Category: Life News

The Bike Is Back

After a long hiatus without my two-wheeled companion, it is now back at home in its proper place. As you may or may not know, the VFR800 was under recall for an electrical problem. Once I hit the 24,000 mile mark, I called the shop and verified that they had the part in and scheduled a drop. This was mid-December.

Of course, if the only thing wrong were the recalled part, all would have been well. It was not. Not only was the sub-harness bad, but the WHOLE harness was melted in places to the frame. No wonder I couldn’t keep a batter even a year without it going out. Anyway, in order to replace the whole harness they had to order one from Honda… which took about a month to come in. The bike was in pieces in the shop the whole time.

At least they did a valve job on it while they were waiting. It rides nicer now. At least, I think it does. It’s been so long that I may be mistaken. I’ll take it, though.

Just my luck, though – had great weather this week… until I got the bike back. It’s supposed to rain on Monday. 😦

It’s Been Quiet…

2012-01-08 23:30:21

Yes, I know I haven’t said much on this forum lately, but that’s because I’ve been working… working long, and hard at a new project which I enjoy very much. In fact, I’m trying right now to see if I can get it extended.

Despite the longer commute and hours, I’m really enjoying a faster-paced environment working on one of my favorite technologies: MIIS (now called ILM). It’s been very challenging so far, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it and I really hope I can stay here longer. Once that decision is made, I’ll be able to make a more permanent place for myself here – and maybe even get my own desk and phone… 🙂

10,000 Clicks

Last week, unbeknownst to me, my camera surpassed the 10,000 pictures taken mark. This is a milestone – and a lot of clicks. The shutter is supposed to be good for 100,000 or so clicks before it needs service, so I’m good for a while. However, this milestone answers the ongoing question for me – what will the in-camera file numbering system actually do? I know what it’s supposed to – it’s supposed to go from 100-9999 [folder 100, image 9999] to 101-0001. I have been anxious to see if it would actually work the way it’s supposed to since I’ve seen some discussion around this not working as advertised.

Now, the question has been answered. I started my numbering at 200- so, my images went from 200-9999 to 201-0001 – just like it’s supposed to. Nice, eh?

Long Time No Blog

I’ve been a bit busy, what with my new project [which is way fun, by the way] and the increased commute time needed to drive all the way from here to the other side of DC. That leaves me with less free time than before, so between that and the extra work generated by the wedding we have not had time for much else – not even blogging!

That being said, we’ve just last night delivered the proof prints to the clients and so the first [most dificult] part is finished, and we should have some more free time in the upcoming weeks. Laura might have more work to do, though, with the creation of a photo album.

And speaking of Laura, we were not very impressed with how her camera performed under a few conditions at the wedding. She was using the Rebel XTi, which in most circumstances has been a wonderful camera. But, with special flash conditions, it didn’t do what we wanted it to. So, we sold it. We got $499 cash for it, which I used to trade her up for an early birthday present – a brand new Canon EOS 40D. It’s quite nice and has some features that make me a bit jealous… 😦 But, she deserves the best – and even if this does not have as many megapixels as mine, it is certainly as good as or even better in many respects. It’s a little heavier than the XTi, but still lighter than my 5D, which is good for her. I’m also releived that the menuing system works almost like mine and will be easier to translate between the two models when we try to set them up the same. The performance of the 40D at high ISO is also just as good as the 5D – which is quite impressive.

Of course, we have yet to test it under the same conditions that made the XTi underexpose horribly. So, I made her open her present early – so that when our friends come over tomorrow [Christmas Eve] she can experiment with it on the kids.

First Snow

It’s snowing today – the first snow of the season. I dedcided to work from home today to complete a document that I’ve been assigned. Does that sound like I’m here because I have to be? No way! I’m home because I’m chicken. I don’t want to ride my motorcycle in 28 degrees with falling snow. It was cold enough for me yesterday in the low 30s, and yes – even a few degrees makes a difference when riding. BRRR!

Besides: it’s supposed to snow all day long, and I could end up stranded in DC – not a fun proposition, if you ask me!

Cabo Dive Pictures

These are mostly diving pictures so far, but more will come later. It takes quite a bit of time to post them from here. Not the fastest of Internet uplinks.

Anyhow: we are now packing up and heading for the airport to go back to Virginia tonight. Then, tomorrow, we will be leaving our house yet again and going down to Richmond to visit friends for Thanksgiving. Lots of travel, but the next time will be much easier – no wet dive gear to deal with…

Hola!

We are in Cabo San Lucas. Life is relaxing. Of course, it wasn’t relaxing all week…

There were some hiccups while trying to find the dive shop. We actually missed our first dive due to construction and our inability to find our way around. However, we were able to find a place to call from and got detailed directions from the owner and signed up for the afternoon dive instead. Along the way, we were suckered into the time share schpeil. Yeah, we got a free breakfast, but sheesh! The sales pitch was painful. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Finally, we got to the dive shop and found that it was a hole in the wall. Literally. Talk about tiny. We even had to jump into the boat from the sand of the beach. I guess I’m spoiled. I like the Cozumel way of doing things. So – we dove 3 days and decided to call it quits. There was not enough visibilty or things to photograph and the water got real cold down deep. We decided that 6 dives was enough and that some relaxation time was what we really wanted. Tomorrow will be a sit-by-the-pool day. I might even have an umbrella drink.

Oh – and my dive computer died early in the 4th dive. Nice. I’m back to gages and tables now. I hope it was just batteries and when I can find some new ones, everything will be fine… I hope. If not, well… we won’t be diving for a while due to having to save up for some new equipment.

We have taken a good amount of pictures, but nowhere near what I usually do. I will post them here as soon as I can.

Short Timer

Two days and I’ll be in Mexico. We are really excited about the trip and it couldn’t come at a better time. I REALLY need a vacation. I need to get my mind off of work and come back with a fresh attitude.

What I’m really looking forward to is the opportunity to take some underwater pictures with my new camera setup, but also to have no responsibilities except for choosing a place to eat. It’s been far too long since I had a real relaxing vacation – one where I can sit on a beach with an umbrella drink in my hand and not worry about what time it is or if I have to write a document when I get up in the morning… I’ll just have to remember to get up and go diving. That’s not hard.