|
July 1st, 2010
I am a huge fan of the Queen, and couldn’t be more excited that she and the Prince are visiting Canada for our celebration of our 143rd anniversary. It is a great opportunity to really ponder the history of this amazing county. God save the Queen. June 28th, 2010
I went to the International Chicken and Rib Cook-Off on Sunday after church. It was delicious. Alex and Matt came to the city to pickup a subwoofer but couldn’t stay for the cook off, in part due to an incident at a Tim Horton’s. Later in the day I had a milk emergency, which I twittered about. I still worry about Lindsay Lohan. June 19th, 2010
I just got one of my subwoofers back. It was on loan to someone, as I wasn’t using it. With it being returned I realized that I currently have three subwoofers. And I’m not talking the small subwoofer that comes with a pair of computer speakers (I have one of those, too). I’m talking about proper, stand-alone subwoofers. I have a Polk Audio PSW10 10″, 100-watt subwoofer. This little subwoofer might be perfect for, say, a garage. I’ve had this sub for a while and it’s done its duty. It weighs 26 pounds. My second subwoofer is an Infinity PS212. I haven’t used it yet, but I suspect it would go great in a living room. I have only great great things about this sub. The sheet says it can dip down to reproduce 25 Hz sound. It weighs 44.7 pounds. My third subwoofer is a JBL L8400. This one has served faithfully in my home theatre for half a year now. This impressive little guy has a response starting at 22 Hz, and a 600-watt amplifier. It weighs an impressive 58 pounds. June 15th, 2010
This morning I rolled out of bed, grabbed a bowl, and took the milk out of the fridge. I reached for the box of Mini Wheats that I bought last night and opened them. Imagine my surprise when I looked down into the box of cereal and saw Lucky Charms. I had forgot that I switched Mini Wheats out for Lucky Charms–both of which were on sale–just for something different. A bit of a treat, even. Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. May 21st, 2010
I am really excited about some sound gear I have ordered. Allow me to take you on a tour. As valuable background information: I will be moving in a few weeks and will have some rooms that I don’t have speakers for. My current surround sound setup will go in the basement with the TV. That leaves me without anything reasonable for the main floor. So I’ve come up with the following little arrangement. Harman/Kardon 3490 stereo receiver in the living room. This receiver will power the living room and dining room. I expect the primary inputs to be auxilary and the an optical connection from an Apple Airport Express. The living room will feature JBL L830 speakers. The pair of speakers will be accompanied by an Infinity PS212 subwoofer. In the dining room I plan to mount a pair of JBL LS326W in-wall speakers. This took a while to come to. I decided to go with in-wall speakers that will mount low on the wall, for a nice background music setup. Final placement hasn’t been decided, but I am hopeful that I can come up with a setup whereby the number of guide holes I would have to punch in the basement ceiling are minimal. For outside I have a pair of Infinity Outrigger speakers. I am not sure I will install these, but it’s a solid maybe. The back yard is not such that it facilitates loud gatherings so it may be a bit overkill in this initial setup. And finally, for the garage, a pair of Infinity P152 speakers. Originally these speakers were selected for my living room, but at the 11th hour I decided to go with the aforementioned JBL speakers. The P152s are tried and true, and will most certainly be welcome in any room. At the end of the day I’m really excited about the possibilities that these purchases offer. Placing them and installing them will be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to hear them. May 10th, 2010
I have been following the World Chess Championship 2010, between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Veselin Topalov (Challenger) (Bulgaria). The match is being played in Sofia and will last up to 12 games. The winner is the first to 6.5 points. 11 games have been played and the players are tied at 5.5 points each. The final game is tomorrow, with the match being decided by blitz games on Thursday if another draw occurs. It has been pretty exciting to follow my first WCC. I am watching some commentaries on the games after they have finished, and am learning a little bit about this complex game. You can follow the last game tomorrow live at anand-topalov.com. If you’re in North America log-on as soon as you get to work and check on the game until it finishes around lunch time. It’s great fun to review the moves and think about what you would do next. April 29th, 2010
Last week, while I was procrastinating, I decided to overhaul the wheel bearings on my hybrid bicycle. This process involved buying some new tools (cone wrenches, chain whip, and lockring remover), some ball bearings, and some grease. I did not replace the cones, though I should probably. It was quite an adventure. I started with the front wheel, which is easier. Removed the wheel, removed the quick release, unscrew the lock nut, remove spacers, remove the cone. Then it got interesting. I didn’t have a pencil magnet to remove the old ball bearings with so I had to pry them out. Luckily the old, dirty grease made them stick to the ground when they fell out, but it was still more cumbersome compared to using the proper tool. I cleaned all of the parts, removing any old grease, then re-greased everything. Gobs and gobs of bearing grease was put in the hubs on the bear racers, then the bearings were added, and everything was put back together. Smooth and clean now. The back wheel was a little more challenging. I removed the cassette (first time doing this!), and then it took me some time to realize that the dust cover was a dust cover. With that figured out I was able to repeat the same procedure as with the front wheel. Another small challenge was that I didn’t initially have 15 mm cone wrench (I had bought a pedal wrench thinking I could use it for both; silly me). I worked around this, and now do have a 15 mm cone wrench. When I put everything back together I had a problem: the wheels were too stiff. I had tightened the cones too much, putting too much pressure on the bearings. They were not moving freely. I had to give it up for the night but later read that, with quick-release wheels you are supposed to leave a little bit of play in the wheel as it will be tightened with the quick release. Tonight I finally had time to finish the job. The wheels are spinning beautifully now. They could be better (new cones, new hubs maybe?), but they’re much better at least. I’ve discovered some break squeal since re-attaching the wheel but, again, will have to sort that out tomorrow. I will probably start my ride with the wheel and brakes as is and just check on them a few times through. I will make final adjustments when I get to the office I’ve got a couple of projects still remaining with this bike. One is truing the wheels. They’re desperately in need of this, but to do this I will need a truing stand. The front is much more noticeably untrue than the rear, and it affects braking. The second project is the bottom bracket. That will be an adventure, and will likely require some more tools and parts. In time, new cassette, chain, chainrings, and jockey wheels will be in order. For the moment I figure they’re already all in such bad shape that I might as well keep using them until I have noticeable gear slipping. The whole kit is about a decade old and should probably be replaced anyway. And since I have a couple of hours of conference calls in the morning I best get to bed so that I will make it to the office in time. Good night, friends. April 28th, 2010
As of last night, I have finished another semester of school. I had two classes this semester, which meant two exams. My Managerial Accounting exam was held last Friday evening, and my Financial Management exam was last night. I was nervous going into both exams. I had many weeks to prepare leading up to the exams, but I didn’t. In both cases I left it until the last minute. On Friday I was at work, but my focus was not. I always like to do an “course summary” type of writeup to prepare, and usually when I do I end up with a short couple of pages describing what was covered. This was true in the Managerial Accounting class: it covered a few core concepts, not a great range. At the exam it was clear that I understood these core concepts and was able to apply my knowledge effectively. My expectation for this final was an ‘A’ grade. Yesterday morning I woke up and felt so ill-prepared that I took a vacation day at work. I took a day to study. But I didn’t really study. In my many hours at home I did manage to create the “course summary” and found that Financial Management covered a greater amount of material compared to MA, but still only 4 or 5 pages worth. In the end, I also felt good about this exam. I think I earned a ‘B’ on the final exam. So, I’m done this semester! Next semester starts Monday. Awesome. |
|
|
Copyright © 2010 Ryan J. Allen - All Rights Reserved |
|