About a month and a half ago I left for Georgia on vacation. My friend Grizzly Adams stayed here at the house to watch the dogs and keep an eye on the premises. When I came back, the upstairs was 78°F. The downstairs was 72°F and the air conditioning was running full-speed. Normally I keep the house at 68 – 72° at all times, and I have separate air conditioner units for each floor. I have a home owner’s warranty on the house (they replaced my upstairs unit already), but I was tired and wanted to go to sleep with cool air blowing through the house. I reset the breakers, waited awhile, and turned the unit back on. Everything seemed cool.
Read the rest of this entry »

I was headed into work on my 2004 BMW R1150R this morning and noticed that there was a HUGE traffic jam on the highway. I skittered off the highway, conveniently near the comic book shop where I play games from time to time. I filled Raider’s gas tank up, and went into a nearby Starbucks. I let my manager know I was going to be late due to the traffic jam, and enjoyed a tall Americano.

Twenty minutes later I was caffeinated and ready to brave the highway again. I mounted Raider, he started right up, and I motored to the intersection. My foot slipped a little as I came to a stop, which was kind of odd considering the road was bone dry a second before and the sky was clear. Then I smelled gas.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, what should one man with two motorcycles do? Buy a third one!

I’ve been wanting to accessorize/customize a motorcycle for awhile, but have been afraid to tinker with either one of my “real” bikes. A few months ago I started looking around for a motorcycle that I could buy for less than $2000.

This was harder than I thought it would be. ;)
Read the rest of this entry »

After considerately committing suicide a week before the warranty expired, Microsoft sent me a new (at least to me), Xbox 360 Elite as a replacement. The total turnaround time was a week, partially because UPS took a few extra days trying to deliver my busted console to Microsoft’s repair center in Texas.

My replacement unit was built in June of 2008, which I am pretty sure is still a Falcon motherboard. The Falcon is the second-generation motherboard for the 360 Elite. It features smaller chipsets that may increase reliability by reducing heat within the console. Looks like I missed the Jasper revision by a few months, but my 360 Core replacement will probably shit itself in time to pick up either a Jasper or even Opus revision.

Here’s to another year of gaming!

My birthday present to myself last year was an Xbox 360 Elite. I wanted a 360 for awhile, especially after Catan and Carcassonne were announced for Xbox Live!, but I had heard a lot about reliability issues. After almost a year of trouble-free service, my 360 started crashing on Thursday.
Read the rest of this entry »