I didn't think that looked very professional, so I asked Steve if I could put together a web site on volunteer time that encompassed everything that I thought should be available and everything that he needed. Things like a Blog, News, News Feeds from other web sites, a Forum, a Newsletter, Classifieds, on-line Shopping, etc, etc. He thought that wasn't a bad idea, so I went to work...
I definitely needed something that was powerful, easy to manage, easy to modify, and well supported. If it had an open source license, even better. I found quite a few options, but what looked best of all was a Content Management System called Joomla!. The installation process was pretty easy, and after going through a fairly steep learning curve, I've got something that works fairly well... check out sacbiofuels.com, which I expect will become the new home for sacbiofuels.org.
Getting the site up and adding different plug-in modules has been pretty cool... The software seems very flexible and adding new features seems to be quite easy. There are a few things that it can't do, which I haven't found any plug-in solutions for, which probably means I'll have to program the feature myself... but that should be pretty easy to do. Sherri is providing the visual imagery (something I'm not so good at, but she's great at). I'm excited to be working on a web site that is going to be viewed and used by a lot of different people... hopefully we get some good reviews... 8^)
By the way, just for the record... I want to let you know that it was my cousin (of whom I spoke in detail in More about a great couple) who got me "fueled" about alternative fuels... so if you wonder why I'm spending my time chasing zany ideas like vegetable oil as fuel, go talk to him first... 8^)
]]>A story from News 10: First Thunderstorm of Fall Rumbles Through Region
]]>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!
]]>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...!
]]>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!
]]>Some reviews:
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!!
]]>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.
]]>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!
]]>
Friday, September 2nd, 2005]]>Dear 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.
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.
]]>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...???
]]>... and yes, it was the same spline issue that I talked about in my Expensive Sound...! post ... we'll see if BMW will help me with this...
I think it's a plot to encourage me to buy a new BMW model...
]]>Unfortunately, this is a little bit of a pattern; the last time I brought the 'bike in for service, I never got a call from them saying it was done. I finally called them a week after they said it should be done then called them; the service manager apologized all over himself for not calling earlier.
Unfortunately, even though it's a 45 minute drive one-way to get there from my home, it's still the nearest BMW service place. And for something that sounded as serious as the last break down, I didn't want to take it anywhere else...
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