Rantings of a Lunatic » Generic Rantings

I need a bike

dnovotny — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:12:18 +0000

I found myself on Craigslist today, looking at bikes. I can’t get one yet, but, I really want to get one again. I find myself lusting every time I see one. In the downtime today between the errands, such as haircuts and laundry, I have been browsing the webs, looking at bikes. I expect that my next bike will be something in the Honda Shadow line, around 750cc, and somewhere between 2005 and present. This does not keep me from looking at what else is out there. Like the Suzuki Boulevard 50CT. Its not a bad looking bike, and is probably right about the size I am looking for at 800cc, and with the touring upgrades I would want for riding to Houston and back. Looking at bikes though, I came across one of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen. Its in a completely different class from my old 454, which had great style, but was in unnecessarily bad shape. This is a Harley Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations bike, and its ungodly beautiful. The only problem is the $25K price tag. Of which, probably a solid $10K is just so they will put a Harley-Davidson sticker on the side, which I would prefer they didn’t do. Anyway, the paint scheme is great, the brown distressed leather seat caught my eye first, and then, I noticed the front tire. Its sheer awesome, but, don’t take my word for it, look at it yourself.
I guess that part of the reason that I love that front tire so much is that I have low-profile tires on my car right now. I will never buy another car that has low-profile tires on it again. Aside from the cost, where they are ridiculously more expensive, they ride terribly. I did have some really nice tires on it when I got the car, the Bridgestone Potenzas, but, even they were a rough ride, and I feel like I can feel every bump and pot-hole in the road. I don't ever remember that on my LTD or Neon, which had taller softer sidewalls on the tires. Anyway, yeah, if I had all my debt paid off, had a house paid off, and had a sailboat paid off, I could see spending $25K on this bike, because it looks awesome. Although, I think its about a 1700cc bike, which is ridiculously big, and I couldn't imagine needing that big of an engine. I don't have a lot of experience, but, I think that 1000cc is probably right about the sweet spot, and more than that is just a pissing contest. I could be wrong though, and it maybe a valuable thing when you are doing 160mph for the fourth day riding across the desert trying to find a place to die.



Twitter Updates for 2010-08-29
dnovotny — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:58:00 +0000

If I need a video to find out how to download your software, you failed on your website. #symantec #fail #




Twitter Updates for 2010-08-27
dnovotny — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:58:00 +0000

No news on digg?  Really?   http://twitpic.com/2ih5e8 #




Twitter Updates for 2010-08-26
dnovotny — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:58:00 +0000

My bed wouldn't release me today, wish I could just choose to work from home whenever I want. #
To whomever put the thermo-nuclear device in my brain, I think its leaking, please detonate it now. Thank you. #fb #
Almost stopped to wait and see the glorius mullet of the man who parked his Mustang Mach 1 at McBrides Gun Store #
Missed photo op: Just saw a Porsche in the handicapped spot at the Ferrari dealership. #




5 albums for a deserted island
dnovotny — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:03:02 +0000
I don’t remember where, but recently I came across the question, “Which 5 albums would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?”  I have been thinking about this a lot since then. I accept that the question assumes that you can get beyond limited battery life, and its really asking, what are your 5 favorite albums. Which is the funny thing about my realizations.

Let me start with my list:
1. Swollen Members – Monsters in the closet

2. Jimmy Buffet – Songs you know by heart

3. John Lennon – Imagine

4. CCR – Chronicle Vol.1

5. Perfecto Presents: Another World
I think that most people would not expect that list for me. And to be fair, the third one is only there for the title song, but, ever since I first remember hearing that, it is one of those songs that I really wish more people could understand.  Oddly, I have at least 2 copies of the first and fourth albums in my car at all times. Part of this is because I have an mp3 player, so I only burn compilations, and I always include those.

This list could get me through any emotional standpoint that I happened to find myself in. If I were angry, Swollen Members can either help me to chill out, as in Track 3, Breath, which I almost always play on repeat for 8 or 9 loops. Or, it can perpetuate the anger, as in Tracks 6, 7 and 8.

If I were depressed, Paul Oakenfold’s Trance can really mellow the time, while it can also keep me focused, and can help me with productivity. This is part of the reason that on Last.fm I listen to the “vocal trance” station almost exclusively. This is partly because I listen to Last.fm primarily only while I am at work, while I am trying to get work done and while people are being annoying.  I couldn’t tell you why I would want the Buffet and Creedence, aside from the fact that they are just good collections. Although, I don’t think I will ever enjoy “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”. I haven’t liked it since elementary school, when it was re-appropriated by the California raisins. 
That’s my 5 albums. If I were stuck on a deserted island, or in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, those are the tracks that I would want to hear. 



Grey Ghost: Phase 2
dnovotny — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:28:32 +0000
Got both of the tires and tubes replaced so far. I also removed the kickstand and attempted to change the brake-pads. Unfortunately the brake-pads I got are too large, and will keep the brakes activated permanently.  I know there are a few things I need to do to get it road-worthy yet, but, I did take it for a test ride today. I still need to replace the brake-pads. I also need to change the tension cables for the derailleurs and brakes. Unfortunately it appears I need to replace the return spring for the front brakes, they activate when I squeeze the handle, but they don’t return to the released position. Also, the front wheel to handle-bar alignment is way out of whack, but, I think all of my large wrenches are at my storage facility. I will check tomorrow.  The front derailleur doesn’t seem to be adjusted correctly, so when I switch to the smaller front gear the chain doesn’t correctly seat on the gear. But, I will learn how to fix that.  Luckily Austin is a very bike friendly city, so there are lots of small independent bike shops around. Now its just a matter of finding the appropriate parts to fix a 40 year old bike. Almost all of the parts are labeled Shimano, so hopefully it will be easy to get the parts. Oh, and I should probably re-wrap the handlebars.

I am trying to limit my upgrades to essential repairs though, because I really enjoy that its an old bike, and I want to try to keep it as original as I can.  Just a decent cleaning, and some necessary repairs. Reflectors, maybe lights because they are apparently a city requirement after dark. 



Project Grey Ghost: Phase 1 – in progress
dnovotny — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:12:04 +0000
Due to the unnecessary theft of my bike, I have embarked on a new project. I was at my parent’s house over the weekend, and picked up my dad’s old bike. I am in the repair/restore phase of getting it back roadworthy. It’s not a great bike, but, its an awesome bike. My personal favorite part of the bike is that it still has the registration sticker from when my dad was ridding it to work, which expired in March or April of 1976.  Its a K-Mart All Pro, and it seems to shift smoothly. I still need to remove the kickstand, which over the last decade in storage has become bent and is impeeding the rotation of the pedals.

Today I got new tubes and tires, new brake pads, a pump, and a U-Lock for it.  I will be keeping it inside as much as I can, and the lock is for when I get to the point that I can ride to work.  Anyway, here are a few photos:

Tonight I got the front wheel cleaned up and the tube and tire replaced on it. 



To the bastard who stole my bike
dnovotny — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:44:12 +0000
First: Fuck You.

Second: I hope you don’t live near me, because if I see you riding my bike you will be lucky to see me use the same amount of effort to get it back as you used to steal it. I know you made a trip back to get it after you saw it, because you had to bring the bolt cutters to cut the lock.

Shame on me for using a cheap lock, thanks for pointing that out. Next time I will put a better lock on my bike.

I hope that you stole it so that you could pawn it. Further, I hope you used the $20 that it was worth to buy bread and Peanut Butter to feed your family that is now homeless because the recession and global outsourcing have robbed you of your career. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that is not the case. I am pretty sure you are just a lazy dick who isn’t capable of doing an honest job for honest pay. So you stole my bike for a quick buck.

In the case that you haven’t figured it out yet, let me warn you that my back tire was flat; which is the reason I haven’t been riding it. I hope you didn’t try to ride it and mess up the rim or the tube. That would just make it worth even less to the pawnshop.

Also, the rear shifter is cheap and doesn’t align properly between the fifth and sixth gears, so don’t force it, just jump from fifth to seventh. It will work fine, though someone of your class would probably just ride it in whatever gear its in, and try to pedal harder to go uphill. Oh, and if you see someone running fast at you, faster than it seems they should be able to run, that would be a good time to learn to shift gears, because I want my bike back asshole.



Drop-down’s that go up? Genius.
dnovotny — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:41:14 +0000

Why is this the first time I have seen/thought about making the drop-down go up over the wasted header space?



It’s a Microsoft world, and you get to live in it
dnovotny — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:52:05 +0000
As the Director of Technology at my job, I have several responsibilities. One of which is to oversee the rollout of Windows 7.  This is an awesome responsibility because I am a POSIX compliant computer user at home. I use that term pretty loosely, but it fits for the most part.  I love Linux, and I have used it for many years. I am currently pretty devoted to my hackintosh because it has the desktop application support that just doesn’t exist for Linux.  This is all changing though.  As part of the Windows 7 rollout, I have to know, use and breathe Win7 before I overwrite all of my user’s hard disks. So, for the undetermined future, I have decided to switch to Win7 at home.  I have installed an evaluation version, because I am not sure I will continue to use it after I do the roll out at the office, but if I want to, I will be able to purchase the license then.  As I have just started using it, I haven’t installed any software yet. Well, I installed the Lightroom Trial, thats good for 30 days, and is as good of an opportunity to give it a test run as any.  I also installed Firefox, but that’s it at the moment.

So far, its fine. I used Windows for years, from 3.1 through to XP64, so I know what I am doing. Admittedly, there are some new features I don’t know about, but, that’s the purpose of this experiment. But to be honest, I find myself really just looking at my computer now, and feeling that its a blank slate that I really don’t have a use for.  This is probably not related to the Operating System, its probably just me deciding what’s important in my life at this point.

I have gotten back into photography, I am just finalizing all of the moving into my new apartment and basically I am not sure that as I move forward I want to find myself chained to my computer any more.