Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

I’ve been eyeing up different commuter bike options.  I have to say that there are a lot of options.   I think my criteria narrowed down to an upright position like a mountain bike but some features of a road bike.  Similar to a hybrid.  There are a lot of bikes out there labeled as commuters or urban bikes, however they seem to come with a higher price tag.  The items that I think make most sense is a rugged bike that can hop curbs and I can ride on rough sidewalks (yes I said sidewalks). 

I view a commuter bike as a device to get to and from different locations. Currently my commuter is a beat up old Schwinn, and I love it.   I’ve used my Fuji road bike a few times to ride to work but I’m always afraid of running it off road and through the sidewalk / grass. 

So far I have had my eyes on a few bikes.  At first I thought that an internal gear was the way to go.  At the moment I’m unsure.  I really only use about 3 gears currently on the mountain bike but I’ve heard mixed reviews on the 8 and 11 speed internal gear bikes.  I have have only had a chance to ride an older internal gear bike and was not too impressed.   What I like about internal gear bikes is the ease of maintenance.  Riding every day can cause some heavy maintenance.  here is a list of a few bikes I’ve been evaluating.  I’ve only ridden about half of them.   Most of the local bike stores carry a different version or model similar to what I want.

Internal gear:

• Raleigh Cadent i8: http://www.rei.com/
• Giant Seek City : http://www.giant-bicycles.com/
• Jamis Commuter 3: http://www.jamisbikes.com/
• Felt Veraza : http://www.feltbicycles.com/

Normal gear

• Trek 9th district: http://www.trekbikes.com/
• Cannondale Badboy 9: http://www.cannondale.com/
• Cannondale Quick 3: http://www.cannondale.com/
• Raleigh Misceo: http://www.raleighusa.com/ 

At the moment I’m leaning at the Raleigh bikes.  We will see.   If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

I am looking at gathering up enough cash to replace my commuter bike this spring.  While I am a bit price sensitive, after reading this Wired article I think I could be convinced to spend some cash for this bike.  

ARTICLE: www.wired.com/reviews/2012/02/stringbike/

The string bike is built in Hungary and the writer likens this bike to the Wankel engine.  I think the idea is great, I would love to try this bike out.  I think the crazy crank configuration would be hard to get over.

What are your thoughts?  Check out their site www.stringbike.com/

I’m always checking the number of devices on my network.  I have a guest wireless that I have in the past let neighbors use.  Since then I have cut them off, but left the network  on to see who attaches.  For a while I had my pineapple setup to do a rickroll on anyone who connected. 

Nmap makes it easy to see what devices are on the network. My IP network is setup as 192.168.2.1.  The easy way to scan the network for devices is to run this nmap command

nmap –sP 192.168.2.1/24

This will return a quick discovery of your network.  The “-sP” option specifies that only a discovery will be performed.

RESULTS:

It is basically showing the 13 devices on the network and each IP and MAC address.

UPDATE: I was able to purchase Tea Fillers from Teavana in our local mall

My current employer does not provide coffee. So I find myself bringing coffee to work. This is not a bad thing, only that I tend to forget my Thermos at work.  They do offer coffee to purchase in the café, but this can become pricy.  Overall, I have found that I enjoy making coffee at home.  I like to use a stronger coffee on some days and then some flavor on others.    However, on the days I forget to set the coffee maker or don’t have a mug to take it with me to work I don’t like this arrangement.

I have toyed with bringing my Senseo to work.  For those not acquainted with the Senseo is single cup brewing system.  Corporate rules don’t allow coffee makers so I would have to hide this.

An alternative is to use single brew coffee like Starbucks VIA.  This solution only requires you to add hot water.  The downside to VIA is the cost. 

I recently read an article on lifehacker that discussed how to make your own portable coffee.  I am not on a quest to do this process.   Simple coffee the way you like it in a few minutes.

Head on over to read the instructions at instructables. http://www.instructables.com/id/Customize-your-own-portable-coffee-bags/

I love the idea of adding sugar and creamer.  I’m calling a local tea shop to see about fillable tea bags.   I did find these on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Finum-100-Filters-Large-Brown/dp/B000KDW9MO/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1329365388&sr=1-1

I noticed a few months ago an interesting phenomenon.  I would feel my iPhone vibrate when I was not carrying it.  This strange sensation has happened a few time in the past, but last month it seemed more intense.  I found out this is something that others have experienced.  It even has a wikipedia page.  This sensation can be called “phantom ringing” or Ringxiety (what a great made up word).

The other interesting thing that happened around this time I also began to miss a lot of phone calls.  I keep my phone on vibrate continually.  Because of the number of text messages and calls I get, my phone goes off frequently.   However, in the last few months I have noticed that I am missing these calls (vibrations).     It is strange, I can feel phantom calls (vibrations) but not the real ones.  This is particularly bad when a client is trying to contact you.

So to help combat these issues I have tried a few things.  The first was to just turn on sound and use the ringer.  This worked for about a day.  It turns out that a ringer is annoying and also impractical if you attend a lot of meetings.  

To keep from missing important calls I turned on custom vibrations on my iphone (another post on that later).   The custom vibrations worked but it was only from particular contacts.

The change that has helped the most is to switch pockets.  I have carried my phone in my right pocket for years.  It has been second nature that any time I leave the house to put my phone in the right pocket, keys and wallet in the left.   So 2 weeks ago I friend from work suggested that I should give it a try.  I joked that I wouldn’t make it the day.  However, 2 weeks running I’ve been switched. 

DID IT WORK?

So far this has solved missing any calls and notifications. It has also caused me to think a bit when leaving the house.  Making sure I don’t forget things.  The most interesting change is attempting to answer the phone and not  drop it.  As a right handed person, this took a bit to get used to.  However, I find myself talking on the phone with my left hand more.

Overall, this has been a  good solution to missing calls but has not stopped the phantom ring.  As a side note, my dress pants seem to have a pocket inside the pocket that fits the iphone perfectly to keep it vertical.  This great feature is only in the right pockets….