tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66976062024-03-08T13:28:07.763-05:00rant-o-riffic!gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.comBlogger559125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-11785737977289482182014-01-19T10:05:00.004-05:002014-01-19T10:05:27.171-05:00<b>IE 11 breaks Outlook Web Access "full" mode (not "light" mode)</b>. <br /><br />To fix this, in IE:<br /><br />Go to Tools/Compatibility View Settings<br />Add your OWA domain (mail.widgetsrus.com) to the "compatibility view" list.<br />Click Close<br />Restart IE (just to be safe).<br />Full OWA mode should work.<br /><br />I figured this out thanks to a post on <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/21/internet_explorer_11_breaks_google_outlook_web_access/">TheRegister.co.uk</a><br /><br />Another recent tech annoyance and fix that I've come across and that I thought was worth sharing. (Also, well done, Microsoft...breaking your own product within your own product!)gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-37265180799243521702014-01-19T09:53:00.000-05:002014-01-19T09:53:06.363-05:00<br />
So my RAIDed <a href="http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=377">Biostar TA790GXE 128M v5.x</a> motherboard had a hard drive fail. No big deal. I've had dozens of drives fail over the years. Sadly, the RAID recovery process for this board is completely un-intuitive and, shall we say, stupid. So in an effort to save future users from the frustrations I experienced, here's what I learned...<br />
<br />
Once you replace your failed hard drive, you do not, as one would expect, rebuild the array from the RAID BIOS. You actually have to boot in to Windows and run AMD's RaidXpert software which, after a fair amount of digging, I found here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www2.ati.com/drivers/raidxpert_3.3.1540.19.exe">http://www2.ati.com/drivers/raidxpert_3.3.1540.19.exe</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/AMD_RAIDXpert_User_v2.1.pdf">User manual available here.</a><br />
<br />
Once you download and install the software, you use a browser-based manager to rebuild the array. IIRC, the address for the browser interface is<br />
<br />
http://localhost:25902/amd/screen.jsp<br />
<br />
Once in the manager, rebuilding the array isn't too convoluted. I'll let you take over from here. Any questions, feel free to email me and I'll try to help. Oh, and I originally untangled the ATI browser RAID manager mess thanks to a post on the anandtech forums. Original thread <a href="http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=300318">here</a>.<br />
<br />
And finally, yes, I realize this blog has sat idle for a year. Maybe two. I'm going to try and start posting more stuff there that might actually come in handy for future people Googling for solutions to problems I've faced. Welcome :)<br />
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<br />gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-9809267194994846482011-12-05T14:46:00.001-05:002011-12-05T14:49:05.015-05:00Drink up!It's like a birthday...only better!<br><br>
<a href="http://www.repealday.org/">Happy Repeal Day!!</a><br><br>
<center><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Hz2CFoZ20hM/TnJbr40yJuI/AAAAAAAAAmY/kw3vcFGZYS0/s640/2011-06-15%25252019.01.52.jpg"></center>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-601587522550071602011-11-28T05:07:00.001-05:002011-11-28T05:07:53.069-05:00Hell is...<div><p>Insomnia + Thomas the Tank Engine theme song stuck in your head on infinite loop since 4am. (At the tone, the time will be 5:07am...beep.)</p>
</div>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-41328300884108671712011-11-22T10:55:00.001-05:002011-11-22T10:55:41.752-05:00Pulse check*tap tap tap*. Is this thing still on?gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-81998435474606783442009-09-09T20:58:00.004-04:002009-09-10T12:09:23.858-04:00Yeah, yeah, I know. This blog has been offline for months. Blame the summer doldrums, blame blogger laziness, blame the new baby, blame other recent time-wasting discoveries like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Ryan/651142231">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/gmr2048">Twitter</a> (of which interest in the latter is waning), blame lack of interesting content. Whatever. <br /><br />Lucky for you, dear reader, there are some things that are just stupid enough to spur me to action (and rip me from my semi-retirement).<br /><br />Courtesy of <a href="http://www.thefreshmarket.com/Company/pressroom.html">"The Fresh Market"</a>, a store proving that the road to hell is paved with good intentions<sup><a href="http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/road+to+hell+is+paved+with+good+intentions">[1]</a></sup><sup>[2]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>. I present an attempt at raising funds to fight diabetes by selling you foods most likely to give you diabetes. Well planned.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.pbase.com/image/117059624"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/117059624.jpg" width=400></a>(Click the image for a slightly larger, more readable version.)</center><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h5>[2] Did I ever mention how much I liked superscript? Well, I do.<br />[3] A lot.</h5>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-84941189184434420092009-06-03T15:10:00.002-04:002009-06-03T15:12:52.924-04:00High-wheel cycling...ur doing it rong.One of my hardware vendors constantly sends me classic photo post cards. This one arrived today. I thought it was worth sharing. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/113332762.jpg"><br /><br />The back of the post card reads "Perilous ride down Capitol Building steps, Washington DC c. 1910. Photographer unidentified". So I assume it's in the public domain.<br /><br />(I originally posted this on <a href="http://bikecentric.blogspot.com/">Bikecentric</a>, but I liked the image so much, I wanted to post it here as well.)gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-89862130375589727822009-05-20T15:14:00.008-04:002009-05-20T15:24:26.585-04:00Don't judgeWhile sitting around BSing with my buddy <a href="http://wrenchinthegears.blogspot.com/">Steve</a> after a mountain bike ride last evening, a guy on a <a href="http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~bps/unicycle.jpg">mountain unicycle</a> exits the trail at the end of his ride. We get to chit-chatting with the guy when Steve mentions that we tend to ride <a href="http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/images/ProductImages/fullsize/Bikes/Cannondale/08%20Cannondale%20Bad%20Boy%20Singlespeed.jpg">singlespeed mountain bikes</a> (i.e. no gears). The guy with the mountain unicycle looks at us kinda quizzically and asks something to the effect of "Why would you ride *that*?"<br /><br />o_0<br /><br />B!tch! At least we got two wheelz!gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-47195037899529679382009-05-01T14:24:00.004-04:002009-05-01T14:33:47.607-04:00No Hours of Lodi FarmSadly, due to a death in the wife's family, I'm not going to be able to shoot one of my favorite races of the year - <a href="http://www.fredevents.org/12_hours_of_lodi.htm">12 Hours of Lodi Farm</a> - which happens noon to midnight, Saturday. <br /><br />You racers have a good time. And try not to do anything interesting or particularly photo-worthy till next year, k? Thx.<br /><br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-19385126489667826822009-04-21T08:05:00.000-04:002009-04-21T10:37:06.921-04:00Leesburg Baker's Dozen race photos posted<a href="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/111564813"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/111564813.jpg" width=400></a><br /><br />I've posted my shots from the Leesburg Baker's Dozen mountain bike race. The gallery can be found <a href="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/leesburg_bakers_dozen_2009">here</a>.<br /><br />The posted shots are free for the taking/use non-commercially (Facebook/blogs/whatever). A photo credit and a link back to the gallery is all I ask in return. <br /><br />Full-res digital files are $15. 8x10ish" prints are $25 (assuming my source image is good enough to sell/print). Email me if you're interested. The posted shots are straight out of the camera (no post-processing). Any full-res file or print will be hand tweaked and should look better than the web version.gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-61984565437528296132009-04-19T20:30:00.001-04:002009-04-19T20:31:30.438-04:00...essing...Processing...Processing...Proc...Cross-posted here and at my <a href="http://blog.toofattorace.com/">other blog</a>, cuz, face it, content around here has been pretty sparse lately.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/111520970.jpg"><br /><br />Processing pix from the Leesburg Baker's Dozen race on Saturday. Shot roughly 700 shots. There's gotta be one or two worth sharing...right? Right?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/111520968.jpg"><br /><br />We can only hope. Stay tuned. Pix, write-up and lessons-learned coming in the next day or two.<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-81708905671942377912009-04-08T12:23:00.003-04:002009-04-08T12:34:41.936-04:00Sadly, I'm beginning to detect a patternNormally this wouldn't be fodder for a full blog post on its own, but I figure since it was so closely related to <a href="http://gmr2048.blogspot.com/2009/02/daily-doh-se-of-environmentalism.html">an earlier post</a>, I'd mention it. <br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090407/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_rare_shark">"Rare megamouth shark caught, eaten in Philippines"</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fobtastic/2993244653/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3156/2993244653_82aceb0b9e.jpg" width=400></a>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-39922934413074747572009-04-06T19:46:00.001-04:002009-04-07T08:30:47.162-04:00Cue the tumbleweeds<center><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/164955733_479818f891.jpg" width =400>*</center><br /><br />As buddy Spearman was kind enough to point out, stuff around here has gotten somewhat stale of late. Reasons for the staleness range from "How many blog posts about poopy baby diapers can one man make?" to "Twitter <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070717124442AAcSvxr"><b><3</b></a>s my <a href="http://www.add.org/">ADD</a>." Who really needs more than 140 characters at a time, anyway?<br /><br />In general, I haven't really been up to too many long-form-blog-worthy exploits lately. Photography time has been limited by baby time. As has biking time. I did manage to sneak in a couple of MTB rides over the last week. And I performed as poorly as I expected I would. I also decided that I much prefer freewheelin' off-road to fixin', so I converted my SS back to freewheel. The current plan is to build up a fixed/free rear wheel using the spare flip-flop IRO hub I bought a while back and an old 26" rim I have lying around. Only thing missing are correctly sized spokes (the ones I had lying around were too long). Er, and possibly a frame to mount it in...now that I think about it.<br /><br />A while back I signed up for a <a href="http://www.twitter.com">Twitter</a> account. And although it has the potential to be a completely annoying service, it's actually pretty entertaining. I can't explain exactly why. I enjoy tossing out 140-character missives every now and then. And I enjoy the one-on-one connection you feel you get with other Twiterererers, famous and non-famous alike. (Example: I thought it was cool that I knew about Lance Armstrong's broken collarbone before any of the news services had a chance to get the story out. Of course, so did Lance's ~350,000 other "followers", but still). In an attempt to breathe some life back to this blog, I used a plug-in to mirror my Twitter posts here (top right side of the screen, in case you missed it). I find I use Twitter as a place to post semi-interesting things I find online. Links and such. Cool enough to mention, yet not worthy of a full-on blog post here. If you partake of the Twitters, you can follow me <a href="http://twitter.com/gmr2048">here</a>.<br /><br />Lessee...what else? <br /><br />Photography: Like I said, I haven't been shooting much. I did a bit of in-home studio stuff, and have a few other ideas. But to be honest, it's not the most exciting shooting. And I've totally gotten bored with my photo-a-day project with the baby. Luckily, the wife has her own camera and takes about 2.5 million photos of the baby daily (plus video!), so if I ever get off my ass, I should be able to cobble together enough photos to keep the project alive (although, I guess now I'll have to bill it as a collaborative project).<br /><br />If you look in the sidebar (over there <b>-------></b>) you'll see a link that I put up to the "This Week in Photography" podcast. It's a cool show where a number of guys sit around talking photography. It took a little while for the show to grow on me. But it really did, especially after I checked out a number of other photography podcasts which were were really god-awful. One even resorted to what I imagine 1950-era gonzo-radio styles with heavily affected voices and silly whistles, bells honky-honk clown-nose horns and other ridiculous noises. Anyway, check out TWiP if you feel the urge.<br /><br />Music: I scored a pair of pre-sale tickets to the <a href="http://www.ninja2009.com/">Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction</a> (original lineup!) show at Merrywhether this summer. At $86 each (after BS "fees" and all), it is by far the most I've ever paid for concert tickets. Few things apart from a reunited Jane's Addiction would spur me to do that. Now let's just hope that both acts don't plan any songs recorded after about '92.<br /><br />Tech: Been drooling over the announced-yet-still-vaporware <a href="http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/index.html">Palm Pre</a> smartphone lately. As often as I find myself awake in the middle of the night with the baby (less than the wife finds herself in the same situation, I've gotta say), my current smartphone with internet access and lots of .txt articles has proven a lifesaver (and timekiller). I've been sorta considering the iPhone for a couple of years now, but have been locked into a Sprint contract the whole time (with a Palm Centro). Breaking contracts and changing providers just seemed like too much work (and expense). Thus, when the Pre was announced, it caught my attention. Exclusively Sprint (at first), means I won't have to change providers, and probably won't even have to try and wriggle out of a contract; I'll just tack on an extra two years. Bonus is that the device seems to offer some key features the iPhone doesn't (multitasking being one). I just wish it would hit the market already. I don't want to be the first kid on the block to drink the Kool-aid, so it needs to shake out for a while before I plunk down my hard earned loot. If it's not in the wild till June, I'll be stuck using what feels like a clunky Windows 3.1 device for another few months, all the while knowing pretty Vista is out there waiting (wait...that's a bad analogy). <br /><br />Anyway, there ya have it. Yeah, yeah. I promise to try to update more often, blah blah blah. Everybody says it. Everybody has good intentions. But <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-english-proverbs">you know what they say about good intentions</a>...<br /><br /><br><br><br><br><br /><br />*[CC-licensed photo above by flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/parudox/">parudox</a>]gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-50018487606160457942009-02-23T15:03:00.011-05:002009-02-23T15:12:02.316-05:00Daily d'oh-se of environmentalismOnce again, sadly, <a href="http://www.theonion.com">the Onion</a> predicts the future:<br /><br /><b>Funny:</b><br /><br />May 18, 2005<br /><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/new_delicious_species_discovered">"New, Delicious Species Discovered"</a> <br /><br /><b>Less funny:</b><br /><br />February 19, 2009<br /><a href="http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/turnix-worcesteri/">"Extinct Bird Found, Photographed & Then Eaten"</a> <br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/uploads/090218-extinct-bird-photo_big.jpg"><br /><h4>(Image linked from Cryptomundo story, above).</h4></center>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-82778659284695923662009-02-09T19:12:00.003-05:002009-02-09T20:21:57.120-05:00Backing up is hard to do...I feel safer already.<br /><br />I've got a metric crap-ton of images on my home computer. And another metric crap-ton of music files. And far fewer (tho no less important) documents and other little files. All of this is backed up semi-regularly to an external USB hard drive. Thinking that wasn't enough (what about fire? Flood? Theft?), I decided to try one of the internet-based backup solutions. <br /><br />I'd heard good things about <a href="http://www.backblaze.com">BackBlaze</a> and, after comparing them to a number of other similar companies, decided to try them out. They offered a 15 day free trial, which (for me) is basically a joke. My 250+GB of data would take far longer than that to upload (even via my crappy cable company's crappy cable modem). After the free trial, they cost $5/month for unlimited storage. So on December 10, 2008, I started my backup.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/109060820"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/109060820.jpg" width=400></a><br /><br />Flash forward to today, February 9, 2009, nearly <b>two months</b> later and the backup <i>finally</i> completed. And at that, the only reason it did so so "quickly" was that I lugged my home PC in to the office and connected it to our 3Mbps (upstream) business-class cable connection, which is more than 10x faster than my home (upstream) connection.<br /><br />From here on out, the home connection should be able to handle the incremental updates. I figure after an infrequent heavy-shooting weekend, I'll have a couple of gigs to upload at most (after I dump all the junk shots...something at which I'm getting much better). And that should happen relatively quickly.<br /><br />Surprisingly, my crappy cable company (is that redundant?) didn't scream too loudly when I pushed ~200GB up through their wires. I did get a couple of out-of-the-ordinary robo-calls from them, which I assume was them trying to yell at me. But if you want to yell at me, call me directly and yell at me. Don't call me and leave a message asking me to call you back so you can yell at me. Eff that.gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-70062423123273518372009-02-02T20:32:00.000-05:002009-02-03T14:05:35.638-05:00"Zack and Miri (definitely *do not*) Make a Porno"<center><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/108842336.jpg" width="400" /><br />Widely available version.</center><br /><br />I don't know what exactly the title characters in the latest movie by writer/director Kevin Smith *do*, but whatever it is, it definitely ain't makin' a porno.<br /><br />At least according to WalMart, who've decided to keep us safe by protecting us from having to see the letters M A K E A P O R N O on the cover of the newly released DVD.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/108842335.jpg" width="400" /><br />Walmart special.</center><br /><br />I have to wonder what they think is going to happen when all those good "M A K E A P O R N O"-fearing folks get home, unwrap their new DVDs and pop them into the ol' DVD player, only to learn exactly what it is that Zack and Miri are up to. Perhaps rush right back to Wally-world (with that filthy, filthy, dirty DVD well hidden in a brown paper bag) and return that smut-titled movie? Ah, but isn't the standard policy that you can't return a movie (or CD or video game) once it's been opened?<br /><br />Fear not, tho. If you'd like a copy of Predator (in which a space monster rips out the skull and spine of a guy), or Scarface (which, from what I remember has a rather nasty scene involving a chainsaw), or Reservoir Dogs (remember the ear scene?), or a whole host of other violent, bloody offerings, WalMart is ready to help you out.gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-55843604361829597262009-02-01T22:14:00.004-05:002009-02-01T22:18:32.133-05:00Snotcycle<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmr2048/3246184178/" title="IMG_9481b by gmr2048, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3434/3246184178_3fd3f60cde_o.jpg" width="400" height="619" alt="IMG_9481b" /></a><br /><br />I posted a write-up of my half-assed attempt to shoot the Snotcycle mountain bike race over on <a href="http://blog.toofattorace.com/">my other, even less frequently updated blog</a>.<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-30786069334004094992009-02-01T11:35:00.010-05:002009-02-01T12:08:46.377-05:00Farewell, inside access<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmr2048/1583439724/" title="Enzo from above by gmr2048, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2160/1583439724_bdf179863b.jpg" width="400" alt="Enzo from above" /></a><br /><br />For the last 9 years, I've worked at a publishing company for a guy who also owns the local Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini dealership. This inside connection has allowed me the opportunity to get up close and personal with super-cars the likes of which most people only see in Road and Track magazine. It's also allowed me the opportunity to ride around in a few vehicles I'll likely never (ever ever ever) own: a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari 512TR, a Ferrari 575M, a Ferrari 360 Spyder (around a racetrack, no less). I've also had the chance to oogle (and shoot) a Ferrari Enzo (pictured above) and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/gmr2048/384570786/in/set-72157601640377631/">Porsche Carrera GT</a> up close and personal. Finally, it has given me the chance to be the "official" photographer for a number of dealership-related events.<br /><br />Sadly, come Monday morning, this connection will be broken. The boss has decided to sell the dealership. From here on out, I'll just be another Joe at the track events, snapping photos from afar (assuming the new owner even keeps the track events going). Sadder still (much more-so for them than for me) is that many of the guys I'd consider friends who worked at the shop have had their positions cut. So they're out job hunting in this crappy economy.<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-49464277897754834382009-01-14T08:54:00.010-05:002009-01-14T09:38:08.333-05:00Dude...switch to decaf.Just experienced the most vile, hot-headed bit of road rage I've ever seen. Aimed directly in my passenger window by a ~60 year old white guy. Epithets below are verbatim. I don't mean to offend anyone.<br /><br />I pulled up to a 4-way stop on my commute to work a bit ago. I stopped. The guy in the huge, tricked-out 4x4 opposite me was still rolling up to his stop sign (easily seen by the enormous tread on his off-road tires still moving). So I turned left. He didn't stop, at all, and proceeded to drive towards me getting about 3" away from hitting my car (at about 2mph). I kept on my way, he made some crazy-ass traffic-stopping U turn in the middle of the intersection and followed me. I took off my seat-belt. <br /><br />At the next stop light 20 seconds later, he pulls up along my passenger side and stops; hanging halfway out of his driver's window, obviously having something terribly important to say. I roll down my passenger's side window eagerly anticipating whatever bits of driving wisdom he can bestow upon me. What follows is a tirade unlike anything I've ever heard. He starts out by telling me that the (public) road on which I was just driving was an "industrial road" (all the commercial shops not withstanding) and that I should "stay the fuck off it". To which I reply "Um, no". Then his head explodes. He proceeds to get out of his truck, stick his face in my passenger's side window and (screaming, at this point) call me a "nigger" (I'm white), a "faggot" (I'm straight), a "pussy" (I'm a guy), "Obama" (I'm not), "earring" (guilty on that one. I have an earring in each ear), and "democrat" (you got me again. Two outta six ain't bad, I guess). He then tells me "If you ain't a cop or ain't got a cop friend or ain't gonna call the cops, I'd beat your ass right here". At this point, I swear to god, my left eye is twitching like Clint Eastwood in some old western movie. It's taking every bit of my restraint to not reach into the glove box and pull out my 3 D-cell Mag light and brain this fucker. I'm thinking "No matter how much this asshat deserves it, if I cave his skull in, there are a lot of witnesses. I've got a wife, a teenager, and a new baby. Jail time would suck." So I just sit there soaking in his rage (maybe passive-aggressively goading him on...just a little, hoping he'll put forth that last little bit of effort necessary to give himself a coronary right there in my window; Sadly, he does not.) The light ahead of me turns green, and I start to drive off, his face still in my window. He ends his tirade with...and I swear this is true and a direct quote..."Be a Republican! Pay your bills!!!!"<br /><br />I'm really pissed that I'm not faster on my feet (so to speak). I had my camera in the bag next to me. I *really* need to learn to pull it out and start shooting when jerkoffs like this are melting down in front of me. In addition to having some nice images for this blog post (which I started composing in my mind about halfway through his meltdown), I'm quite sure it would have been the final straw and driven him directly into that coronary I was so hoping to see. Which would have been beautiful poetic justice. <br /><br />The up side to this is that he drives a *very* distinctive, *very* customized truck. And he mentioned (when talking about the "industrial" road) "We've been on this street for 45 years". Sure would be a shame if something happened to that truck. A damn shame. It sure is a pretty truck. Just sayin'<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-89449727513121157082008-12-18T11:11:00.003-05:002008-12-18T11:15:58.292-05:00The Big PictureVia <a href="http://www.boston.com/">www.boston.com</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html"><img src="http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/2008_pt1/20_17118999.jpg" width=400></a><br /><br />Hand's down, the best post on one of the best photo-blogs ever. <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html">Check it out</a>. RSS it. Follow it. You'll be impressed.<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-37435854234841974662008-12-16T13:44:00.009-05:002008-12-16T22:31:29.599-05:00flickr and self promotionSince time has been tight in recent weeks (funny how a baby will do that to you), I've had little times for photography (or biking for that matter, but that's fodder for another post). Lately, in an attempt to quench my creative desire, I've been going back through the thousands of photos in my archive and trying to find the few gems that may lie hidden among the crap.<br /><br />So far, I've found a random shot...<br /><center><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/3108815616_cb43ed3b2e.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/3108815616_cb43ed3b2e.jpg" width=400></a></center><br /><br />or two...<br /><center><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/3108829038_3e5a4d7b60.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/3108829038_3e5a4d7b60.jpg"></a></center><br /><br />(maybe three)...<br /><br /><center><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/3109197988_464560d3a2.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/3109197988_464560d3a2.jpg" width=400></a></center><br /><br />...that I don't mind much. Hopefully there will be more. <br /> <br />In addition to going back through the old photos, I've decided to start joining various flickr groups (for which I have appropriate photos) and adding my images to the photo pools. I figure, as much as I like having my 15 or 20 friends and contacts see my work, I'm not doing a very good job of expanding my audience. At this point, I have ~215 shots in various groups, and ~392 not. Time to find appropriate homes for them, while adding more to the inventory.gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-91973989834593624282008-12-14T22:17:00.002-05:002008-12-14T22:27:03.488-05:00The new, new steedWith the <a href="http://gmr2048.blogspot.com/2008/06/papas-new-pride-and-joy.html">demise of my last "new steed"</a>, I'd been on the lookout for a new bike to fixie-up as a one-geared-wonder road machine. A couple of weeks back, a candidate presented itself to me for consideration. A guy who sells old-ass bikes both on Craigslist and at a couple of local flea markets advertised a "ridiculously large" (~67cm), circa 1980 Schwinn Traveler road bike. <br /><br />I told him that being ridiculously large myself (~195cm), this sounded right up my alley. I met him at one of his usual haunts and gave the bike a test spin. It rode quite smoothly. There were a number of oddly-colored painted touch-ups on the frame, but it seemed solid (hopefully). I managed to talk him down from his asking price by telling him he could have pretty much everything off of it, aside from the frame, fork and cranks. Less crap for the crap pile in my basement, and more crap for him <br />to fix up other long-in-the-tooth rides in his inventory.<br /><br />I hauled her home, stripped off the remaining useless bits, cobbled together enough useful bits from fixies past and rebuilt her:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/106637689.jpg" width="400" /><br /><br />My initial test ride was last weekend. My kid had a lacrosse game ~8 miles away, practically on the local bike path. It was an agonizingly windy ride out (but the ride back was a breeze!). A few times, I literally had to stand up and pedal on a flat section of path cuz the headwind was so brutal. While the gearing on this build was the same as on my Sekai (42x15, 170mm crank), it seemed much more difficult. During the wind-tunnel portion of the ride, I decided that when I got home, I'd re-tool the Schwinn and make it 40x15 (since I happened to have a 180mm crank set w/ 40t ring lying around the crap pile). <br /><br />My initial test ride with the new and improved 40x15 gearing was today. This time, the kid had lacrosse tryouts (for a different league) out in Leesburg, at a location again easily accessed by the local bike path. Being generally outta shape and on a test-ride, I decided to drive about half way out and ride the rest of the way (~7mi each way). The gearing was noticeably more spinny, but seemed more comfortable for my a fore mentioned outta-shape azz. (The lack of wind didn't hurt matters either.) Sadly, while I had no trouble finding the town of Leesburg in general, finding the specific school at which tryouts were being held proved more challenging. After tooling around the streets of old-town Leesburg for a couple of miles, I decided to throw in the towel and head home. Test-ride mission accomplished, meet-up-with-the-kid mission a total failure. Upon closer inspection (once arriving home), there apparently are not enough streets named "Catoctin Circle" in this world, as Leesburg decided it needed two. The correct one about a mile further out than the other (incorrect) one. SE? SW? Really, what are you...DC? You need NWs and SEs?? No, I didn't think so.<br /> <br />After the ride, I was hungry and looking for something different. Decided it was time to give <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%E1%BB%9F">Phở</a> a try. Used the phone and Google Maps to find a <a href="http://www.phobistrova.com/">local Phở joint</a> and told them I was a total phở noob. They suggested the "starter phở", which included eye of round, flank and chicken (I think), but thankfully left out the fatty brisket, tendons and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe">tripe</a>. Downed about half of the as-big-as-my-head sized bowl before I noticed the bottle of hot sauce (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha">rooster sauce</a>?) on the table. After sampling trace amounts and deciding it was OK, I added a significant number of dashes to my soup which took it from "Eh, it's pretty tasty" to "Holy crap, this is good!!". This might be my new favorite post-winter-ride meal. The rooster sauce gives you the sweats in places you never even imagined you had sweat glands. <br /><br />"Good lord...are my fingernails sweating?!".<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-10426278412027985852008-12-03T18:20:00.002-05:002008-12-05T11:05:06.405-05:00StrangeA couple of Sundays back, I had the opportunity to explore some new trails. My oldest kid had an all-day lacrosse clinic at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. I took the opportunity to scope out some local trails. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/image/106637701.jpg"><br /><br />After dropping the kid off at W&M, I had a few hours to myself. Area <a href="http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-virginia/trail/PRD_170837_4585crx.aspx#reviews">trail reviews</a> tended to favor the <a href="http://www.evma.org/trails.html/">Marl Ravine Trail</a> at <a href="http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/yor.shtml">York River State Park</a>, so that's where I headed. After finding the park and asking a local rider where the trailhead was, I suited up in cool weather gear, mounted the (still-fixed) Monkey and pedaled off into the unknown.<br /><br />The trail was fast, fun and a hell of a workout (particularly for my non-ridin'-ass). The terrain was what you would expect if Fountainhead and Rosaryville got together, got bizzy and made a baby trail. Flowy, but not as flowy as R'ville. Lotsa quick up and down hills, but not as grueling as F'head. Total distance is anywhere from <a href="http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=10479#trailid=BGD035-009&lat=37.4083&lon=-76.7166&zoom=12&m=terrain&a=MB">6</a> to <a href="http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=10479#trailid=BGD035-008&lat=37.4133&lon=-76.7183&zoom=12&m=terrain&a=MB">7</a> to 9 to <a href="http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=10479#trailid=BGD023-009&lat=37.415&lon=-76.715&zoom=12&m=terrain&a=MB">14</a> miles, depending on who you believe. The trailhead says 5.8, I think, but the paper map available at the park entrance seems to say 9.1. I've ridden my local ~7 mile loop fixed a few times, and the Marl Ravine *definitely* felt longer. Probably didn't help that there was a ~1.5 mile ride from parking lot to trailhead. I definitely felt that at the end of the loop. I also took the opportunity mid-ride to take a break in the woods and just soak up the total silence. A rare item you don't find at many local trail systems.<br /><br />I had planned on posting a GPS track of the trail. I meant to pack the GPS in the backpack, but managed to leave it safe and sound in the truck instead. So no waypoints for you.<br /><br />Props to the <a href="http://www.evma.org/">Eastern Virginia Mountainbike Association</a> for building and maintaining the trail system there. Apparently, they had been out cutting new trail as recently as the day before my ride. Well done! One request, tho: When you get to the one and only intersection with the vague marking "Raccoon Run --->" and "<--- Bluejay Jump", how about an idea what one is getting one's self into. I was actually looking for the longer route and decided on the "Raccoon Run" option, since it seemed to be more in-line with the trail and flowed more naturally than the other. But I have no idea if that was better/worse/shorter/longer than the other cleverly named path.<br /><br />The entire endeavor took just about two hours (including gearing up before and gearing back into street-clothes after). Afterward, with time running tight, I tried finding a local pub for a beer and burger, but came up empty. I sadly had to settle for an Appleby's (Applebees? Whatever.) for a mediocre brew and uninteresting burger. Following that, I picked up the kid and took off north-bound on the leisurely three-hour drive home...in traffic.<br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-89269217011466916512008-11-26T08:36:00.009-05:002008-11-26T08:55:02.941-05:00CNN: We're Good at Stating the ObviousIn a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/11/26/india.moon.probe/index.html">story about the Indian lunar orbiter overheating</a>* CNN, speaking about a probe released by the orbiter, says<br /><br /><i>"Officials say that the TV-size probe...hit the moon's surface at a speed of 3,579 mph."</i><br /><br />So far, so good, right? Then they thankfully point out<br /><br /><i>"...[it] was not intended to be retrieved after that."</i><br /><br />o_0<br /><br />Who'd have guessed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><FONT COLOR="#808080"><h4>* Side note, isn't space roughly 0°K (like -276°F)? Can't they just crack a window on the orbiter and be done with this overheating problem? If "yes", can I now add the title of "rocket scientist" to my resume for offering that bit of advice?</h4></FONT>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6697606.post-37139527720983829092008-11-20T12:08:00.010-05:002008-11-20T12:20:12.569-05:00NotGeoDear NatGeo, don't you think you have enough quality photographs in your archive that you don't need to <a href="http://books.nationalgeographic.com/visions-of-paradise/rules">swindle average, unsuspecting photo-contest entrants</a> out of their mediocre photos? Stop it already. <br /><br />From the above linked site:<br /><br /><i>5. License<br /><br />By entering the Contest, all entrants grant to Authorized Parties (National Geographic Society and its licensees) a royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable perpetual, nonexclusive license to reproduce, distribute, display, and create derivative works of the entries (along with a name credit) in whole or in part, without further review or participation from the entrant, in any medium now existing or subsequently developed, in editorial, commercial, promotional and trade uses in connection with NGS Products. </i><br /><br />Bottom line, **every photo submitted** to them (not just the winning photo, which would be bad enough) becomes theirs to do with what they want. Forever. And ever. Amen. If you enter this contest after knowing this, you're an idiot. If you've entered without reading the fine print, you're naive. <br /><br />Props to <a href="http://twitter.com">Twitter</a> user <a href="http://twitter.com/photo_guide">Photo_Guide</a> for pointing this one out. <br><br>gmr2048http://www.blogger.com/profile/07617137340771802167noreply@blogger.com0