Kirk Petersen

I picked up a Honda CB350 engine off Craigslist a few days ago. This is purely for educational purposes, as it is in pretty bad shape and I don’t have a motorcycle to put it in anyways.

My first goal is to just take it completely apart and observe all of the parts and how they fit together. I bought a service manual and read through the chapter on the engine, clutch, and transmission. It won’t help too much right now but it will if/when I put the engine back together.

Many of the screws are in bad shape, especially the Phillips head screws, which all seem to be made of some incredibly soft metal. Some were stripped when I got it and I’ve stripped a few more. Now I’m reading up on various techniques and tools for removing stripped screws. When I put the engine back together, I’m hoping to replace all of these with hex bolts.

I made Tom Kha Gai last Friday night using this recipe:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_kha_gai

(strange that the wiki page contains an actual recipe, but it is a good one so I’m not complaining)

It was well received. I love the combination of flavors and spices and the creamy-ness of the coconut milk. And, of course, the hint of fermented anchovies. Mmm. Everything was just about perfect except I cut the chicken into chunks that were too thick so they were a bit difficult to eat.

It would be nice to limit how much lemon grass get dished into bowls, because that also makes it difficult to eat. One website suggests straining the soup through a colander before putting in the chicken and mushrooms. That is a good idea, as all solids previous to that are inedible, but I’d be afraid that the lemon grass flavor wouldn’t be as strong that way. It would also cut down on the galangal flavor. Perhaps simmering the soup a little longer before that step would compensate.

Shanti and I are dieting. Things are going well so far.

This is one of those things where the issue is obvious – eat less and/or exercise more and you’ll lose weight. But it helps to have some approximate numbers.

One of the most interesting bits of information I’ve ever read about dieting:

For each pound of weight that your body carries, it takes about 12 calories per pound per day to keep it alive. If you weigh 150 pounds, you therefore need about (150 * 12) 1,800 calories per day to keep yourself alive and maintain that same weight.

If you were to eat more than 1,800 calories per day, the surplus turns into fat. It takes about 3,600 excess calories to make a pound of fat.

(from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question693.htm)

I’m currently about 235 pounds and that is pretty stable when I eat whenever and whatever I want. That equals 2800 calories per day, which seems like a huge amount. One of the other interesting bits of info I recently learned is that large milkshakes are 1000+ calories. A big bowl of ice cream is probably in the same ballpark.

I probably eat 2400 calories per day normally (still seems like a lot), which would put me at a very nice weight of 200 pounds, but I ruin it by pigging out on a milkshake or three at least once a week.

We’ve been using a Google Docs Spreadsheet to track all of the details. I love its collaboration features, including the new “form” feature. I might use that for some data gathering projects in the future.

I’m currently shooting for 2000 calories a day, which will put me at 200 pounds in about 2 months, assuming little to no exercise.

To recap: 3 milkshakes equals 3500 calories equals 1 pound equals 3 hours of running. Sometimes you just need to make it clear and remind yourself.

We moved all of the furniture from the condo to the house Sunday, with lots of help from W & S (thanks!). Shanti did a lot of organizing yesterday and the place feels so much more comfortable. Most of the furniture works as well or better than I expected, though we are still planning on replacing a few things. We already ordered a new couch that I think will be really nice.

(I’ll post a few pictures of the house soon)

I’m about halfway through The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a pretty good book though there aren’t as many good photos as some of the other books I’ve looked through. I really want to start tinkering with something so I’m stalking Craigslist. At this point, any sort of small 4 stroke engine would be very educational. Perhaps even something detached from a motorcycle.

Shanti and I are thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year. Right now I feel too busy but I think that feeling will subside a bit now that we are settled into the house. More stuff is coming in the next couple months, though…

Tonight is the last night of acrobatics. I remember talking to Chuck about the trampoline during the last Olympics, so that means I’ve been doing it (off and on) for a little more than 4 years now. Despite it being lots of fun and great for coordination and strength, I think I need to take a long break. I get much more satisfaction out of running/jumping/throwing type sports, mostly because I’m actually talented at that sort of thing. Acrobatics has always been a challenge. A fun challenge, definitely, but after 4 years I’d prefer to spend more time on something that comes naturally to me.

One thing I’m looking to do is play volleyball more often. I’ve played a couple times with coworkers and it has been lots of fun.

The park near our house has a rubberized track. I’m thinking of getting some track spikes and doing a sprinter workout. Again, I should focus on types of exercise that come naturally. I’m far enough out of shape that I should stick to things that are immediately enjoyable and rewarding.

It has been a year since I sold my R1100S. I don’t regret selling it but it would be nice to have something to ride once in a while. Especially now that we have a garage where I could park it.

Rather than going off and buying some sexy new bike, which I would’ve done in the past, I’m working on a plan that will save some money and be much more rewarding in the end:

1. Start saving a little money every month
2. Read a few books on motorcycle maintenance and repair
3. Sell my car and put any money I “make” into savings
4. Decide on an inexpensive and simple retro bike
5. Find a good deal on such a bike on Craigslist when I have enough in savings

Ideally, I’ll find something that is about 500cc, gets 50 MPG or more, and will basically serve as a glorified scooter when I want to zip around town.

I’d love to learn how to fix motorcycles. The idea of keeping an old vehicle in good shape and on the road (instead of a new vehicle being built) is very appealing. It would be nice to be able to fix cars, but that is way beyond my abilities right now.

I worked on bicycles quite a bit a couple years ago and enjoyed it. I eventually lost interest because I don’t ride bicycles very much, so I never had anything to fix.

One example of the type of motorcycle I like is the Royal Enfield Bullet Deluxe:

• http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/models/deluxe.html

They are only $5000 new and they’ve been making them for decades (over 50 years, actually) so there are occasionally good deals on used ones from 10-20 years ago (ones not old enough to be classified as antiques). Any old British bike (Triumph, BSA) would be cool, though they seem to be more expensive. A medium sized Japanese bike from the 70s might work, too.

Note: I definitely won’t turn any old motorcycle into a cafe racer. I just don’t get that aesthetic. Besides, most of these bikes are small to begin with, so I’m going to look a little silly on one… I don’t need to make it any worse with ridiculously low bars, a crappy dull black paint job, and an exhaust that is loud enough to draw everyones’ attention as I ride by.

Update: neat article on converting a Royal Enfield to diesel and getting > 100 MPG:

• http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=113508

(though the diesel engines seem to lower the power quite a bit, and these bikes aren’t too powerful to start…)

A while ago I posted about innovation and how our ideas are largely evolutionary and a product of our environment. Somewhat related, here are some more thoughts on innovation and how it is simply a multiplier of execution:

http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/ideas_are_just_a_multiplier_of.html

[via http://www.43folders.com/2008/08/11/ideas]

I just got this laptop bag:

Yeah, it’s called the “Blogger”. Even the Timbuk2 site makes fun of the name.

The last bag I had was a r.e.load messenger bag with a really bulky and stiff strap. I finally got fed up with it. My new bag is much smaller. Now that I’m carrying my Macbook Pro on the bus regularly, I decided to splurge.

Bonus: discovered that I had a $60 dividend at REI which paid for most of the bag.

Trying out the new WordPress client for the iPhone.

We got the keys yesterday and spent our first night there last night…

I upgraded my iPhone to the 2.0 software and really like it. I’ve already spent probably $60 on various apps. My favorites so far, in order of use / how much I like it:

1. OmniFocus $19.99
2. GuitarToolkit $9.99
3. Remote FREE
4. Twittelator FREE
5. AOL Radio FREE

OmniFocus is a GTD app. GuitarToolkit is a very precise guitar tuner, metronome, and chord dictionary. Remote is a program from Apple that allows you to control any iTunes or Apple TV from your iPhone – can’t wait to setup the house with Airport Expresses and use this.