Apparently I have some sort of electronics death touch going on. I tried swapping memory in my camera, but that didn't work. It's totally dead. Saturday morning I had some dream that my laptop was dead and when I went into the garage on Sunday and went to play some music I found it at the DHCP prompt with the hard drive making little clunking sounds. It too is a total loss. Damn, I only have one laptop disk left, a little 6gb unit from long ago. Still better than using a VM, but it means I have to reinstall XP and office and everything. I wonder if that will even fit on 6gb?

Saturday I rode up to the horse show and watched the woman ride. She did OK, got a 4th and 7th place ribbon which was pretty good considering there were 25-30 riders in each class. Sunday I didn't go up to watch but she didn't win anything either so I guess I didn't miss much. Her leased horse was sold at the show; so when she returns to the barn after Vegas she'll have to try to find a new horse to ride.

Sunday I changed the oil in the bike and cleaned up the chain, and then went over to the cool kids house for a game. It was supposed to run 1-9pm but we finished around 7pm so I got home with enough time to clean up my junk from the weekend, read for a while and still get to bed early.

Nothing new going on today other than I'm feeling sick from the cafe burrito. It's retarded that I either bring a burrito from home or eat one in the cafe. I need to venture out from the 'crap in a wrap' lunch. Perhaps tomorrow I'll walk across the street and get one of those really good sandwiches.

The game last night was kinda crappy, it was a boring investigative mod. I shouldn't fault the mod writer though, our judge was a bit cranky and one of the rules lawyer type players (who also judges on occasion) was all over him being a pain. Ah well, they can't all be good.

I'm helping Kenny's retirement out by ordering some books. They're all available on the kindle thingy but I can't bring myself to replace the dead tree versions just yet. I actually like the physical paper copy. Never needs batteries, is very drop resistant, good page contrast, has some residual resale value when I'm done with it, wouldn't cry as much if it somehow got lost, etc.

Denied again on the hunt. We got up there and got the rooms OK, but Seth over-slept and we were late to meet the guide by about 20 minutes. After tracking several groups of sows and piglets, we gave up for the morning and had to come back at 7pm. That was at 9am, so we had a full 10 hours to sit in the hotel and do nothing. On our way back out to the ranch we found that the fire that had been burning 'somewhere' all morning was now headed right for us and the forest service was evacuating people. First we get flooded out, then we get nothing, then on this 3rd trip we get burnt out. Hunting is really a pain.

It's freaky hot but I'm finding that a fan, a sofa and a beer make a pretty good cooling system. Wonder what the poor people are doing today? Yea, the same damn thing. :) I do find it odd that only a few neighbors have their AC cranked up, usually when it gets over 75 everyone has theirs fired up. Perhaps they're all out of town, now that I look around I don't see a lot of open windows either.

The woman is headed back from the track, should be here in a few more minutes. Good thing I got all my chores done.

I picked up some 1/4" vacuum line at the auto parts store this morning to replace the line on the bike. I found the last 1' scrap on the floor by the big spools of tubing and the cashier dude gave it to me for free. He couldn't figure out how to ring up the 40 cents worth of tubing and didn't want to ask his boss.

Next up was OSH where I got some M6 bolts and flange nuts and washers to make my new bracket for the bike panel. The JB one failed and actually fell off so this time I made a one piece bracket and since the threaded hole was on the piece that's laying on 880 somewhere I glued a flange nut on the back of the bracket and used that to give me the threads I needed rather than trying to thread the bracket itself. Seems to work, and the glue only has to hold the nut in place when the panel is off, when the panel is on the nut is held snug by the mounting bolt. This one is aluminum, we'll see how long it lasts.

I probably should stop watching "I love the 80s" and get packing.

Wow, a whole week without an update. You would think with the number of canceled events that I would have time to journal.

Originally I had 4 events planned this week. A game on Tuesday, the Taos TM practice meeting on Wednesday morning, my class on Wednesday night and a game on Thursday night. I took myself off the roster for Tuesday thinking it would be too much to get up in the morning. Went to the Wednesday meeting, but the class was canceled. The game last night happened, ran from 8pm-11:45pm and I felt pretty useless. It was APL8, I was only 7th and I think the only reason I was there was to drag the APL down for all the higher level characters so they could play. I wasn't all that useful, the other guys were so fast they took the battle to the bad guys and I was always trying to catch up. Ah well.

Wednesday night I went over to dad's and setup that iBook G4 for him; the referb airport card I ordered showed up. He's happy that he can now surf using the trailer park wireless (which is pretty bad) and get email and whatnot. I wonder how long before he tires of the small screen on the G4. At least the price was right (ie free).

Also on Wednesday I rebuilt the fuel petcock on the KLR. It's the last piece of the fuel system left to rebuild/replace other than 1 piece of vacuum line which I'll replace tomorrow. When I opened it up I found this:

I'm pretty sure none of that should be in there. The dirt/mud/ick on the front side probably wasn't causing any issues other than making the lever hard to move. That stick looking thing on the backside though could easily have been interfering with the vacuum valve and randomly cutting off fuel. There is a filter on the intake for the main supply, but none on the reserve. I don't ever remember using the reserve but who knows how long that's been in there. Hopefully my running problems are over, I'm out of crap to swap.

The woman went to the track today, she's staying up at a hotel tonight but they couldn't get her a room for tomorrow night so she's gotta drive back home and then up on Sunday AM. They're at least paying for gas.

The guide called the other day and said we got bumped from our hunt date. Looks like we're going this Sunday instead. Only 1 day, so hopefully we get lucky.

Oh happy day, I have a new(er) carburetor in the KLR. We drove up Saturday afternoon and got it, the exhaust system, the radiator fan assembly, some body parts and a starter for $200 including the gas. Total score. The bike runs the same of course, the old carb worked normally when it worked so all that should happen with the new one is that it doesn't randomly die on me. Today I ordered a petcock rebuild kit, the gaskets in the old one are starting to come apart and I don't want it to start leaking on me at some inappropriate time.

From the outside they look the same, only the serial numbers give them away. I took the newer one apart and cleaned it up and moved my stainless screws over. I'm hoping I don't have to open the carb any more but I figured I might as well move them over just in case.

Sunday AM I went to the range and I keep telling the woman about the goats over there and since I found my camera charger I took some pics for her. Yep, they're goats.

Talked to carburetor boy, we're OK on the deal we just need to figure out when/where to meet. I asked him why he had the carb and it turns out he has most of an '01 KLR available. He's got a shop in Richmond and he had the dead motor of the KLR out to rebuild it when his shop was broken into. Now, normally a dissembled KLR motor would not be a target for thieves, but they were metal thieves and stole anything that could be scrapped. Engine cases make fine scrap, as well as all sorts of valuable stuff they had no idea what it was other than metal. He's got the plastic body panels and since it's an '01 if they're in good shape I'm going to buy them. No reason I can't have nice looking green plastic on my bike. If they're faded but not scratched to hell I still may get them just to try a 2nd time my hand at painting.

Thursday there was a meeting to discuss our newest contractor dude. I'm pretty sure it's my 'fault' that he got fired on Friday.. and by fault I mean he tied the noose, I just pulled the lever. This was the 3rd meeting we've had about his performance and the boss lady keeps saying "I don't want mediocre, I want a performer". People were being all lame about saying the guy sucked, saying well, maybe another chance, maybe he'll step up, it's only been 2 months, etc, etc. I was mostly silent until she asked me my opinion. I said something like "look, if he was a solid performer we wouldn't keep meeting and talking about it. Just admit that he's mediocre and either accept it and move on or stick to your 'no mediocre' requirement and cut the guy". She suddenly admitted I was right and we decided then the guy was going, and by going she meant that day. I didn't say anything that people weren't already thinking, but they were afraid to express their actual opinion. I think that's why the boss likes me, you can know exactly what I'm thinking just by asking me. I'll tell. Don't want to know? Don't ask. I don't actually give unsolicited opinions unless I think something is really wrong, or I'm pissed off. :)

Probably going to work a little bit today to finish up some stuff I didn't get done on Friday. I've already put some Taos time in working on the technical management hiring checklist. It's funny how I know some stuff so very well, and then when you get to the 'standards compliance' section I go blank. I don't actually know how to be SOX compliant. Not sure I care either.

How retarded. I've been looking for my camera case and battery charger for at least a month now and been using the woman's camera the whole time. Today I doubled my efforts (hey, if Jerjerrod can say it so can I) to find them. Turns out, they've been in the middle compartment of my backpack all along. Basically I've been carrying the damn things around the whole time without knowing it. Doh. Shows how often I use that middle compartment.

Another good class tonight. I did the assignment 3 ways. The first using just my old perl4 style stuff, very clunky and nothing fancy and it worked. Then I stepped it up and used some of the tricks he showed us, and the 3rd way was all out new stuff and I got help from the instructor collapsing my code down so I look more like I know what I'm doing. It's starting to look like real perl and less like Pascal. The dangers of learning to program at 14, it tends to stick in your head. Damn, you would think with my programming background I would be a better coder!

I did use perl for real today, we got 32 machines in and I got a excel sheet of the names and MAC addresses. Rather than just run the kickstart setup program by hand 32 times as my coworker suggested, I wrote some perl code that took the list and spit out expect scripts that called the setup program for me. Took me 15 minutes to get it right, which probably took me longer than just typing stuff in by hand and cut-n-pasting MACs, but still, the perl/expect thing was cooler and the senior LDAP dude was impressed I knew anything.

I posted on craigslist today looking for a carburetor for the KLR and as luck would have it some dude from Oakland had one, off an '01 even (although it's not really year specific). He wanted to know my offer for it. Well they're $350 used from a salvage yard, $450 new from Kawasaki, and they sell on the KLR board for $150 if they have them, so I offered the guy $100 and I would come pick it up. We'll see if he counters. Even if he wants a bit more if it's in good shape I'll pay it, as long as he doesn't get too greedy.

I went to the metals dealer yesterday and tried to buy another silver bar since silver went down. He called around and he couldn't find anyone to sell at a reasonable price, they were all in their current inventory at $17+ so they wouldn't sell at a loss. I could have bought online, but it takes 28 days to get the stuff (the price is locked in a buy time though) and I would rather buy local with cash so there isn't any trace of it floating around.

Dad came by for lunch today, I bought him a burrito instead of doing a father's day thing on Sunday. He's going to a car show on Saturday (he's in it again, not just a spectator) and going to see my great aunt on Sunday. The woman was constantly freaking out because dad was being vague about his plans and she didn't want to play it by ear. All her horse and NASCAR crap is taking up all her free time so she's pressuring others to be very precise now. Kinda annoying.

Crazy weekend. First up on Saturday was the new v4.0 D&D game. They released v4.0 on Thursday and Friday after work I went to go pick up my pre-ordered books (got them at one of the cons). Well they didn't have them for me, all the orders from the con I went to were lost. Doh. They honored the 20% discount anyway, so now I just have to wait for the 'slip cover' that they're getting in later so I have effectively the pre-order box set rather than just the 3 books. Somehow I don't think this is going to be a collectors item.

The game itself was a bust, our whole table got killed. Fortunately we were just using the pre-generated characters so it's no loss but it was still kinda a bummer. Apparently our judge is known for being an ass and running to kill, and since none of us really knew the rules at this point it was easy for him to exploit them and get us killed off easily even though we are 'experienced' players. Vicki was pretty pissed about the whole thing, especially since after the main game she got pulled into a 2nd game with the same judge (different mod though) and he killed the whole table again. Poor kiddo.

After the game I was heading home and that's when things got interesting. The bike died pretty violently on me and I ended up on the center divide underneath Montague expressway. I figured it was just the carb problem again so I started taking the bike apart (carrying a lot more tools these days) but couldn't get it running at all. Zip. Nada. I called the woman and got her on-route with my big toolbox and the compression tester, I was sure I had smoked the engine by the way it was turning over. Some random dude in a little pickup stopped thinking I was one of his buddies, but obviously I wasn't. He said "welp, I'm here so I might as well help ya out". We loaded the KLR into the pickup (without a ramp, amazing how much weight you can dead lift when you're on the side of the road in an emergency) and he hauled it home. Nice guy, obviously a fellow biker and oddly carrying tie downs in his truck. The woman paid him off handsomely for rescuing me, so everyone was happy at the end of the day (other than the woman of course, she's pissed that I got stranded again). I wish I had my camera or a working camera phone so I could have snapped a few pics of the rescue operation.

Over the course of the next day with much cursing and random crap I got the bike running again. Still don't know the root cause of the troubles, but I've got it narrowed down to something in the carb. I'm trying to find a replacement now, not going aftermarket yet, hoping to score one from someone who's gone that route. I could also rebuild the one I have, but if the it's the carb housing that's worn (there is a lot of wear inside on the slidy bits) a rebuild won't help. I've already taken it apart and cleaned it 3 times in the last year or so, it's gotta be the cleanest carb ever.

I have wised up though and signed up for the AMA again and got their Motow roadside assistance package. At least now I have someone to call to haul my ass home next time. I'm sure there will be a next time. The rescue guy also said I could just buy a pickup of my own if I'm going to ride crappy bikes. Funny guy.

Sunday I went to the range with Don and tried out the rifle I picked up Saturday before the game. I was so proud of my $65 Walmart scope find. It's a 4-14x40mm mil-dot scope that came with flip up covers and rings. It's pretty low quality stuff and wouldn't last a week in the field, but since this will just be a range queen and I won't have to adjust it at all once I have a 100 yard zero (which I have now) it should be fine. It's sure looks real. :) The rifle itself shoots pretty well, easily staying under 1" @ 100 if I do my part and the wind is light. It's going to be a great training tool, and it's easy on my shoulder. I switched back to the VTR for a few shots and damn does it kick.

Class was pretty good last night, other than the fact that the instructor works at nVidia and he used nvidia log files as samples for us to process. Doh. Tons of PTSD over that one.

Today we had a luncheon for the new guy that starts next week; same restaurant that they had my luncheon at which it turns out is only a 10 minute walk from the office so a bunch of us just wandered down instead of driving. It was nice to get outside for a while. The guy seems like a typical anti-social nerd type, but I think this group is mild enough he can fit in and we can coax him out a bit.

Other than that not a whole lot going on other than normal work stuff. Wish I had something more interesting to report on but alas life is dull. I did receive all my .17 HMR ammo from midway the other day. Guess that's some excitement.

So sleepy!

Hard to be back at work after a few days off. I'm looking forward to the Vegas trip more, it will be a total diversion from the daily grind.

Well that's crappy. There was a contest on TV where the prize was going to the playboy Halloween party at the mansion but it's void in California. What's that all about?

I ended up taking Friday off to make up for missing the long weekend as planned. What didn't quite work out was the destination. The woman was really worried about me going so far alone and camping so I got on the wait list at Big Basin and managed to get a spot last minute. It wasn't a popular spot because it had a small parking area and only room for 2 tents, but since the bike isn't exactly huge and there is only 1 of me it worked out perfectly. I got there around 2pm, setup camp and took a nap. :) Then I hiked around, ended up walking back to the campground entrance and got an ice cream cone at the store. I then went back to camp and hung out, cooked dinner (just some split pea soup with crackers I got at Alices with lunch and extra salami thrown in) and read. I managed to get about a third of my book read. The lantern worked really well, not only for light but for warmth as well as it was pretty damn misty and cold up there. The el-cheapo 20 degree bag I got a Sportmart Thursday night really worked out. It's kinda small, but that's what makes it easy to pack.

Saturday night we went up to SF to hang the woman's new artwork in her office and go to dinner with Scott and Lina at some Russian restaurant. It took us 20 minutes to find parking by the restaurant (if only we had a Smart, there were zillions of spots one of those could have fit) but in the end it was worth it. The place was small and since we ate early we ended up with the place to ourselves. Well, us and the accordion player. The food was amazing, we basically ordered 4 dinners and split them up so we could all try each of them. It was way better than German food. Not as heavy and lots of flavor.

This morning I went to the range and fired the big pimp gun for a while just to make sure I still knew how to shoot and then did some work with the VTR. With a lot of modifications to my technique I could get the VTR down to just under 0.8" groups on average. The pimp gun of course was shooting under 0.4". It's probably as good as it's going to get, but again it's supposed to be the hunting rifle so I'll take it.

Also today we finally got a grill. It's the 'captain cook' model from BBQ galore. It's not exactly what we wanted but it's the best compromise of cost and quality we could come up with. We made a pork roast on it tonight and it came out perfect with no drama. Kinda boring, nothing caught on fire, burnt, exploded, etc. Humph. Guess I'll have to get used to perfectly cooked BBQ!

And just because I had to move it to get the new grill into the patio, here is a picture of the pumpkin plant and one of the tiny pumpkins. Maybe by October we'll have something large enough to decorate with.

I just realized that the weekend is over and we didn't go see the Indiana Jones movie. I guess it will still be in theaters next weekend.