I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Honda Fury and had the chance to test ride one yesterday. Last weekend I saw it live and was happy that it looked as good in person as it does in the pictures i’d seen online.  Naturally i had to take some of my own: left side, rear, right side, front.  Yesterday  I was still impressed with the looks; it's a really good looking machine.   I think they nailed chopper look spot on.

The Good

Smooth is the word that keeps coming to mind after riding it at surface and highway speeds.  Shifts smoothly, accelerates smoothly, turns...yep smoothly.  Did a couple of u-turns without a problem and it was my first time on a chopper. It's fuel injected so acceleration was like butter and the engine just purred.  They did a good job of disguising the shaft drive to look like a frame rail.  The suspension smoothed out bumps very nicely and i never felt jarred. The narrow tank and seat don't have you spreading your legs like the grand canyon and the forward controls were comfortably easy to reach.  Brakes are top notch.  And i like how the hide the indicator/dummy lights behind some smoke plastic so you only see them when lit making for a clean instrument panel.  And the price is nice starting out at i think $11500 and going up to $13900 for the limited edition with ABS.  I could be off on the pricing but for sure cheaper than any Harley.

The Neutral

The pipes.  They sound better than most stock pipes but really; that's like comparing vanilla ice cream to french vanilla. I didn't care for the handlebars and thought they either needed to be straighter or more bent and my left arm/hand never got comfortable with them. The clutch seemed to need more pull than other bikes I've ridden and the aftermarket seat was not good for more than short hops though maybe it just needed breaking in.  The tank size is 3.4gal so what contributes to such a great look (hour glass taper) also limits it's capacity.  But the biggest thing was that i really expected more of a kick in the seat from the motor.  I thought it would accelerate harder/faster and it just didn't do it for me.  In fairness, after getting back on my 1100 Shadow, it felt sluggish so clearly the Fury had something going on but i really wanted it grab me hard and tweak my nipples.

At the end of the Day

Riding for me isn't just about being on the road, i want to look good and really have a connection with my bike.  Sometimes that connection happens when you first see the bike and you fall in love or it's after you spend some time with it the connection grows.  I fell in love with the CBR and was done for after riding it knowing i HAD to have one for sure.  With my Shadow Aero 1100 i loved the looks but it's not where i want it to be so i am spending the money to get it looking how i want.  With the Fury, i really expected the ride to grab me more given the aggressive advertising, name and looks.  So i am really torn.  I don't want to write it off because i do love the looks and hey, it's a Honda so you know it's going to be bullet proof.  But at the same time I'm thinking I'll need to install some mini apes, fishtail pipes, new air box, and a power commander to get somewhere close to what i want.  Then I'm in the Harley range and they hold their value nicely so why not get one those.  Always wanted a Harley!  We'll see what tomorrow brings.  I'll go out and do some more test riding till i find the one that grabs me by the heart and balls.

Intially, wasn't going to name who this entry is directed to because frankly I don't care to contribute to increasing his exposure. He writes for a great magazine and the continued inclusion of him as a contributor is the only complaint I have with Computer Power User content. But I won’t ever ask them to get rid of him or stop reading his editorials – I’m not a big fan of the fingers in the ears “I’m not going to listen to you” some like to employ as a response to something they disagree with. I may not agree with the crap he types but I will defend his right to have a crappy opinion.

Yes, I work for Microsoft; have for the last 12yrs and have nothing but pride in my company, my team, and the scores of fantastic, smart, passionate, customer focused people it's my privilege to spend the majority of my waking hours with.  If you think the criticism people such as himself level at us are harsh, it is nothing compared to the lens we apply to ourselves. What I say here is my opinion only, not those of MS or my coworkers.

Alex St John, you sir can straight up suck it. I have yet to read an editorial from you in which you don't tout your working at Microsoft and how everything that MS has produced since then has sucked, continues to suck and well, sucks.  I find it funny how genius your contributions to DirectX were and how wonderful it was yet zero recognition of anything else being as worthy, better or just plain good.  You toe the easy line of MS is evil, sluggish, and not innovative instead of actually being objective but I suspect you don't get paid to be objective.  I'm sure your hating on MS makes you very popular those who have negative opinions based on half-truth views such as yours and Mac ads. 

Mojave

Let's be clear; this was not a campaign to make users feel stupid as you like to sensationalize but rather demonstrate Vista is a good product if you get past the crap associated with the name and look at it without a prejudiced view.  But you know that.

Windows 7 will suck less

Hmm, a company that listens to feedback, responds to customers, makes improvements based on that feedback. A company that is self-critical, recognizes where it’s misstepped and works to not repeat mistakes of the past.  A company that looks at what others do, incorporates the best of those things and provides an improved product and experience.  And you characterize this as "Windows 7 will suck less"?  You have firmly established beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are a hater.

Innovation

Photosynth, Surface, Xbox 360 NXE, Office Live, SharePoint, Live Mesh, Azure, Autocollage, Songsmith, WorldWide Telescope. And it's not just our products.

Fix-it, Pinpoint, Test Drive Vista

Remind us again what you have produced?  I remember a plug-in to Winamp about 7 years ago that brought my pc to a crawl with your company name on it but can't recall anything since then.

Enjoy that cigar and I’ll see you next month

Ben

It's a shame, an end of an era, it just won't be the same but i am glad i managed to get one last visit in before the doors closed.  They need to auction stuff off.

El Pasoans mourn loss of Chico's on McRae - El Paso Times

It's now 2am in Shanghai, China and I have just rolled in from the bars where I spent an awesome evening with my friends. Wow, I never thought I would be lucky enough to be visiting this part of the world let alone with such a great bunch of people. Shanghai is not at all what I expected; it's more than I would have expected frankly. I had read how it's very cosmopolitan but having experienced it, it's so much more than just a big city. The people are friendly, the food is awesome, the hospitality gracious.  The streets are crazy but learn the rules and its fine - the cars may stop, the buses won't so pay heed when crossing the road.  The food can be had for so cheap and be so plentiful and delicious, i could stay for it alone.  This is one of those places I could live.

I finally decided to set up a presence on MySpace but it's just a shell right now.

As I have had this conversation with several people, I figured I would just write down how I go about backing up my DVD collection.  There are cheaper ways, alternate ways, etc however this is what works well for me after trying a variety of methods.

Programs used

• AnyDVD by Slysoft
• CopyDVD Platinum ver. 5 by InterVideo

AnyDVD runs in the background as a filter which allows CopyDVD to see the disk as unprotected.  Choose the output format of your choice and destination and sit back

Poke around the settings and you will see that you can vary quality of the output, name the file in advance and where the program should store its temporary files.

As I don't intend this to be an in-depth "how-to", I'll stop here.  I'll close by saying the whole legality of copying DVD's you own is less than clear but fair use rights allow you to copy the media however breaking the encryption which prevents you from copying them is not.  So personally, I do it and it's your choice if you decide to copy yours.

Guadalupe's
451 E. Northwest Highway
Grapevine, TX 76051
Phone: 817-329-3970

Mexican, Tex-Mex

My wife and I dine out quite often and we like to try out new places.  The problem is we forget if we have been to a place and what we thought of it so I decided I would start capturing little write ups and this is the first.

We went Saturday the 30 of Dec for dinner about 6:30pm.  It sits in a strip mall next to a Tuesday morning and has fenced in a few of the parking spaces in front to create some outdoor seating. Inside has a warm atmosphere, mildly Mexican but not over the top.  Our waitress was very nice and attentive keeping our iced tea filled without bugging us.  Carline ordered beef fajita flautas with refried beans and rice.  I has the Mexico combination plate which consisted of a ground beef taco, a chicken enchilada in choice of sauce (I had mine Red which she called Ranchero) and two beef tamales, a cup of fideo and refried beans.  Also ordered queso which came in yellow or white.  The waitress recommended the white and we went with that.  they also offer a complimentary soup bar that had three choices and assorted sides to punch them up such as onion, pico, etc.

The queso and the salsa were both good and full of flavor.  the salsa was heavy on the garlic; just the way we like it.

I tried the Ancho Chile Tortilla soup.  It was lukewarm and thick.  The flavor was good with the ancho chile giving it a bitter taste.  i added onions and crumpled in some of the tortilla chips since there were none at the soup bar.  I would have enjoyed it more if it had been hot but it wasn't anything to get excited about.

Carline liked her flautas which came with dollops of sour cream and guacamole.  the meat was tender and had a nice flavor.  She didn't comment on the temperature of her food so i assume it was fine for her.  The beans and rice were acceptable with enough flavor to keep them from being bland.

My beef taco was okay flavor wise but pretty greasy.  I imagined a chafing dish in the back filled with ground meat simmering away in it's juices.  the enchilada was good, plenty of flavor and the tortilla was firm, not soggy.  the tamales might have been tasty but i couldn't tell as they were covered in a meat sauce that reminded me of something you might find on spaghetti.  the fideo was made with spaghetti rather than angel hair and was over done.  None of my food was hot and really was just barely acceptably warm.

total bill was $27 before tip.

Summary - I'd go back for lunch as i would expect it to be fast and cheap but otherwise, i have been to much better places in the same price range.

I forgot to mention something about my flight from DFW to LAX.  I went the restroom enroute and when I lifted the lid, there was a sticker on the inside letting me know that Brad Meyer was Outstanding Employee for 2006 for American Airlines in the MD-80 category.  Congrats Brad.

After checking in….

Having paid for my tickets to the Harbor Bridge Climb, I meet up with a co-worker in the lobby to go down to the harbor.  I should mention the guy I am with has a severe limp due to an accident several months back so the pace was quite slow.  But never leave a man behind so off we go and I have to remind myself to slow down throughout the morning.  Get down to water and take the obligatory pics with the Sydney Opera House in the background.  Awesome building; truly impressive design and engineering. The weather is great; clear, sunny with a cool breeze off the harbor.  We cruise up into The Rocks and buy caps to make it even more obvious that we are tourists with our white socks and white tennis shoes screaming Americans. At this point it's around time to grab lunch (it took a couple of hours to do the above, wasn't kidding about the severe limp)  and off of a main street we find a sushi place where we enjoyed some a nice food while soaking in the sun.  My buddy enjoys a couple of beers but I abstained for reasons to share later.  We head towards the bridge so I can meet up with the others and part company.

Bridge Climb

Very cool experience and I have to tell you these folks have it down to a science.  First, they advise you to what degree of undress you should climb the bridge.  Yeah, I was thinking the same.  So how it works is they give you a jump suit and as it was a warm day, they advise we all strip to our skivvies (pants for the English out there) and I was glad I took their advice. Then you have to walk through a metal detector because they don’t allow you to take anything out on the bridge with you which irked me because I was looking forward to taking pictures.  I got over it and it made sense – would really slow up the flow with everyone taking snaps and not to mention someone dropping their little shooter on to the hood of a car whizzing along underneath us at 60mph (yes I know they are metric there but you can do the conversion).  And we take a breathalyzer test.  Yep, they are way strict on the limit; seriously, you can drive a car with more alcohol in your system than they allow you climb the bridge.  We are issued caps if we want them, cords for our sunglasses, handkerchiefs, and harness belts.  Everything is tied to you so nothing can escape.  We do a little practice, run, get briefed on the rules, issued radios and off we go.  The radio were bone transducing or something – you didn’t wear the headsets over your ears but rather on your….well heck I can’t remember more specifically than on your head…anyway the cool thing was they transmitted the sounds through your jaw bones to your ears.  There is a steel rope the runs the length of the climb to which you are locked via a very clever device – no idea what’s it called and don’t care beyond it works very well.  It slides along the rope with no intervention from you needed (it tows along behind you) other than the occasional bend when you need to line it up with brackets welded to the line to keep it taut.  We were told it was designed for yachts to allow people to move about the ship securely.  The guide stops along the way periodically to point out which rich people live where, historical stuff and to take your pics.  The pace is really easy and the whole thing takes about 3hours.  My buddy and I figure they are making $30k a day at least cranking the tours out.  They run like clockwork and they aren’t cheap.  You get a group photo as part of the deal and you take three individual photos along the way.  If you were wondering, it takes about 4seconds to hit the water if you were to jump from the top of the bridge.  Afterwards you get your group photo and the option to pay outrageous prices for your individual pictures or other bridge climb memorabilia.

General comments about Sydney

Neat city, nice people, laid back attitude, good food, reasonable prices, and great variety of things to do and see.

 What else

I went to a wildlife park and fed kangaroos, petted a wombat and kola.  Cute creatures all but I would not want to be on the receiving end of an “animals gone mad” event with one of them.  They all had claws and teeth that would mess a person up in very permanent ways.  They also had numerous other animals but none you could get up close and personal with.  The wombat was interesting because they had very strict rules of engagement.  Do not walk in front of the wombat, do not pet the wombat in front of its harness, only behind, do not speak to the wombat directly unless addressed by the wombat first, etc.  All the pics of people with the wombat show them leaning away from it as they pet it while the kola and kangaroo they are all snugly so you know I’m not lying to you folks.

I was standing at a window in the office one morning and saw a tree across the parking lot filled with white cockatoo’s – I thought that was really cool.

One night we had a harbor dinner cruise.  As I stood at the front of the boat sipping my champagne looking out over the water, I rhetorically asked a fellow meeting attendee “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight”. I smiled; she looked horrified briefly and really didn’t know what to say.  And I thought to myself again, “I get paid for this!”  Now for those out there thinking “what a jerk” let me add a bit in my defense.  When Carline and I were first married, we were both unemployed so we didn’t have many extravagant evenings but when we could splurge a bit we would always say at some point, “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight” since ironically, you couldn’t get more broke than us at the time.  Well I just wished she could have been there with me that night ‘cause we would have laughed ourselves silly.

The Weekend

I spent the following weekend shopping and checking out the beaches.  Saturday I bought loads of stuff at the market in The Rocks and riding the ferry out to Manley Beach.  I would want to live there I think.  It struck me as unpretentious and genuine plus the beach was really nice.  Headed back to Sydney to meet up with local friends for wine, Aussie burgers and getting royally pissed at their local pub while shooting pool; a downright delightful evening.  If you care to know, an Aussie burger is made with a fried egg (runny or hard as you prefer, I had mine hard), slice pickled beet root and a slice of Swiss (I think it was Swiss, it was white for sure) on a buttered bun.  I had a touch of barbeque sauce as well (Aussies really like to barbeque and you see grills all over but I didn't ask if they actually call them barbi's).  Awesome burger!

Sunday I caught the ferry to Rose Bay and proceeded to walk along the beaches or surface streets till I made it to the lighthouse on Hornsby Point.  That was a lot of walking my friends and I did a fair amount of hiking over rocks and such when there wasn’t beach.  And this was in my Gators which is more a testament to them that I still had feet at the end of the day.  While was I was out, my wife called to see how I was doing.  I told her I was out on the beach checking out the seashells.  She said "oh really?" and I realised to late my poor choice of words.  During a prior business trip (one she and other spouses accompanied) we had our meetings at a hotel on the beach in Marbella, Spain.  During breaks we would go out to the walkway that over looked the beach and watch the ocean and people.  Well the spouses good naturedly teased us that we were going down to check out all the topless ladies and I said no, we had a keen interest in "sea shells" and this was the best place to see them. Once what I said had registered with me, I explained that I really was looking at seashells and was trying to recreate the shape of the Sydney Opera House with shells so I could take a picture with the shells in the fore ground and opera house in the background.  Picture didn't come out well but I wasn't using precision equipment after all.  Really, all the pics I took were with my Sony Ericsson K800i - not bad really.  My wife relayed this to my daughter in the background and laughingly said "who does that kind of stuff".  I'm an artist at heart, what can I say.

If you do check out the pics, those are shark proof nets you are seeing. Really have to be committed to get on surf board down there if you ask me.

After the lighthouse I caught the bus to Bondi beach.  On the bus a drunk Irish girl commented on my interesting sun burn which caused her to giggle (I know she was Irish because her equally drunk and Irish companion was commenting loudly that she was willing to bet there were some other paddy’s on the bus).  I spent the day walking with my button down shirt unbuttoned and though I used sunscreen, I still managed to burn a “V” streak down the center of my chest to my stomach.

 Bondi Beach

I strolled along the boardwalk (cement walk really) watching the waves and admiring the fit young folks glistening in the sun.  This is a crowded beach to see and be seen vs. the others I visited which were more like neighborhood family beaches.  Except Watson’s bay which seemed to be the rich kids hang out with music booming from the multitude of boats of all sizes bobbing just off the beach.  This is also a beach where you can surf and load were out there but the waves weren’t really coming in – it’s where I would like to learn as they didn’t seem immediately life ending in size.  I bought a bunch of t-shirts for friends and family and myself a beach towel.  I had decided was going to layout for awhile and just chill reading and people watching (you can think what you want but I was PEOPLE watching okay).  My Zune was still playing strong so I just laid back and enjoyed some Tom Clancy and tunes for about 90mins. 

Wrap Up

I caught a bus back to town and hopped off at Darling Harbor.  I found the Wagamama I had spotted earlier in the week and enjoyed a great meal reading and looking out on the harbor watching the sun set.  I walked back to my hotel, had a hot bath and thought about how I could convince my family to move here and if I could talk my boss into letting me do my job from down under.

You can check out my pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/benleal/sets/72157594450673474/

Quote

Fountains of Wayne: Stacy's Mom
Why didn't i have a friend with a mom like this.


Courtesy of IFILM

Chirac bolts summit in language dispute - Europe - MSNBC.com

This is intolerance and prejudice wrapped in French nationalism.  Just because a language is being spoken doesn't mean it's culture is being encouraged or discouraged. For a leader of a country with such a poor recent history of cultural conflict this display of intolerance only shows he hasn't learned intolerance of other cultures is not an acceptable tool.  Frankly it screams insecurity.

I don’t usually propagate these types of "beware" messages but since I actually received the mail in question (versus just being told about it) I felt I would give everyone a heads up.

Firstly all of my friends you are practicing safe email right?

1.    If you don’t know who the mail is from, delete it.

2.    If you think you should open the file or it comes from someone you know, then email the person and ask them if they meant to send you the file.

3.    Don’t open attachments without saving them to your pc and scanning them with anti-virus

You are using anti-virus right?

You are ensuring it’s up to date by leaving your machine on long enough to download updates right?

The below message came to my work email address (we recently loosened up filters but it landed in my junk mail) with an attachment of a zip file.  Opening the attachment triggers the virus at which point you’ll be hoping you have a current backup.

Also take a look at the mail –

well written but impersonal; it’s not to you, just a Hello – clue number one

tried to reach me but must be at work – hmm, this came to me at work so where have you been trying to reach me.  – clue 2

Oh, how important I must be to have my pic published in such a magazine – hmm, wouldn’t I have heard of this before? – clue 3

Legit website but no contact phone number – clue 4

So beware.

Hello,

We have been trying to get through to you on the phone today but you must be out at work, your photograph was forwarded to us as part of an article we are publishing for our February edition of Total Business Monthly. Can you check over the format and get back to us with your approval or any changes? If the picture is not to your liking then please send a preferred one. We've attached the photo with the article here.

Kind regards,

Jamie Andrews

Editor

www.TotalBusiness.com

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The Professional Development Institute

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I appreciate a good joke and when one makes me laugh out loud, I feel i should share it.