September 28, 2005
Wild Thunderstorms Hit Sacramento Valley
Had a some really wild thunderstorms hit the Sacramento Valley region on Monday... Scared the heck out of the animals at home. Quite an awesome light show though... I managed to hit the storm square on when I drove home, which on the one hand was cool because I got a "front row" view of the lightning, but on the other hand was not so neat because, being in the front row, I got pretty soaked despite having my rain gear with me.
A story from News 10: First Thunderstorm of Fall Rumbles Through Region
Posted by Michael at 07:47 PM | Comments (0) | Family
September 23, 2005
More about a great couple
I briefly mentioned my cousin in a previous post, but I think that both he and his wife deserve a lot more than a brief mention.
When I was quite young, I lived with my cousin Christoph and my aunt Uta. About 30 years ago, we moved apart, and about 20 years ago I basically lost touch with him... I only kept track through my Mom.
The past few years, I've started getting back in touch, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we have a lot in common with respect to beliefs and philosophy. I made it a point to visit him on my trip to Europe with my motorbike.
Now, visiting my cousin would have been pretty easy if he had been living somewhere in the neighborhood of where we grew up, which was Krofdorf, Germany. But no, he had to move all the way out to Havsnas, Sweden, some 1000 miles away as the crow flies, and about 1300 miles driving.
However, the extra driving was definitely worth it! Not only was the scenery quite something on the way up there and downright incredible on the way back (I went through Norway), but I was also treated like a brother while I was there. Both Christoph and his beautiful and talented wife Nicole managed to make my visit one of the most memorable portions of my trip. The landscape was quite incredible and the pace of life very relaxing. It was great getting caught up on the last ~20 years with Christoph; I was often amazed how very similar he and I are. Much more similar than I am to my brother, who I also love dearly.
You can see some wonderful photos of Christoph, Nicole, their animals, their home, and their neighborhood at their web site, www.havsnas720.com. You can also check out some of Nicole's excellent art work at www.arsnowak.net.
My love to both of you, Christoph & Nicole!
Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM | Comments (0) | Family
September 22, 2005
Playing with MovableType
Learning about this web log software, Movabletype by SixApart, is pretty interesting. The source code for the blog software is provided in its entirety, and it is designed very nicely for configurability and expandability. It's awesome for a tinkerer like me, plus there are hundreds of other tinkerers like me that have created useful plugins for Movabletype already. Changing the layout and the basic look & feel was pretty straightforward; now I'm taking the next step to modifying the behavior of the blog.
I've already installed MTAmazon, which allows me to place search results from Amazon.com into my blog, and I've installed and modified BookQueue with which I can track the books I plan to read, am reading, or have read, and which uses the MTAmazon plugin to retrieve data about the books. See it in action on Sherri's blog page as well as her "Books I have Read" page.
I've also installed Feeds.App from Appnel Internet Solutions which allows me to add RSS feeds on my blog pages; you can see it in action on my blog in the right hand column, where it says Sherri's Recent Entries.
I've also added some not so visible enhancements which help protect me from getting spammed, like an e-mail address obfuscator which makes e-mail addresses impossible to "harvest" from the web page source, but still usable by you, the readers.
There are several more little utilities I plan on adding, as time permits... check back once in a while to see what's new and different...!
Posted by Michael at 10:06 PM | Comments (0) | Technical
My old friend is back!
Ahhhh... finally!! I've got my motorbike back again.
I was pretty surprised how different it felt. I guess I really got used to riding Sherri's little F650CS. My 'bike felt almost too big for me... I thought for sure the shop had put the seat in the highest position when they put everything back together, but when I checked it was in the right position after all. It's like riding a new bike again... !
As I mentioned previously the cause of the failure was definitely the spline issue I had talked about when the bike first died and is discussed in the BMWSportTouring.com forums here; I was able to confirm the damage visually. Unfortunately, since BMW paid for half the repair cost, they get the parts back and I didn't think to bring along my little camera so I could get some pictures. But the damage is almost identical to the damage in the photos that I linked to above. The shop replaced the entire transmission because they believe that there was an alignment issue that caused the failure.
I'm a little concerned because the new transmission sounds and shifts a bit different now. I'm not sure if that's because of the newness of the transmission or what... I'll have to give it a few miles first, I think.
In any case, it's nice to have her back. Pretty weird being with the 'bike for one month straight while travelling through Europe, and then a month later losing her for a month. I'm so very glad this didn't happen as I was doing my drive through Sweden or Norway... there were a lot of "middle of nowhere" places where I could have been stranded for a while... My cousin who lives at about the 64th parallel in Sweden gave me a cell phone to use "just in case" on my way back south, but though that would have made it a bit easier, my vacation would have been completely over. Phew, phew, phew!
Posted by Michael at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | Motorcycles
September 20, 2005
Fruits of Labor
After working on this project for a while, it's nice to see it publicly announced:
New Dell Axim Handhelds.
Some reviews:
Posted by Michael at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | Technical
Yay...!
Just got a call... My 'bike is finally ready!! Sadly, I won't be able to pick it up until Thursday... 8^(
Posted by Michael at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | Motorcycles
September 15, 2005
Some consolation
This past Tuesday I gave A&S BMW a call... figures that the Service Manager that was handling my 'bike was out sick, and the guy covering (Travis) could not find my paperwork, so he had to call me back.
Finally I got a call back from the Travis on Tuesday afternoon, at which time he told me everything I already knew. Apparently nothing had happened in the 2 weeks since I last called them!! The parts were in and BMW had rejected the claim, so the 'bike had been sitting there, waiting for... I don't know what. Argh!! I snarled and snapped at the guy and he said he'd resubmit the request for help again and call back with status.
I got a call back again on Wednesday afternoon. Travis said that due to my good service record, BMW agreed to cover half the cost of the repair. So instead of paying ~$3300 to get the 'bike back, it will cost me ~$1650. Not quite as good as $0, but I think reasonably fair considering that is close to what it would have cost to renew the clutch anyway. Still, this type of thing seems to happen fairly often on these 'bikes (see discussion here).
I do have to acknowledge Travis at A&S BMW... even though I wasn't "his" customer, he did do a fine job of getting things going so that I'm satisfied.
The 'bike should be ready Tuesday of next week; I'll be bringing Sherri's bike in for routine service on Saturday, so I'll be able to check up on the progress of my 'bike then. I hope to be riding my 'bike again next Wednesday... I'll let you know what happens!!
Posted by Michael at 11:46 PM | Comments (0) | Motorcycles
Very cool desktop tool!
I was trying to find an RSS reader that I could use on my desktop so that I wouldn't have to open a web browser and log in to My Yahoo! just to see updates to my favorite syndicated sites. I was hoping to find something that sits in my tool tray or is a little application that checks the feeds at preset intervals and shows me the summaries. However, I wanted to avoid a bloated application that sucks up system resources and slows everything down.
What I found exceeded my wildest expectations! The free utility KlipFolio from Serence is a very small, lightweight, yet powerful utility that sits on my desktop where I can get to it easily. I can make it as unobtrusive as I want by shrinking down the "klip" windows and making them transparent then when I want to see more details, I just mouse over the title bar of the klip, which expands. If I want even more details, then I can mouse over an item within the klip window, which then pops open another window. Once I move the mouse off the klips, everything closes up again. Extremely nice, very clean, very simple!!
It's even nicer than a plain RSS reader as the klips are not limited to just RSS feeds. The one I showed was a local weather klip; there are a large number of klips that can be downloaded from the KlipFarm. And they provide a nice developer kit, which ensures that more and more klips are going to be available.
I am very impressed, and very glad I found this little utility.
Posted by Michael at 04:30 PM | Comments (1) | Technical
September 10, 2005
Still no word from A&S about my RT
Well, it's been over 3 weeks since the catastrophic failure of my BMW 1150RT transmission (See Expensive Sound...!). A&S BMW Motorcycles has not called me once yet. I called August 30, at which time I found out they had already ordered parts for the repair... I did not know that they could order $2700 worth of parts for my motorbike without getting my authorization first. My original quote only shows ~$263 of diagnostic work. So it's been another 2 weeks since I called them last, and still not a peep. That's an odd notion of customer service, if you ask me.
The service department is closed until Tuesday; I guess I'll try calling them then. I'm afraid that if I don't call, it'll be 6 months before I get my 'bike back!
Posted by Michael at 10:53 PM | Comments (0) | Motorcycles
September 02, 2005
An open letter to President Bush
I don't always agree with Michael Moore, but his open letter to President Bush covered all the same points that I am frustrated about.
Friday, September 2nd, 2005Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army
helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.comP.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
Posted by Michael at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | Politics
Thoughts on Katrina's devastation
I have to admit, when I originally heard about hurricane Katrina, I really had no idea how devastating it was. It was just this morning that I got a real appreciation for the destruction. I was very happy to see that the company I work for donated $1 Million to the American Red Cross in suppport of the disaster relief efforts, and they are matching all employee's contributions as well. That kind of outreach makes me proud to work for this company.
I'm also happy to see that other countries are considering useful ways to help out the U.S.: Schroeder Says IEA May Release Reserves and B.C. Urban Rescue Team Headed to Louisiana.
If you have the ability to help with relief efforts but don't know where to start, try Katrina Relief Info Available on the Web.
Some before and after comparison satellite shots, which really bring home the level of devastation: New Orleans Imagery.
Posted by Michael at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) | World
September 01, 2005
Touched by Bush's Reaction to New Orleans?
If you are touched by President Bush's reaction to the New Orleans disaster, don't be. I'm sure he hopes no one notices, or remembers, that he chose to divert the funds needed to protect New Orleans from such a disaster to an extremely foolish war on a country that was no threat to the US at all...
Oh, and by the way... the Louisiana National Guard that should be part of the rescue operations and should be protecting against the looters are also currently in Iraq, on President Bush's orders.
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? - Yahoo! News
Anyone getting angry yet...???
Posted by Michael at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | Politics
