More Learning Guitar

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Freejack

So Zack has been teaching fingerpicking this quarter and altering chords. So I play a Fm chord and drop my pinky to get a different tone from the fingerpicking. I just need to coordinate the transitions so I don’t stop picking with my right hand when changing chords. That takes practice.

I’ve also been requesting more theory so I understand what I’m doing. Some of it is seeping through which is good. I just had a little *ping* moment too. When I look at a chord, I’m seeing that I need to get my fingers down in a certain position. Recently I’ve been checking out a chord book and seeing that there’s multiple ways of playing the same chord which was enlightening. Each chord isn’t quite the same, some having extra strings or notes at the bottom of the box. I was reading the Telecaster forums and they were discussing chords and someone mentioned the Cmaj chord as in how many shapes are there to play a Cmaj chord. And the reply was, “anywhere I can grab a C E and G.” The shape comment was “oh, shape of the fingers on the frets” then the “anywhere” comment tied it together with a click. Now when I look at the chord book, I’ll look at it with a different point of view.

Posted in Cornell, Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rocksmith Day Two

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Freejack

Just finished playing it again and have some more observations.

I can see that it’ll be a big help with speed but also with transitions. If I’m on a specific position, I can get some speed out of it, but if I need to jump to a different area (fret 3 on E vs fret 14 on D or G), it takes me too long to figure out where I need to be and I lose a couple of notes.

There’s a section on techniques with grades; Bronze, Silver, and Gold (“Go for the Gold!”). It starts with Sustain and finger position on up through double stops, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and more. You need to hit the techniques early even if you just get to Bronze so you’ll know what they’re throwing at you during the more advanced stages of the songs.

For instance, the double stop display is a blue square that encloses both notes vs a single note. An open string is indicated by a long colored line. The sustain display is a note with a streak behind it. You hold the note until the streak ends. Hammer on and Pull off are indicated by a note with a darker internal square and a V cutout or upside down V cutout for Hammer on and Pull off. A new one last night was an open string with a little box at the center with an X from corner to corner. No idea what that is yet.

And I haven’t been able to figure out how to go back to practice the earlier songs which is annoying. There’s a ‘Main Menu’ option at the bottom but it says to hit the ‘>’ (vs A for select, B for back). There is no ‘>’ on the wireless controller so I’m puzzled as to what to do.

But I am up over 300,000 points and I’ve unlocked another venue.

Posted in Cornell, Music | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Rocksmith!

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Freejack

Rocksmith is a new “game” from Ubisoft. It lets you plug your electric guitar into a game console or (eventually) your PC in order to learn how to play guitar.

I heard about this months ago and started paying attention to the folks reviewing it from their point of view. Gamer folks weren’t too impressed with it but many guitarists liked the motivation to practice it provided. An alternate to sitting down and practicing which can be good as long as the “lessons” are helpful.

The PC version keeps getting pushed out, originally meant to be out by now (middle of December) but now estimated for the end of May 2012.

I was resigned to waiting until May but then work provided. I received a nice thank you award from a coworker for some exceptional work I did for his group. Since it’s the holiday season, Best Buy was also offering Xbox360 combination packages which included a $75 gift card (can’t use it to knock the Xbox360 price down though 🙂 ).

I waffled for a few days and then pulled the trigger and picked one up. I chatted with the Best Buy guy to make sure I had everything I needed to get the system set up. I didn’t want to have to come back to get some idiot piece that I should have picked up initially.

In getting it home, I opened up the boxes to check stuff out. The Xbox360 is pretty small. There’s a cable to connect it to the TV and the power cord. The controller is wireless and you use it to power up the system. I got it plugged in with no issues and spent a good 20 minutes going through the setup process which included downloading some patches. The system came with 3 free Microsoft Live months but I plan on holding off for a bit until I get used to the system.

Once done, I put the Rocksmith DVD in and got my guitar (I have a Fender Telecaster and a Fender Stratocaster). I plugged it in and got it tuned to the game.

It has you tune the guitar, which is fine. It is annoying that every time you get ready to perform an exercise, you have to check your tuning. Certainly it’s getting you trained to check the tuning between every song 🙂

The string identification is different. Instead of EADGBE, it’s Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Green, and Purple. Good from a visual perspective I suppose but it’s certainly different. I do know you can buy colored strings 🙂

When playing, it shows all the strings with a long road like view (I call it a ‘fret road’) of the incoming notes. The view numerically identifies the dotted frets (3, 5, 7, 9, 12, etc) and the game came with a set of stickers you’re supposed to put on your guitar. Yea, not going to happen 🙂

The first song to play is The Rolling Stones’ (Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. The program throws just one or two notes at a time at you while it plays the entire song. So you’re learning timing as well as the notes. You have to make the mental connection between the incoming yellow squares, the ‘fret road’, and playing at the right time. As you get it down, it throws different notes at you. So A string (yellow), 2nd fret, then 4th, then 5th and back. You just need to hit the string when the yellow box gets to the on screen string. If you fumble a bit, it backs down to just the one string until you recover.

There are supposed to be 50 songs on this along with games and technique exercises. There are also events where you play on stage in front of a virtual crowd.

I played Satisfaction just once and missed the “play it again” option and continued on to the next song. It was a bit more bluesy, lots of E (red) playing. I also tried the anchor point exercise. The incoming string layout highlights four strings at a time. So if you’re playing notes in the 3456 fret area, those four strings will be highlighted. If you shift to the 78910 frets, the highlight shifts to there. The exercise is trying to train you to move your hand to this guitar ‘home row’ so you aren’t using your index finger to play every note. With the two songs I’d been playing, I was pretty much playing the 3 or 7 fret anchor points but the exercise also threw in a fret 12 anchor point which threw me off.

After that exercise, Rocksmith wanted me to get on stage and play. I did Satisfaction, then the blues song. I guess I hit enough points because it threw an encore at me, a song I hadn’t tried yet. I muddled through until it got to an orange, green, purple lead bit that I totally flubbed. The crowd was actually booing until I got back to the rhythm part.

There are several exercises you can do. They have technique exercises where you can practice pull-offs and hammer-ons or like the one I mentioned above with the anchor point exercise. There are games too although I haven’t tried it yet.

The tuning seems off a little as even though I hit the right fret, it’ll occasionally tell me I’m on the wrong one. I suspect I’m either pushing the string a little or I’m not exactly at the fret.

It’s interesting so far. I think it’ll help me speed up my playing a little, probably where I’m shortest in practice. I know the notes and have several scales under my belt with a few others I can recall with prompting. On the plus side, I did practice for 90 minutes. 🙂

Posted in Cornell, Music | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Cat Litter Boxes

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Freejack

My cat, Niki (female, 17, tuxedo cat) has been peeing in the room where the cat boxes are for at least 10 years if not more and in different houses. She refuses to pee in the cat box. She also poops on the floor but that’s really a minor issue.

In our current abode, which we’ve been in for going on three years, she’s peed next to the couch leaving a big nasty crusty pool, behind the TV, on rugs in the bathroom, and in the laundry room where the cat boxes are. We snagged a mini-black light from the pet store. I found several interesting spots around the house including where the male cat is spraying my books.

Since she refused to use the cat box and would pee on newspaper or throw rugs, we’d put newspaper down and make sure any throw rug she found peeable was either off the floor or the door closed. It’s such a routine, we have a weekend plus Thurs and Fri editions of the Denver Post just to keep in stock of newspaper.

I actually figured it was because she was picky about the litter box. We had up to 6 cats at one time with three litter boxes with four male and two female cats. Now we’re down to Niki and the black cat (Ariel). So we figured pheromones or something, that she just didn’t want to pee in a box where another cat had peed.

So a few weeks ago, Rita went to stay with her daughter who is pregnant (she’s sticking around for a couple of months to help) and weirdly took her cat along on the trip. This leaves Niki alone with me.

Ok, I super clean the laundry room. Put fresh pine pellet litter in the box. I even put a recent poop in it to prime the pump so to speak. Nothing changed. She just peed on the floor. I cleaned up again and put rugs down so she could pee on something besides the floor. It’s easier to manage. I don’t have to hunt around to find where she peed and I just need to throw it in the wash to clean it. I did leave the box in place too, just in case.

Last night I had one of those brain spark things.

See, Rita is a healthy organic, green, outside hippy type person. So the cats get organic food, alternate medicines, taken to the alternative medicine vet, and even the cat litter is that pellet pine stuff. Size of a Good & Plenty or Mike & Ike. And she and I married 11 years ago.

Niki doesn’t like a lot of different stuff. She and I are a lot alike. The difference is, I keep quiet about my dislikes and eat the natural foods Rita puts out. Occasionally when not under the watchful eyes of my wife, I’ll have some bacon or eat at Wendy’s. Niki is a cat, an animal. If she doesn’t want to eat something, she just doesn’t. You can’t make her do stuff; well you can refuse to give her what she wants and she’ll eventually eat it because she doesn’t have the option to go to Wendy’s.

So my thought? You probably guessed it.

See, back when I retrieved Niki from the shelter, she was an only cat. She had her own box and I used one of the scoopable clumping litter. Tonight I went to Wal*Mart and got a small box of Fresh Step. I cleaned out the litter box of the pellets. Picked up the soiled rugs. Put a fresh rug down, just in case, then filled the box with Fresh Step. I went to wash my hands and on my way back, decided to just look in the laundry room.

Is that, is it, footprints in the litter!?! Walk over and she’d peed in the fricking box! In the 10 minutes I spent in the bathroom, she’d peed in the box!!! She also pooped on the floor, but hey, I’d rather pick up a little poop than deal with pee which gets into everything.

I imagine she was much happier, “took you long enough to learn.” 🙂

Posted in Cornell | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Riding in Inclement Weather

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Freejack

I really enjoy riding and will ride in all sorts of weather from high heat (120 degrees is the hottest) on down to cold temps (3 degrees is the coldest commuting temp, 26 degrees is the coldest touring temps).

I hear from lots of folks who can’t seem to get a grip on riding in inclement weather though. They see me riding in snow, rain, and freezing temps and just aren’t able to grasp how I can do such a thing.

I’ll give you the secret: Preparation.

I like to ride and go touring all over the country. But I don’t want to find myself stuck somewhere simply because it’s raining or hot or whatever. So I commute in all kinds of temps. There’s an endurance factor as well as the testosterone factor (I’m a guy 🙂 ) but another factor is just being able to identify when I need to stop vs when I want to stop.

Rain is pretty easy. You can get rain suits from many places. Tour Master sells a nice set. Frog Togs. I have a Joe Rocket Alter Ego 3 jacket which has a zip out rain liner and waterproof pants that zip to the Alter Ego. It comes with a pants liner so you’re even warmer. The problem with it is you have to put your boots on after you put on the pants which is cumbersome. I also have an Aerostich (when I can fit into it). It has a Cortech liner so it’s water resistant. Since it’s a one piece suit, water pools in you lap and seeps in soaking your crotch. I typically use the Joe Rocket liner as an over-rain coat for the Aerostich when I’m out on tour. It keeps me dry and is a great windbreaker so I can stay warm. Add in that it’s fairly tiny when packed and it’s essential when out on tour. I also have rain covers for my gloves and the left thumb has a mini squeegee so I can simply wipe from right to left to clear my vision.

For cooler weather, I have a fog city liner which is stuck to the inside of my face shield. It provides a thin air barrier between me and the outside which prevents fog build up so I can see. It’s a delicate device and scratches easily so it’s only good for a season or two even if you’re careful. You must clean it with soapy water and not a shield cleaner like Plexus. Not because of the Plexus but the rag you use to wipe it off. It has fine particles that scratch the liner.

For cold weather, I’ve installed heated grips. They’re pretty easy to install. The only failing is that if you have a twistier throttle (where you have to turn it more to get power such as on a 250 or maybe a 600 cc bike), you’ll break the wire connection to the heating element and will need to replace it. Note: the left element has a more elements than the one that goes around the throttle. This is because the left one is directly on the clip-on (the bar) where the right one is placed on the throttle which is typically a plastic bit that doesn’t touch metal. So it doesn’t have to get as hot as the left one.

Another good item are the Gerbing heated gear. I have heated gloves and a jacket liner. The gloves plug into the jacket sleeves and the jacket plugs into a wire that’s connected to the battery or a fuse box if you’ve installed one as I have. You can also get a thermostat however I find that I can ride well enough to a certain point and then I just need heat. You may have different needs.

For the helmet area I have a scarf I use to keep my neck and chin warm. In temps approaching 15 degrees, the fog city liner doesn’t work as your condensation freezes on contact with the shield. So you either have to go with a Froggy face shield which doesn’t work well for me or just chase down a couple of straws and breathe out through them.

As it gets colder, don’t forget to keep an eye on the bike. The battery will drain easier so keep it on a trickle charger if you’re not going to use it for a few days or more. The tires will pretty much stay cold without lots of riding which make cornering a bit more hair raising if you take things too fast. And don’t forget to avoid the crosswalk strips. They are dangerous in the rain and cold even in the best conditions. You will slip and fall. One of the riders on one of the forums I’m on hit a corner too fast and slid sideways. His jacket was too large so the pad didn’t stay in place and he wore down the little side bone at his elbow to the point that he almost lost the use of it.

Be careful but be prepared. Riding in the rain can be fun.

Posted in Motorcycles | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Preparing For Long Distance Motorcycle Touring

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Freejack

Choose The Right Bike

It may seem obvious but choosing the right bike for you is important for comfortable motorcycle trips. You want one that will go the distance and carry (or tow) the gear you want to take along. You also want one that will take you where you want to go. If you want to go off-road, a dual sport or adventure bike is the way to go. In preparation for the longer trip, make shorter day long or weekend long trips to see if the bike you ride is going to be appropriate for taking that week or multi-week trip. Those little things that bother you on a day long ride will become intolerable in a few days and after a week or two, will have you parking the bike and taking an airplane or bus home.

Be Comfortable With The Bike

You should be comfortable working on the bike. Not tearing the engine down of course, but little things like standard maintenance stuff. Adding fluid such as oil, radiator, and brake/clutch fluid. You should be able to clean, apply lube, and adjust the chain if you have one. You need to know where fuses are and how to get to it. You need to know how to change all the bulbs on the bike. Especially the headlight bulb. The first time I changed the low beam bulb on my Hayabusa, I had to tear down the entire front end. I’d never changed it before and couldn’t figure out the release mechanism. Once I’d seen it and played with it, I understood how to change it and it now takes me just a few minutes and I only have to remove the right side dashboard.

Preparing Your Bike

After taking a few day or weekend rides on your bike, you’ll figure out what’s missing. A better seat with a backrest for instance. The Harley Softail Standard I once owned had an atrocious seat. I couldn’t ride for more than 45 minutes without feeling very uncomfortable. I replaced the seat with a Corbin two up seat and a pair of backrests which made all the difference. My first long distance ride on it was from Virginia to Idaho, up to Canada and back to Virginia through Buffalo NY.

Check all the fluids on your bike before departing on a trip. The brake fluid should be clear and not yellow. The clutch fluid (if you have it), may actually be gray instead of clear due to chain grease getting into the fluid from the lower piston. Open both reservoirs to make sure the rubber cap hasn’t popped and your fluid is lower than you thought. Clean, lube, and adjust your chain if you have one. Check the air in your tires. Do you know what the correct pressure is for your bike? And remember, the maximum pressure indicated on the tire isn’t necessarily the recommended pressure. You should have a sticker on the side of your swingarm that tells you the maximum tire pressure for one up and two up riding.

For additional capability, I’ve added a few farkles to my bike. First off, a Blue Sea fuse box under the seat so I can properly manage the other farkles. It’s set up so I don’t have a bunch of wires hanging off the battery. I just have the two wires going to the fuse box and then I can add more stuff without disconnecting the battery plus add fuses to protect the electronics on the bike, especially for items that may not have their own in-line fuse.

I added a waterproof accessories plug so I can plug in various car adapters to charge up my iPhone or iPad. I’ve also added heated grips and the plugs for my Gerbing heated gear (gloves and jacket). I added a small multi-item display primarily for the temperature gauge and a voltmeter to keep an eye on the draw my other farkles are pulling from the system.

You might also consider adding or replacing your windscreen. I pretty much ignored replacing my windscreen for the longest time because you never know if the new screen will be appropriate or even make it worse. Adding a double bubble screen to my wife’s 650 Ninja made the ride better for her but it put my head right in the turbulence causing it to be bounced around making riding her bike for any length of time pretty uncomfortable. I did finally replace mine with a Double Bubble and it didn’t make it worse and I can see more of my dash board.

Another thing would be some sort of cruise control. If your grips have a small gap between the bar ends and the throttle, you might be able to use a thick 7/8″ O ring. Slip it over the bar end and roll it into the gap for a friction stop of the throttle. Just roll it out when you need to return to normal throttle control. Be careful though as I had one slip between the throttle and bar. It’s friction so I had to twist in both directions until I could stop and remove the O ring. You can also get a couple of thumb locks. You can go with a Crampbuster but be careful on the higher performance bikes. I tried using my wife’s and the really fine throttle adjustment on the Hayabusa made it difficult to use. I likely would have gotten used to it after a while. The Vista Cruise throttle lock is a nice one although it does shorten the grip you have on your throttle. I prefer the Throttlemeister’s. I picked up a pair and replaced my bar ends with these. They work real well even if they’re a tad pricy.

How Much Gear To Bring

There are different schools of thought on this subject. On one side, you have the minimalist who thinks a couple of credit cards is all you need to take a trip. On the other side you have the riders who don’t want to stop to hunt down a fresh pair of socks or toothpaste or even a replacement light bulb. I’ve honed my list down pretty well however if you’re new to this, you might try getting all your gear together and then trying to cut it in half. Take fewer clothes. Do you really need 14 pair of socks?

Think about the trip you’re making and what sort of trip it’ll be. For some folks, they want to see the sights. Stop in at old towns and experience the ambiance of small town living. Eat at mom and pop diners. For others, they want to just ride and see the sights from the seat of a motorcycle. You have to think about this as you make your shorter rides.

You also want to be aware of the weather where you’re going and either pack appropriately or be prepared to exchange gear. When I rode from Colorado to Labrador, it was quite hot and humid in Kentucky. I was literally dripping with sweat in my tent. But as I headed north, the weather got colder. Fortunately I was visiting family and friends on the trip. I called my wife and had her FedEx my cold weather gear to my last friend stop in Connecticut. This was good because as I traveled through Newfoundland, it was chilly and foggy and after getting off the ferry in Quebec, it was downright cold. It would have been mighty uncomfortable without my heated gear. On the way back, I ran into the tail end of a hurricane and rode the bike briefly through torrential rains in Maine. Having my rain gear was important, again for comfort. And put it on early, before you get into the rain. It’s no fun to put on rain gear while wet. It’s generally rubber or coated plastic which sticks to everything when wet and hold moisture in as well as keeping it out.

Gear Recommendations

In general, you’re going to have to be comfortable with the gear you want to take along. Here is a short list of the gear I like to take along.

Containers – This is what holds your gear when on your ride.

  • Tank Bag – I like having a tank bag. I put a sweatshirt in the bottom compartment, a map in the top and all my important little things such as my cell phone, iPad, and camera. I also put my pens and paper here along with a note pad. When you stop for gas or food, take a few notes on the last couple of hours. A tank bag is also perfect for leaning on when riding. You can rest your body on it and your elbows on your knees and be good to go.
  • Saddle Bags – I have a pair of four point saddle bags. The front and back of both have a snap that holds it to the bike so it doesn’t flap around. I also pack my heavier gear in here to help with maintaining a lower center of gravity. If you have heavy gear up high, it makes the bike top heavy and difficult to control. I’ll also have my chain wax and plexus sitting right at the top of the right had bag as it’s higher when parked.
  • Tail Bag – A tail bag sits higher on the back of the bike so lighter gear should go here. I generally pack my clothes, toiletries, and other non-riding gear here. Use a plastic trash bag and pack your clothes in it. Not only does it keep the clothes dry, it keeps them from getting dusty and dirty.
  • Locking Trunk – It’s nice to have a lockable trunk to hold gear. If you keep it empty, you have space for souvenirs, you have space to put your tank bag so you can go on a short hike without worrying that your iPhone will disappear.
  • Smaller Bags – I use a modular system for packing. I have three small soft CD bags to hold various things; 1 for cables and connectors, 1 for toiletries, and 1 for small miscellaneous bits that might get lost in the mix such as chapstick or eyewash.
  • Mini-Backpack – My Joe Rocket Alter Ego jacket came with a little backpack meant to hold the liner and zip out shell but it also works great for holding a CamelBak for hydration. Sure you can grab a drink of water when at a rest stop but there’s nothing like a shot of cold water to help keep you alert.

Toolkit – This doesn’t have to be a super extensive kit. There are several mini kits available in their own carrying case. I have an old CruzTools kit which looks to have been upgraded. My kit looks similar to the EconoKIT M1 although I don’t see the wire mine has. In addition to this kit, I add in my rear axle wrench and extension from the bike’s kit and leave the bike’s kit home.

Quick Stand – To get my rear tire off the ground, I also have a Quick Stand. This lets me quickly and easily clean and lube the chain. It does require swingarm spools installed on the bike but I find them important for maintenance tasks in the garage anyway.

First Aid Kit – You can pick up a nice little kit at any Wal*Mart or hit up the Aerostich site for an assortment of motorcycle specific first aid kits. I picked up the Aerostich Touring Kit but honestly, in the 7 years I’ve been carrying it about with me, I’ve only opened it once for a band-aid. It’s nice to know I have it in case of emergencies though.

Tire Patching Kit – Get a tire patching kit for your bike. I picked up one from the Aerostich catalog along with an air pump that plugs into my accessories socket. I prefer the strings over the plugs in part because of a flat I got in Alaska that was the size of my little finger. A plug kit wouldn’t have helped but having a string kit along with some extra strings (I bought two packs of extra large strings just in case) will fill pretty much any hole. With strings, even if you have a big puncture, you can continue to add strings until the hole is sealed; or sealed enough to get you back to civilization.

Camping Gear – This consists of gear such as your tent, tent poles, tent pegs, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, camp pillow, tent stool, camp stove. I don’t take a stool any more but I did on the three week trip to Labrador (visiting friends, Sport-Touring.Net national meet, and the actual trip). It seemed unnecessary so it’s been sitting home since then. As to the tent, you really don’t need a gigantic one, especially if you’re riding by yourself. I do find a pad of some sort a requirement. It’s almost impossible to find a totally flat campsite and sometimes I’m setting up camp in the dark. Recently we picked up a pair at REI. Mine was the extra wide, extra long version. I still need to test it in my tent just to make sure it fits. Otherwise I’ll use the one I’ve been using. I also picked up a camp pillow. This thing compressed down to almost nothing (sun glass case size) and as a pillow works excellently. As to the camp stove, I generally just grab something to eat before hitting the campsite for the night so never need a camp stove. I also have a bag of nuts for snacks when traveling. I can dip in and grab a handful or two and be pretty good. I generally lose 5 or 10 lbs when touring 🙂

Electronics – This is your choice of gear for keeping in touch, keeping amused and entertained, getting pictures, and not getting too lost. I bring my iPhone and check in daily when I can. I bring an iPad both for entertainment and as a backup device for the camera. I also bring a camera. Finally a GPS is a nice to have. It can be fun to get a little lost but you need to be able to get back to where you were before the rangers are out looking for you. Don’t forget your various cables; both the adapters to plug into the bike and the cables to plug into the wall outlets either in motels or in the camp bathrooms if you’re camping. And especially don’t forget the data cable between the camera and the iPad and the iPad adapter.

Maps – Bring a selection of maps for the trip you’re taking. Even if you’re taking a GPS. You don’t want to depend too heavily on a GPS and have it fail for one reason or another and not have backup maps available. I find that maps also give me a broader view at a glance of the surrounding area.

Toiletries – Bring what you want to use when traveling. I generally carry a few disposable razors, toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, q-tips, liquid soap, shampoo, and deodorant. If you’re hitting motels, you can snag their soap and shampoo on the way out the door.

Straps and Bungie Cords – I find straps and bungie cords are the best way. Bungie cords have give to them so things might fall off the bike. I’ll strap down the front half of my sleeping bag, tent pole, tent combination so they don’t get moved in the wind and bungie down the rear of these items so they have some freedom of movement. I also always use a bungie net over the tailbag. It’s great for tying a wet t-shirt or bandana to so it can dry on the road and serves as an anchor for things like the tent pole bag or tent bag which have drawstrings. I hate having things flap about so I tie them to the net. It keeps it from flapping and in case a bungie cord fails, it keeps the tent poles from disappearing in the distance.

Miscellaneous – There are always lots of little bits of this or that which are good to have but you don’t necessarily remember to snag it.

  • Ear plugs are important for preserving your hearing but also for keeping the trip comfortable.
  • Flashlights plus a headband flashlight (REI for instance although I have a Maglite headband which works fine).
  • Pocket knife. I bring my Leatherman with me and have a second in a bag stowed in the tail bag.
  • Writing implements; pens, pencils, highlighters, etc.
  • Reading material and reading glasses if you need them (take a couple for spares).
  • Passport. If you’re leaving the country (going to Canada), you’ll need your Passport in order to get back to the US.
  • Bandanas. These are great for quick wipes such as wiping the rain off your seat before you get back on. You can tie it to your bike so it’ll dry quickly.
  • Vitamins. And other little meds such as aspirin or Advil.
  • Batteries. If your gear takes batteries, grab a packet or two and drop it in your tank bag.

Tips And Techniques

When traveling out of country (Canada for instance), remember that you’re not in the US any more and international phone charges kick in which can be quite expensive. Either change your plan before leaving the US or simply turn off the phone when out of country. The iPhone and iPad have Airport modes. That way you can leave the phone on to take quick pictures without incurring phone charges.

Take a black sharpie and mark the current location on your rear axle nut (mark the nut down to the spacer). This gives you a good rule of thumb when tightening down your rear axle nut after adjusting the chain. This way you don’t have to bring a torque wrench with you on the trip.

Use your gear in the garage before leaving. Perform maintenance with your proposed tool kit. This way you can make sure you have all the tools needed to perform on the road work if necessary. Same with the spare tire kit. If you ever get a slow leak (like from a brad or small nail) or if your tire needs to be replaced, take advantage of the opportunity and use your kit to repair it. And don’t skip any steps in the process. Just because you have an air compressor in the garage doesn’t mean you should use it. I had a tire kit for my Harley which had a short bit of hose. You pull a spark plug, screw in the hose and fill your tire. I was riding my Hayabusa in Alaska when I got a flat. Unfortunately the kit for the Harley doesn’t work on the Hayabusa as the access holes are much smaller. Fortunately I was able to get a ride to town but it was an expensive lesson.

Bike balance is essential for a comfortable ride. When on the road, in a safe area (long stretch of no traffic), take a moment to let the bike balance itself. Shift your butt to the left or right and hold on to the bars without pushing on either one. You should be able to find the balance of the bike doing this. If you find it’s heavier on one side or the other, take a break at the next overpass or break area and shift some of the gear around. You’ll find you’re going to be a lot more comfortable if you’re not constantly pressing on the right handlebar in order to keep the bike going in a straight line.

Gear access is important. If you have to rummage around to get your chain lube or quickstand, you’ll be less likely to do the essential maintenance job when you’re stopped for a break. Put the gear you need at night towards the bottom of your packing and the gear you need on the road at the top.

Call your credit card/debit card companies before leaving to make sure they’re aware you’ll be away. It sucks to have your card blocked and have to find a spot to make a call to get it straightened out.

You know your bike’s limitations. Make sure your tires are able to take the miles. Sport-touring tires really do hold up well for traveling, I’ve put 14,000 miles on a rear Metezler Z6 tire. Chains can last 20,000 miles depending on how you treat them, otherwise they’ll last between 5,000 and 6,000 miles. My oil’s lasted through a 10,000 mile trip without a lick of trouble. Keep an eye on the level and keep topping it off. I find I burn about half a quart to a full quart on a trip.

I wear an Aerostich suit when riding. Under it I wear a pair of bicycle pants and a compression shirt. It’s very very comfortable and it makes a big difference on trips. Just make sure to bring a pair of pants and regular clothes for restaurants. I also have a pair of waterproof gloves as backup to my main riding gloves.

I don’t mind riding on the slab to get from one place to another. It can be boring and it can be a little crazy. When in an area with higher winds, pay attention to the bigger vehicles and especially the big rigs and buses. If they’re blocking, as you get into their shadow you’ll lose that wind push and move towards the truck. Same when you pass it. And the trucks have different profiles so the wind dynamic will be different when going by.

Check out the various helmet based radio or music options. I use an Autocomm but you also have the Chatterbox and others. I have smaller ear holes and more sensitive ears so wearing ear buds or in the ear headphones like the Etymotic is very painful after about 30 minutes.

Safety

While eating on the road is an enjoyable experience, be careful. Eating too much or eating the wrong foods can make you sleepy on the road. You’d think you couldn’t fall asleep when riding a motorcycle but it’s darned easy. Keep it light and take a break immediately upon feeling sleepy. Toughing it out is dangerous.

Riding With Someone Else

And don’t forget your passenger if you’re taking one along. He or she will, depending on the bike, have an even more uncomfortable ride.

Posted in Motorcycles, Ride Checklist, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Job Positions

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Freejack

In a discussion at work yesterday, one of my coworkers commented that he expected to see Unix Sysadmin somewhere in the titles of someone who submits their resume for review. With that comment, I had to check out my job history and see what my titles were in the past. These are all job changes at the location I was working at (for example, I was at NASA 13 years but worked for four different companies and my title changed 14 times). Here’s the list:

Senior System Administrator
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Network Engineer
Chief Server Engineer
Sustaining Engineer
Senior Unix Administrator
Senior Principal Technical Specialist
Senior Principal Technical Specialist
Senior Unix Administrator
Network Administrator
Support Engineer
Network Administrator
LAN Manager
LAN Manager
LAN Manager
Technical Support Engineer
Consultant
LAN Manager and Installer
Consultant
Programmer/LAN Installer
Programmer
Photo Editor
Programmer
Security Guard
New and Used Car Salesman
Typesetter
Illustrator
Graphics Artist
Graphics Artist
Graphics Artist
Military Policeman
Infantryman
Infantryman
Farm Picker

Pretty interesting history there. I pulled it off of my Linked In profile and added a couple of bits that can’t be added because I don’t recall the company name (for example, I was a Photo Editor for a month at one place).

Posted in About Carl | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guitar Time

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Freejack

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated the blog. I have a couple of updates I’ll be adding in over the next couple of evenings.

First off, I did stop lessons back in August. I wanted to take a couple of months off to work on the lessons I’d already received and to generally relax and absorb. I’ve also been poking about at different songs to find something I can learn right now with my limited skills.

A couple of weeks ago I hit upon Blue Oyster Cult’s Burning For You. I started with the intro and discovered it was the second guitar and not the lead (which is a bit more complicated). On the positive side, the licks are fairly straightforward. There are 6 different sections with another one that’s spliced into one of the 6. I learned each one pretty well but had trouble with the transitions between them. I finally got enough to try and record. It took several tries but I finally got a reasonably good run through.

I don’t have the YouTube link at my fingertips as I’m posting from my iPad but I’ll snag the link and update the post later.

It’s not as good as each of the sections that I can do. The transitions cause me to get a little fumble fingered, strings get muted or play when I’m moving between notes. I’ll get the technique down with more practice.

Posted in Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Removing the Rear Seat

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Freejack

Last year I did something silly and put the rear seat back on the back of the ‘busa but forgot to connect up the lock cable. So I haven’t been able to get in for almost a year. So far it hasn’t been too much of a hassle however recently I find that one of my tail lights is out (just the running light), I need to refresh my rear brake fluid, and in general, it’s just annoying.

So first off, how do I get into the trunk area. I’ve checked on line in a few places and there’s really no suggestions short of cutting it off. So that’s what I’m going to do.

Note: This is a reenactment after I was done. I put it all back together and went through it again but took pictures. It’s an accurate depiction of the steps I took though 🙂

First off, here’s the rear seat. It’s seen better days so I’m not too concerned if it breaks. I don’t have a replacement handy so breaking would be annoying but nothing I’m going to worry about right now.

I tried pulling up on the seat and I could see the plastic hooks. I couldn’t pull it hard enough to break them though. I snagged a hunk of wood from my scrap pile and propped it up while I retrieved my implement of destruction.

A saw. Yep. With the seat propped up, I used the saw and cut off the hook. Then I did the same thing with the other side.

Next I pulled up on it and decided I’d just remove the rear housing. Once it’s off, I’ll be able to reach the latch and remove the seat. I just have to remove a couple of screws and bolts.

I removed the screws and the Frankenbolts.

I can see the mechanism but can’t get a probe in and over to the left to the latch. So I need to remove the luggage rack bolts. Shouldn’t be too hard.

I was able to get three without too much trouble but the fourth one was really stubborn. Eventually I had Rita pull back on the seat so I had a clear shot at it and finally it came out.

Cowling is off and now you can see the back of the seat. See, there’s a large plastic bit there just to keep miscreants out of your trunk.

It’s a little half box cut across the corners. This side shows the protection is on the side too. Only one way to get in.

From the left side, I can see where the latch is. I pulled one of my hooked probes out of its package and was able to reach

And release the latch

To get the seat off.

Once done, I put fresh brake fluid in and replaced the failed bulb then put the cowling back on. Note that I didn’t forget to put the key cable back in place so I can get in next time.

I’ll have to check out Corbin and get a replacement seat. It’s due anyway.

Posted in Colorado, Cornell, Motorcycles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Guitar Cables

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Freejack

Found a good post on understanding guitar cables:

Well, there are two factors to think about in terms of cable–tone and construction.

The primary reason for tonal differences between cables results from a cable’s capacitance.

Cable capacitance, together with pickup inductance and pot resistance in a guitar equiped with passive pickups, form an oscillating circuit with a resonant peak at a certain frequency. That frequency is usually in the 2khz to 5khz range–above the fundamental frequencies of the guitar but in the “presence” range of the guitar’s upper harmonics.

The more capacitance–either by virtue of using higher capacitance cable, longer runs of cable, or both–the lower the frequency of the resonant peak, the darker and more focused the system will tend to sound. The less capacitance–either by virtue of using lower capacitance cable and/or shorter runs–the higher the frequency of the resonant peak, the brighter and more open a system will tend to sound. This effect will be signficantly more pronouced with lower inductance pickups (single coils) and lower resistance pots (250kohm, for example). It can be a fairly subtle difference that can be perceived numerous ways. For example if a certain peak accentuates frequencies associated with pick attack, a cable that produces that peak in a system can be perceived as sounding “faster.” The effects are also, as you can tell, system dependent. It’s not that a given cable as a tonal quality of its own, it’s the nature of how the capacitance of the cable functions in a given guitar signal chain.

Some people prefer higher capacitance cables like the Canare at 49 pF/ft. Some prefer lower capacitance cables–I use Gepco XBand at 23 pF/ft. It’s all a matter of tuning your system to taste.

There’s no correlation between cost and capacitance. Nor is capacitance a measure of quality. There are plenty of durable cables made from high quality materials at a range of costs and capacitances.

In terms of noise you want a cable that is well shielded from radio frequency and electromagnetic noise–so a double shielded cable with a braided or spiral shield is ideal. Foil shields are not as good. In addition, a cable with a semiconductive PVC shield layer as well–like the Gepco and the Mogami–will shield against microphonic handling noise.

Finally, you need to make sure the plugs are high conductivity and the quality of the terminations and stress relief are good. If you buy your cables from Lava Cable they’ll terminate with great G&H plugs and they do a fabulous job terminating.

So cable capacitance of your choosing, quality copper, well shielded, well terminated– those are the things that make for good cable. “Best” would be impossible to choose. If you’re looking to experiment with cable I recommend trying a bunch of well made cables of varying capacitances–Gepco XBand, Mogami Platinum, Canare, Dimarzio, and the super low capacitance Elixir (10 pF/ft) are all good relatively inexpensive choices–to see what works to your taste in your system.

Posted in Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment