How to Fix a Blackburn TPS-2 Bicycle Pump

Last night, my (previously) trusty TPS-2 bike pump failed with a large POP.  At first, I thought the bike tube had blown but I quickly realized the hose on the bike pump had split open.  I didn’t think to take any photos, but  (deleted) had a nearly identical problem, check out (deleted)’s photos  others on the internet seem to have had similar problems.  (Note: For some reason, the site I noted deleted my comments on their blog.  No idea why, but I won’t bother them with any incoming traffic.)

If your TPS-2 fails like this, try the following:

Step 1:  Call Blackburn and request a replacement under their lifetime warranty.  I called this morning and was promised an Air Tower 2, since they no longer make the TPS-2 nor stock parts for it.  You’re entitled to a replacement, even if you have some success with the following steps, who knows when the hose will fail again.

Step 2: If you’re like me, think about whether you might be able to fix it and dig the old pump out of the trash.

Step 3: Remove the hose from the pump itself by turning the knurled knob where the hose attaches.   I had to use channel lock pliers to get this loose.

Step 4: Examine the knob and hose.  The hose feeds through the knob housing and pushes onto a barb fitting inside the knob.  You might be able to push the hose/fitting out the wide end of the knob with a screwdriver.  In my case, I picked at the torn end of the hose with pliers until it came loose from the fitting, which then just fell out.

Step 5: Remove any remaining hose remnants from the barb fitting.

Step 6: Cut the remaining hose (with the valve attached at the other end) straight across beyond the damaged area.

Step 7: Push the cut end of the hose through the small end of the knurled knob.  Then press the barb fitting into the cut end of the hose.  Be sure that the hose is pushed completely onto the fitting, past the barbed end of the fitting and up to the flat area.

Step 8: Pull the hose gently to get the barb fitting back into the knob and then screw the knurled knob back onto the pump housing.  At this point, I was able to use the pump, but had some slow leakage from the knob causing the gauge to quickly drop to zero and some pressure lost from the tire.

Step 9: If needed, use pliers or a strong grip to tighten the knurled knob completely to the pump housing.

I think that the original build of this part of the pump may have included some sealant where the hose enters the knob.  At the moment, my TPS-2 is not leaking, but I may try sealing this area with Goop or Gorilla Glue if I have leaks in the future.

Once you get the torn rubber from the hose removed, you will see that this all goes together very simply.  Tightness of reinstalling the hose and knob appear to be the keys to getting a (mostly) leak free operation.

72 Hours of iPod

BackAmp Research is commissioning an iPod Touch 4G a Field Research Apparatus (FRA) for use during our extensive travels as well as for local events/missions.  We’ve never been too high on iStuff, but a bargain buying opportunity presented itself to add a unit to our already-too-heavy backpack.

There are at least a couple zillion reviews (here’s a good one), so we’ll just focus on our key take-aways after three days use.

The good:

1. Way, way more than an MP3 player, this is a mini-tablet.
2. The hardware is amazing.  The ‘retina’ display is high resolution and easy on the eyes.
3. Wifi integration works well and the Safari browser is much superior, say, to the Blackberry browser.
4. Apps.  Lots of free apps.
5. The email client integration is excellent, Yahoo’s web mail is better than using a desktop browser.

The bad:

1. The only good thing we found with iTunes was the podcast integration.  Otherwise, it’s bloated, slow, buggy, duplicates tracks randomly and deletes playlists created on the device.
2. Playlist functionality is only available via iTunes (or alternatives), not on the device.
3. Unable to access music tracks via MTP (i.e. drive letter access) or anything else other than photos.
4. No FM Radio.
5. The camera is much inferior to the iPhone 4 camera.  Some reviews suggest that the iPod 4 is the iPhone 4 sans camera.  Not quite, there a few differences.

Our pro tips:

1. Ditch iTunes, if you don’t need/want to buy Apple’s DRM’d music.  We’re using Ubuntu/Rhythmbox for music management, there are some Windows alternatives that work too.
2. Download apps from the iPod directly, again avoiding iTunes.
3. Dropbox provides much easier access to loading/saving photos and is yet another way to avoid the brain-damaged iTunes.

A Story That Could Be True

If you were exchanged in the cradle and
your real mother died
without ever telling the story
then no one knows your name,
and somewhere in the world
your father is lost and needs you
but you are far away.

He can never find
how true you are, how ready.
When the great wind comes
and the robberies of the rain
you stand on the corner shivering.
The people who go by–
you wonder at their calm.

They miss the whisper that runs
any day in your mind,
“Who are you really, wanderer?”–
and the answer you have to give
no matter how dark and cold
the world around you is:
“Maybe I’m a king.”

William Stafford

Great scene at the end of the pilot for the Riches where Eddie Izzard recites the last stanza to a poetry professor.

Back to the Future

This week, BackAmp Research reopened our Minneapolis and Chicago satellite offices as part of our primary client restructuring.

Menard

This is the classic version of the Menard family crest.  The inscription that goes with it is:

“D’or a une main sen., tentant un arc. de gu, bande de sa., pose en pal”

Or for the Latin challenged:

“Gold, A left hand holding a red bow, stringed black, posed vertically.”

Family lore says that Pierre Menard is either my great-great-great-great grandfather or my great*5 grandfather. Either way, my Dad’s extensive work to connect us genealogically has not proven this out. Pierre Menard was a fur trader in his youth and a contemporary of Lewis and Clark. He later became active in Illinios state politics and was the state’s first Lieutenant Governer.

As far as we know, we’re no kin to the Menard’s hardware stores in the midwest (or, by association, the Menard’s racing team). At least, they haven’t been sending us any checks.

“Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” — John Galsworthy

Berlin U-Bahn

Circa 1975

An old friend recently returned from a work trip to Berlin.  Now and then I get a decent work trip too, although it seems like I usually end up in Cave City, KY or making seven trips in a row to Columbus, OH.  I visited Berlin in 1977 during a high school summer student exchange program.  Berlin was far and away the most metropolitan place I had ever been and remains one of my favorite, albeit fuzzy, travel memories.

This subway map of the U-Bahn was published in 1975 and is notable for the closed, “ghost” stations of then East Berlin.  We traveled regularly on the U8 which, at that time, ended at the Gesundbrunnen station.  That station served the Wedding district, where our youth hostel and the Flakturm Humboldthain were located.

UFO Soup – Origins and Recipe

When I was a kid, I had a dog named Schultz. He wasn’t a very friendly dog, but he was pretty cute for a half schnauzer, quarter poodle, quarter scotty mutt. Whenever someone asked what kind of dog he was, Dad would deadpan “he’s a Polish poodle”. No one ever laughed but Dad got some funny looks. (Editor’s note: Not sure if this defames Polish people, the dog was cute and smart? Just in case, Dad sends his apologies. This was long before political correctness.)

After each Thanksgiving and Christmas, my Mom used to make turkey soup with the leftovers. She’d boil down the turkey carcass and throw in all the remaining bits of meat and parts that we had refused to eat. Even though the soup smelled somewhat tempting while Mom was cooking, it wasn’t all that tasty. The rest of the family usually found excuses to eat leftover pie instead and let Mom have the soup to herself. Schultz, though, would go crazy over the smell of the turkey soup. Tired of finishing the soup all alone, one year Mom decided to add some of the soup broth to the dog’s plain, dry kibble pellets. Schultz was generally indifferent about the dry food, but with the added broth he scarfed it up.

My Mom always enjoyed trying out new food on us and she saw improving the dog’s food as a similar challenge. She took the remaining turkey soup broth and added more turkey skin, giblets, and who knows what else. For the finishing touch, she poured in half a bag of dog food while the soup cooled. The dog food swelled to three times its normal size and became soft and flavorful instead of dry, crunchy, and unappealing.

When the unholy mixture had cooled, Mom gave Schultz a bowlful. Needless to say, it was like feeding prime rib to someone who’s only ever eaten, well, dog food. Mom named the creation “Recipe” and it became an annual treat for both Schultz and Mom.

The dog left us about the time that I went off to the University of Florida. After Thanksgiving, the first year I came home, Mom was in the kitchen cooking “recipe” again. I asked Mom if she had gone mental or was just planning to feed the neighbor’s dogs. She replied, “No, it’s for us. I’ve modified the recipe for human consumption. I’m adding lots of new stuff to it, with yellow rice and Jiffy mix dumplings to replace the dog food.” My father and I exchanged looks of unmitigated terror.

When she finished cooking, the final product was a yellow/brown concoction with three inch white dumplings floating on top. Mom spooned us up each a bowl. She seemed pretty pleased with it and dug in with gusto. Dad and I just stared at it, unconvinced. I stalled by asking, “Um, so what are these blobs in the soup?”. Before Mom could open her mouth, Dad quickly answered, “they’re UFOs, unidentified floating objects”.

Mom gave us both “the look”. Dad and I decided that we were more scared of Mom than the soup, so we tasted it cautiously. “Hmm”, we agreed, “good, but it needs something…something hot”. Dad quickly dispatched me to the pantry for the Korean chili sauce that we saved for dire circumstances. Two shots of hot chili sauce later, it wasn’t dog food and it wasn’t half bad. We dubbed it UFO soup and it became a staple of our post holiday feasts.

My Mom’s gone now, but Annie has carried on the tradition of UFO soup. To her credit, she has not tried to add tofu, soy sauce, or other exotic ingredients to the UFO “Recipe”.

——————————————————————————————-

UFO Soup

Turkey carcass, bits of meat and other leftover bits

1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 carrots, chopped
3 or 4 celery stalks, chopped
1 Package of yellow rice w/ seasoning (e.g Mahatma)
Jiffy baking mix
Korean hot chili sauce (optional)

Boil carcass and leftover turkey bits to make a stock. Cool and remove bones, skin, fat.

Bring stock to boil, add onions, carrots, celery, and yellow rice. Cook per time listed on
yellow rice pkg. Follow recipe on Jiffy mix pkg to make dumplings. Drop by spoonfuls onto
the top of the stew. Wait 1 minute then cover until allotted time has expired.

Serve and add hot sauce to taste (more is better).

Five Reasons I’m Mad at the ONC

Back on March 1st, I was notified that I was being laid off from ONC after 26 years. I’ve survived many, many layoffs over the years and figured that sales technical support had to be nearly bulletproof and impossible to outsource overseas.  I was right on the outsourcing but wrong on the bullet resistance — they took out 60% of us for no apparent reason evidently because this division’s ratios were different than that division’s ratios.

But that’s not why I’m mad.  Disappointed, perhaps, but not mad about being laid off.

Here’s why I’m mad:

1. ONC took the opportunity to keep five weeks of my severance pay by strictly interpreting a re-hire date.  I had documentation (anticipating this from 11 years ago!) showing that a few months away from ONC due to a divestiture was supposed to be erased.  I appealed, to no avail.  “We can’t make an exception, then everyone would want one.”  Hard to argue with people who don’t know the definition of an exception.
2. For the same reason as #1, they only provided 6 months of Cobra subsidy instead of 12.
3. As part of the glorious “Resource Action” documentation, you receive encouragement to use the job posting system to find another position within the company.  Which I did, successfully.  Or not, it seems that just because the job is posted, you want it, and the manager wants you….not enough.  No hiring from the “RA” list was allowed within the division.
4. It has taken three months and countless phone calls, tree-killing mailings, notarizations and other delays to receive my Personal Pension Account balance.  I knew what I wanted on day 1 and the “Employee Services Center” (operated by Fidelity Investments) could have easily clicked twice and transferred my balance to my 401K (also operated by, um, Fidelity Investments).  I wonder who is using my capital whilst I wait?
5. My second Project 365 had to go on hold for 57 days while I sorted out my options and truth from fiction.

For BackAmp Research, only #5 has any relevance.   I guess there are going to a few less travel photos.

Photo A Day Tips

For whatever reason, I’ve decided to do my second Project 365 this year.  As of today, that makes 375 pictures posted to photoblog.  Along the way, I’ve learned a few things:

• For me, personal is better.  The thing I’ve enjoyed the most is looking back at the older photos and remembering the circumstances of each photo.
• If not personal, then a theme of some kind might be cool.  I travel often and have been thinking about how to focus on just that.
• Even with personal, perhaps less than artistic shots, your photos don’t necessarily have to suck (like mine ).  Take some time to clean them up.  With today’s multi-mega-giga-pixel cams, you can almost certainly crop to the best part of the photo and have plenty of size left, ESPECIALLY for the web.  Learn to use whatever photo editing program you have, be it whatever came with your camera, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Photo-Paint, the Gimp (free), or even the excellent (also free) Fast Stone Viewer.  Consider learning more about post-processing as part of your project.  Taking the pic is only half the job.
• After you crop, at a minimum, learn to adjust things like contrast, dynamic range, color balance, and unsharp masking.
• If you have low light shots taken at night (hey, we work in the day time, right?), consider converting them to B&W.  Your image editing program has some simple methods built-in, but there are some advanced techniques you might consider.  The concepts on all these links can generally be used in every decent program, although menu names and terminology may differ.   Special note for Corel Photo-Paint users prior to version X4, the color mixing controls are pretty lacking.  Check out the section called Some Assembly Required near the bottom of dpFWIW‘s page.
  
• Do something with your finished work.  At the very least, set up a screen show on your computer.  Better, post them on the web at photoblog, Flickr, Facebook, or any photo sharing site.  You might even consider setting up your own web gallery.  There’s something about the discipline of posting my shots publicly that keeps me motivated.
• Finally, here’s a tip about that might help you remember to take your daily shot.  It’s easy to get caught up in the day’s work and activity and just forget your project.  Use your calendar or to-do list to remind you.  Personally, I have a daily entry in my Google calendar set to email me at 4pm.  If I haven’t had a chance to shot a photo by then, it’s a reminder as I’m winding up the work day.  There’s still some daylight left and the project is on my mind on the way home and into the evening.

Good luck!

Project 365-X2 308

I haven’t completely decided what the “X2″ means, but I’m cranking up another year of daily photography.  After the 2008 Project I needed a bit of a break, but I think I’m ready to go again.  Annie and I both seem to go back and look over the 2008 pics and it’s amazing how much it brings back each day of the year.

Update:  I had to take most of March and all of April away from the cameras.  Moving on now with Project 308.