Jason’s Blog

Being new to a bicycle and not really having a manufacturers recommended service schedule as you do with a car, knowing when to replace components can be a little tricky at times.  I had noticed that my rear tire seemed to have a odd bulge in it.  Upon further inspection, a colleague showed me stretch marks in the tire and told me that a blowout was imminent.

Unlike a car, when you have  blowout, there are not 3 other wheels.  While the more dangerous one for both a car and bike are the wheels that do the steering, it is still very scary and shocking when a wheel blows much like the surprise you get when a balloon pops, only you are riding on the balloon!

Getting replacement parts

Normally I am a bargain shopper, getting the best product I can find at the best price.  This normally means online retailers with free shipping and no tax as opposed to retail stores with retail pricing and tax on top.  I usually can wait a few days or a week since I plan ahead and usually have spares on hand.  In this case I could not wait and did not have a spare on hand.  With anything rubber and flexible, you don’t want to store it and then expect it to be in perfect condition unless you can keep it from the air in a vacuum.  A good example would be expiration dates on those little “safe” devices us grownups use :)  Though they are sealed..perhaps that is a gimmick in itself.

I trotted down to the local bike shop, there are many in a big city which is nice, trying to find a specific tire.  No such luck, but definitely many choices and leave it to an expert to help me choose.  I ended up with a Continental Grand Prix 4000s.  I had heard about these and after recommendations, took the plunge and spent the $60, minus WABA member discount on it.  My plan was to order another when I got home for the front wheel which was not in nearly as bad shape, but my bike was dangerous to ride.

While I was at it..

While I was taking apart my bike, I decided to do a few more things which made me feel like I was giving my bike a good overhaul, though I really did not replace many of the parts at all.

• Replaced Tire
• Saved the thorn proof tube and installed a lighter one for speed :)
• Cleaned the bike since I had the wheels off.
• Lubed the drive chain (Well “waxed” with White Lightening)
• Replaced the rear brake pads, since I had the wheel off and I use them more than I should, I have been told.
• Replaced the sweaty nasty padding in my helmet.  Mine came with an extra set.
• Picked up my gloves that were special ordered for me. I had lost a glove about 3 weeks ago and they finally came in to the local shop.

So…when I rode in to work it was nice having a comfy helmet, 2 gloves, a near silent drive train, and a new tire which was not going to blow out on me at any moment.

No manuals

As you can see, the things I did were totally based on my riding and would be different for everyone.  I would recommend checking your breaks and certainly your tires.  If you leave your bike outside, there are quite a few things you need to check.  It is better that you don’t leave it outside if possible and definitely not when it’s raining to prolong the life of your bike components.

• Tires for Sun Rot
• Chain and Drive Train for Rust and Binding.  You will want to lube your chain often.

Happy Riding!

My initial reaction to Apple TV is fair….

1. Where is the power button on the remote?  I know they use the same remote for every other computer, but it would be nice to turn if off with a button and not have to navigate a menu.
2. Great Quality!!!  I had some Digital Downloads from Blu-Ray disks and they look great!  I am thinking I will keep it and not send it back :)
3. Unable to Multitask?  It appears that while I was watching a movie from iTunes, Apple TV was unable to download my rental.  I figured I would do something else while I waited for my slow DSL connection to grab the HD rental.  The progress bar on the Download did not move at all.
4. Unable to Buffer Rental.  I was a little bummed to find out that I needed to download the entire rental before I was able to play it.  Amazon UnBox lets you download movies locally, but also lets you start playing them about 10 seconds after you start.  That would be nice.  Apple TV told me:  Ready to watch in 10 hours.  Granted if I had a faster connection this would not be a big deal, but until now, I did not see a need to have the $100 /month Internet Speed.
5. Shady HD Rentals – I should not have to pay an extra $1 for and HD rental.

So…my initial reaction so far….I like it and it will do what I ultimately wanted it to do, play video files at a DVD quality level.  I don’t think I will dump my Blu-Ray anytime soon, but I may start picking up old movies from Apple for $4.99 if I don’t see the need for the Blu-Ray edition.

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Jason

For the longest time I have been avoiding digital only content.  I thought to myself, it does not seem to make sense to pay the same amount of money for a digital download as a DVD from the local electronics store.

Why pay the same money for a digital movie as a DVD?

If the price were cheaper I could see possibly switching.  While I am good about recycling and do bike to work, I still do get my bank statements via mail and magazines.  There is just something about getting “less” for the same price that did not appeal to me.

Sharing Movies

I have let others borrow my movies for a while now.  Having the hard media has made that possible.  If I get a digital download, I won’t be able to let others borrow them.  This is something that apparently the Barnes and Noble “Nook” can do with books that the Amazon “Kindle” cannot.  I have yet to hear of any online movie sellers / renters offering this service and really doubt we will see it any time soon.  In fact, it is probably bad that I let friends borrow my movies now.

Move toward HD

As new movies come out, I have been picking them up on Blu-Ray.  Those that I don’t think are worth the premium price, I wait until they come to the local “Red Box” for $5 previewed on standard DVD.

I do own more than 400 standard DVDs and do watch them on occasion. There are some I enjoy so much that I needed to pick them up on Blu-Ray if the price was right to experience them in High Definition.  My goal now is to reduce the number of DVDs I own, and get that smaller collection onto my computer so I can put away the obsolete DVDs.

Digital Media Receiver

So….here we go.  I really have no idea how to setup a digital library other than iTunes.  I know some people have servers where they store all of their music and movies, but I am just getting started and wanted to keep the cost relatively low.  After looking at my options, it seemed like iTunes and the Apple TV were the answer.  I have some movies already loaded into iTunes and since I am a Mac user, seemed the easiest.

Apple TV not only allows you to stream movies purchased / rented from iTunes, but allows you to access your music and movies as well.  I was originally going to just get a HDMI adapter and cable to connect my iMac to my TV, but the idea of a wireless device that can work virtually anywhere the network, ultimately made up my mind.

10% Restocking Fee

I am skeptical about the quality of digital media, and since I don’t have HD Cable, have not even considered replacing my Blu-Ray collection.  I was once told that current, and likely future, delivery systems will NOT be able to provide end users with 1080p quality video and sound due to the extremely high bandwidth required.

Apple has a 10% restocking fee, and that likely means I will need to pay for the return shipping, but buying the unit from Apple online as “refurbished.” it was still cheaper than going to my local store and picking on up.  The only downside..it just left Sacramento, CA, when I could have one right now!!

More to follow…

I will let you know more after it arrives and I have a chance to test it out to see if it is a keeper or just not enough for the discerning audio/video phile.  Well, I don’t listen to LPs, so I am not that much of an audiophile :)

There are some that watch shows on Hulu and other free sites and no longer turn on their TV, but I don’t think the quality is there.  This is probably because I have the slowest DSL available because I am cheap.  LOL.  Perhaps If I enjoy digital media I will upgrade my DSL, but with my roommates in love with TV, will likely not be able to dump cable just yet.