Hot and Sandy

Heading Home!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Finally, after far too long in Vegas I'm heading back to the UK. Good
times.

In the US Again

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:23:00 +0000

So here I am in Vegas, the oasis of gambling in the desert - the place that wouldn't be here at all if human beings didn't have quite such a remarkable appetite for iniquity.

Creeping Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:38:00 +0000

A new way of writing this time, part of the approaching convergeance
that I find so scary. More another time. I'll fix the character set
issues soon. Miller out.

New Progress Netbook?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Am starting a new FC11 install and it appears to have recognised the old partition. Is this progress? Will I be able to save the Win partition? Going through a wired net-install as we speak. This time I was smarter and 1) connected to all the FC11 repositories, 2) removed all the optional languages at install and 3) decided against any of the 'potted' software builds. I'll add stuff as and when I need it. Update later.

New NC10 Hassles....

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Still fighting with the netbook, struggling to get a bootable session
from the kernel images on the disk. Good news is that I can at least
see the installation. Hanging at boot. If I hadn't spent so long
optimising the Linux side and storing data on the W*ndows side I'd be
tempted to wipe and start again. Grrr. More cycling soon I think. Car
now fixed and working well. In fact I think I like it. Lots of DIY
over the bank holiday. :-)

Commute Compare

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Went to work on my fixie today after not riding for a long time. Had a big blow-up on the way home, with totally empty legs due to poor eating at work, an empty bottle and a howling headwind. Ended up grovelling. Nonetheless I actually felt OK on the way to work. Attached graph is a direct comparison: 25SEP08 (red) vs. 25AUG09 (purple). Stats are (last year's in brackets): Mean HR= 167 (162), Duration 1:09 (1:11), Mean Speed: 23.6 (23.1). So overall I'm not as fit, looking at recovery, max HR and the flat sections... but I was going a teeny bit quicker.

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Long Day

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Not sure why, but today was really tiring. Achey and stuff. Need more power in the brain dept as well. Went the long way round on the 'S again, only two frustrations were that 1) I can't relax on the bike and a couple or three weeks away seem to have undone all my confidence in the grip available and 2) got stuck behind a very slow Police van for the last 4 or 5 miles of my route into work. There were a few marginal overtaking options, but I didn't have the chutzpah to go for it. The driver seemed to be watching me in his mirror more than watching the road! Always irritating when they do that.... News in the house is a new telly, new planters out the front and a newly-green front door. Chicken coop arrives tomorrow, with little feathered friends to follow at the weekend. Maybe :-)

Stupid Windows!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:39:00 +0000

As you may know I have been using a Samsung NC10 netbook since about Christmas without any problems.� I had some 'features' during the Fedora 10 > 11 upgrade, but apart from that I've been enjoying rock-solid stability, amazing speed and incredible battery life, as well as a free *nix experience.� Well recently the dream died.� I was absent-mindedly trying to optimise my BIOS settings (mistake 1!) and I accidentally hit F4 instead of F2.� Cue the stupid Windows Recovery Tool (?!?!?) overwriting the main disk MBR.� Can you imagine anything more annoying?� So now I have to go through a painful booting-to-USB process in order to restore GRUB.� Seriously, when I get it fixed I'm going to destroy the Windoze Recovery Partition to stop this EVER happening again.� No warnings, no "are you sure" messages.� Ultimate PITA factor and yet another M$ fail.� Very unhappy.

Heading Home (Again)

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:59:00 +0000

More time on the other side of the world has come to an end. It's
pretty much the same as the UK, except for water going the other way
down the plug and people greeting each other with "how y'goin?" Have
once again missed the opportunity to meet up with old buddies in
Melbourne, but perhaps I'll come back for leisure at some point. Will
be nice to be back in the UK- this trip was long enough to miss things
at home but not quite long enough to get comfortable. Should have left
bike at home (the very fact that I took it means I didn't get any time
to use it!) Should have also remembered that the accommodation had a
washing machine and only taken 3/4 days clothes. Humph. Heading back
for Sunday. Looking forward to a lot of mooching and possibly a bit of
very English castle maintenance; mowing the lawn and washing the car.
No more 'flat whites' for a while!

Aussie Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:57:00 +0000

More time in Australia, working for the common good! This time I packed my moutain bike, thinking it would be great to hit the outback trails. Well - almost two weeks in and I've racked up a grand total of 2hrs riding. It was a good two hours though. I went out of town and followed a service road under a set of pylons for a few kms (until I got a bit worried about being alone in the outback!) Then I turned and followed a pipeline route back towards town. All in all it was a nice square route. I have a garmin bike computer / gps, which really put my mind at rest because I could see the map of my ride developing. Not bad when you decide it's time to ride back to base. Other than that, have been doing some more off-roading in a 4x4. Last time we had Pathfinders (link)... this time they knew who we were and sourced some hard-as-nails Patrols. Much better, they really take the hits well. Only downside is that they're shocking on the road. Why someone would buy one for the school run mystifies me. Another little teeny bit of news is that www.one-nice-gear.co.uk is online and belongs to me! More at some point.

Is Fedora Still Secure?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:24:00 +0000

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/17/linux_kernel_exploit/

Wow, what rain!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Can't believe Brad Wiggins is still within 45" of the yellow jersy, after stage 13 of the TdF! Excellent news and David Millar is also riding well as super-somestique (although I reckon he may have a break and a stage win in him yet).

Have been away for a week, so ended up riding home 2hrs on the R11S today in absolutely unbelievable rain. At one stage I was sure I could see lightning hitting the ground - flash and crash were at the same instant! Bike and kit were both excellent. Nothing makes me appreciate the power deliver of the boxer like a greasy roundabout in the rain. Oh, also had a rear puncture but it was in the middle of the tread; ended up getting recovered and paying �35 for a permanent repair.

Fedora 11 installed itself on my NC10 netbook recently. What a palaver. I had FC10 working exactly as I wanted, and I'm not convinced 11 is any better. People mention faster booting... not for me. They talk of enhanced pulseaudio... I deleted it and went back to ALSA... They mention a gucci boot sequence... I had to disable it because it screws up compiz / dock / AWN. Add to this a relabel of my partitions and subsequent 'loss' of my home area through the GUI (which I still can't fix) and it's an annoying upgrade!

More another time. Tschuss!

Robinson R22

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:16:00 +0000

I was supposed to be flying a helicopter yesterday, but it broke down so they cancelled me... I also ruined a sporty motorcycle by bolting on a massive top-box. Practical yes, cool no.

New Dommie Parts!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:43:00 +0000

New wheel arrivedd today.� Really old design Honda logos on the box and a mint, brand new 1989 NX650 front wheel inside!� It seems really strange to have located NOS for a bike like this.� Very happy though.� Have a new pair of Karoo 6 Day tyres to fit, complete with HD tubes and rimlocks.� Only drag on my rebuilt trail wheels is that rear rim is silver, front is gold. �I may try and locate a NOS rear wheel to complete the look.� New Arrow race exhaust and chain & sprocket kit complete the minor overhaul.� I have some crash bars and a high mudguard from an XR600 to fit as well (and an Acerbis large plastic tank).� If anyone knows anything about the fabled XL600R shock conversion (to give more travel at the rear) please drop me a line.� Plans continue for an IMO, a FatBar conversion and some pannier racks.� In the meantime I'm tempted by the classic class of big-bike enduros...� :-)

Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

New photos of new Dommie and current incarnation of R1100SS in photos section.  Lovely day.

Leathers Ahoy

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:25:00 +0000

After a long time of riding in textiles (albeit pretty darn good ones) I
have been 100% leather recently. It's an odd feeling. On the one hand
you're less mobile in the leather and it is less convenient. On the
other hand, the positioning of armour and over-engineering of the suit
fills me with confidence. On fast roads the leather is less draughty
but still pleasantly cool. I think I'll have trouble going back to even
an expensive textile suit for fast road riding from now on. I am so
attached to it, I'm considering removing the armour from my venerable
old Rukka and using it as an over-jacket in winter!

Bike Changes Update (!)

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:19:00 +0000

After a lot of procrastinating and some anxiety about whether it was
even the correct length, I finally fitted the new rear EMC shock to my
R1100S. Actually Bemer Bikes in London fitted it, as well as doing the
42k mile full service for very few shekels. Recommended. At the moment
I have the pre-load about 60% down, with the rebound adjusted to 4 clicks
soft of middle. This gives me a static sag of about 20mm; a little on
the hard side for country roads. On good surfaces though the bike
sticks like glue.

Although I'm still not used to it, I'm very impressed so far. �Bumps that used to kick me out of the seat are now fine, and the bike tracks a lot better on undulating roads. This is a consequence of having to run with preload almost maxed out towards the end of the old shock's life (no damping and a tired spring). I now have an excess shock: a BMW / Showa sports unit with 41k and an oil leak!

At the same time I wire-brushed and painted the subframe of the bike,
which was looking a little scruffy. I also came across a Corbin seat on
eBay. The red trim sold it for me, but as I ride it I am impressed.
Harder and wider than the stock seat, it has a very rounded nose, which
makes moving around easy. Although the padding is firm, the seat is
very dense, so I was able to ride a Birmingham-and-back before shifting
gear into a 5-hr fast Sunday ride without any discomfort. I like the
looks as well, and the leather is very thick. Not one to get if you're
trying to save weight! I have yet to discover how we do in the pouring
rain, too.

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Working, Homey

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:17:00 +0000

A day of watching progress bars at home today has led me to ponder the secrets of the universe.  I haven't got anywhere, but it has been rather a nice day outside.

Yay Diesel

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Now back to under �1 per litre, the same price as 95RON unleaded in my local supermarket. �More to come, have been travelling a lot and decorating. �R11S few through 42K major service for �130, with no big issues.

Good Times!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Great day for riding to work the long way round on the bike.

Flickr Stats

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Got this from here. Interesting with the iPhone. I'd be fascinated to see what other "flickr labs" stuff they can do. Google NLP and wonder at the possibilities. Nice weather today: sunny but colder than it looked, with a very blustery wind from the North.

Weekend Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:33:00 +0000

Surprised by how good some of the "Seal does Motown" tunes are from his
latest album. Some is rubbish as well, of course. Weekend flew by with
Sunday spent at a nice wedding. Some funny games and good food. This
week contains a lot of admin (!) Exciting news regarding some online
purchasing and some progress in the motorbike arena. I think there will
be changes in my shed soon. Oh, another thing worth mentioning is the
BBC F1 coverage -it's great to have a useful website with real-time
content! Nerdy I know, but there is something cool about having a
console of useful info and text reporting open (or indeed an in-car shot
that never cuts away) on the laptop while you're watching the race on
telly. Speaking of laptops, the Samsung NC10 I got recently proved
itself invaluable on a recent trip away. I didn't have a work computer,
so I ended up using the netbook (in fedora, natch) for everything,
attracting envious looks from the contractors with their leaden Dells!
In 40 days there was nothing it couldn't do. It even accompanied me on
some pretty gnarly off-road driving days without any complaining.
Awesome. And brilliant value for money as well. Sunny here so I'll be
going to work on the bike, yee ha.

Ewe Kay

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis) — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Back in the UK.
Trip back fine, not slept a lot.
More photos online.
More stuff to say, but it can wait.