This past weekend Alex, Page, and I drove out to my favorite camping spot in the Mojave Desert (and no, I cannot divulge it’s secret location). Before we left we stocked up on an interesting assortment of camp food: kippered herring, Spam with bacon, water, beans, chips, jerky, hot dogs, etc. We forgot some of the more important items: hot chocolate, cigars, Levi Garrett, marshmallows. As a side note: Spam with bacon may just be the ultimate camp food. If you’re going camping, buy a lot! The weather was great although it got a little cold at night. No beasts of nature attacked us and we didn’t suffer any injuries from plants or insects. Page was having a blast being a desert camp dog. She would follow us around and chase lizards. She also was enjoying digging in the dirt and getting nice and dusty. Ahh, the life of a dog! During the day we took some hiking treks around and also did some stone balancing (note: here is where the Levi or cigars would have come in handy). Another good trip on the books!
Finally turned the engine over on the GoldWing again this weekend, difference being that this time the exhaust wasn’t belching out white smoke and the radiator didn’t start weeping bright green coolant all over my driveway. It shouldn’t be long now until the bike is completely done, dressed, tuned, and ready to ride. All that’s left to do now is wire in the air horn and voltmeter, sync the carbs, then put all the plastic back on. It may be my excited imagination and pride at this restoration project, but the engine definitely sounded much stronger and smoother. I think the combination of new plugs, adding the relay to the ignition coils, wiring in the new harness to give the plugs a full 12 volts, and putting on new timing belts has given new life to a classic engine. I’m hoping to have the bike completely finished in a week or so (with a new windshield I plan to cut to size) and ready to ride. I’ll also submit a total write up with all of the tips, tricks, and hard lessons learned.
Well, the 1200 revival project has started in earnest today. Got most of the fairing off and am doing a few electrical checks to see what parts I need to order. Got a lot to do so figure this will take the next month or two. The old ‘Wing will be looking like a star and purring like a kitten when we’re all done!
Believe it or not, everything in this entire video is 100% CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). Done entirely on 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere by Alex Roman. Pretty amazing stuff. I recommend viewing full screen. Don’t forget to turn it up!
In my home office, I predominantly use Skype for business calls as it is way cheaper for me than using a land line or the air time on my cell phone. Since I am often on the phone a lot, I decided to get a new USB headset and settled on the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 (found on Amazon here). Upon receiving the headsets I was pleased with the comfort and in-line mute and volume controls. Installation on my XP machine worked flawlessly and all was going well until I fired up Skype and started my first call of the day. All of the sudden I couldn’t hear myself when I spoke although others could hear me. This might not sound like a big deal to some but let me tell you it is weird and I found myself stumbling on my words a bit. I was able to keep working but knew there had to be a solution. There was nothing out on any forums so I just started clicking through sound menus until, low and behold, I found the solution! So I now present it to you. Continue reading ‘Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000: can’t hear yourself when talking on Skype?’
The ‘84 Honda Goldwing Aspencade 1200 rises from the ashes…reborn in gloss black and ready to hit the road. Planned trips include: Denver via New Mexico, San Diego up the coast to Seattle, Montana via Wyoming.
