I started with the How-To Geek article, which was very helpful. The jailbreak code provided, however, wasn’t the ticket. Apparently v3.2.1 has problems with that particular hack. I did find one by Yifan Lu that almost worked, then a mod to that one written by Serge Levin that almost worked too. :-( Apparently there’s something in 3.2.1 that prevents it from working. I gave up, unregistered, and restored the factory defaults.

I found a couple posts by chas0039 that offered yet another solution, including links to the latest hacks. Basically, they go through the hacks above, but with wireless turned off. Also, creating a blank .assets file in the KSO system folder. Finally, everything worked great!

With trepidation, I turned on wireless and connected, then registered. Still working!

There also seems to be some rumor that things will change yet again with v3.3. We’ll see!

The small spark of a damp weed against the fence had alerted him to the fact that the fence was wired. He was fortunate that tonight’s lightning storm provided cover, both auditory and visual, for the disabling of the high-voltage charging system with his silenced HK45. The rain didn’t dissuade him from his task; in fact, the mission had been on hold, waiting for just such a night, as it considerably helped by increasing the night’s background noise to a more comfortable level for maneuvers. On a still night, the rattle of a chain link fence or the metallic ting of snipped barbed wire fence could echo dangerously. He’d seen no movement in any of the lighted windows of the main house, nor seen or heard the guard dog who was loose somewhere. At least Beach had alerted him to that.

The rain would keep the dog under cover. It would also keep common burglars at home, so the lone security guard inside would probably be less vigilant. Scott’s senses, however, were tightly tuned, not distracted by the rain, thunder or occasional lightning that had assisted him just prior to his fence climb. He stood, sheltered for the moment by the garage roof overhang under which he’d squatted, and made out the corner of the machine shed that blocked the doghouse from view. He padded quietly to the far corner across the cement drive, hugged the shed wall, and pulled a ziploc bag from his thin backpack. Opening it, he pulled the cord lashed around the thick ham bone, and winding back, swung it around the corner toward the doghouse.

Quickly sprinting back to the other side of the machine shed, he silently jumped up on the outside pallet rack that held myriad tires, scrap parts and used 55 gallon drums. He crouched for several minutes to give the dog time to settle in with the bone, then stretched himself down and quickly walked toward the east wing of the manor house. Only three windows were lit – a second floor pair covered by sheer curtains and a first floor frosted window that glowed somewhat blue. The former he knew belonged to the master bedroom, the latter the small security room. Beach had determined that the lone guard, a 56-year old retired security van driver, spent most of his time on duty browsing the internet. An alarm system, but no cameras, was his only monitor of outside conditions.

Undoubtedly the guard had by now noticed that the electric fence wasn’t functional, but Scott guessed he was too comfortable inside on a night like this to bother coming outside to check on it. He’d probably connected the charging system failure with the fortuitous lightning strike, an assumption he’d come to regret by morning. The owners of the house probably had complete faith in their security arrangements,   an assumption they’d come to regret by morning too. The dog had probably assumed that meaty bones just naturally dropped out of the sky, an assumption that would never be corrected. Scott, Beach, Woodsey and the new kid Spatz had diligently thought through all these assumptions, and would be counting their cash in another state by the morning.

I reread the notes in the shop manual, just to to be sure, and got out the tools. Loosen the axle nuts, loosen the double-nuts on the threaded tensioner shaft, tighten left side a half-turn at a time until tension is right. Rotate chain, verify measurement. Dupe on right side, lock double-nuts, ensure wheel is straight, and torque back axle nuts. How hard could that be?

Until I got to the right tensioner (4) and tried to loosen the larger of the two nuts on the right side (14, not 21), still a bit sleepy. A quick twist of the wrench… and the shaft broke off right at the end cap (6). Drat. No way to cobble up this one. So it looks like I drive the car today.

I took a half-hour drive to the nearest cycle parts place – to find that the store location (of their two) that I was at only carried 4-wheeler parts. Another half hour to their other location, to find that the part would have to be ordered. 5 days. And it’s just over $20 for a little part. Ridiculous. I wish I had $40 so I could order two, for next time. On the wish list it goes. So now I’m stuck without a ride for few days.

This is actually a good thing, as I wanted to deal with the dirty chain anyhow. I bought some degreaser and lube the other day, so I’m going to take the chain off and soak it, clean it real well and lube it before I put the new tensioner on. Something good to do while I’m waiting.

Wouldn’t be a problem for most riders, who only go out on the weekends, I suppose. For us commuters, it’s a big interruption. All in stride, though, it’s an opportunity to get more “intimate” with the bike while I wait. I’m discovering that while a bike and car might require similar amounts of maintenance, the former is more likely to involve a wrench, the latter a checkbook.

His previous developer used a very wide, sparsely-populated non-normalized client table (around 60 columns), to which I needed to add another handful of columns. That is, if I continued in the same design vein. I won’t.

That table’s so integrated into the website code it’s not even funny; correcting the bad design would be a tremendous effort. I’m not going to even attempt it right now. I told the client about this, as I knew he was propositioning a large potential customer that would add tens of thousands of records to this table. TBD, I guess, but I’d sure like to see it changed sooner than later. I think I shook him up a bit when I talked about it with him. He has greater confidence in his prior developer than I do, ’cause I’ve seen the code.

Anyhow, I can easily split out the email template columns into another table, so it won’t be so bad, and that stuff is pretty much used in only two places. Will be kind of a fun addition, and limited in terms of touching the rest of the system, so testing should be fairly easy.

The website application also provides for handheld data-entry using a mobile device. He also mentioned today that he’s going to want more work done on that part of the site, so he’ll be sending me some kind of device, probably iPod touch related. Cool! I’m not really interested in a smart phone or iPod touch thing; I have a cell phone for talking to people, and a computer to store stuff and browse the internet. I don’t need another expensive piece of technology. But if someone gives it to me, I’m not going to turn it down. :-)

Plus, it turns out another of my clients also wants a mobile-optimized view for her website, so that’ll be handy to have. I had thought I’d need to purchase one on my own. I’m really looking forward to working on that optimization project, having never done anything for mobile before. That will really be fun, but probably not on the table for a while; she’s not sure it’s worth it right now, until her site gets more traffic.

The other client’s data entry stuff needs to be done by July 9 – I don’t even know what needs done yet. But if I have time, I can perhaps do the optimization project on my own, and just present it to her when it’s done, just for fun.

Big difference between the two clients – the one I talked with today is hourly, and the other is “free”. The former is a more stressful, the latter is more enjoyable. The former involves managing others’ code/design, and the latter is all mine. The former is a guy from Manhattan, the latter is a woman from New England.

We’ll see how they both pan out. In the meantime, I’ve got work to do!

As promised, I got everyone going on dynamic stretching before we started playing. It was fairly well received, but I only had everyone do a few; my mind went blank trying to remember all of the ones we did at the volleyball camp. So here’s a compiled list of all I can remember:

1. Jog
2. Sprint
3. Lunge walk
4. Lateral lunge walk
5. Butt kicks
6. Walking quad stretch (pull back to butt)
7. Straight-leg deadlift walk
8. Forward hand walk
9. Groin stretch walk
10. Alternate toe touches
11. Left and right shuffle
12. Left and right crossover
13. Leg huggers
14. High knees jog
15. High kick toe-touch
16. Heel-to-toe touch ground
17. Jumping jacks

• Lose driving privileges for a minimum of ninety (90) days and up to two (2) years;
• License plates and vehicle registration suspension;
• License plate reinstatement fees for first violation, second violation, and third or subsequent violation (There is an additional non-voluntary surrender fee for failing to surrender the license, plates or vehicle registration to the BMV);
• Require filing with the BMV (SR-22 or bond) to continuously maintain proof of financial responsibility for a minimum of three (3), up to five (5) years from the date of the suspension of operating privileges;
• Vehicle immobilization and confiscation of plates for 30 to 60 days for violating FR suspension.  Third and subsequent offenses could result in vehicle forfeiture and a five (5) year suspension of vehicle registrations.

That sounds serious. Which is what my wife was thinking this morning when she asked if I’d gotten the bike insured yet (I hadn’t, out of laziness). So I drove the van to work today.

You would think I’d be terrified to be out on the road at all driving an uninsured vehicle. I have no explanation for why I rode to work the last 4 days. Looking back on it, that was really stupid. Stupid stupid.

There are a several things on my TODO list that I’ve been ignoring recently. I don’t have an explanation for that as well. Perhaps I’m just weak from the pounding I took last weekend at the volleyball camp, and it carried over into a kind of mental “don’t care” attitude. I know I have that state of mind, but I can’t pinpoint why.

Even this morning, I’m having trouble getting motivated to think through code problems, despite a good breakfast and coffee. I feel pretty lethargic physically and mentally.

I wish there was more to do at work. I’m stuck working on intermittent bugs, with no real project work ahead. Two major opportunities have disappeared within the last 2-3 weeks, which otherwise would have kept me busy through the summer and possibly into fall. Now, I don’t even know what I’ll be doing in the next month. I’m sure this affects my attitude.

So I’m a bit down today.

Not that I’m complaining, mind. I don’t mind riding in either condition; I just love riding period. And the beauty of it is, I’m 131 miles into the 2-gallon tank. :-)  At 31 miles per day commute, that’s almost a week’s worth of driving for one fillup.  65.5 mpg is fantastic, and the primary reason we bought the bike.

I figure, comparing the Kia at 20mpg and the Rebel at 70mpg, 30mi total daily commute, $3.50/gal fuel cost, and riding 9 months of the year, I save about $731 in fuel cost. So the bike itself is paid back in a bit under 3 years, and including all the gear, about 3.5 years. Gotta subtract insurance – $99/year from Geico – and potentially extra usage of the Kia, but for sure in 4 years it’s clear and we’re saving $731 per year after that, even more if the price of gas goes up. (wanna take bets?)

Carrying stuff is my second major concern. the guy I bought the bike from threw in a set of saddlebags for nothing; they’re cheap backed leather, and even though I tightened up the yoke, they still hang toward the wheels. I’d need to get a set of brackets. Or make ‘em – they run around $40-60 online for just a couple stainless pieces, which is ridiculous.

I bungee’d an igloo cooler to the pillion instead of trying to strap down my gym bag; looked quite a bit neater. I’ve seen a larger luggage box that replaces the pillion cushion that’s big enough to store a helmet, I just don’t recall the manuf/name. It’s in the rebel250 forum somewhere. Anyhow, my igloo works for small stuff; I have a bigger one, but I’d need to relocate the brake light for it to sit level. Alternatively, I could get a luggage rack.

I like the one shown in this thread, and was fascinated to read about the low-temp aluminum brazing he fabricated it with. Turns out there are several kinds (alumiweld, HTS-2000, Durafix, etc), and someone said that Harbor Freight has some small packs; I’m going to stop by a local surplus store on the way home and check. My local hardware store might even have the stuff. Some aluminum stock, and I’m on my way! This seems like a very *doable* project.

Once built and mounted, I can use the larger cooler, which would fit lunch, books, maybe laptop, rain gear, jacket, etc. and easily bungee or velcro in place. Maybe I can get a local guy to bend me a couple stainless saddlebag brackets, and I’m all set for just about anything, rain or shine.

There were about 24 people in the class, 2 instructors. We spent the first rainy evening going over the MSF manual together. Pretty boring. Rainy Saturday and Sunday the class split and we spent going over “drills” of various kinds in the rain on provided bikes (I had a Kawi dual, though several others rode on the several Rebels provided for the class). Sunday we took a skills test in the rain and I passed and got my card, which allows me to skip the BMV skills test – all I need to do now is get my license updated for a motorcycle endorsement.

Did I mention the rain? We had some clearing on Saturday afternoon, but were soaked by the end of class, and it pretty much rained all Sunday. The instructor joked that we were going to get in more riding in the rain than most riders get all year. I didn’t quite care for it. :-)  I didn’t have a real waterproof jacket, the rain pants I bought at Wally World on Friday night weren’t that much good after a couple hours of hard rain, and I had to literally wring out my leather gloves at each break. At least my feet (thanks, mom, for the hiking boots you bought at Christmas!) and head (I bought a helmet in 20 minutes before the Friday night class) were warm.

So now I have all the basics in my head. It’ll be a long time before I feel comfortable, though. I was pretty tense going above 20mph, and never shifted above 2nd gear. I really need some time on the road around my home town. I’m still a bit apprehensive about riding the 30 minutes to work, despite the fact that I’ll never be going over 45mph the whole way. Maybe Friday; it’s supposed to be nice weather then.

So I’ve taken the first step; the road awaits!

Well, I *may* ride. I still don’t know beans about it. Unfortunately, the MSF course I was planning to take asap is Sold Out until September! I didn’t notice that before when I checked out class times! Well, I still may be able to sneak in – they have a “standby” list in case someone doesn’t show. I’ll show up for this weekend’s class – it’s Friday night, half Saturday and half Sunday – and continue to show up until I get in. And it looks like rain all weekend, so perhaps there will be some dropouts.

The wife and I have been having an ongoing discussion about finances and vehicles, and one of the options that arose was getting a commuter bike (inexpensive to purchase, great gas mileage, would allow family the van each day). I’d researched bikes a number of years ago and determined that I could get a reasonable one for $2-2.5K, but at the time there was no money for that. Now, however, there was.

I began hunting online again, and found  the Honda 250 Rebel. A smallish one, but universally liked as a great starter bike. It’s commonly found in MSF basic courses, and pretty widely available. I zeroed in on Rebels, and found a 2003 for $2000 about an hour away in the sticks. A quick decision to look with the option to buy (we’d already been thinking positively about the motorcycle option), and I hit the road after work to see it.

Good looking except for a gas tank dent, small amount of rust, and an older front tire, it *looked* like what I wanted. The owner ran it through the gears for me (I didn’t even have a permit at the time), threw in a wind screen and side bags, and I gave him what he asked for it. Not sure whether I was just trusting – he was a software guy as well – or naive. But we loaded it on the truck and I hauled it home.

Now I need to take a test to get my permit, and sign up for a MSF course. I should be excited, but it’s still kind of surreal. I never really thought I’d purchase one, especially on such short notice. But it’s a lovely-looking bike, and I’m more than anxious to learn how to ride it.

While the purchase price was pretty reasonable, I’ve started to look at motorcycle gear, which is *anything but* reasonable. I realize that I’m going to need a helmet, gloves, jacket, rain gear, etc. which could easily add another grand. Think I’ll start with the minimum, and add as we can afford it. Hoping to get 60+ mpg, so that’ll help a bit in saving gas money.