Roger Bikes

Category: Off the Bike

  • Alfred Snippets for Speed : 56/100

    Since I work on a laptop I try to be keyboard focused for speed. The trackpad works fine but the keyboard is much faster. The issue is that the baseline setup for keyboard shortcuts in MacOS is limited. To resolve this developers have created a number of programs that extend the MacOS desktop to have a shell/command line interface.

    Personally I have used Quicksilver, Launch Bar, the Google Search Bar, Text Expander, and currently Alfred. Quicksilver was a little advanced for my computer expertise at the time. Up until I started using Alfred these programs were mainly just app launchers. I would hit the shortcut key to launch a search bar in the center of the screen and start typing an app. The launch bar would start presenting apps with names that match my search. When I hit enter the app would launch.

    This would speed up starting an app but nothing really for speeding me up while I used the app. For that I started using Text Expander which let me save various pieces of text as a snippet. Then I would type an abbreviation and the snippet would expand into wherever I was writing. This is a huge time saver when I have to write the same things repeatedly.

    I don’t know the exact year but shortly after using Text Expander I found Alfred. Alfred is a cross of a launcher, Text Expander, and magic. When I use a computer that doesn’t have Alfred installed with my preferences and configs I feel like I have lost the use of an arm. Launching software is great of course. Having snippets expand text with clipboard items is a huge time saver. Then there’s Alfred Wokflows, but that’s a whole other post.

    Snippets for Speed

    I have to cd to the /public directory 50 to 100 times a day on dozens or more of websites. I use tab completion to speed the process but I want to be even faster! With tab completion there are a minimum of 11 keystrokes to get to the /public directory and start working on files.

    With Alfred I setup a snippet so that in 4 keystrokes I am in the /public directory. That is 7 keystrokes saved each time I cd to that directory. Over the course of the work day that is 350 to 700 keystrokes saved.

    I realize this is a very specific application of a snippet, but that is the key to useful snippets. They need to match your workflow, not mine. I am creating new snippets all the time. If I find I am writing the same text all the time then I stop and make a snippet.

    In a chat this might apply to letting someone know I am working on their {site} and will let them know what I find shortly. {site} in this case is replaced by whatever I have in my clipboard at the time. If I copy their domain name and then enter that snippet the message gets the domain name added. The auto expansion for that snippet is ;;work. ( I like using 2 semicolons as it ensures I don’t accidentally type the snippet instead of a regular word like work.

    For the cd to /public command I am in the terminal and I type ;;cd. That auto expands to cd /www/*/public/ with a return at the end. The command is not only expanded but the return means it is started. Once I have typed the d I am in /public and ready to work.

    Over the course of a day I will use some aspect of Alfred 135 times. Snippet expansion is about 15% of that, but using snippets saves me a lot of time. These are some recently made or updated examples that I thought conveyed the benefit of Alfred. If you have a question about another application of a snippet feel free to ask in the Comments.

    Workout detail

    Kinda took the day off. Back was a little sore this morning and we spent more time working with the solar system and the cabin. We now have 120 volts of electricity in the outlets and fixtures.

    After dinner Kate and I took a moonlight walk on the fenceline southern route. I have spent so much time on it recently I could almost walk it with my eyes closed.

    Oh and I think I found a welder to fix my bike!

  • Progress : 55/100

    Progress : 55/100

    The fenceline trail is progressing well. I think I will have the southern loop connected back to the road this week. That loop is 0.8 miles long and gives you some great views of the land and area. I am very happy about it and more importantly Kate is happy with the trail.

    Workout details

    I spent 2 hours trail building after work. My arms and back are feeling pretty tired tonight, but we are so close. I might be able to reach to road tomorrow.

    Oh and we tested the solar system out by connecting just 2 of the panels. Everything came on and no smoke arose. I configured the bluetooth apps for the battery monitor and solar charge controller and everything looks good. Progress.

  • Cracked : 54/100

    Cracked : 54/100

    Changed my chain the other day, as the wax had worn off the old one, and noticed a crack in a weld on my bike. Its a strange place for a weld to crack but there is it on the drive side seat stay. Having a crack in your bike is never a great time.

    Wonka Flower

    Naturally I still went on a 20+ mile ride, but only on pavement. Its much safer that way, I guess. Now to find someone who welds titanium…

    Workout detail

    Spent 2 hours trail building this morning then another hour after work. Almost have the first part of fence-line done. Thinking I should have it finished this week.

  • Late posting : 53/100

    I was working on a post about solar charge controllers for the 5th part of the ongoing solar series. As I dug into the subject I realized I need to spend some more time getting the post together. It turns out that electricity is a little complex and I am not an electrician. So that post will be delayed, because it is 10pm and I need to get to sleep.

    Workout detail

    I got up to build trail this morning but had to run to a friends house for some tools that we need. That pretty much shot the morning for trail building. So after work tonight I went out for a good 90 minute session and made some good progress on the fenceline trail. My hope is that if I get to sleep soon I should be able to get up around 6am and get some good trail work in before work.

    If I can maintain that schedule I should have fenceline done this week. That will give us just over a mile of trails and Kate can start running around the land instead of dealing with distracted drivers on the road.

  • Auger : 51/100

    Auger : 51/100

    One thing I briefly mentioned in my post about Solar Panels is that we are mounting them on a pole. We are doing this because we have a flat roof on the cabin that we may eventually build a deck on. Additionally since it is a flat roof the snow will accumulate and block the panels in the winter. A top of pole mount allows us to leave the roof clear, avoid having snow block the panels, and have the ability to adjust the angle of the panels seasonally.

    When searching for top of pole solar mounts I learned a few things:

    1. They are on the pricey side considering there is no electronics involved.
    2. Wind is the biggest thing to be worried about but snowload is also a concern.
    3. The pole used is big heavy and requires a really large hole.

    The price is what it is and we ended up with a good deal.

    The wind in our area is not too bad. We do not get tornado’s, yet, so nothing special needs to be done. The snowload for our area is on the bubble for the mount we purchased.

    Top of pole solar mounts do not come with a pole. That is because they require a very large steel pole that would be really expensive to deliver. Instead we had to make a trip to a local steel shop to buy a 12′ 4″ 40 series steel pipe. Its big and heavy.

    Next the mount manufacturer informed us that the pole needs to be set in a 58 inch deep 24 inch wide hole. Digging a hole that big by hand would be a difficult job. In our case digging that hole by hand is pretty much impossible because our soil is clay and compacted.

    To dig this hole we need a mechanical auger. A 24 inch auger:

    Getting Started
    Progress
    Done
    Left boot for scale. Don’t want to fall in that hole.

    The hole now needs to be filled with concrete. The volume of concrete needed for a hole that size is about 2/3’s of a yard of concrete. That’s about 26 80-lb bags of concrete. Fortunately we found someone who can handle a load that size and are hoping to have it cemented in tomorrow.

    The plan is to have the panels mounted and connected this week. Very exciting.

    Workout detail

    The wiring from the panels to the cabin are going to be buried. I dug the trench for that today. I am very tired now. Good night.

  • Halfway : 50/100

    Holy moly we are halfway through the 100 days of blogging challenge! In some ways it feels like the time has flown by but I remember days where I scrambled to come up with something to write about. Also we are only halfway there so who knows what might happen.

    What I do know is that this is the most consistent I have written for a long time. Probably since University or even longer. It has been great practice to sit here at the end of each day and spend time reflecting.

    Part of this challenge was also to help distract me from the pandemonium that is the US today. Not only does writing about positive things help me stay positive. Spending time writing also means I have less time to read the news. There is only so much news that I need in a day to stay on top of things.

    This blog started off focused on my cycling. It has progressed into being more about what is happening in my life in general. The cabin project is coming along. We almost have the solar finished. The wiring is pretty much done and we are digging the hole for the pole that the solar array sits on tomorrow. The trail building has grown into a new hobby for me and I am enjoying talking about it. Kate and I are designing a house so I will definitely start writing more about that process.

    I am sure more will come up and I hope you stick around and keep reading.

    Workout detail

    Spent an hour trail building this morning.

  • Get good tools : 49/100

    Get good tools : 49/100

    Yesterday I wrote about getting a new tool: the Rogue Hoe 55 HR. This thing is made for making trails and it does a really good job. Today I used it for a while in the morning before work and again after work. In 2 hours of work I was able to cover the length of Kiss of Cactus a quarter mile loop.

    The difference that the Rogue Hoe makes is startling. This first photo is of a section of trail where there is a fork. Even for me it is hard to see where the trails are:

    Where’s the trail?

    This second photo shows one trail to the left of the fork pretty much done. The trail to the right is started but still needs some work:

    Found it!

    Here is another section of trail that has been updated with the Rogue Hoe:

    The reason for bringing this up is not just to show off my trail but also to talk about buying good tools. There’s nothing quite like a bad or broken tool making a job feel tedious and even dangerous. Before I bought the Rogue Hoe I had bought some ok tools. My metal rake is not a cheap piece of junk, but it is no Rogue Hoe.

    My first lasting experience with this was when I got my first job out of college. I was working at the local newspaper handling the layout. My job was to build the newspaper based on the ads they had sold. I would then layout the ads and send the files to the printer. It was a pretty fun job but what I learned was why people in the printing world used Macs. They just worked.

    This was in 2000 so before Mac OSX came along. While you couldn’t have multiple programs running at the same time the programs you did run worked. When you are laying out a hundred pages with a deadline you don’t want to deal with a crash.

    At home I had a computer running Windows 98, and it crashed almost non stop. It was a very frustrating experience. One thing I noticed at the paper was that there was almost never a crash and no one was rebooting their computer. I was dumbfounded.

    Then I bought my first Mac and haven’t looked back. This year marks 20 years I have owned a Mac and it has only gotten better. Yes it costs more than a PC but it works and its fast, and did I mention it works?

    My wife is a Windows database developer. When her PC laptop died a few years ago I suggested she give a Mac Pro a try. That was over 5 years ago and she isn’t looking back either.

    To a lot of people we are part of the Apple Fanboi culture, and part of that is true. However the biggest part is that we both earn a living using our home computers. We need to have dependable fast machines that get the job done. I may enjoy working with computers but I do not enjoy working on them.

    Circling back to the Rogue Hoe and buying quality tools: I could have gotten a similar tool on Amazon for less than half of what I spend on the Rogue Hoe. Would I have been happy? Probably. I would not have known any better so I would have gotten on with things. However having now used a Rogue Hoe I understand why my friend recommended one. Its a tool made for being used all day. Its well balanced and just works.

    Does this mean we should only buy the best and most expensive tools? No it does not! Personally I don’t want to spend anymore than I have to. However there are times when it makes sense to spend some extra money and get the good quality tool. Determining when it is that time is dependent on you, your budget, and how important the job is that needs the tool.

    Workout Details

    I worked on trails for 2 hours.

  • Rogue Hoe 55HR : 48/100

    Rogue Hoe 55HR : 48/100

    The day has arrived: my new Rogue Hoe 55HR arrived today, and it is even better than anticipated. First of all it is much lighter than expected, even with a 54″ wood handle. The head is made from recycled agricultural disc blades which sounds super strong, and apparently means super light.

    My forest firefighting buddy recommended I get a Rogue Hoe. It is what he personally uses with his crews. He recommended I go with the 54″ handle to make things easier on my back. He also likes the wood handles over fiberglass as he finds them to be easier on his joints.

    Naturally the Rogue Hoe arrived midday so I had to stare at it for the rest of my workday before taking it to the trail. Once work was over I was out the door and chopping away at the trail.

    Trail building is basically gardening but you don’t care about growing anything after cultivating the land. This means everything in the trail is a weed and must come out. The RH is perfect for this as it is like a regular hoe but with a big nasty sharp bit that cuts into dirt like butter. It felt like I was giving the trail a shave rather than digging.

    Once vegetation is cut the next step is raking the plant material out of the trail. This can be done with the RH, but if there is a lot of grass I find that coming back with the regular rake is much better. Then we can shape the trail by either raking the dirt flat, or use the RH head as it is a tamping tool.

    Overall I give my Rogue Hoe 5/5 and highly recommend one for trail building or gardening.

    Workout Details

    There’s mountains out there somewhere…

    This morning was a slow and mellow one. The smoke from the forest fires are still lingering for a while in the morning. I listened to some podcasts and worked on my pull ups. I managed 4 sets of 3.

  • Solar Panels : 46/100

    This is the 4th part of a multi part series covering the solar energy system we are building in our cabin. The 1st part discussed grid tie vs off grid systems. We are going to be off grid. The second part talked about AC vs DC and how an off grid system has to have at least DC because of the batteries. The third part covered batteries which we are going with AGM’s with 832 amp hours of power.

    Today we are going to talk about solar panels, also knows as PV or photovoltaic panels. PV panels collect energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. When you think of solar electricity the panels are the first image that come to mind.

    The cost of solar panels dropped significantly over the last 10 years. Kate and I added PV to our home in Phoenix in 2012. The renters haven’t paid a single electricity bill in 6 years. I haven’t priced our system again but I imagine its about 20% to 50% cheaper to do it now.

    When it comes to solar panels there is a lot to consider. Watts generated, size, efficiency, and more. To me the panel is the least complicated item in the entire system. I want to set them up and never think about them again.

    In this case since we have 832 amp hours of batteries to recharge we went with four 320 watt panels. This should be a little more solar panel than we need based on usage but its better to have too much than too little. For a cost comparison the solar panels all together cost about 30% of what the batteries cost.

    We will mount the panels for the cabin on a top of pole mount. This is because we want to keep the roof clear for a possible future roof deck.

    Workout details

    I did not manage to get up at 7am and get my workout in. There was a decent amount of smoke in the air from the nearby fires so I used that as part of my excuse. I have walked a little tonight and am going to get another lap in now.

  • AC vs DC : 44/100

    A few posts back I talked about solar for our cabin. That was the start of a multi part series about how we designed the system and then may have parts of the installation of the system.

    In the first part I talked about Grid Tie vs Off Grid and some of the ins and outs of the two types of solar systems. In this part I will talk a little about AC vs DC and why with off grid solar we need to have both.

    AC stands for Alternating Current and it is how electricity comes from most wall outlets. AC power can be transmitted across long distances with little power lost. However it cannot be stored.

    DC stands for Direct Current and it is how electricity is delivered from a battery. This means that in an off grid system you will at least have to deal with DC. This is fine for many electrical items: lights, charging phones, and anything with a USB cable.

    Unfortunately we live in an AC world. For example while laptops run on DC batteries, their chargers only work off of AC outlets. So if you want to charge your laptop you will need AC power. Same goes for all modern appliances: blenders, toasters, instant pots, air fryers, etc.

    In order to generate AC power from DC power you use an inverter. An inverter converts DC power into AC power with some power lost in the process. This means that AC power drains the batteries even faster than DC.

    Inverters come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The basics that you need to consider are: pure sine wave and amount of watts. You want to get a pure sine wave inverter. Period. Modern electronics will emit a high pitch tone with any other types. The amount of watts is determined by your most powerful appliance in terms of watts. In our case that is our Vitamix blender. It tops out at 1800 watts so we went with a 2000 watt inverter. However I noticed that the 3000 watt inverter was only $75 more and we grabbed that up.

    DC comes in a variety of voltages. 12volt is the most common and is what we use. In the next episode of the solar system series we will talk about batteries and why we ended up with what we did.

    Workout details

    Today was a day of errands. We drove to my mom’s and picked up a washing machine. This is the first washing machine we have owned in 6 years. It had to run off the generator for its first run but it did great. All this is to say that I did not get much exercise in except for lifting a washing machine a few times.