This pile of plastic and heavy metals was replaced by smaller pile a plastic and heavy metals. Our new Core Duo Mac Mini replaced the two G3 iMacs and my old Athlon XP 2000+ (The two Performas were just in the wrong place at the wrong time). Luckily, I have found homes for the iMacs, and the PC. The iMacs are actually pretty nice, and run OS 10.3.9 acceptably. The PC, on the other hand, sounds like a dump truck and throws off enough heat to keep a small house warm. The Mac Mini is fully optioned out with a decently fast dual core processor, bazillion GB of RAM, more than adequate hard disk, and a really sweet remote control. It runs XP and OS X very well, the only issue so far being that XP does not like the bluetooth keyboard. But, more importantly, the Mini takes up as much space as about one speaker from the PC. I was a little sad to see my PC desktop go, but it, along with it’s 700 cooling fans had to hit the road. Oh, and if you were still wondering, Need For Speed (the best car arcade game from the late 1990s) works just fine on the Mini. The departing iMacs and Performas take with them our last CRT monitors, finally.

So, now we will be down to only four computers, from nine. Here are some specs on what is left:

Total online disk storage: 1.5 TB
Total pixels: 6.3 M
Total RAM: 5.3 GB

This is the first version of the Klunk Cycles website that I’ve been developing, brought to you in true Mac Classic OS style. You can see the real thing here: www.klunkcycles.com There are some slick dynamic content upgrades planned. I’ll let you know when they are up…

Total distance (May): 100.92 miles
Total distance (Cumulative): 502.71 miles
Total time (Cumulative): 42 hours, 57 minutes

Ouch, that is really bad. 101 miles and 8 hours? I am ashamed. Oh well, I’m making it up: I’ve ridden 58.87 miles in the first six days of June. May was busy, I didn’t ride on any weekends, at all. Wait, wait, I’m sure I can come up with more excuses… Oh yeah, my bike is too heavy and there was a head wind. Here is a break down: 39.5 miles commuting, plus 11.5 miles on the M2 (one ride) and 50 miles on the Gunnar.

In a related story, the drivers side window regulator broke on my Acura, so I’ve only driven it once this month. The new regulator came today, but the dealer sent the regulator for the passenger window. Oh well, at least it does not rain in my garage. Rant: Why can’t anyone make a decent power window regulator? My old Jetta had four crappy regulators, three of which had been replaced at least once, all of which made scary noises when I sold it (yeah, I told the new owner). I thought Honda was supposed to make nice (boring) reliable (boring) cars, guess not. Even when Honda regulators are working they sound like they are not quite up to lifting the windows, and even then progress at glacial speeds. I’ve noticed this on several Honda and Acura cars, it is not limited to my five foot long Acura windows. This leads me to my next complaint: Why do these car manufactures insist on gluing/taping the door linings to the doors? As much as I like to break things, cutting a $50 door liner is not my idea of fun. How about some bolts and foam seal? Maybe some of those crappy plastic plugs? VW figured it out on the late A4 Golf/Jettas. The A4s came with bolt-in metal/plastic inner panels, most likely due to the frequent access required for the ridiculously unreliable regulators they came equipped with. My A3 VR6 Jetta was not so equipped and went under the knife numerous times. I actually used blue-bags in doors on my old A2 GTI 16v. Whatever, I should just buy a beige Camry.

Here is some good news:

It is the 19.2 mile gravel/road route again!

Date: 2006.06.06
Time: 7:30 pm
Conditions: 85° F, very nice
Mileage: 19.2
Time: 1:02
Average Speed: 18.6 MPH

I am very happy with this result. I’ve improved my average speed by over one mph and improved my time by four minutes. I was at just under 31 minutes and 19.0 mph average speed at the half-way point, so I am fairly consistent throughout the ride. Hmm, I suppose those daily commute rides are paying off (my commute is only three miles). I also brought one of those caffeine laced GU packs from REI. It probably deserves the credit, perhaps two GU packets will get me under an hour, and three will make my heart explode?