid, I'm like a person handling nuclear waste with my bare hands. I can't get it into the trash soon enough.

Based on that, it is absolute marketing GENIUS to put a coupon (which I've dubbed a 'goopon') on the inside of the lid. Am I supposed to lick the lid clean, risking the unsightly yogurt-beard? Or maybe I should just let it dry and and take its grim, moldy, uckiness back to the store so they can try to scan the bar code through the hardened ooze? No, I'll just toss it. And I bet all but the most fervent coupon redeemers would do the same.

The day after the great snowfall we had in the Triad I had to stop by the local grocery store to pick up some frozen pizza (thats our staple food..). On the way to the frozen aisle, I stopped to check out the bread, eggs and milk. Sure enough, they were all but cleaned out on all three. My son says that the snow makes people crave French Toast.

Assembling the Saturn 1B Rocket

2009-02-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Semroc 1/70 Scale Model Rocket

One of our hobbies that we've re-discovered lately is model rocketry. The images in this video are from the Semroc 1/70 Saturn 1B booster assembly. We're hoping to have this completed and flown in March. When we do, we'll post video of it!

The real Saturn 1B on the pad for its first flight.

The Marin LIVES AGAIN!

2009-02-17T08:28:00.001-08:00

I've really missed riding this bike!

After two years in a box and three months "on the operating table", my super-sweet Marin "Wolf Ridge" mountain bike is back in action. Yes, I'm a little excited!

I've been riding a hard-tail and an inferior Iron Horse double squish lately, so getting this baby back in the muck is very awesome.

I took it out on Big Loop and Owl's Roost last weekend and.. oh, so nice..

Flying Rockets on the Weekend

2009-02-15T16:10:00.001-08:00

We went flying our Estes Rubicon rocket that our son built on Saturday. It flew great but broke a few fins. Glue to the rescue!

Time to get back on the rack

2009-02-09T12:52:00.001-08:00

(well, the bike rack that is)

After a few false-starts, I think we can safely say that it is 'riding season' again! Of course, riding season is really just the point where you think you're brave enough to bear the cold weather whizzing past you. For some folks, biking season never ends.. I'm not quite that weather-resilient. I like to at least know that I'm not going to hit a patch of ice and kiss the road.

With this season, my family and I are christening our new hitch-mounted bike rack that we got as a gift. Its been looking at us for two months, wondering when it would come out of its box, and this weekend was finally that day. We had to get a hitch mounted to our Hyundai Santa Fe to receive the new rack, but that was pretty painless. This is a picture of the rack 'in action' as seen before we did a nice little 6.0 mile ride through Bur-Mil park on Sunday.

The rack is a "SportRack 4EZ" that fits into a 2" box receiver hitch. The rack as you can probably guess holds 4 bikes, but since there are only three of us I only added the parts for three bikes. It is quite sturdy and although a little heavy at around 65lbs, it can still be installed and removed by one person. It can be left on the vehicle, if needed, as the vertical posts swing down easily to allow rear vehicle access.

Assembly was fairly straightforward, although there were a few errors in the parts list (making me think that we were short-shipped until I looked at the assembly diagrams). I would give this bike rack a 4.5 out of 5.0, taking a little off only because it is a little pricey.