Blog Archive

Portland 2015

Portland 2015

Spent a weekend in the Portland, OR area for a Hash House Harrier event in early September and had such a great time exploring with my friends who live across the river in Vancouver, WA.  I stayed with them in Vancouver and found that I liked their area more than I liked Portland proper.  Portland is just too much for more than a day or two.  The homeless population is ridiculously high, but still not as high as San Francisco…

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Score one for the customer / little guy

Score one for the customer / little guy

My dreams have come true.  Expedia has reimbursed me for the double booking issue!!!! August 26, 2015 Darin Klein Re: Itinerary #xxxxxxxxxx Dear Mr. Klein, Thank you for contacting Expedia via Facebook and giving us an opportunity to address your concerns regarding a refund request for itinerary xxxxxxxxxx. We regret the difficulty you experienced during your attempt to purchase one night at Howard Johnson Hotel Golden for check-in August 7, 2015. Our research indicates you were unable to see a…

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Could I like John Oliver any more? Nope.

Could I like John Oliver any more? Nope.

Thank you John Oliver for shining a HUGE LIGHT on these HORRIBLE people. Yes, a sucker is born every minute, but there has to be a way to keep these “religious” shysters from stealing so much money for their own greedy purposes. Perhaps this can be fixed, then we can move on to corporations.

2015 Trip Notes are “done”

2015 Trip Notes are “done”

The final page is pretty much done.  I’m likely going to add some more pictures as I go through them as well as re-reading and fixing spelling and grammar mistakes. View it here:  link

Mattress Fun

Mattress Fun

I had been thinking of getting a new mattress for about a year and began investigating the new-comers and highly rated mattress options currently available. I have had a Tempurpedic for over 10 years and liked it, but wanted to replace it. In the past six months I had narrowed my search down to the “Tuft & Needle” and the “Casper” mattress based on reviews and material/construction methods. Having one friend who has a girlfriend with a “T&F” who said he liked it, and another…

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2015 July ride to South Dakota

2015 July ride to South Dakota

I rode to Rapid City, SD to visit family and ride with my brother who brought his motorcycle out from Indiana.  I took the same route as three years ago through Moab and Denver to get home. It was about 1,230 miles one way and my total mileage after arriving home was around 2,900 miles. The first day I rode from Phoenix, AZ to Rifle, CO which took about 13.5 hours with gas/food stops.  I stopped for dinner in Moab,…

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Master Bath Completion

Master Bath Completion

Back in March I began the fun of tearing out carpet & linoleum to put down tile throughout the house.  There was tile already installed in the family room and kitchen so I bought tile to match, hired some people, and got to work. (Tile Work Link) Well… that tile work was done in April. I finished the guest bathroom and have been using it as my primary until the master bath was complete.  A few months later and it’s…

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Out with the 2007, in with the 2011

Out with the 2007, in with the 2011

Last Friday I went in for an oil change and came out with a newer car.  My 2007 Prius (package 6) had 130,000+ miles on it and was running well except for an annoying sound every 10 seconds that I think was the hydraulic pump associated with the braking/re-gen system. It’s a big repair and I figured I’d take a look and see what was available before I would have to seriously think of getting it fixed. Well, they had…

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Deciding on a helmet

Deciding on a helmet

My HJC CL-16 has been a great helmet, but with my long summer rides I’d like to have something lighter and quieter. This has been a long process and after eliminating the many helmets and getting down to the Schuberth C3 Pro and the Shoei, it’s the Shoei RF-1200 that has taken the lead. The RF-1200 has been recommended by numerous friends and after talking with some Schuberth folks about the shape of the helmet (more round – I am…

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Plug-in broken for images… finding a new plug-in

Plug-in broken for images… finding a new plug-in

Google made an update that has broken my Picasa plug-in so I am looking for a new plugin that works well. (5/8/2015) Update 5/10/2015 – everything is working again.  I had to go back to the free plug-in from the pay plug-in.  Very strange, but it worked. 🙂