Stopped by a train (and a geeky contest)

I took a bunch of bracketed photos of the train that stopped me on Southwest Boulevard. I liked the way this washed-out one came out.



Something a little more tame.


CARnage or Camar0wned? You decide. Sorry for the lack of quality. It's 4x digital zoom on top of 4x optical zoom. I caught it from the Frontage road west of I-35 and north of 75th St. This was all the way across the highway, probably more than 1/4 mile away.


I got my autographed copy of Schneier On Security today, too. He even left a little puzzle for me to solve. If you can't see it, zoom in. First one to post the correct answer in my comments gets a free pair of AMC Silver Experience movie passes. I've got a bunch of these things laying around and I don't get to the movies too often. If you want, email me via the form on the right after you've posted your answer, just so I have an email address to contact you with.

Zogics CitraWipes - Another contest!

I love citrus stuff. This ranges from oranges and grapefruits to HFCS-rich beverages like Mountain Dew.

I tore into my breakfast with the knife on my Park Tool MTB-3. Oranges are so tasty.

I've also got a pile of Zogics CitraWipes. I cleaned up with them last time I had to fuss with my chain, and they do a pretty good job. More than that, they smell like oranges, which is awesome -- but they're not tasty.

Zogics sells these wipes online and through many local bike shops and sporting goods stores. They're relatively new. Zogics' founder, Paul LeBlanc is an outdoor enthusiast and former member of the US National Cycling Team, so these are definitely made with cyclists in mind. Furthermore, Zogics is a member of 1% For The Planet, a group of businesses that donate 1% of their sales to environmental nonprofit groups.

A full review of these wipes is pending. I feel like I really need to get in a good roadside repair situation and get genuinely grimy on the go to really put these babies to the test. But I have so many of them that I'd like to share.

Here's your chance. Click here and tell me about your grimiest commute ever. Make sure you use an email address that I can reach you with, or else I can't get in touch with you to ship you your CitraWipes!

I'll take some of my favorite stories and post them, and then I'll ship off a pair of CitraWipes to you so you can get clean on your next messy adventure.

It's after midnight...

So I guess that means we have a winner!

Apertome guessed 13.6 pounds, 0.6 off from the actual weight of 14.2 pounds. Guesses ranged from a svelte 8.2 pounds to a gargantuan 28.3 pounds, so there was a heck of a spread. Way to take the "shotgun" approach, guys.

Thanks for playing! Apertome, check your inbox.

Mediocre Bus

If there's any bus that could possibly take longer than the Dreaded Bus to circumnavigate downtown KCMO to get to my little slice of suburbia, it's the Johnson County Transit's M (Mid-Day a.k.a. Mediocre) bus. The Dreaded Bus takes about an hour and 10 minutes to run. It picks me up a block away from work and can drop me off a few hundred feet from my apartment. The Mediocre Bus, as I shall christen it, takes about the same amount of time with the additional hassle of dropping me off at the Maul, 2 miles from my mayhem-plotting headquarters.

With all of my required weekly tasks complete, a head full of mucous, and a body that's feeling weaker by the minute, I decided to bail early and take my chances with the Mediocre Bus this once.

My plan is to get home, refuel, over-hydrate, then go to sleep for as long as I possibly can.

By the way, the contest is still on. The current person in first place is still more than half a pound off, so there's a whole pound's worth of guesses that will come closer than our current winner. Contest ends tomorrow right before midnight, so get your guesses in to win the Jersey! It's not yellow. It won't make you fast, but it is a Jersey that would normally retail for about $70 that you could get for free. It might also make Fritz laugh at you. No guarantees, though.

Random Tunage (Valentine's Day Luuuv Song Edition):
Peter Cetera - You're The Inspiration (new version) [Re-make? Cover? of the Chicago Song]
Steve Winwood - Higher Love

Guess what I got today?

No, not a head cold. It's the jersey that I'm giving away to one lucky reader thanks to TheSockSite.com!

It looks good enough for me to keep for myself, but rest assured I haven't tried it on. The OEM tag is tucked away neatly in the neck of the jersey for the photo.

After my torturous 3 hour round trip on the bus today, I feel better from a standpoint of my sinuses. With the temperatures hovering in the mid-teens, I decided to skip the Monday night ride as well, so I haven't put tread to pavement at all today. My goal of 300 miles for February is also shot. There's almost no way I'll make it up this month. I'm staying home from work on Wednesday to celebrate my wife's birthday and probably won't be doing any riding then, either.

In other news, I'm about to install the Mac OS X 10.5.2 update as soon as I'm done posting, and I'm stoked. "Leopard" as Apple calls their latest incarnation of OS X, has been giving me problems from the get-go. Some of them got better with the last update, and I'm hoping this exorcises the last of Leopard's demons.

Don't forget to guess the weight of my backpack to win a free jersey!

Random Tunage:
Cranberries - Zombie
The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

What I carry. Plus, a Give-Away Contest!

So, Fritz did a bag audit. And he carries a lot of stuff.

There's a contest related to all the stuff I carry, so pay attention and you might just win!

Since I switched over to winter mode, I really haven't taken everything out of my Kensington Contour Backpack at once. Until Now, that is. Edit: Actually, I forgot, I did this once before when I just switched over back in late October. It's interesting to see how things change (and what remains the same)

Enough banter though, on with the STUFF

Main Pocket
MacBook
Specialized Deflect Gloves
Plastic Bags
Windbreaker
Balaclava
The Black Book (mostly my obscure hand-written UNIX and programming notes)
Blackburn MTB pump
Burger King receipt
Red Dragon chinese receipt

Middle Pocket
MacBook Power Cord
Nintendo DS (Road Schwag!)
Earphones
Pager
Spare DiNotte Batteries
NiteIze Reflector/Lights for backpack (Visible in action here)
SanDisk 12-in-1 Reader

Back Pocket
2x Blank CD-R
2x Photon MicroLight 2
Keys/USB Flash
$0.30
Guaranteed Ride Home card
USB Cord for Camera/Card Reader
USB Cord for charging my LG Chocolate

Left Side Pen/Pencil
Bus Pass/Office Access Card/Lanyard
LG Chocolate
More plastic bags

Right Side Park Tool MTB-3 Multi-Tool
Master Lock Python Cable Lock (Easily hacked)

Now, for the Give-Away Details!
What's up for grabs?
TheSockSite.com has offered up one Large sized Primal Wear cycling jersey to one of my lucky readers. Literally, thousands of people come back here for some reason. I can't figure it out, either.

If you wear another size... Well, Sorry. If you don't like Pink Floyd... well... what are you thinking?! No. I haven't worn it. Actually, I haven't even gotten it yet. But I will.

How do you win it?
Guess the weight of this backpack with all the stuff listed above. My scale is accurate to within .1 pound. E-mail your guess to focushacks (at) gmail.com. Make sure you include "Backpack Contest" in the subject line so it doesn't get lost in the mess that is my inbox.

First person (according to my e-mail server) that e-mails me the most accurate guess wins. Over or under the actual weight does not matter. I am not Bob Barker. This is not The Price Is Right.

Rules:

1. You have to e-mail me from an address I can reply to once and get in touch with you. That means no goofy anti-spam e-mail things or auto-responders.
2. I will only ship it to a real address (no P.O. Boxes) within the 48 mainland United States Of America.
3. One guess per person.
4. Contest ends as soon as someone guesses the absolute correct weight.
   
5. If the exact weight isn't answered by 11:59 PM Friday, Feb 15, 2008 Central Time (where I'm at), I'll pick the person who guessed the closest, the earliest.
   

Once the contest is over, I will reply to the e-mail from the person who won. You'll have until 11:59 PM Monday, February 18 to provide me with a mailing address. If I don't hear back from you, I'll move on to the next runner up every 24 hours until someone replies. But really, who doesn't want a MASSIVE PF:DSOTM Jersey?!