I want to hear from my reader

So, it's that time of year when the entire world makes resolutions and goals. I have never really made formal resolutions or anything like that, but I might give it a shot this year. Now that we are almost three weeks into the new year, some of you may have already forgotten your resolutions or some of you may still be going strong.

I want to hear from all 4 of my readers. What is/are your New Year's Resolution(s). It can be something simple like...update my blog at least once a week...or...deposit checks before they expire...or...something like that.

I don't need all of your resolutions, just one. The conception of the resolution doesn't even have to coincide with the onset of 2006. I just want to know what you guys focus on to make your lives a little better.

I think the hardest part is trying to be realistic. I'll go first...

My resolution for 2006 is to become a little more realistic about the projects that I take on. I have at least 3 projects in my basement that are unfinished, will most likely remain unfinished, are taking up space, and probably wouldn't be very useful even if they were finished.

I will try to be a little more scrutinizing of what I choose to begin.

Lost Lifestyles

So I have realized that a lot of my life is project driven. I am motivated by all of the (sometimes) crazy ideas that come into my head. Some of them actually pan out and maybe I pick up a new hobby or I create something that is halfway decent. Sadly for every decent idea there's probably at least two that never make it to a completed state, some don't make it past the drawing board. (My New Year's Resolution is to halt the ridiculous projects in the early stages so I don't have a surplus of lumber, PVC and bikes in the basement, but that's another post)

A close cousin to all of the projects that never get finished, I was thinking the other day about all of the hobbies (or skills or lifestyles, yeah...lifestyles) that I just don't have the time or energy or other resources to devote to them. That is the heart of this post. The lives I would live with unlimited time.

Race Car Driver

This isn't really what you think. I don't want to go head to head against a well-trained army of men who get sponsored to drive 200+ miles an hour. I just kind of like to drive fast. I like to drive fast and think about the best lines through corners and how hard I can push my car off of a red light or around an offramp. I am by no means wreckless, maybe just a little aggressive sometimes.

I drive a 2000 Honda Accord LX, with 149hp. It is not very fast or fancy or powerful, but I really do like my car. I have often thought that if I had the resources (time, money, ability) it would be fun to turn my car into a sleeper. Nothing crazy, probably stiffer suspension , alter my computer for more low end torque...Stuff like that. There are definitely auto-cross races where anyone can enter any car, even a stock 2000 4 cylinder Honda Accord. Maybe one day...Maybe.

Master on the Wheels of Steel

I enjoy music, but unfortunately, I don't live music. My preferred genre is Hip-hop and as a result I have daydreamed about spinning records in my basement creating mix-tapes for myself and my friends. Scratching records in clever ways to create percussive rhythms and musical transitions to excite a crowd. I have only ever played a wind instrument but there is something about percussion and syncopated rhythms that get me excited.

I have only met two DJ's in my life. Both encounters were a little disappointing. The first was sometime in college when a friend of a friend had some turntables. He was pretty good and graciously let me take a shot at trying to synch up two beats. It was a sad, sad thing. I thought maybe...just maybe...when I put my fingertips to the vinyl I would reveal some innate talent, an untapped gift. Not so.

My second encounter with a DJ was a family friend, in London. I am not sure but I think he was a professional DJ, that's how he made his living. It was also how he lived his life. Everything he talked about, thought about, read about was music. Mostly Hip-Hop, but he knew who was going to be on who's albums, which producer was creating beats for which R&B artist, who was going to be in Missy's next remix. Basically, he knew as much about music and musicians as most of my friends know about bikes and cyclists...combined.

I guess I just don't have the passion.

Skilled Marksman

Nothing too crazy here. I would like to know how to use a firearm with great precision. Handgun, rifle, it doesn't really matter. I don't actually want to own a gun, just be a really good shot. It would probably take a lot of practice before I knew what my actual potential could be. I don't want to practice I just want to be good.

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So let's hear from you guys. What would you do/be if you had the time/money/energy to incorporate a new lifestyle. If every day were a Saturday and your debit card never ran dry, what would you do when you got out of bed?

When you get a chance check out Reef's latest post. He references a topic that I was going to discuss a while ago. I found a similar article back in August but the comments never made it past the draft phase.

There's a New Blog in Town

Like that's some sort of news! There's probably a new Blog every 30 seconds or so. I'll bet everytime a person is kidnapped in South America, one Blog is created.

Anyway, Johanna has been very busy knitting in her spare time for the last six months. As a project person I always think of how great it would be to be able to document all of my endeavors. With that in mind I setup a Blog for Johanna.

If you see something you like, leave a comment, I am sure she'll be glad to see someone stopped by. She's been pretty busy lately, just look at the data/time stamp on the posts. I think she still has more projects to post, after that I imagine the updates will slow down a little bit.

Should I build a new Desktop?

I have got way too many projects running through my head but I am seriously considering one more. This one is going to go on the list of low-priority projects (which means it may never get done) but I want to build a new PC. I recently reformatted my current machine (a four-year old Dell) and it's been running quite well, but I will probably be ready for a new one soon. I don't know exactly what I want but I have a couple of requirements.

1. I have to be able to easily edit video and audio files in case I ever get a podcast or video podcast off the ground.
2. It has to be able to run current video games. This should be pretty easy with a decent video card and seperate sound card. I am not a huge gamer but I would like to be able to take advantage of what's available.
3. If anyone has any input (Intel vs. Athlon, PCI vs. AGP, etc) I would be interested to hear it. Chances are I will start poking around newEgg.com when I have a couple of spare moments.

Just to give you an idea of what I would be adding to here are my current projects loosly grouped by priority/time frame.

Short Term (High Priority) Projects

• Remodeling the Bathroom
• Organizing Mountain Bike Races
• Setting up a Mini-Z Race Series
• "StoryCorps" Type Audio Documentations
• Charlottesville PodCast
  

Long Term (Low Priority) Projects

• Building a new computer
• Revamp my Webpage (maybe register a new URL)
• Setup a home wireless network (just need a really cheap router)
• Build a playground for my cockatiels
• Update www.gistclan.com
  

Potential (May Never Happen) Projects

• Fixed gear road bike (that would be bike number 5!)
  

Currently, the only projects that I am actuall working on are the first three ST projects. Actually maybe just the first and third. Once the bathroom is done, you will get all of the details.

I Have Started Running

The title of the post pretty much says it all. Why have I started? I really don't know for sure. I have a couple of potential reasons.

• It's too cold to ride
• I think I could be a kick ass runner
  
• Riding the trainer is a fate worse than death
• I want to keep some fitness so I can crush my friends when it's time to ride again
• I feel guilty about eating and eating and eating
• I don't think I will ever reach my arbitrary weight goal of 172 without some sort of cross training
• I am a little burned out on riding right now

I think all of these reasons probably all play a little part in why I decided to go out and buy a pair of running shoes. I have always known that if I want to reach the fitness triumvirate of fast-strong-light I have got to take some proactive measures.

I have always thought about running because it's much quicker than riding and you can get a hell of a workout. I am still in the super-low mileage phase in an effort to keep the risk of injury down, but I am also not riding very much. I can't keep it up for too long because basically all of my friends ride. Just yesterday four people said directly to me...

"Hey do you want to go for a ride...(insert day and place here)"

I am not going to be able to keep up the excuses for long.

They say the hardest time for a new hobby/exercise/activity is the beginning. If you can do it for 3 weeks (or something like that) you can make it a habit. At this point it's been almost three weeks, I'll let you know if I feel anything special.

I think I need to beef it up a bit

So I think some of my latest posts have been a little weak. At very least they have been too infrequent to provide any sort of consistent entertainment. As a result I fear that I will lose my consistent viewer base of 4-5 people.

So, I am recommited to WLAM. Mark my words, there will be more movie reviews, personal updates and progress reports for on-going projects.

-Peace

Long Live Long Rides

Categorie(s): Bikes

The title of my post is actually the motto of IMBA the International Mountain Biking Association. I guess it's appropriate because the ride that I did several weeks ago is designated as an "IMBA Epic". The IMBA Epic rides are a collection of 32 rides mostly in the US that are "the reason why we ride". I have actually done two of these rides so far and I am within a day's drive of four others.

Johanna, fenton and I set out to do the Southern Traverse just before the temperature and all of the leaves dropped. Well, we didn't quite make it before the leaves but the weather was awesome.

I got a bunch of pics that day and a couple of movies. If you want to see me clean a huge log with great finesse, check out MOV0018. There are a couple of other attempts filmed as well. That might help give an idea how difficult it was.

Click here for the album

5 Words

Categorie(s): Misc

I was sitting around the house the other day watching TV, an activity I seem to be doing more of lately, when I had a thought. Are there 5 words that one could come up with to describe the last 5-10 years? By default, this would have to describe the last five years in America because I am just not worldly enough to do otherwise.

I know this is a really vague question but give it some thought and see if you can come up with anything. Imaging it's 2020 and you are hanging out with your old buddies from the 00's and you are discussing topics of the past. What topics would come up?

I have some starters...

• Reality Television
  
• 9-11
  
• iPods
  

What do you think? Leave a comment.

My Latest Project and Syba Enclosure Update

Categorie(s): Bikes, Projects

This is actually an old post I had sitting in draft mode waiting to be published. I think it's from early October. I'll release it to you all now. It's kind of ironic because I started on the project that I mention below and now I am already on to a new one. (and no, I haven't finished this one)


First, my new passion. MTB skillz obstacles.

I helped with the CAMBC TAKMBD (Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day) which was pretty cool. Things got a little mixed up and I was supposed to be a ride leader but I ended up with one kid, Jackson, (about 8 years old) his dad and a couple grownups. We had the highest Ride Leader/ Kid rations of any group. It was really cool because Jackson was a little timid about riding over the roots and rocks at first, but by the end the kid almost fell oft the trail 5 feet into a stream because he was trying to tackle some rocks, and he wouldn't quit until he rode the 5 1/2 inch wide see saw they had setup for the kids.

There was a skills course with small logs, a little ramp and the see saw (aka Teeter Totter) that the kids could play around on. It also served to sort the kids out by skill level before the rides grouped together and rolled out.

Well the skills course was so fun that the grownups couldn't help themselves. People were bunny hopping the logs, wheelie dropping the teeter totter, and just being silly. This got a bunch of us thinking..."Is this something that we could have permanently?" I don't know if/where/ or when it could happen, but that little bit of excitement was all I needed to get me building.


About the 3,5" Syba External Enclosure. I am going to have to give it a rating of definitely mediocre. I can't get the fan to stop buzzing. Whenever I have it on it sounds like an electric razor. So, I just decided to unplug the fan...I hope it doesn't fry the drive.