Back In the Saddle...

The Route
Originally uploaded by BernieC

It's been a while since I took a decently long ride. Well, it was a stunningly gorgeous day today and I managed to get out on the road for a ride around Mt. Rainier National Park. Here's the route. Check out the Flickr set.

In other news, I turn 30 in 10 days. Woo.

;-)

Crisis averted; the bike works just fine...

Hey, it works!

Bump starting ain't so bad...

Well, it may have been bad for Erin. She was the one pushing me down the drive way. After a couple of tries, we got the bike to start. And it runs like normal, so to me this seems to be a starter issue.

I called Renton Motorcycles and they're booked solid until the 21st. They said that if I can get the bike in before then, they will do diagnosis before the 21st. Looks like I'll try to take it over on Friday. Gotta love technology.

Crap.

My bike won't start. I was going to ride it down to my mom's place. I got it started it, and then realized I needed to pull my helmet out of the top case. Shut it off, got the helmet out, and now it won't start. It won't even crank. Battery's not dead, because I still get gauges, lights, and the fuel pump comes on like it should. But, no cranking.

I'm thinking I'm going to need to do a little bump starting tomorrow to get it going. I hope that works. Argh.

Diesel vs. Gasoline

I drive a 2002 VW Jetta GLS TDI.  It's an automatic.  I bought it back in 2005 when gas prices were a lot different than they are now.  I ran a comparison of prices with my older car, a 1995 VW Jetta GL.  So here's what it looks like today after I paid $4.22 for biodiesel (B5).  Granted, these are highway figures.  My old Jetta got around 25mpg in city and the diesel Jetta gets about 32-33mpg in city; 35mpg if I'm really babying it.  These prices are current as of today.

I think this guy should take a look at my comparison.  He's paying way more than he should.

Gas: $3.42 - 31mpg on highway
BioDiesel: $4.22 - 39mpg on highway
DinoDiesel - $4.09 - 41mpg on highway

400 miles of travel

Gas - 12.9gal used - $44.12
BioDiesel - 10.26gal used - $43.30
DinoDiesel - 9.76gal used - $39.92

$ savings in %:
BD and DD are 1.8% and 9.5% cheaper tank for tank than gas, respectively.

fuel savings in %:
With BD and DD, you use 20.5% and 24.3% less fuel than gasoline, respectively.

Diagrammatical

There's a Visio diagram about a quarter of the way down for It Was a Good Day that was just too awesome.

Rap Represented in Mathematical Charts and Graphs

Deltalina

She's attractive, yes, but it's the "ding" of shiny teeth about 80% of the way in that cracks me up. And, the photography in this video is impressive. Great lighting, cool framing, and very relevant content. Almost makes me want to pay attention ;-)

(via Wired)

Rally season 2008 is back on!

Chris Baldini's Mazda 323
Originally uploaded by BernieC

Hell yeah, baby!

Have a look at the photos...

Erin and her ring...

Erin and her ring...
Originally uploaded by BernieC

It's true. I'm getting married! April of 2009, everybody! :-)

Official-ness

Erin's Moving Day!
Originally uploaded by davem.com

Well, it's official, Erin lives with me now. w00t!

We managed to get our U-Haul from one of the most unorganized and dirtiest hardware stores in Ravenna, just barely got the U-Haul filled (see the photo!!), dodged a bit of snow, unloaded in the rain, and managed to get everything done in one day.

Still a bit of unpacking to do, but she's settling in now. What's next? Just wait and see ;-)

Last night - Blue Man Group

Good show. 12th row, in the aisle, at Key Arena...

Woah.

I had to watch this one twice.

NSFW (Not Safe for Work)

Rockin' the Macworld

If only I was. I'm quite excited to to see what Apple introduces in a few hours. As you may remember, four years ago I went to a Macworld. It was pretty spiffy. Take a look at the picture, for proof.

MacBook Air? Time to wait and see!

It's Fancy Feast Time!

Holy poop, YouTube!

Fun at home before NYE... oh how those cats hate me.