Xmas 2009

HO HO HO... happy Xmas and a merry new year! My original plan was to email out this holiday greeting that I'd whipped up, but my severe lack of bandwidth is making it difficult. I'd also like to apologize to everybody for my lack of communication, which relates directly to the already mentioned lack of bandwidth. Hopefully I'll get it out by New Years!

Nordkapp 2009

I took a little ride around the Baltic back in May, and have finally posted some pictures! Nordkapp was a bit knippy, but it didn't snow on me. The trip wound up being about 4500 miles, and 12 days was a bit tight. It would have been nice to have had a couple more weeks to dally along the route.

click on the pic for a few more

Garmisch retreat

A retreat in Garmisch, what fun!? Well, since I was volun-told to go, off to Garmisch I went. It would have been nice to have had a few of the schedule details, but I apparently didn't have a need-to-know. It turned out that we were on our own Wednesday night through Friday morning. Had I known a few hours in advance, I might have packed for skiing or something. Not much snow there yet anyways, maybe next year.

I wandered through a little bit of Austria Thursday, but the beautiful grey wasn't very photogenic. Here is a pic from the Linderhöf palace that I stopped by. There are a few more pics from the lodge and around Linderhof in the Garmisch album.

From Garmisch

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good knight! ;>

Teunz volksmarch

It was a beautiful day for a walk in Teunz. The snow looked fresh, so it's probably good that I didn't make it there yesterday. ;>

Xbox 360 power supply mod - DON'T TRY THIS AT WORK!!!

For the DON'T TRY THIS AT WORK files...

First things first: DO NOT plug a 110 volt Xbox into 220 volts! Bad things WILL happen...

After a friend of mine figured that out the hard way, I scored him a good deal on a used Xbox 360 power supply online. Anybody who has tried to get an Xbox 360 power supply knows that the major Xbox parts sources sell them sans power cord. The one that I found came with the power cord and for about half the price of the big guys. No problem, until the cord that arrived was the wrong one. So, wait a couple more weeks for the right one or... DON'T TRY THIS AT WORK!!!

The problem: Microsoft, in it's infinitesimal wisdom, uses an indexed power cord.


Tools required: 1 Victorinox Swiss Army Tinker pocket knife (or equivalent) and enough contempt for Microsoft to use it!


I used leverage and finesse to cut both sides of the index as close to flush as possible. When it was free all the way to the back, I gently pried it up and it broke out.
SAFETY NOTE: If your wrist is in the position shown below and you are not taking a picture for your blog then STOP! You are doing it wrong...
(G-shock is optional... and good luck finding this model if it's not!)


Required ancillary equipment: Mountain Dew, minimum quantity 1 litre.
NO BEER! (until after the cutting is done)

It works. 'Nuff said. :)

Ensdorf volksmarch

It was a bit brisk in Ensdorf this morning, but the 10k went quick!

A super "green" tractor prototype! NO SMOKING please...


I should translate this someday...

Oberreinbach volksmarch

Well, I seemed to have missed a couple weekends of volksmarching. Mostly just laziness on my part (ie... it was only rain). I did manage to pass my Red Cross CPR/First Aid instructor class(s), so maybe I'll be able to get our shop up to speed on that stuff.

It was a beautiful cool day for a trot around Oberreinbach. The leaves are just beginning to turn, but nothing dramatic enough for pictures yet. Maybe next weekend!