Friday, February 18, 2011

A new toy

Well, I am a bit early for my once-a-year Blogger post. But hey, I have something to post. I went out and bought a new bike today. A 2009 Kawasaki Versys. This bike was actually a new hold-over, and was picked up with only 1 mile on it. I had originally gone in to check out a used 2008, but with the Kawi incentives this weekend the new bike would up being about the same price as the used.

First, some pics:

IMG_1142

IMG_1143

First I have to say I love the ergos on this thing. The Ninja 500R wasn't bad in far as comfort goes, but I found the forward lean to be a strain on my elbows and back. The Versys is much more upright. I plan on lowering the peddles slightly to increase the comfort even more. The seat needs a bit of work to provide more cushion, but that will not be hard to accomplish.

The only problem at the moment is the seat height. This is a very tall bike. The seat is over 33" high. As I have a 30" inseam on a good day, this obviously makes it a bit challenging to ride. I am pretty much on my toes right now. Unfortunately I have already laid it down as a result. A bit of scuffing on the bar end and clutch lever, nothing really on the farings. My ego was bruised a bit when a Connie rider had to show me how to pick the thing back up, but whatever. I will be ordering a lower kit that should take care of the height issues.

Well, that's not the only problem. The oil light was on when I first picked it up, and the dealer assured me it was fine and it would go out. It did, for a while. At about 35 miles in, it came back on and didn't go out again. When I got the bike home Cindy helped my check out the oil level and it appears to be over-filled. I'll be taking it back in tomorrow morning to correct the issue.

I have lots of plans for this bike, though. Hopefully I'll be able to start making some decent trips on it.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

So apparently I'm a web developer now

I am now doing something that I quite honestly never wanted to do: coding.

I am currently working on my company's two web sites: http://mynewlifetoday.com/ and http://ufcf.net/. mnlt.com is running on a Drupal CMS, while ufcf.net is using straight-forward php. Now I didn't actually do the design on either side. The former was an adaptation of a Drupal template, and the latter was done by a graphic artist at our company. What I am doing is upgrading the functionality and usability of both.

First off, my entire wealth of web site design knowledge 6 months ago was gathered during HTML2.0. I knew nothing about XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, AJAX, or any CMS. I have basically been learning as I go.

The work on mnlt.com is to try and make it more intuitive and user-friendly. As anyone that's worked with Drupal knows, it's incredibly powerful but not the prettiest stuff out there. Formatting things so that the average user, and in this case children, can use it is a bit of a challenge. I know what I would like it to do. I just don't know how to implement it yet.

ufcf.net is a lot simpler. I took it from what was a static html one-pager to a multi-page site. I then changed it to php so I could call the individual content pages from a single index file. The next step will be to add a database back-end and a way for users to submit their own content.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Did some hiking, took some pics.

Went on a hike today here in Nevada. We went to Red Rock National Park. The particular trail we decided to do was the Calico Tanks, from the Sandstone Quarry turn-off. It's rated "moderate", but this hike pretty much kicked our asses. There was a number of places where you had to scramble up some huge rock formations.

Anyway, there is a bit of a payoff at the end of the hike. There's a pool created on the sandstone from a combination of precipitation and springs. Apparently even in the midst of summer there's always some water there. There's also a pretty impressive view of the Las Vegas valley on the other side of the pool.

From Red Rock

From Red Rock
From Red Rock
From Red Rock
From Red Rock

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Took the bike out again today. I've been taking it out at least once a week. Every time I ride I get more and more comfortable on it. I also snapped some pictures while I was out.



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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Zomg text block!

Yeah, I tend to be long winded. It's a good thing I'm not intending the public to read this stuff. I don't think they would.

Cliff notes plzkthx.