| Friday, January 19, 2007 |
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The Vanagon has a new stance!
by brian @ 14:47:30 - [perma-link]I've been wondering how the ride would feel with the twist-in spring
spacers removed from the Vanagon for a while now. Today I decided to
pull them. Just the front ones. I drove around the block and it definitely feels lower. It feels way
lower than it actually, physically moved, probably since I'm looking
slightly down when facing forward. I didn't notice much of a real
difference in handling in the neighborhood. I'll see how it is on
the highway tonight.
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Making things is fun
by brian @ 15:01:01 - [perma-link]Last night I built this shelf for the table out in the garage. Most
of the stuff that had been piled up on the table is now up out of the
way, so I have a big workspace. I picked up a 4-foot 12-outlet power
strip at Fry's, and mounted it across the back underneath the lower
shelf. More accurately, I built the shelf unit around the power
strip. Now I can plug in pretty much everthing, and all the plugs
and chargers are out of my way. I ran the Roomba to pick up the sawdust while I was putting things
away. About halfway through its job, I decided to start recording it
with CoolCamera on my mobile phone. I had it doing motion-detect so
it wouldn't snap shots when the Roomba was out of frame, and after a
little while I got a clue and stopped moving the camera around to try
to follow it.
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| Thursday, January 18, 2007 |
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Remote power button for the Mac Mini
by brian @ 12:05:28 - [perma-link] For some reason (more in a bit) when I have my Mac Mini in my
Vanagon, it doesn't power on when I turn the key like it should. I
end up having to slide my seat back and squeeeeeeze my hand through
the gap under the seat to reach behind the mini to press the power
button. This little mod will save my knuckles. It may even solve
the power-on problem. As it turns out, the old crimped connection between the itty-bitty
wire coming from inside the Mac (its a Y-adapter from mp3car.com in
the ...uh... Carnetix 1900 (the automotive computer power supply that
I use) to Mac Mini connector kit) to the power supply jumper wire had
broken loose, so the on pulse from the power supply was never
reaching the Mac. The soldered connection should solve that problem,
because it did work some of the time. If not, I'll have the red
button hanging out somewhere I can reach it easily enough.
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| Wednesday, January 10, 2007 |
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Coolest thing at MacWorld
by brian @ 23:56:50 - [perma-link]I suppose the iPhone was actually the coolest thing at MacWorld Expo,
but I read all about it yesterday and the ones at the show were
sealed in glass containers. What most impressed me was how thin it
is. The software features are pretty much what I expected, but man
is it thin! So this bracket for mounting a Mac Mini to the back of a monitor
(using the standard screw-holes that usually mount the monitor to a
wall or stand... very smart!) is the second coolest thing at the
show. Something like this would let me install the mini in a much
more convenient location in the Vanagon.
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| Tuesday, January 9, 2007 |
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Got Wii!
by brian @ 10:50:16 - [perma-link]I popped into Toy's'R'Us and they had a few Wiis in stock! I'll hook it up after dinner, because if I hook it up before dinner, I probably won't eat..
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| Monday, December 18, 2006 |
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Out with the old, in with the new!
by brian @ 11:11:11 - [perma-link]I gave the vanagon a much needed oil change a few days ago. Its only
been about 4 months, but I've put plenty of miles on it in that
time. It was having a little trouble starting on cold mornings, but
now it fires right up. I've added a reminder to my calendar, so I
can keep to the 3 month schedule and keep this thing running smoothly.
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Felix is on House Arrest
by brian @ 11:16:52 - [perma-link]Felix is on house arrest for a few days while his paw heals. It had
a nasty cut on it (I won't post pictures. trust me, its gross) before
Thanksgiving, and he's had 3 trips to the vet stitching it up. Its
finally starting to look better (as opposed to the 2 weeks when it
kept getting worse), and hopefully he'll be back to normal soon.
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| Monday, December 11, 2006 |
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Goin back to Cali
by brian @ 17:22:52 - [perma-link]Just boarded in Portland, heading back to the east bay.
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| Saturday, December 2, 2006 |
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Good morning!
by brian @ 12:08:39 - [perma-link]Can you see what I'm doing? I'm breathing with my mouth closed!!! First time in like a week! My "flu" is gone, finally (i was sick all week since I got back from Atlanta). Flash and I are playing fetch this morning to celebrate.
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| Monday, November 27, 2006 |
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Time for a new laptop?
by brian @ 11:36:34 - [perma-link]That's not trick photography or photoshopping or anything. Its what my screen actually looks like. If I jiggle it a little or slap it around a bit it gets better. Sometimes. Maybe worse. Its taking more and more effort to get the whole screen working right. I see a MacBook Pro in my near future. Now its just a matter of my limited patience vs. Apple's next revision release date. Time to check the rumor mills.
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