That was the week that was.

And it was very nice too, having a week off to collect my thoughts.  Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but all of the big "must be done during business hours" things got pretty well wrapped up.  On the last day, finished out things with another long woods ride.  Obligatory bike-in-woods photo:

At the end of the Couch Trail

Back to work tomorrow.  This staycation was sorely needed, and I'm feeling a tad better.

Garden Planted. Mostly.

Peppers, watermelons, and tomatoes.  Lots of tomatoes, Brandywine heirloom and cherries.  We'll see how it goes this year.  Much bigger than last year's garden at 150 square feet, versus the former 65-ish.  The layout's also better than in past years, there's plenty of mulch, and there's a leave-it-alone soaker hose dedicated to each of the three beds.  Toss in a UV flashlight for spotlighting hornworms, and the whole thing should go a lot easier than last year's effort.

Still some stuff to do.  The fence mesh needs to be properly stretched and hung on the T-posts, but it's good enough now to keep the bunnies at bay until I can get back to it.  Got to build some supports for the tomatoes.  Think I'll make tripods out of bamboo growing in the side yard for this; easier and cheaper than stakes.  Maybe some more mulch.  And the rest will just take time, water, and sunlight.

In the Woods Yesterday

Here's the obligatory bike-against-tree pic:

The weather was too damn beautiful yesterday.  Started riding at 1pm, with the temps in the high 60's.  Sunny, dry but not dusty trail conditions.  There were a few folks out there, but not so many that it turned into a ride-sapping social occasion.  May have sold my tires (which don't suit my riding style) to a guy from Ocean Springs who was out there – just as soon as the new tires (in 2.1 width) are in.

Thirty good miles and my back feels fine.  Full Suspension: Don't turn fifty without it.

Cleaning up, packing down.

Last fall's re-flooring has been a rousing success both then and now.  But moving all the house's contents into a POD and back has been the equivalent of being re-decorated by a pack of drunken over-caffinated moneys.  Got the big stuff back in and properly placed, then jammed the rest in where it would fit and went back to work.  Haven't been able to find anything for months, which inevitably leads to thrashing, almost a textbook version of the computer science concept translated to the physical world.  Net effect is that the prep time for most activities is 3x what it should be.  Weekends are too short as it is already!  (Although Congress is doing its very best to lengthen them for my coworkers and me.  Thanks guys!)

Taking a week off to rectify this problem, and to take a breather before the final push on a project at work.  No guarantees of success, but I did manage to find the bedroom floor by yesterday afternoon.  Things are moving in the right direction.

Mustang Round-Up

So, what's a tuner and what's it do?  It reprograms the engine's computer, mainly to advance the timing (and thus require premium gas), moves some of the fuel/air/spark settings from the 'good mileage' end of things into the 'good performance' corner, and (if you have an automatic, which I don't) changes the shift points to higher RPM's.  If you want more detail, there's a brief article over at Wikipedia.  Here's a video of the net result, showing the same car before and after.  The manufacturer is claiming an 18 HP increase, but if I'm doing the kinematics right it looks closer to 24.5 HP for this case.  Maybe the guy just had a suboptimal baseline run, making the tune look better than it really is.  And while I have not dyno'd my car since the upgrade, I assure you that the difference can be felt.

Now for the burning question: if the 2011-onward V6 puts out 305 HP, and the 2010 GT V8 puts out 315 HP, who's going to win a quarter-mile drag race?  Answer here.  Nice test procedure and a nice video, except for the music overlay.  What about if we repeat this after a few common mods to the two models?  Two videos of these results, here and here.

OK, that's all the hotrod action for now kids.  Eagerly awaiting the strut tower brace (backordered), but that's more of a handling thing.  After that, maybe tires next year and that's about it.  But remember: leave this stuff to the certified insane trained professionals, and don't try this at home.

ACME Parts All Installed

Parts list described earlier completely installed and functioning.  (hat tip to Mike the IT guy)  The results are all that and a free cigar.  Bonus Points: initial testing survived, didn't even get a ticket.  Mind you, it was very hard to drive like a sane person down to the bridge to open it up.

[Latin name explained here.  Especially apt in this case.]

OK, there's always a more powerful muscle car out there somewhere, and ultimately the king of the hill isn't even street legal.  Right now in the neighborhood of 335 HP, this one's performing at the rated level of a '69 428 Cobra Jet (you'll have to scroll down to find the specs, it's the "Q" & "R" engine options).  If that's not enough engine, hell, you need to go be an astronaut or something.

Next up: Strut tower brace, unfortunately out of stock at the moment.  Tighten up the steering a little with one of these and the whole package will be good to go.  At least until the itch strikes again.  And that big blank plate in the middle of the brace will look great with "ACME" stenciled on it.

PhD Comics visits Comic-Con San Diego

And talks to several people doing graduate research on various aspects of the whole comics/superhero world.  Mostly, as you might guess, on the psychological aspects of it.  It's a nice 10 minute view of things, probably worth your time.