High Plains Rider

I bought these tall, dark-brown, steel-toed, Redwing boots for a little under $200 at a Redwing store in Boulder. They are huge and will take some getting used to. They offer excellent protection, though.

Could use a new helmet. That RF-700 is just so 90's. Seriously, though, I just need a new one.

So, new boots, new helmet, new tires, valve-check, carb-sync... Man, what the hell is all that gonna cost.

Fucking Tripod, man, what am I supposed with all this crap advertising they have plastered all over my site? It's not like I'm going to buy into any of their crummy deals. Fuck this shit. --Matt V

Once again, it is Christmas shopping season. Thankfully, it will be over soon.

During the holidays, I will visit family in Schenectady, New York. That place is pretty well snowed in. Getting there means flying Continental. Continental blows, as does United, USAirways, etc..

I rode the REX recently, but cannot remember what day that was. Could definitely use a new helmet. --Matt V

It's Labor Day weekend and I'm staying home. There's supposed to be record numbers of travelers on the nation's highways -- meaning record traffic jams. That's something I'll be glad to miss. Maybe I'll go somewhere next weekend. I still want to see the Devil's Tower. The devil's Tower sits on the North East corner of Wyoming and is no more than 450 miles away. A nice, easy ride that would be.

Recently, I managed to mount a Debian Linux operating system on my iMac computer. For seven discs worth of Linux stuff, it cost twenty dollars. I got it from About Debian. It's now running strictly as a command-line interface. I did not install the X11 GUI. The idea is that I learn what goes on under the hood (how's that for a worn out phrase). I also wanted to know what this whole Linux business is all about. The hard drive is partitioned to also run Mac OS9 and OSX.

So, Apple finally introduced the PowerMac G5. From what I'm reading, they're not quite available yet. Might add they're rather costly. They're also pretty darned powerful. Man, I still don't know what I'm going to do. --Matt V

Those nasty Tripod banners and pop-ups are back - with a vengeance. It used to be easy to get rid of them. All I had to do was employ a simple Javascript function to split up the html 'body' tag. The Tripod server was subsequently unable to recognize that 'body' tag and therefore unable to append its own banner and pop-up code to any of my pages. Not any more. Now, 'body' tags don't matter and all html documents get the Tripod advertising code tacked on at the end of them no matter what. I have an idea about what to do about this, but it won't happen any time soon. It's a cool idea, though. In the meantime, I will clean up this now-useless JavaScript code starting with etc.html. Absolute bummer.

WWDC is right around the corner. OS 10.3 'Panther' will be introduced. Rumor has it that it runs substantially faster than 10.2 'Jaguar'. I sure hope so. PPC970-based hardware just might be introduced as well. It better. Apple is falling behind the rest of the PC industry - way behind. Man, I still might do that PC build project. This time with the AMD 2500+.

For those concerned, High plains Rider will always be a free Tripod web site as long as Tripod offers free websites. Just the way it is. --Matt V

Imagine if Apple computers were every bit as fast as their PC counterparts. If that ever happened, I would be in hawg heaven. The reason I even bother to mention this is rumour has it that Apple will soon release an all new line of computer hardware. It also looks like they will finally dump Motorola. Not a moment too soon. The CPU's just might be based on the new IBM PPC 970's. So, before I replace this tired old iMac DV400 SE, I shall wait until this happens (or until hell freezes over...).

Man, I need some new CD's. Haven't bought any in the last couple years. So, what is going on in the music biz anyways? Just haven't heard much about it.

For your information, my favorite chain oil is NAPA Premium Performance Gear Oil SAE 80W-85W-90. Get an oil can for that stuff. WD40 is just perfect for cleaning the chain prior to oiling.

About seven years ago, I planted this Maple in my front yard. The damn thing was making pretty darned good progress until last year, when a late - Spring snow storm snapped it like a wish bone. The tree recovered from that and was once again, showing signs of promise. Then, the other week, a late - Spring snow storm (again) snapped the surviving half of the tree. Now, the tree is history. I'm pretty broken up about that. It just plain sucks. --Matt V

Today is Easter. Besides the whole religious aspect of it, Easter is just another Sunday to me.

Figured out how to make aircraft for the X-Plane flight sim. A separate application called, Plane-Maker is included with the sim. Plane-Maker is really just a simplified CAD program with only 12 stations for each object (fuselage, fuel tanks, engine nacelles, etc.). It's pretty cool, though. So, the first project is a McDonnell-Douglas F-4N Phantom II fighter jet. The next one will be a Vought A-7E Corsair II.

Recently purchased a copy of Macromedia's Fireworks MX. Not a bad app. Works good on the Mac.   --Matt V

The problem with this whole build-your-own PC business is that I am really a Mac guy. I would rather just stick with Apple computers. The new one gigahertz seventeen inch iMac looks pretty good. List price is $1794. That's a bit high. So, who knows what I'm gonna to do.

There's a really short article in Motorcyclist about Kawasaki's new Z1000. The bike is smaller, lighter, and handles better than the ZRX1200R. Doesn't mean I want it.

Havn't done any riding in the last few weeks. The weather isn't cooperating. Just too cold...

--Matt V

Just found out Apple's OS 10.2.4 has its own (unnamed) FTP client. No need for Fetch, Transmit, or any of the numerous available shareware FTP clients. Too late. I already paid $24.99 for Fetch a while back. Bummer.

Once again, I can run X-Plane on this old iMac DV400 SE. What I ended up doing is partition the hard drive in order to run either OS 9.2.2 or OS 10.2.4. X-Plane is native to OS9, but just another "carbon" on OS 10. Take it from me, "carbon" apps are slow. Very slow. Very, very slow. Very, very, very slow...

So what about that PC build I mentioned in earlier posts? Still in the planning stages. As it stands:

• CPU - AMD Athlon 2200+
• Motherboard - Asus A7V333
• Hard Drive - Western Digital WD1200JB 120 Gb
• DDR Ram - Crucial CT464Z336 PC2700 512mb (2 of them)
• Video Card - Asus V9280TD GEForce4Ti
• DVD/ROM - LG Electronics
• CD/RW - LG Electronics
• Floppy - TEAC
• OS - Windows XP
• Case - Antec SLK3700AMB 350w
• Monitor - NEC/Mitsubishi Multisync FE7915B 15" LCD

--Matt V

Still working on the idea of a PC build project. Here is a list of the components I am planning to use:

• CPU: AMD Athlon XP2100+
• Mother Board: AsusTek A7V333
• Hard Drive: Western Digital WD800JB 80GB
• VRAM: Crucial 8500LE
• DDR Ram: Crucial CT6464Z335 512mb
• Case: Antec SLK3700AMB w/350 watt power supply
• CD/RW: Teac CDW548E002
• DVD/ROM: Teac DV516E002
• Floppy: Teac FD23SHFC291
• Zip: Iomega Internal EIDE250
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP OEM

Apple Computer updated their entire line of iMacs and PowerMacs with small performance improvements. What they really need is large performance improvements. Their OSX operating system is second to none. Believe me, what I really want is an Apple PowerMac 1gig. The problem is the price - as in it costs almost twice as much ($1499) as the PC build project mentioned above.

It's cold again in Colorado. 14 degrees F as I write this.

--Matt V

For the new year, 2003, I updated the appearance of High Plains Rider. It should still look pretty similar to the old one. Evolution over revolution. I also added a question and answer page, Q&A, which will be up and running soon. On A Plain is replaced by Etc. There will be a link to the old On A Plain entries. The old Guestbook is replaced by Feedback, which will look slightly different. Again, there will also be a link to the old Guestbook.

Spring is just around the corner. Today, temperatures are in the 60's (F). Windy as hell, though. Need to think of some places (out of state) to ride the REX. California sounds cool.

Since owning my first and only computer, an iMac DV 400 SE, I have considered myself an Apple guy. Lately, however, I've been thinking of a PC build project based on an AMD Athlon CPU and Asus motherboard. All needed parts are easily available at numerous on-line PC warehouse outlets. This would be awesome! The idea would be to keep the whole thing under $1,000. The monitor would definitely be a NEC/Mitsubishi, available at Comp USA.

Do me a favor and have a little patience with the few remaining dead links. Those will be tended to soon enough. --Matt V