[Westy]

You know what I would suggest for that commute: electricity! My 4 mile commute from Wedgwood to UW was just about perfect distance. 7, or 12 as mine will be in 2013, is a bit longer than one wants at the end of a long day, agreed.

With regard to making vs. spending money: I'll have plenty of opportunity for more conventional week or two at a time vacations. Taking a whole huge chunk of time off isn't the norm, though, and teh wife-bot isn't much the camping (or camp-in-a-giant-RV) type.

I have no problems with pedaling, with no time for any other exercise the commute is quite possibly the only thing that keeps me sane. The only real challenge has been the quantity of gear required. I have forgotten a bike lock twice and realized that full rain gear is required even when the Weather Channel says it is sunny with no chance of rain. Between books, clothes, laptop, locks etc I am usually dragging around 30+lbs of ****.

 

[Toshi]

Why not leave the lock on the racks at UW? No one messed with my lock + cables in my 5 years there. With regard to rain gear and general junk to carry, yeah: that's why waterproof panniers are great.

 

[Westy]

Why not leave the lock on the racks at UW? No one messed with my lock + cables in my 5 years there. With regard to rain gear and general junk to carry, yeah: that's why waterproof panniers are great.

I often hit the grocery store to and from school. I need a lock with me at most times. I've thought about panniers but I ride my road bike which is not easily retrofitted. I'm not getting rid of the road bike nor do I have room for another commuter. I do however have a large selection of waterproof backpacks. I just need some lightweight waterproof boots. My Asolos are just too burly for everyday use.

As a side note living on a boat I certainly consume far fewer resources than in the past. I get 15 amps of electricity, including heat, before the breaker trips. Water tanks must be filled by hand and the hot water heater has a 5 gallon capacity. I only use about 40 gallons a week not including laundry. I used to use about 30 gallons a day. I'm still burning the tank of gas I bought while moving out here 2 months ago.

 

[Toshi]

You'll be all ready for the resource wars, whenever they start. Here on LI the utilities seem to almost encourage waste. There's a flat rate for 0-10000 gallons of water use per month, and that's only $9.00. Extra 1000 gallons? Add 95 cents...

How about U-lock + cable for wheels on the bike rack, plus a cheap, light cable lock just for trips to the grocery?

 

[HAB]

If you are a controls guy check out Electroimpact. From what I gather there are nothing but super bright people there. The downside is tremendous effort is the norm.

That's the place I hinted at previously, when I said I had one line out already. I know someone working there, and it sounds awesome. I'd way rather work my ass off doing something cool, working with smart people than barely having to do anything and still looking like an MVP, surrounded by a bunch of morons.

 

[Toshi]

A cute scene from the American Kennel Club "Meet the Breeds" show today:

 

[Toshi]

… and the corresponding video of said beagle and trainer:

 

[Toshi]

16 days until I fly to Auckland. That is all.

 

[Toshi]

Random musings on cars in New Zealand:

Our last-day rental 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado GX was quite nice, and with the turbodiesel and lots of highway cruising I even eked out 8.8 liters/100 km. That's 26 US mpg. Not too bad overall! I'd expect a Lexus RX 450h to get about the same in combined mileage, honestly. Even in the city I got around 21 mpg. Space was ample even though the rear lift-over height dauntingly high, and I didn't feel quite as claustrophobic from the short windshield as I did in the 2011 Toyota 4Runner I tested a while back. The little differences between the Prado/Lexus GX platform and that of the T4R must have made the difference.

The workhorse 2005 Mazda Demio 5-door hatch (reincarnated later as the 2) that took us from Auckland to Queenstown was adequate but not inspiring. I never was scared to pass in it, but I made sure plenty of space free of oncoming traffic was visible before pulling out. If you're wondering how we ended up with a rental car from 2005 then you haven't been to NZ: rental agencies specializing in 5-10+ year old rentals abound, and it's hard to pass up their much-cheaper rates. Try a base rate of ~$35/day for the Mazda vs. the pretty penny of ~$200 for the Prado above.

I counted the number of Series 200 Toyota Land Cruisers that I saw parked or driving about to amuse myself while driving some of the well over 2000 miles around the North and South Islands. The final count was 16, or about 2/3rd of a Land Cruiser per day. There were orders of magnitude more Series 100 and especially 80s out there, not to mention both new and old 70s with flatbeds and the like. Similarly abundant were old Nissan Patrol and Safari models, but the newer ones were rarer than hen's teeth.

Right hand drive and driving on the left wasn't so bad, except the whole turn signal vs. wiper thing. Now that I'm acclimated to RHD controls I return to America, of course, and pull out of parking lots with my wipers a-swishing… Roundabouts generally worked very well indeed except at the busiest of intersections.

NZ drivers seem to be Seattle-style slow and conservative, although there certainly were a few exceptions zooming off to the horizon. I caught up to many a driver in the twisties despite our unsporting choice of wheels. Then again, that might be my own habits: I kept pace on a windy road at night with a driver in a Honda S2000 in our Land Cruiser Prado on the last day! America, represent. Or something like that.

The double tap of the horn when a driver pulls over to let one pass is a nice gesture. I imagined it as the car vocalizing "cheers, bro" or "sweet as." Yes, it's sweet as, not sweet ass. (Sweet as or cool as what is never specified. Don't be uncool and ask.)

Roads in New Zealand were twisty, as expected. There are also a lot of steep mountain passes. In general they were well maintained and even a bit wider than typical fare in, say, Japan. So too were the cars: many of them were 10-25 year old Japanese imports/discards, but it was a rare one that didn't look to be well maintained and respectable. Somehow the Kiwis seem to have figured out how to divorce or at least separate somewhat social status and choice of automobile…

 

[HAB]

Sounds like my experience in Oz. I adapted to being on the left/ going CW around traffic circles/ shifting left handed no problem, but made a mess of the turn signal-wiper thing to no end.

 

[Toshi]

Photo contest spam: Please "like" these photos of mine posted on Facebook so that I have a chance to win some $$$:

Photo #1: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150635266793767&set=a.10150632659973767.448165.260473388766

Photo #2: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150635270383767&set=a.10150635270298767.448433.260473388766

Photo #3: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150635257168767&set=a.10150635251713767.448427.260473388766

Updated with fixed links. Old ones weren't to the contest submission, proper. Whoops.

 

[Westy]

Today I saw a chubby asian kid riding an electric bike with full fairing and canopy. He was wearing a moto helmet whilst ensconced in blaze orange and reflective tape. Toshi, are you back in Seattle?

 

[Toshi]

Nice, my alter ego. June 2013 is still my ETA, er, estimated date of arrival.

 

[Toshi]

This winter has been pretty mild--only bust out the snowthrower once, futilely, as the snow was completely gone within 24 hrs--but it's still put a chill on my riding activities.

Although I've been rock climbing a few times at the local gym that's not quite the same, and I'm looking forward to getting out on the flat, rocky trails once the thaw sets in. Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon spring, get warmer already!

 

[Toshi]

We went to the Bronx Zoo today. $4 per person admission tickets thanks to Google Offers, offset by the $13 in roundtrip bridge tolls and $13 in parking that we spent (plus the ~$4.50 in gas that the Prius converted to CO2 during the drive).

http://toshiclark.com/images/trips/bronx zoo - february 26, 2012/

Monkeys and such are photogenic, I think. A few highlights:

 

[Toshi]

To preempt heckling: 70 mph limit on I-95 in VA, on cruise control in the right lane, and I snapped the photo from the passenger seat while my wife drove along. We averaged 47.0 mpg so the 70 mph stretches didn't faze the car too much. (Thank you 0.26 Cd * reasonable frontal area!)

Also in the interests of full disclosure: we bought the Prius as a CPO with 83k on the clock so the bulk of the mileage on the car is not our doing. We've put slightly less than 1000 miles per month on it in our period of ownership, with an additional ~500 miles per month on the Fit (mostly from before we had the Prius) and ~350/month on the motorcycle. My own personal miles are mostly on the motorcycle, but the wife doesn't ride on her own so is always on four wheels...

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

toshi, anything of interest to do in kyoto in less than 2 days??

in 2 weeks am travelling to nagoya on business for 3 days, when i have a weekend to burn before i return to Lima....

 

[Toshi]

Oh hell yes. Kyoto is full of activities and sights:

- kiyomizudera
- sanjusangendo
- old imperial palace, hon-ji, I think
- philosopher's walk along the river
- kinkakuji, the golden palace...

 

[Toshi]

My wife and I are selling our Honda Fit. She drives her Prius, I ride my Versys, and the Fit sits there in our driveway without being driven much at all.

Craigslist ad with all the specifics is here, but the basic info is below: http://longisland.craigslist.org/cto/2933255216.html

- 2008 Honda Fit
- Under 40k miles on it at the moment
- Clean title, no liens
- Ex-CPO car, with 4/48 bumper to bumper and 7/100 (!) powertrain extended warranties that are fully transferable to the buyer
- Runs well, no CELs or the like

Email me at tjclark@gmail.com or call me at (206) 303-8895 if you are in the NYC area or LI and want to see it.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

toshi, kyoto absolutely rocks...
japan, its culture, people´s ethic, penchant for mini-skirts and high socks and their heated water-spraying toilets, has given me a new hope in mankind....

am still in tokyo, killing time at narita between flights.... still have like 6 hours before my 12hr flight to houston, then 8hrs more from there to lima...

 

[Toshi]

I flew a kite today (after mountain biking), and it actually was quite amusing. Same kinetic strain against the lines as when sailing, but with much less cost and hassle. As I found out last year with my RC airplane, Long Island actually has decent wind. We also have cold beaches and cold water. Therefore I may take up kiting as a hobby until D-day (June 2013).

Tonight I'll have to learn about them. So far I've been told that 2 string and 4 string setups exist, with the 4 string seeming conceptually similar to cyclic control on a helicopter's swashplate, and there's a number after the kite's name that seems to indicate the width of the thing in meters.

 

[Toshi]

My wife and I are selling our Honda Fit. She drives her Prius, I ride my Versys, and the Fit sits there in our driveway without being driven much at all.

Craigslist ad with all the specifics is here, but the basic info is below: http://longisland.craigslist.org/cto/2933255216.html

- 2008 Honda Fit
- Under 40k miles on it at the moment
- Clean title, no liens
- Ex-CPO car, with 4/48 bumper to bumper and 7/100 (!) powertrain extended warranties that are fully transferable to the buyer
- Runs well, no CELs or the like

Email me at tjclark@gmail.com or call me at (206) 303-8895 if you are in the NYC area or LI and want to see it.

Ugh. I hate selling cars. Craiglist lowballers and scammers abound. We have two people out there potentially interested, but unless one of them bites by this weekend then I'm going to shop the car to Carmax this Sunday. If Carmax lowballs as well then off to eBay Motors as the next step...

 

[Westy]

I flew a kite today (after mountain biking), and it actually was quite amusing. Same kinetic strain against the lines as when sailing, but with much less cost and hassle. As I found out last year with my RC airplane, Long Island actually has decent wind. We also have cold beaches and cold water. Therefore I may take up kiting as a hobby until D-day (June 2013).

Tonight I'll have to learn about them. So far I've been told that 2 string and 4 string setups exist, with the 4 string seeming conceptually similar to cyclic control on a helicopter's swashplate, and there's a number after the kite's name that seems to indicate the width of the thing in meters.

Woah! Did you find some recumbent electric full suspension bike?

 

[Toshi]

Heh. I have a hardtail 29er these days, actually. Cheap and dirty, it is.

 

[Toshi]

Fool: Be proud of me, as I've cured myself of my Toyota Land Cruiser/Lexus LX 570 lust.

Environmental idealism doesn't motivate me any more, nor does materialistic cock-swinging, and my fevered desire to cherish and preserve engineering for engineering's sake (as evidenced by the products of the Tahara plant) seems silly and irrational in the harsh light of day.

I do have a better idea of what I don't want now, at least. I don't want ohio's BRD Redshift electric supermoto because I loathe wind noise. I don't want a BMW K 1600 GT because it's heavy and expensive, wouldn't aid my commute, and I'd frankly rather be in a car with my wife for road trips. I don't want a 4x4 because I'd either be scared to scratch it up if it were nice enough to commute in (Land Cruiser) or would loathe its driving dynamics and noise if it were rugged and ragged (Wrangler). Furthermore, I don't want anything in between these admittedly extreme examples, for reasons similarly intermediate.

I'm not even sure if I like driving or riding for it's own sake any more, although may just be an overreaction to the Long Island schmucks who menace me with their inattention and negligence while I'm on my motorcycle every day. If it's really true that I've lost my passion for twisty backroads and autocross, though, then I just need to let my spendthrift side take charge: I'd sell the Versys once in Seattle or before leaving here in 2013 and then would proceed to be a hermit scooting around town on the electric bike... again. (As always, the wife would be outfitted with whatever she wanted, within reason.)

I probably do still have the twisty-road flame burning within me somewhere, merely suppressed by traffic and the swerves of texting teenagers. How to scratch that itch, then, given that I'm too tall of torso to rock a Miata, not enough of a prick to drive an old 993 era Porsche, too non-white to fall for the Mustang, and too rational to consider anything modern that hails from Deutschland? Subaru BRZ? Perhaps.

Back to square one, yet again. (Good thing I enjoy over-thinking things/thinking things over, since I seem to do it a hell of a lot. )

 

[Westy]

I loathe driving in Seattle, or any city for that matter. A friend who was recently buying his first new car asked me for recommendations. I suggested whatever car he was most comfortable with sitting at a stoplight. I miss my winding country roads back in Virginia. I don't see much point driving anything other than a driving appliance if you are living in a city.

 

[Toshi]

I think I'm precociously having my midlife crisis early. My personal and professional lives are in order and I'm searching for deeper meaning.

If Jessica and I do manage to have a kid then all my petty concerns about listlessness will fly out the window, but until that happens I'm on autopilot through 2013, which is a weird, weird feeling for someone who has always been self-motivated.

 

[Toshi]

I think the best thing for me to do, once back in Seattle, would be to dive back into sailing, biking, and skiing--all the things I can't easily do here, in other words. Since I really won't need a car for that year, in all honesty* then I might as well save up that money** and spend it on some flash new skis, a modern all-mountain bike, and a season's pass to Alpental or the like.

Time to read about bikes, I guess, for the first time in years (if one doesn't count my skimming-the-bottom-of-the-market 29er purchase a year or two ago).



* commute to UW will be via electric bike or two buses. I don't intend to drive (and pay $15 to park) ever.

** I'll put the max contribution in each of our IRAs, will take full advantage of the UW staff 5% 403b match, will pay down the student loans a bit, and will pay off the Prius, but will still have money to play with after that: not having real transportation costs for me plus not having rent (!) will be awesome.

 

[Toshi]

Time to read about bikes, I guess

My local riding buddy offered up the Ibis Mojo HD as an off-the-cuff suggestion, and it does look like it'd do it. The geometry even looks ok for me on paper: medium and large frames only differ by 0.1" in standover clearance (which will be poor for me in any case with my short-ass legs), so I could choose whichever top tube length felt better without a real drawback. What's more, I know of at least one local dealer so there'd be support.

http://www.ibiscycles.com/bikes/mojo_hd/

Coolness. Getting a nice bike and getting back into that scene seems much more sane than, say, getting a dual-sport and having to trek hours out of Seattle just to find some dirt. (That'd be about as stupid as me buying a Wrangler and then having to look for trails to make it worthwhile.)

 

[Toshi]

Carbon seems awfully expensive, from Ibis and from everyone else, too. Since I plan on entering approximately 0 races, and I'm already slow on the climbs, why bother?

Below is a saner, non-carbon bike of otherwise outwardly similar intent. $3300. I could live with that a hell of a lot easier than the Ibis's $5k+ pricetag. The proof will be in the pudding, taking bikes out on demo days, but it's good to know that not all bikes are as expensive as motorcycles.

Specialized Enduro Comp: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=62189&scid=1100&scname=Mountain

2 x 10 with a chainguide and 6" of air travel sounds like it'd be the hot ticket. Amusingly enough, I kind of went down this route years ago, with my old Intense Uzzi SLX. Of course, that one had a Super T up front to try to slack out the tall-trailbike geometry, and generally felt leaden. I hope the modern bikes don't have the same issues: the SC Nomad I rented last fall in Seattle felt better...

 

[Nick]

The new Enduro is nice (whatever the build) and the geometry is dialed. Try it, you'll like it.

 

[Westy]

I think the best thing for me to do, once back in Seattle, would be to dive back into sailing, biking, and skiing--all the things I can't easily do here, in other words. Since I really won't need a car for that year, in all honesty* then I might as well save up that money** and spend it on some flash new skis, a modern all-mountain bike, and a season's pass to Alpental or the like.

Time to read about bikes, I guess, for the first time in years (if one doesn't count my skimming-the-bottom-of-the-market 29er purchase a year or two ago).



* commute to UW will be via electric bike or two buses. I don't intend to drive (and pay $15 to park) ever.

** I'll put the max contribution in each of our IRAs, will take full advantage of the UW staff 5% 403b match, will pay down the student loans a bit, and will pay off the Prius, but will still have money to play with after that: not having real transportation costs for me plus not having rent (!) will be awesome.

Don't think I could handle the commute if I didn't have the single bus or the direct Burke Gillman route. Unfortunately the bike commuting has suffered due to a flare up of quadriceps tendonitis and psoriatic arthritis. Been trying to see some of your future associates in the rheumatology department but they will not see me because according to my blood tests I do not have arthritis. Which is good news as I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis four years ago, glad I have been cured. Just need to find someone who can treat my chronic pain and inflammation.

 

[Toshi]

That's ridiculous that they won't see you: psoriatic is one of the seronegative arthritides by its definition. Your primary care doc should be putting up much more of a fight to get you in.

 

[Toshi]

For those interested in reading me prattle on about cars at the NY auto show, I wrote a metric ****-ton just now and posted it on Google+:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/115479414905422234350/posts/6mobHUQKxZa

 

[Toshi]

I installed a Banshee Horn setup today. It's an auxiliary air horn with a control module that is supposed to let one use the regular weeny horn for short taps, and then after a 1/4 or 1/2 second configurable delay, adds in the air horn, pulsing it and the high beam in time to frighten and cow other road users.

http://www.screaming-banshee.com/

I say "supposed to" rather than "does" above because, uh, it doesn't work. (There's a known issue with some bikes, it turns out, and I'll need a free replacement part to make it work.) As it is now it goes off immediately when I turn the key to "on", which is not too useful even if it is amusing.

Install photos are below, showing the end result of an hour or three out in the driveway with the wire stripper and half the (admittedly minimal) bodywork off my bike. At least I found a nice, solid place to mount the air horn itself, and made a lucky, correct guess that the empty bolt hole at this location would be an M6 bolt.

Weeny stock horn seen under the radiator. It stays in place with the Banshee setup, although one must muck about with its wiring, test which line is + and which is ground with a multimeter, etc.

New Banshee-branded airhorn, which is not a Stebel although resembles one closely.

Closeup of mounting bracket. Note grounding wire (for the horn itself) behind a few washers, which are there in turn to space out the back of the horn from the engine a few more millimeters.

Control unit ziptied in place, before any of its colored leads were routed laboriously through the bodywork (and ziptied down at intervals) to their respective destinations.

The red lead goes to the battery's positive terminal. Note that it's a crowded place: the other two positive hangers-on are for the battery tender harness and my heated gear. I had to fish out a longer M6 bolt from my toolbox to make it work. The control unit is grounded to the bike's frame, not to the negative battery terminal.

Orange lead goes to the positive terminal on the air horn. As above, the negative terminal on the air horn is grounded to the frame, not the battery.

Yellow lead is spliced into the positive lead for the high beam. I had to poke around with the multimeter to find which one this was, just as with the stock horn.

Once located, it still was a minor pain in the ass to get the yellow lead hooked up to the high beam positive wire. Cramped quarters! Pro tip: use a Vise Grips type wrench to shove the metal bridging/piercing connector down once all ducks are in a row, then close the plastic cover. You'll never be able to get enough leverage with the cover to shove the metal bridge through the wires otherwise.

I'll have a video demonstrating the sound and sights before and after installation as soon as the Banshee folks get me the correct part to get it all working right. As it sits now I know everything's wired properly since when it actuates (incorrectly, when the key is turned to "on") the high beam flashes and the air horn pulses.

 

[Toshi]

Plan of the moment: Nissan Leaf for the wife immediately upon our (triumphant?) return to Seattle in July 2013.

I think all of the stars are in alignment: we'll be relatively flush thanks to our cheap living arrangements (in MIL's house) and my own lack of a car; Seattle City Light rates are downright cheap and can be entirely offset with renewable energy for just $12 more per month; The EV Project gives away chargers to Seattle metro residents in exchange for usage information; and there are 74 public charging stations in the Seattle metro area as of today, with more surely to come by next summer.

A blue Leaf with the 6.6 kW onboard charger and leather (both to be options on the 2013 model) would do it...

Of course, with how fickle I am I'll probably come up with an entirely different idea next month. I like the sound of this plan, though, especially if we lease one: by the time that three-year term is up then the Infiniti LE or the like (Tesla Model S?) may be on the market, and we'll have decided by then whether a BEV is easy enough to live with.

 

[Westy]

That's ridiculous that they won't see you: psoriatic is one of the seronegative arthritides by its definition. Your primary care doc should be putting up much more of a fight to get you in.

Some pressure from my GP and a 'medical review' later I have an appointment. I think psoriatic got dropped somewhere in the initial referral. I have never asked for them but I have always felt I should be given copies of my medical records. I'm sure most doctors don't want the average moron second guessing them but I feel I am an above average moron and should be directly involved in my own care.

 

[Toshi]

It's Federal law to be able to get copies of one's own medical records at a nominal cost, iirc.

Unrelated: Awesome treehouse project by a NASIOC OTter that I somehow missed back in 2009. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1806662&highlight=treehouse

See posts #415 and #419 for the finished product if impatient.

 

[Toshi]

I think I just sold our Honda Fit with a handshake. The money for keys and title part will come tomorrow.

Full commitment to two-wheeled commuting will now be mandatory, instead of merely due to my compulsions.

 

[Toshi]

The Fit is no longer in our hands.

Moral of the story: Buy what you wanted in the first place rather than settling for a second-best alternative.