Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Land Rover DII washer fluid bottle relocation

After buying a new front bumper for my DII, I faced a new challenge: relocate the washer fluid bottle so that it doesn't hang below my new bumper. I first searched Discoweb.org and found a promising tutorial. I went to work, but then I realized I had extra hardware that wasn't shown in the tutorial. I went back to Discoweb, and found that others had the same problem. I saw that you could potentially use a D90 water bottle in substitution of the stock bottle. There was only one problem: I didn't want to spend the money to buy a D90 bottle that I may hack up anyway. After going back to the drawing board, I came up with a solution that was easy to install, holds lots of fluid, and most important only cost about $35 dollars in parts (You can probably get away with it for less than $15 if you have some parts around or you shop around).

It should be noted that this works with a ROVERTRACKS front bumper, and I would assume it would work with other low profile bumpers like the RoverTyme bumper, but I don't know for sure.

You will need:

Materials:

About 3 feet of poly tube to extend the stock hoses
About 3 feet of wire to extend the wire for the pumps
2 large hose clamps hose clamps
A 3" or 4" length of PVC
2 2" lengths of PVC
2 3" or 4" end caps (same as whatever size you got above)
2 2" 90 degree PVC bends
A 2" cap with screw top
A 3" or 4" coupler with 2" outlet
PVC glue

Tools:

2" hole saw
Saw to cut PVC
Screw driver
Drill and dremel (I used the dremel because I didn't have a bit big enough)
Small bit for vent hole, big bit if you have it for mounting pumps


Directions:

First of all this is what you are trying to make:

What it should look like

This is just pieced together and the up tube isn't cut to length yet.

1. Start by lining up the 3" piece of pipe under the bumper and measuring out how much you need cut off to create a tight fit. Make sure to leave enough space for the end camps and mounting of the pumps on the end of the container.

2. Cut the 3" tube in half a third of the way down the tube on the right side.

3. Put the coupler in between the new cut. (DON'T GLUE ANYTHING YET)

4. Put the new assembly back up to the bumper to make sure you still have room for everything. You'll probably have to cut the long tube again.

5. Now put the end caps on and cut the holes in the right end of the tube. I put the pumps up to the end of the cap and marked where I needed to cut. Try not to cut the holes too big. The tighter the fit the better. Try to put the pumps to as close to the bottom of the tube as possible (this will allow you to pick up more fluid).



Note: this picture has one of the small motors and the big motor (used for old bumper sprayers. You'll use both small motors when you're ready to glue). I was just test fitting.



6. Now assemble the whole thing and test fit it. This will allow you to figure out the length of your up tube and how far over you need to go over with the 2" pipe before you need to start your up tube. I went over far enough so the up tube wasn't in front of my fan. Mark out your hole that you will cut in the fender.

7. Cut your over tube and up tube to the right size. Cut the hole in the fender.

Drill the hole...ouch

8. Put the whole assembly back in place and make sure everything lines up.

9. Now extend your tubes and wires. You should just need to cut a length of tube (about a foot) and it will fit right in to the stock connectors and then connect to the pump. Cut off the plug that plugs into the pumps and splice in about a foot of wire.

Here is a picture:

On the left is the stock length and the right is the new length.

Extend the lines

The tubes will run from the stock connection point through a hole and into the new location:



Here is how they connect:

I actually heated the lines a little to slide them all the way on when I ready to put the lines in place for production use.



10. Once you are sure you have the right fit, glue everything together. Make sure to be liberal with the glue and when connecting two pieces of PVC twist the two peices together (You'll have leaks otherwise). You'll also need to use some silicone when gluing the pumps in place. Make sure you use the stock rubber grommets and let the silicone dry over night.

11. Drill a small hole in the cap on the up tube so that bottle can breath.

Drill a hole so it can breath

12. Now use the bar that runs in front of the radiator to attach the new container:

Attach to this bar


Here's a few pictures of it finished:

The finished bottle:




On the truck from below:



From the front squatting:



The spout:





After I was all done, I zip tied all the lines and had to add a few to the up tube to get it just in place. I also had a small leak, and had to add more silicone. I've been using the new system for a few weeks, and it works great. I used a 3" tube for the main container, and I can hold just under a gallon. If I used 4" tube I'm sure I would have been able to hold over a gallon. You can't even see the bottle unless you squat pretty low and look. Leave a comment if you have any questions, and I can help you with anything you need.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

My new helmet cam

I recently bought an Oregon Scientific helmet cam. I bought it so that I could get video from my Supermoto. Well, I did get some video...on my first time out, I almost highsided my bike, and I got it all on video. Enjoy:



Look forward to seeing some sweet skiing video this year!!!

----------------
Listening to: Marilyn Manson - This Is the New S**t
via FoxyTunes

Friday, November 16, 2007

Add a seatbelt to your messanger bag

I found this on a blog called Evil (I actually found it through make). This seems like a sweet site and I dig seatbelt stuff (like belts, bags, and whatnot). Here is a quick tutorial on swapping your stock strap on a messenger bag for a seatbelt:

Hack my Bag

I have an old Timbuktu bag that I'll be doing this to...i'll update with pictures soon.

-- Rob


Powered by ScribeFire.

Crack a padlock in no time flat


HOWTO force a padlock with a tin-can shim - Boing Boing

I've seen this before, but it's worth showing others...Enjoy!

--Rob

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Rip Audio from a DVD to MP3



Featured Windows Download: Rip Audio from a DVD to MP3 with Free DVD MP3 Ripper

Another great find from lifehacker. Start ripping your concert dvds!

-- Rob


Powered by ScribeFire.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

As many links as I could think of...

Kim mentioned to me the other day that I seem to know a lot of cool places to go on the net. That got me thinking..."How many do I actually know?". Turns out, I don't know too many "cool" websites. I do know a lot of useful websites and programs and a few cool websites, so instead of putting a list of "cool" places together, I decided to put a list of links to sites and software that I use/like/love or just think you might like. I use Ubuntu, so some of the stuff I listed only works on Linux, but I did try to make the links as cross platform as possible. Enjoy:

Audio/Video (12)

Amazonmp3
Anywhere.FM
Last.fm
Pandora
YouTube
Google Video
Yahoo Video
Break
Myspace Video
Metacafe
Yahoo Music Videos
EyeSpot

Photo related(2)

Flickr
Picasa

Social Networking/Community Driven(7)

Digg
StumbleUpon
Myspace
Facebook
Newsvine
Twitter
Slashdot

Podcasting(7)

Twit
Revision3
CNET
This American Life
Hak.5
DL.TV
Maccast
Podrunner

Blogs/Good RSS feeds(17)

--Comics

XKCD
Cracked
Dinosaur Comics
A Softer World
Questionable Content
Copper
Indexed

--Tech

Lifehacker
Make
Engadget
Hack A Day
Instructables

--Other

Boing Boing
Toolmonger
TurnYourselfIn
Blogger
WordPress


Bargain Shopping(7)

Backcountry.com
Woot
Steep and Cheap
Froogle (Google product Search now)
Ebay
Craigslist
FatFingers

Open Source Software(17)

Ubuntu
GIMP
TrueCrypt
Eclipse
Audacity
VLC
Pidgin
gVim
OpenOffice
Mplayer/Mencoder
FireFox
ThunderBird
Sunbird
FreeNas
Cinelerra
Pitivi
Knoppix


Utilities/Apps(10)

IMDB
Putty
Portable Apps
Wikipedia
Google - Search/Gmai/Google Docs/Google Maps
meebo
youconvertit
Security Tools
FileZilla
FeeNX

Questionable Legality(4)

QTFairUse
FairUse4WM
HandBrake
AcidRip


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Monday, September 24, 2007

Check out what I'm listening to

As anyone who works with me knows, I listen to music about 90% of my work day. It's the only way I can get any work done b/c of some...um loud co-workers...

Well I figured why not share with the rest of the world..?...From here on out, you'll be able to see a signature with some of the lame music/podcasts I listen to.

Rob
----------------
Listening to: Molly Wood and Kelly Morrison - Gadgettes 61: The Fall Season Episode
via FoxyTunes

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I'm back, and "For The Record..."

If anyone is still out there, i'm back. I gave it a break for a bit, but I'm going to try to bring new/interesting/wierd things to you on a daily/weekly basis. Speaking of interesting news, have you heard about Barry Bonds' home run record ball? It seems that clothing designer Mark Ecko " was the winning bidder in the auction for Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run ball, paying $752,467 for it."

In what I'm calling The Coolest Move of All Time, Ecko has decided to have a democractic fate for the famed ball. At a website apptley named vote756.com Ecko is letting the public vote on the fate of the ball. The choices include: Sending the ball strait to the baseball hall of fame, branding the ball with an asterisk and then sending the ball to the hall of fame, and lastly, blasting the ball into space so that it is never seen or spoken of again...

All I can say, is I love this guy, and make sure you guys vote...I know I did!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Find music with Google

I found a super cool Google hack by a guy who goes by the name Jimmyr

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

One of my best friends: Damien

Damien is technically my best friend Daniel's little brother, but I've been friends with Dan so long that I just consider Damien my best friend too. He was my little brothers best friend, and he's been with me and my family through thick and thin. He really is a good person, and on top of that he's some one I can really share my stupid sense of humor with.

As we've gotten older, Damien has become somewhat reclusive, and a little less willing to hang out with our group. I've wondered why, and until recently it hadn't hit me. He's heart broken. He's loved one of (maybe the first) girlfriend he ever had since as long as I can remember. The problem was that they were both destined for different journeys in life and when the road split, so did they. She went on to focus on school and college, and Damien focused on work after school.

Even though she left, I think Damien always new they'd get back together. He waited and watched as she dated other guys and did her own thing, and even though I think this hurt him, he never judged her and took every opportunity he had to get close to her. She didn't just abandon him, I mean she'd talk to him on the net and call him and stop by on his b-day and stuff, but all that did was keep her close enough to keep him from letting her go.

I've come back from college only 2 years ago, and I've watched him struggle with anger, and sadness, and at times he seems just down right depressed. I've told Kim how I thought it was b/c he can't have her and I wished I could just find someone who'd love him like he loves her.

Well lately, she's been hanging out with him, and he's been happier than I've seen him in a really long time (only when he's with her though). I've just been hoping that she would want what he does: a relationship. But it's not so. She'll be going back to college soon, and he'll be back to normal.

The thing that caused me to write all this is something he posted to here on the net:

Its been six years and i still think about you every day, i dream about you every night, i thought the love we had would last forever and even though we still love each other i know the love u had for me changed, at times i think i would rather be alone and unhappy then to be without you, i never thought love could be so strong and i learned the hard way. I'm not gonna lie i won't ever be the same, i have changed a lot. i am angry, alone and wish you were here with me. but yet i deal with it every day. to tell the truth i don't know how much more i can take. i want to be with you and make you happy more than anything in the world, but if your not happy with me than i guess i should stop trying. you know who you are and you know how i fill, i just wish i could be happy with the relationship we have. i love you so much
love, Damien


When I read this, I felt a lot of emotions: anger, sadness, and an overall need to help him move on. He's a good guy and he deserves a good girl (not that I dislike her as a person).

I just hope he reads this, b/c this is to him:

Damien,

You're a good guy. You have one of the biggest hearts that any girl could ever want. I know you love her, but don't sell yourself short. There is someone with as much passion for you as you have for her. Someone who would love to spend all their time with you. Someone who'd love to call you and sleep next to you, and do all the things that'd you'd love to do with her. It hurts me and your bro and everyone around you to see you hurt. I know you can't just give her up, but I think you owe it to yourself to move on and find someone who is as good of a person as you are. You're my little broham man, and I just want you to be happy.

Love you man,

Rob

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A bunch of new photos

I just added a bunch of photos to my flickr pool. Some are from camping and some bowling.

Enjoy

Friday, July 6, 2007

Polls

I'm going to start adding polls to my site. Just another fun thing to try. I've got the first one up on the right of the page. If there is one any of you guys would like to see, let me know.

Rob

Optical Illusions...

Check out this site I found on BoingBoing that has a ton of optical illusions...

Prepare to be sick

Thursday, June 28, 2007

RoverTracks Land Rover Discovery off road winch bumper

I have been looking for a new bumper for my '03 Disco II for some time now. I wanted one that was high clearance, light weight, had a winch plate, and had a light bar on it. I've come across a few others, but I really didn't like the style, and for the price of these bumpers, I wasn't going to settle.

It just so happened that search for "Land Rover bumpers" on Ebay turned up a nice looking bumper by a fabricator named Sam. The bumper looked to be what I was looking for, but was mounted on a Disco I. I imediately shot Sam an email and he got back to me with in a hour saying the bumper would indeed fit on my Disco and that all I would have to do is relocate my washer fluid bottle. I emailed him back asking how hard this would be and he sent me a link:

Discoweb.org (I haven't done this yet, but expect a tutorial/account of how this went)

After a few days of pondering I bought the bumper. I paid for the bumper and it was in Denver (from Vegas), only a few days later. The bumper was packaged well (sorry didn't get any pictures of that part), but there were a few scratches on the A-bar from the screws in the box. I don't care about these for two reasons: 1. I touched it up with black paint and you can't even tell. 2. It's going to have a lot more scratches on it than that when I'm done with it... =). Some may take issue to that however.

When I got the bumper, it was exactly as described on ebay. Not only did it look great it was light and felt strong.

All and all, I found that the transaction with Sam went perfect and he was extremely helpful when ever I had a question. Not only that, but when I got the bumper mounted (see below), it was very stout and after using it to tow my buddies Jeep and having me and all my buddies climb on the bumeper, I felt I got my money's worth. And if there is one thing I could wine about, I would say I wish the bumper was powder coated. I will be buying rocker guards from Sam real soon (which look a lot better than any other I've come across).

To sum up the experience, I put together a little tutorial on putting the bumper on. It is just a quick over view of what I had to do and I basically just want to show how the bumper looks on my truck.

Enjoy:

Step one. Look at the truck with the stock bumper on it:



Step two. Take the stock bumper off:

There are four main bolts and a handful of screws that need to be taken out. Take your time doing this, and make sure you don't rip anything out. If you want to sale your stock bumper, you'll want to keep all the stock hardware and make sure not to strip any of the screws or scratch the bumper while taking it off. It took me about half an hour to get the stock bumper off.



Step three. Time to do some grinding:

You're going to need to grind off half of the tab that is shown in the picture. After that you'll want to put the bumper in place and mark the metal just above the tab you just trimmed, because you're going to have to grind out a little notch for the winch plate (you can see in the final picture, esp. if you click here and see the high res picture).

This is what you grind:



And this is how you grind it:



Step four. A little more grinding:

There is a low hanging bracket that you can optionally (although I recommend it) trim. I trimmed them so that they would be higher than the bar on the bumper. I trimmed them instead of removing them completely because they hold the fender to the grill and I didn't want this to be come a weak point in the fender area.



Step five. Attach bumper and enjoy:

Putting the bumper on wasn't totally painless. We had to wiggle and push and pull to get the bolts to go through and I ended up using a little bit smaller bolt than was supplied, because the holes were off ever so slightly. Here are a few pictures of the finished product:





Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A few YouTube videos that I like

Ferrari Commercial

This is a sweet Ferrari commercial that I came across today. Why can't every car commercial be this cool? I really like the part were the Porsche alarm starts going off...ha ha



Another is a video a singer named Cas Haley. This is from NBC's America's got Talent:

Note: I've made an mp3 out of this, so if anyone wants it let me know. Also, I don't believe in illegal file sharing and if he comes out with a CD I will buy it. I just liked what he did on TV the other day and would like to hear it again, and since I can't buy it, I had to rip it.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

123flickr.com

Here is a new site that allows you to embed a flickr gallery on your website. All you have to do is go to 123flickr.com and put in your flickr user name and the number of pictures you'd like to display. The site kicks out some code that you paste into your site. That's it!

Below is an example of what you get (using my flickr feed):



Note: I found this page via Lifehacker.com

Monday, June 18, 2007

More street view action

I know I've been talking about Google Street View a lot, but that's because more and more interesting pictures have been popping up everyday. Instead of blogging about all of them, I'll just point you to this site that is collecting all the interesting/funny/odd pictures.

Streetviewr.com

Thanks to harley who also pointed out this link: Mapmole, which is similar to streetviewr.com

Rob

A go kart with a jet engine...enough said

I don't really know how to put this, but there is a shift cart with a military grade jet engine attached to it for sale on ebay: Jet Cart

I first saw this on Makezine

Also, check out a few of the videos he has on YouTube:



And one more where he's actually driving it...

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Webcam

Some of you may have already noticed, but I've added a live webcam to my page. I'll have this on at work, and from time to time at home. I'm using a cool new service called Ustream.tv, so check it out if you're interested in doing something similar. It's free and takes like 5 minutes to set up if you already have a cam.

Rob

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I love parody

Remember that dove evolution commercial? Check it out below:



Now check out this awesome parody of the commercial:



I love it!

4Wheeling in Central City, CO

I went 4Wheeling with my buddy Dan and his brother Damien this weekend in Central City.

Check out all the cool pictures we took:

4Wheeling in CC

We've got a some pretty cool video that'll I'll be adding pretty soon.

Later

Monday, June 11, 2007

Bud Light commercials

I came across this commercial today (a guy at work sent it to me). It's probably the funniest commercial I've ever seen:

Swear Jar

After that I wanted to see more, so I found a bunch more here:

Real men of genius

Enjoy!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Man in wheel chair goes for a ride...

Here is a pretty crazy story I came across today. It's about a guy who...well read the story: Man goes for ride of a life time

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Fun with Google Maps Street view

Since I showed you guys Google Maps street view, I've been looking around San Franciso (because the pictures there are really high res compared to other places) for funny stuff. I didn't find this myself, but I did come across it today. Anyway, it's a guy peeing on the side of the road.

**Note: Google has taken the picture down...Sorry.
Here it is, bask in all it's glory: Yes!!


One can only ask yourself, how much time to you have to spend on the interweb to find something like this?

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Street view on google maps

Not sure how many of you use Google Maps, but it's the best mapping tool in my opinion. They have really good natural language interpretation as well as high quality satellite imagery. The service is constantly updated, and today I just noticed a new feature called Street view. This allows one to click on a street and then you can see a 3D view of the surrounding area. The quality is amazing, and I have no idea how this is accomplished. Anyway, here is a link to the Denver Art museum.

As a note, it seems that the service is only available in bigger cities.

Friday, May 25, 2007

20 Worst named cities

I came across this earlier today and it's pretty funny. I knew about a few of these, but some of them are just like "What? Are you kidding?" wierd...

http://www.drivl.com/posts/view/851

Enjoy

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Online photo storage/sharing

Alas, I bring you the first part of the photo sharing tutorial I spoke of a few weeks back. Today, I'd like to focus on online photo sharing services and in particular the one I use: Flickr.com.

To be fare, there are plenty of other photo sharing sites out there including, but not limited to: Picasa, Heypix, SmugMug, and Photobucket just to name a few.

You can read an article at Wired.com comparing a few of these sites. Here is a small excerpt from the article explaining Flickr:

"Flickr members can upload, store and organize photos. They can also use their camera phones to post photos automatically to their blogs.

Most photos and albums on the service are public, and users can post tags, comments and descriptions on any public photo. By tagging photos, anyone can create groups of photos that share common tags, such as "San Francisco" or "bridges." Those groups can then be designated public or private.
"

Now that you have a little idea of what I'm talking about, let's actually do some stuff with Flickr.

I. Searching Flickr for stock photography

There is a lot of great photography that can be found on Flickr for use in your blog or website, just be sure that it's under the proper license. For a complete rundown on what you can and can't use go check out Flickrs Creative Commons page and check out Creative Commons by going to Creativecommons.org.


To start searching, go to the Flickr home page and type in some search terms or search the popular photo tags (see image)

II. Using Flickr to host photos

Flickr is a great resource for web developers and bloggers alike. By storing your photos on Flickr and then hotlinking back to them, you save yourself a lot of money in bandwidth charges if you run your own website and pay for hosting. You also, rely on Flickrs infrastructure which is a lot larger and more stable than even your hosting company's. In the end this means more uptime for your site and a lot of saved money in your pocket. To hotlink a picture, you select the picture you want, and then from there you select "All sizes". The next page will provide you with some code to paste into your page and a direct link to the picture if you prefer to just put a link on your page. See the picture below:

Select your picture. In this case I'll be using my avatar.



Click the all sizes button at the top of the photo (circled in red in the picture).



Copy the given code and past it into your site. You'll see the code under the picture.



III. Using Flickr groups

Flickr has a group concept that allows any number of people to get together and share photos amongst the group. You can find existing groups by going to Flickr.com/groups. These can be very useful for families, clubs, or just a group of friends looking to put together a collection of photos. You need to be a member of flickr to join a group, but you can view group pictures without signing up. If anyone is interested in starting a flickr group, let me know and I'll kick it off. I was thinking of starting one for the family, but I'd rather not unless interest was high enough.

IV. Uploading directly from your cell phone

One of my favorite things to do with flickr is take pictures with my cell phone and then upload them directly from the phone. This allows me to send pictures on the fly from where ever I'm at. You can use this feature to take pictures along the way on a trip and let your family/friends view them as you go. So just how do you do this?

Click on the drop down at the top of the page that says "You" and then click on "Your Account" in the menu.



Click the "email" tab on the next page.



You will then see an email a little way down the page under "Your Flickr upload email" (I blacked mine out so you can upload to my Flickr, but I can easily change the email by clicking edit had I forgotten to do this).



By clicking on edit, you can change the email and also add default tags that will be added to every pictured submitted through this email.



Now all you need to do from here is send a picture text from your phone to the email provided and presto! You can add tags in the subject/body of the text, but you can find more instructions by going to the Flickr FAQ

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Sucker fish

Today a cute little email landed in my inbox. It was from Paypal (what is paypal?)!! It said I needed to update my account information and provided a link so that I could go directly to Paypal.com and update my information. How convenient...In fact, the email wasn't from Paypal.com, it was from a scamer trying to get my personal information. My point here is be suspicious of every email you get and never click on links in an email. If you want to go to the link in the email, type it in. Your bank/ebay/paypal/etc... will never ask you to update your info through an email or ask you for personal information. I took a screen shot of the email and posted a few comments on the pictures to help you spot a scam. The second picture shows the status bar at the bottom of my browser when I floated my mouse over the link that was suppose to go to paypal.com. Check out the pictures below, and be careful when you check your email.

Here fishy fishy..

And one more

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

This is just funny

I found this story today, and it's funny as hell. I guess it's so funny because my girlfriend has a roommate who has a couple of these dogs and I guess I never thought I could make money off them....ha ha ha.

Read the story

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Botched promotion

Not sure if many of you know, but I recently applied for an new position internally with in the company I work for (Spatial Corp.). It was a close call, but I finished second to someone outside of the company. Seems she had a little more industry experience. It turns out, however, that the job I'm in now is probably going to allow me a few more opportunities anyway, so I'm not really that bummed. Only part that sucks, is I won't be able to travel, which is something I was looking forward to doing with the other job. I guess, you win some, you loose some.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Local news

Not sure if you guys heard, but they closed a school today in Boulder, CO. I guess a few suspicious looking men were spotted on campus (Rocky Mountain News covered the story). I'm getting tired of hearing about this sort of thing. I was in high school when the Columbine tragedy took place and that was the first of it's kind that I knew of. It seems like this type of thing is becoming all too common and I can think of at least three school shootings in the last year or so (VTech,Baily, CO, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania). What is it about modern society that perpetuates this type of behavior? I don't buy the video games or music cop out. Kids/teens have been exposed to violence long before video games and the internet and think about some of the music you listen to: your parents probably thought it was bad for you when you were a teen. You didn't go on a killing spree because of some satanic Ozzy lyrics. There is a cultural change that is bringing this on. A universal break down in the way people treat each other. Morals are a thing of the past. Being in my 20's I can say from experience that this age group has a lack of respect for people that is unbelievable.

I'm not trying to preach, or maybe I am, but something has to change. I am tired of hearing about kids who think the only option is killing/hurting those who they view as a threat.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

A few good links

I know I said I'd have the first part of the photo tutorial up today, but the truth is I lied. I'm working on it, and I'll have it up sooner than later. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few links with you guys. Most of these are a little on the "techy" side, but they won't always be like that. Anyway, the first link is a site called MAKE. I like to tinker with thinks and occasionally, I like to build stuff and this site helps me fill that need. The site has DIY projects ranging from very difficult to very easy and they consist of such topics as converting your diesel truck to run off of vegetable oil to building your own open source MP3 player to building a potato cannon.

Next is a site called Lifehacker. This site is geared towards software that can help you be more productive. You can find useful tips and downloads for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Not everything I find here I use, but every once in awhile, I come across a must have app.

There you go, chew on those for awhile.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Let's talk howto

In addition to posting daily chronicles, I would like to try creating mini tutorials/howto's on various applications/web services and/or any other thing I feel I may be able to shed a little light on. Please provide your feedback as to whether or not you like what I'm doing or feel free to suggest something (computer/software related or not) that you would like me to try and explain.

So, I thought I would start with a photo series. This will be comprised of 3 parts and I will have the first part up in the next day or two. Let me know if you feel this is comprehensive enough:

I. Online photo storage
- Sharing
- Free hosting
- Groups
- Various choices

II. Batch photo editing
- Windows Powertoys
- Imagemagick

III. Photo editing with The Gimp

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Take a look at my girlfriend

I've got a pretty sweet girlfriend named Kim. Things started off a little slow between us, but that's probably mainly due to me. Anyway, she's a pretty cool chick (not to mention hot), and I'm teaching her how to ride motorcycles. She's already negotiated the motocross track and she's tackling the street now. Below is a video of her riding my new supermoto. She can barely touch the ground and the bike is pretty rare, so needless to say, I was nervous as hell. Anyway, she ended up doing really well, and I think she's going to get her license pretty soon. I can't wait...I've always wanted a girl that kind ride with me.

What's this all about?

Welcome to my blog. I'm not really sure what I want this to be, so bare with me while I experiment a little. For now I hope you can get an idea of what's going on in my life, check out some pictures, and maybe stumble upon a few cool links while you're here.

At this point anyone can post comments and I hope I can leave it as such. If you have something to say, then shoot. Please try to be creative, and remember don't post anything you wouldn't say to my face. If I start to get too much spam or too many negative comments, I'll have to go to a registered user only system. I'd hate to do that, because I want to keep communication between my family and I as simple as possible.

Well hope you enjoy, and I'll do my best to keep you entertained.