Something needs to give...

..or so I've been thinking as I was reading through older posts on my older blog; I seemed to be much happier.

But I noticed for all the work and lack of riding my weight really hasn't gone up from this time last year--just that I did not lose any at all like I would have hoped. I think I counted the other day that I had rode outside only 35 times all year. I don't know what I'm going to do.

One piece of good news is I can start spinning indoors in my exercise room again soon. I had quit because the 19" LCD quit woeking and I was mad and lost motivation. I've ben trying to figure out how to get the manufacturer and warranty company to take care of me for a few months. Yesterday I received an email with a tracking number saying a replacement was on the way. yay.

Now I just have to figure 0ut how to balance life and wprk and stay out of trouble.

So I've been wanting to name the Stumpjumper forever (2 years). I mean I've always had bike names like Hwaii Pearl, Scary Fast, Double B. Looking at an old MTBR post covering the first ride on stumpie I noticed today that I had referred to the steed as SJ. It seems perfect today. SJ--simple and rolls off the tongue nicely.

I have a virus. Since this time last week. Or so the doc said Wednesday. Took my 12 bucks copay and sent me home without a damn thing. I think I have sinusitus which is a bacteria which couldv'e meant a z pzck anyway.

Have I jabbered long enough? I noted my older BLOG was much more personal and enjoyable to read (atlesat for me) so I've been longing to write in that manner again. Thus this diatribe.

Maybe it's time for a hot soak and to start reading the Pillars of the Earth sequel I picked up a month or more back.

And I have some vide editing to still complete. I try and make a vid for my special friend OFW G.A. every year. How I miss Iraq and those times. Always hoping and wondering for another time in the future...

It's wet here--I need to go work for a few hours tomorrow--probably no outdoor ride this weekend---again!

Go MO--beat Sooners.

Til next time, Pete

Home Theater Upgrade

Wow almost another 4 months passed before I'm making another entry here; I've just been way too busy. Even cycling has been onthe backburner. I did participate in the Austin Lance Armstrong Challenge and had a pretty strong 90 mile ride. My 14 year old asked for an upgrade for his XBOX live for the holidays--surround sound. So I got him a cool top of the line Logitech set. Then I thought what better time to replace my stuff--perfect excuse. He needs a bigger TV to play, right? And a good stand to put it all in. So for me--out with the old in with the new. New goodies for me include a sony playstation 3, a Z-lines stand, an Onkyo 705 receiver and a 42" Philips flat panel LCD HDTV. Sweet. Til next time...

Today's ride

So I discovered map my ride. I still think the features of motionbased make it better. Anyway too bad we can't have the best of all programs combined into one.

Today's ride was with pal Jean B; the wife drove support in the Subie, oweing that the rte has no "convenience" stores--or anything else fot that matter. It was a good ride. The elite drops really work. You can get all the stats at motionbased-search user petek and select the ride for today's date.

After the ride and a visit, Sally and I went to Temple to check out the expanded Sun Country bike shop--then ate at my favorite tacqueria--mmm was that good.

Back to 5 hours at work tomorrow and ten + a day next week.

I wished it would stop raining in centex so I could get a decent mountain bike ride in.

Pete out!

Late Update

Weird; this thing won't allow me to type in a title.

This is an update after a lengthy absence from posting. Work is sucking up too much time lately---and---the rains have been quite torrential and trail damaging here in central Texas this spring--so little riding has taken place.

This pic--albeit blurry--is of my "exercise" room's theater. I just got the monitor and Infinity speakers from Crutchfield. I extracted the media lounge player from my main system, as well as the DVD player. Now I have access to all my digitized music library as well as I can pop in a movie and spin til I dont wanna any more.

The last few "innings" -- ha ha as opposed to outings coz d rain--has been spinning to Velvet Revolver. After listening to most of the new Libertad tonigth I think I can say their first album, Contraband, is much more rocking.

I whipped through the new Burdett Thai cop thriller book--Bangkok Haunts--recommended as are all in the series. I see Cruz-Smith has a new spy novel out. Also I await for Follett's sequel to Pillars of the earth--which I think is due soon.

So I went to see the movie about the rat chef. Way entertaining. I still need to see Spidey 3 and Die Harder 3. I'll pass on the transformers. The Pirates 3 movie I thought was disappointing.

So fat, tired, not riding enough, missing my Qatar connection from Ph/Kirkuk, etc. And office and govt/contractor politics are a major drag too. There is a good thread going on over on MTBR about whines--I sure seem to wanna have many about now.

Please God, can I win the lottery? I'll be good.

WHY WONT THIS FUCKIN THING SPACE PARAGRAPHS CORRECTLY?? AND WHY MY STYLE ALWAYS LOOK LIKE A MCDONALDS OR SOMETHING?

GOD-WHINE-I JUST HAVE NO EFFIN TALENT.

Dana Peak Ride Video

http://www.petekutheis.com/DanaPeakMarch2007.wmv Right click save as. Approx 5 minutes, 14 Megs Yes, I did get the angle of the lens tilted upward and found a rider to video. The trail is the Dana Peak trails out at Stillhouse Hollow Lake. The tape ran out before we got to the semi-techie stuff. This is edited and rendered on Pinnacle Studio 9+ which I can make work wonderfully on my system. The expensive Vegas program of which I was able to download a torrent renders way more slowly. Enjoy.

First ride with the new helmet cam set-up

I made the 8.5 mile normal blue loop today at BLORA with no problems of note with the ride--the ride being the first for my miniDV cam mounted on the helmet. I do need to adjust the angle of the cam inside the lexan box--by adjusting the foam or adding a wedge maybe. The tilt is slightly down and thus on this ride I only got footage maybe up to 24 feet or so in front of me with hardly ever any sky or horizon.The wide angle lens adaptor did take some scratches from all the cedar face slappers but seemed to be no ill effect when looking at the footage in WMP. Sorry, no footage yet. I need to get another ride or two, then edit and find a place to host.It's a fun project though. The lipstick cam DVDs I made in Hawaii were so long and such high quality picture I never did edit them smaller nor post on web.We'll see what happens this go 'round.

Helmetcam Setup Pictures

Here are the helmet cam set up pics as promised. Sorry they're not razor sharp, but I think the idea comes acrossed. It is a Canon Elura 65 cam with the optional wide angle lens. The box is made of lexan resin, a heavy duty material. It can be obtained from GSIoutdoors in a variety of sized. Mine is a medium and would cost 20 doaalrs. As you can see it is actually a little too big as I got it with an earlier lipstick cam setup as an option from Helmetcam.com. However, the foam inside that cradles the cam keeps everything nice and snug. Since I added the wide angle lens today, all I'll now need to do to be ride ready is add just a little more lead to counterbalance everything nicely.

Helmet Cam, Books, and Whatnot

So for aong time now I've been wanting to get the entire DV cam atop or on my helmet. I had made a couple of lip stick cam DVDs of biking stuff while on Oahu, but knew I could get better quality and a wide screen format with the entire cam on the head. After perusing many websites, just the other day I discovered the solution was staring me practically in the face all along. I had a lexar box to house the camcorder that slipped inside the camelbak when I used the lipstick cam setup. So all I had to do was figure how to mount the lexar case to the helmet. A circular hole dilled for the lens, a piece of foam, a dowel, 4 zip ties, a little extra padding for inside the forehead area of the helmet, an inner tube, some lead fishing weights, and some electrical tape--and the task is finished and well balanced and I think is going to work like a charm. Tomorrow my wide angle les convertor should arrive. I'll post pics of the set up soon. And just maybe test it all out on a trail this weekend. I have Pinnacle 9 and also Sony Vegas editing suites, so maybe look for a 4 minute video in a few months. There are some things I just don't finish quickly. Books--I like reading spy novels--Follett cant write them fast enough--and unfortunately he is slow--and even slower now that he's concentrating on the follow up to Pillars of the Earth. Cussler---I finally bored of. Same old all the time--maybe if more of those books were adapted into movies--Sahara was quite ok. So I read some Bell which was good and the Ludlum series which carries on after his death which is ok. Now I've stumbled onto some author whose last name starts with a "D'" whose hero is supposed to be a combo of Cussler's Pitt and Flemings' Bond. I have two samples waiting and I'll report what I think later--if I remember of course. The 17th is Beauty and the Beast Bike Tour up in Tyler, Texas; I've never been to that one and want to go pretty badly--but--then I contemplate the 700 dollars for a nice enjoyable weekend with gas and 2 nites lodging and eats and all--700 that I really don't have---stay tuned as to whether I go or not. ZZ Top concert tickets for the concert at the Bell Expo on the 24th of March are in had. This I cant wait to see. Ok enough bantering for now. Another day at work approaches. Another day fatter than yesterday--I really ought to have a ride schedule that I stick to--but oh it's all just seemingly too hard.

A Muleshoe Ride--Geocoding, Google Earth and Google Pages Finally Figured out

So I discovered to get the thumbs and photos to work right for a KMZ for the web file on Google Earth, all one has to do is load the images to a personal google page website. Flickr does not work because it is not a folder structured site.

Today I went to Muleshoe Rec Area on Lake Travis near Austin to ride; it was a gorgeous 60 degrees. Prior to that I went to Austin Canoe and Kayak and purchased a High Roller bike "tray" to replace the King Cobra. And I stopped at a neat bike shop called Spin City; it is everything a small shop should be. The LBS in my area should visit and take notes. Iguana Grill after the ride was a great way to cap off the afternoon.

So above is the KMZ file--just click on the picture--of course you will need Google Earth installed.

Here I am looking fat at the day's end--damn, I wished my love affair with food was lesser.

Ok, thanks for reading and looking.