Archive for the ‘General’ Category

For the first few weeks of riding, I was having a big problem with the ‘L‘ plate, it kept catching in the rear wheel and eventually rubbed itself down to an ‘I‘ plate. To try and sort this out, I have been buying a number of metal brackets to try and modify the rear end so that this doesn’t happen. I took apart the rear end today which was a learning experience in itself. After some fun and games, I came up with this nicely curved solution!

A bit of bouncing on the seat was done as a pre-ride test to see the result. So far so good… the ‘L’ plate went nowhere near the wheel. I guess the real test will be at the week-end when I go out for a ride with the lads!!

I just used Monolingual to recover nearly 4GB of space on my Macbook Pro’s HDD. I am very tempted to try the option that removes the PPC elements as it seems to be quite safe. The application’s FAQ says this;

You can use Monolingual to remove non-Intel architectures for your installed applications (even if some of the applications are PowerPC-only; Monolingual is smart enough not to remove PPC forks if those are the only ones in the universal binary). However, you should not strip the System frameworks if you want to use Rosetta.

I have no idea how much space this could save though. For some reason the main OS X Library directory is huge so I need to find out more ways to regain some space. Got any ideas?

Phrixus.co.uk has just had quite a lot of updates over the last week.

• • My theme has had a few adjustments to keep it up to date.
  • There are more navigation options.
  • The archives page has been rewritten.
  • My very customised Gallery 1 installation is now gone and has been replaced by a more integrated Gallery 2 version.
  • The Travelogue no longer links to a separate blog. I could never be bothered to apply updates etc. Now it is integrated into the main site using Google maps rather than the custom flash map I used previously.
  • The photoblog image on the homepage is now a random image from the photoblog album.

Leigh could not have asked for better weather for his CBT! I am quite jealous as I went out in a storm! Either way, the boy Brookes done good! Well done, mate! To celebrate his success and get the most out of his week-end rental, Leigh came round on the lawn mower (bike in front below!), and we headed out for a couple of hours.

It was such good fun going nowhere, I can’t wait for someone else to get a working bike. At this point I am the only person that can go out. From my short experience, it is more interesting when there is someone else around. This could be due to the classic sound of Leigh’s single cylinder or the indicator ticker that I could hear from my bike. But in all seriousness, I think we had a good afternoon… here’s to next ride!

Dave, in a stroke of unexpected intelligence, has invested in the “The Official DSA Theory Test for Motorcyclists CD-ROM“. This computer based tool allows you to revise the various subjects that are covered by the theory test.

The really useful part of the application is the mock tests. You can actually run through an example test, with the same time constraints to see how you do. There is also feedback available on the test so you can see which areas need a little more study. We ran through a mock test and luckily passed. I think we will do a few more before we take the actual test though!!

I have now been able to ride a motorbike for a couple of months. In that time I have probably only covered about 100 miles due to the weather but I can feel my confidence and ability growing each time I go out. The Suzuki Bandit I am riding is fantastic, though this can only be compared to the Honda CB250 I used for myCBT. On the whole, I am comfortable riding the bike and have no problems with it’s performance. I am most likely riding it too slow in fact but I will walk before I run!

Aidy (Whose bike it was originally) has been helping me learn a bit about the bike to. He has kindly shown me the basic maintenance tasks that need to be done, so in effect, we have given it most of a service. We installed new brake pads (Kindly sponsored by Gringod .com!), changed the oil/filter and tensioned the chain. Doing these jobs is great as it helps me get familiar with the technology. At this stage I would need the Haynes manual close at hand for any major repairs but I plan to learn as much as possible about the mechanics. I think this is vital for me as I plan to use the bike for travel much as Aidy did before me. In fact, he has just posted some videos I sent him links for on this subject. If these dont inspire you and give your wanderlust a kick start, I dont know what would!

2008 could be a very interesting year for me. It seems that everything that I am involved with is moving towards some kind of junction. If everything that I do has a big change applied, it is likely to shake up a few things here and there. I certainly feel that things are going to be different a year from now. Perhaps it is this uncertainty about the future but I can almost feel my priorities changing. Things I desperately wanted to do a few months ago are slowly descending in the ranks as I modify my needs based on my theories and new ideas are creeping to the surface. Only in writing this is it apparent on how many levels this is true. I don’t wish to give any details on these things as it could be the lack of daylight affecting me but I am certain that things are going to change. I am not going to actively change anything, I will go with the flow and see where it takes me but I am conscious that I need to be careful when making decisions to ensure I follow the right path.That’s enough philosophical babbling, I have more exciting things to write about!

As we have not posted anything on to this site for a while I thought I would post a quick update about what is currently happening… easy to answer… not a lot! The main points to mention are:

• Grant’s M3 seems to be fine, no problems reported at least!
• My 330Ci is fine except for 2 slow punctures!
• Plans are already being made for Le Mans next year.

We are still keen to get more media and coverage on here but need some patience as the weather is bad, funds are low and these are bad excuses!

I am pleased to announce that my photography website, Encaptured Photography, has just been updated. Along with a minor update to the style, a lot of the code behind has been made more standards compliant. Along with this have come a few areas that need to be tweaked for various browsers and I expect to have this completed over the next few days.

New features include:

• Updated system to order custom ICC colour profiles for your home printer.
• Full text, keyword searching with boolean (and/or/not) operators.
• Image colour searching.
• Integrated system for searching for related images by keyword.
• Simple, in window (AJAX) slideshow for quick and easy browsing.
• PDF contact sheet download from lightbox view.
• Share photos in your Facebook account.

Feel free to head over and take a look around. If you notice any problems, please comment here or use the contact form on the site to let me know! Watch out as we hope to start adding more images and categories over the next few months.

This might be easier than I thought. 10 minutes at our licence office during lunchtime has put me one step closer to my goal! With very little drama (none actually), they happily granted me a provisional licence for Category A (Motorbikes). Hopefully it will all come together this quickly… what’s next on the list?!?!

Well, now I appear to at last be building momentum towards my goal for 2007. My resolution for this year was to try and get my motorbike licence. As I had done nothing to progress towards this goal, other than pick up a form for the licence, I did not hold out much hope on actually achieving the goal! However, a couple of weeks ago, Aidy decided that he was going to look for a new bike! He has settled on a rather cool BMW R1200GS that would be my ideal bike one day too! He did suggest that his Bandit 600F would be ideal for me to use as a starter bike. The bike has had a very interesting past, but at least I know it’s history! Other than working out the finer details down at the pub, I think we have made a deal!

Now it is time to…

1. Get licence sorted
2. Buy helmet and other gear
3. Organise some insurance
4. Convince Aidy to show me how a bike works!
5. Book myself on the CBT (Compulsory Basic Training)
6. Rent a bike to use on CBT as 600cc is too much
7. Read more magazines so I can say biker stuff – like the vindaloo comment (private joke)!!

Since I have not posted for some time, I figured a bit of humour might not go amiss!! Here is a great insight into what it’s like when we get into some real manual work! In this case back in 2004 when we first renovated the boat! Click below to see it… or go to the media page to see this and more!
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For my first YouTube video upload ever, I have one of the funniest things I have seen in a long while… not for CS who is undoubtedly the star, but he survived so all is well! The Video shot on Brooky’s phone and quickly edited on my Mac… Click through to watch and be winded yourself by the “Ultimate Belly Flop”!!
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The live blogging idea didn’t really work out as planned on this trip! We were so busy driving, filming and taking photos that there was very little time for actually writing anything about the day. We are working on something for the articles section though, the video is being cut and the photos prepared for upload so check back soon!

It seems that Apple has gone absolutely mad with new product releases. New iMac… check out how slick and silver it is! New Mac Minis for the media centre. I am quite impressed with the new keyboards though they do not have a full width wireless option at this stage. If I am at my desk I prefer the number pad to be there!

Finally, iLife 08 and iWork08 have been released. I have iWork 07 and it is an excellent suite so I iwll certainly be upgrading soon. With the introduction of an Apple spreadsheet app and Microsoft Office compatibility, it’s a bit of a no brainer!