Sunday November 02, 2008 
Monday September 01, 2008 Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Iowa Speedway
Wednesday August 20, 2008 Before:
After:
Alison, Nick and myself at the Anime Iowa Right Stuf and Nozomi panel.
Thursday August 07, 2008 
The artist that's been painting it annually for the last 10 years.
Posted by rich ( Aug 07 2008, 10:11:41 PM CDT ) Permalink
Friday July 11, 2008 Having recently destroyed my original iPhone, I needed to get a replacement. 90 minutes in line later, I had an iPhone 3G. Here are a few initial impressions:
- Easier to hold shape, but really dislike the plastic. Feels cheap.
- Blacks on the screen don't seem to be as dark as my original iPhone.
- Increased speaker volume is nice, I often had problems hearing the other party when the environment was noisy.
- Better Wi-Fi reception. I used to stand next to my access point at home, and the iPhone wouldn't notice it was there.
- Restoring my iPhone's backup to the iPhone 3G was handled well. 5 minutes and all my old data is back (notes, photos, settings - everything).
- Love the additional space (16 G vs. 8 G - old one was full). Not 3G specific, but still nice.
- I really dislike that I needed to buy a new dock.
- I still hate AT&T.
Friday June 13, 2008 
Monday April 21, 2008 Just launched on Friday: Anime Today Forums
Posted by rich ( Apr 21 2008, 03:22:16 PM CDT ) Permalink
Friday April 18, 2008 I want to like Novell... Really...
To download SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Novell require a login. When creating an account, they state "By completing this form, I am giving Novell and/or Novell's partners permission to contact me regarding Novell products and services." with absolutely no option to opt out of being contacted by a partner.
After registering (with a disposable email address), they require you to answer a questionnaire:
How many employees work in your entire organization?
What is your company's industry?
What is your current relationship with Novell?
What is your primary area of interest?
What are your current requirements/requests of Novell?
Annoying. And it required an activation code to install it.
How do new technologies get adopted by me, and subsequently by the businesses I work with? Let me obtain it, hassle free, and try it out. Telling me that my contact information will be distributed to third parties, steering me through questionnaires after seeing a list of download that I might be able to get after I hand over just a bit more information, doesn't qualify in my mind. And that was after I had already handed over my name, address, phone number, and email address just to register on their site.
Posted by rich ( Apr 18 2008, 03:59:06 PM CDT ) Permalink
Sunday March 16, 2008 Buell Ulysses 1,000 Mile Service and Suspension
Yikes ... I brought the bike into Zylstra H-D/Buell last week, $328. I don't remember what the Sportster's first service was, but I don't think it was quite that much.
Another important lesson: I'd been lazy and never taken the time to setup the suspension according to the guidelines in the owner's manual. I finally did today, and WOW, what a difference. It feels like a completely different, and even more incredible bike. I'd never really seen what a dramatic difference suspension could make in a vehicle's handling.
Two annoyances: I cannot get used to having to shut off the blinkers manually. Also, the throttle feels like its very soon, 1/8" - 1/4" inch of looseness. I asked the dealer to look at it during the service, and they said it was properly adjusted. I can't believe that's correct, and I forgot to check the Buells that they had sitting on the floor to see how their throttles were adjusted.
Posted by rich ( Mar 16 2008, 09:45:42 PM CDT ) Permalink
Sunday January 06, 2008 Starting Ulysses mileage: 863 (barely getting started)
Went for a nice, 42 mile ride around Des Moines today, this afternoon the temperature was around 44 or so, so it really wasn't too bad. I wasn't planning on it, really, until I went to get groceries this afternoon and saw another motorcycle out and figured, why not?
First picture is from Gray's Lake, still frozen over, but they're flying the red flag indicating that it isn't safe to walk out on.
These are the penguins from the Jolly Holiday Lights display in Water Works Park.
I still need to fix the bent bits on the bike from when it was backed into, right after they showed up the temperature here dropped and I've done nothing out in the garage since mid-November.
Posted by rich ( Jan 06 2008, 04:10:28 PM CST ) Permalink