Reed Me : motorcycle

Future geek advantage? An inability to sit still?

reedme — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:08:00 GMT

Maybe I should stop trying to teach my children to sit still? Their hyperactivity is really just training for a future powering their own electronics with microbiomotion? Hrm.

Every heartbeat and every fidgety movement that a person makes while sitting at a computer carries with it a small amount of energy that could potentially be scavenged. However, harvesting this biomotion is challenging because so much of it is irregular. Now, for the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a nanogenerator can be driven by irregular, low-energy biomotion, including the tapping of a human finger and a hamster's erratic running and scratching. Technology Review: Harnessing Hamster Power with a Nanogenerator

Since carrying around enough hamsters to power my Xbox 3600 may not be practical in the future, maybe I should practice fidgeting more myself?

I wish we could start by “harvesting” the heat generated by our ICE power plants... if we could recover the heat generated by my 5.7L iForce V8 engine in the Sequoia or my 636cc wind-up toy in the Ninja, we could probably improve the efficiency of either quite a bit. I know the Ninja’s only starting to “warm up” and “get happy” when it reaches 200°F, so... I’m just sayin’.

Once we can turn biomotion into more juice than a nanowatt, it would be nice not to have to charge my phone anymore!

I needz a squeegee.

reedme — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:30:38 GMT

Me and the bike in my driveway @ home after enjoying the fine Irish riding weather in the vicinity of Redmond last Wednesday on the Ninja... These early evening sunsets are still weird.

Despite the lack o’ sqeegee, I learned that I already haz two buckets (gauntlet-style Olympia riding gloves) which are very good for holding icy rain water. Doh! Note to self: get some Marmot undergloves and put the gauntlets *inside* sleeves in the future.

Ordered a thumb-mounted squeegee from Aerostitch on Monday morning. Let’s hope it gets here before more rain, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Bike update (January ‘09)

reedme — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:59:10 GMT

When we moved from Redmond to Kirkland in December, it put me outside the “reasonable commute distance” for the Mongoose mountain bike... which may or may not have been all a part of my nefarious plan to “convince” Mrs. Reed to “permit” me to buy a motorcycle. Muwahahaha. Er-ehem. Nevermind.

But upgrade from the Mongoose, I did. Ultimately, I want something more of an “adventure bike” like a V-Strom or a BMW, but the little Dave Ramsey that sits on my shoulder these days reminded me to only buy what I could pay cash for. And the previously enjoyed motorcycle I picked was definitely a sexy red color! Gotta love that “magma pearl red”!! Vrrrooom!!!

(The bike above is the same year-model and color as mine, but I don’t have any pix of me on it yet. My 2005 doesn’t have all the decals on it that a ZX-6R normally does for some reason. I meant to ask the previous owner why he pulled ‘em off, but I forgot. Have to save some pennies and put ‘em back on myself someday soon.)

Now that the global warming has returned to the Seattle area and melted the past month of ice and snow, I finally got to ride it to work this morning for the first time. A lot less exercise than the Mongoose, but also a LOT more fun to ride!! Filling up the tank with premium for $7 was also a big plus. (The Sequoia still costs me $60+ to fill up the tank. Will definitely feel like riding in a cage from now on.)

The riding community inside Microsoft has been great, very welcoming and informative. (Read: answering my stupid n00b13 questions with a modicum of patience and sympathy.) Any other riders out there in the broader SQL Server community? I’m sure there are. What’re you riding?