stephenhucker.com

Fishing, ain’t it grand?

Went to a party at my friends house in South Melbourne.

hmm. … backups … you should always check backups before depending on them.

I backed up my site from my previous hosting company assuming it had copied all the folders where my wordpress installation was … all the misc stuff like images, etc
guess what, it didn’t !
thank goodness for my SQL backup which retained all my posts and comments, but alas, no images, no wordperss themes.

So next time, I will do what I did when I worked in IT, check the backups work before you need them

Update Jan 1, 2010

All is well, the “home directory” of my web site was archived in a single tar file … 🙂  saved!

and I now have a backup of my website off line !

Got back safety from my trip to Blanket Bay last weekend, But alas, as I was hooning down the alley behind my apartment I must have run over some glass, $50 ! 🙁

This Saturday I went on my first big ride, a 500km round trip from Melbourne to Blanket Bay (near Apollo Bay).

PDFMiner is a suite of programs in python that help extracting and analyzing text data of PDF documents. Unlike other PDF-related tools, it allows to obtain the exact location of texts in a page, as well as other extra information such as font information or ruled lines. It includes a PDF converter that can transform PDF files into other text formats (such as HTML). It has an extensible PDF parser that can be used for other purposes instead of text analysis.

I downloaded a PDF from work which has my call stats in tabular form. It worked great.

[25] 21:56:47–> pdf2txt.py -t html test.pdf > test.htm
/Library/Python/2.6/site-packages/pdfminer-20091004-py2.6.egg/pdfminer/pdfparser.py:8: DeprecationWarning: the md5 module is deprecated; use hashlib instead import md5, struct

My project is to:
1. Email my weekly stats from work.
2. Construct a python program to read the data into a temporary textfile
3. Extract the data into a SQLite file
4. Produce statistics graphs on my average call times.

Ready to go. You can find more pictures at flickr

The only accessories I have purchased so far are:

1. Boots

2. New Jacket

3. Crash Guard for bike which you can see in the photos

4. New Gloves

The owner of the shop was saying it was a A0 model, i.e not A9 (2009) but A0 (2010) … but I have no way to confirm this. My model was manufactured in August 2009. I went to the shop recently and all the 2010 models are in now, they are all September 2009.

Trying out the bike in the shop, but wrong colour and no ABS

From Wikipedia

The Suzuki V-Strom DL650 is a mid-weight dual-sport motorcycle manufactured in Japan by Suzuki and sold worldwide. It was launched in 2004. The name V-Strom combines V referring to the bikes engine configuration with the German word Strom, meaning stream or current.^[1]

Unlike specialized motorcycles, the V-Strom 650 trades strength in a single area for adaptability to a variety of riding conditions: commuting, cruising, adventure touring and to a lesser degree off-road riding. In this respect, the DL650 resembles a UJM with a broad character taking the place of specific strength.

Contents [hide] 1 Mechanicals 2 Global sales and manufacture 3 Awards 4 Model Year changes 4.1 2007 4.2 2005 4.3 US colors MSRP 5 References 6 External links

[edit]Mechanicals

A 6-speed transmission mates to the fuel-injected and slightly retuned 645 cc liquid cooled, 4-stroke V-twin engine from Suzuki’s own SV650 sport bike. An upright,standard riding posture and 427 lb (194 kg) dry weight contribute to the bike’s handling characteristics.

Engine

The engine is a 90-degree, liquid cooled, 4 stroke V-twin, with 81 mm (3.2 in) bore and a 62.6 mm (2.46 in) stroke, four valves per cylinder, and intake and exhaust valving each with their own camshaft. More relaxed cam profiles over the SV engine boost the power between 4000 and 6500 rpm, along with slight changes to the airbox and exhaust. Relative to the SV, the crank inertia (flywheel effect) is also increased by 4% via a redesigned starter clutch.^[2] As well, the DL650 engine uses a plastic outer clutch cover and engine sprocket cover for reduced weight and noise.^[2]

In a significant departure from the SV engine, which uses cast iron cylinder sleeves, the DL650 uses Suzuki’s proprietary SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electro-chemical Material) plated cylinders, a race-proven nickel-phosphorus-silicon-carbide coating for reduced weight and improved heat transfer, allowing for tighter and more efficient piston-to-cylinder clearance^[2], similar to a Nikasil coating.

Engine electronics

The DL650 employs sophisticated engine electronics for starting and throttle control and uses Suzuki’s AFIS (Auto Fast Idle System), eliminating a fast-idle control. The engine control module (ECM) reads engine information (ie, coolant temperature) via a 16-bit central processing unit (CPU) — controlling the fuel system’s dual throttle bodies and contributing to strong acceleration up to a rev-limited 10500 rpm.

Emissions

The DL650 employs Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve (SDTV) fuel-injection and exhausts via a two-into-one exhaust system with a catalytic converter in the muffler. European models meet Euro 3 emissions specifications. In the US, a “PAIR” air injection system reduces CO and HC emissions.

Chassis

A twin-spar aluminum frame and swingarm accommodates rear Showa mono-shock with a hydraulic preload adjuster. Front Showa shocks are pre-load adjustable. The DL650 uses a 19 inch front wheel, 17 inch rear wheel.

Instruments and bodywork

The bike’s instrument cluster includes a compact analog step-motor speedometer and tachometer (both with LED illumination) and a digital LCD unit with odometer, tripmeter, coolant temperature gauge, fuel gauge, LED neutral, digital clock, turn signal and high beam lights and an oil pressure warning light.

An adjustable windshield allows movement of 50 mm. A small underseat compartment, suitable for small tools, gloves, or an owner’s manual, can be accessed by removal of the seat, via a keyed lock located at the rear of the bike, just below the built-in rack.

[edit]Global sales and manufacture

Sold in Europe, Oceania and the Americas, the DL650 competes with the Aprilia Caponord and Pegaso, BMW F650 Series, and most directly, the Kawasaki Versys. The Suzuki DL650 is manufactured at the Suzuki’s ISO14001 certified plant in Toyokawa, Japan.

[edit]Awards

The V-Strom 650 was named one of the “ten best” bikes under $10,000 by Motorcyclist (USA) magazine, October, 2007—beating out, among many others, the V-Strom 1000. In a September 2006 article, Cycle World magazine wrote “the DL650 may just be the most shockingly competent machine in the world today.”^[3] A 2004 article from MotorcycleUSA.com said “it was hard to imagine another machine with a competitive versatility-per-dollar ratio.”^[4] Twice consecutively, the DL650 has earned the title “Alpenkoenig”, winning Motorrad magazine’s (Germany) grueling trans-alp multi-bike test in 2005 and 2006.^[5]

[edit]

References