I can’t feel my thumbs
By ’76 CJ5 standards, ‘Ol Badshape has great heat. The problem is it also has extremely efficient fresh air replacement in the cab. It’s virtually instantaneous. As soon as the heater creates a stream of toe warming 180 degree air it’s instantly replaced by the fresh air from outside. This morning, that fresh air was -1 degrees F.
I’m not complaining, no, not at all. If you are going to drive a rag-top Jeep in January…in the Northeast…you have no right to complain. Besides, complaining doesn’t keep you warm, and if you do it out loud, you’ll probably just fog up the windshield.
So here are my “Cold Weather Jeep Driving Tips” -
1) Take the other car, you know, the one with the less efficient fresh air replacement.
2) If #1 is not an option, dress like you do for the snowmobile. If you’re helmet has the dual layer shield that resists fogging, or better yet, it’s heated, you’re all set. In lieu of the helmet, a balaclava topped off with a stylish wool snowboarder’s hat works beautifully.
3) Whether you opt for the helmet or the striped boarders hat, breath through your nose. This keeps the angle of your condensed breath away from the windshield. It’s the same technique I use on the bike when riding it in cold weather.
4) Take the bike. What the hell, if the roads are dry, why not. With the grip heaters and electric clothing you’ll probably be warmer.
Thanks, but no thanks
No, I don’t want to participate in an online survey. I’m not interested in obtaining the smile I’ve never dreamed of. I don’t want an online degree nor do I want to be a member of a pretend “Who’s who”. I don’t want your Holiday Deal. I have all the ink toner I want. I don’t have a replacement hip so I’m not all that interested in the recall. I don’t want a VA home loan “working for me”. I like my fine lines, wrinkles and aging spots right where they are, thank you. I know I can’t buy an Ipad/Iphone/(insert your Icrap here) for $23.74. I also know that I can’t earn $50/hour “cruising the Internet” (although I have a few co-workers attempting to do just that). E-Cigarettes? No thanks.
The Wal-Mart/Best-Buy/(insert your BigBoxStore here) $50 gift card is bogus as are my lottery winnings, the billion bucks the sheik of a war-torn nation wants to give me and the Sun Bank password reset request. The Avandia settlements for heart attack victims does not pertain to me. I care not to increase my length or girth. I’m not interested in the Cartier watch replicas. I don’t wear much from Victoria’s Secret so you can keep the $1,000 holiday card (like that was going to pan out). I don’t want an unsecured loan.
…and to my “friends”, one more thing.
Thanks for the virus warning email with the mile of forwarded recipients. Had you spent 5 seconds to verify the content you would have realized it was bullshit, but I appreciate your concern and also for sending my email address to everyone in your address book.
Perhaps they would like some male enhancement information.
Alabama
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Street Racing
This drives the point home quite well.
Time to say goodbye to the Strom
I can no longer make it through the garage without getting a bar end in the rib cage. The Strom must go.
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Commercials at the movies
I hereby vow to never buy anything from companies that waste my time at the beginning of a movie.
All Thumbs
Instead of the “Japanese standard” single multi-function turn signal switch the BMW uses three separate switches. There is a button near each handgrip plus the “cancel” switch located just above the right turn signal button. Why the Germans thought this was a good idea I’m not sure. I can say that it is taking some time to retrain my brain to perform the new operations automatically, without having to pause momentarily and read imaginary flashcards.
Every motorcycle I’ve ever owned, at least the ones that actually came with turn signals, had the single switch on the left. A one thumb operation. Take the left thumb and push to the right – or – pull to the left - then push to cancel (with a minor variant of perhaps having to actually center the switch which was, admittedly, a bit of a pain in the ass). That system is so deeply ingrained into my neurons and muscle memory that the task is performed without the need of conscious thought. So deep that I’d sometimes notice my left thumb twitch ever so slightly against the steering wheel of the car when weather had forced me from two wheels to four.
Thankfully, the brain can be retrained. I picked up the new (to me) R1200GS seven weeks ago this Friday. Since that time I have logged a little more than 9,000 miles on it. The good news is that only occationally am I blowing the horn when making a left turn. Even better than that, I’ve started turning on the windshield wipers of the car when making a right turn. That must mean my re-training is near completion.
Perhaps it wasn’t an air leak after all
This is what i found after disassembling the fuel pump filter.
In search of a vacuum leak
My ongoing saga of hesitation continues. The latest chapter includes visually inspecting everything.
You might be a Jackass
My apologies to Jeff Foxworthy for the following.
If you are driving in the passing lane and the only other vehicle around you is visible in your rearview mirror, you might be a Jackass.
If you are one of those people that drives down the closed lane, passing all the people in the open lane, you might be a Jackass.
If you have one hand on the wheel and the other looking for the smiley key on your cell phone, you are DEFINITELY a Jackass.
If you drive a Honda Civic with a 12 inch spoiler, ground effects and megaphone exhaust, I’m sorry. You really are a Jackass.
Finally! A warm day.
“The Loop” is one of those quick “around the block” type of rides I use often to test gear or to clear the head. Having a 50/50 paved/dirt road mix it also offers a nice 1 mile section of trail that seems to always have some mud filled ruts.
Today I was testing the new GoPro Wide video camera. It worked better than expected performing quick adjustments between shade and direct sunlight. The wide angle view seems to distort the speed a bit creating the illusion of going faster than I really was. Believe me, I’m not THAT fast on a 500+ pound bike through the woods.
Throttle Body Sync on the Strom
The following videos show two different sync tools borrowed from Craig. I had originally synced the throttle bodies on the VStrom with a home-made “U-Tube” filled with transmission fluid. I wanted to try actual carb balancers to see if the homemade tool was indeed accurate.
Syncronizer with steel sliders in a tube
Old school mercury filled tubes
The old mercury filled tool has a longer scale so the extra distance the liquid travels provides better sensitivity than the tool with the steel sliders with a shorter range of travel. Both tools verified my home grown settings. With less than a half inch of difference between cylinders I’m good to go.
Winter Grouchiness
A few of the women in the office have started calling me Oscar.
I’m not sure when this started exactly. It could be my “What’s so good about it?” responses to the morning greeting ritual we are forced to roll play each and every day. Perhaps it was the exception I took to being told “it’s 39 degrees but the feels like temp is 30.
What the hell is feels like supposed to mean? Is that for everyone or just people with thin skin, poor circulation and no jacket? What if I’m standing in the shade? Is there an alternate feels like temp for those that are UV Ray sensitive?
Scram!
Droid assimilation complete, the Touch stayed home.
Two apps have completed my transition from carrying two devices (the iPod Touch and a cell phone) to having everything I need in the single Motorola Droid.
First, I needed to find something that would allow me to continue to use iTunes to manage the music library and playlists. Salling’s Media Sync does this perfectly. Installed on the PC that is home to the music files and my iTunes account, it hooks directly into iTunes and allows me to plug in the Droid and have it automatically sync selected iTunes playlists, podcasts and pictures.
Next, I needed a podcast manager. I find having to start iTunes, wait for it to update the feeds and then physically connect the device to the PC to transfer the content all a bit tedious. I wanted something that would allow me to schedule automatic feed updates at night so content would be refreshed by the time the daily commute started. Luckily, there’s an app for that (sorry, Apple 
). I found BeyondPod in the Android Market. Auto downloads and category management are a piece of cake.
So, this morning I left without the Touch.
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