HeadphoneAddict

Slide a green ScotchBrite pad along the grain a few times (some people use a grey one).

Thanks. Still trying to figure out which facial muscles to contract for a smile.

Before this past Spring Break I hadn't been on a bicycle since fall of 2014, right before the big car accident. With my lung disease I'd go through a C-tank of oxygen within 15 miles of riding my Kona Nunu mtn bike on fairly flat ground with slight hills. Regardless, even with oxygen there was no hope of doing any riding in my hilly neighborhood at 6600 feet elevation, and especially no chance of making the 800 foot climb from the shopping center at the bottom of Cheyenne Mountain back up to my house (about 2.5 miles ride one way, with a grade ranging from 0 to 12% along the way). So we recently bought a pair of Trek eBikes so that I could ride in around our neighborhood whenever feasible, and so that my wife could keep up with me on the steep hills with her own eBike when she has time to ride. I bought the 17.5" Powerfly 7 mountain bike, but the smallest women's mountain bike was much too tall for my wife and she had to get the 14" Neko+ trail/hybrid. I tested the XM700+ and the Dual Sport+ first, but they didn't fit me as well as this one (and the one I got is sweet on single tracks unlike the others). The 29" tires roll over everything, and the Rock Shox Reba RL forks work great in combination with the Suntour NCX suspension seat post. The 203mm hydraulic front disk brakes are very impressive stoppers on fast downhill rides (up to 42.7mph so far), and the 75NM of torque lets me climb up very steep grades and trails. The bikes are class-1 pedal assist-only (no throttle), using torque sensing at the crank to multiply our effort, but with no assist past 20mph. We keep the assist levels as low as possible for the best workout and longest battery range. My bike adds power to the amount that I put into the crank in 4 levels: adds 55% more, 120%, 210%, or 300% more (up to 250W continuous or 500W peak), and my oxygen requirement has been dramatically reduced. My wife's bike does 50%, 100%, and 200%. Because of the mid-drive, the motor can benefit from the gear-set to make climbs easier. But because of the torque sensor, we still have to get some exercise in order to get the motor to help with climbs. On totally flat ground, any setting for assist makes pedaling effortless, which means I can leave my oxygen at home (not really true since my O2 sats drop to 85% just by walking). Range in the lowest assist mode on the easiest terrain is about 15 miles per 1 bar of battery (out of 5), or as much as 75 miles. On the harder rides around our neighborhood it drops 1/5 bars of battery every 6-8 miles, so my range would be closer to 30-40 miles. But I haven't ridden far enough to drain it more than 3 bars. I got an ECOhitch Invisi 1.25" hitch installed on my WRX (totally hidden behind the bumper) so we can take the bikes on a rack for holiday trips. We're going to Glenwood Springs CO this Memorial Day weekend, and we'll be able to ride the bike paths along the river in both directions. In the past we'd rent bikes and catch a shuttle to take us upriver so we could ride back downhill. Some parts would still be slightly uphill, and I'd need my oxygen despite the lower altitude. The plan is to ride out to the drop-off point and back, without needing the shuttle this time. Here's a pic of my wife with both bikes, then me, and the car with rack and her bike. (phone camera lens makes wife look tiny and me look huge because she's farther away behind the bikes and I'm closer and in front). I'd like to upgrade the bike rack to a 1up (or a Kuat NV base) at some point, because it's quite difficult to lift a 43 and 46 pound eBike onto the current rack.

This town is only about 20 miles from one end to the other, so I can cover it round trip in under an hour. I have a clear bra to prevent rock chips. The vinyl wrap idea was to pick a color that hides the dirt better, and to allow me to wipe the car down more easily with even just a moist towel.

My wife and I decided to take a pass on the vinyl wrap and gift the money to our younger daughter when she graduates from college this May. They both prefer the WRX in black anyways.

I know a guy that can hook me up with a professional body vinyl wrap (done right for $2,500 vs $4K) and am seriously considering this. Anyone here do this before and what were your impressions of the longevity and ease of wiping off the dirt/hiding the dirt? I'd be without the car for a few days so they can take the emblems, lights, bumpers, etc off to get the wrap done right. And there are better things to spend the money on of course.

The problem with a new black car is that it goes from shiny to matt camo overnight when it snows or rains... My 2017 WRX LTD had 4.5 miles on the odometer when I bought it last November, and I like it a bit more than the STi that I was supposed to come home with - nicer ride, the STi performance exhaust is loud but not deafening, with much better gas mileage and better WAF. I used some of the savings to upgrade the amp and speakers, get BBS wheels for the summer tires and put snows on the OEM wheels, so I can change them myself at home in the spring. The rest of the savings vs STi will pay for the next 2 years of car insurance. (I traded my son's 10 year old RAV4 and gave him my 2015 Forester XT to drive.)

Maybe, but wasn't sure anyone cared - was thinking about deleting my last post and just going away to make everyone else happier.

SOTC that I took over the summer. Prior to this I've sold several Omegas and Rolex to fund the kids college, along with most of my Stax and Stat amps, and I'll likely sell 4-5 more by the time the last kid graduates so that they wont have a bunch of school loans to pay back. Many of these I'm saving to give the kids and my siblings before and after I pass on (hence the redundancy), and a bunch aren't worth selling for the small amount they'd bring in.

Still haven't got the call that it's in, but I like not having credit card debt so I might not keep it - would rather have the ceramic Daytona, but I have so many watches right now I don't need more to be happy. I'm back thanks to Jacob, but my priorities are different - I've been focusing on my family.

That's nuts. But IF I can snag a ceramic Daytona at retail (on the list at both of my local AD) I'm keeping it. The Omega CK-2998 re-issue LE I'm not so sure about. I have a Mitsukoshi panda dial and hands to install on any Speedmaster Pro that I think will look just as good, and I want to feel special wearing a LE Speedy I'll always have my Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award. BTW, my Ti bracelet for my Omega X-33 Solar Impulse will be here Tuesday. I think that I'm going to give my son his Omega X-33 Skywalker "graduation watch" before his capping ceremony that day as well, and we can wear them together. Changing the subject to budget watches, I picked up the first Lew and Huey Orthos Commander 300 that shipped before anyone else got theirs, and it's pretty nice for a microbrand watch. It looks similar to a vintage Omega with aged lume (that's still bright), but with the nicer twisted short lugs of the newer models, 300M WR, sapphire crystal with AR on the inside, a bracelet, and Seiko NH35 automatic movement that hacks and can be manually wound (unlike my SKX007/009/173). Only about 250 were made, and under $400. It's losing less than a half second a day vs atomic time. They are going to be making some submariner homage watches, that will be available for pre-order soon, and they look very nice. Those will have a Miyota 9105 movement.

I managed to get through the whole day today without using my cane.

I was most impressed by the attack and speed of the Ether C, with great imaging, micro-detail, soundstage, and extension at both ends. But while the bass extension was deeper it didn't have the bass kick and impact of the open model. The open model didn't seem as balanced or crisp to me, and the whole thing left me wishing I could have the best of both in one headphone. The Ether C need the bass impact and punch of the open version, without changing anything else about the C. I preferred them over most of the Audeze models, except for the bass. With my owning the LCD-2.2 HE-500, HE560, HE-6 and HE-1000 I didn't see any room in my collection for the Ether(C).

It's going to look great on the Ti bracelet. Here's a photoshop, and a photo of the real combo on a very skinny wrist.