Just wanted to post a note about what you can expect to find here. I am a Network/Systems Administrator for a nationwide communicactions company. In my day to day work I come across cool hardware, software, and gadgets all the time.

I am pretty big on opensource software and I use it whenever I can.

After work and on the weekends I run a couple of websites, including an online retail site, there are a lot of things that I come across that help me out alot in the day to day operation of these site so I will be sharing them here.

I am going to try and post here a few times a week, or whenever I come across something new. I have a huge list of things I am going to be posting about so check back in the next day or so to see what is up.

Motorcycle Leather Care
By Bob Dolan

Leather Care

Now is the time of year you need to think about your leather, both bags and clothing. Your bags will be taking a beating from the sun and your clothing will be going into storage. The bags on your bike should be done several times a year depending on how much you ride. If they are looking a little dry treat them.

Whether you have a fancy one-piece racing suit or a combination of jacket, boots, pants and gloves, leather is also expensive and worth taking care of so as to extend its life as long as possible.

Fox Creek Leather - Quality American Made Motorcycle Leathers

What the Experts Say

My research has revealed that many of the products sold for leather care on the market today are not at all ideal. However, their brochures sound convincing, and as uninformed consumers we tend to buy the products without question. Brace yourself to learn some new tricks.

If you look at the typical car care center or furniture dealer that sells leather care products, you are likely to be as mystified at the dizzying array of creams and potions that are sold to clean and care for your leather garments. After interviewing many people in the motorcycle garment business, and often receiving a different opinion from each of them, I decided I needed an unbiased source of information.

So I turned to the Leather Apparel Association (LAA), an industry group that was founded by 40 retailers, tanners, producers and cleaners in 1990. They currently have more than 100 members, and one of their goals is to provide an authoritative source of information related to leather and its use and care.
Leather Care Tips

Leather ages gracefully and can last a lifetime with proper care right from the start.

Always hang leather garments on wide or padded hangers to maintain their shape. Use shoetrees in footwear and stuff empty handbags with tissue to help retain their shape.

Never store leather goods in plastic or other non-breathable covers. This will cause leather to become dry.

Allow wet or damp leather to air-dry naturally away from any heat source. Leather can be treated with a conditioner to restore flexibility while suede can be brushed with a terry towel to restore its look.

In winter, promptly remove salt deposits from garments and footwear by sponging with clear water, then follow with the above treatment for wet or damp leather.

When storing avoid very humid and dry environments as well as direct sunlight.

Do not use waxes, silicone products or other leather preparations that impair a garment’s ability to breathe.

Wrinkles should hang out. If ironing is desired, set iron on rayon setting, use heavy brown wrapping paper as a pressing cloth on right side of the garment and a quick hand to prevent overheating and shine.

Avoid spraying perfumes or hair sprays while wearing your garment and do not apply pins, adhesive badges or tape. Wearing a scarf at the neckline will help keep hair and body oil away from the collar.

Hems may be fixed with a tiny amount of rubber cement. For best results see a leather care professional.

All products designed to be used at home should be tested on an inconspicuous part of the garment.

Always hang leather garments on wide or padded hangers to maintain their shape. Use shoetrees in footwear and stuff empty handbags with tissue to help retain their shape. Never store leather goods in plastic or other non-breathable covers. This will cause leather to become dry.

All products designed to be used at home should be tested on an inconspicuous part of the garment.

How Often Do I Condition Leather?

This is very dependent on the frequency of use as well as the conditions of exposure. For example, a person that rides a few thousand miles a year in good weather may only have to clean and condition once or twice a year, while a rider constantly exposing leather garments to harsh conditions may have to clean and condition after every few rides. In fact, riders may even need to clean after every ride if the leather is exposed to lots of perspiration or road salts. Also properly conditioned leather tends to clean easier.

Without regular cleaning and conditioning, perspiration will draw the moisture right out of the leather, turn it hard, and eventually make it tear like paper. Once that occurs, no product will bring the leather back.

I have leather that is 40 years old and still in good condition.

A few tips to start the cold season:

Carefully go over your leather to see if any repairs are needed, broken zippers, seams giving out. Better to find out now than when you need it. Oil the zippers with sewing mach oil.

Water Proof - A spray water repellent will not hurt your leather. A water repellent will help any unfinished brushed or naked leather. However, if you get caught in a downpour, don’t expect any water repellent to keep your leathers completely dry! Water will eventually soak into the leather.

I have never found a way to get that salt stain out of my boots once its there so using a good treatment like Obenauf’s Lp. will help prevent this problem. Incidentally, it’s not the water that spots leather, it’s the minerals in the water that stay behind once the water evaporates

Many people swear by mink oil to condition and waterproof their motorcycle leather. There are really two fundamentally different approaches to motorcycle leather care: The way I describe mink oil vs. a oil-type leather conditioner, it’s like putting Vaseline on your hands vs. Jergens lotion. Mink oil will clog the pores of your leather, just as Vaseline creates a barrier between your skin and the environment. That’s why it will make your leather motorcycle accessories waterproof. It will also eventually dry out your leather because the pores are clogged. You will also notice your leather accessories may have a whitish haze to it. That’s what happens when mink oil solidifies in cold weather. To answer the question, it makes more sense to put mink oil on your boots, if you so desire, and use a conditioner specifically designed for leather care and the conditioning of quality Deer, Elk, Buffalo , and Cow hide.

Tips for how to keep motorcycle leather from fading:

If left untreated, all leather is subject to fading from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. There is really only one leather care product that effectively prevents your leather from doing the slow-fade dance: 303 Aerospace Protectant. With regular use, this leather conditioning product prevents fading up to 100%. In addition, it conditions your motorcycle leather so that it is highly soil, oil, and water-resistant without clogging the pores of the leather or making them slick or sticky. An effective sunscreen for your leather will help ensure that your leather accessories will look better and last longer

Bob is an online retailer of leather and textile motorcycle apparel selling wholesale to the rider. For more information you can visit his website at http://www.motorcycleleather.biz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Dolan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Motorcycle-Leather-Care&id=436536

An eight-year-old kid swaggered into the lounge and demanded of the barmaid, “Give me a double Scotch on the rocks.”

“What do you want to do, get me in trouble?” the barmaid asked.

“Maybe later,” the kid said. “Right now, I just want the Scotch.”

—-

Hope you had a great weekend!

Take Care - Ride FREE

Biker Helmet Stickers @ ChopperStickers.com

Had a pretty good week I think. Did not lose a lot of weight as you will see in a minute but I did start getting into the routine of working out in the afternoons.

Friday 2/23/07 Weigh In: 229lbs.

OK so that is only 1lb down this week. I am a little disappointed because I did work pretty hard this week and I have really tried to stay on track with eating better, but I think getting into the routine is just as important as losing the weight. I will keep working at it and eventually I will get into a routine and get a handle on my diet, then I should see better results.

Sandy (my wonderful wife) and I are headed out of town for the weekend. It has been a really stressful week at work for the both of us and we just need a break. We are headed down to Ocracoke Island, NC - one of our favorite places to go. We are packing some healthy snacks and I will try to control myself at Howard’s Pub (the food there is AWESOME). Will do a lot of walking and bike riding around the island so it should be a good weekend.

Have a good weekend. Be back on Monday.

Motorcycle Maintenance - A Basic Guide
By James Hunaban

Here we have a few things you should check on your motorcycle on a regular basis. I assume you have a handbook with the specs for your bike, if not, go get one. You may be able to find some data for your particular motorcycle on the net. You can also pick up workshop manuals for various models on eBay in PDF or CD form for little money.

Motorcycle Repair, Maintenance, and Service Manuals

Whereas with a four wheeled vehicle you may get away with being lax with things like tire pressures etc, this is not the case with a motorcycle. You should not risk compromising the safety and stability of your motorcycle, for the sake of a bit of routine maintenance.

Pre-ride checks

• Tires – check condition and for foreign objects in the tread.
• Tire pressures – it is vitally important to keep your motorcycles tire pressures either on spec or very close to it.
• Oil level – always check with the bike on level ground.
• Coolant level – only if your bike’s liquid cooled, obviously.
• Chain – check the tension and make sure it’s well lubed.
• Brakes – check they work and that they feel good.
• Lights – check all your lights, especially the brake light, you don’t want to get rear ended, do you?
• Visual inspection – self explanatory.
• All ok – hit the road.

Periodical checks

• Check battery – see that the connections are tight; I dropped a bike once because of a loose battery connection, strange but true. Also check the electrolyte level on some batteries, a lot of newer batteries are gel filled, sealed for life types, so no need with these.
• Carb balance – if your bike is multi carbed get yourself a Morgan carbtune or similar. It can be a little tricky the first time you balance them, but when you’ve done it once, the second time will be easy.
• Ignition timing – only necessary on some bikes, most newer models have electronic ignition which does not need touching, normally.
• Valve clearances – unless you’re a good home mechanic, take it to a dealer.
• Wheel bearings – grab each wheel with it off the ground and see if there is any sideways play. There should be none or maybe a trace at most.
• Steering head bearings – with the front end off the ground, grab the forks and push and pull. There should be no play.
• Swinging arm bearings – with the back wheel off the ground, check for any sideways movement in the swingarm, there should be none.
• Brakes – check fluid levels, brake hoses for deterioration, and pads/shoes for thickness.
• Cables and levers – should operate smoothly. Get some grease on lever/pedal pivot points, and get some lube down the cables, if you can. A cable oiler is a handy tool.
• Nut and bolts – go all round the motorcycle with your spanners and check that all nuts/ bolts/screws are nice and tight.

Well, that’s about it for some basic maintenance, obviously, unless you’re a good home mechanic, any bigger jobs will have to go to a dealer. The problem can be finding a good one with skilled mechanics you can trust. I manage to keep my Yamaha Fazer 1000 running sweet just using the steps listed above. It does help that this model only needs the valve clearances checking every 26,000 miles.

James Hunaban is the owner of http://www.motorcycling-news.com a site full of Motorcycle information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hunaban
http://EzineArticles.com/?Motorcycle-Maintenance-
–A-Basic-Guide&id=379393

A great black and white picture of one good looking biker babe. There is just something about a bikini and a pair of chaps :)

I wish I knew where I found this great picture. If anyone out there knows who the photographer is please let me know so that I can give them proper credit. Better yet if you are the photographer send me some more - this one is awesome!

I know that we are running low (or out of stock) on some of our Lethal Threat Decals. We should have these back in stock late next week. Also look for a few new stickers coming next week.

Have a great weekend!

Take Care - Ride FREE

Biker Helmet Stickers @ ChopperStickers.com

Purchase OCC parts, accessories, and gear to automatically be entered to win an Orange County Choppers Custom Chopper.

Win an Orange County Chopper Custom Motorcycle

OCC is giving away a $42,000 custom made bike to one lucky winner. The giveaway ends August 14th. Automatic entry with each purchase made online. Check out the site for complete contest rules.
Click Here to Shop Orange County Choppers

I have smoked cigarettes and cigars for as long as I can remember. Since high school actually. Remember when smoking was not a big deal? What about when anyone could be cigarettes? I am not anti-smoke. If you want to smoke, by all means smoke. I even enjoy being around people who smoke. I still enjoy the smell of a cigarette or a good (or even a bad) cigar.

On January 1, 2007 I decided to quit smoking. Yes I know it is corny but it was my New Years Resolution. I have tried to quit several times in the past and have always been unsuccessful. The longest I ever actually quit for was for a week, one of the longest weeks of my life. This time though I decided I would try to get some help from a patch.

Most of the patch programs that I checked out were 3 step programs and nearly all of them were the same, just different brand names. “Step 1″ releases 21 mg of nicotine into your system over a 24 hour period, “Step 2″ 14 mg, and “Step 3″ 7 mg. The patches are transdermal, which means they deliver the dose of nicotine through your skin.

Since I did not smoke that much I started out with Step 2. The first few days really were not that bad. I had cravings for a smoke but they were pretty easy to ignore. After about 2 weeks into it I really had some major cravings, especially during stressful situations at work.

I finished “Step 2″ of the patch and moved on the “Step 3″. As time went on the cravings got much easier to control. I believe that the patches really helped with this - that and cases of chewing gum.

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I used the patch but you might want to check out Cigarrest. The CigArrest homeopathic formula contains a proprietary blend of six different herbal ingredients that combine to offer a safe treatment alternative for smoking cessation.

Cigarrest to Stop Smoking in 7 Days

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It has been just shy of 2 months now since I quit smoking. I have finished the Step 2 and 3 of the patches. I have slipped up twice, just here recently when we were having some big (stressful) problems at work. I don’t know I just thought I had to have one so I did. I have to tell you it didn’t really help so I do not think that will happen again.One other thing about it, and I know it has not even been 2 months yet, I really thought I would start feeling better pretty quickly. I thought that maybe I would notice something about it would be easier to breath or whatever. Well so far no real difference there. My clothes do smell better and my mustache has lost the stains from the cigars.I am glad that I quit smoking, the patch really did help.

I try to eat pretty decent and I try to eat at least 3 meals a day. Yesterday was a good day.

I had my usual breakfast, a bowl of cereal (Lucky Charms, hey they are magically delicious) with skim milk. Around 10 AM I had an orange for a snack. For lunch I stopped by the Food Lion and picked up a thing of fresh pineapple. After my workout I had a couple more chunks of fresh pineapple. Then for Dinner we all went to Firehouse Subs and I had a “small” club on a sub.

My wife and I eat out a lot, I mean a whole lot. We go out to eat probably 4 nights a week. Most of the time it is to sit down restaurants, but sometimes it is fast food.

My whole out look on this is I don’t want to really change what I eat, I don’t think I eat that bad. I do however need to work a bit on portion control. Just like lastnight at Firehouse Subs - I had to make a decision between a large sub and a small sub.

The large sub would have been good and I could have eaten it all and been very satisfied, instead I went with the half-size. The half-size sub was also very good, it had all the same stuff as the large one - ham, turkey, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato - and after I finished eating it I was just as satisfied as I would have been if I had stuffed down a whole sub.

Portion control is what I want to focus on and it is probably going to be one of the hardest things to get a handle on.

FIX MY HOG™ RELEASES FIRST-EVER BOLT-ON PERFORMANCE AND ACCESSORY DVDs; SIX HOURS OF DO-IT-YOURSELF INSTRUCTION JAM-PACKED INTO EACH EDITION

San Diego, CA, February 7, 2007—Fix My Hog Inc., the creator of three critically acclaimed do-it-yourself Harley-Davidson® motorcycle maintenance DVDs, released its first-ever DVD series designed to show riders how to enhance the look and performance of their Softail®/Dyna® and touring model motorcycles. Modeled after the company’s earlier offerings, which gained rave reviews from the public and critics alike for their easy-to-follow format, the newly released Bolt-On Performance and Accessory DVDs feature footage of trained mechanics performing and explaining each upgrade in detail. Taped in a professional motorcycle repair shop, each three-DVD set is crammed with more than six hours of valuable instruction, interviews and insider tips.

By adding high-performance bolt-on components and accessories, riders can customize their motorcycle’s look and amplify its performance, turning any bike into the ultimate riding machine. Using the simple steps demonstrated in the Fix My Hog DVDs, riders can learn how to install an aftermarket clutch, carburetor, EFI mapping system, exhaust system and more. They can also learn how to improve a motorcycle’s look by watching a mechanic install braided cables for throttle, clutch and brakes; outer and inner chrome primary; chrome front ends, custom headlights, custom gauges and more. For a complete list of topics covered on each DVD, visit www.fixmyhog.com.

Based on the same concept as earlier Fix My Hog releases, which have been called “outstanding,” “a bargain” and “well-presented and informative,” the two Bolt-On editions boast clear, digital-quality viewing and crisp sound. The long-lasting DVD format allows the viewer to advance chapter by chapter or scene by scene; viewers can even pause to see a clear, static image in detail—impossible to do with videotape—and far easier to follow than a printed manual.

The DVDs are sold separately for $49.95 each.

Fix My Hog founder Dennis Santopietro, an avid motorcyclist and Harley-Davidson owner, created the DVDs to fill a niche. “I thought it would be great to have DVDs that would make motorcycle maintenance and performance enjoyable. Manuals and installation guides can be daunting, but actually watching the procedure makes it easy to do it yourself. I’m thrilled with the response we’ve gotten. Many riders are now working on their own bikes, having fun, and saving money to boot. Whether you’re new to Harleys or have been riding for years, our DVDs make a great addition to your motorcycle shop. They’re great gifts, too.” Santopietro plans to continue to expand his do-it-yourself DVD concept by creating Fix My®… DVDs for other recreational vehicles.

For more information on how to Know Thy Hog®, to order, to read press reviews or to contact Dennis, visit http://www.fixmyhog.com, or call 619/269-9321. Read customer testimonials at http://www.fixmyhog.com/feedback/feedback1.html.