JustinHamel.com

I was having dinner with my girlfriend and her friend when the waitress informs me that a motorist hit my parked motorcycle in front of their restaurant. I almost had a damn heart attack. On Monday I am leaving on my big trip. I would be absolutely heart broken if my bike got smashed by some idiot.

Fortunately, there were three gentlemen outside eating dinner together who are all motorcyclists. They stopped the VW Euro Van from smashing my bike too badly. The van did manage to scoot my motorcycle a whole 6 inches and bent my rear brake lever.

It could have been worse.

My good friend Derek helped to reinstate my sanity by fixing the brake lever and checking everything else out.

That was a close one. I think the answer is a business card or 4×6 card that motorcyclists can put under the wiper blade of vehicles to help make the motorists more aware of the fact that a motorcycle is parked near by.

Yesterday my friend Chris and I embarked on a fun-filled day of navigating our motorcycles through the semi-challenging national forest and national volcanic monument roads.

Now of course what you plan usually doesn’t go according to plan. This was true once again on this occation.

We left Portland, Oregon at about noon and headed north on I-5 to Battle Ground, Washington. When we reached Battle Ground, we had to stop at the hardware store to buy a replacement bolt for the one I lost on the freeway. Luckily, the hardware store had an astounding assortment of stainless steel screws, nuts, bolts etc. It was awesome. So I decided to buy two sets. Why not?

We continued on our journey up to Mt. St. Helens, and I must say it turned out to be a beautiful day. My new bike tires stuck to the road, so I ended up placing more trust in my motorcycle than usual. I explored new found abilities as I wrestled the bike through the mountainous terrain.

The Map (Google Map)

So we got to a spot where we were a bit worried about our gas situation and ended up heading north to Randle, Washington. I gotta tell ya that this town reminded me of Redneck, Texas :p

We filled up, and then rode across the street to the diner to eat some dinner. One of the waitresses was outside smoking a cigarette. I asked her how she was doing and asked what she recommended we order from the menu. She replied, “The prime rib is good.”

I go inside and the prime rib is the special and costs 22 bucks. RIGHT………

So I ordered a bowl of their home made chili and a corn bread muffin. I figured they couldn’t fuck that up…. I was wrong. My dog has been served better food out of a can. But I was starving, so I ate it all.

Now the problem at this point for me is that it’s starting to get dark and somewhat cold. I didn’t prepare for a cold ride. I froze from Randle, Washington all the way back to Portland, Oregon. Look at the map, you’ll see.

I stumbled upon a DIY guide on building your own wind turbine for generating electricity. It was crappy, but it got me thinking. Several hours of research later, I am completely dedicated to the idea of building a wind turbine for myself. I have read many, many guides that various people or groups have written cataloging their successes and shortcomings. With this information in mind, I hope to be able to build one in the near future.

I talked with my friend Chris, and he is also on board with the idea. We will start building after we build a soap box derby car. That will be an adventure in and of itself.

Some of the sites I referenced:

1. http://www.otherpower.com/20page1.html
2. http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html
3. http://www.turbinezone.com

Stay tuned ….

Oh the joys of owning a Volkswagen Bug. I own a 1979 convertible Super Beatle which is just a blast, but just like all other VW’s, it has it’s issues.

I can’t get enough of these things though. I just needed to replace a hose and tighten the alternator belt.

Now it runs beautifully. I might get back under the car later today do a valve adjustment. We’ll see.

I very recently tested the operating system that came out of the One Laptop Per Child organization. The OS is called Sugar on a Stick. Generally, I think the idea is pretty cool. You install an OS on a USB thumb drive and stick it into any computer and PRESTO you’ve got all your data, settings, etc right in front of you. The computer you’re using doesn’t even need a hard drive or disk drive. Neato right?

The OS is written using one of the many Linux kernels out there.

So I decided to give it a try. I do most of my computing on an Acer laptop.

My specs:

• AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-80 2.10 GHz
• 4GB Ram
• ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics

So the short version is that I think Sugar on a Stick needs some work as it’s a little buggy, but I don’t think it was intended to run on a computer quite as powerful as my personal computer.

I really think that Sugar on a Stick can be distributed not only internationally to help the learning process in 3rd world countires, but I think that it could be used locally in after school programs for elementary school children.

Every day I get up, read the news and wonder, “What is the world coming to?”

I have to imagine that my grandparents asked themselves the same question about forty years ago.

In the news today, I have read that Google openly admitted developing a brand new operating system for the masses to compete with Microsoft. I am EXCITED.

I purchased new motorcycle tires today for my bike. My major trip is just around the corner.

I washed a bunch of beer bottles in preparation for the Pale Ale that a friend and I are brewing in his basement. We will bottle the beer in about a week I suspect.

More people in the United States are paying attention to Michael Jackson’s death than voted in the Presidential Election.

What’s the world coming to?