Second Nature

With A Spirit

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:52:20 -0700

Just ran across this track. As far as electronica goes, it's decent.

Forgotten Funnies

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:17:50 -0600

Thjis has been around for basically...uh...forever, but Anya and Lia watching this the other night reminded me to share this with you.

I don't care if your hyper-PC-inner child is offended by this or not. It's flat-out funny.

If this pisses you off, grow up and find a sense of humor...and watch it again.

Antes de que te vayas

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:19:29 -0600

We go to Mom & Dad's again, tomorrow.

Things there have had me thinking a lot, lately.

Pardon the intro (the first 30 seconds).

Intérprete por Marco Antonio Solis

Antes de que te vayas,
déjame mirar
una vez más ese rostro,
que nunca he de olvidar.

Me dices sinceramente
que me has dejado de amar,
descuida yo bien comprendo
y te sabré perdonar.

Cuida de tu vida en tu camino
yo siempre pediré a dios por ti,
por ese corazón que me dió tanto,
pero acabó mi encanto y lo perdí.

Perdona si te fastidio,
pero es que es mi sentir,
tal vez no tengo ni forma
de lo que quiero decir.

Quisiera pedirte el beso,
que borre los del ayer,
mas no te quito tu tiempo,
te puedes ir ya lo ves.

Cuida de tu vida en tu camino
yo siempre pediré a dios por ti,
por ese corazón que me dió tanto,
pero acabó mi encanto y lo perdí.

Cuida de tu vida en tu camino
yo siempre pediré a dios por ti,
por ese corazón que me dió tanto,
pero acabó mi encanto y lo perdí.

Antes de que te vayas...

Getting My Moneys-Worth...

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:07:00 -0600

There's a statistic floating around, about your typical, mass-produced Target/K-Mart bicycle; which is used to justify a higher-cost purchase from a professional bicycle dealer--the logic of which I still find to be elusive. The basic claim is that the average life-span/distance-traveled for such a consumer good is something on the order of three years of sitting in the garage or backyard; and less than 75 miles of actual road/trail riding before the product is discarded.

That's hardly enough use to properly break-in the bicycle.

Okay. You spend maybe $200.00 on a bike that you aren't going to use very much at all, but the bike shops want you to spend more.

'o_0'

Uhmmmmm....?

Times are tough, and getting tougher, and I have no intention of being bilked out of anything close to ($-cha-ching-$) two-grand ($-cha-ching-$) for an overpriced bicycle. So.....we paid $119.00 to $140.00 for a bike at K-Mart, for me; and I toss a Campy crank & 52-42-30 chainring set on it, with a 14-to-28, 7S freewheel.

Yesterday, I went on another little ride...merely to justify the expense:

08/22/2009 Route

To date, the bike has significantly more than two thousand miles on it; and I've only started riding it consistently in the past couple of months, or so.

At this rate, I will have to replace the tires soon, and I do need to keep an eye on the various bearings (BB, hubs and so-forth), and I am carrying tools and spare parts with me on every ride; however, I'm still on the original brake pads...plenty of meat left on those...and the rims are not damaged in the slightest.

Once I regularly hit the century mark on my rides, I can be convinced to look harder at something like a Specialized Allez Triple; but that's a ways away, and I still have yet to be convinced of the durability of such a thing.

We'll see...

Three Bike Shops

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:43:00 -0600

Three bike shops.
Three bike shops.
See how they're run.
See how they're run...

At the behest of my lovely wife, Annie, I deigned to park my posterior upon the saddle of a bicycle, beginning last September; supplying all necessary motive force by which I might increase the quality of my life--and lose a bit of weight.

It has been nigh less than a year, with me only becoming serious about the daily riding of the bike only this past six or seven weeks; and the bicycle that was purchased last September, showing some mild signs of wear and tear; although I am the kind of person who takes exceedingly good care of such investments--trivial or otherwise.

I grant you this small concession: There are circles in which this bicycle would be considered of inferior quality...but, what is a bicycle anyway?

It's a welded frame with parts installed upon it.

If you buy a "crappy quality" bicycle, you'll get a heavy (oftentimes quite durable) frame with crappy parts installed upon it; and you'll probably pay an acceptable price for it.

If you buy a bit "better quality" bicycle, you might get a lighter frame with crappy parts installed on it; or you might get a heavy frame with some or all of the parts, installed thereupon, being of decent quality. The price you pay will be what the market can bear--the fairness of same being debatable.

If you buy a "good quality" bicycle, you'll get a lighter frame with decent quality parts installed to it. The price you will pay will be on the near-side of ridiculous.

If you buy an "excellent" quality bicycle, you'll get an extremely light, and potentially flimsy, frame, with the lightest, indurable, parts adhered thereupon; and you will part with a sum of money that no sane person would ever consider paying for such a nearly single-use conveyance.

Given what I've seen of prices, and my goals for riding a bike; it only makes sense for me to buy a heavy, durable frame, and install reasonably good quality, durable, parts to it--to suit my specific needs. This is called "striking a balance". It is also my choice of what to do with my property.

The bike purchased was a Schwinn 26" Mens Mirada, for a sale price of something around $119.00 to $140.00, IIRC. Key points are that the wheels are alloy wheels with stainless steel spokes and V-brakes. Front and rear dérailleurs are Shimano, with SRAM Grip Shifters for 21 speeds, and the frame is the heavy, durable, Schwinn MTB frame. Nobody is doing any racing on this thing, but the frame isn't going to flex or tweak itself out of shape either.

Noted issues with this bike are that the 170mm SunTour cranks are of middle-of-the-road quality; the hubs, bottom bracket, chainring set and freewheel are bottom of the barrel Chinese crap; the inner tubes are begging to be replaced with something better; the tires have too much rolling resistance for my taste; and the drive train ratios leave a lot to be desired for running the river bikeways at anything approximating a reasonable speed. The front suspension fork is "odd-feeling", in my estimation; but I can live with it, because I won't be jumping a lot of things. I'd rather it was solid instead of the piston-suspension variety, personally.

My first inquiry cropped-up shortly after acquiring the bicycle; which was one of changing-out the stock chainrings (42-32-22) for something better for me (50-39-30). The bicycle is simply geared too low for city street and riverside bicycle path use.

I went to J & M Bike Shop, in Bell Gardens, to make this inquiry.

Two guys were eating food behind the counter, at about 10:00 in the morning--no biggie--and refused to get out of their lawn chairs to even address me at a civil height over the counter. I had to approach the display case and talk over it and down to them, as they continued to eat, in order to pose my question--the substance of it being that I wanted to switch-out the 170mm cranks and 42-32-22 chainrings for 170mm or 175mm cranks and 50-39-30 Shimano chainrings.

After I was asked why in the world I would want to do that, to which I answered with my requirements; I was told that this was something I patently did not want to do (stupid, stupid me)--that the bike simply wasn't worth the investment (he said that it would be over $600.00 for cranks, chainrings, bottom bracket, and pedals)--and I should just buy a $2000.00 touring bike. A catalogue of new and ridiculously-priced bikes was pointed at on the counter, and a "get lost" look was firmly delivered. They returned to eating, pointedly ignoring me.

OK...I set that little project aside to come back to later; and lived with using the largest chainring only, and the range of seven sprockets offered to me.

That was until this past week, however, when a problem with the freewheel reasserted itself.

In the past, the freewheel would truly go "freewheeling" when the ratchet pawls would mysteriously refuse to engage to drive the rear wheel when I was pedaling. This had happened a few times before, but I was able to get the ratchet pawls to re-engage by rapping on the freewheel-side of the axle with a nylon-faced hammer and shooting a bit of Tri-Flow into the freewheel seams.

Having cleared-up the problem nearly immediately (which had never actually stranded me before) made it an easy one to forget to repair until the issue revisited me in the middle of the uphill side of a freeway overpass, far enough away from home to bother the blazes out of me--not to mention the fact that both of my daughters happened to be riding with me at the time. After the freewheel resolutely refused to cooperate with my now-familiar methods, I resigned myself to walking the bicycle home.

Fortuituously-enough, while hoofing-it back home, I heard the "click" of a single ratchet pawl fall into place when the rear wheel of the bicycle dropped off a particularly high curb. Great! Back on the bike and off we road home, to have the problem taken care of, before it stranded me on the far-side of a 60 mile ride.

I called the shop that I mentioned earlier (J & M Bike Shop, in Bell Gardens), and explained the situation to the "mechanic" who finally wandered around to pick-up the phone. He confirmed that it was the freewheel that was the problem, and said that he would replace it for $32.00. I asked him how long would it take to get the job done, and he obliquely responded for me to, "Just bring it in, if you can, and I'll fix you right up." Hmmmmm...

Fine. I cleaned-up the freewheel and associated components and, to be certain that I received an exact replacement freewheel, I did a tooth count on all of the sprockets. By doing this, I discovered that I had a "Slick Shift System, 01 Index Freewheel" Manufactured by DNP Long Yih Co., in China--garbage--having sprocket tooth counts of 13-15-17-19-21-24-28. I figured that, since I am going to change the chainrings anyway, I would prefer the more commonly-available "14-28" variety of Shimano freewheel--having sprocket tooth counts of 14-16-18-20-22-24-28.

I took the bike over to J&M Bike Shop, and spoke to the guy who had said that he would do the work.

Interestingly enough, he greeted me after the following fashion, "Oh! It's you."--the unforgivable rudeness of which I kindly ignored.

I re-capped our earlier conversation on the phone, and mentioned the specific part that I wanted installed on the bike. He, again, said, "OK" and simply walked away from me, leaving me to wait more than a half-hour while he watched customers in the shop; told some kids not to shift the bikes while they were hanging on the display racks; and took out several loads of trash to the trash cans in front of the store. All of these things seemed to be designed to communicate to me--very firmly--that, as a customer, I had no value to this idiot.

Almost 45 minutes later, he came back and told me to remove my tool carrier, lock and cable, and bungee cords from the bike--then wandered-off to do pretty-much nothing until I was finished. (The guy is far from personable, and I get the feeling that he really doesn't like doing much more than taking peoples money on new bike sales.) He returned to take the bike from me.

I politelyrepeated back to him what he told me that he was going to do (this, for you Kaizen-types, is called "testing your understanding" and must be done with people like this): I receive the old freewheel back and I get a "14-28" Shimano freewheel installed, and pay $32.00 for the job to be done. "That's right", he replied; but he furthered that he wouldn't sell me Shimano parts. He claimed that he only installs parts that are an "Upgrade from Shimano"...MUCH better stuff--and cheaper, too--he said, as he was picking between his teeth with his pinky fingernail.

Huh?

Sorry. I may not be Mr. Wizard when it comes to bicycle mechanics but, even I know that, in the stated price range for the repair, you are NOT going to be able to install a better quality part than Shimano. I asked him what part would be better than Shimano, and he mumbled something unintelligible as he took the bike from me and headed to the back room with it.

Even though I was detecting a very rodent-like odor in the whole situation; I was already at the shop, and it was seriously hot out, and I needed the bike fixed before the coming weekend. I resigned myself to just getting the bike going and replacing whatever crappy parts he elected to install, later...after all, if it's running, that buys me more time, right?

A couple of minutes later, he brought the bike back out and--pointing at a cable on the seat post and the rear side baskets--told me that I had to remove everything that was after-market from the bicycle, because he could not safely secure the bicycle to his shop rack. (Having had a bike seat stolen once, I had locked the seat and seat post to the frame with a thin cable and padlock, the key to which was on a different keyring than the one I had with me.)

I explained that I couldn't do that on the spot, and very politely asked why the very few items on the frame made it impossible for him to secure it to a shop rack that would only hold the bicycle still for removing the rear wheel and re-indexing the rear dérailleur. Without answering the question, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I won't work on it, then."

Not "couldn't", as in "it's not safe for me to do."

"WOULDN'T", as in "I refuse to work."

So I'm stuffed because this guy has a bad attitude toward keeping his word?

As a last-ditch effort at salvaging the situation (as well as the time I had wasted in his shop) I inquired if he would simply sell me the part--he'd still make a fair margin on the part sale, and not have to dirty his hands installing it--and I'd do the job myself at home. He said that it would be impossible for ME to do the job myself; and that I'd be better-off buying a new bike (pointing to his own stock of bikes in the front corner of the shop)...and then went back to hassling three adolescent customers about their either buying the bikes they were touching and discussing amongst themselves, or leaving the store.

Ah! The J & M Bike Shop theme has been discovered! I took a business card from the counter and left the shop in no small state of confusion.

Replaying the encounter back in my mind, it struck me as odd that the guy got instantly miffed that I had asked for the old freewheel back (as is in accordance with the laws in the State of California), and remained more rude than usual after that time. In todays economy, this idiot doesn't seem the least bit interested in earning a living, and very probably doesn't know very much about the nuts-and-bolts end of the business. (My personal hypothesis is that his Mom and Dad owned and operated the shop to general success, and he decided to infest it after his father passed-away. It certainly seems as though his mom calls all the shots and handles the till.)

During the ride back home, I noticed that the bike seemed irregularly "grindy/jumpy in the chain" as I was riding uphill on the freeway overpass. That's something new, but I attributed it to further deterioration of the condition of the freewheel (I really need to hurry in finding a way to get this repaired); or, perhaps, there was some gravel being kicked-up by the tires, though I could see none.

Arriving home, I hit SwitchBoard.com and looked-up a few shops and made some calls. Most responses were, "Sorry. Can't do that" responses until I called Bell Bike Shop, at 323.773.1179; and talked with the proprietor of the shop, explaining my problem to him. He told me to bring the bike in to let him look at it.

At his shop, he confirmed that the freewheel needed to be replaced; and, then pointed out that there were two broken teeth on the 28-tooth sprocket, and two broken teeth on the 24-tooth sprocket...on the stock freewheel.

What?

Here's the point where I got just a bit PO-ed, people: None of the teeth on the freewheel sprockets were broken when I counted them, before taking them over to J&M Bike Shop. I know this because I counted them, and to count them, you do something as complex as point at each and every tooth on the sprocket and assign it an ascending ordinal number. You have to look at them to do this, which makes it real easy to spot a broken tooth, you know. When I counted them, all the teeth were there.

The breaks were fresh--it was very easy to tell--because there was no dirt or grease on the metal exposed by the breaks--just shiny, freshly fractured, metal.

Although I did not see it actually happen, the only logical conclusion I can draw from the series of events that took place; is that the guy over at J&M Bike Shop deliberately broke the teeth of the two lowest gears of a Schwinn mountain bike.

Why?

Because I asked for the old part back?

Because he under-quoted parts and labor on the proposed work?

Because he didn't have the part?

Because I know that there isn't any better quality freewheel, than Shimano, you're ever going to buy at $22.00; and said as much?

Because I'm not stupid, and so, need to be punished by him?

It really makes no sense to me, but I have seen stranger things done by the odd-sort of city dweller cross-section of the human population that this guy represents. Indeed, I have received a very disappointing education--since moving to the city--about the truly bizarre things people tend to do when they think they'll never get caught at it.

::: Shrug ::: I was going to replace the chainwheel anyway, so this discovery just amounted to more of a "do it NOW" sort of priority, and the presumed stab at my back, by this intellectual doorstop, missed its mark...whatevah.

The guy at Bell Bike Shop quoted me a total repair cost of $55.00 and said that he'd have the part in his shop by Friday (this was on Wednesday), at noon, and could have it done in about a half-hour. He handed me a business card and told me to call him back.

Friday rolled-around and I called Bell Bike Shop, only to discover that his parts shipment was delayed on the sending-end. (Not his fault. I can roll with that, but I needed the bike fixed so I can get back on the road to healthy living.) I thanked him and told him that I would call him on Monday.

Back to the drawing board...I can't trust the freewheel another day, particularly with the weekend coming; which is when I usually do a long-distance ride of 40 or so miles.

I remembered that there was a bike shop up on Slauson Avenue, East of Otis Street; so, off I rode, in search of that shop....and found myself at:
Mendoza's Bike Shop
4344 East Slauson Avenue
Maywood, CA 90270
323.560.8698.

It's a small-ish shop, with a guy who has always been working on something when I've walked in the front door. Today was no different.

I asked the man behind the counter if he had, and would sell me, a "14-28" Shimano 7-speed freewheel, and a Park FR-1 tool; and his response was in the affirmative. The exact freewheel was in the display case, and the FR-1 was hanging, along with a good selection of other freewheel/cassette tools, in priced bags on pegboard behind the counter--clearly offered for sale to the general public.

$22.00 for the freewheel, and $6.95 for the freewheel removal tool.

He didn't have the brand of chain that I wanted, so I left the sale at those two items, and he was more than happy to take my money in trade. I grabbed his business card on my way out of the store.

At home, I got a cold glass of water, and started in on the repair.

I was done in about 20-plus-ish minutes.

The rear wheel was dismounted from the frame, and the old freewheel was replaced with the new unit, in approximately 8 minutes time.

I re-packed the rear axle and bearings with molybdenum grease, re-installed the rear wheel, and re-indexed the rear dérailleur in something approximating 12 minutes.

I test-rode the bicycle before the ice melted in the glass of water that I had left in the hot afternoon sun...something around 20 minutes time, but definitely under 30 minutes, for the full repair.

Some more things to think about:

I've never replaced a freewheel on a bike before. "Back in the day" (the late-60's/early 70's), we didn't do it because the bikes were constructed differently, and the wear and tear on these items was a different matter altogether. Having had a Schwinn 10-speed bike for more than 4 years, as a teenager, and riding it several hundreds of miles, I never had a problem with it beyond flats and brake pad replacements.
I have a garage to work in, tools to work with, and I'm not stupid. Give me something that's broken, and I can usually repair it in a manner resulting in quality of workmanship equal to most professionals.
I'm willing to do--and even enjoy doing--the working with my hands requisite to achieving the repair; and relish learning something new in the doing.
The general principles guiding all manner of mechanical repairs apply to bicycles as well, and one must return all adjustable components to certain baseline conditions and make appropriate adjustments, following established procedures. The goal is simply to acquire the knowledge--easy to do, for any literate and motivated individual.

That was yesterday.

Today, the bike took me for a 17 mile circuit, this afternoon; along with Phillip, on his bike. Performance was perfect.

Tomorrow, my daughter and I will take a 27 mile ride,--just for the fun of it.

Final Analysis:
For an "un-washed", stupid customer; who was pronounced unable to do the repair work himself, I came-out at ($28.95 subtotal + $2.68 tax) = $31.63 total cost for the job; and did the work in less time that the dip-wad who made me wait around his shop, watching him strut his testosterone-enhanced ego...to no damn avail.

Opinion of Shop Experiences:

I will NOT willingly set foot in this shop:

EVER AGAIN.

Please note that the line on their business card, "COMPLETE BICYCLE REPAIRS ALL BRANDS", is probably at least misleading. My conversations with others lead me to believe that the concept of "Bicycle Repair" is a very labor-limited one for J & M. I certainly found that to be the case, by personal experience.

In my opinion, these people (at least in the case of the son who, incidentally, strikes me of possessed of all the intelligence of two pounds of cerumen) lie to you about the quality of parts and work you can expect to get out of them. He is lazy and more interested in selling you an over-priced, new bike, than he is in doing the work you need done to preserve your investment. Also, don't bother looking for bicycle servicing tools in the store...they simply are not for sale. I suppose their take on that one is that they stand to make more money if you forget about servicing your own bicycle, and let them do it for you instead.

Not bloody likely, in my case. You can do better for yourself if you buy elsewhere, too.

J & M Bike Shop, in Bell Gardens, is a business to steer clear of.

This guy:

had issues with his freight provider--something that's definitely not his fault--and was forthright about parts quality, time to do the job and his pricing model. I will give him my consideration on future purchases. He is somewhat pricey on parts; but, if you need them and he has them, and time is a factor, I think you'll find that the work done is of reputable quality.

I will definitely go to this shop:

AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN.

This man knows how to do business and accommodate customers who can do their own work. If you can't make a profit on the work, you can make a fair profit margin on the parts and tools. This shop proprietor understands this simple maxim very well.

I highly recommend Mendoza's Bike Shop
at
4344 East Slauson Avenue
Maywood, CA 90270
Tel: 323.560.8698

[UPDATE]

My daughter and I did, indeed, go on our 27+ mile jaunt, on Sunday; and we had a famous time in the doing.

On the way back home, I did happen to notice that J & M was open. I've actually noticed that they are open on quite a few Sundays--Mondays too.

You'll find that most bike shops adhere to the practice of not operating on Sundays and Mondays. This is so culturally-ingrained as to be worthy of being called an American Tradition; and is so nearly inviolate that, a shop that is habitually open on Sundays and/or Mondays is semaphoring the approach to insolubility.

I realize that these are tough economic times; but, "open on Sunday" is still a seriously bad sign--particularly for the kind of shop that gives such bad service.

Perhaps dishonesty and rudeness will reap its own rewards, soon. Only time will tell.

Here With Me

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:21:59 -0600

We were introduced to this song, as the theme from Roswell--a horribly abbreviated, but very well-done series.

By Dido

I didn't hear you leave
I wonder how am I still here
And I don't want to move a thing
It might change my memory

Oh I am what I am
I do what I want
But I can't hide

And I won't go
I won't sleep
I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me

And I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me

I don't want to call my friends
For they might wake me from this dream
And I can't leave this bed
Risk forgetting all that's been

Oh I am what I am
I do what I want
But I can't hide

And I won't go
I won't sleep
I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me

I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here

I won't go
And I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me

And I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me

Oh I am what I am
I do what I want
But I can't hide

And I won't go
I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me

I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here

And I won't go
And I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me

I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me

Another one of those "embedding disabled by request" videos, but you get your choice of versions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSYRBsipqQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scdm5il-hC4

Actually, the second one doesn't have embedding disabled, so here it is:

Algo Más

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:49:20 -0600

Intérprete por La 5ª Estación

A veces pienso que te miento
cuando te digo que te quiero
porque esto ya no es querer

A veces creo que he muerto
cuando no estás y yo despierto
porque sé que esto ya no es querer

Es algo más, algo que me llena
algo que no mata ni envenena
es algo más, algo más que amar

Es algo más que la distancia
que el dolor y la nostalgia
sabemos que eso no nos va a separar

Es darte un beso cada noche
que tus manos me enamoren
y que lo nuestro crezca cada día más

Porque somos algo más...

A veces creo que he vivido
más de mil años contigo
porque sé que esto ya no es querer

A veces pienso que es mentira
por cómo entraste en mi vida
porque sé que esto ya no es querer

Es algo más, algo que me llena
algo que no mata ni envenena
es algo más, algo más que amar

Es algo más que la distancia
que el dolor y la nostalgia
sabemos que eso no nos va a separar

Es darte un beso cada noche
que tus manos me enamoren
y que lo nuestro crezca cada día más

Porque somos algo más...

Y yo sé que no es querer
porque en tus ojos yo me puedo perder
contigo olvido lo que es temer
acaso no sabes que tú eres para mí
la noche, el día en mi vivir
la sangre en mis venas
lo doy todo por ti
contigo el mundo no tiene final
y el tiempo no se nos va a acabar

Es algo más que la distancia
que el dolor y la nostalgia
sabemos que eso no nos va a separar

Es darte un beso cada noche
que tus manos me enamoren
y que lo nuestro crezca cada día más

Porque somos algo más...

Porque somos algo más...

A lot of the videos by La 5ª Estación have had "embedding disabled by request" so you can listen to this song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWOOEXT0IHk.

Good News

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:09:13 -0600

For almost a year, now, both the Georgia Tech and Indiana University MEPIS mirrors have been unsynchronized with the rest of the mirrors out there.

I'm happy to tell you that both are current again.

My thanks to the IT department at Indiana University for being so responsive to my emails.

SAT/9 Testing

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:27:00 -0600

This week, the 5^th through the 8^th actually, is our time to do the mandated California Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition (otherwise affectionately known as the "SAT/9 Test") for all children, 11^th grade and under.

This usually means that Daddy (that's me) spends 4 or 5 days at a randomly-selected, inconveniently-located, testing site being bored out of my mind for the majority of the day. What the heck. It's never more than a week per academic year...I'll survive.

Not this time-around.

I happen to be typing this up, sitting in the foyer of a church in Long Beach--the testing site. It is certainly inconveniently located, but somebody in this area--perhaps the church itself--provided me with a wireless Internet connection with which to amuse myself today.

Maybe this explains why today was the very first time I was compelled to bring the notebook with me...Kismet...Fate...Luck...abject fear of boredom.

My money's on the latter.

Actually, I brought a CAT-6 cable with me to "plug-in" if I encountered the unattended 8P8C jack or two; but that didn't happen....not a network jack in sight.

This notebook doesn't run windoze, of course. What kind of Open Source advocate/apologist would I be if I actually used a windoze-based machine?

Not that I've ever been tempted--I haven't. I genuinely do not understand how or why you people put up with one travesty after another out of Redmond. If somebody can explain it to me without sounding like just another windoze fanboi, I'd be interested in hearing the logic behind it all.

It ran SimplyMEPIS 7.0 for quite a while...well, that is, until SimplyMEPIS 8.0 went final; then I installed the latest and greatest back on the 22^nd of February.

Something I learned about running SM7.0 was this: Wireless is still a bit of a pain to configure and get working on multiple access points in the same, glibly promiscuous way that comes so naturally to windoze.

windoze is also so trivially hammered by the most ridiculous of threats, that it's comforting--not to mention far more economical--to use a secure Operating System and put up with a bit of a hassle here and there. My instinct is not to use wireless, because of security concerns; so we don't use it at home.

Under SimplyMEPIS 7.0, I would occasionally configure wireless for this place or that (on a case-by-case basis); when I couldn't get a jack to plug into; but it was inconvenient enough to largely relegate the Atheros-G adapter on this machine to relative disuse.

When I installed SimplyMEPIS 8.0 on this machine, the radio was turned off with the hardware switch--out of simple habit. When I brought the machine with me this morning, the switch was still turned off.

Not having a jack to go for, I flicked the switch, thinking that I could go through the manual steps to install the chipset drivers and configure the card for this specific location, not looking forward to having to re-configure the machine to use the hard-wire back at home.

The radio light went on, and KNemo popped-into the panel to tell me that I had been leased an IP address.

I didn't have to do a thing.

This is a Toshiba Satellite A60-S166 notebook unit.
It was originally sold with xp on it, and it needed a reload image, complete with drivers specific to the hardware inside its plastic covers. A retail version of xp would likely have required significant hand-holding, driver installation, updating and configuration just to get it to work.

I loaded SimplyMEPIS 8.0 from a generic CD, and everything works.

No configuration and no driver installation necessary. Indeed, this is the first time I turned on the b/g radio since before installing SimplyMEPIS 8.0.

Whoever said that windoze was easier to use was lying.

[UPDATE]

Several people told me that they were not able to utilize the same wireless network connection, despite having the same band coverage on the wireless adapters, in their windoze notebooks and laptops.

The only difference that I can identify is that they had windoze machines.

Now...wait a minute...windoze, as I mentioned before, is billed as being glibly promiscuous in its ability to connect with wireless access points and ad hoc network shares. Imminently exploitable, mind you, but fall-down easy for the user to get an Internet connection with.

However...every windoze user I spoke with complained of the same thing: "There is no wireless connection available!" with various hypotheses as to the suspected state of my sanity. But I am the one who was surfing on the wireless connection possessing an SSID that consisted solely of the churches complete name.

Dream a Little Dream

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:34:45 -0600

That's the way it's being discussed this week...Susan Boyle's dream.

I bypassed actually watching the video because it was force-fed to me ahead of a La 5ª Estación video search result; so I presumed it to be more eye-rolling search SPAM to promote that Simon character that nobody cares much for.

That's what I don't understand about how people react to Simon...by their own admission, they can't stand the man, but they watch him anyway. Most people seem to actively seek him out to see what he'll do to his next victim.

Me? I avoid watching people like him; which is why I clicked-past the video last night.

Annie pointed this out to me this morning, and I sat down to watch it despite my misgivings about it being worth my time.

I can be wrong.

Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you because it's so very enjoyable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnmbJzH93NU

OK....admittedly, people had their doubts that Susan could sing:

"OKAY, now. This is going to be fun...NOT!"

"This is a joke, right?"

"I can't quite figure her out."

"No way!" "Oh de-ah!"

"Oh no! This poor soul is going to be devastated!"

Now...these images define this video in non-verbal terms:

This man was taken totally off-guard.

I will give it to him, he does appreciate talent.

"Oh my word!"

Relief...that has to be relief.

Watching the panel was fascinating:

Is that a tear in her eye?

These people are lost in the song.

Really, now. What else needs to be said?

You watch the video and judge for yourself. This is Susan Boyle, of Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland.

For those who want a local copy--as if you can't get it from your browser cache anyway--can find three versions below:

.FLV

.AVI

.MPG

Interestingly enough, the Internet is a-buzz with news of Susan Boyle, and fans are already lining-up to buy CDs that aren't even in the making yet. Detractors also abound, as they are apt to do when the new awareness of a talent crops-up.

You will hear of Susan Boyle being a one-song pony, unable to apply her talent to other pieces and genres. Well, I wouldn't put too much stock in that kind of talk, my friend.

Back in 1999, Susan participated in the creation of a charity CD, by contributing her interpretation of "Cry Me a River" to the effort. You can listen to the song and make up your own mind:

.MP3

cry.me.a.river-susan.boyle.ogg

cry.me.a.river-susan.boyle.wav

Susan is being billed as "The Scot Heard 'Round The World" and "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell", both worthy titles, if you ask me.

As to Simon:
I detest his character, and was willing to believe that his on-screen persona--what little I've seen of it--was genuine; yet, that doesn't ring quite true with me now. If you scroll back-up and take a look at him in image numbers 07 and 11, the man appears to be totally, unguardedly, himself.

Simon's a good actor, and probably darn-well paid to put-on the caustic cloak that he wears on the talent shows. Word has it that he's actually a pretty nice guy. It's all the same to me, since I don't care for his character, so I won't be doing much in the way of watching his shows.

Word also has it that he's affiliated with the Sony BMG record label, and has already spoken seriously with Susan about a contract--before this BGT series has even run its course.

A tip of the hat goes out to Simon for having the savvy to pursue this promptly; and I do hope that Susan is treated fairly.

My thanks goes out to Susan for having a thoroughly enjoyable talent to spread-about a bit of light in this world of ours. As one of the BGT judges, Amanda Holden, said, "It was a complete privilege listening to that."

Microsoft Genuine Validation

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:34:21 -0600

This evening, the girls had problems with their school computers--these are, regrettably, xp machines.

To cut to the chase, Lia needs a new CD-Rom drive, and Anya probably needs a SYSRES.

Both girls needed DirectX updated, so I hopped over to my machine (which has nothing but Linux gracing it) to get the latest DirectX redistributable to load onto their machines.

I found myself on this page, whereupon you can see that my machine will not jump through the hoops microsoft wants their customers to hop through so that I can download:

Quick Details
File Name: directx_mar2009_redist.exe
Version: 9.26.1590
Date Published: 3/17/2009
Language: English
Download Size: 92.4 MB
Estimated Download Time: 3 hr 46 min 56K

It's hardly likely that, since all the machines in the house are in use, I'm going to kick somebody off a machine so microsoft can invade our privacy because of corporate paranoia--like they don't make enough money already.

It's also ridiculous to consider installing an xp dual-boot partition on my machine to get things like this downloaded...xp is just too crappy a product to waste money on--take my word for it.

So, on a lark, I Googled for "directx_mar2009_redist.exe" and came up with a hit that was very interesting to me; and gave me the ability to

Right-Click & Save Link Target As... directx_mar2009_redist.exe.

...Straight from microsoft's own servers.

The girls' DirectX issue is now solved.

Anybody need internet exploiter 6 to install under WINE?

Maru The Stunt Cat

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:04:38 -0600

It's just cute.

Not Name That Tune

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:27:09 -0600

OK. This isn't a round of "Name That Tune", but I am wondering if some of you can identify the exact use of this cable.

It is computer oriented, and there was a time when you could look into almost any domestic system or office workstation and see one or two of these being used.

It was so common that absolutely no hints are required. You either recognize it, or you don't.

Conficker Fears

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:09:36 -0600

Oh the world is a-buzz with fear of Conficker. People are discussing, in pseudo-sage tones, what "WE" will do about this latest threat to "OUR" computers...HUH?

No, no, no, no. You have it all wrong. It doesn't have to be that way, but nobody seems capable of listening.

Those of us who use Linux, have no fear of this latest security exploit against the Fisher Price of Operating Systems; but you can bet your bottom dollar that we will have to pay the price for those who have no business connecting to the Internet.

If your windoze machine tanks tomorrow...

Disconnect it from the Internet.

Format the hard drive.

Install a real Operating System:

SimplyMEPIS 8.0:

712577024 2009-02-22 09:11 SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.00-rel_32.iso

       67 2009-02-22 04:36 SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.00-rel_32.iso.md5sum

708083712 2009-02-22 17:18 SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.00-rel_64.iso

       67 2009-02-22 04:36 SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.00-rel_64.iso.md5sum

Laugh your way to the bank because you just installed a BETTER, MORE SECURE Operating System than even Mac owners enjoy, and you did it for free.

For Sherry

nospam@example.com (Allan Gabston-Howell) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:42:00 -0600

Hi Sherry,

You mentioned the need for wiring information which is less engineering/electronics and more trade-electrician/homeowner oriented. You might find the below references to be of some use to you:

Wiring References (Lowes Online)

Basic Wiring Methods (PDF)

Basic Wiring Book (Creative Homeowner Press)

NEC-Based Simplified Wiring Book

Basic Wiring Book (Time-Life)

Advanced Wiring Book (Time-Life)

Let me know if you need more resources to get you going, and don't forget that HyperPhysics, specifically this branch of the tree[*], is still out there--in case you're interested in more theory-oriented information.

[*]
I'd imagine that this would be nothing more than curiosity-based stuff for you...nevertheless...
Assuming a proper foundation in the SI Units of measurement and the basic math that goes with it--you're covered, of course--I always started students out with Electric Charge and Conductors and Insulators.