Canon S100 Doesn't Like Cold Weather

I was out at Cars & Coffee and it was a cold morning.  The camera was working for a while and then it got a lens error.  I assume the camera couldn't determine the position of the lens and it would do an auto shutdown.  Well, after sitting inside the house for a while and warming back up, it works just fine.  It just doesn't seem to like cold weather, but heck, I don't care much for it either.

iPod radio

So I've had my iPod nano for a year and finally used the radio function for the first time.  Using the radio seems to eat up the battery pretty quick relative to just playing the music stored on it.  Roughly twice as fast.

Sleepy After Lunch?

Prego's new spaghetti sauce flavors

I've only tried one so far: bacon and provolone.

"Street" car

Saw this driving on PCH around the South Bay.

Big M/T ET tires on the rear, skinnies on the front, and a roll cage.  And it was very loud.  Though it also had a really loud stereo system with the driver cranking out some Beach Boys.

Serious Marine Layer in the Southbay

Well, I was going to go or a bicycle ride.  But I'd rather not get hit by a car in the low visibility.  And this is at 1:30!

Vegas skyline is going to change

What's under construction?  A really really big Ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.  I believe this will be called the High Roller.  Those are really big cranes moving really big support posts that will form the foundation of this thing.  Yup, those are really small looking people next to the post.

Hershey's Chocolate Experiment

I ran an experiment at work.  I bought a bag of Hershey's chocolates for Halloween and left a bunch on my desk every day.  They consisted of Krackel, Mr. GoodBar, regular Hershey's milk chocolate, and Hershey's special dark.

Without fail, the Krackels were the first to go.  As for the other three, there was no clear distinction.  I would lean towards Mr. GoodBar being the last ones left on average.  But without a doubt, Krackel is first to go.

Xmas Holiday Decorations

I'm of the train of thought that there should be no Xmas decorations in stores until AT LEAST November.  However, at Costco, they had them up at the beginning of October!  Really?  That's Halloween season!  I personally think the stores should wait until after Thanksgiving before putting up Xmas stuff.

Additional Rental Car Equipment in the North

I made a trip to Detroit recently for work and got a rental car.  This was waiting in the back seat, just in case the weather turned.

Voice-to-Text Needs Work

Apparently, it can't handle english with a bit of an accent.

Substitute Ant Spray

I didn't have ant spray around, so I tried some 409.  That didn't really work.  So then I tried some air freshener (like Lysol).  That did the trick!  And it smells good too.  On a slight tangent, I found that brake cleaner works well on spiders.

Ants like cookies

I've had a battle with ants the last month or so.  The sure do love cookies!  My roommate left some cookies on the kitchen counter and the ants were all over those cookies.  Bread?  Break sticks?  Not so much.  So my roomie bought more cookies and this time put them on the other side of the kitchen on top of the microwave which is on top of the fridge.  The ants sniffed those suckers out pretty quick despite the attempt of my roomie to hide them.

Mountain bike disc brake pads

I'm using to swapping out car and motorcycle brake pads.  These things for mountain bike disc brakes are tiny!

Motorcycle Ride Brunch

I generally leave for a motorcycle ride around 9am if heading to Malibu, or 8am if heading up Angeles Crest Highway.  If I head to Malibu and The Rock Store, I get this awesome ham and cheese omelette, hash browns, wheat toast, and coffee (pictured).  I throw on some tabasco sauce and ketchup.  If I go to Newcomb's Ranch on ACH, I get the Lumber Jack omelette which has bacon, sausage, ham and cheese along with some wheat toast.  Yummy!

Improv A/C

I live pretty close to the beach out here in LA.  Pretty much every place within 5 miles of the beach does not have air conditioning around here.  It's been hot.  I had to get creative.  Yes, that's an ice pack thing sitting on the fan.

Russia and Linux

I thought I heard Linux was dying here in the US, but apparently someone in Russia still likes to use it.  And I guess they think my blog is at least somewhat interesting!

Ants Don't Like Heat Either

August was a toasty month in LA.  I was hanging out at a friends house in Gardena and they had just gotten a mini invasion of ants.  Odd... Then sure enough, a few days later in my apartment about 5 miles closer to the beach was also invaded by ants.  A similar ant invasion happened in 2007 in another apartment I lived in, and again, it was another hot time of year.  So, the best I can figure is the ants are just looking for a cooler place to hang out.  I did seal up all the holes in the walls I found them coming through though... there are still a few stragglers, but it has cut down the number of ants from a few hundred to a dozen or so.

Glad I Actually Took the Car

Sometimes, the bicycle parking is more crowded than the car parking at the coffee shop on a nice day.

Texas Chili Pie Co.!

I went to First Friday in Abbot Kinney and came upon this Texas Chili Pie Co. food truck (owner is from Austin!).

Looking down the menu, I saw this West Texas Eggroll....



It was yummy!

Hermosa Beach Summer Concert Series

So every summer, concerts are held on the beach in Hermosa on Sunday afternoons.  It only took me five years, but I finally went.  It goes from around 5pm until 8pm with the first band going on stage around 5:30.  On this night, the Spazmatics (an awesome 80's cover band) were the headliners.  I got there at 5 sharp was was about three block back from the stage.  It was PACKED.  Lots of families out with their little kids, tables set up, and food/drinks too.

Google Camera Car

This particular one is a Subaru Impreza.  It's the first time I've see one.

5 o'clock, Friday Afternoon

Two-Wheeled Traffic on Angeles Crest Highway

There are two types of two-wheeled vehicles that frequent Angeles Crest Highway:

Both types are crazy.  And both types gather at the Shell gas station at the base.

Mt. Baldy Elevation

I went and hiked Mt. Baldy with some friends a couple weekends back.  We started out somewhere between 5000 and 6000 feet.  I think it was about 6.5 miles up with over 4000ft of elevation gain and around 3-3.5 miles going back down.  That climb was one of the hardest things I've done; I was definitely not really prepared for it.  We survived though taking about 6 hours to do it.

Break of Dawn, Best Brunch in the OC

I read about this place while on a flight.  It's run by a Vietnamese guy named Dee Nguyen and there's a really great story behind the reason he started this restaurant (it has to do with his son Berlin).

This is the back side of the menu.  Notice the note at the bottom.

Water served in this cool mason jars. 

The Mac N' Cheese.  There's a whole lot of awesomeness going on here including the egg on top. 

It was good :)

Airplane vs. Sea Level Air Pressure

The air pressure at sea level is much greater than at altitude.  An airplane is pressurized, but I think it's roughly to an equivalent altitude of 8000ft.  So, the air pressure is significantly less than at sea level.  To show this concept, I opened my water bottle during the flight so that the pressure in the bottle equaled that of the cabin pressure (~8000ft equivalent).  With the bottle back at sea level, the greater ambient pressure crushes the bottle.

Strava for Cycling

So I've been using this Strava app on my phone which tracks my rides using GPS.  It's pretty cool stuff; it uploads your ride to a database that you access online.  From there, you can see speed, route, elevation, power output, calories burned, heart rate (if you have a monitor) and how you compare to other riders on the same segments.  Strava can also be used for running.

I'm testing out this 'embed' feature where it shows a segment of my ride on a web page (such as this blog).

Moto2 - Best Motorcycle Racing

Moto2 is the lower level of racing to MotoGP, but Moto2 has the best racing action.  And these guys are not lacking in skill.  Or balls.

I hope they see me. When did other cars get so big?

The top of my roof as at their hood lines.  I hope they can see my car.

Busted Cleats

These are my old football cleats. They served me a long ten years before they finally tore.  I used them for a lot of football and ultimate frisbee.  Well, I guess I got my moneys worth out of them.

Shoes for many occassions

I'm not quite sure when it started.  I'm remember being a kid and only having one pair of sneakers.  Then I had to get the one nice set of shoes for school competitions.  And a set of track spikes alone with multiple pairs of running shoes.  Then mountain biking shoes.  Then football cleats.  Then some nice/casual going out shoes.  More dress shoes.  Then nice, non-black shoes.

Now, I have my well cushioned running shoes, lightweight training shoes, and old running shoes for doing dirty jobs or hiking.  Freakin 3 pairs of Adidas casual shoes in white, grey, and black.  Lace-up dress shoes, slip-on dressy shoes, more casual lace-up, but still dressy, shoes.  Mountain biking shoes, road cycling shoes, and cleats (technically soccer, but used for football and ultimate frisbee too).  Oh, and I have an old set of casual boots and steel toed boots at work.

Clogged bathroom sink

Plunger?  Nope.  Drano/Liquid Plummer?  Nope.  Plunger after Drano/LP?  Yup, that did the trick.

Cab Fare in France

I was in line at the airport (CDG) to buy a rail ticket (RER) and was standing next to a Texas couple on vacation.  They asked how much the cab fare would be from the airport to central Paris, and while I didn't know, I knew it wasn't cheap.  The ticket for taking the RER is 9,25 euro (use to be 7 something a few years back) each way.  So just under 40 euro for the couple round trip and it's about a 30min ride each way, barring any setbacks like the workers going on strike.

Well, I just had to take a cab in a small town near my work office and it was about 12 euro to go 4 km with no traffic.  The drive from CDG to central Paris is about 25km and 30 minutes with no traffic.  With traffic, it could be an hour.  Anyways, it looks like a cab ride from the airport to central Paris could cost about 50 euro each way.

Impromptu Gear for Viewing the Solar Eclipse

I was hanging outside with a group of friends during the solar eclipse. We were waiting for it to happen, so we were trying to use the cameras of our cell phones to try to look at it. That proved fruitless. However, there were four of us and therefore we had four pairs of sunglasses. Stacking up all the sunglasses together enabled us to check out the eclipse very very well. 3 sunglasses worked pretty well but it was still a bit bright, the 4th added just that extra amount of darkness to make viewing the eclipse better.

Sunblock Advised With Convertibles

It was a cloudy day out by the ocean, so I didn't think anything of it. But once into the canyons of Malibu, the sun was out and shining. I, however, totally forgot to wear any sunblock. I got a nice little farmers tan.

Solar Powered Parking Meter

I was walking around the U. of Michigan and a few of the parking meters are solar powered. That got me thinking, how are other meters powered? Well, I suppose it obvious through a power cable. It must just be a pain to run all that cable for all the meters.

The Bike is Just the Start

After you get the bike... well, then you need: pedals, shoes, shorts, jerseys, helmet, eye wear, tools, pump, saddle pack, spare tubes, bike computer, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

Vancouver Tap Water

The tap water in Vancouver tastes pretty good. It's very fresh as it comes right off the neighboring mountains. That also results in the water being very cold. Turn on the cold water faucet and your hands may just go numb.

Michigan Left

Many intersections in Michigan do not have a left turn lane. Instead, they have what is known as the 'Michigan Left'. Option #1 is shown in this picture where you go straight past the intersection, perform a U-turn, and then make a right. Option #2 is to make a right at the intersection and then perform a U-turn.

Airplane Isle Seat

The isle seat is great for leg space and being able to stand up whenever you wish. However, there is one downside: the foot/storage space below the seat in front is limited. It's a bit narrower than the middle seat. Now that I think about it, it's probably about the same as the window seat... I'll have to check the next time I'm on a plane.

Packaging Inefficiency

Two little v-band clamps in a big ole box. Oh, and a lot of paper to take up the extra space.

Second Day Soreness

After a good and hard weight workout, you'd think the next day would have the most soreness. However, for some reason, the major soreness doesn't hit until two days later. I've even read of some people getting in a moderate workout the next day before the major soreness hits the second day after.

When Cars Were Simple

The Ferrari F40, one of my all-time favorite cars. It was back when cars were simple.



Check out the interior. Really simple, a good ole manual shifter with metal gate, with minimal switches and window hand cranks even!


In contrast is the new Lamborghini Super Trofeo Stradale.



There's a row of 7 or 8 switches in the middle, plus another 10 buttons or so which I think are for the climate control. Below that, another three buttons and a knob. Below that, another 4 buttons for who knows what. And this thing has paddle shifters, so gone is the shift lever.

Restaurant Websites Missing Information

I don't get it. I recently helped a team redesign the website for our company and we went over critical aspects that should be easy to find on the website. I've looked at many restaurant websites, and they often lack one critical piece of information: when are they freakin open?!

The hours of operation and the address should be VERY easy to find on a restaurant website; I shouldn't have to TRY to find it. I shouldn't have to call the store to find out when they're open.

More ATM Languages

My bank's ATM now has 14 languages. I've never even heard of Tagalog.

Kony - Make Him Famous

Being on the side of a Veyron and Enzo help with that goal.

TV Advertising for Internet Browsers?

I just saw a tv commercial for Internet Explorer 9. I didn't realize there was that much significance to web browsers. But if Microsoft is willing to pay for a whole TV ad campaign, it must be pretty important and profitable.

Bruised Rib, 4-6 Weeks

I bruised a rib a while back and it probably should have only taken 4 weeks to heal. It took me about 6 weeks because I re-injured it.... twice. Yeah, note to self, chest and back weight lifting exercises are not good for rib injuries.

Manhattan Beach Meter Maids S*ck

I got a ticket for EXACTLY when my meter expired. To the MINUTE! Lame. Well, there's my $48 donation for the year.

Memory is Getting Cheap

I just bought a Sandisk SD 16Gb memory card for $15. Six years ago, a 2GB card was $100. I just attended an automotive event and the free handouts included memory sticks/jump drives. One of them was 4GB! Just handed out like candy. It's amazing how cheap has memory has gotten.

It's Either the Tree or Weed Pollen

My head has been all screwed up the last two days. At first, I thought I was getting sick, but then I realized it was allergies. Well, I can say it's not the grass pollen. Thank goodness for Allegra; for some reason Claritin doesn't work on me.

Oil Dipsticks - Not All Equally Accessable

I had to check the oil level on my mom's car and also my car.

Mom's car, super easy. The access to the dip stick is unblocked and you just have to pull the dipstick straight out.


On my car.... not so much. The air intake is directly in the straight path for pulling out the dipstick. So, you have to pull it out and put it back in from an angle. If you look carefully, they had to put in some guides to aid in putting the dipstick back in. What a pain.

Dual Purpose Beer Stein

I need a temporary vase to hold some flowers. This was the only suitable thing I had laying around the house.