The upgrade process is nearly complete on the site. I think I've addressed the constant log in pop up issue to stop that annoyance. I've heard a few folks saying they have tried using RSS so they get my posts right away, but then they don't always remember to get to their reader and posts back up. For me, I use the Google reader and have it as part of my igoogle homepage. This works as long as I am viewing my homepage every day. Sometimes, I agree, that's not the case. But what I DO see every day is my email! Therefore, I've added a quick email sign-up feature in lieu of the RSS. Scroll to the bottom area of the left menu to the Email Subscription box. If you would like to get an email when I publish a post, just type your email address into the form and the magic will happen!

The new SilverLight is out, but I haven't had time to look at it yet. I really do like its features, so I'll probably plug the new version in and see if I can get another photo album with animation going for you. In the meantime, all of my pictures are still up on Flickr . Time for some new ones, I know.. Have you noticed lately how short the days are getting? I swear this week each day barely had 8 hours in it (rolling eyes)..

Speaking of pictures, take a look at David Duprey's pictures from Korea -they are beautiful. He went hiking recently during the changing of the leaves and he and his friends snapped some awesome shots. It really is breath taking..Here's a teaser from his collection:

Google is introducing a new browser. From what I understand, it isn't necessarily replacing Firefox at this time, but more like ganging up with it against IE.

Looks like another fun new gadget to mess with

I spent the afternoon in my driveway (again) tearing down one of my bikes (again) and transitioning some electronics from one bike to another (yes, again). The basic premise of this escapade was to uninstall my old AutoCom system from the RS and install it on a friend's HD Sporty. She's taking a little trip next week to the beautiful bayou and was in need of some comm to pipe her iPOD and bike-to-bike radio through. Of course, I became immediately distracted (again) when she told me of a broken tag bracket that the shop told her couldn't be repaired without further damage. It's casted material and would crack if they tried to bend it back to its original shape. Hmmm.. What's it look like? ... ok... And what do you need it to do? ....(nodding).... Hang on a second, I might have something that would work...

For the next hour or two, we fabricated a part that would replace the damaged piece on the tag bracket. Once we had it cut out, smoothed out the edges, and the bolt holes aligned and drilled, it was time to reinstall the bracket. At this point we realized the original installation must have required a special tool because there was no way the allen wrech was going to fit between the brake rotor and the bolt once the bracket was in place... well damn... Hmmmmm... (can you smell the smoke from there?) .. Wait! I have an idea!... The simple solution was to just make our own tool! We modified the allen wrech (I have too many of them so losing one to special circumstances didn't impact my tool chest one bit) to fit the skinny space, added a bit of loctite, and VOILA! That thing will never fall off now..

Now that victory was declared on that distraction, it was time to get down to business... First, I had to remove the faring panels, driver and passenger seats, and rear cowling of the RS. Next was the fuel tank. Luckily, none of this is any big deal on this bike. The fittings are quick pop fittings for most connections, and when I first bought the bike I installed fuel line quick-disconnects so I could take the tank off without spilling fuel all over the place. I recommend them to all bike owners - they are a huge help when you need to get under the tank. Today, I needed to get under the tank to get to the battery terminals. The AutoCom is wired directly to my battery, so I needed to remove the positive and negative wires from the battery terminals to remove the AutoCom. Once I had stripped the bike of the AutoCom, it was time to install it on the Sportster...

-BUT WAIT! It's the ice cream truck!! (Look! Shiney thing!!)

.. So we took a small break... Nice mugshots, eh?

  After my Strawberry Shortcake , I got busy putting in the new comm. It didn't take long, and other than one sparking incident in which we assure you no animals were hurt or noses scorched, we got everything wrapped back up on the Harley just as the rain began (remember that blue bike of spaghetti wires from earlier?).. We raced for the tarp to cover the now nekkid and vulnerable RS, her parts lying next to her... Now remember the many distractions I've encountered during the course of this afternoon... Had I stuck to the schedule, we would have been finished with BOTH bikes back to riding condition before the rain hit! But will I learn? ... Doubtful... I mean, really... Why start now? 

Another free application from Google that combines the cool stuff we like to use