Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! We got ourselves a rather LARGE gift this year. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

That's right kiddies... we're moving! 37 days and counting! I'll update you more later!

Wow... traffic school didn't suck...

If you're ever required to do Traffic School in Lake County... seek out a class headed by Lake County Probation Officer Terry Barrett!

He was a substitute teacher for my traffic school and let me tell ya... he kicked serious ass! He was so personable and dynamic the 4 hour class just sped right by (forgive the pun). The guy was such a natural he made the class... dare I say... fun?!?

Anyway.... We got to watch a video reenacting the events which lead to Princess Diana's death. It was pretty cool stuff and as expected Terry's major goal was to encourage seat belt usage. The highlight of the class was when Terry had to kick out a dude that fell asleep and was snoring! He gave him a second chance but 15-20 minutes later he was snoring again and Terry had no choice but to kick his sorry ass out.

By the time the class ended we were all hopefully wearing our seatbelts and were a little more respectful of others on the road. That's not a bad thing.

Ocean's Twelve

It hits theater's today. I absolutely LOVED the first movie and hope that the sequel is every bit as good and even better!

Apparently some of it was shot in Chicago and a few North Shore suburbs. Check out this news report here ... (This news report link may or may not work for you... if not go to... http://www.cbs2chicago.com/video and find the videos dated 12/10/2004 and look for the story named... "Chicago Suburbs 'Scene' In Upcoming 'Oceans 12' Movie")

See the trailer here.

Hopefully I'll be able to get to the theater sometime soon!

Anyone up for some traffic school?

Well... whether I like it or not.... I'm in for a 4 hour dose of it in the morning. (See original story here.)

The class runs from 8am to noon. I've got to head to an annex of the Mchenry county college located on Main Street in Crystal Lake. Pretty close to the train station. I'm gonna meet Dave at the Metra station so we can hit Best Buy before we head to Harvard.

Wish me luck because the last time I took driving school in Deerfield, he was like a crabby old coot from the Secretary of State's office. Which made for a looooooooong 4 hours!

Gonna head to Winter Wonderland this weekend...

When we were looking for a decent gaming table, Nicholas asked me, "When are we going to go to that place with all the lights?" I immediately knew he was talking about the Winter Wonderland at the Cuneo Museum in Vernon Hills. It's become a tradition to see the lights there. I only wish it wasn't so damn difficult to turn off my headlights in my Chevy Blazer!!

I urge all of you locals to check it out!

http://www.vernonhills.org/events/winterwonderland.htm

Looking for a gaming table...

So... Texas hold-em is fun... but playing on the dining room table is not. I'm on the look out for a decent 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 gaming table. You know... one of those where you can flip the top part around to change it from a regular table to a poker table top.

I found this one at F.I.M. for $599.00 (table only) The Good: Price, Solid Oak, I can see before I buy -- The Bad: Only a 2-in-1 therefore no bumper pool.


Then there's this one at Amazon.com... The Good: Price is ok, 3-in-1 so it has bumper pool. Probably free shipping. -- The Bad: I can't see it/feel it before I buy it.

Now, if any of you SERIOUS rec roomers out there have searched for a gaming table you know that these two tables are toward the bottom of the line when compared to the $1000-$2000 tables at Algonquin's The Rec Room. I absolutely LOVE that place... but it's so over priced it makes me sick! Whereas some of you will think that $600 is alot of cash for a table.

I'm looking for any and all ideas on where to buy a decent quality gaming table for as cheap as possible. Thanks!

Yes, there is a PERFECTLY good reason...

...why I didn't mention the new iPod photo... and that's because I need to maintain focus for something else I'm buying. More on that soon...

I hope your Thanksgiving went well!

Ours was okay I guess. I'm disappointed we didn't do Medieval Times like we have done the past couple years. My mom catered from Boston Market. The turkey was good but she didn't order enough mashed potatoes or stuffing for left overs! Next year I'll be sure the same mistake isn't made.

Sending out an S.O.S.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) -- TV hardly gets much better than this.

An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba Corporation flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.

The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.

On October 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.

Full Article here.

Steve Jobs is back to work...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has quietly returned to work full time after taking a leave of absence to recover from cancer surgery, according to a brief report in The Mecury News.

It's nice to see ya back at the helm Steve!

MacNN blurb here.

Response to some "My Ride Chicago Experience" e-mails...

It seems a lot of you are interested in what type of motorcycle I have. The answer is sad but simple... I don't have one yet.

I probably won't get a bike until early spring. I have a list of contenders but I want to see them all up close and personal before I narrow it down. The front runner I suppose... is the Honda Shadow VLX...

I also had a few e-mails about the State test and about Illinois Helmet laws. Let me take the helmet question first... as I understand it... there are only TWO states remaining that do NOT have helmet laws.... Illinois and Utah. Which seems really odd to me since Illinois is so strict about other things. And the lack of a helmet law certainly doesn't mean that I'm not going to wear one.

With regard to the state test.... A non-motorcycle rider e-mailed me indicating that the State test looks too easy. I imagine some find the test easy... but I'd bet that most find it difficult/challenging... I don't think it's a coincidence that of my group of 6 that there were only two first timers. Not to mention the fact that the test form has a space for it to indicate how many times you've taken the test before. I wonder if I'm in the minority of people who've passed on their first try. That said... you are more than welcome to try the test yourself and let me know what you think.

Some of you have asked me if anyone got hurt, wiped out, dumped the bike, etc. The answer, thankfully, is no.

Some have mentioned that this is one hell of a business.... I agree! If you stop for a second and think about the fact that RC has taught over 1,000 students. A little rough math suggests that 1000*295 = $295,000. The 14 bikes at let's say $3,500 a piece with taxes and shit would cost... $49,000. Minus other expenses like office rent, maintenance of the bikes, fees to the United Center (or whoever) for using that parking lot, the rental of the two sheds and a porta-potty and you're STILL looking in the ballpark of $200,000 in profit! Not a bad little business indeed!

By the way, I found an article about RC & MRS located here. It mentions that Brad is indeed a co-owner of Ride-Chicago... I wonder if that means that Chris is a co-owner too.

My Ride Chicago Experience
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV & Part V

END OF LINE

Hurricane Jeanne at Epcot

Minnesota trooper writes 205 mph speeding ticket

WABASHA, Minn. (AP) — With a State Patrol airplane overhead, a Stillwater motorcyclist hit the throttle and possibly set the informal record for the fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota history: 205 mph.

On Saturday afternoon, State Patrol pilot Al Loney was flying near Wabasha, in southeastern Minnesota on the Wisconsin border, watching two motorcyclists racing along U.S. Highway 61.

When one of the riders shot forward, Loney was ready with his stopwatch. He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the road and again a quarter-mile later. The watch read 4.39 seconds, which Loney calculated to be 205 mph.


Read the full articles here and here.

My Ride Chicago Experience Posted in 5 Parts

While the blog lists things with the newest first, make sure you read this in the correct order....

Don't start with Part 5.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V & Response to E-mails

My Ride Chicago Experience: Part V - Test Day

Thursday: 9/24/2004: Test Day!
Location: 185 S Damen (Damen & Monroe)

You can tell when the day's off to a lousy start when you're out the door and it's STILL dark outside! I HATE that... (unless I'm on my way to Disney or something)

I arrived at the Ride-Chicago range at 6:38am. I was surprised to see that not only was Brad there, but the bikes were all out and there were about 6-8 people already practicing in the range.

I met with Brad, gave him my $40 testing fee and he had me fill out 2 pieces of paperwork. One was the actual test form

Unfortunately the bike I rode over the weekend was already taken so I decided to hop on a Honda Rebel and give it a whirl... but after attempting one U-Turn.. I knew it wasn't going to work out. Not because it's a bad bike or anything (in fact I may buy one as my first bike) but because I didn't have time to get used to it for the test. I wanted to use the bike I rode during the class because I already "KNOW" that bike.

I told Brad that this bike wasn't going to work and he asked me which bike I wanted. I told him I wanted the Kawasaki... in fact I told him I wanted the one who's license plate ended in 715. He called some people back in and I was able to get the bike I wanted. Thanks Brad!

After driving around for a bit I began to wonder why we weren't practicing the ACTUAL test. We were practicing the skills on the range but not in the test box. Once most people were done practicing, I went to the end of the range and decided to practice on the actual test box. I hadn't used this box before, we were on the other side over the weekend.

I was able to try all 4 parts twice and was going to try round three when I heard Brad call my name. I made my way over to him. He said... "The testers are here now... Don't use the test boxes...." He further explained that it's just like the driver's range test... if you are caught practicing on the actual test zone/area on test day they can refuse to test you. I thanked him for telling me and went back to practicing in the range. I got my practice in anyway!

About 10 minutes later I saw that Brad and one of the testers were making their way down to the test box I was just using and the testing began. I decided my practice was over and I wanted to watch the test being performed. The way I felt at the time there wasn't anything I could have done at that point to improve anyway.... watching others being tested would either ease my stress or make it worse.... either way... it would ALL be over soon!

When the second tester from the Secretary of State's office made his way to the test box that I practiced on Sunday afternoon, I was added to the first group of 6 to test with him.

I was 4th out of 6.

The 5 of us talked as we watched #1 do his test.... I found out that of the 6 of us only 2 of us were 1st Timers. "I'm destined to fail my first time." I kept thinking.

As we watched the 2nd person go, we immediately noticed some errors and I said..."Well if they pass him, I KNOW that I can pass this test!" Because the guy screwed up the U-Turn and skipped a cone in the swerve.

When he was done we did a Thumbs up/Thumbs down to get his results. He gave a thumbs down.... he failed.

Needless to say, my blood pressure was pretty high at this point. I was #4 and #3 had just started.

At this point Brad came over from the other side and asked how things were here. We told him that #1 Passed and #2 failed.

#6 told Brad and I that this tester was a "Jag-off" and he failed him last week. "Oh great." I said.... just what I needed to hear!

"You can turn your bike off if you want" Brad mentioned.

"No... I'm next." My voice pretty much whispered.

I told Brad and #6 about my dreams this week. Or as King Théoden said in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", "Dark have been my dreams of late"........ I've had dreams the past 4 nights about taking the test and in every one of them I failed.

He told me to relax and offered me gum. I declined.

About a minute later #3 was complete... he passed. It was my turn... there was NO backing out now! My heart was pounding as hard as ever... My throat became very dry and I was as stressed as hell.

I pulled my bike over to the first "T" starting point. If it wasn't over soon I was sure to collapse. lol

After our pleasant good mornings and how are you doing's he asked...

"Are you nervous?"

"Ummmm... YES!" then I told him my dream story. He patted me on the back of my left shoulder and said "You're going to do just fine!"

You can lose a total of 10 points total in all 4 parts, if you exceed 10 points you fail. You also will instantly fail if you drop the bike or pop a wheelie. Putting your foot down for balance is 5 points, hitting your first cone is 3 points, your second is five points. Going outside the lines will cost you points too but I don't recall how many. For parts 1 & 2 you only have ONE chance to do it. I'll explain about 3 & 4 in a bit.



The State of Illinois Motorcycle License Test Part 1:

From the starting point, ride up the course, making a sharp left turn through the lines without touching the lines or putting your foot down. Continue around the far side of the course, making a smooth, non-skidding stop with your front tire inside the box. These exercises test the rider’s ability to start smooth, negotiate a sharp left turn and come to a smooth stop in a designated area.

The tester explained to me what I needed to do for part 1 and asked if I had any questions. "No."

"Relax.... take a deep breath."

I complied....

"Start when ever you're ready."

I took a breath and began Part 1. I nailed it PERFECTLY! Not a single deduction! I was feeling a smidge better but I knew that the REAL HARD ONE WAS NEXT!!



The State of Illinois Motorcycle License Test Part 2:

From the starting point, weave to the left of the first dot and right of the second. Continue weaving past the dots without touching the dots or putting your foot down. Ride to the far side of the course and make a right U-turn in the U-turn box. The turn must be made within 20 feet. These exercises test the rider's ability to balance and control the cycle and the ability to perform a U-turn.

As you can certainly tell... this is the HARD one. This is the one that my boss fucked up on and failed when he tried it years ago. Again, the tester explained what I needed to do and asked me if I had any questions. I was so nervous, I was almost to the point of shaking... this was the MAKE IT OR BREAK IT of the test....

"Start when ever you're ready."

I pulled away and time seemed to slow down. I was able to maneuver around EVERY cone with out missing or hitting any. I approached the 90 degree right turn and nailed it without a hitch. My heart raced as I approached the dreaded U-Turn. I concentrated, gave it some gas when I needed to and stopped exactly where I needed to stop. If there was ever a moment to yell "YES!!!!" that was the time... but at that point my mouth was so dry I couldn't.

The tester approached me and said.... "Very good." and we moved on to Part 3.



The State of Illinois Motorcycle License Test Part 3:

From the starting point, ride through the "timing chute" at approximately 15 mph When your front tire reaches the end of the chute, bring your cycle to a stop as safely and quickly as possible. (At 15 mph you should stop in at least 13 feet.) This tests the rider's ability to bring the cycle to a sudden stop.

You get 2 tries with this one if you don't get up to the proper speed. Since the starting "T" is on an incline you really need to gun it to make it up to the proper speed by the line.

At the starting "T" I took a deep breath and gunned it.... as soon as I hit the line I engaged the front and rear brake as hard as I could without locking them up..... another reason I wanted to use THAT specific bike. Zero deductions. It didn't take him long to come over and describe part 4....



The State of Illinois Motorcycle License Test Part 4:

From the starting point, ride through the chute at approximately 15 mph When your front tire reaches the end of the chute, swerve to the right or left to avoid the red obstacle line and then cut back in without crossing or touching the red sidelines. This evaluates the rider's ability to avoid obstacles by swerving right or left.

You also get 2 tries with this one if you don't get up to the proper speed. Since the starting "T" is on an incline again... you really need to gun it to make it up to the proper speed by the line.

He explained that it was my choice to go right or left, stay away from the blue lines and stop near the end of the box... I didn't have to stop inside the box (I already knew that... it would require emergency braking if I had to and we already did that exercise)

He waved me to begin so I gunned it. I decided to go left so I counter-steered to the left. I stopped the bike just where I should have.

The tester stood about 6 feet behind me and he wasn't coming up yet. I just sat there on the bike thinking... "He didn't take that long with the first 3.... Hmmmmmmm"

He walked up to me and said... "Congratulations… You Passed!"

I shook his hand and said Thank you! He signed and stamped the paper I needed to turn into the DMV and I was on my way. Happier than a pig in shit! Not only did I pass... I didn't lose a SINGLE POINT!!

I rode to where I saw Brad and he said.. "Way to go... you ACED it!, I knew you could do it!"

"I couldn't have done it without you."

"You did the riding... all I did was show you the right way."

"And without that, I certainly would be here right now.... thank you." I shook his hand.

I rode to where bikes are parked, flipped the kill switch, turned the key off, kicked down the kick stand and dismounted the bike, the good ol' Kawasaki. The first motorcycle I had ever ridden.

I headed to my Blazer and drove to the DMV to get my new M endorsement. What a day!

Final Thoughts: I couldn't have asked for 3 more beautiful days for the range days. I really lucked out with the weather! Before you even ask... YES... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Ride-Chicago! I couldn't have asked for better teachers than Brad & Chris. They both had a teaching style that instilled confidence which led me to push myself to do things I never thought I could do. (counter-steering for one... it's scary as hell that first time.)

If you have the desire to learn how to ride a motorcycle, don't wait. Sign up ASAP or one day you'll wake up a 50 year old and say... I wish I would have done that years ago. For me... I have no regrets... I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

http://www.ride-chicago.com

On to Response to E-Mails

My Ride Chicago Experience: Part IV - Range Day Two

Sunday’s Class 9/18/2004: Riding Day Two
Location: 185 S Damen (Damen & Monroe)

Again, I arrived early... first in fact. After a bit of time Brad arrived. I helped Chris set up the chairs while the European dude helped him remove the bikes from the big sheds. Soon after I noticed that someone busted the lock on the porta-potty and vandalized it. The vandal also shit all over the seat! Bunch of savages in this town!

After everyone arrived, we quickly realized that our class of 12 was now down to 9! 3 people didn’t show up for Sunday!

Luckily, I was able to use the same bike I rode on Saturday. The class began with several laps around the course clockwise & reverse. It was quite fun and relaxing. I hopped on the bike, started it up and took off like an old pro. I could have done that ALL day!

After the relaxing warm up it was back to business. Some of today’s exercises included...

Riding over obstacles: Steps: first, throttle up, stand up, release throttle, go over object at 90-degree angle, and sit down once you go over it.

• Slow speed maneuvers such as U-Turns, right angle turns, S-Turns, and counter-balance techniques.
• Signal and shoulder checks before a lane change.
• Higher speed maneuvers such as swerving and emergency braking.
• Minimum-distance stops using both brakes while simultaneously disengaging the clutch and downshifting
• Collision-avoidance swerving

The day ended with about 90 minutes of practicing the State of Illinois test.

I was so damn fatigued by the time we started practicing for the test, I wasn't exactly doing my best work. In part 1 I probably aced it 10 out of the 20 times. Part 2 was another story... I only did it error free twice! I did very well in parts 3 & 4 so I wasn't worried about those. My main concern is getting past part 2 of the test. I'm feeling very confident about parts 3 & 4 and somewhat confident about part 1.

At 2:30 the class was over. Brad handed each of us our Certificate of Completion, shook our hands and gave us the info we needed for the test.

I grabbed a soda from my cooler and headed home. I was in some serious pain. I ached everywhere. It’s like every muscle in my body had gotten a work out and still being sick didn’t help any.

As I write this on Wednesday evening, I’m feeling a lot better, though I do have a cough and sore throat. Everything else from the weekend “work out” is back to normal. I’m fully prepared to go downtown in the morning for the test…. But I’m betting that I’m going to fail it the first time. Wish me luck!

On to Part V

My Ride Chicago Experience: Part III - Range Day One

Saturday’s Class 9/18/2004: Riding Day One
Location: 185 S Damen (Damen & Monroe)

Friday during the day I had sore throat, stuffy nose and a fever. If I didn't go to the range.... I wouldn't get my money back so it was important that I felt better.... so Friday at work I took Dayquil, cough drops, drank lots of orange juice and had chicken soup from Panera Bread for lunch. By early afternoon, my fever was gone but the sore throat remained.

After work, I skipped dinner and went to bed at like 6pm. I slept 12 hours to 6am... like I said… I did NOT feel good!

I woke up feeling better than Friday but still a super bad sore throat.

I got ready and headed downtown.

The drive there was pretty simple. I took the Tri-State Tollway to the Kennedy and got off on Madison Street heading West. From there Damen was about a mile and a half up. At Damen, I turned left and the lot is on the right side just past the United Center.

I got there like an hour early (first one there)... they said when we took the classroom part to.... BE ON TIME.... NO EXCEPTIONS! So I listened to some shit on my iPod and waited for people to get there.

I don’t know who this is but the pic shows the sheds the bikes are kept in and note the Porta-Potty on the right, It’ll come into play later.

The class started with 13 people.... 10 of them were older than me (I'm 32) and the other 2 were right around my age. The class included 2 women (one in her 40's and one probably 35)

When Chris & Brad (the 2 guys that run the school) got there they pulled out a bike for everyone. It looked like they had a total of 14 bikes.



There were 2 Dirt Bikes... this is a pic of an actual one... (both looked pretty much identical)



There were about 5 Honda Rebels...



…and about 6 Modified Kawasaki Eliminators....


The 14th bike was a Honda Nighthawk but it wasn't used because the key is missing.

Everyone geared up. I noticed that all the helmets that they provide are now full-face, that's another reason I was glad I brought my own. The majority of the class used RC's helmets and gloves.

When it came time to assign everyone a bike, Brad assigned them…. You... take that one... you take this one. Before I knew it, all of the Honda Rebels (the one I planned on using) WERE GONE! When it came to me, he pointed me to a Dirt Bike. I said... "Is this the bike I'm gonna have to ride?" He replied, "Yes." So I asked... "Can I ride this one (Kawasaki cruiser) instead? This is just like the kind of bike I'm going to buy." He said "No problem." and I got to use the Kawasaki Eliminator.... just like this guy here....



Finally we were down to business!

At the beginning, it was easy....

• Proper way to mount a bike
• Proper way to dismount a bike
• The pre-ride inspection
• Start up procedure

Finally.... we got to turn them on!

After that it was straddle walking the bike to get a feel for its weight.

Then we could play with first gear and the clutch.... These are called Friction Zone exercises. Release the clutch slowly till it just starts to move then squeeze the clutch back in. That taught us where the clutch starts to engage the engine.

After a while we learned the basic skills of balancing and braking.

Then we brought up our feet so we could begin riding on the pegs.

Once we all were okay with riding on the pegs we learned about acceleration and deceleration and we got to ride in first gear for a bit until they said stop then straddle walk the bike around the curve and do it again....

Within 2 hours, one guy who was having a difficult time.... left and went home! Now there were 12 people....

At noon it was time for lunch... as I mentioned in Part II, they ordered all of us pizza (Domino's) because we agreed to allow them to merge the classes to 9am-2pm. Because I felt like crap and I didn't want to risk any lactose issues due to the cheese... not to mention the fact that I fucking hate Domino's pizza anyway... I didn't eat. I drank TONS of water. My throat still hurt a lot and the cold water helped it.

Then we began an exercise that I dreaded. It's the Counter-Steering exercise. After it was demonstrated to us, this guy Lou and I looked at each other and said.... "This isn't going to be good!"

The concept of Counter Steering is really scary because it's not natural…. to me anyway.

Let me try to explain a second.... When you're riding your bicycle and you want to turn LEFT you steer your bike to the LEFT... You basically push the RIGHT handle bar away (and pull the LEFT handle bar towards you) to force the tire to turn left. Ya with me so far?

Well in Counter Steering on a motorcycle, it's just the opposite. If I want to turn RIGHT, I need to push the RIGHT side away from me! That forces the motorcycle into a lean to the RIGHT and away you turn. The phenomenon is called Gyroscopic Precession. This is what happens when a lateral force is applied to the axis of a spinning gyroscope. Fucking hard to understand.

Okay.... so we all get back on our bikes... the demo is over... it's our turn.... he asks me if I want to go first.... I said NO!!.... he picked someone else. (Thank god) So I get all ready... I make sure that my helmet is on extra tight, I make sure my gloves are on tight... I button up my long sleeve shirt all the way..... basically I'm preparing myself for hitting the ground.... I'm positive that I'm gonna fall while attempting this exercise.

I felt a bit better after watching the first few people do the exercise with out wiping out. Before I knew it, it was my turn. I got the “go” from Chris and raced down the range. As soon as I got to the cones I pressed on the left handlebar… sure as shit, the bike leaned (and turned) to the left. Well... fuckin-a, I guess counter-steering DOES work!

The rest of the day soon became a blur with proper way to slow before corners, cone swerves, gear shifting, downshifting and the like.

When the class ended I was tired, sweaty, achy and thirsty. But ya know what? I had also ridden a motorcycle for my first time ever!

I said my goodbyes to the Chris & Brad and headed home. I still felt like shit so I ended up going to bed early…. I kept wondering what Sunday had in store!

On to Part IV

My Ride Chicago Experience: Part II - Classroom

Wednesday’s Class 9/15/2004: Classroom
Location: 5215 N Ravenswood (Ravenswood and Foster)

I left work at 3:30pm, went home and got my stuff ready for class. The drive took me a while (near and hour and a half) due to the weather (thunderstorms). Class started at 6PM but my goal was to get there by 5:30PM. Thank god for my trusty GPS because the directions I printed out sucked! I made it there right at 5:30.

I walked to the door of the office building and tried to open it… in typical Chicago fashion, it was locked. So I looked around and found an apartment style button system which would buzz the proper suite. Within seconds of hitting the button for Ride-Chicago the door began to buzz and in I went.

I noted that their suite began with a “2” so I headed right up the stairs and looked for an office. I saw the Ride-Chicago office but my focus was on the men’s bathroom because after 90 minutes in the car, I needed to take a piss! I checked the door and it was locked. I assumed it was occupied. I walked into the Ride-Chicago office and the second student to arrive was talking to a man at a desk. I asked him about the bathroom and of course... you need a key to use it. So… finally after emptying my bladder of the 20 ounces Sierra Mist I drank on the ride in I was set to talk with the man at the desk. He introduced himself as Brad and asked for my Driver’s License and Motorcycle Permit. He made copies of both and asked me how I wanted to pay. The choices were Cash or Credit Card. I handed him $300 in cash and he returned a $5.

He then pointed me in the direction of the classroom, which was about 10 feet away from the office.

Once the class started filling up our classroom instructor introduced himself as Chris. He had us go around the room and introduce ourselves, list any prior experience on a motorcycle and the reason you were taking the class. I’m pretty sure there were 13 people in the class.

I was picked to go first. What I basically said was… “I’m Craig, the only thing I’ve ridden is a Honda scooter about 10 years ago. Riding a motorcycle is something I’ve wanted to do for about the past 10 years. My daughter just turned 10… so I bet you can figure out why it didn’t happen.” The class laughed.

Some of the other reasons the other students brought up were “I just bought a bike and want to learn how to ride.” A woman in her mid 40’s said “I’ve always ridden on the back of a motorcycle… I think it’s time to move to the front seat.”

Each of us had to fill out some paperwork. Included were like 3 liability forms which basically said that if we got hurt in the range, we couldn't sue Ride-Chicago, its agents, the United Center, etc... pretty standard stuff, and quite expected.

The class started with a 50 minute video. Before Chris left the room he told us that there were two errors in the video and wanted us to look for them.

The video was pretty pathetic. It looked like it was produced by and for surfer dudes in California. I’m pretty sure we ALL noticed both errors… the video clearly tells us to only use the front brake and never the rear and how to safely ride between lanes of traffic in stop-and-go rush hour (a practice that’s legal in California but not here in Illinois) My advice to Brad & Chris... get a NEW video.

After the video we went through a binder containing a standard Motorcycle Operator’s Manual, which was very similar to the State of Illinois one. For $295 I kind of expected to be able to keep the binder but they apparently reuse them after every class.

Also included were over 100 questions on 4 pages. Chris had us divide up by table to find the answers. “You guys find answers to 1-5”, “You two 6-10” etc.

Then we went around and answered them aloud. We read the question and the answer we found. When we were done with Page 1 we moved on to pages 2, 3 & 4.

Since there were only 2 of us at the table I was at, and because I was seated to the left side, I ended up with the odd #’s and the European dude next to me got one question less on each page with the even numbers.

All the questions I answered were correct…. I can’t say the same about some of the other answers given but Chris was helpful and didn’t embarrass anybody. He also explained each answer and tried to make sure everyone understood. In some cases even using a model motorcycle so we could visualize exactly what was meant.

That process took over 3 hours. After a break Chris asked us who was signed up for the 7:00am-12:00pm class and who was signed up for the 12:30pm-5:30pm class for the range. Since there was only 14 of us he wanted to merge the two classes together to a 9:00am-2:00pm class. At first there were scheduling problems with others and it sounded like the two classes would remain separate.

After another break he offered to buy us all pizza on Saturday if we agreed to merge the two classes. As it turned out, there was only one remaining student who couldn't do it. They asked him if he could do the range portion the next weekend. He agreed. It didn't matter to me, in fact I was happy because it was 2 hours later.... but if I were one of the people who it did matter to... I would have been pissed!

After that it was test time… That‘s right… a test. I wasn’t aware there was going to be a test. I mean shit… we already had to pass the State test in order to get the Motorcycle permit! No big deal but it WAS 50 questions!

Chris assured us that any passing grade would do. Meaning even a “D” will pass. That meant we could get 20 wrong out of the 50. A piece of cake!

The questions were easy anyway. There were like 40 Multiple choice and 10 “Match the Motorcycle part to its correct name”

I was the second one done with the test. I turned it in to Chris and he told me to go to the office to pick out a free T-Shirt. (It's not really free... you get a shirt with your paid tuition.) He said we could leave if we wanted or come back into the classroom if we wanted to see our grade on it. I grabbed a shirt and headed back to the class.

He said “Way to go” and showed me the test. I got 3 wrong. It was an “A”. He asked me if I wanted to see which ones I got wrong… I said sure and looked at the 3 questions… one was a percentage of alcohol related accidents (I think I said 45% and the answer was 50%), another was about covering the clutch when stopped at an intersection and I don’t remember what the last one was. I handed the test back to Chris, shook his hand and said… “See ya on Saturday!” I was on the road home at about 10:30pm.

On to Part III

My Ride Chicago Experience: Part I - Preparation

In Illinois if one wants to learn how to ride a motorcycle and acquire the skills needed to pass the state's M test you have the choice of the free Illinois Cycle Rider Safety Training Program or now in the past few years, a couple private schools.

But why would someone pay $300 or even more to take private classes when there is a free option available?

Good question! It's all about supply and demand. It's hard as hell to get into the free program. If you don't sign up on the very DAY registration opens (mid-March) you will NOT be able to snag a spot in the class because the ENTIRE program for the ENTIRE year is booked up for the ENTIRE state of Illinois within 24 hours!! Then you have to waste every weekend by going up to a class location to see if someone doesn't show up so you can get in as a stand by. This might take several weekends to do since the people who were lucky enough to get a spot in the class know EXACTLY how hard it is to get into it... so.... unless they're dead or they've moved you're pretty much screwed!

I researched two private options. Ride-Chicago (RC) and Motorcycle Riding School (MRS) Both have classrooms in Chicago and both of their ranges use a United Center parking lot. Ride Chicago costs $295 + $40 for the first "M" test ($20 for any more attempts) while Motorcycle Riding School costs $375 with the first two "M" test attempts included.

MRS has been around since 2001 and has trained over 1,500 students. RC has been around since 2003 and has taught over 1,000.

I can't say that money wasn't a factor in this but it wasn't the deciding factor. I looked and looked for a review of either of the schools online but came up empty. That's part of the reason I'm writing this detailed account of my experience. Now... thanks to the power of the internet, a simple google search of Ride-Chicago or Ride Chicago pulls up my review on the very first results page!

Since I found no reviews, I based my choice mainly on the websites and the information they provided...

• The price was cheaper.

• I liked the fact that RC offered 1 on 1 instruction if needed, whereas MRS didn't. I figured there was a chance I'd need it.

• I liked that RC included pictures so I had some idea of what bikes they used and what the class looked like. After all, I did go to the local Honda dealership to play with the Rebel.

• Before I decided to buy my own helmet I liked the fact that RC's pics showed people in open face helmets while MRS said they provided all students with a full-face helmet. I wasn't sure if I'd be comfortable in a full-face helmet.

After some consideration, I decided to enroll in RC on their website and I picked the next open class which was one week later.

The Preparation: Things you need to know
Website: www.ride-chicago.com

Class Price: $295.00 (Using their facility & motorcycle. To take the State test is an additional $40)

Students must attend all classes. Missing or being late will automatically disqualify you.

Items you need to bring…

For the Classroom
• Your Driver's License
• Your Motorcycle Permit

For the Range
• Long denim pants
• Long sleeve shirt or jacket
• Over the ankle boots
• Sunglasses/glasses

To get the Illinois State Motorcycle Permit, download the study guide here and go to your local Illinois DMV to take the written test for it. The test was 15 questions and you can get up to 3 wrong and still pass. For the record…. I got 100%

My Preparation: Things I did to get ready before the class…

Gloves: Ride-Chicago provides gloves for those that don't have them but I decided to buy my own. Gloves was the easiest of the three items I wanted to buy for the class. While up in Harvard visiting Dave & Kay I stopped in at Harvard Motorsports. You can visit their very crappy website here.

I looked through their selection of gloves. It ranged from a really cheap $10 pair to over $100 for racing gloves, which I suspect were made to match the color & design of ones helmet. I decided on a $30 pair of Olympia’s. They’ve got reflective things on the knuckles and gel padding. I tried Medium which fit well but they were too tight in the pinky, so I decided on Large which was perfect on all fingers and just a tad too long in the thumb. I guess I’m right between sizes.

Boots: So… what the hell do I do about Boots? The last time I bought boots I was…. You know… come to think of it… I’ve NEVER bought myself a pair of boots! That must mean that the last time I had boots they were snow boots and I was in school! I forced Valerie to accompany me to Payless Shoes to buy a pair of work boots that would do the job until I find myself (and can afford) REAL motorcycle boots. We bought Stanley Steel Toe Work Boot - $29.99

In order to get used to boots again after a LOOOOONG hiatus, I wore them to work and on errands n shit and decided that they were too heavy for me. While Valerie & I were checking out the new Wal-Mart in Palatine (Dundee Road) a pair of Brahma Boots caught my eye. They were lighter and somewhat gym shoe like… even though they DO have steel toes. Anyway… they were like $21 so we bought them. The next day Valerie was able to return the ones from Payless, so all worked out in the end.

Helmet: Based on the pictures at Ride-Chicago’s website (all open-face) and the fact that I thought a full face helmet might be somewhat claustrophobic as a first helmet, I decided to look for an open-face helmet. Since going up to Harvard on Friday’s was becoming a routine on, Sept 10th, I decided to check out Harvard Motorsports for their selection.


The only open face helmet they sell is Bell’s Tourlite SC It's both DOT and SNELL approved. After trying it on in the store for a bit I decided to spend the $99 and buy it.

After wearing it a little more on Friday night and a bit on Saturday I learned to regret my buying decision. This wasn’t the helmet for me. I wanted to return the helmet the next day but they were closed Sunday & Monday.

As the new week started and time was drawing short, I had to make a decision. Buy a new helmet or wait to see if I can return the Bell helmet first?

First I had to find a helmet that I liked based strictly on style. Basically a 3/4 Helmet without the Bell’s cheek smushers.

Based on research on the internet I quickly found the HJC CS-5 which is also both DOT and SNELL approved. Also available in Wine.

Monday during lunch from work I called about 10 places locally to find out who had it in stock so I can try it on and buy it. No luck… call after call they either didn’t carry the HJC line or they didn’t have any of the CS-5’s in stock.

Since the CS-5 only cost $62.99, I decided to order it at http://www.helmetshop.com and hope for the best.

Now I know that it’s not really a good idea to buy a helmet without trying it on first but based on my size for the Bell helmet and comparing Bell’s & HJC’s sizing charts I decided to take the chance… time was short anyway. They told me I should get it by Wednesday.
After work Tuesday, again, I headed up to Harvard (I should have bought it locally dammit!) After a 90 minute drive up I headed to the store. They weren’t originally going to give me a refund for the helmet… they gave me some crap about returning a “used” helmet, but in the end… they decided that it was better to take it back than it was to piss off a new motorcycle rider.

The HJC helmet arrived the next day and it fit perfectly! So I was all set for class!

You should also note that Ride-Chicago does supply helmets (and gloves) but I didn't want to stick my head (and hands) into something that others have sweated heavily into.

Okay… Class Time!! On to Part II

3 years later...

This whole blog thing...

... was easier when I was unemployed!

I've been keeping busy. I've been at my new job for about 3 1/2 months now.

Alyssa is beginning phase one of braces and just began 5th grade. Nicholas is now in 2nd grade and hasn't been feeling to well the last couple days. (fever n shit)

For the past several Fridays I've been driving up to Harvard to visit Dave & Kay. It's nice to be able to get away from it all and head up into the country. They live in a subdivision called Shadow Creek. The neighborhood isn't complete yet... they've still got construction going on... but I expect them to be done by spring.

Since the evenings have been nice and cool, we've sat on their patio and Dave & I have enjoyed a few cigars. No, I haven't started smoking again... but when I'm up there I do have a few stogies while enjoying the evening.

Because the kids aren't in the car and I don't have to listen to my nagging wife... on the way back home I've always tried to beat my previous time. Last night.... I wasn't able to break my previous record of 53 minutes because I got pulled over by a McHenry County Sheriff. 74 in a 55. I've never been pulled over by a teenie-bopper before... I'm telling you... this girl "Deputy" looked like she was on a "Take your daughter to work day!"

I consider myself lucky because had she driven my way about 2 minutes earlier.... the ticket would have been much worse... I was driving around 90 mph. And before you start giving me crap about speeding let me point out that at 1:30am on Route 14 heading south Between Harvard & Crystal Lake is COMPLETELY dead. I wasn't putting anyone at risk except myself. I wasn't driving reckless.. just quickly. Anyway... the ticket will cost me $75... but it will really cost me $105 to opt for the supervision & traffic school. It's the first ticket I've gotten since 1994!!!! It's been 10 years! I gave this little girl playing cop my AAA card (doubles as a bond card) so I could keep my license. I'll be needing to keep that for Wednesday.

I haven't mentioned it yet on the blog but for those of you who want an update on my Bell's Palsy... it's getting better... slowly but surely. My right eyebrow is moving quite a bit now and I have some more movement of the right side of my face. I'm in no pain now but back 2 months ago I had a very localized pain in the back of my head. It hurt extremely bad... to the point that the pain woke me up in the middle of the night and I had a hard time sleeping for a couple weeks. It concerned me so I went back to the ER and had a Cat Scan of my head. The doctors found no problems. The pain was the pinched nerve which caused the issue in the first place.

Valerie's birthday is coming up on the 21st. Which is the same day that the Star Wars Trilogy FINALLY comes out on DVD!

More later...

Pup shoots man, saves litter mates

I told this story to Kay and she thought I was joking!

Read the whole article here.

Apple announces the new iMac...

It looks pretty cool... Check it out here.

Nikon to increase digital production, exit film

"Kimura said Nikon had no plans to stop producing film SLRs, but that it may next year start considering pulling out of the film compact camera business due to a sharp plunge in demand."

"There is still the matter of timing, but eventually we will have to dissolve this business," Kimura said. "There really is no region in the world where you can do good business in compact film cameras anymore."

Article here.

Yes... I'm still alive...

Between spending time with my friend Kay researching, inspecting, purchasing, and closing on her new townhouse and getting a job, I've been busy of late.

Busy, busy, busy... I still haven't seen "The Day After Tomorrow" or even "Harry Potter 3" yet! Which is very unlike me since I took a half day from work to catch HP2 when it came out.

I'll update more later... for now I'm gonna post about this new product Apple announced today.

Apple Announces "Airport Express"

Website link here. Press Release here. MacWorld article here.

I'm going to post the MacWorld articles here just in case they move...

A First Take on AirPort Express
Today Apple announced AirPort Express, a product that manages in true Apple fashion to be about a half-dozen ideas rolled together into one small white plastic box.

Looking weirdly like an Apple power brick (it measures less than 4-by-3-by 1 inches, and weighs less than 7 ounces) , the $129 AirPort Express is an AirPort Base Station, a wireless relay, a wireless bridge, a music streamer for stereos and powered speakers, a wireless print server, and an answer to the prayers of PowerBook-toting business travelers.

Let's start with the basics. Due to arrive in users' hands in July, the AirPort Express is an AirPort Base Station that fits in the palm of your hand. It doesn't offer all the niceties of the UFO-shaped AirPort models, such as support for up to 50 users, separate LAN and WAN ports, an external antenna connector, or a built-in modem. This means that Apple has finally released an AirPort Extreme base station that's more reasonably priced for casual home users.

But I suspect AirPort Express will really shine as an additional wireless product. For example, you can use it as a relay point in concert with an AirPort Extreme Base Station to extend the range of your wireless network and help you bring Internet connectivity to dead spots in your home, office, or school.

For business travelers who've gotten used to working wirelessly, being tethered to a short (and often inconveniently placed) network cable in a hotel room can be infuriating. But I imagine a whole bunch of those road warriors will soon be including an AirPort Express in their travel kit; once you get to the hotel, we'll plug an AirPort Express into the wall and the broadband cable. From there on out, we'll be able to surf wirelessly from the desk, the bed, the couch, heck, even the bathroom sink!

AirPort Express also has a USB port and the same USB printer-sharing features as its AirPort Extreme cousins. So if you've got a shared printer in your family, office, or classroom, you can place it in a central location and attach it to an AirPort Express, making it available to everyone on your network.

If you're using AirPort Express as a base station, you'd plug your Internet connection into it via its included Ethernet port. But if your main base station is an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express, you can also use the AirPort Express as a wireless bridge -- just plug it in somewhere else in your house, and attach any Ethernet-based device to it. That device will now be on your network, even though it's nowhere near the rest of your stuff.

So, sounds great, right? A $129 mini AirPort Base Station. What else could you ask for?

But I haven't even mentioned the most radical part of the AirPort Express, the part that will probably sell more AirPort Expresses than any of the features I've mentioned up to now:

It's got an audio-out jack on it.

That's because AirPort Express is also an audio streamer, letting you connect any set of powered speakers or any stereo with a mini-jack- or optical-audio-input to your iTunes library and play music remotely. Stick one next to your home theater receiver, and you can listen to your iTunes music collection. Thanks to an update to iTunes (version 4.6, due later this week), iTunes will now be able to play music either through your computer's speakers or through speakers attached to any AirPort Express -- you choose where the music goes via a pop-up menu at the bottom of your iTunes window. (Find out more about how it works in my "How AirTunes Works" blog entry.)

It's encouraging to see Apple embracing digital music in places away from the Mac or the iPod. Of course, you must still use have iTunes open and running on a computer in order to play music to AirPort Express... but a lot of iTunes users want exactly what AirPort Express will give them: an easy way to play their tunes through their home stereo, or to a small set of speakers on the back porch, or into a child's bedroom.

With its simplicity and iTunes integration, I suspect that AirPort Express will be a big hit. I can't wait to get my hands on one.

(Updated 6/7 at 1:09 PM PT: Added information about the Wireless Bridge capabilities, per Greg Joswiak.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
article two...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How AirTunes Works
I spent a little bit of time with Greg Joswiak, Apple's Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing, talking about how the new AirPort Express works, especially the new AirTunes audio features.

Essentially, AirTunes is a method of creating remote speakers for a copy of iTunes, and sending data to those remote speakers via a wireless network. That network can be formed by connecting an AirPort Express to another AirPort Express, to an AirPort Extreme Base Station, or even to a non-apple 802.11b or 802.11g access point.

When you select an AirPort Express device in the new pop-up menu at the bottom of the iTunes 4.6 interface, that device essentially replaces your Mac's speakers as the audio-output source for whatever you do in iTunes. At that point you can do anything you'd normally do in iTunes -- play music from your Library, from someone else's library, or from your iPod; play an Internet radio stream; even play an audiobook. The sound won't come out of your Mac -- it'll come out of the speakers attached to the AirPort Express.

For those wondering if AirPort Express supports MP3, AAC, or any other specific file formats, the answer is no. AirPort Express supports Apple's Lossless Compression technology -- and everything that your iTunes streams across the network to Airport Express is compressed using that technology.

iTunes does the heavy lifting. When iTunes plays back standard audio content (AAC, MP3, audiobooks, music streams), it decompresses those file formats and creates what's essentially a raw, uncompressed audio stream. That stream is compressed on the fly using Apple's Lossless Compression, encrypted, and sent to the AirPort Express. AirPort Express decrypts the stream, decodes it, and outputs it in either analog format (if you plug in a standard analog mini jack) or as a digital PCM stream (if you plug in a mini-sized optical cable, which you can get from most major cable suppliers or straight from Apple for $39).

If iTunes is playing back a digital multichannel file format like AC3 (Dolby Digital) or DTS, those bitstreams are wrapped in Apple's compression and encryption, and then decoded at the other end. In those cases, AirPort Express would end up streaming the raw AC3 or DTS stream via an optical cable to your home theater receiver for decoding.

This means that if you're currently listening to music on speakers attached to your Mac, AirPort Express doesn't change the Mac side of the experience at all: you're still using iTunes as your musical interface, and you've got to keep that Mac on and iTunes open in order to keep the music playing. (As opposed to a device like Slim Devices' Squeezebox, [4 mice, April 2004], which is operated by an infrared remote control and has its own display to show you what's playing and let you change what you're listening to.) You can also only play one thing at a time, and to only one set of speakers. But now those speakers can be just about anywhere.

Apple's not ruling out taking those sorts of approaches -- Joswiak himself agreed that some sort of remote-control device would be a cool addition to AirPort Express. But as Joswiak put it to me, this is a first step for Apple in getting iTunes music into another part of your life -- in this case, into places where there are no computers or iPods.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This certainly sounds like good news! I'm going to rush out and buy one in July... I'll let you know how well it works.

Leo says goodbye...

The Cast and some crew have shared some of their memories of working on Call-For-Help. Link here.

The final episode aired Friday... I haven't seen it yet (TiVo) but I for one will greatly miss it. I've watched it everyday for a couple years.

Read his blog entry here.

W Hotels are launching iTunes Days...

Tune into your summer Wonderland. Once a month, remix your Tuesday with iTunes® Day at W Hotels. This is your invitation to mix it up in a digital soundscape. Join other W Hotel guests and live DJs for this monthly event in select cities. Link. Shuffle in for "AppleiTini" drink specials while DJs spin music off iPods

They also have a new section on iTMs

Article Here.

The Earth is running out of oil!!

Yes, a scary thought! CNN's got an article up that explains that "...rising consumption is outpacing the discovery of new crude reserves." and "...the discovery of huge pools of oil beneath the earth's surface has hit a dry spell."

With that in mind and gas priced skyrocketing, you've gotta admit that cars like Toyota's Prius are looking more and more attractive! Although a little odd looking, it has (with options) built in Bluetooth & in dash GPS!

The Prius is a bit small for me.... I drive an SUV, a Chevy Blazer... it doesn't have great gas mileage... I think I can get 20 hwy and 13 city. I wonder if it's about time the car manufacturers start making more hybrid and alternate fuel car models.

Arm & a Leg

Article here.

Awesome Tornado Video...

Check out this video, provided the bandwidth holds up! (it's 26.5 MB)

This video is amazing... you can clearly see an entire house get sucked up into the twister!

The Bourne Supremacy Trailer Online...

I loved the first movie! The trailer looks good, so the sequel might not suck.

Check it out here.

dotmac.info announces winners of the 2004 Movie Competition

You can see the pro & amateur winners here...

http://dotmac.info/filmfest/winners

For you shutterbugs out there...

...that are either too unfortunate to own a Mac or are just plain stupid and love their PCs...

iView Multimedia finally released MediaPro for Windows today.

iView Multimedia today announced that its award winning professional media management software iView MediaPro is available for the Windows platform. iView MediaPro 2.5 now offers the same robust. highly flexible media management for both Windows and Mac users. Designed for creative professionals in film, video, photography, broadcast, education and scientific fields, iView MediaPro helps streamline workflows.

If you take a lot of digital pictures you NEED this software. I have over 15,000 pics catalogued in MediaPro for the Mac. I absolutely love this software. It's well worth the newly raised price of $199.00

You can download a demo here.

Happy Birthday To Me...

32 today... that sucks. Got a new cell phone (see new moblog link on the left), going out to Rokbonki for dinner.

Some iTunes singles pricings reportedly to rise to $1.25

MacNN is reporting that...

Apple will reportedly be raising the price of some singles on iTunes to $1.25, according to today's New York Post, which quotes unnamed sources. The move comes as all five major record labels recently resigned and apparently renegotiated some terms of their contracts with Apple. Some albums have already been subject to higher pricing for the last few months, and labels also reportedly wanted to have the option of selling only full albums, an idea that Apple rebuffed. EMI and Sony Music, which launched its own online music service, are said to have been the most aggressive on pricing. If the price of some singles does in fact rise to $1.25, it would be counter to what Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the media when the third-generation iTunes Music Store launched just ten days ago.

I can't say I'm happy about that!

Article Here.

UPDATE: Apple is denying this rumor.

"These rumors aren't true," said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Sequeira. "We have multiyear agreements with the labels and our prices remain 99 cents a track."

Article Here.

Oh, the humanity...

On this date in 1937, The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crewmembers.

Your CD/DVD-R's ain't gonna last forever...

For maximum longevity, discs should be stored vertically and only be handled by the edges. Don't stick labels on them, and in the case of write-once CDs, don't write on them with anything but soft water-based or alcohol-based markers.

Rewriteable CDs and DVDs, as opposed to write-once discs, should not be used for long-term storage because they contain a heat-sensitive layer that decays much faster than the metal layers of other discs.

Full article here.

Comcast's G4 has fired the entire staff of TechTV!

From Leo Laporte's blog...

I've just learned that G4 has fired the entire staff of TechTV.

Per the WARN Act (governing plant closings) all the employees of TechTV have been given 60 days notice. The San Francisco operation will be shuttered by July. 100 of the existing jobs will be posted for those willing to relocate to LA.

Outgoing COO, Joe Gillespie will say good-bye to the troops tomorrow. Incoming CEO Charles Hirschorn will say hello (and good-bye) on Monday.

No word on which shows G4 will keep or which hosts will be kept on.

Link here. News.Com Article Here.

I created an iMix for iTunes 4.5

Drops of Jupiter - Train
Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls
Trouble - Coldplay
I Will Buy You a New Life - Everclear
Superman - Five for Fighting
Heaven - Live
Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Clocks - Coldplay
Out of My Head - Fastball
Unwell (Live Acoustic) - Matchbox Twenty
Name - The Goo Goo Dolls
I Fought the Law - Green Day
Sympathy - The Goo Goo Dolls
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger
My Hero - Foo Fighters
All I Need - Matchbox Twenty
Alive - P.O.D.
Overcome - Live
If You're Gone - Matchbox Twenty
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
One Week - Barenaked Ladies
Wherever You Will Go - The Calling

You can access the iMix here, if you have iTunes 4.5 installed.

Exposé in action

Here's a look at my desktop using the Exposé feature. I certainly had a lot loaded at once!

Click image to enlarge

Stupid Net Tricks

The Famous Subservient Chicken
http://www.subservientchicken.com/

Penguin Baseball
http://alec.at.tut.by/penguin.swf

Bloody Penguin Baseball
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/pingu2.php

Toboggan Run
http://www.wedu.com/sledrun/tobogganrun.php

Stick Figure Penalty Chamber 1
http://www.flashplayer.com/games/stickfigurepenalty_movie.php#bottom

Stick Figure Penalty Chamber 2
http://www.flashplayer.com/games/stickfigurepenalty2_movie.php#bottom

The Skull Kid
http://www.flashplayer.com/games/skullkid_movie.php#bottom

Ray - Part 1
http://www.flashplayer.com/games/ray_movie.php#bottom

Bush Shoot-out
http://www.miniclip.com/bushshootout.htm



Other places for fun games...

http://www.candystand.com

http://www.nabiscoworld.com

Apple Releases iTunes 4.5

New features include...

- Free Downloads/Single of the Week
- iMix - Publish Your Playlists
- Music Videos Page
- Movie Trailers
- Radio Charts
- Party Shuffle
- CD Insert Printing
- Wish List
- Import WMA Files (Windows)
- Lossless Encoder

Now you can give up to 5 computers access to songs you bought on the iTunes music store for personal use, up from 3.

Download it here.

Today's free song is "My Hero" by the "Foo Fighters" you can download that here.

Happy Birthday iTunes Music Store!

The iTunes Music Store turned 1 today. Here's how the store's looking at 1 year old...

More than 700,000 tracks
Find out what’s playing on more than 1,000 radio stations
View movie trailers
Use your AOL account
Watch music videos
View the iTunes Music Store in a separate window
Share music with up to 5 Macs and PCs
Publish an iMix on the store
Tell a friend about an album via email with cover art
More than 5,000 audiobooks
Save store previews in a playlist to purchase later
Allowance accounts
Gift certificates
Quick Links
iTunes exclusives
Download today's free download. "My Hero" by the "Foo Fighters" Here.

Bold = new with iTunes 4.5

I was among the first to use the iTunes Music Store (immediately after its release) and over the past year I've purchased a total of 250 songs. That's roughly $250 which is $235 more than I spent in the previous 5 years on music. It's no wonder that iTMs is the most successful of the online music stores.

Happy Birthday iTunes Music Store... and many more to come!!

Craig's Official Camcorder Buyer Advice

A question was posted on the TiVo forum that I frequent... "I have a baby due in 3 weeks, should I buy a camcorder?"

I replied a couple times and since then I've received a BUNCH of e-mails asking me questions about camcorder buying and video editing so I decided to put together a few thoughts here so if you're in the market for a new video camera it will at least point you in the right direction.

* THE FORMAT *
The format you want is MiniDV. MiniDV is the only way to go according to many. (you get more brand choices than with Sony's Digital 8 format) And if you plan to edit the video there is nothing easier... firewire cable from camcorder to computer and import.

* DECIDE ON A PRICE RANGE *
Decide how much you want to spend. There's no real point in researching the current $1,500 cameras if you can only spend $600 on yours.

* THE RESEARCH *
My camcorder is currently a JVC. I'm about up for a new one. I'll hopefully buy a new one later this year. When it IS time to buy, I will go to camcorderinfo.com to decide on which one is the best for me. Decide if a 1 chip or a 3 chip camcorder is right for you and remember that if you plan to shoot a lot indoors, the camera's low light performance is what really counts! The large the chip (CCD) size the better the low light performance.

DO NOT buy a camcorder for it's "Still Image" Features. They all look like crap and they're not worth the extra money. If you want to take good still pictures, buy a Digital Still Camera... the vast majority of which will look better than a crappy camcorder still.

* THE WARNING *
If you DO plan on editing all of your video with a Mac/PC.... DO NOT BUY A CAMCORDER THAT BURNS DIRECTLY TO DVD! It's compressed down to MPEG-2 (quality loss) and MPEG 2 isn't an editing format. (more quality loss and time wasted converting it to an editable format.)

* VIDEO EDITING *
Video Editing is highly addictive! Especially on a Mac using Final Cut! Whatever your computer preference, you can create DVDs to send to friends & family. You can edit down the footage so it's not boring or edit it down so it's actually viewable by your parents/in-laws so they don't SEE or HEAR anything they shouldn't!

It's amazing how many different things you can do with the SAME footage! I've created a video for the us... the parents. (kids growing up), I've created a video for the kids that's goofy and makes them laugh, a lot of it has to do with timing, and the music you add over it.

Here's one of my first (and last) iMovies... (not kid related... it's VEGAS baby!) No one wants to see the whole 2+ hours of crap I shot, so I made this little video of our vegas trip and one of the dog...

Here's a link that might be of interest...

http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000019/RESOURCES.html

Up yours Real!!

As you may or may not be aware... RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser has been whining because he wants Apple to open up the iPod to other music services... mainly THEIRS!

In early April Glaser sent an e-mail to Jobs proposing that the two companies join together in the digital music business against Microsoft. Glaser pretty much threatened to switch support to Microsoft if they didn't come to an agreement. Great article here. Apple leaked the e-mail to the New York Times brining this to public light.

Steve Jobs publically responded today stating...

"To be honest, it's just not worth it," Jobs said, noting that RealNetworks has made a number of overtures to Apple and adding that Real's music service has been "less than successful."

I agree... I say screw RealNetworks. They were on the top of the streaming media game back in the day but as competition began they were soon the loser. I agree with Cooper's article... RealPlayer is an inferior (and I'll add bloated) product that's riddled with ads we don't want and secretly 'calls the mothership' constantly! And to top it off... people want to OWN their music NOT rent it per a subscription based system like RealNetwork's.

Read the full article here.

Wow... I never thought this would happen...

From MacNN

AOL opens email access
Starting today, AOL customers can begin accessing their email from any IMAP-supported third-party email program, as opposed to having to use AOL's software.

Instructions on how to set it up... here.

I've tested it in Panther's Mail program. It works like a charm!

It's about damn time!

Update: It appears we can receive the e-mail just fine in OSX's Mail but we can't send out. This is AOL's fault and it doesn't appear they care.

Disney music FINALLY on iTMs

The catalog of Walt Disney Records, including soundtracks from Disney’s classic animated films and Disney/Pixar’s computer-animated films, is now available exclusively on the iTunes Music Store through Sep 30.

This is great news! I'm guessing after Sept 30th, they'll open it up to other music services.

Read the full Joint Press Release here.

Leo is BACK!!

"I'm very pleased to say that thanks to your overwhelming show of support and to a strong desire on both our parts to come to an agreement, TechTV has improved its offer and I've decided to climb back aboard the good ship Call for Help.

I'll be back on the air starting next Tuesday, April 20.

The future is still a little cloudy, however. Comcast assumes ownership of the channel a few weeks later and I have no idea what will happen after that. I am certain they've been impressed by your support for the show, however, and if that doesn't convince them to keep it on the air, I don't know what could."

Read his blog entry here.

Off to see Kill Bill Volume 2

If you need more convincing that it's a must see....

Check out these reviews...
CNN Review, Roger Ebert, Rolling Stone

See the trailer here...
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/kill_bill/volume_II/trailer/

iPod Mini users report static problem...

"Apple is aware of a few, isolated reports online of iPod mini audio static," said an Apple spokesman on Monday, adding that iPod minis come with a one-year warranty and 90 days of free technical phone support. "If a customer has any technical issues, they should contact AppleCare."

Article Here.

It pays to be rich!

This is John Travolta & Kelly Preston's house in Florida.

Travolta uses the planes to go to work when his sets are close enough, and comes home everyday.