photography, technology & wordology
Oct19
One word. Traveling. I’ve seen so many netbooks while here in India and I’m positive that I am going to see a lot more in Thailand. There are two very simple reasons for this: it fits in your bag and if it gets stolen you’re not out $1000+. Now if I could only get one to start running OS X.
Mar11
In a plot twist that would have surprised even Grisham, my stolen camera has returned to the fold. Bonus points for the human race. The day after the camera was stolen we sent an email out through the same channels that sent the party invite asking whoever took the camera to please just return it, anonymously dropping it back on the porch of the house would be fine. And lo and behold after 3 weeks of mulling it over, that is exactly what that person did. Unmarked cardboard box on the porch with a single handwritten note saying “Very Sorry.”
Of course I’ll have to return the insurance money now but that’s fine too because Amazon will take everything back. Gotta love Amazon.
Jul1
What?! Did I miss a few iterations or something? At this point it doesn’t really matter, all my prayers have been answered! An FX sensor in a smaller body at almost half the price! Pretty damn sweet. We’ll see how the world wakes up to this one today, the supposed launch day for the new body.
Jun30
Many of you know that recently I got a new mountain bike. It’s amazing. Vicious Cycles definitely knows what they are doing. Reynolds 853 for the front triangle and a Titus aluminum rear triangle. It’s a work of art.
Well, when I was building the groover (that is the name of the bike) up I decided it was time to send my fork off to be rebuilt. In the 5 years I’d owned it I’d never sent it away. So I asked around and mailed it to the name that came up most often. Suspension Experts in Asheville, NC. The service was quick, I was happy and I started riding my new bike. Then I noticed the oil. I stopped riding my new bike. There was fork oil leaking out of the bottom of the left leg of my fork. Right next to the disc brake mount. Right next to the disc brake pads. Oil + brake pads = no stop. I called the guys at Suspension Ex, they were really apologetic and said to send it back right away, on their dime, and they’d get to it fast.
The fork came back from them, clean and appearing to be fixed. 2 rides later, same story, a steady stream of oil from the bottom of the left leg. Not good. The only reassuring thing about the situation was that there isn’t anything important in that leg. Since I own an old coil spring Manitou Black at least I didn’t have to worry about having blown out the rebound damper (which is on the right side). Again, Kevin (the president of Suspension Ex) apologized profusely and had me mail it back, again on his dime. After I was sure they’d gotten the fork I called Kevin to ask about it and he explained some of the problems, he also said that if something happened this time he was going to build me up a completely new fork (of considerable upgrade) at his cost and mail it to me. There was no way he wanted a fork leaking oil with his name on it. When I picked up my fork from the bike shop on Friday, I was told that the entire cost of the original rebuild had been refunded by Suspension Ex, simply for my trouble. I wasn’t annoyed, I wasn’t angry, I didn’t ask to be refunded and I certainly didn’t expect it. This is a great example of a simple thing that a small company can do to make evangelists out of their customers. I know that from now on, I’ll never send a fork anywhere else. Even after I move to Europe. I also know that from now on, anytime anyone mentions anything even remotely wrong with their fork I’ll be pushing Suspension Ex.
So, thanks a lot Kevin and the other guys down there in Asheville for the really great experience even if it was a pain in the ass to all involved.
May28
Pictures to come soon.
In the meantime check out this.
Too bad the radar looks like this today.
Jan31
If you haven’t heard about Steep and Cheap, get on it here. They sell outdoors and other sports equipment and clothes, but the kicker is that they sell one and only one item at a time. They sell this one item at a deep discount until it’s gone, then the website automatically updates with a new item.
They have plugin’s for firefox to keep you informed as to what’s on sale at that moment.
