dp's blog

Crazy Rodents

2009-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Its been way too long since my last post. Changing jobs along with some unexpected events came up, but I'm going to get back to writing since I no longer get to write useless crap for a living. So to all those 2 people that read this, welcome back!

Here is a funny picture that I found on the interwebs. A crazy squirrel crashed this photo up in Banff (Canada)...

Apparently, the rodents of Banff aren't camera shy. Here is my own photo from a trip to Banff just last month!

I should have sent this to National Geographic too, except this guy didn't wander in front of the camera, he just charged up to me. More about Canada to follow.

08 STI Test Drive

2008-07-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

The Subaru / Gary Fisher MTB team was doing a little promotion - test drive any '08 Subaru and receive a free biking jersey. Considering the fact that I was planning on swinging by the stealership for parts, I figured I would get a free jersey out of the deal. I thought I would have to just drive a Legacy or base WRX just for the freebee, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Usually Subaru doesn't let people test drive STIs, but I managed to take one out. Blue and gold is a little beat, I would definitely go with white on the 5 spokes, but that's just me. Had to keep it under 4k rpm (only had 50 miles on the ticker) but oh well. The power delivery was still there a lot sooner than the 2.0 WRX, but duh, bigger motor. It was nice checking out what a stock STI feels like since my only seat time with an '08 was with Cobb's car that I posted earlier. Seats were nice, but definitely less support than previous years. The ride was super nice too even over crappy roads and on the freeway. They definitely made the '08 STI more liveable which is a plus for me as a daily driver.

Too bad buying a house comes first right now otherwise I would be all over this car. I was just in it for the free bike jersey. (I'll post pics when it comes in the mail for those who care.)

Rampage Jackson lost his damn mind..

2008-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

I watch a little UFC/Pride stuff once and a while, but I want to make one thing clear... I am in no way, shape, or form one of those bros who wear Tap Out or Affliction shit. I just like watching people beat the piss out of each other.

Anyway, Rampage Jackson (who knocked out Chuck but lost his title to Forrest Griffin) recently made the news. After going on a road rampage (sorry, I had to do it), he was arrested after driving his massively lifted F350 over a few cars and down to Newport Beach, where he was finally detained.

Here is a tip for you would-be criminals. If you are going to run from the cops, don't use a monster truck with a life-size portrait of yourself on the side of it as your getaway vehicle...

Hell, a white Bronco would have been better

Apparently, he was too messed up to go to jail, so they hospitalized him. There are also mental health issues at hand, but I'm not sure about all the details. One thing I do know, I never want to run into Rampage... he lives in Irvine.

But honestly, who drives around in a monster truck with their mug plastered all over the side?
I don't think I would be able to pull it off...

"Better watch out, I hear after a few Appletinis, that guy's arm-bar is like an anaconda!"

Street Fighter IV

2008-07-16T10:18:00.001-07:00

Check out the trailer from E3:

Can't wait...

Fun with Photography

2008-07-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

The GF is taking a photography class and she had to work with panning/shutter speed. Having the digital SLR around helped things quite a bit since we could test out the settings without having to develop the film.

We started out leaving the shutter open with a moving light source and went overboard with the creativity. Once we realized things could be spelled out, the fun began.

After we came up with the tracing idea, we went inside where we could better control the lighting, and we did some cool stuff:

Pretty sweet.

Profeta Daniel

2008-07-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Found this picture taken of a statue of the Prophet (Profeta) Daniel in Brazil.

Upon closer inspection, I got a better look at the face:

Check out this sweet Rack

2008-06-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

Pun intended.

Just picked up an OEM roof rack (factory EDM). It's pretty weak that Subaru doesn't offer this "load carrier" to the USA. I guess they think the WRX wagon is good enough for us 'Merikuns.

I had to order it from a dealer in the UK - Cheam Motors. It came in about a week, so I was stoked. The only downside is the current state of the dollar. The exchange rate blew, but it's worth it to have a factory rack.

Reason being, all Imprezas have a mount for the factory racks under the black strips on the roof, so the install was super easy. They also allow me to keep the JDM OE rain visors. The racks also just pop off whenever, and they only leave these tiny metal brackets.

It's not too noticeable from a distance, but I can definitely live with it.
To fasten the rack to those brackets, you just use the lever at each base.
You can see in this pic: Fastened:

The base's feet come in contact with the car under the weather strip, so there are no worries about the paint. You can't beat OEM parts for stuff like this. It's so much better when things are meant to worth with one another.

Here is a finished shot after a bath, as the sun was going down:

After the initial install the night before, I didn't have a chance to fit the end caps that go on the cross bars or these little rubber caps that seal off the bottom of the cross bars. The result was a nasty whistle that played in three distinct tones. One pitch at 20mph, the middle pitch at 30mph, and the highest at 40mph. It was hilarious. After completely finishing the install, the whistle was gone, but it was funny while it lasted.

Next thing I need to do is pick up the actual bike/snowboard racks that to attach to these cross bars, and maybe even a fairing. I'll probably get the Yakima High-Roller to hold the bikes, and the Yakima FatCat6 for snowboards, but that can wait until winter. Shit costs money.

K1 Speed - Karting

2008-06-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

I took a bunch of my employees to K1 for lunch today, another perk of working in the automotive enthusiast industry. We currently have all of our assistants slaving away at getting all our archive articles up on the web, so we decided to give the project some incentive. Top performers will be rewarded at different stages of the project, the first round being a trip to K1 and lunch on the company.

K1 is pretty sweet. They have 5 locations total, 4 in SoCal and 1 in Seattle. It's not your typical bumper karts/amusement go-kart track. You have your own account (license they call it) and they keep track of all your race times. There is a little print out after each race, raking everyone in your group. They really cater to car people, and the facility is pretty sweet. If you are in the area, it's cool to check out if you care about racing / lap times. If you just want to tool around, go to Boomers or something.

Just for the record, I had the fastest lap time and fastest average time for the whole office.. no big deal.

Here is the track (1 of 2 at the Irvine location).

Link - http://www.k1speed.com/
(pictures jacked from K1's site)

HeroMachine 2.5

2008-06-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

Create your own super hero. Awesome.
See what you can come up with.

HeroMachine LINK

I had to give him a light saber to compliment the numb-chucks, haha.
I'm going to spend too much time using this thing.

My New Wheels - One Gear Only

2008-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Picked it up this past weekend and I've rode it to work every day so far.

I wanted something cheaper and more simple than my Cannondale roadie bike for commuting purposes, so I decided on a single speed. Specialized has a line of bikes called Langster that are single speed city/commuter bikes, and come in different themes. Each model in the Langster series is named after a city. I went with the 'Chicago' since it's the sickest. Flat black frame, bull horn style bars, black crank, black components, sweet graphics, etc. It even says Gangster instead of Langster, lol, and has a little city scape with Al Capone on the top tube. All it needs is a set of red wheels.

Overall, I'm really stoked on the bike. I'm just going to leave the pedals that it came with on the there since they are just flats with the little straps for sliding regular shoes into. This makes it easier since I'll primarily be commuting and I don't feel like changing my shoes. All the components on the bike are bolted down (no quick releases) so I don't have to worry about locking the bike up outside of the office.

Price wasn't bad either. It was on sale before taking another 15% off for being a VeloSport team member of Rock and Road bike shop. So put it this way, I used my economic stimulus check and still went out to dinner. Thanks for the free bike, US Government. I'll be using it to stop buying gas.

Virtual Reality Head Tracking using Wii Remote

2008-06-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

This might be WTLW for some of you ("welcome to last week") but I thought it was pretty incredible.

This dude Johnny Lee, aka Magoo, created this software that used the Wii remote and sensor bar to create a VR environment. Watch the whole thing, it's sweet.

It's pretty cool seeing what can be done with the existing technology. Why doesn't Nintendo utilize this?

This reminds me of a class I took on "New Digital Media" at UCI. There was a section on gaming where we explored the history (from the first mmorpgs to Wii, etc) and examined new ways to enter new dimensions of gaming. Needless to say, it was a sweet class, just too much work. The thing that trips me out is that this new dimension can be achieved using existing technology that is already in place. Pretty cool stuff.

This guy created a couple projects using the Wii remote and has them up on his website. I've actually seen the white board mod, our IT guy at work set one up - here is Johnny Lee's Wii project site

Cobb 08 STI - Follow Up

2008-06-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

The article went live.

Click for LINK

These pics are a little better than the ones I posted

When a massive, full-size truck or SUV just won't do...

2008-06-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

Saw a yuppie douche driving one of these behemoths around Irvine this morning on the way to work...

Same model as this picture, the GMC Topkick I believe. Now why on earth would anyone need something like this. It was basically like a personal use semi truck.

"World gas problems? Who cares.. Hey planet Earth, FUCK YOU!!"

You stay classy Orange County.

Project Cockpit: Part 4 - Basically Done

2008-06-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Part 4: I think I'm almost done?

I haven't really had much time to work on Project Cockpit (lol), aka project 40 year old virgin, but I did get the chance to mount the seat this past Saturday.

My pops helped me out with fabricating the seat brackets since I decided to just go with some inexpensive hardwood from Lowe's, and he's an old school furniture maker, wood worker, Bob Vila, etc. Growing up as a kid, we had a massive wood shop in our basement that would put shop class facilities to shame, so I knew it would be no problem. The only challenge that presented itself was the bottom of the gaming seat being rounded, since it was meant to rock, but it wasn't that big of an issue.

We started on the rear seat mount since we determined the rear mounting surface would remain flat after positioning the seat at the right angle. We used a hardwood horizontal support plank on top of hardwood blocks that would mount to the ABS piping. These blocks determined the height of the seat in relation to the steering wheel position, so it was important to get it right. Too high - it would be like driving a school bus, too low and it would be like an 8 year old trying to see over the dashboard.

Since the seat should be adjustable (front to back) we fabricated the blocks to clamp around the ABS pipe frame as seen here:
You can see how the outer blocks will clamp to the frame using knobs on either side. The inner blocks are screwed/glued to the plank while the outer blocks are held on with the bolts/knobs. The bottoms of the blocks were trimmed a little so that it would allow the cockpit to sit on the ABS when its on the floor. This will also allow the blocks to slide.

With the rear support finished, it was time to move to the front, which proved to be a little tougher. The mounting surface had to be angled in order to mount the curved-bottom, rocking, gaming seat. We used the same concept as the lower rear blocks (drilled in the middle so it can slide on the frame) but we had to get the angle just right. And since there are already 2 knobs to secure the seats location in the rear, the front blocks were just screwed together around the ABS frame, allowing the front to slide freely.

Here is the result (unpainted obviously):

I had to take the gaming chair apart to be able to drill the frame into the wooden brackets, and luckily it went back together without any issues. We just had to make sure the screws for the bottom seat cushion were accessible after mounting to the brackets.

Seating Impressions:
The front of the gaming chair came with a little handle on the front of its lower frame rail, so adjusting the seat is a breeze. Once it's adjusted and locked down by tightening the knobs, it's very secure and sturdy. The height of the seat is perfect, positioning the steering wheel right where it should be. The seat back angle is also where it needs to be. I'm really stoked on how it turned out. I also really like how the gaming seat folds up for better storage.

Only thing left to do is tidy everything up: Paint the seat brackets black, connect the speakers, maybe route the wiring inside of the ABS piping, etc. There is still a little work to be done, but I would say that the next installment (part 5) should wrap it up for Project Cockpit (lol). I will save the gameplay impressions for part 5..

Previous Installments:
Part 1 - The Beginning
Part 2 - The Wheel, Planning/Design
Small Update - Materials Acquired
Part 3 - Big Update - Frame Complete

Drove an 08 STI Today

2008-05-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Working for Source Interlink (formerly Primedia) has its perks. One of the other editors ended up with Cobb's 08 STI to tool around in, so I took it for a spin.

Although it was only lightly modded, it was still sweet to drive. I'll leave out most of the details since the story hasn't been published yet, but let's just say is wasn't much faster than my car. It just felt like a tighter, neater version with about 50-75 more horsepower and a 6-speed.

Didn't really have a chance to blast around turns, but I did get to tach it out in 2nd and 3rd. Pretty good tuning, you can tell its on the stock turbo, but it was still fun. It had some sticky tires that I wish I could have tried out a little more, but my drive was a little too short.

I can see where all the reviews are coming from that say the new STI is softer and more livable than the previous models. Even though it was modded, you could still feel how it mellowed out. I can only image how a stock STI must feel. But this is actually appealing to me considering how rough and annoying my current suspension set-up is on my WRX for daily driving.

The only downside was that I didn't get a chance to check out the new stock STI seats. Lots of Subaru fan boys have been flaming the 08's seats (probably because we got gypped on the Recaros... I don't blame them) but I couldn't tell you either way... it had some sweet Prodrive buckets in place of the stockers. Only thing was, they sat you on the floorboard. If I wasn't 6'2", I might have had a hard time with visibility, seeing as how Subaru appears to have raised the dash higher than previous models.

Bottom line, I want one. The new STI has gotten all this flack about the styling, but I really like it. Fast hatches / wagons are awesome. I totally regret not getting the WRX wagon (or an STI), and now that the new STI is a hatch, I want one. Badly. Cobb's car represents exactly what I want. Minimal mods to keep it street legal and daily drivable. Looks wise, this is exactly how I would roll - white on gold. They also took care of the nasty tail lights, adding some red tint.
How could you go wrong? A livable, manageable wagon (technically a hatchback) with 300+HP and all wheel drive?
And not to mention, this car smoked a new GT500 Mustang...

Trippy Optical Illusion

2008-05-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Pretty crazy. I want one.

I found out where to make your own - link
Good old google...

I've officially gone Blu

2008-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well since HD DVD has been dead for a little while, I decided it was about time to go from red to blue. The PS3 is probably the best BluRay player out there, so it works out.

I wasn't really pulling for either format to win, I just went with HD DVD since I had a 360 instead of a PS3 at the time. The HD DVD add-on cost me around 70 bucks, came with 6 free movies and eventually led to a $50 rebate from Best Buy once it's death was announced. Ended up being ~20 bucks for 6 movies and a player. Not a bad deal. All the fire sales that followed HD's demise helped out a little as well. Even though HD DVD was a more finished product, it still lost. But I digress..

First few BluRays so far - Cars, Hell Boy, I Robot - chosen to demo the format, and it was awesome. Cars looked absolutely incredible. I Robot's effects looked awesome along with the sound being amazing and Hell Boy was just beautifully detailed, colored, and bad ass.

Best Buy currently has a 2 for $30 sale on certain titles, so I picked up Pans Labyrinth and Blade Runner 5 disk special edition (they are normally over 30 bucks a piece). I picked these up after I got Hell Boy and The Rock with the same sale. It's worth checking out, in-store or online.

Seems like their $50 rebate plan worked since I went right back there with my gift card to buy BluRay disks, LOL. Worked out for me too, spent 10 bucks on 4 BD movies. Overall, really stoked on BluRay, have a few more movies coming from Amazon and I updated my Netflix account to send BDs.

The top rack of my movie storage is so colorful now. It's almost getting to be half and half. It should be full of pretty blue cases soon... I'm such a dork.

Quote of the Week

2008-05-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Taken from a recent conversation today:

Me: Be there around 6. My Mom might be there so she can let you in.

Her: "Oh hey Mary Ann, I'm just going to be in Dan's room waiting for him with my clothes off"

--

Happy Friday.

Project Cockpit: Part 3 - Big Update

2008-05-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

Part 3: Frame Completed

Project Cockpit (lol) saw a whole lot of progress since this past weekend. I had a chance to cement all the pieces together to finalize the frame as well as fabricate the mounts for the wheel and the shifter.

Here is the bare frame all cemented up and ready to rock:

The steering mount provided the biggest challenge since the cross support is a round piece of ABS plasic, not the best to clamp onto. The best solution that came to mind was to notch the top and bottom of the pipe, creating flat edges on top and bottom while using a piece of wood to ensure a solid clamp. Orginally I was going to use a piece of wood top and bottom, but the top stayed super secure just using the notched ABS plastic edge.

When I was testing out the measurements and cutting up a spare piece of ABS plastic, I found that it fit perfectly. Since it took forever to dremel out the perfect notches, I decided to use the test piece by chopping up the existing solid horizontal support and fasten the new center section with standard couplings. This actually provided additional support since the couplings were cemented close to the cuts. Also, doing it this way allowed me to angle the platform just right to ensure the wheel gets mounted at the right angle. Rather than trying to make sure the cuts were in the right place, I could just simply twist it to where it needed to be while the cement way drying (you can see in the pic above that it was all measured and marked with a line).
Here is a picture with the wheel mounted:
That sucker is not moving. Super solid.

The next part is something I am most proud of - the shifter mount.
The way it mounts to the frame allowed me to angle it slightly towards the driver and the height is also perfect. I built the platform out of wood (paint stirers to be exact, lol, so they were free). It's essentially a platform with 2 runners along the bottom that double as support and the clamp mounting surface. The Logitech shifter has a center vise clamp, so I put a wood block for that to mount to as well. The way I mounted it to the ABS pipe was simple. I just capped the end with a 2 inch fitting and bolted down into it.

Here is the result:
Also pretty solid and mounts the shifter perfectly secure:
I had the shifter planned out from the beginning and it came out perfect. It went from vision to design to construction, where as the steering mount was more of a "problem / soultion" type deal that ended up working out favorably.

Since I wanted to ensure Project Cockpit (lol) was storable, I left the front and the rear un-cemented with plans to find a way to temporarily attach the whole thing.
Problem solved:
You can see how the joining piece of pipe in between the sockets has been drilled to the front coupler, so the whole thing just separates leaving the seat behind for people to still sit in while the front end can be stored in a closet or something. (cost - $1 each, booya)

--

Needless to say, I'm incredibly stoked on how it's turning out. I tried it out by using a quick, temporary seat (my ottoman) and it's awesome. Really solid, no flex in the steering, perfect location of the shifter, etc. This is going to be bad ass...

Next and final installment: mounting the seat and squaring away the pedals. Stay tuned..

Stupid Car Forum Trends

2008-05-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Car forums are such a circle jerk. They can be really useful for buying and selling parts, catching up on news (although Autoblog usually does the best job), or good for laugh. Off topic sections are usually the best, but the part that actually deals with cars just bugs the shit out of me sometimes.

HDR - yay, let's all use a plug-in to pretend we are 'artsy'!
What's with the latest HDR fad? HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range" imaging (link) and it's actually pretty cool when used in moderation. The way you would create an HDR image is by taking 3 different exposures of the same image - one super exposed, one under exposed, and one just right - and combining the 3 to end up with something like this:

The result is sort of an exaggerated, fantasy-like photo. Pretty cool looking for photos of scenery, skies, etc... but super lame for car photos. If I'm checking out pictures of cars, I want to see the details of what the car really looks like, not some cartoonish, washed out attempt at HDR.

Here are some exampled that led the palm of my hand directly to my forehead:

Really? Am I on acid?
Are those 2 SVXs?!

I have no words for this one.

This would actually be a bad ass shot if the car wasn't in the picture. Don't get me wrong, it's a bad ass car, bad ass backdrop, but the car doesn't belong. It leaves me wanting to see the real photo of the car, and that takes away from the beauty of the scene behind it.

The thing that pisses me off the most, is that 90% of all "HDR" shots have the same 'photomatix' watermark all over the image since they all just used a plug-and-play program. Just cut the shit already. It was cool at first, but now it's just played out. Stop trying to be all artistic by using a filter.

On to rant number 2... Rotas.

Knock-off Wheels - I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Why anyone would risk their 20-40 thousand dollar investment just to save a couple hundred bucks is beyond me. There is only 1 part of your car that actually touches the ground. Figure it out people.

DaTruth's blog said it best - please read

Stop "e" high fiving your buddies for buying the same crap. I'm sick of seeing the "offical rota thread" and the good old "post HDR pics!" thread.
They should be called "the offical I am a cheap ass who doesn't care about my car or passengers" thread and the good old "I pretend to be artsy by running my photos through a filter" thread.

You forum junkies should understand me when I say this. DIAF. Please.

MUTO - Wall-Painted Animation by BLU

2008-05-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this video, it's super crazy/trippy.

It is an animation using wall paintings on public buildings in Buenos Aires. The part where the animation moves inside the building is the craziest.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

The coolest part was the integration of actual objects laying around, like the paper eating and the log getting knocked over.

Nuts, man. Just don't watch it on any sort of drugs.

Project Cockpit - small update

2008-05-09T12:18:00.001-07:00

The frame is starting to come together, ABS was definitely the way to go. Pre-made bends, couplers and fittings all make for an easy build. It's like piecing together those toys that have long shaft pieces and varying connectors (edit - they were called connex!). I just need to pick up some PVC/ABS cement, but I don't really need it until everything is cut, fitted and finalized.

Best part is, 5 foot sections of 2 inch ABS only cost 3 bucks. The couplers and elbows cost about 2-3 bucks a piece as well.

Here is a test fit of the main frame rails to give an idea of where this is going.

I used a 3-way connector and a 90 degree elbow on the right hand side in order to have a mount for the shifter.
You can also see where the cross supports will mount.

I'll probably work on it this weekend, so stay tuned.

Ultimate '90s Party Mix

2008-05-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight is going to be fun. About 20 of us have a Hummer limo heading up to Hollywood and I was put in charge of the music. While doing a little google research, I came across something that brought me waaaaay back...

Jock Jams vol.1

Here is a little taste of the awesomeness that was the early '90s:

1. Let's Get Ready To Rumble! - Michael Buffer
2. Get Ready 4 This - 2 Unlimited
3. Whoomp! There It Is - Tag Team
4. Strike It Up - Black Box
5. Tootsee Roll - 69 Boys
6. Pump It Up, Go 'Head, Go 'Head - Various Artists
7. Come Baby Come - K7
8. It Takes Two - Rob Base
9. Gridiron Groove - Various Artists
10. Gonna Make You Sweat - C & C Music Factory
11. Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
12. Pump Up The Volume - M/A/R/R/S
13. The Power - Snap
14. Uh, Ungawaa! - Various Artists
15. Unbelievable - EMF
16. YMCA - Village People
17. Pump Up The Jam - Technotronic
18. Twilight Zone - 2 Unlimited
19. The Old Ballgame - Ray Castoldi
20. Rock And Roll Part 2 - Gary Glitter

Further research only yielded better results, Jock Jam vol.2:

1. Welcome To The Big Show - Dan Patrick And Chris Bermann
2. No Limit - 2 Unlimited
3. Everybody Everybody - Black Box
4. 1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New) - Coolio
5. We Got A Love Thang - Ce Ce Peniston
6. This Is Your Night - Amber
7. Hey, Hey You - Various Artists
8. This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
9. Set It Off - Strafe
10. Macarena - Los Del Mar
11. I Like To Move It - Reel To Reel
12. Groovin' In The Bleachers - Various Artists
13. Party - Dis N' Dat
14. Get Down Tonight - K.C. And The Sunshine Band
15. Give It Up - The Goodmen
16. Action, Boys, Action - Various Artists
17. The Bomb - The Bucketheads
18. Boom Boom Boom - The Outhere Brothers
19. What's Up - D.J. Miko
20. Happy And You Know It - Ray Castoldi

Funny thing is, I'm sure I can dig up vol.2 somewhere in my closet, LOL!
Boom Boom Boom by The Outhere Brothers... download the album version, not the radio version. It's so dirty and grimy that its funny.

It's going to be a fun night...

It Came!

2008-05-07T21:44:00.001-07:00

Project Cockpit (lol) - Part 2: Planning/Design

Well the G25 wheel came today, giving me the opportunity to take some measurements and draw up some rough sketches.

I decided to go with 2" ABS piping since its nice and cheap, easy to drill into, and there are pre-made joints, bends and connectors. (You can see them in the sketch below)

Once the main structural frame starts to come together, I can figure out how I want to brace the wheel mount, but you get the idea.

Here is just the base layout along with the peripheral measurements so I know the dimensions that the mounting platforms need to be.

You can see from the last sketch (hopefully) that there are threaded mounting holes on the bottom of the pedal base, so mounting the pedals should be simple.

Time to go back to Lowes...

The Good Stuff
Here it is in all its glory, the Logitech G25.

Current (temporary) setup:

Some Close-ups

All I can say is, this wheel setup kicks ASS.
If anyone out there gets this wheel to go with GT5 Prologue here is a hint to setting it up - select 'driving force pro' in the options menu, but...
*In order for the clutch pedal to be functional, you just have to push the very top botton on the control pad (where the triangle button would normally be) during the race to enable it. Kind of lame that you have to 'enable' it each race rather than just changing the settings one time, but it's only one button to push. And the setup kicks so much ass that nothing can really bring it down from a 10/10 in my book.

--

I'll be picking up the materials tomorrow, so check back for more progress later.
Enough writing, time to play!!

Project Cockpit (lol) - GT5

2008-05-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The Beginning

With all this wonderful tax money coming in, (economic stimulus check and more than twice that for my regular tax return) I figured it would be a good idea to start on a project that I have always wanted to do since the early Gran Turismo days when the force feedback wheel was new hot shit - a racing SIM cockpit. Considering how W went through all this trouble making sure we 'stimulate the economy', who am I to let him down?

I figured it would be kind of cool to sort of document the process here in this blog, keeping an updated 'project cockpit' type deal. And seeing as how I no longer work on the content side of things for Source Interlink - formerly Primedia - (where this would have been a sweet project for the sites) my personal blog will do.

Game:
First things first, I needed the game - GT5 Prologue. Luckily, I had $75 in best buy gift cards waiting in the pipe. So far - total money spent: $0 with 30 left in credit.

Wheel:
Since I only had gift cards to Best Buy, and they never have any decent stock in store, I would have to shop around online for the G25 wheel from Logitech. They had the regular force feedback wheel for PS3 in stock, but it's time to go big.

If you aren't familiar with the G25 from Logitech, you should be. It's got a gated 6-speed shifter with push-down reverse, 3 - count 'em - 3 pedals (yes a clutch), and a force feedback wheel with 900 degrees of rotation and paddle shifters in case you want to mix things up.

Pure awesomeness doesn't come cheap. They list for $300, but can be found around $250. Like the PS3 itself, there isn't really a way around the cost. I'm not willing to go used or refurbished just because I don't like to gamble with a purchase this big (even if its minor).

I have been finding that Amazon really does have the best prices. For me, shopping around these days means just going straight there. Sure enough, they had it for $240. Free ground shipping, or free 2 day shipping with their free "Prime" trial membership which I opted for... not bad.

Cockpit:
Rather than just buying one of these:
http://gtcockpit.com/
http://www.racergamer.com/
I decided to build my own since I am trying to keep costs as low as possible (duh - the whole point of this project)
The Playseat deal is nice, but it's another 300 bucks and it doesn't really store too well, no thanks. The Sparco one is just a dream...

So, the hunt for materials began. I started looking for the seat first and found that even the most ghetto racing seats from APC were still 180-250 bucks. I found a bunch of ghetto racing seats on Ebay, but they were only sold in pairs. 160 for 2 seats. I might have found someone who wants to go in on it, but that would have been too much of a hassle. So I just decided to keep a lookout and ask around until the perfect opportunity presented itself, and it did.

Saturday, I went to see Iron Man with my bro and his wife at the Irvine Spectrum. Sharper Image was going out of business and had all these crazy sales. The store looked like it had been looted. They had these gaming seats on super-duper clearnace for 70 bucks. Regular price was around 200. The seat is pretty cool, it has a pair of speakers right behind your ears and a sub-woofer in its base. Considering most balling ass racing SIM cockpits have a woofer custom mounted, score one bonus point! The best part is, it folds up for easy storage.

So here's what I have so far...

Total spent:
Game - $0
Logitech G25 - $240
Seat - $70
(Rest of the materials to come)

I will keep this updated as the project comes along. Sorry about the long post, but it was the kick-off blog for 'Project Cockpit lol.' I promise the updates will be better.

And if you want to see some crazy examples, check out this site - Race SIM Central to see where some of the inspiration came from. (yes there are forums for everything!)

Text Message Relationships - Hilarious!

2008-04-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of current TV for quite a while. If you don't know what it is, check it out.
http://current.com/
Basically an online TV network (they also have an actual channel somewhere out there) that is based on user submitted and approved content.

Super News is the best by far. It's always picking apart the most current popular issues and making them hilarious as only an animated skit can.

They recently did a skit called "Texting Your Way To Love" and I was literally in tears because I was laughing so damn hard, at work no less. My married friends and family won't really identify with this too much, but it basically sums up the last few years of my life, lol. It's pretty damn accurate.

Shit is hilarious.
"LAST CALL!!"

Baby Tyler Julian

2008-04-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday April 27th marked the arrival of the latest Profeta - Tyler Julian. This is my brother his wife's second baby.

Little Ty-Ty popped out during our 24 hour race, so I was a little late with the pictures, but now that everyone is healthy and home from the hospital, I was able to pay them a little visit.

Papa Doug holding the next line of Profeta, fresh at the hospital (one day old). Maybe he will have catlike reflexes like poppa... his hands are like Flash Gordon in this pic.

Baby Tyler at home, in grandma's arms (1 week old).

Little Samantha completely stoked to be holding her baby brother.

Just one more of little Sammo at the hospital, waiting to meet her "baby bruddie."

24 Hours of Adrenalin

2008-04-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was filled with long climbs, gnarly downhills, wildlife, insomnia, and yes of course... adrenalin.

24 Hours of Adrenalin is a mountain bike race series that holds events all over the US (and Canadia). And yes, the races are 24 hours long. They start at noon on Saturday and end at noon on Sunday. You can enter the race as a relay team of 2, 4, or 5 people, or race solo. The goal is to complete the most amount of laps in the shortest amount of time during the 24 hour period and you have to finish between 11am and 1pm. One lap is your typical Saturday mountain bike ride - 8-12 miles, 1 hour (if you are moving pretty well). So it can get pretty grueling.

The worst part of it all is riding at night. I'm not talking about 8-10pm, thats no big deal, it's just dark out and the HID lights we use throw plenty of light. But getting yourself ready to jump on a bike and bust your ass at 3 or 4 am is brutal. Especially when you know what is waiting for you out on the mountain. You see and hear everything from tarantulas, scorpions, bobcats, coyotes, and even cougars. And no, not the kind you hunt for at bars, the kind that will hunt you, aka Mountain Lions.

+=

Seeing a pair of eyes glowing back at you in the dead of night in the most desolate mountain area with no one around is probably the scariest thing you can encounter. And trust me, I know from experience. A few races ago, I saw a giant brown animal slinking across a meadow, walking like a typical cat would only with just about 120 more pounds of wild muscle. What caught my eye was the reflection of 1 single eye glowing in the reflection of my HID light. When I turned to look at it, I saw the animal turn its head at me, and now there were 2 eyes pointed right at me. It was far enough away that my lights didn't completely reach it, but the eyes were as clear as day and I knew it was something big and brown. I never pedaled so fast in all my life. Since that night, I never take my eyes off the trail.

Anyway, back to the race. I had originally entered with a 5 person co-ed team. Our team captain came down with the flu, so he was out. Last time my team was forced to enter as a 4 person team, it worked out in our favor since we won the event outright. But this time, the rest of the team wanted to stay in the co-ed 5 person category. My brother Greg filled in for 1 lap so we could stay in the same category, but essentially, we were now a 4 person team competing against 5 person teams and we still got 5th place. If we had just entered as a 4 person team, we would have been on the podium, 2nd place guaranteed. Oh well, live and learn. I still had a great weekend.

I completed the last lap for our team along side my Dad, who raced in the event solo. He was on his 12th lap (yes, he did 13 total = psycho), so we just cruised. I was basically his lead blocker through all the wind. It was super gusty, so he just drafted me the whole lap. It was pretty cool riding with him during a race. When we got back to the campsite, I just waited till 11am to cross the finish line, beer in hand. Booya.

My First Post

2008-04-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I no longer blog for Sport Compact Car and Import Tuner, I figured I would start up my own. Mainly because I don't have an outlet to bitch about things anymore or share funny shit I see online.

like this:

Best part being the sound effects, make sure you have the sound on. This mess was stuck in my head all weekend at my 24 hour MTB race (pics to follow). Thanks Greg..

That's it for now. Peace.

You stay classy San Diego!