I moved my bike from the balcony closet to the garage last night. I figured I would take a picture of it while it was in the livingroom. Before I took it to the garage, I went for a little spin around the neighborhood. I learned a couple things… first, the bike is not big enough to trip the parking gates. I had to wait for a car to come along and open them. Second, the light for the speedometer is out. It probably just needs a bulb.

I found a blue fender for a C100 cub on Ebay today. It should fit my bike, but may need some slight modifications, which might be as simple as drilling a couple holes in it. The C70 has I think five plastic body parts: the legshield, front fender, left side cover, right side cover, and lower handlebar cover. With the exception of the handlebar cover, all of those have some sort of damage to them on my bike. The side covers just have small hairline cracks, but I can live with those. The legshield is cracked in a few places, and I will eventually replace it, but am in no rush. The front fender had a crack in the very back, and it was ok, but then during the move, the fertilizer spreader in the garage fell back, and the handle whacked the fender right on top. It actually punched a hole through the top, and cracked it pretty good. I taped it up with packing tape, but it looks pretty bad. Hopefully the new fender will work out nicely.

For some reason, the USPS shipping site (and Amazon) were telling me that the headphones I ordered would be delivered on the 19th. I was pleasantly surprised to find an Amazon.com box waiting for me at home yesterday. The headphones are super-comfortable and I am using the medium-sized earplug thingies. They block out surrounding noise, letting me hear the music with greater clarity. The bass seems pretty good too, which I was wondering about. I left them plugged into my laptop with my iTunes library running thru it all night to break them in, and they should sound even better today.

I started it up today and ran it for about 20 minutes. In the storage closet off of the patio… I can’t wait to get out of our apartment and into our new house. I got new tires for the cub, but no tools or space to put them on. 🙁 Anyways, I am keeping the cub’s battery charged, and it started up on the second try today. Lots of smoke came out of the exhaust at first. I hadn’t run it in over a month. It’s a great little bike with a super engine. I love it.

On our last vacation, I lost my excellent Sony MDR-E888LP headphones (left them on the plane) and so I have been looking for a replacement. I decided to go with the type of earbud that fits further inside the ear canal, in order to get better sound and block more outside noise. I finally ordered a pair of Sony MRD-EX71SL earbuds, which are the same kind my brother uses. They were cheap, too, only $29.99! The 888’s I had cost around $80, but the sound quality was superb. If the new earbuds don’t work out, I’ll probably track down another pair of 888’s. So now I eagerly await my new earbuds.

I never got into the Harry Potter craze before, even though I started reading the first book a couple years ago. I never got very far. I then saw the movie (the first one) and wasn’t impressed. But, I was looking for something to read last night and found my old eBook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on my PocketPC. I decided to give it a go. I don’t know what changed in me, but I got totally into it! I was up until 2AM reading the book, and these are the parts that I have read before. I could have probably kept reading until about 3AM, but then I’d be completely dead at work today. Anyways, we’ll see if I can get thru the whole story this time… I still don’t know what the big craze is/has been all about, though.

I went to REI the other day with my friend Chris and I bought one of those clear water bottles that are so popular these days. I needed something to replace the classy styrofoam cup that I use. So I find myself drinking lots of water during work, and making several trips to the bathroom. But, I seem to have more energy, and my head feels much clearer. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect or not, but the water bottle is spiffy nonetheless.

Konica-Minolta is starting to offer their second digital SLR body, which is smaller and less expensive than the 7D. It’s called the Maxxum 5D in the States, and the α-Sweet Digital in Japan. I really like the chrome(faux?)/black body of the Japanese version. (black is also available there) It really looks like the α-Sweet film version, which I was seriously considering buying back in the late 90’s. I ended up getting a 507si (650si) which is more of a knob & button style camera. But I always liked the α-Sweet, because of the body color, which reminds me of my X-700. It’s funny that in the SLR market, the popularity of chrome/black bodies vs. all-black bodies comes and goes. All-black is supposed to be more “pro”, but I still prefer the chrome/black style. And for the record, I love the names of the Japanese cameras, the α-Sweet and EOS Kiss.

There is a pool in Pflugerville that is great for kids!

We went to eat dimsum (yumcha) today at a new place: “Golden Wok”. It was pretty good!