Archive for December, 2007

Loose lithium batteries can nolonger be checked

Friday, December 28th, 2007

This is a new one on me, According to the Washington Post you can no longer pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage.

To help reduce the risk of fires, air travelers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning Jan. 1, the Transportation Department said Friday.

If packed in plastic bags, batteries may be in carryon baggage. The limit is two batteries per passenger.

Mmm so does this mean I am allowed to check a lithium if it is still in its original packaging?

The more they make it more difficult to fly the more I wish the US had a reasonable train system or god forbid actually wanting to drive instead.

Bike Stats (new bike)

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

ODO 512
AVG 14.1
max 25.2
time 23:51
trp 5.6

I have Trek Incite 8i wireless odometer that bought at the same time I bought my bike. I have been getting strange Max speed readings on and off for since i got it. I finally tracked down the porblem. If I put it to close to my mac book laptop the speed indicator goes crazy. I tried switching off the blue tooth and wifi transmitters on the laptop and I had the same problem. So that unit is going to be retired in favor of my new christmas present, a Garmin Edge 305 GPS/heart rate/cadence/Speed/altitude/kitchen sink monitor. The only problem is I forgot to turn it off last night so it died 2 mins into this mornings commute, OOOPS.

I can tell you this much for today
Total time: 2:08
26 cal burned
distance .44 miles
heart rate 131 bpm
max 15.2

Yesterday (on old bike, with hy)
Time 0:46:13
559 cal
6.69 miles
avg 8.7
max 20.2

Flatulent cow puts wind up locals

Friday, December 14th, 2007

Has anyone seen this in person yet?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7145026.stm

The cow

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

For the mass transit lover in me this is good news.The washington post is reporting that Maryland is adding more trains to the Baltimore/DC MARC schedule including more evening trains.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/12/AR2007121202416.html

All I can wish for now is weekend service.

Petrol Prices

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Paying by the liter in the uk taught me to watch gas prices. The washington post is saying that the price of regular has gone down 9 cents a gallon over the last 3 week. I haven’t seen much evidence of that close to our house, but we did get regular for $2.89 a gallon in Baltimore over the weekend which is 16 cents cheaper than the cheapest of the gas stations near our house.

On a related note my car is about 40 miles away from passing the 100,000 mile mark. Maybe I will treat it to an oil change, a battery and a car wash.

Avenue Q

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

We saw Avenue Q tonight at the National Theater in DC. This was a last minute thing, we had talked about it for a week or so but didn’t get any tickets till Thursday. I had a lot of fun. Definitely not for the kids I think the best song was “The internet is for surfing porn” and I think they should make up a t-shirt for the line “Grab your dick and double click”. So I now have a new mouse mat. I am debating weather I would be able to use it at work.

Avenue Q mouse mat