Or how I came to love Live Mesh

This weekend I started playing with a new technology from Microsoft that's been dubbed "Live Mesh." This is a platform that enables syncing sets of data across multiple devices, while also making that data available in "the cloud" (there's that term of the moment that I'll be using a lot).

Here the scenario that I'm playing with right now: I have four computers that include a personal laptop, a work laptop, a Media Center and a little netbook (that's a really small laptop). I have a fair amount of ripped and Amazon/Zune DRM-free music that I'd like to play on all of these systems...about 10GB worth. With the Media Center as my primary repository for music, it became a very manual process to make sure I always copied any music I bought on one system to the other. There are a number of tools to do this, but I didn't want to pay for something that I could do by hand (or even scheduled, i.e., SyncToy). There's also that sticky issues of not always being connected to my home LAN. Enter Live Mesh. Any time I update my "Music Mesh" folder on any one of those four system, Live Mesh will push it out to the other systems. This P2P sync is pretty fast, and will use your local LAN if two or more systems are connected. All of the meta data associated with the sync is stored in the cloud.

The second scenario is have access to data in the cloud from any system. Today you are allotted only 5GB of space; with this space you can set up sync "to the cloud" as well. That means from my browser, on any system, I can access my Live Desktop and can see all of my synced folders and the data in those folders. Pretty cool.

There are some drawbacks. The sync if file based, not changes based, so any update, such as a rename, requires the whole file to get re-synchronized to the other systems. The sync can also take a while for large data sets; I've noticed it starts and stops and an occasional reboot is required to get things moving again. This is beta, so hiccups are expected.

I'll make one comment about Apple's MobileMe. There have been a ton of problems with that service so far. I'm not surprised. After listening to some of the Channel 9 video's about Live Mesh, you really begin to understand how this "simple" concept is extremely complex. I wish Apple some luck in getting things humming.

Check things out at http://www.mesh.com and see if it makes sense for you. Mobile phone and Mac support is on the horizon.

Well, I've added a new motorcycle to the stable. A vivid black 2008 Ultra Classic Electra Glide. The first test comes this weekend when I head down to the Crossroads of America motorcycle rally in Hutchinson, KS.

As many of you know, KU finally secured it's third National Title on Monday night. In addition to an incredible game, we had a crazy time downtown. I was a freshman at KU in 1988, so 20 year later I get to share the fun with my son. Kinda weird, kinda cool.

Yea, that's my big head at the bottom, just wanted to prove that it was actually me in the thick of it.

I returned Sunday from NO after 3 days of fun, food and drink. A couple of pretty interesting sights, as you can imagine. My two favorite were a little tame, but I get a laugh out of signs like these...

What's up with Mr. Chubby? Is he really an orange, gelatinous blob distantly related to Jabba the Hut?

So it's been an long time since I've updated and I owed a shout out to Matt A. Matt, this update's for you. Keep the RSS tubes warmed up.

When we bought our house, we were fortunate to have a builder that hired someone to run the right cable. CAT5 for telco/data, RG6 for video, etc., all home run back to the mechanical room in the basement. There were a few bad decisions here and there, but mostly it was done right. I insisted on doing the finish work myself, and about 3 years ago, this is what I installed...

A basic wall mount rack, a punch panel for the CAT5 wiring and some F-Connectors to patch video. Of course, most of the video lines went direct to the DirecTV switch, so there wasn't really any "patching" going on. Fast forward to this December, the addition of a new server and the need to patch in some new data jacks quickly, and I decided to revamp the rack.

This is what I ended up with...

I can highly recommend Parts Express (http://www.partsexpress.com) and Cable to Go (http://www.cablestogo.com) for all your household networking and video distribution needs. Now I sit back and wait for my endorsement check to come.

My Dad and I headed out on our first joint motorcycle trip last weekend. It was a short, 3-day excursion to Springfield and was a blast. We really only had one day in Springfield, with quick trips to Fantastic Caverns, The Bass Pro Shop and Lake Springfield on tap. All said, it was about 500 miles in the saddle.

	Getting ready to head out...
One last wave goodbye. The GPS was set for a 250 mile drive to Springfield via backroads. Some might not like using a GPS when on a bike, I like the fact that I can pay attention to idiot drivers instead of street signs.
	Our first mishap. My bike started cutting out and wouldn't run right, so we pulled over at this station in the middle of nowhere. Seems my 40 amp fuse to the starter was loose. I should have snapped a pic with everything torn apart, but my mind was elsewhere. So much for my shakedown ride before leaving!
A final stop before we hit Springfield. We were pretty tired at this point, even though it was a short trip. A little gum to keep us awake and we were off for the last 75 miles.
	Springfield lake on Day 2. For a small lake, it was pretty nice. And no picture is complete unless the bike is in it.
Dad and his ride. The ducks were coming for our helmets, so we had to fight them off. OK, not really, but it's the closest we got to a biker fight.
	All the comforts of home. Yes, I brought my laptop on the trip and no, leaving home without it wasn't an option.
Heading home on Day 3. This is what I call "Becoming Darth Vader." The great thing about riding a bike is it takes at least 15 minutes to undress and 15 to redress, especially when it's cold.

Everything has finally arrived. My Salamander Designs cabinet is all put together and my Pioneer Kuro 8G Plasma is up and running. The Denon receiver is rocking HDMI 1.3a inputs. I've just received the larger brackets to mount the panel to the aluminum stands; hopefully it will be off the temp stand on top of the cabinet by this weekend. Now if I can just get my son and his buddies off of the XBox, I'll get to enjoy it!

Like any good father, I decided to let my son stay up and pick up a copy of Halo 3 at midnight on September 25th. Please keep in mind, I had absolutely no interest in this. None. Which is why I had Bobbi pick up special snacks, moved the 360 upstairs to play on the plasma and ordered the Legend-(wait for it)-ary Edition two weeks ago. We started out at EB Games so we could wait in line with his friend Tate. I even filled out an entry form provided by the US Army to win an iPod. Somehow, I'm afraid I may have enlisted.Everything was going swimmingly until the manager came out and said they'd only have enough copies for the pre-orders. Damn. So it was off the Wal-Mart next door (I really hate Wal-Mart) and back in line. The good news - Wal-Mart had plenty of copies and by 12:35AM we were on our way home with a Standard Edition of Halo 3.

We played until 2:30 or 3 and then decided to pack it in for the night. The game was glorious, but more was to come.

The next morning at 10AM, the UPS dude arrives and I embrace him warmly, for my Legendary Edition arrived. Unboxing, fanboy-like pics are below. It's Wednesday, and I'm still suffering from a Halo 3 induced hangover - but it was worth it. All hail Master Chief!

Two weeks ago my company held a retreat at Trout Lake, near Potosi, Missouri. My schedule didn't allow me to travel with the team in Kansas City, so I decided to ride my bike down. It was great - beautiful weather and some great twisty roads. Following are some pics of the camp...

You can review my route below. A great round trip of 640 miles.

I'm in Chicago on business today (Friday) and will be staying the weekend with Ken for a little R&R. Naturally, it's supposed to rain all weekend. Better than the 110 degree heat index we've been having in Lawrence. Staying at the Hotel Sax; this used to be the House of Blues hotel, and honestly, it was cooler then.

After getting them to move me from a single bed room to a double, I was finally happy. The room's view is terrible, as you look directly into the parking garage of the adjacent apartment complex. There's a bit of a view of the river, but not much. You can see the parking garage on the right in the right picture.

More pictures to follow as the weekend progresses. Go Cubs.

Saturday ended up being cold and rainy...well, cold is 70 degrees, but that's about 30 degrees cooler than I was used to. A great view of the river looking over the memorial via the bridge on State.

That night we headed out, enjoying some time in Lincoln Park and then, naturally, in Wrigleyville.

Bobbi and I got out on the bike last weekend for a short ride. Not too bad while you were moving, but anytime you had to stop (darn stop signs) it got pretty warm. We rode out to Lone Star and then back in to town for some dinner at Slow Ride.

I ordered a new throttle lock for my bike not long after my first 200+ mile trip. Let's just say that keeping the throttle open the whole time without a break is pretty tiresome. Or I'm a wiener. Either way, I decided it was something I needed.

There were lot's of cheapies out there, but that wasn't good enough for my sweet ride. So I went with a very cool, machined aluminum, auto-disengaging unit from BrakeAway. Actually, the ability to tap the front brakes and have it unlock was a unique feature I couldn't find anywhere else. One less thing to worry about is pretty important for me. Pics of the install, which was finally completed today, are below.

I think I would fit in quite nicely in Springfield. Go to http://www.simpsonsmovie.com to get your cartoon self realized.

After a very busy week, I was finally able to get out and do a little riding today. Only got 50 miles in, but it was still a good time. The map below highlights my route.

After hitting Sonic for some lunch (mmmmmm...tots), I headed northeast to Tonganoxie. Coming back down County Road 1, I ended up in Eudora and then back in south Lawrence. At this point I decided to head out to Wells Overlook. For those of you that went to KU, Wells Overlook is probably familiar. I hadn't been there since college, so a quick stop was in order.

Looking North you can see KU.

 

The beauty of zoom...Fraser Hall in the distance.

Looking south toward US 59.

Looking straight down from the top of the tower.

You can find more information here if you are really, really interested. As a side note, it was apparent that some sort of Fourth of July Battle took place, give all the spent firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottle rockets.

That's the scooter at the park. I'm still trying to figure out how to get a picture of myself while riding the bike...even I think that might be a tad dangerous.

 While I'm not into the whole Live Earth thing today, I do dig good music. And I'm pretty impressed with the setup that MSN put together so you can watch every concert around the globe live...streamings flawless and the interface is very intuitive. Makes me happy to see the boys and girls at MSN pull this off.

Click Live Earth to watch along...

OK...so I finally got around to installing my new mirrors with the built in turn indicators. I started this over a week ago. Why so long to finish? Well, because I broke something and had to order a new part.

You see, the Softail Deluxe has several wiring harnesses under the gas tank. In order to install the mirrors...you guessed it. I had to remove the tank. In my haste, I managed to break the well designed mostly plastic fuel line that runs from the tank to the metal feed tube on the engine. Forty-five dollars and a week later, I installed the new line and finished the job.

I also had to return the luggage and order a different set that is specifically designed to fit my sissy bar and back rest pad. Seems the universal set Bobbi picked up for me wasn't so universal. That came in the same day as my fuel line.

Some crappy pics taken in the garage are below - it's been raining for 3 straight days and I'll have to wait to break in the new toys.

It's been a busy time in motorcycle land. I've crossed 650 miles, turned 38 years old and discovered that I need a backrest to ride longer distances. To that end, I was able to uncover a pretty cool solution. I'd given up my HD "Reach" seat...while nice in concept - it lowered the seat height another inch - it was hard as a rock. Add to that fact that my lower back got pretty sore riding any longer than 25 miles, and I had a problem. Enter the wonderful world of the interweb...over at HD Forums, I discovered that Harley made a nice chrome rail for their Springer Softail. To this rail you can attach a backrest. And to top it off, the rail was interchangeable with the grab rail on the stock Deluxe seat. Great, right? Nope. Unfortunately, Harley no longer had it available in their catalog. My friends on HD Forum pointed me to the Chicago Harley dealership; they had a nice web site to place orders and supposedly could still get 'em. Well, one Internet order and three weeks later, and I had my solution. Before and after posted below...

In the pic on the right, I've left off the passenger pillion and the backrest for solo riding. I think it makes the bike look a little different, while also yelling, "I'm a loner!" It's only a three minute job to reinstall everything for two-up riding.

The passing of my 38th birthday and father's day was marked by some very cool gifts from my family. As a side note, I now know how kids born around Christmas feel - my birthday and Father's Day are always in the same week, or like this year, on consecutive days.

For Father's Day, I scored these sweet set of new mirrors with built in turn signals. Of course, I quickly discovered I have to remove my gas tank to tap into the electrical system, so you know what that means - I'll have absolutely no problem installing them I'll bust something and it'll cost me $500 to get it fixed. For by birthday, the family nailed it again, by setting me up with some very cool touring luggage. Soon I'll be on the road, terrorizing small town bars with my hygienic, well-dressed self.

Lastly, my son picked me up a very cool Guardian Bell with an eagle on it. Given the amount of grief we give each other, I told him it was very cool to receive a present that is given with the intent of keeping you safe, instead of causing death and destruction. :)

Need I say any more?

Well, last Sunday was graduation at KU. Many of our neighbors and friends had relatives or other acquaintances graduating and were having parties. I chose to go for a ride on my Harley. Coming back from the edge of town, I noticed this as I rode up the street (sorry for the crappy camera phone pic)...

Yes, it's lovely Fraser Hall on Mt. Oread. I got a little misty eyed, I must admit. Then I realized it didn't have anything to do with graduation, or that I never got to walk the hill, or that I love KU that much. It was that I hadn't been invited to any parties and didn't get any free beer. So take that nostalgia!