Cheap cool stuff

Friday afternoon there was another bike parked behind mine in the somewhat dark stairway, and he had a Nite Rider headlight; it's super tiny, about an inch square, and a small LiIon pack hanging from a velcro loop under the bar. NR claims it's "110 lumens." I have never had a chance to compare before, so I turned on his headlight and mine. I have a 13W HID which is now about 3 years old. The little LED was actually brigher than my aging HID. The HID is clearly showing its age.

Anyway, since I've been OK with riding with the HID at its current brightness (which is probably 1/3 of what it used to put out), I decided to go ahead and try the "LED flashlight strapped to the bars" headlight method. There are some asian manufacturers making surprisingly good multi-watt tactical flashlights for < $30. Everyone on BikeForums has been buying them at DealExtreme.com

I went up there just to buy a flashlight and a handlebar mounting bracket, but they've got TONS of cool stuff. I picked up spare RJ45 connectors for 10c each, they have a cable tester that tests ethernet, USB, and several other kinds of cable for $11, I got a white flash diffuser for my Canon 420EX for $2, a box of 10 keychain white LED flashlights for $5 just to have one everywhere or give them away. I also picked up a pair of 14500 LiIon batteries (3.7V, the same size as a AA, they make the flashlight brighter and a little longer lasting) and a charger ($5 and $10 respectively for the 2 batteries and charger).

Assuming the flashlight is good, I'll probably order another. Next time I'm getting the macro extensions for my Canon for $10, a green laser for $17 (they have up to 500mw but only ship the 5mw to the US, because customs confiscates them anyway).

DX has got massive sections for everything from networking supplies and security cameras to practical jokes and magic tricks. It's a fun site to browse.

The downside to DX is that they ship "air mail" from Hong Kong - apparently it usually takes a couple of weeks to receive stuff. We'll see.

Non-useless gift item found

We found that one of the items in the list of 15 year gifts was something we could use. It's a JVC mini stereo that got some good reviews at Amazon. It has an analog input for MP3 players, it'll play MP3s from CD, and it also has a USB host port on the front and will play MP3s from mass storage devices. L has been asking for something for her room that's better than the CD clock radio that she has now, so this will work for that, and it was the only thing in there that we'd actually use rather than immediately eBaying.

Bike computer downgrade

In March of 2007 I switched to a Sigma 1606L computer. The idea was to monitor my cadence, since the theory goes you should be pedaling at 90+ RPM to maximize your muscle's output and minimize strain on joints, etc. I put it on and over the course of the next week determined that I naturally pedal over 90 anyway, and my average is about 98 RPM, with peaks to about 105. I haven't paid any attention to cadence since then.

I decided that I actually like the Planet Bike computer I used to have, so I put it back on today. It took me about 2 weeks to locate the mount, sensor and the computer body itself, they were all over the place. Lots of stuff is turning up as I slowly get through boxes of crud spread all over.

It turned out that one of the wires had gotten quite frayed before and the sensor was cracked, and the frayed wire corroded enough to break. So I cut the sensor off an ancient old Meijer $10 computer and frankensteined that onto the PB computer, sealed it up with liquid electrical tape (which was getting thick, I had to cut it with acetone to make it usable again) and transferred the odometer to the PB. I did forget to read off the wheel circumference from the Sigma before it lost power, so I guessed a value. I'll have to take a few mile spin with the GPS on the handlebar to recalibrate.

The PB is definitely nicer for all that it's a "less sophisticated" unit. The main display shows speed, ride time, ride distance, temperature and current time, all at once. What else could you want? This is a Protege 9.0. I think I'd go for the 8.0 or even 5.0 if I bought again. The 8.0 lacks temperature, the 5.0 lacks the ability to track 2 bikes, and lacks average speed and maximum speed. I occasionally glance at average speed but I honestly don't care that much, and it's easy enough to calculate given ride time and distance. The 5.0 is $16.

I just like "simple and tells me all I want to know without fiddling with buttons."

Also you the PB is a little easier and faster to reset.

For the record, the odometer is 15156 miles. Hey, if I switch to kilometers I'm almost to 25K!

Bullseye! Stupid dog

Our dog is almost all black, but has a white blaze right in the center of her chest. Tonight a skunk decided that would be a great target. She had a huge squirt of the stuff right dead center.

I wish it had hit her right in the goddamn nose. She's always chasing stuff and I would love for her to get something really unpleasant.

This time all she got was a hell of a lot of washing. I washed her about 5 times with hair shampoo, then mixed up a batch of peroxide/baking soda and washed her for another 20 minutes with that. I can't smell anything on her anymore, but the whole house stinks so it's hard to tell. We've got the place open to air out, maybe by morning we'll be able to tell.

Certainly the people at church tomorrow will be able to give us some clue as to whether it's sticking to us.