David Fisher : What is Noise Blog

Moving to Columbus, Ohio- Apartment Needed!

June 6th, 2010 Comments

I’m moving to Columbus, Ohio in late August/early Sept with Sarah (more about this in a later blog post). I need an apartment. In the small chance that some Columbus Real Estate agent stumbles across this, please get in touch. Or is anyone know of a killer apartment available that matches this description:

$1450 or less per month
Allows two trained, adult, indoor cats without massive bullshit fees
Hardwood floors (as in no carpet)
Two+ Bedrooms, 1+ baths
Fantastic kitchen with gas stove
At least 100 amperes power available. 200 preferred.
Private 1+ car garage (parking deck is nice too, but I’d like somewhere to work on our bikes)
Should have some distinct/cool style. I’m living in a 150 year old historic house now. Cookie cutter is a no-go.
Close to OSU’s Neuroscience buildings. Like Short North area. Not a 20 minute drive to OSU. We’re talking more like a 10 minute bus ride.
Laundry in-unit

Video Games: Time not Included

June 3rd, 2010 Comments

I love games. Don’t get me wrong, I just don’t have time these days to play them as much as I’d like. I work in the gaming industry at imVOX, and prior to that at gamerDNA.

Gamers at large clamor for the newest hot game to come out as soon as possible, but I have to wonder how many of 18+ gamers just don’t have time to play them. I’ve got probably 40+ modern PS3/360 games on my shelf and two dozen more in Steam. I have a World of Warcraft account, but I haven’t logged in over a month. I wonder if my guild has kicked me out yet, but I don’t have the time to really check. A friend gave me the Warhammer MMO and I never even loaded it up. Many other games I’ve only played for a few minutes or haven’t loaded at all. All of the best intentions to play them have fallen to other daily tasks.

So what gets in the way? I’m sure the list is different for everyone who has grown past their teens. I don’t have any kids to take my time, and my wonderful girlfriend doesn’t mind me playing as long as I don’t completely neglect her. Yet, life isn’t as open and sparse as it once was. Work eats a good portion of the day. General household tasks. Working on my motorcycles. Roadtrips. Playing guitar. Reading. Dining out. Spending time with friends.

It isn’t just the growth of responsibility, but also the joy of finding more in life that interests me and takes priority. Riding a motorcycle in real life beats riding one in GTA:IV. I couldn’t have done that when I was 13. Older people (I’m only 27) don’t hate games. Your parents probably don’t hate games or find them silly, but just have a hard time really fitting them into their day in a responsible way. Massively long games like Final Fantasy XIII just don’t stand a chance on my schedule. Portal or Heavy Rain are much more fitting for my time.

Gaming is a very attention intense activity. Few great games play well as a background task. I can’t cook dinner, hold a decent conversation or read a book while playing Halo ODST. I can listen to music or NPR however.

Back in the day games could include ‘feelies‘ to enhance the gaming experience (and occasionally as copy protection). No matter the cost of a game the one feelie I wish was included with every game was a spare 20 hours to enjoy it. I’ve got 3d Dot Game Heroes and Red Dead Redemption coming in the mail today and yet I know that I won’t get as much use out of them as I’d like.

Is this just sign of getting older? Perhaps. I know some gamers just a few years older than myself who are able to dedicate more time to the pursuit, but it becomes something you must consciously choose and you make sacrifices elsewhere.

Honda CB650 Update

May 26th, 2010 Comments

I’m still working on getting this CB650 working. Right now I’m somewhat frustrated with it, but I think I’ll get there soon.

Greater Boston Motorsports got the electronics running and replaced the tires for me. I took apart the carbs completely and cleaned them quite well. I replaced the front brake pads naively thinking that such would stop the front brake from grabbing. Overall I got it ‘running’ and took it back to GBM. They then tuned the carbs for me, put a new exhaust on it and attempted an inspection.

Seems that I need new front fork seals ($20 for the parts, semi-difficult installation by myself), the front brake is seizing completely which likely needs a caliper rebuild and perhaps a master cylinder rebuild (about $50 in parts, if I can find them). Then the rear brake light is acting up and it needs a new relay for turn signals. I’ve heard I can jury-rig a turn signal relay from the auto store to work, which I might try tonight.

The engine still doesn’t seem to be taking off like it should and I suspect that my acceleration pump is off and/or my air filter is clogged. Also a strange suspicion that I need new clutch plates, but this could just be in my head.

I’m really hoping to have this fixed soon. The brakes are certainly the most difficult thing there due to trouble in finding parts. Completely new brake assemblies are a possibility, but generally really expensive and might not fit properly. The neighbor across the street has offered to help out since he has a GL1100 that is quite similar in many ways.

I won a ’52 HotRod Tele from Pro Guitar Shop

April 26th, 2010 Comments

Today I got lucky (again) and won a sweet 1952 Telecaster Hotrod RI from Pro Guitar Shop in Oregon.

As you could guess, I’m pretty excited about this. I also ordered a LovePedal Kalamazoo overdrive for the pedalboard after watching a rather impressive shootout of it and the Klon Centaur. The Kalamazoo does what I want an overdrive to, is only $200 and I could get one instantly. Sorry Bill, I love the Klon but the price and difficulty to get one (plus size) did it in for me.

I’ve been wanting a ’52 Tele since I tried one probably 10 years ago when I was on vacation once and I really dig the pickup choices on this one. The only thing that I’m going to change almost instantly is to swap out the stock bridge/saddles for a Callaham bridge which is solid call on any Tele.

Looks like its time to hang a new hook on the wall. Here’s a picture from Fender.

Old Bike Barn Scam

April 23rd, 2010 Comments

I needed to get some parts for my CB650 and CM400T, and in my Googling around I ran across the Old Bike Barn. I put in the order on the 16th, hoping that I could get the parts as soon as possible. Needless to say, they are pretty much one step from a complete scam- much akin to the Brooklyn photography gear dealers that advertise low prices and then never ship. Seems a few people have gotten their parts shipped, but never in a timely manner.

In contrast, I ordered parts from two other places at the same time and received them before Old Bike Barn even charged my credit card.

When I inquired with their customer service they said they were waiting on some cable shipment. So they sold me parts without having them in inventory? Great… I’ve heard this story before.

The BBB of NY has nothing good to say about them. They don’t pick up their phones and their online chat help is useless. Someone started a thread on a forum about it and threatening legal action, in which many people chimed in with ‘me too’. The CEO responded a few times in the thread saying how he’s no scammer and that all of the issues are from various technology migration issues. Yet- they’ve had scaling issues for years it seems and shipment times are never good.

In short, do NOT order from them. Anywhere else, but not Old Bike Barn. You might get lucky and get your parts, but consider yourself warned.

I personally sent them notices to cancel my transaction and then called Bank of America for a chargeback, which they initiated. If I get the time I’ll contact the BBB and the NY Attorney General about it.