New Video Card...

Back in June 2007 I purchased two Sapphire HD2900 XT's. They cost around $550 a piece at the time, and had about 1 GB of DDR3 memory on them. Fast at the time, and it was probably a bleeding edge video card considering most companies hadn't even put out a DX10 card by then.

Well, usually I replace my video cards on my PC every six months, but this time - well it's been almost one year seven months and I had been having more and more issues with these particular set of video cards. Despite thier enormous power consumtion, they really heated up my PC to amazing temps!

Well, about a year ago in June - the drivers for the 2900's would blue screen when I tried to update them. I called Sapphire Technical Support. Guess what. They NEVER responded. I emailed them. Sent them registered letters. NO RESPONSE! Well, after months of calling them, I finally got through in December. The tech told me that they had gone pretty much out of warranty, could not be upgraded and Sapphire would not trade up for a newer set of video cards.

You know, I rarely buy Sapphire cards - and this is yet ANOTHER reason why I will *never again* purchase thier crappy video cards.

Today my PC suffered some very odd problems - the video screen was blinking out and the whole PC was locking up. At first I thought it was Vista - which has been having so many problems lately, I just chalked it up as another Vista bug. Then I thought it was my Logitech keyboard, because during those lockup sessions, it would stop responding, so I replaced that with my standby unit.

This didn't solve the issue, and I could not log into Vista. When I did, and tried to access my profile, it would lock up, so I thought it was a profile issue.

Finally my video card just up and died. I could hear it in the PC, the fan going up and down and making horrible sounds.

So I removed both ATI cards and used one, then the other to see if they were the culprit.

Imagine my surprise (NOT!) when BOTH cards had issues. One had a fan issue, and one had a bad VDU.

I decided today to go out and get a new video card, something with 1GB of DDR3 memory on it. I picked up a Diamond Multimedia HD 4670 with 1GB of DDR3 memory on it.

I could have gotten the bleeding edge video cards from ATI which would have been the HD4870 1GB x2 package which runs around $545 at Fry's Electronics. It had a $40 rebate on it, but I picked up the 4670 instead for $125 and it actually *outperforms* my older 2900 card by leaps and bounds.

Funny thing is, its lighter, less power to run it, and quieter. I'm still miffed that both my video cards had to take a dump today. That took about 3 hours out of my day to diagnose and figure out the problem was the video cards.

When I got back home from Fry's, I took out the old card, replaced it with the newer one and loaded up the new video drivers. FSX actually performs MUCH better now, and some of my new FPS games work faster, which is nice for a change.

The TrackIR TrackClip Pro Mod...

Those that know me understand my interest (some say insanity) in regards to Flight Sims. After all, I am building a full scale F-16 cockpit... so given my particular degree of inventiveness in doing something like that which is completely custom in nature, you could quite easily understand this post.... or not.

Anyways - one of the most common items that flight sim enthusiasts like to use in thier quest to get as realistic as possible, is the TrackIR 4 Pro device.

As you can see, the TrackIR 4 comes in a variety of colors (black, white and red). It clips onto the side of of your headset.









While this is a great device, it is somewhat cumbersome, and a bit bulky in nature. Looking at the three colors above you would think 'Hey - how bulky could it be, it looks so small'.

Well - yes and no. As you can see from the picture below, it has its only little cable attached to it, and then its the fact that it clips to your existing headset and you can feel it pulling on the side of the headset at times.


This is partly due to the need for power of the device, which has to be plugged into a USB port to power the three tiny LED lights on the TrackClip Pro.


This actually kind of bugged me, and when I would put my headset away, the TrackClip Pro would snag on stuff and the cable would get tangled in my Quadrant and other irritating things.


So... as usually happens with me, I decided to do something about it and modify the TrackClip Pro to reduce it's overall profile and attach it permanently to my headset.

As you can see from the pictures below, I detached the TrackClip Pro from it's little clip-on thing, pretty much chopped it down to just the three LED lights on the tri-bracket and permanently attached it to the left side of my headset, and then routed the physical power cable through the headset and then attached that cable to the headset cable itself.




















I had to do some soldering on it - and then make sure it worked before I glued it to the side of the headset. But soldering was easy, then used a two-part epoxy to glue the LED Tri-bracket to the side of my headset.

I've already tested this on all my flight sim applications, and it works perfectly. I could have gone an extra step more and soldered it into the +5v line on the headset, but this might have mucked with the sound quality of the headset, so I decided that instead of breaking open the ear piece and getting the voltage I needed, I just decided that instead of doing that I would piggyback the cable onto the existing sound jack cable and be done with it.

Now, it feels much better and doesn't wiggle around as much as before. Before the mod I had to adjust it everytime I flew, and sometimes it would fall down or move a bit and I would have to re-center it in the application. BIG pain in the butt. If you sneezed, it would need to be re-centered and once again, if you accidently brushed your hand against it... grrrr...

Well, you get the picture. Anyways - now its a permanent attachment, no need to adjust it anymore, just put on the headset, boot up the flight sim and fly!

Antique Masport Meteor Push Mower Project

The handle plate for the Masport Meteor



I think the PQ stands for Pensilvania Quality. It was patented in 1918. As you can see, there is a spot of color on it (green) kind of a lime green color. Once this is sand blasted and the rust taken off, it will be heat treated and then painted the same lime green color it originally had.


This is the rusted six-blade of the push mower. Most of them had either 4-5 blades, this one has six, which makes it a bit better at cutting grass. It's also not as *heavy* as the steel ones. Also interesting is that it had '3' wooden rollers. Normally this was either one large roller or a rubber based one.

Note the 'Meteor" logo on the aluminum wheels. Most of the Masport Meteor push mowers had the name "Masport Meteor" on the wheels, but this one just has 'Meteor' on it.

Why this is uncommon is that Aluminum wheels were not the norm, rather they were rare because steel was much more readily available, and aluminum was used in aircraft construction at the time and was more expensive that steel.

Well, the other day I was walking around, saw a sign in front of a house for items on the sidewalk that said "Free". So... being the inquisitive one that I am, I took a gander at the items that were being offered for "Free"...

I like free. Most stuff that people throw out can easily be reconditioned to be put back into service for a nominal fee and it's perfectly good again.

One particular item immediatelly caught my attention. It was an old antique push mower. On the handle, it had "PQ" and "PAT1918" and on the the wheels it had "Meteor". In the center of the wheels the washer had "Pensilvania" on it.

Normally I see these old push mowers, they are made out of steel, not aluminum. The kind of aluminum on this was considered Aircraft grade aluminum, and worthy of a good project to take on. So I took my new "free" item and wheeled it away.

Cleaning it up, I was able to uncover some additional information on this particular hand mower. It's a "Masport Meteor hand mower" made around 1920.

They made several models, most of them out of steel, but this one in particular was made out of Aluminum. It was one of the 'better' ones for sure, but like every *antique* this one had fallen into disrepair due to neglect. So the six-blade cutters were rusted, and safe to say, it just wasn't looking too good.

The cutting blades are all rusted, along with what is called 'The scraper' which is what the blades pass by as they are cutting the grass with. That's rusted too. Not *too* badly, but as with everything, it has some wear and tear on it.

So - took it all apart, a lot of the old bolts were just plain rusted solid, so had to cut them off with my dremel tool. Then - did some additional work on pulling off the handles and the rest of of the connectors and parts.

Soon they will all be sent down to get sand blasted to get the rust off and then I will of course get them heated up and apply some black paint to the metal parts. The Aluminum will get shined up with some aluminum polish - which will make it look nicer.

When all is said and done, parts have been de-rusted, and aluminum has been shined up, paint applied and new bolts in place, along with new bearings for the wheels, its going to be a nice push mower for sure. There is a place down the block from my house that sharpens the blades on these old mowers.

However - the price isn't cheap. It's $50 to sharpen the blades and the scraper. My new *free* antique push mower just jumped up in price... but oh well...

I can probably do it myself, and this might actually be the way to go since allt hey do is run a grinder along the face of the blades. I can do this and save myself the time and money on that item, all you really need is a square face for the blades against the scraper blade and you are set.

The rest of the restoration is really just a lot of polishing and rust removal. One item might need to be custom fabricated, and that's one of the bearings for the wheels which made it kind of wobbly. One wheel has a working one which I can have my brother replicate it at his metal shop.

Once he does that, I can replace both of them with replicated versions and keep the original as a spare part.

My friend G.P. asked me why spend all the time restoring an antique mower that if I had to buy it would only fetch $99 to $150 if someone was selling it.

Well - its not so much that its only worth $99 - $150, but that it's a piece of history and I really wanted an old push mower anyways. I've been looking for one for about a year now, and I like the way those old things worked. I have an electric edger and weed wacker which I love, but I like pushing the old lawn mowers. Plus - nowadays going *green* is a good thing. No electricity or gas to make it go, just good old fashioned "muscle" and "elbow grease" to get the job done.

Why younger women date older men...

This subject has recently come up, a friend of mine comments that younger women seem to be dating older and older men. His rant was that 20 something *hot* women where dating men in my age range (40-ish). My friends comments were that younger women going out with older men were looking for 'Sugar Daddies' or they are 'Gold Diggers'.

I told him that it was a simple. Young women understand that older men have it going on. After much laughing on his side, he asked the question "What is it that they *have* that is so damned attractive?"

I listed out 10 items that made older men more sought out by younger women.

1) No more McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Burger King or other fast food restaurants. Say *HELLO* to Five Star Restaurants instead.

2) Tired of having your car break down all the time? Well - park that second hand klunker she's been driving and pickup the keys to his Porche, Ferrari, Lexus, BMW 5 series, Mercedes or whatever car that caught his attention. Older men usually have better toys too than the poor starving muscian boyfriend who had to take the bus to each gig.

3) You like vacations? No - not talking about Las Vegas, Idaho or Montana in the winter. Lets talk about cruises to the Bahama's or trips to Rome, Italy or Spain. Younger guys just can't spend on those kinds of things - too expensive for them.

4) You like clothes? Shopping? Shoes? Older and more established men understand a woman's need for shopping and they *indulge* those cravings rather than whine about it like younger men. Say *hello* to American Express Black card baby!

5) Older men are usually more experienced lovers in bed. Been there, done that and can do it pretty damned good too. In my case, I'm also jaded as hell and can really ring a woman's bell no matter what her kink is. Younger men... well lets just say those pups need at least another decade to learn the ropes.

6) We don't want to change the woman. Honestly, we don't. Older men have figured out that either a woman does or doesn't, and if they don't, we won't. It's that simple... so why try to change her??

7) Older men are more patient in a relationship because they have matured and learned from all the mistakes from when they were younger. They are wiser and care more about the little things in life. Women spend a great deal trying to *train* younger men, and it just frustrates them, so when they meet an older man - its a no brainer to hook up with them.

8) Older men are established in their careers. They are not trying to figure out where they want to go in life, because they have already figured this out. This removes a lot of problems in the relationship for the woman. If she enjoys him, and can deal with his chosen vocation, that it's all good. Plus, if he makes more bucks that her, she can stop working and be a stay-at-home mommy or do something she would rather enjoy.

9) Men who are mature also tend to be worldlier and more self-confident as they know themselves better, which is something that attracts younger women.

10) Now, in some ways, younger women in particular those who have an absent father, look to an older man as a type of father figure or mentor. This is often a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties involved. A woman will receive guidance and gain more life experience from being with an older man while the older man gets to feel that he is powerful and is looked up to by the woman. I'm not saying this is a *bad* thing, but in a relationship like this, it could be beneficial to the both of them.

Till next post...

2007 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail

One day, I was with my friend Clint. He had decided that he absolutely get a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

He had picked out a Springer Softail in black, and indeed, it was a fantastic looking bike to be sure, but settled on the Softail Custom instead.

That day I saw my motorcycle, I didn't care if it was a Harley or not, I was looking for a 'specific' style that I felt fit my personality.

Then I saw it - a 2007 Heritage Softail. Didn't have the seat I wanted on it, so within a few months I took it down to Corbin and had a custom seat put on it.

This is the stock 2007 Heritage Softail:

It's a fine Harley all by itself, but I found that there were a few problems with it, mostly it looked pretty plain.

The handlebars didn't *feel* right, and the floorboards were just stock. So within a year I have managed to stick about $5000 worth of chrome on it, new pipes, fender skirt with eagle emblems, and a bunch of Küryakyn parts that looked better (and cheaper) than the Harley-Davidson chrome that I saw in the dealership.

I'm just about done with the chrome upgrades on my Harley. I've recently added a tank pouch onto it as well as a RAM mounts for my iPhone. I created a custom USB adapter to charge the phone while I was on the road too.

Today while I was riding, I stopped by Eagle's Nest Harley-Davidson in Lathrop, California. I picked up a Küryakyn Deluxe Oil Line Nacelle, which compliments the Tappet Block Accent, and hopefully soon I will pick up the Transmission Shroud as well. All three together give the Harley Softail a real nice streamlined look that makes it stand out.

Here's a link to the part on Küryakyn's website. In the picture you can see all three parts (Transmission Shroud, Tappet Block Accent and Deluxe Oil Line Nacelle).

http://www.kuryakyn.com/index.cfm/go/Home.ProductDetail/catID/12/scID/95/IMID/232

I like the Küryakyn parts. It's sad that Harley doesn't make a lot of Chrome parts that look that good. Most of them are kind of plain jane looking stuff.

My purchase complete, I stuffed my new buy into my bag and took off for home. It was around 5:30pm and getting dark fast. I knew the temperature would drop fast, so wanted to get home before I froze something off...

Got home - and was starving, so went to my favorite Japanese food place, and ordered my usual meal. Spicey Miso Ramen soup, California Role and 5-piece of raw red tuna.

It sucks being diabetic. I want to eat other things, but that just makes my blood glucous level go up big time, so have to make sure that I watch the carbs.

Dinner finished, I went back home, took a shower and logged onto Blogger.com to setup my new blog and post something. I still have about 4-5 months of blogs that I need to transfer to this site, and that will take a while for sure.

Until next blog...

New blog site...

Well, I am certainly not new to blogging. I started back before there was America On-line or AOL. Back when there were BBS's out there and you had to dial-up with a 300 baud modem!

Blogging, or maintaining a 'Web Log' isn't anything new, just garnered more attention due to the internet, and the availability to these 'blogs'.

In a way - its a good thing, more people out there can express who and what they are, and it makes the world a smaller place in a way, but allows us to share with one another through the internet and blog sites.

In the last 25 years, I have blogged plenty, but for about ten years I really have not blogged all that much in part to a lot of life changes that have gone on with me. Rather than detailing my life out on the internet, I have taken care of a lot of smaller details in my life, took up the challenge of going back to college, getting additional education, training and raising my kids.

So blogging kind of went to the wayside.

But - I am back again - this time on blogger.com and I would like to transfer a lot of my older blogs to this site when I have the opportunity to do so.