Journal

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2004/08/27 PM - Need more rain gear (Hey!  I *DO* live in Seattle ya know!)

I've got decent rain gear for the summer.
My only complaint with my summer gear is that my leather jacket is a bit warm.
But hey, it rarely gets to 85 degrees, so there's no huge loss there.

However, my leather jacket, scotch-guarded or not, rain shell or not, ain't gonna last a winter season in Seattle.
It's a big pain in the arse to pull over and put on the rain gear.
Because of the Seattle winters I will probably be wearing the rain gear 80% of the time (or more) anyway...
...so what's the point of wearing a leather jacket in the winter?

So, I'm looking for a 2nd jacket.
Ideally it would be usable in both ventable for the summer summer, and lineable for the winter.

Here are all of my considerations so far:

• Teknic Cyclone - Fuckin dope Gore-Tex jacket
• Teknic Sprint
• Teknic Spider
• Teknic Stinger
• Teknic Interstate - The nicest one the have that comes in yellow
• Icon TiMax
• Icon TiMax Mesh
• Joe Rocket Comet
• Joe Rocket Hard Drive
• Joe Rocket Meteor
• Joe Rocket Phoenix
• Joe Rocket Reactor
• Joe Rocket Revolution
• Tour Master GX

Aw hell, here they all are:
http://street-bikes.ridegear.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/shop/low_to_high/Jackets.html?E+scstore
http://www.kneedraggers.com/list/5.21

:)

Oh, and I heard that Jesse James hates the color yellow.  He says "yellow is universal for fear". :)
FUCK YEAH!  I was scared shitless when I first started riding my bike! :)
 

2004/08/20 PM - Disappointed with Chatterbox accessory cables

The Chatterbox cables came today, and I am pretty disappointed with them:

• Power Cable
  The instruction manual says it is for a GMRS-X1 radio, but the adapter does not fit the 12V socket!
  I'm disappointed in this, but it is OK because I really only bought this to see what their "filter" is.
  It's a simple ground loop isolator.
  I will pick up a better one (more amps) at RadioShack and rewire my bike's 12V socket with one of these built in.
  Then I can use any old RadioShack AdaptaPlug on the GMRS-X1.
• Audio Cable
  This cable is OK, but only one tip is right angled.
  This is acceptable because this is how the photo [below] shows it.
  Still, I would recommend that they put right angle tips on both sides.
• Cell Phone Cable
  I saved the worst for last.
  The cable itself is OK, but it cost $19!!!!
  It better fuckin work!
  The real disappointment came when I plugged this in to the Chatterbox.
  • Speaker (Left Ear)
    OH MY GOD!!!  I AM FUCKING DEAF!!!!! (what?) I SAID I AM FUCKING DEAF!!!!!
    It is SO fucking loud, and I could not find a way to adjust the volume!
    This might be acceptable out on the road...but DAAAAAAMN!!!!!
    It'll sure wake you up when you press buttons on your phone!
  • Microphone
    I called my voice mail from the Chatterbox.
    It is absolutely incoherent!
    I should hook up a cable to record my cell phone to the computer so that you can hear it.
    Stock, out of the box, this thing should work and sound coherent!

My other project is to build a cable for my MP3 player, cell-phone, and radar detector that can integrate with my helmet headset/microphone without the need for the Chatterbox.

The male assembly is what comes with the Chatterbox.
I wired the female assembly up tonight (this is actually my second version).
Once everything was wired up I called my voice mail again.
Similar to the microphone problem with the GMRS-X1, I could barely understand what I was saying.

So, I pull out the multimeter and measure the microphone ohms of the Chatterbox headset and a standard hands-free headset:

• Chatterbox Headset Microphone: 100 ohms

• Hands-Free Headset Microphone: 14 ohms

NOTE: I am not very precise on either number; I still use a cheap analog multimeter.

The Chatterbox uses a "noise canceling headset", so I suspect that the microphone is a bit different from a standard hands-free headset.
I will play around with a digital multimeter and some parallel resistors tomorrow.
 

2004/08/14 AM - Bought audio, cell, and power cables for Chatterbox

2004/08/08 AM - Installed 12V socket (eventually for Chatterbox)

2004/07/11 AM - New Site Ready (sort of)

2004/07/10 PM - Started New Site

2004/07/09 PM - Installed ChatterBox Headset In Helmet

Man, this device is slick!
My helmet even had pockets for headphones!
 

2004/07/07 PM - Received ChatterBox

I would have received this on July 5th, but that was a holiday.
On July 6th the USPS left a failed delivery notice.
So, I picked it up July 7th from the Post Office.

What a fun little device!
I depleted the battery like they suggested and then recharged it overnight.
 

2004/06/30 PM - Bought ChatterBox GMRS-X1

Tonight I broke down and bought a ChatterBox GMRS-X1 radio.
I paid $236 for it.
That's a heck of a lot of money, but it is the cheapest I could find a new unit.
It should be here in 5-6 days.
 

2004/06/24 PM - BadAss Factor

Not that I had one, but truly my "BadAss Factor" drops to almost zero when I am not wearing
the dark smoke tinted visor on my helmet.
 

2004/06/21 PM - Bought Sony Ear-Bud Headphones for RIO Cali

The headphones that came with the RIO Cali were impossible to wear inside the helmet.
I broke down and bought the nice Fontopia® MDR-EX71SL Headphones.
They have pretty good sound, and most importantly they fit well in my ear and thus in the helmet.

When I get a ChatterBox I will probably end up using the headset that comes with it.
 

2004/06/20 PM - Bought RIO Cali 128MB + 256MB SD Memory

I've been wanting an MP3 player for a LONG time.
MP3 has been a major influence in my life, and I can't believe I have never bought an MP3 player.

-- begin longer than necessary story --

I've been listening to MP3s since 1996.
Back in 1997 two of my roommates and I started a company called Night55 and wrote a piece of software.
Maybe you've heard of it; Sonique?
Well, I wasn't too much in to the "just another MP3" player thing.
I wanted to make Sonique a complete centerpiece for listening to audio:

• Rip MP3s directly from CD in real time
• Highly organized music search
• Advanced ID3 tags
• Favorites/Rankings
• Tempo/Pitch Control (for DJ Mixing)
• Direct integration/interop with portable music devices
• Scratching and Patch Effects (we used to play w/ Reason/Rebirth a lot)
• Vocal stripper (for Karaoke)
• A few other things

This would have been a monumental task back to accomplish back in 1997.
They didn't even have real-time MP3 encoding at that point!

The reason I bring this up is that I also have had the same demands for a hardware MP3 player.

-- end longer than necessary story --

It has been, what, 5+ years since the first MP3 players hit the market?
They STILL do not make an MP3 player that has all of the features I am looking for:

• Water Resistant/Proof - With that sporty yellow waterproof "Drop Me In Water I Float" look
• Solid State - I think that a hard drive in an MP3 player is a horrible idea
• Small (wrist mountable)
• External memory with no effective hard coded limit
• Buttons that you can access through gloves
• At least MP3 and WMA support
• Ability to delete songs directly from the player
• Ability to "rate" songs directly from the player
• FM Tuner - perhaps even Digital FM or XM
• FM Recording
• Line Input
• Line In Recording
• Microphone Recording
• USB 2.0
• Powered via USB 2.0 cable
• Recharges battery via USB 2.0 cable
• Decent song/file library management software!

The RIO's features are in bold.

I'm a hard person to satisfy; maybe that's why I'm eternally single! :)
Still, I don't think this is too much to ask for, yet they still don't make one!

I don't like the iPod (too fragile in looks and actuality, and too expensive).

I paid $114 for mine, and $30 for the memory (from http://www.newegg.com).
For the money I suppose what I got is acceptable.
I am more disappointed with the industry than I am with the device itself.
Still, it is getting some good use; I am glad that I have it.

Now to integrate it in to a ChatterBox radio headset...
 

Sold Medium Joe Rocket Blaster Jacket
Sold Large Icon Barrier Gloves
Sold Small Icon Burner Gloves
Sold Asymmetric Frame Sliders
Sold Medium Joe Rocket Pants
Bought Symmetric Frame Sliders
Bought Dark Smoke Tint Helmet Visor
Bought Medium Icon Burner Gloves
Bought Small Icon Burner Jacket
Bought Small Joe Rocket Revolution Pants
Bought Joe Rocket Hard Drive Boots
Bought Large Icon Barrier Gloves
Bought Medium Icon Primary Alliance Helmet
Bought Medium Joe Rocket Revolution Pants
Bought Medium Joe Rocket Atomic Pants
Bought Medium Joe Rocket Blaster Jacket
 

2004/05/19 to 2004/05/30 - Parents

My parents were in town and I had to hid the bike for 2 weeks! :)
 

2004/05/04 PM - Bought Suzuki SV-650