From The Phone Years End

What started out as a just a whim turned out to be rather fun. When I posted the first of the “From The Phone” pictures I had no plans for making it a series that would last all year long. The first phone photo from the lake was posted on 01/30/2009 and the last one was posted 11/28/2009 which if I added correctly that makes ten months. During that amount of time I managed to post eight photos from the same spot at the lake. I really planned on getting one more before years end but something called snow, and lots of it, put the brakes on that plan. One thing I’m pretty sure about is it would’ve have looked pretty much like the first photo.

With that, “From the Phone all at once” post in the same time line. Pretty cool to watch it all change as the year went along.

Next year I’ll look for a new spot and start all over again. I will also keep posting other From the Phone pictures as they happen while out riding. Here is hoping we all get to roll up the miles in the new year. And with that…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

fasthair

Cool Tech

Note: I’ve wrote this and not sure I like it much. I’m not sure it has much value in it but I’m posting it anyway. Sorry but this one just might suck on so many levels.

Here are a few things I’ve been playing with or wanting. I’m a Windows Media Center nut. I love it and think it is one of the best things about Windows 7. If you are worried about Microsoft's latest operating system, don’t be, it kicks ass. If you are even thinking about upgrading to it just do it. If you use Vista now you will love it. You old XP users might be harder to convince that it is better because of the learning curve. Trust me it is easy to use and learn where MS moved everything to. I’ve had two friends who used XP that I got to try 7 and they just dig it. I’ve said it many times that once I loaded the beta version back in January the was no way I was going back to XP. 7 runs so much faster on the same system that was once running XP and is rock solid stable. If you are running Vista your machine can run Windows 7 without a problem. An upgrade for a XP machine may or may not be possible. If you have any concerns if your system can run Windows 7 download and run the Upgrade Advisor for free from MS.

Of course you can say screw upgrading and just buy a new system with Windows 7 already installed. There are many good sub-500$ system out there to choose from. My advice, for what it is worth, is to buy a system with at least a dual core 64bit processor (CPU), 2gigs of RAM with 4gig being all you really need unless you do a lot of video editing. At this time I have five browser tabs open, watching two live HDTV football games, email and I don’t know at least four other programs open and I am using just under 3gigs of the 8gigs of the RAM I have installed on this system. If your new systems uses on board video, like most cheap systems do, then it will share the system RAM so you can see why more is better. Of course it goes without saying that you want to make sure the new system is running Windows 7 64bit. Hey it’s the latest greatest and the future so no need to be buying yesterdays tech if you can avoid it.

Now you know what you need or want lets take a look at what I happen to think is one of the coolest little PCs I’ve seen in a long time. It is perfect for a Media Center PC being nice and small so it fits easily in your entertainment system cabinet. Plus it has all of the system requirements I just listed above. This little Acer fits the bill for a Media Center PC, sometimes labeled as a HTPC, short for Home Theater PC. Not only will this tiny thing do Media Center prefect it makes a great “do most anything you do day in and day out computer.” This would make a great computer for anyone who wants a small quite low power consumption PC like Grandma want. Add in the fact it has the video power to drive large HDTV you can plug it in directly to your HD wide screen TV via HDMI and has digital audio out so you can plug it into your surround sound system and you’ve got, in my opinion, the prefect little HTPC. No it doesn’t have all the horse power that a big quad core PC does but it doesn’t have the high price tag of one either. This is on my very short list for Christmas if anyone feels generous.

OK so the Acers cute, but what are you going to do with it and why would you want it plugged into your TV? Why to record TV of course. In other words you just got rid of that TiVo DVR that you pay a monthly fee to use. Just add a TV tuner to the Acer either using a USB tuner like the one I use. Or better yet buy a digital network TV tuner. (damn it… it’s 30 bucks cheaper then when I bought it two weeks ago… bastards) Just as the name implies this device is plugged in your network router. This model has two tuners so I can watch and or record two shows at the same time. The bonus is any Media Center PC on your network can see and use it. Since you already have a wireless network in your house with this set up you don’t need to run a cable to a USB tuner. The Acer has wireless N (fastest wireless at this time) built in so you can connect wirelessly to this tuner. I’ve even been able to stream TV wirelessly to my netbook with this setup. With my TV as one of the four monitors and my 1080P LCD monitors plus my sound system plugged into my hotrod PC I have better picture and sound quality then just using the analog signal from my cable company and the puny speakers in my TV.

Now for some motorcycle tech. I don’t know about everyone else but I like to take my laptop with me on road trips so I can post about my trip as it unfolds. My friends and family have enjoyed this in the past but my laptops were getting old and even being smallish they was still kind of pain to haul around. Enter the netbook. To be honest I thought these things were a joke and a waste of money. Then while at a friends I picked his up and started playing with it. I was hooked and could see instantly how perfect they are for a motorcycle. The little Samsung N130 I bought fit perfectly in my inside my coat pocket and weighs all of about two and half pounds. It has all of the things I wanted in a netbook. Great battery life at over fives hours so far, wireless N and Windows 7 but sadly it is only 32bit. The little Atom CPU inside most all netbooks is just a single core and only 32bit.

Things to look for in a netbook, again in my opinion, are Windows 7 (watch this close, ALOT of them still have XP Home on them for the same money!) a six cell battery and wireless N. After that your only other choices other then color for the most part is the amount of RAM and hard drive size. Most have 1gig of RAM installed upgradable to 2gig. For hard drive size most have 160gig drives and some have 250gig drives. After that for the most part they all use and have the same stuff inside, of course there are exceptions. A buddy of mine was so impressed with this little netbook that he went out and bought one for his wife and she just loves it.

If you are looking for or at a new system shot me an email with a link to it, what you want it to be able to do and I would be happy to give it a look. If you have any questions about anything I’ve posted here or how else I use Media Center post a comment and I’d be happy to see if I can’t answer it for you.

fasthair

From The Phone No Snow… Yet

 

Whiskeys clean... gas... sunshine,.. all check... time for a lap or two!!!

Update:

Yes I’m still alive. I must apologize for my lack of participation of every ones comments and blogs.

The ride yesterday couldn’t have been a nicer day for what time of year it is. The sun was bright and warm plus there was no wind. I wasn’t the only one enjoying what little time we have left before the deep freeze hits and we are holed up in the house just itching to get out and play. I seen a lot of bikes out on the back roads and it felt good to see them. I even seen a couple out together, him on a small dual sport and her on a even smaller pink scooter.

Speaking of scooters. Had a lady pull up next to me on my way home from work in the rain on a scooter earlier this week. I’m betting some nice rain gear is on her holiday wish list. This had to be a sight to see. Picture it. Some big bad Harley biker dude in full gear with a little scooter sitting at the stop light next to him with a little lady on it soaked to the bone with rain. She did manage a smile when I flipped her a thumbs up but I can’t think she was all that happy. She gets major bonus point for gutting it out though.

There were a few boats on the lakes with people trying to catch fish and just enjoying a nice holiday weekend. The crops are all in and some of the fields have already been turned ready for planting next years crop. In fact I only seen one field of corn left to pick in all of the hundred miles I rode yesterday. So we no longer have just corn corn corn to even look at.

I’ve actually wrote a couple of posts just haven’t sent them off to the blog. I’ve got a tech blog coming up later this week. It will have a couple of cool gadgets the tech lover in you might like for Christmas. Other then that I hope everyone has enjoyable safe and loving Thanksgivings weekend.

fasthair 

Fall-From the Phone

The seasons are changing. Not sure how many more times I get to take this shot. I think bikini season is gone too :-(

Update: This picture showed the fall colors better then I thought it would. Since February I’ve posted seven of these shots from Big Creek Lake. I hope I can get at least one more before the snow flies and the lake is once again covered in ice and snow.

fasthair 

Race Weekend – Day 1 Antique Racers

Not having been able to take a vacation of any kind for a couple of years now I decided that since this one job didn’t show up for the work that was planned that I was going to make a long four day weekend out of the Labor day weekend. For years I’ve heard of the Davenport Labor day weekend antique swap meet and races. Hell I even tried to go last but as some of you might remember I made a wrong turn and didn’t make it. Read that as I was an idiot and didn’t pay attention to where I was going.

Not this year though. I not only made it to this event and had just a bang up time at it. The weather was perfect for the whole event to boot. So nice in fact that I just rolled the sleeping bag out next to Whiskey for the night with no need for the tent. The swap meet was large with some real gems hidden here and there with some real junk thrown in for good measure. There was even an real nice" “ride in” bike show in one of the buildings but I’m sure most if not all made it there in a trailer. Which is in no way a slam on them because some of these restored bikes were very nice in deed and the ones in original condition still showed all of their time worn marks of pride. All in all a bunch of great looking bikes from a time most of us have never seen.

My only issue was my damn digital camera. Oh I was prepared for taking pictures. I had fresh set of charged batteries, a spare set of charged batteries and even a freshly formatted memory card. So what went wrong? The dang memory card took a dump and the camera was unable to format the card no matter what I tried. Heaven only knows why but it worked at home before I hit the road. Got to love the digital adventures… not. So for that reason all of the photos are once again from the phone that despite not having a flash took some pretty good photos in the night time lighting for being just a phone cam. 

Back to the races though. For me the real fun was watching the antique motorcycle dirt track races. What a hoot to watch these men, and one lady, race these old machines around this half mile dirt track. Forget about the riders taking it easy on these bikes, some being well over fifty years old and older. They drove them just as hard as I’m sure they once raced back all those years ago. The real highlight for me and I’m sure others was the old board track racers. Most of these bike were a hundred years old or older. These bad boys of yester year were still very fast. About ten bikes were in this class and to watch them roll off the banking of the short inner track for the rolling start was very cool in deed. Since these real life board track racers have no clutch, or brakes for that matter, it require that they make flying starts. Watching these riders handle these bikes with nothing more then springs on the seats for suspension and handle bars hung down low with skinny little tires was quite the thrill. As they came to the green flag for the rolling start it was like being transformed back to the time these were a main stay of any county fair grounds of the times. Hearing the sound of these engines with their short 10” long pipes, watching the riders three and four wide elbow to elbow joust for the front spot as they head for the first corner to disappear from sight heading for the back straight. Then as they come out of turn four with the rider all but laying on the gas tank to squeeze ever last bit of speed of their machines they fly by again dropping their left foot to the ground shooting off sparks from the steel shoes as the flames belch out of the pipes when the riders close the throttles for the corner. The crowd in the full grandstand roar with approval with each lap. After a few laps one of the old engine expires in grand fashion in the middle of the front straight as it blows the cylinder completely off the engine causing the real wheel to lock up as the rider slides it skillfully to the side of the track. Just then the old blue Harley with the white tires who tried but failed to make the start of the races comes cruising off the banking of the short track to join the race. Again the crowd roars it’s approval as the rider heads off in to turn one. I’m sure for most of these racers it’s not so much about winning as it is just to be there racing. To enjoy a thrill that can’t be had in any other way or time. Maybe getting to keep the checkered flag and make the victory lap with it held high to cheering crowd proved that they were the best this evening was what is all about for some. But as I talked to the rider who hauled all the way from Los Angeles put it best when he said “damn it that was so much fun!” I’ve got to bet that is what it is all about, the fun. Just as when I helped Frog race his nitro Harley it was all about the fun, winning was just a plus. And this was fun for all, riders and spectators a like. The cheap fifteen dollar admission fee was worth every penny. Even the crappy race steaks (hot dogs)  couldn’t kill the great time I had at these old timer races.

The rest of the weekends races where fun but nothing compared to the fun and races I had this evening. Enjoy the slide show, and Dave there is even a 1937 Crocker in there for you. Yes there was one at the bike show and I thought of you instantly. Got to admit it was the first time I’ve even seen one, pretty cool. Sorry the photo isn’t any better for you.

 

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I’ve been lacking at getting to everyone's blog lately so I’ll work on making thee rounds and catch up with what all of you have been doing.

fasthair

Day 3 of the racing weekend. NHRA Nitro Drag Racing @ the Big Go @ Indy! Nirto fumes tire smokin' ground poundin' ear splittin' drag racing! Yah baby!

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Race day 2 of the weekend. AMA Pro dirt track racing this time. Tune in tomorrow and see what kind of racing I'm enjoying. From the phon.

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Day 1 of a rate weekend! Vintage half mile dirt track racing. What racing will watch tomorrow? Stay tuned to find out. From the phone.

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Good Bye Ol’ Friend

In the past couple of weeks I’ve watched as two of my customers with high miles and years of service work leave the shop for the last time. While one of them really kind of leaves a hole in my heart it was time and I actually made the call on both of them.

I’m going to start with the one that I am probably most proud of, Mrs. Clay’s 1984 300SD Turbo Diesel. I’m not really sure when I started to work on her car but I know I have been working on it for over twenty years. Phil and I opened PT Service in February of 1987 and it wasn’t too much longer after that this very nice (dare I say old?) lady showed up wanting to get some work done to her car.

Over the years Mrs. Clay became one of my most loyal and valued customers. There were times when she would winch at the cost of a repair but always fixed the car because she knew it was worth the investment from a reliability point of view. She loved this car, it was one of the last things her late husband bought her before he passed away. The one owner 300SD had around 75,000 miles at the time they bought it and over the years she drove this car everywhere and I mean everywhere. Mrs. Clay was never one to fly somewhere when she could drive. There was a time when she had so many speeding tickets she had to take driving school to keep her drivers license.

I really never knew when she would call or where she was at when she did call. As she often does sometimes she just shows up to either ask me questions or to show me something she deemed important. On two of those occasions she stopped by just to show me the odometer on the 300SD. The first land mark mileage she stopped in front of my shop with exactly 400,000 miles showing on the odometer. Again some years later she stopped in to show me 500,000 miles proudly displayed on the odometer.

 

 

But likHowever like all cars they really don’t last forever in these parts of the country. Our winters and all the salt they use on the roads slowly eats away at the metal. Even though Mrs. Clay had fixed all of the rust as it popped up and even fixed it from running over Bambi, twice, other things are not as easily fixed. This was the occasion the day she showed and as soon as I seen the car I knew things were bad.

This day was already a bad day for me. First thing that morning a gentleman walked in to my shop “pissed because my car don’t run” as he put it to me. You see I had just spend the last three months putting the motor in his car back together after some other “shop” had “fixed” it. This car had 200,000 miles when it drove in that day wanting me to check the cam timing on it because he didn’t think it ran like it should after this other placed worked on it. I’m not going to go into that long story now but let’s just say I spend sixty five hundred dollars on this car and had it in prefect shape for him and the drive back home to his place in Washington state. When he walked into my shop and said those words my first thought was now what the hell is wrong with this thing. I was never so glad to see a pair of tail lights in my life as I was when this 400E left. It wasn’t until he reached into his pocket and pulled out the packet of photos of the car that my heart really sunk. Yes he walked away from this mess of twisted metal.

Now I have Mrs. Clay in the drive and I knew before I even looked in the left front wheel well I knew what I was going to find. The rust had chewed away at the front suspension and broke front anti-roll bar. While that may not have been that big of a deal on other cars this was a major deal on this Mercedes. Without going into major how-to’s and why-for’s I’ll just say this part helps locate the front wheel and is a major job to replace. Now completely deflated at the end of a pretty crummy day I had to stop and take stock in what was going to happen. I got Mrs. Clay into a rental for the weekend so I could stop and think about what the next step was. But I knew in my heart that the 704,000 mile 300SD wasn’t going to get repaired this time. I was broken hearted, Mrs. Clay was broken hearted, but I knew it was time. Time to find her a much newer car for which she could start her high mile adventures again. It took some time but I did find her a very nice one owner 2001 E320 (gas this time) in Los Angeles, California. When the seller asked me about getting it shipped back for her I told him there is no way she would even think of not driving this car back. So a few days later after, as she put it, “a very nice train ride” to the west coast she pulled up to the shop to show me her new car.

While we were both sad that the ol’ 300SD was no longer on the road she was delighted with her new car. While I had lost the shop high miler to rust it’s heart will still live on. You see Mrs. Clay sold the 300SD to a nice older gentleman form Sioux Fall South Dakota. He builds custom hot rods for a living and has a 1949 Ford pickup that he is going to put the motor and drive train in. How cool is that? A Mercedes five cylinder turbo diesel in a old Ford pickup.

This is the last time I will see this great ol’ car in this form. It has taught many, many thing over the years. In a small way I will miss seeing it as it rattles up to the door and looking at the odometer to see how many more miles it has rolled up. But a small part of me finds comfort in knowing that it’s heart is still going to be giving life to something else even older. Maybe on of these days I’ll hear the familiar rattle that only a Mercedes OM617 five cylinder turbo diesel has and look up and see this noise coming from a 1949 Ford pickup. One can hope and dream can he?

fasthair

 

 

Sunset Ride-From the Phone

Sunset in Iowa looks and feels great! A few more bugs in my teeth and all be right with the world :-)

Update: Thought I would post a picture at a different time of day at the lake. After grilling some chicken grillers with corn on the cob the little Road King and Whiskey set out for some ice cream and to catch the sunset. After spending Friday night and Saturday afternoon at the race track with too many people and lots of loud fast race cars this was a the perfect way to end the weekend.

fasthair

Righteous

Ran across this the other day and just had to pass it along. I don’t know who made this, but I like it… a lot!!!

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

fasthair

Old Tractors That Helped Built A Nation

While out riding yesterday enjoying the just spectacular weather we are having here in Iowa I ran across and antique tractor show and swap meet. Since I’m mechanically minded I just had to stop in and investigate. Every year at the Iowa State Fair I go up the hill and watch the steam engines chug and pop along being just fascinated that these hundred year old machines still run and do work. I was about to be treated to some really cool vintage iron work horses on this day. The first thing I seen after paying my fives backs was this massive machine working in the sawmill. Yes just like you use to seen while watching The Walton’s on Sunday evening there was a complete working sawmill. This 1903 model was just chugging away when I walked up to talk to the operator. Just as I’m asking the gentleman what year the ol’ girl was she reminded me that these are very dangerous machines. Just as the words left my mouth I heard this very loud CRACK like a buggy whip right next to my head as I was standing right next to the rear wheel. The big drive belt had started to come apart and was whipping around and every time it went over the drive pulley it CRACKED as it whipped the wheel. I few minutes and a sharp knife later it was back to work for the ol’ gal. When I told the operator what I did for a living he asked me how many hundred year old Mercedes are around. Laughing I told he “hell sometimes they don’t last ten years, let alone a hundred.” While they were loading a new log to saw up he shoved more wood in the boiler to stoke the fire. When I laughingly made the comment about burning up all of his production he just smiled and responded “seems counter productive doesn’t it?” This gal made thirteen horses on the draw bar and about fifty on the pulley. Of course any time you go to an event like this you are rewarded with great home cooked food. For the grand total of six bucks I enjoyed a monster wet maid rite hamburger and ice cold tea. Then later after exploring more of the grounds they held an old fashion corn on the cobble feed for free.

Have you ever wondered what is going on inside that mass of metal between you legs? Well wonder no more. Here is a little video showing you just how things move inside your trusty steed.

Tractors of every size and color were represented. While none could be considered fast and using single or double bottom plows would take long hard days to turn the dirt that today's machines can turn in just hours they none the less got the job done and helped feed the world. But I got to think using this David Bardley would not only take a long time but you would have a sore butt at the end of the day too!    There was a couple of big sheds with some big stationary diesel engines used for generating electricity back in the day. These two stroke three and four cylinder engines were impressive. But it was when I strolled into the second shed my jaw hit the ground. Just look at the size of this beast. This generator was used from the 1930s until the 1950s to power the Iowa State Prison in Fort Madison Iowa. It was coal fired at the time making 480 volts AC at 60hz, with a maximum speed of 120 RPM and weighs a mind boggling 150 tons! That is 300,000 back breaking pounds. The state tried for years to just give it away because it is only one of two known to have every been built in Burlington Iowa with the sister machine having been shipped to China back in the 1930s. Because of it’s size as you can imagine there weren’t many people lined up to haul her away. The engine had set so long that the engine was stuck so it would need rebuilt too. It took a team of ten old fellers to disassemble it and haul it half way across the state making eleven trips and big cranes to get her to her new home in Waukee Iowa. It took the team of ten men seven years working in their spare time to restore her back to all of her glory she once had. When the engine fired to life for the first time in fifty years back in 2001 one of the men exclaimed “the beast has awaken!” I was so bummed I didn’t get to see her run that day but she had in fact ran all day long to the delight I’m sure of anyone who happen to see this impressive machine chugging away. To say I was in awe looking and reading about this beautiful machine is a huge understatement. I stared at her for thirty minutes and just marveled at what it must of took not just to manufacture her but also the amount of work to deliver and assemble her back in the 1930s. Can you imagine shipping the other one half way around the world back then?

You can bet I will be back at this great event next year to see this great show again. This is by an far the best eleven bucks I’ve spent in a very long time. This has ignited my desire to go to The Old Threshers Reunion in a few months. I went there as a kid of about 14 so I think it’s time to go see this event again. It is one of the largest collection of steam engines and antique tractors in the nation too boot. Fun stuff!

fasthair

Bar Fly

Was having dinner last night at one of my favorite local joints and talking to my favorite bartender when a local rag called City View got brought up. When I mentioned I’ve made the pages of it twice he wanted to know what for and to read the articles if I still had them. Well I had one of them so I scanned it so I could send to him.  Once was in their section called “Up and Coming” where the interviewed me about my business. That was cool and I got some good ink from it.

The next time I made the pages was probably the high water mark in my life. While out celebrating a buddies birthday the editor of this paper were in attendance when I spouted off “where do you get all of these lame ass people for the Bar Fly column?” To which she responded with “so you think you can do better?” “Of course I can” I snapped back. Needless to say I had enough shasts’ in me to make it fun. 

Needless to say this brought me fame and fortune for weeks to come.

So my blogging pals, make a post using the questions list above (click to enlarge) and tell us about your best Bar Fly moments. Then after a couple weeks and everyone got their stories posted I’m make a post with links to the stories so everyone can read them. I’ll also have a poll in that post so everyone can vote on which is the best. I’ll come up with really cheap ass price for the winner that you vote as the best Bar Fly.

Happy 4th Of July

I just want to wish everyone a happy Independence Day. I hope everyone has fun safe weekend and gets plenty of miles and gets to enjoy plenty of fireworks. As for me I have plenty on my plate to enjoy this weekend. I have friend that has the camper parked, the awning out and the cooler full of cold ones and the boat in the water. Then I have another friend throwing a party that promises to be big enough and wild enough that someone could get arrested. Hey we all know it’s not a real party until the cops show up and at least threaten to haul someone off. And since real fireworks are illegal here in Iowa and my buddy has spent 3K (!) on said fireworks we stand a very good chance of having at least a visit from said law enforcement. So leave your cell phones on in case I need bail money!

Lastly, thanks for yet another silly hat Lori. You make me laugh :)

fasthair

From the phone. OK i swear there is a boat with bikinies on it there some where!

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More Anti-Virus - Update

As of today Microsoft has made available a Beta edition of security software that will be free for use. From what I've read so far it has a very light foot print on the system and ranks high in how well it works at prevention. The only catch to download this Beta software is you need a Windows Live ID of some sort. That can be a Hot Mail account or an MSN account and the like. Also be warned that MS is only making a limited number of downloads available of 75,000 so they may go quick. But they may also pull that limit or simply stated that to get people to jump on the Beta bandwagon so it can get tested. Anyway if you are not scared of Beta software then give it a try and see how it works for you. This software works in XP/Vista/Windows 7 32-bit and Vista/Windows 7 64-bit.

Just for test reasons I do plan to install it and see how well it works. I don’t see me changing my habits and the way I do things as far as anti-virus protection goes. But I think it is great the Microsoft is making available free software to those who do need or want it and use it.

Microsoft Security Essentials download link.

Just remember this is Beta so it may break your PC. But my experience with Beta software from Microsoft is it works pretty well and the risk of a broken PC is very low. And as I always say if you are not comfortable doing any of these things I post then by all means don’t! I just wanted to get this posted before the downloads are all gone. If you can’t get the download let me know via email, link in profile.

Update: Sorry the download is dead already, which is too bad. But I’m sure if you wanted it you could find a friend who has copies of the installs. Maybe if you emailed them they could tell you where to find the installs now.

As promised I did install this Beta software and was rather surprised at a few things. First it does in fact have a very light foot print on system resources. I don’t notice any longer boot times or any lagging of my machine at all. The first thing MSE wanted to do after install was update itself and run a quick scan, which is normal. During the quick scan it even scanned my network shares which was all part of the default settings of the install. So to find that it found my network shares and made it part of the scan by default was impressive.

What happen next I wasn’t quite ready for. Now I’ve said I haven’t had a virus in years and this is technically true. But this software found a ticking time bomb in a file that I have had since 06/08/06 but had never opened. In a WMA file (a music file) that a good friend had gave me back then had DRM (digital rights management) embedded in it, which isn’t bad (more or less) in of itself. But in order to play this file, if I would have opened it, the first thing it would have done was go on-line to download “the rights” to play this file. I bet you can guess what was going to happen next. Yup, the site that the embedded link pointed to was a known Trojan site.

If you followed the above link you can see this file was going to try and do just what I talked about in my last post. Basically it was going to try an trick me into installing the Trojan by making me think I needed to download “the rights” to view that file. I might have even done it except for the fact I didn’t expect it to want to download a program just to view a file. In simple terms this software found just a LINK that was embedded in a file that pointed to a known Trojan site. Impressive. But my point is valid and goes to show just how sneaky these virus writer can be.

I know for a FACT that file has been scanned in the past by other anti-virus software and none of them ever found this. I’ve had that file for three friggin’ years waiting to turn my PC into a zombie! Impressive in my book.

fasthair

To Run Or Not To Run?

I had a post awhile back in which I stated I don’t run Antivirus software and don’t get infected. Someone wanted to know how I do this and what steps I take to prevent virus from getting to me. It’s not really all that hard and just takes a little bit of your time to set up your PC so it is more secure and the most important part it takes just COMMON sense. Now before someone asks “how do you know your not infected if you don’t have antivirus software?” It’s simple to anyone who has ever dealt with Malware, your PC does things it never did before and nags you about things it never did before. Trust me you know when you’re infect, your PC is just plain flakey. Have I ever had a virus? Of course. But since I’ve done what follows and gotten smarter about computers I haven’t had a virus in years.

Why don’t I use anti virus software? I don’t like the impact it has on the performance of my PC. I’m a Power user and extract ever last cycle of the CPU to get the maximum performance out of it. The last thing I want is some software hampering the hardware I spent good money on slowing my system down. Plus I see no need to pay for something to protect me from myself. That is not to say all this type of software is bad. Some have less impact then others. It also has it’s place if you have kids who use your PC which is all the more reason to do the following and use anti virus software.

Disclaimer: If you don’t feel comfortable making any of these changes by all means don’t and keep using what is working for you. But if on the other hand you have had to deal with the Pain In The Ass virus/spyware then give these sound principles some thought.

First thing is patch patch patch. Turn on Windows Update and use it. If you don’t set it to install automatic updates at least set it to notify you of updates. This way you can go through the list of what Microsoft wants to install and choose accordingly. For the most part there is no reason to not install these updates. The first Tuesday of every month is Patch Tuesday. Microsoft issues patches every month at this time and sometime more often then that with what is termed “zero day flaws” where a new bug is found and patched quickly if it is a major hole.    

The next and best thing you can do is stop using your everyday Desktop in the Administrator account profile. By default this is the account created the first time you fire up your new computer. I’m not going to get into why Microsoft still thinks this is the way to do it but it needs to be changed. So the first thing you do is create a new user for you, and anyone else that will be using this PC for that matter, and give that account “Limited User” status. This is easily done by going in to Control Panel and adding a New User and following the prompts. Once this is done Log In with your STRONG PASSWORD using that account. There really is no reason to run as the Administrator unless there’s a real reason you need to be in the guts of the system. Unless you are a Power User and, even if your are, you can do everything you need to for the most part using this type of account. If you are a Power User you have no need to read any further because you already know as much or more then me already.

Several things happen when this is done. First is it isolates the “root” (read guts) of the system from the user which causes the system to start asking questions. The bad part about this is you start to see more Nag windows. The good part is you start to see more Nag windows asking for permission to change something. If you’ve done something on purpose to cause these Nag pop ups, like installing software, then you can be pretty confident that the changes you are about to make are ones you asked it to make. On the other hand if out of the blue these Nag window popped up chances are this is something you didn’t ask your PC to do and something else is trying to make the change which has the risk of being bad. Think. Did I ask my PC to do this?

The down side to this is it does take some time to get to where the system stops asking questions and stops bothering you. The up side is you learn more about what you system is trying to do and you can make proper and informed decisions accordingly. You learn when to expect these Nag windows so when they pop up out the blue it should make you raise an eyebrow and take notice. If you’ve had your system running for sometime using the Administrator account it can and will be a major pain for awhile. You will have to “import” and change a lot of your personal settings to get it back to where you were. The up side is all users can now have a system set to the way they like to use it instead the way one user has it set. All users now have there own desktop, favorites, email accounts and so on.

The simple rule here is did you do something that is calling for the change to the system? If you didn’t stop, think, read, decide.

Another common way to get infected is via email which I’m sure we’re all aware of. Here again some simple tips can save you hours of grief. Consider signing up and using a free Web based email service like Hot Mail or Yahoo or similar services. I’ve got a Excite account that I’ve had for years that I use for junk. Anytime I go to some web site that wants me to sign up and create an account that needs to send an “authorization” email to I always give this address. I don’t care how much spam this account gets since to be honest that is what it’s job is. The only time I log in to that account is when I’m looking for that email from that place. This keeps my “real” personal email address from being exposed and or sold to spammers. Can you guess how much spam I get in my real account? Yup zero, zip, zilch, nada. That Excite account on the other hand is full of it daily and I couldn’t be happier. The added bonus to this is it stops infected attachments form auto-executing in my inbox. Can you believe there was an email in this account the other day with the subject line “Open and Install the Attached File.” Believe it or not people are stupid enough to do that. Just say NO to spam. Never click a link, never click “unsubscribe to this email” because all that does is inform that in fact this is a valid email address. Another advantage of using Web based email is you can get your email from any web connect PC.

On the subject of email and attachments. Between this and using file sharing services is the simplest and quickest way to get infected second only to rouge web sites which I will get to shortly. Be leery of any and all of them. If you have someone who likes to send you funny pictures all the time chances are they are safe. There was a time when a JPEG file was one of the last safe files to open without worry, not so anymore. Just because it looks like a friend sent it doesn’t mean they did. If you have any doubt send them an email and ask then if they sent it. If it is a file type they don’t send normally then be on high alert. When I want to send a file to a friend I always send a quick email first to tell them to be looking for XX type of file.

Here is the beauty of running with a limited user account. Say you did just open that email and it was infected. What do you suppose your system is going to do? Yup it’s going to pop up a Nag window. Did you expect it to do this? For the most part you are not going to be looking at changing system files by just opening a file. So if the pop up is asking to open a program on your system to view it chances are good this was expected. But on the other hand it it wants to install something before it will allow you to view the files it’s not a good thing.

While on the subject of sending emails I got to get this pet peeve out here. Want to know the fastest way to get on fasthair’s shit list? Forward me an email with my email address in the “To” line instead of the BCC, Blind Carbon Copy and send it to everyone in your address book that I don’t know. And if you forward me a chain letter asking to find this lost kid or the like this way I’ll get real pissy quick!!! Hey I like a good laugh as the much as the next guy but just send it using BCC and Copy and Paste the funny part in a new email. I refuse to click through 20 forwarded emails just to see a photo of some dumb shit. This is email etiquette 101 and helps protect you and all of your friends email from spam botz. OK rant over, back to our a regular programming.

This type of attack is getting more and more common and even fooling friends that I know know better. The “drive by” attack. You’re cruising the web and all of sudden you get a pop up that says something to the affect of “A virus has been detected on your PC. Click here to clean your system.” For the love of God don’t do it because the only virus on your system is the one they are about to drop on your system. Your system is going to try and save you and pop up a Nag window because of this install trying to get into your system. But since you think this is something you need to do you will click Yes. This gets back to did you really expect this to happen? The only time you want to click Yes on the web is when you expect it to download or install something. Examples of this is you are a trusted site and it wants to install an add on or download a file. By trusted I mean some site like Harley Davidson’s web site or Microsoft and the like. If you are some place you’ve never been before beware. These add ons are mostly Active X type of add on which are a major security headache. Unless you have a specific need to run these add ons don’t.

Lastly I think this goes without saying but stay off the webs Red Light district. Red Light sites include porn, file sharing and warez (hacked software) sites. File sharing and warez sites are full of malware and you’re asking for trouble. If you must view these sites make and use a User Account that has no rights to install anything! Those “click here to install the viewer” are nothing but trouble. Consider these sites like you would AIDS. Nuff said?

So in review:

• Patch your system.
• Run with Limited User account and use Administrator account only when you must.
• Use Web email for all but your most personal and trusted email friends.
• Stay out of the Webs Red Light distinct. If you must go there use a even further restricted User type of accounts and DO run AV software.
• Use common sense. If your system is asking to do something did you do something you expected to see this type warning?

These are five simple easy steps to help protect and secure your system while still getting the performance you paid for out of your system.

fasthair  

From The Phone

Would you looky there Whiskey found a new playmate. The ol' black stallion can still pick up the fillies!

Update: This little Road King showed up at the shop wanting to know if Whiskey wanted to go for a ride. How could he say no to such a pretty face? So I thought for a minute about where to go and came up with this little park. When the river is lower you can ride across that little dam but it doesn’t go much of anywhere. In fact it leads right in to… wait for Ms. IHG… a CORN field! The bonus of going here is I get to ride the Cummings Highway, one of my favorite roads. You might remember that name from another post I did sometime back.

A lot of people were there wetting a line but that was about it. During the hour spent enjoying the sound of the river not a single fish was pulled in. The funny part is just above this little dam I counted no less then ten fish jump out of the water. I had to teach a young dumb kid about driving fast through water when his car stalled after blasting through the water. Water drained out of this car for a half hour before it would start again. I just stood there and told him do this and do that. Hey I was off work with a cold one. No way I was going to let him ruin my peaceful time!

I hope everyone enjoys Posts From The Phone. I just like sharing some of the nice country side we get to ride in here. I do post them right from the spot they are taken at the time they are taken. Have a great weekend and I hope you get to get out for a nice ride yourselves.

fasthair

More Tires

What follows is my response to a post by Dr. Wrench about tire pressure. I wanted to repost it here not because I think I know it all, but because it is very important and to the best of my knowledge accurate. Also, second only to your brakes your tires are the most important thing on your bike for your safety. This is only slightly edited because I’m too lazy to do it all again. So if it seems I’m talking to a third party it is because I was responding to a response in the good Dr’s. post. To understand this it might be worth your time to read the Dr’s. post if you haven’t done so already. With that out of the way…

fasthair said…

I'll add my two cents here. As mentioned weight is also a factor. If you are going to be riding two up with lots of stuff (face it if your riding two up number two SHOULD be a female and they always have to bring lots of stuff) Then max out the pressure. If you read your owners manual (yah I know who does that?) it will even state this.

And Mr. Baron with all due respect you got the logic wrong. As you might know I work on Mercedes-Benz for a living. During service of these fine high performance machines I always check and set tire pressures. Each model has different settings. How do I remember all of these settings? I don't, I look in the gas door. Guess what? I quote, "for driving 100+ mph + 4PSI, for warm tires add + 4PSI."

Here is why your logic is wrong. The extra pressure actually helps the tire hold it's shape and NOT expand as much as if it had lower pressure. Just as someone else said, lower tire pressure will also affect the contact patch of the tire, i.e. the shape. Now before you say "but drag slicks only have about 5 to 6PSI" remember this, these tires are designed (Edit: and sometimes don’t last even the quarter mile because of this) to run at these pressures. Plus have you seen how that tire looks at speed? The back side (in direction of travel) is almost flat against the wheel and it has grown several inches in size. This is all the effect of low tire pressures. There is also this. Lower pressures cause higher tire temperatures too. Why? Friction. This is why properly inflated tires give you better gas mileage, less friction. Less friction equals less heat. A under inflated tire will actually fail sooner (Edit: because of heat… Ford Explore anyone?) then an over inflated tire because of high heat. Which all add up to longer tire life. So in the end, for high speed riding, max it out.

So after saying all of this can you guess where I run my tires? Yup, maxed out, 45 rear 42 front. For all of the reasons above but also because the bike does handle better and it does promote longer tire life.

Last thing for you others who don't check your tires. For the love of God please do so! Not only will it be safer for you but you will save money!

Of course your comments are always welcome.

fasthair

I Missed A Month – Phone Post

From the phone. I know I've been MIA lately but life got in the way. So this is for you Ms. IHG an Ms. Pat. Now off to one of my favorite roads!

Update: I must say I’m thankful to have friends here like you people. Ms. IHG and Ms. Pat deserve a great big thank you for emailing me to make sure I was alright. Sorry I didn’t respond but like I said, life got in the way of me blogging. I figured the best way to say thank you was to make a post.

It does feel good to have the time to do this again. I actually tried to post this photo last weekend but as I neared my spot my phone rang with a friend needing help. So needless to say I never made it to my spot. Add in the fact I got real busy at work and I just didn’t have the time to write a post.

So I’ll be making the rounds to catch up on what everyone’s been doing in the next few days. From what little I’ve read some of you are having a great summer of riding! I’ve got new tires so needless to say I’ve been getting some good miles in too.

I hope my next post has a picture I’ve been wanting to take. With any luck I’ll get that done this week sometime. It may come as quite a shock to some because I know it sure caught me off guard. So until then we’ll see you around soon.

fasthair

Dr. Joe

I would like to tell you about Doctor Joe Hineman. Dr. Joe is 86 year young and just as of full of life as anyone half his age including me. He's a remarkable man.

Dr. Joe is a WWII vet who lost his left leg just below the hip in the battle of the Bugle. During the attack a mortar exploded in the trees above him and he took shrapnel to his leg. While laying in the hospital bed feeling sorry for himself and thinking life is over he kept hearing this other wounded soldier screaming. For three days he listen to this soldier scream in pain and all he could think of is how his life sucked now. But on the fourth day the screaming had stopped and it hit Dr. Joe that "hey I'm still alive." Yes the other soldier had lost his battle for life and died from his injuries.

So Dr. Joe set upon a life that many of us will never aspire to. He got home and went to school and got his Masters in dairy animal husbandry. He studied all he could about the profession and did it for, well to be honest I don't remember how long he told me but it was a long time. He retired but he didn't stop.

It was then that Dr. Joe decided he wanted to be a doctor. So back to school he went and got his Doctrine in Physiology . That's right Dr. Joe wasn't done learning yet. Years past and he meets his wonderful second wife, she too is something but that is another story for another time. Dr. Joe again did this job he loved very much for many years. All the while going to school to learn more about his profession. Once again Dr. Joe retires from this job at the rip age of I suppose seventy.

Now most of us would retire and find some place nice to sit and watch the sunrise and sunset with a some frosty beverage and a warm breeze. Not Dr. Joe. Instead he now volunteers at the local jails and VA hospitals helping those who need what Dr. Joe has. Dr. Joe also goes to the the Veterans Olympics in Colorado every year where he has won more medals then he can wear at one time. He skies, plays ice hockey and helps Vets returning from the wars of today to see that they are still very much people who have a lot to offer and many things in life yet to do.

One day some years back he walks into my shop and says, “fasthair I want to buy a bike.” Kind of shocked I stepped back a bit and looked at him and said “Doc if that is what you want to do then I think you should.” He goes on to tell me that this is something he has always wanted but never thought it was something he could do. You see that one leg thing was kind of slowing him down from this idea. After we talked about what he could buy since he would need reverse at the least and either a side car or some kind of out rigger set up it was decided that a Gold Wing was a perfect candidate. Out the door he goes and to be honest I never really gave it another thought.

Then some months later his wonderful wife, Dorothy, walked in my shop and asks rather sternly “Do you know where Joe is at?” Thinking she may have lost him, again, I tried to think of what day it was. She had called me once before to try and figure out where it was she had dropped off Dr. Joe. Since this was a Thursday I told her he was probably at his breakfast club with the boys to which she exclaimed “oh that’s right I dropped him off at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.” Needless to say I wasn’t ready for the answer she was about to give me to her own question.

“He’s out in Arizona buying a motorcycle because you said it was ok!”

Dr. Joe was in Arizona where his sons lived buying a brand new Gold Wing. His sons and him had researched the best way to set up an out rigger set up and which bike was best suited to his needs. I thought she was rather perturbed at me for supporting Dr. Joe’s desire of wanting to ride. As I tried to reason with her that is something Dr. Joe wanted and it would be helpful if she would support him and stand behind him in this new adventure towards how he moved forward from here on out. As much as all of this rather out of the blue conversation continued I made the comment “you know it would be great if you would hop on the back and go riding with him sometime.” Her next comment took me completely off my feet. “Hell with that, I want my own bike!”

Needless to say I knew at that point Mrs. Dr. Joe was really ok with his decision and wanted me to know that he was following through with his desire to ride a motorcycle. To this day the Misses still hasn’t got her own bike but good ol’ Dr. Joe still rides from time to time.

I had started to write this almost a year ago. It set in my drafts folder all this time waiting for me to finish it and give Dr. Joe the due justice he deservers. It was IronDads’ post about his friend Bryce who has made the hardest choice we as riders could ever face that got me to finish it. When to give up riding because we were no longer feeling safe in our ability to control a bike. I want Bryce to know that I really can’t imagine the torture he must have been going through to come to this point in his life. But I also wanted to show him that maybe there is still hope to be riding even if it is not in the same way he has enjoyed all of this time. It appears from his letter to IronDad that he is at peace with this tough choice. To which I will add I hope I can be that graceful when that time comes in my life.

God bless you Bryce. 

fasthair

04-11-2009

From the phone. 36 more days an there are fishermen. No leaves on the trees but no ice either! Now off to my favorite road!

fasthair

Another photo from the same spot to document how the year goes by. This is the third photo and about the the only thing that has changed is no more snow or ice but the temps are much better. As I look at this photo it sure looks like it was a nice day for a ride, blue skies, blue water,  yup nice day for a ride!

New Job Update

Update at bottom.

It’s no secret to anyone who reads my blog I’m a drag race nut. So today I get to announce a new job and carrier. After many months of intense negotiations and backing from Team Slut Drag Racing and Housby Mack I was able to put a deal together to drive Jim Head’s Nitro Funny Car. Jim has been looking for a new driver for over a year but couldn’t find anyone with money to take the seat.

All the parties involved couldn’t be happier. When asked about his new venture into NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Kevin Housby, CEO of Housby Mack, had this to say. “We couldn’t be happier to have Fast as our driver. He is a solid person who will represent us and Jim Head Racing with the highest integrity and respect. I’ve known Fast for years and had a lot of great times with him on and off the track. Then being part of Jim Head racing is like a dream come true. He has been in the sport for almost as long as I’ve been alive. He has respect from his peers and has done many great things for NHRA Drag Racing.”

Additionally Jim Head had this to say. “I’m really glad to finally get out of the seat of my Funny Car and just play the part of owner/tuner. Having got to know Fasthair over the last few months I feel I have the right guy for the seat. We’re in Phoenix right now testing and to get Fasthair licensed to drive in the NHRA Funny Car class. Since we will not be running for the Championship this year we have decided that we would test as many days as it takes to get that done, even if it take more then the four testing days allowed by the NHRA this year. Our hope is to be able to go to the race in Las Vegas this weekend. With the way Fasthair has taken to driving it looks like we should be able to get him licensed by the end of tomorrow.”

So needless to say I am about to just bust at this dream job! I can’t thank Kevin and Jim enough for this chance at doing something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. So if the NHRA tour comes to a town near you come over and say hello. I’ll never forget the little people and my friends.

Well they are about to fire the car so I better run for now. Hope to see you all in Vegas! I’ll post some photos next time, I’m just too busy right now to do so.

fasthair

Update: Sorry Dave but yup, you’re going to be pissed… Yes it was an April Fools joke. Thanks for playing along! There were couple of good ones in the blog land yesterday. Joker yours was done well, hell of a job in Photoshop oops just read your update… still damn nice looking bike buddy. Ms. Lady R I about fell over after I posted this and went and read your blog! GMTA I guess. Thanks for the laughs my friends :)

fasthair

You’ve Been Served

How many computers do you have in your house? Are you like most people and never backup your stuff? Or are you like me and have copies of everything on three or four different machines between work and home? Yes I have that many copies of everything because I have had hard drive failures before and let me tell you, it can ruin your day quickly.

You owe it to yourself to look in to a home server. Now don’t let the word server scare you off. Microsoft makes a product called Windows Home Server and it is some pretty cool stuff. First it is so easy to use you will wonder how you got along without it. The best part is it doesn’t take a machine with a lot of horse power to run it. Any old PC you might have retired could be up to the task since system requirements are low. All you need is a 1GHZ CPU with 512RAM and 80gig drive, high speed internet and a router, which if you have two or more PCs sharing an high speed internet connection you already have. Admittedly that will not do you much good for backup so a 500gig drive and 1gig of RAM would make for a better unit. As your storage needs grow you simply plug in a new drive, run the Add a Hard Drive Wizard and presto, more space. Or you can simply buy one from the likes of HP or others. If you are the adventurous type you can build one like some of the systems Donavan builds at Home Server Hacks.com.

I built my server out of an old PC I had laying around and upgraded the motherboard and CPU for a whopping 88 bucks including 1gig of RAM. Then just buy the software from some place like Newegg for cheap and you have a cheap Windows Home Server. I’ve got another whopping investment of $180 for more hard drive space. My system specs out now with a AMD64 2GHZ CPU, 3gig of RAM and 2.5TB of hard drive space. Once I decided this was worth more investment I even got a new home for the parts on Ebay cheap at 52 bucks. What can you do with this system? Well first and most obvious is it backs up all the PCs you have in your network nightly with no muss and no fuss. Literality set it and forgot it. Did you delete a file you wish you still had? Open up one of the backup files on the server and drag it back to your desktop. Have you ever been some place and wish you had a file on your PC at home? Log in to your server from any computer connected to the web and go get it. Want to share photos, videos or whatever with family and friends? Give them a user account and they can up/download files until there hearts content. All using just a web browser on any web connected PC. Have a hard drive go bad and need your PC up NOW? Install the new drive, put the restore DVD in the drive and in about an hour your PC is just like it was before the hard drive failure, right down to your desktop. It’s like the hard drive failure never happen. I’ve played around with all of these great features and have as yet to be disappointed in what it can do. The server can even back up the server, how cool is that? There is only one thing you can’t do. You can not back up a PC that is not in your network. In other words no off site PC.

The are plenty of other things you can do with free Add Ins to your WHS. Tired of all those DVD movies taking up space? Rip them to your server using that free ripping software in the first of my software posts. Then you can stream them either with and extender like an XBox. Or if you are like me via S-Video cable out of the video card of your PC  to your TV, if you have that option. Of course with your sound system plugged into your PC you can have the full surround sound thing too. While I’m at work I stream music from my Home Server to my desktop at work then wirelessly to my sound system. I’m forever finding new things I can do with this system. This isn’t just a one trick pony either, Mac users can us it too.

  Another one of the cool things about this system is it is headless, that is no monitor, keyboard or mouse. Once the system is up you can remove these items and put the server anywhere in your house that you can connect it wired to your router. After the system is up and you have the Connector software installed on your client system you control the server either with the connector software or by remote desktop connection. In fact the HP unit doesn’t even have a way to connect a monitor.

If any of this sounds interesting Microsoft will send you a trial copy that will run for 120 days so you can try it out for free and they even pay the shipping. Just fill out this form and it will show up in about a week. Or since you already know how to burn an ISO file from my other post you can download it and burn it to a DVD.

This is really a slick operating system. You owe it to yourself to check it out, if for no other reason for the backup power it has. It’s not just for home use either. This is perfect for a small business whether home based or a small office. As I said once you discover what all you can do with it you will wonder how you could get along with out it.

fasthair

Update: I should add while no backup system is idiot proof this is the easiest and simplest way to help protect your digital life I have found. With WHS and off site backup locations or “cloud” storage services like Amazon.com you can really lower your risk of having a digital disaster day.