So here’s the route to work:

bikeroute

So I made it, the only big surprise is how I was exhausted climbing the hill west of 405, and a strong southerly wind, which should both help me on the way back

I believe the cop saw that (or maybe he just wasn’t impressed with my loud techno blasting though the sunroof), pulled over to the shoulder and got behind me for like a mile on 405, I didn’t get stopped. Should I actually be looking out for these transit police like I do for the WaSPs?

After opening it up, I went to ACE to get some lag bolts, spacers, a pilot hole drill bit, and spacers. The lag bolts are to replace the ones supplied because as I said earlier there are lots of reports of people stripping bolt heads. So, I went with ones similar to the ones provided, that is, 5/16″ thick by 3.5″ long. I also got some washers to match, since they’re so cheap. To drill the pilot holes, some online research shows that the recommended size of a pilot hole on soft wood is 3/4 of the bolt’s diameter. So that makes it 15/64″. I got plastic spacers because the ones supplied with the mount were a bit big and the bolt wouldn’t go in deep enough for comfort, and you want things to be tight, otherwise you can damage the threads. I also got rubber flanges to protect the swanky red finish on the back of the TV.

The next part is finding the studs, and yes, you absolutely have to mount it on studs. Drywall is extremely brittle and won’t hold a TV. For that you’ll need a stud finder and a laser level. So, locate and mark the center and edges of studs on the wall with the stud finder. Normally they’re 16″ on center apart, but don’t count on that, some contractors like to improvise. Now comes time to decide where you want the TV, both vertically or horizontally. For that I placed the bracket on the TV and took a few measurements to find out where the TV would end up based on the pilot holes. Horizontally the leeway you have is the holes on the wall plate. You do want the TV to be more or less centered on the mount. Vertically, although aesthetically it might look better on the center of the wall or on top of a fireplace, it’s recommended to have the center of the TV at eye level when sitting down, which is roughly 40-45 inches off the ground. And I would avoid putting it above a fireplace, as it can get quite hot up there, and sooty if it’s a wood-burning fireplace. Find a nice painting to decorate the mantle instead of putting at TV!

So, once you figure out where the mount should be, go ahead and mark the location of the lag bolts using the mount. As an extra check, I drove a small nail horizontally at 1/4 intervals to figure out where the edges of the studs were, just to be sure, as hitting the edge of a stud will cause it to crack. After that, I screwed in the mount on the wall with drywall screws, to make things a bit easier. I also marked the opening I’d poke to pass the wiring through the wall. Next I took out the mount to cut out a rectangle with an exacto knife (use a drywall saw if you have one). I made another such opening on the botton, where the wires would come out. I then installed a low voltage flange you can find at a hardware store and a nose plate which you can find at Monoprice or Fry’s.

Next I passed the wires. I decided to get wires for all the ports my TV has, with the exception of the side ports and optical audio out. So that makes for a VGA+audio cable, coax, digital audio out, 3x HDMI and 2x component. Get lengths of at least 12ft, otherwise they may be too short.

Once that’s done, it’s time to have a good friend help you out to take out the TV pedestal, scew in the mounting brackets and ceremoniously hook the TV on the wall.

And for the final touch, I’ve added some low voltage LED bars from Ikea

Be careful what you wish for, because I think the Lord would want you dead right the fuck now for denying access to healthcare to less fortunate individuals. But maybe he’s forgiving you in the hopes that you’re going smarten up.

Jokes aside, I’d rather have the government decide my fate rather than Satan’s representatives, the insurance companies.

Really, there’s actually something America can’t afford? So what’s the logic here, we can afford to make the $900 trillion mistake of invading Iraq, or $53 trillion in handouts to well-connected bankers also known as the bailout,  but $1 trillion over the next 10 years is going to bankrupt us? I guess they don’t study proportions in bible schools…

This one would a actually make sense if it was held by a health insurance lobbyist. Of course, the liberty to fuck people over is something they cherish greatly. Otherwise, I don’t think people stuck paying medical expense debt have very much liberty.

Seriously, I’ve got nothing against conservatives. But being that thick-headed is very, very wrong.

Here in Seattle, the big fad nowadays is for politicians to come out and state that the budget has a huge deficit, and that if people don’t allow them to raise taxes they will have to cut essential services. But they’re also spending like drunken sailors on light rail, road tunnels, bridges, you name it! The Seattle P-I’s story placement today is just brilliant:

Sure, a new bridge, seawall, tunnel, etc are useful projects, but right now I’d rather have them wait the recession out instead of cutting essential services and/or raising taxes during a recession. It’s just one more way to kill what’s left of the middle class and screw the less fortunate members of society.

I came across this interesting page on TunnelFacts.com. For instance, with 4.2 billion, you could prevent any city bus service cuts for 3 years, hire all school teachers laid off in May (and many more) for 10 years, get sidewalks for every block that needs them, give 5 reusable shopping bags to each Seattleite, pay the rent for 5 years for 8000 bums in Seattle, and get a bike for each adult in Seattle! All for $4.2 billion!

Maybe I’m just very pessimistic and in 10-20 years from now when the tunnel opens there will be a few average Joes left who’ll be able to afford the gas to drive in the tunnel…

I was trying to find a coordinate on a map, so I try it out on Google Earth. I get nothing, so maybe it’s time to RTFM. Yes, the sample coordinates work, but not “46 54 75.00 N, 122 57 92.00 W”!!!

Google earth fail:

Google maps fail:

Now here’s how Bing handles it:

Hey, that’s a win!

So far, this is ticket #4 in the US. The first ticket I got was for doing 71 mph in a 35 mph zone just over a year ago was deferred. The second one for 79 in 60, on the highway, was dismissed, the third one was for not having proof of insurance was also dismissed (without a lawyer this time, just showed proof of insurance to the court). Total spent on lawyers: $1000. Total saved in fines: $1105. Fighting tickets does indeed pay for itself, but the feeling of beating the scammy system is priceless!

There was a special light show on the Space Needle to highlight the event. Here’s the view from the downtown Kirkland marina:

Among the features, the local search is great, with aggregated reviews, if only they could remove the fictional street going right through my condo on the maps, cashback (bing bling!), video search with previews and farecast! They even have a search provider for Firefox and it works great!

So check it out!