Going to fly East to Schenectady, New York tomorrow. That's where most all the family is. Airports during the holidays are always a barrel of fun - not. Going to be there for a while.
Pulled out the furnace blower assembly the other day. Disassembled the entire unit and gave it a thorough clean up. Suzuki motorcycle wheel cleaner really did the job. WD40 took care of the rest. Would you believe the electric motor is a mere 1/4 horsepower? Still does the job. Runs a whole lot smoother now.
Gotta pack. --Matt V
Speedometer cable in my car is making a loud racket whenever it's cold out. Sounds like an easy job, right? Problem: according to the shop manual, the steering wheel needs to be pulled in order to remove the instrument cluster where the cable is attached. That makes for a whole `nother ballgame. I'll keep you posted.
That new couch arrived about two weeks after it was ordered. Hope I don't spend too much of my time on that thing.
There's supposed to be a major Macworld Conference and Expo the second week of January in SanFrancisco. I sure hope Apple will introduce a whole new line of PowerMacs and iMacs with major performance improvements. This better happen if Apple doesn't want to get swallowed up in a world of 4 gigahertz Pentium PC's. Also, as much as I would love to replace my current iMac 400 DV Special Edition, money is short around here so I need a real good reason to do it. --Matt V
Got ripped off by an ATM the other day. It was one of those Safeway ATM's. A label on the machine said "contact your bank if you have any problems with this machine". Meaning, "not our problem". So I contacted my bank and and they had me fill out this form...
The new sofa I ordered a couple weeks ago will be delivered on Tuesday. Cool enough. Just in time for Winter. Winter is "couch time".
If there's a recession out here, one wouldn't know it (unless you're looking for a job). There are what must be six hundred thousand dollar plus homes sprouting out all along the I-25 corridor. It used to be just wheat fields. Must be all those WWII generation folks dying off and leaving multi-million dollar estates.
Been messing arount with JavaScript a little and managed to write my own function. Nothing special, but a start. So, I guess you want to see it. It's all about you. --Matt V
Been getting a whole lot of painting done lately. The living room, kitchen, dinette area, and the main hallway to the bedrooms. I hope to finish off the master bedroom this weekend. Man, you should have seen this place before I started working on it. It was one sorry sight. Imagine a yellowing accoustic (popcorn) ceiling throughout the entire house and all the walls painted in various shades of semi-gloss pink (no, not kidding). Somehow, I put up with that shit for six years. Insane. Now, the ceilings are a nice bright, flat white with no texture whatsoever. The walls are different shades of antique and bone white satin paint. Satin paint goes perfectly with orange-peel textured walls, trust me. Also replaced all outlets and switches with new white ones. The end result - cool. Now, I actually like my house. Imagine that.
Noticed in my last post I was complaining about how hot it was out here. About a week or so later, there was a major cold front and temperatures barely made it into the sixties. This cold front lasted a good three weeks. It's warmed up a bit since. Let's face it, though. It's Fall and soon it will be Winter. Winter is a good excuse for sitting on your ass in front of the computer.
So, I finally wrote something about my ZRX1200R. It's an awesome bike. Big engine means big torque, no two ways about it. Damn thing ought to last a long time, too. There will be some riding left. Maybe a couple more weeks for the mountains before the snow sets in. Last time I was up there, it was cccccold. --Matt V
Ordered a copy of Apple OS 10.2 'Jaguar' from MicroWarehouse.com 2 days before its release date on Saturday, August 24th. It arrived by UPS that following Wednesday. All I can say is "what a cool system". Not perfect, but cool. You just have to see it to know what I mean. Functionally speaking, I can download pictures off my digital camera with the included iPhoto, and the Epson 740i printer and Iomega zip 250 work without any additional software. Awesome! It's too bad my favorite flight sim, X-Plane 6.30, freezes up on 10.2 even though it is 'carboned'. That might be due to the iMac's wimpy, hard-wired, ATI Rage 128 video card. It blows that I can't replace that piece of shit. So, it looks like I will also have to install OS 9.1 Classic. Also ordered an additional 512 mb RAM from Crucial technology. Total system RAM is now 768 mb.
Damn, man, it continues to get into the 90's out here almost every day. Colorado is fucking killing me. No rain, either.
Eventually, I will write something for the ZRX1200R page. Had that bike for over a year, now. It's paid off, too. Mileage is currently 6496.3. So, I gotta write something, right? Any day now... --Matt v
Once again, I found a way to turn off those godawful Tripod banners and pop-ups. It's basically a game of hide the "body" tag. It's sad I can no longer hide that tag using the old JavaScript "document.write" method. The "document.write" is my favorite. I figured out the new banner and pop-up elimination method from one of sites on the Matt's Links page. Try to figure out which one.
Am planning on setting up a Perl program that readers can use to send e-mails to me from a form. That doesn't sound like much, but by employing the form method, senders won't have to give out their e-mail address if they don't want to. These form scripts are readily available from web development sites all over the net. Remember though, Tripod configures CGI/Perl a little differently - meaning more than a few modifications will have to be made.
Glad to see there continues to be feedback on the guestbook.
Haven't been able to add much of anything to the site in over a month. First, there was that two week vacation out of state. Now, the job is taking up all my time. When I do get home, I am too tired to do anything but eat dinner, watch the news, and surf the net a little. I am, however, giving myself until this Sunday evening to complete the page on my ZRX1200R. It sure is easier to ride that bike than write about it, though. --Matt V
Damn, what happened to my web page? Turn my back on this place for 2 weeks and Jesus, what the fuck? Fucking Tripod! Man, I need to get a real website. Not like I ain't looking. Alright, here's what happened. Goes like this. As we all know, these free websites are not really free. Banners and pop-ups courtesy of the sponsoring web server company are part of the deal. These banners and pop-ups really get on my nerves, so I figured out a way to get rid of them. It was really simple. The Tripod web server was programmed to insert these banner and pop-up JavaScript codes right after the "body" tag on any given html document. So I thought, "how about if I bury the 'body' tag in a simple JavaScript 'document.write' program". I tried it and bingo, it worked. My web page loaded up with no banners, pop-ups, or nothing. Awesome! So I have this going for a week or so, then it was time for my 2 week Summer vacation. This vacation was spent with my family in New York State. They own 2 "camps" on the Great Sacandaga Lake (lakefront property). Unfortunately, neither "camp" had access to the internet, so I couldn't keep an eye on my site. So I had a good time there, then I return and find this mess. It seems that while I was away, Tripod reprogrammed its web server to insert the ads after the "body" tag no matter where it's located, buried in JavaScript code or whatever. So for now I guess I'll have to put up with these bothersome ads until I find a new way to defeat them. Sucks.
For 2 days out of my 4-day 4th of July vacation, I rode the ZRX up to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and back. The whole trip was almost 1400 miles. I will post some pictures real soon.
It looks like Apple will introduce its OS10.2 operating system sometime in August. They're making a real big deal about it. This is the one I'm planning to get. --Matt V
Brought down all the accoustic (popcorn) ceiling material in the living area on Saturday afternoon. What a mess. Still worth it. This crap has been bugging me for the past 6 years and now it's gone without a trace. Need to celebrate somehow.
Rode the ZRX to Estes Park this morning, then took the Peak to Peak highway to Nederland. It is real hazy out here. Been trying to take some decent pictures of the Rockies, but that haze is thwarting any success.
Here's a link to the Sonny Barger website. --Matt V
Moving all my furniture and home entertainment equipment out of the living room and dining area and placing it all in the master bedroom. It fits. The reason is I will soon scrape all the accoustic (popcorn) material off the ceiling in these areas. A job like this makes a huge, powdery mess. In the end, it will be worth it.
During the Summer, temperatures around here reach the upper 90's almost every day. Thankfully, it will dip into the mid-sixties about every night. This enables me to cool down the house before I close it up and leave for work each morning. Serious crime is virtually nonexistent where I live, so it's ok to leave the windows open. --Matt V
Finally got the Dodge City photos online. They were all taken with my Canon Powershot A40 digital camera. The A-40 is not in any way foolproof, and I have taken as many bad pictures as good ones. It's safest just to put it on auto.
Unlike the rest of my site, you might have noticed the Road Trip picture pages have no advertising on them. No pop-ups, either. This is because their html code is written by Pearl programs authored by yours truely. For some reason, Tripod cannot insert its advertising. Fine with me.
Brought my ZRX1200R to the dealer this week to have its 4000 mile service done. When I picked it up, there was $277 missing.
When it started reaching the 90's around here, I cut my hair.
Man, the women at Bella's Cabaret break all the rules. No boundaries over there. Not complaining. --Matt V
It's good to see that folks are placing messages on my guest-book.
Rode the ZRX to Dodge City, Kansas last Memorial Day weekend. Spent the night at a cheap dive on Wyatt Earp Blvd. The next morning, I visited the Boot Hill Museum, located on the original site of the Boot Hill cemetery. It was OK. Afterward, I rode South to the town of Meade, Kansas. There, I checked out the Dalton Gang Hideout museum. Though the museum part of it was closed, I was able to take some pictures of the grounds and structures. On the way there, I passed by this enormous windmill farm. Seeing dozens of these huge, white windmills turn in unison while riding past them was sort of like awesome. Total mileage for the trip was 868.3 miles.
Been trying to grow my hair longer of late. However, it is not lost on me that very short hair is the 'in' thing nowerdays. Sort of like military fashion. Maybe this is the result of the 9/11 strikes. Don't know what to make of it and don't know if I'll continue this venture. --Matt V
Last Sunday I rode the ZRX to a historical landmark called, "Summit Springs Battlefield". It was about 110 miles from where I live. I rode east on highway 52, got onto I-76, got off at exit 115, and rode a few miles south on highway 63. There were signs saying, "historic points of interest - 5 miles". That is - 5 miles on a dirt road. So my 560 lb, 120 hp, inline 4, "dirtbike" and I made it through 5 miles of dirt road to this historical landmark, and, with some luck, made it back. So, I spent roughly 20 minutes at this landmark and on one of the markers read this:
'Fleeing after a series of bloody raids on the Kansas frontier, a band of 450 marauding Cheyenne Dog soldiers led by Tall Bull (Tatonka Haska) camped here. On the afternoon of July 11, 1869, 350 men of the 5th calvary and Pawnee scouts under General E. A. Carr made a successful surprise attack on the camp. Chief Tall Bull was among the 52 Indians killed in the battle; 418 horses and mules were captured, and 84 lodges were put to the torch. Fifth Calvary Scout Buffalo Bill Cody later made this last Plains Indian battle in Colorado a regular feature of his wild west show.'Click here to download (about 2mb) pictures of the Summit Springs Battlefield.
Purchased a new digital camera last Saturday. There's no question my new Canon Powershot A40 takes considerably sharper pictures than the Kodak DC215 it replaces. Price was $299. So I boxed up the Kodak DC215 and sent it out to my sister in California via Parcel Post. --Matt V
Now the weather is cold and windy. So, of course, I won't ride the REX today. Damn, now my Epson 740i printer is on the fritz. When I try to print a page, the carriage return goes berserk and slams into the stops. Maybe it's time to replace it. If so, my next printer will be a Canon. Canon makes damn good products whether it's cameras, scanners, printers, or whatever. Sorta goes without saying.
If there's one thing that really sucks about iMac computers, it's that their video cards are built-in and therefore cannot be upgraded. Mine is stuck with a piece-of-shit ATI Rage 128. The damn thing is only good for 8 mb of V-RAM. Useless.
Finally, that new David Lynch movie, "Muholland Drive", is available on DVD at Blockbuster. Confusing in some ways but overall a good movie. Well made. Even has a lesbo scene.
Whatever you do, don't overfill the tank if you own a ZRX1200R. My bike is sitting in the garage as I write this and dripping gasoline on the floor. Now the garage reeks of gasoline and might explode any minute. --Matt V
Weather's warming up. Somewhat. Had a few days in the 70's lately. Got to think of some good places to visit. Wanted to go to Dodge City last Fall and check out the OK Corral , but didn't make it. That ride would be a good start. Always wanted to get out to Monterrey, CA. Now that would be a ride. And there's other places.
Thinking of making some changes to the site. Going to start by replacing 2002 motorcycles with stuff about my ZRX1200R. Honestly, all I know about other motorcycle models is what I read in Motorcyclist. No point in writing anything about them. Then, the Road Trip page will be replaced with a pictures page(s). Pictures are always more interesting. Finding a bunch of dead links on the Matt's Links page, so fix those and add some more. Maybe I'll add a guns and reloading section, or a web writing section. Just maybe. --Matt V
Can't believe it's Spring already. The last couple days have been kind of cold around here. However, I remember riding the Rex last Saturday - to pick up a DVD at Blockbuster. Settled on Don't Say a Word, a typical not-so-thrilling Hollywood thriller. Oh well, it was a movie. Okay, what I was going to say is the new riding season is upon us and that means I will write more about motorcycles and less about computer equipment, Perl programming, movies, etc.. So when is that gonna happen?
Not yet. I am, however, pleased to announce that finally there is a guestbook/message board on my site. Home-brewed, no less. For now, I'll just call it, Matt V's Motorcycle Quik Board. It's nothing fancy. In fact it's downright primative. Still, it's a board. Please feel free to write something on it. Really. --Matt V
I really meant to post this entry 2 weeks ago, but I've been kind of busy (lazy). That April issue of Motorcyclist was packed with all kinds of articles:
Finally ordered X-Plane 6.10. This is the latest version of that flight sim. It set me back $89. Damn thing will work with OS9, meaning no rush to get OSX.
So what should I get for the ZRX. Maybe a tank-bag. Don't have one of those yet. Also need a good rain suit. The new season is upon us. What can I say? --Matt V
Last Sunday, I started having problems with my computer's built-in v.90 56k modem. It got to the point where the damn thing would no longer even activate. Believe me, I tried everything to make it work - including a clean install. Nothing worked. So I boxed up the iMac and drove it down to the repair shop. The repair shop was some place called, "The Neighborhood Computer Store, Inc". It's located on 13045 W. Alameda Pkwy, Lakewood, CO 80228. I don't think they have a web site. They called me the next day and said they only had to replace a burned out battery (huh?). The bill was for $52.69 and the modem works again.
Ordered the following items from MacWarehouse:
Flight sims are cool. The best one I can think of is X-Plane. X-Plane is probably the hottest flight-sim out there. It is also a major memory hog. A good, powerful computer is essential. RAM should be at least 256mb. Video-card: 32mb. X-Plane is now on version 6.10, which is far more detailed than previous ones. It even has moving cars on the city streets, which can be seen when you fly low to the ground. Any type of plane can be flown on this - from old biplanes to jumbo jets. --Matt V
It seems that some fella out in Aurora (Colorado), age 42, decided to mix it up with his own pet boa constrictor. He lost. Evidently, the fight was to the death. This story even made the nightly news with Peter Jennings (no doubt, Dan Rather). It just goes to show that if you want a house pet, better stick with a dog or cat.
Once again, I had the old ZRX on the road today. The mercury hit a balmy 57 degrees so after work, a ride was in order. 20 miles did the job. Spring will be here soon.
Getting some of those home-improvement projects underway. Managed to scrape off all the accoustic (popcorn) ceiling material from the master bedroom. Major mess, but easy. Now, I'm re-plastering the original drywall joints and sanding them out. Not so easy. --Matt V
My own favorite motorcycle mag is none other than Motorcyclist. It's kind of too bad Motorcyclist doesn't have its own web site. Anyway, opening the pages and:
Here's a link to a web page that actually doesn't even exist. That's because it's written (or printed) by a PERL program. Maybe someday this will lead to a guestbook. In the meantime, I've added 256mb RAM to my iMac DV Special Edition. The computer is noticably snappier. --Matt V
In the process of moving all this crap out of the master bedroom so that I can start work on it this weekend. Damn there's alot of shit in there. Most of it is clothing I don't wear anymore. As luck would have it, one of those salvation army outfits called me up. All I have to do is leave the box of clothes at the doorstep and they'll pick it up. Beats throwing it all out.
This whole damn week has been too cold for riding. Oh well, there's always the computer. Heard that Apple's OS 10.1 will soon be 10.2. I'll wait till this happens before buying the disc. Seen the new iMac? It's sort of uh, interesting. Steve Jobs talks like it's the greatest invention since flushing toilets. --Matt V
Looks like the old Fay Myers Motorcycle World burned down. It happened last week. The entire building was a total loss, along with 600 or so motorcycles inside. This place is located on 2015 W. Alameda, in Denver, CO. From what I remenber, their facillity had floors made of maple. Fancy. They carried all those odd European brands like Ducati, Cagiva, Aprilia, Bimota, Husqvarna, Agusta, and Triumph. Of course, they also carry the usual Japanese big 4. On the bright side, they still have 2 other buildings.
Rode the ZRX for about 30 miles last Thursday. That was enough. Winter is better for figuring out things like cgi/perl scripts. I have yet to get any of these to work on Tripod. Tripod claims that their cgi-bin has the correct permissions, but nothing works. Not even date and time.
Our friends at Motorcycle Online are of the persuasion that they can now charge their visitors. I think a 1-year subscription is $11.94. Thanks, but I already get Motorcyclist. --Matt V
Here's most of my New Year's resolutions. They are sort of mundane:
As much as I hate to admit it, 2001 was a pretty good year. Hell, I even got a new motorcycle - the almighty 2001 Kawasaki ZRX1200R. This after 4 years on an EX500. Had a nice 2-week paid Summer vacation, and 1-week paid Christmas vacation. The economy might be in the middle of some kind of major downturn, but I still have my job and house. So, I'm doing just fine, thanks. As for the September 11 events, I reserve all sympathies for those killed and injured at the World Trade center, the Pentagon, and their friends and family. Same goes for our military personnel risking their lives overseas. Anyone else who blames their woes on the September 11 events can stick it. Same goes for Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, and the rest of the bleeding-heart press. I mean, is anyone really terrorized by the terrorist acts? Didn't think so.
Well, I've been kind of neglectful of this site for a while. Might add that I really should of added some American flags and will do so soon. Even worse is the state of the 2002 Motorcycles section. Kind of hard to write about motorcycles I never even rode. Havn't decided what to do about this. It seems the image rollovers (JavaScript) on the Kawasaki page don't work with Internet Explorer 5 - or any version of Internet Explorer. Going to have find some way to fix this. The counter service says that folks really are visiting High Plains Rider, and uh-oh, most of them use Internet Explorer.
Happy New Year! --Matt V
Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Dec-2002 23:59:26 EST
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