Since turning in my Jeep last week, our family is now a car short. Since I needed a car to visit a client site this morning, I had to make arragements with my Mom to take her to work and use her car for the day. She leaves for work at 6:45am, so that didn’t […]
Month / November 2003
Video Killed The Radio Star
With the release of the Tapwave Zodiac, my attention has returned to a favorite interest of mine – video on Palm OS devices. Since color first appeared with the Palm IIIc, putting pictures and video clips on my Palm has been something of a fascination with me. I may be acting a bit like George Costanza, but being able to combine passions can only make things better right? I love Palm OS and I love movies so why not combine them?
Currently, I have all the Matrix Revolutions TV and Theatrical trailers on my 256MB SD card on my Tungsten C. It’s been nice to be able to fire up a video clip and see a preview. It’s been like getting a mini-fix in anticipation of Revolutions release. In fact, I’ve watched all the clips so much that when I went to go see Mystic River, I mouthed all the words to the Revolutions preview. But there’s more to video clips than simply fixating on an upcoming movie. There’s a lot of applications that I can think of where having video on your Palm device can be handy.
Getting Worried
I didn’t cycle on Monday, which is my usual rest day, but I didn’t ride this morning either. Holly claims the alarm went off at 6:00am, but I never heard it. I naturally woke up at 7:00am and thought I could squeeze in a quick 10 mile ride, but when I went to grab my […]
Casa de Waffle
For the first time since I started riding again, I woke up before my alarm went off. Mind you I was groggy, but I anticipated the alarm and that must count for something. Of course I didn’t get up. I reset the alarm for another 30 minutes of sleep, but it’s a small step. I […]
PUG’d Out
I didn’t get to ride this morning. I was preparing for the NPUG meeting this morning and there simply wasn’t time. After the meeting I was exhausted, as usual, so when I made it home I ordered a pizza. With my fill of bread and cheese, I fell asleep watching Rush Hour. It was dark […]
Small Improvements
Mornings are still rough. I’m waking up earlier, but not near the time I need to if I’m going to get in a 20 mile ride. I got out the door about 7:30am this morning and figured I’d go the 20 mile loop and bail at the 15 mile point if it looked like time […]
Bicycle Touring: How To Prepare For Long Rides
Author: Steve Butterman
Edition: Paperback, 104 pages
Publisher: Wilderness Press; (October 1994)
ASIN: 0899971741
Category: Travel
I’ve always felt that you should never stop learning. Even if you feel that you’re an expert in a subject, I think you should still stay current and up-to-date, as well as read what others have to say on a subject. I’m no expert when it comes to bicycle touring, but I did do a 6 month tour of Europe from Ireland to Portugal once, so I do have a little experience. While preparing for a simple little jaunt down the Natchez Trace, I came across Steve Butterman’s book, Bicycle Touring: How To Prepare For Long Rides and decided to give it a read. I thought it might give me a few tips or tricks that I might find helpful. Surprisingly, the book did quite a bit more than that.
I’ve Got The Fever For The Flava Of A Mini
Ever since the Mini Cooper came out last year, I have been in pure car lust for this vehicle. They had me with their marketing when they launched a series of billboards and once I took a look at their website I knew I was a goner. I’ve always liked Euro-Styled vehicles and the Mini Cooper was the first production vehicle in the US that had this type of styling. When Holly and I test drove them on Labor Day 2002, I was hoping that it would drive poorly, or otherwise give a bad driving experience so that my love affair with the Mini would end. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I loved the feel and handling of the vehicle and if anything I was more in love. Since I was already in a 3 year lease at the time, it was easy to dismiss my lust for this car by simply telling myself I can’t have it. That worked before, but now that I’m at the end of my lease I’m having a hard time resisting this car.
Why do I feel that the Mini Cooper is a piece of forbidden fruit? Well, Holly purchased the New Volkswagon Beetle this year and that is a fairly small car. My lease vehicle has been a Jeep Cherokee, so that gave us a 4 door and hauling vehicle if we needed it. I don’t haul people, or cargo all that often, but it does happen. As much as I love the Mini, the first time I have to go to Home Depot and pick up a piece of plywood, I know that I’d kick myself knowing that I purchased another small car instead of a more practical car.
Bonus
I had a rare opportunity today – a chance to ride twice in one day. I had to turn in my Jeep Cherokee today to the leasing company and I needed a way back home. The only option I could come up with was to ride my bicycle back home. It turns out that the […]
A Nice Ten
5:00am came and went. So did 5:30am and 6:00am. At 6:30am I finally dragged my lazy butt out of bed. It took me a few minutes to find all my clothes, jacket, gloves, etc., but by 7:00am I was on the road. It was later than I would have liked, but I was riding come hell or high water. High water was possibly an option given that it was very overcast and the threat of rain was immanent.