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johnridleyI put my studded tires on, a bit early. OK, just the front one for tonight, I'll put the rear on tomorrow. Last year I waited a day too long. I don't like how they drag my speed down but I love how they make me not fall. I can ride with ease on roads I couldn't walk on. For the record, the studded tires are going on at 8137 miles.
The kids and I went to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum today. Tom had a scouts thing, they went to a 3 hour canned program that earned them the scientist badge. I'd never been, and L hasn't been there for several years, so we got some long-overdue time to have some fun together.
We walked over to Borders to kill some time, and picked up the new Weird Al CD. It's a flipper, with a DVD on the B side, 6 music videos, some photos and an "Al in the studio" behind-the-scenes piece. The downside is that the A side has some DRM crap on it. There's a sticker on the case that says right up front that this is NOT a compliant CD and it may not play in all players. So far: plays in cheap boom box, plays poorly in 18-year-old JVC CD changer (seeks a lot, starts 5 seconds into the track when it finally does start), does not play at all on the DVD player. Oh well, I only bought it to give money to Al (at least a few cents). I had the MP3s before the album was even released and will probably never actually play the CD.
Anyway, I think the DVD side is cool, it's nice that they're adding content to make the thing more worth the $16 discounted price. Too bad about the DRM. It's kind of stupid anyway, I would be amazed if it slowed down ANYONE that wanted to rip the thing. They probably won't stop until they make the things totally unplayable.
I also returned an air compressor that I picked up at Harbor Freight. It seemed like a good deal; $90 for a decent pancake compressor. However, as soon as the outside temps got below about 60*F, it wouldn't start reliably anymore. I'm glad I bought that in the fall instead of the spring, or I may not have found out about this problem until too late to return it. I'm not sure if it was just that compressor or a problem with the design. Very likely the former, but I decided it wasn't worth the $40 savings under the name brand unit if I had to keep driving 40 miles to exchange them.
So back it went, and I picked up a Hitachi from Lowes, which is a bit quieter and has a bigger tank. I used to have a 27 gallon Sears upright, but I sold it to a friend after deciding that I don't have any good reason to own that big of a compressor, and I'd much rather have a more portable unit anyway. This new one is oil-free, but I don't use a compressor enough to wear it out anytime soon anyway.
We have some college students crashing at our place tomorrow night. Probably three of them. Time to break out the air mattresses. Our high school band is hosting a college band. So I need to get the house somewhat cleared up after work tomorrow.
The kids and I went to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum today. Tom had a scouts thing, they went to a 3 hour canned program that earned them the scientist badge. I'd never been, and L hasn't been there for several years, so we got some long-overdue time to have some fun together.
We walked over to Borders to kill some time, and picked up the new Weird Al CD. It's a flipper, with a DVD on the B side, 6 music videos, some photos and an "Al in the studio" behind-the-scenes piece. The downside is that the A side has some DRM crap on it. There's a sticker on the case that says right up front that this is NOT a compliant CD and it may not play in all players. So far: plays in cheap boom box, plays poorly in 18-year-old JVC CD changer (seeks a lot, starts 5 seconds into the track when it finally does start), does not play at all on the DVD player. Oh well, I only bought it to give money to Al (at least a few cents). I had the MP3s before the album was even released and will probably never actually play the CD.
Anyway, I think the DVD side is cool, it's nice that they're adding content to make the thing more worth the $16 discounted price. Too bad about the DRM. It's kind of stupid anyway, I would be amazed if it slowed down ANYONE that wanted to rip the thing. They probably won't stop until they make the things totally unplayable.
I also returned an air compressor that I picked up at Harbor Freight. It seemed like a good deal; $90 for a decent pancake compressor. However, as soon as the outside temps got below about 60*F, it wouldn't start reliably anymore. I'm glad I bought that in the fall instead of the spring, or I may not have found out about this problem until too late to return it. I'm not sure if it was just that compressor or a problem with the design. Very likely the former, but I decided it wasn't worth the $40 savings under the name brand unit if I had to keep driving 40 miles to exchange them.
So back it went, and I picked up a Hitachi from Lowes, which is a bit quieter and has a bigger tank. I used to have a 27 gallon Sears upright, but I sold it to a friend after deciding that I don't have any good reason to own that big of a compressor, and I'd much rather have a more portable unit anyway. This new one is oil-free, but I don't use a compressor enough to wear it out anytime soon anyway.
We have some college students crashing at our place tomorrow night. Probably three of them. Time to break out the air mattresses. Our high school band is hosting a college band. So I need to get the house somewhat cleared up after work tomorrow.
