R e n d r a g

Finally went and got new glasses a couple of weeks ago! (Yes, decided these HUUUUUUUGE-framed ones really do look waaaay too dorky) Went this new high-index glass, so the lenses are only 3-4mm thick instead of the usual 7-8mm for my prescription. What OPSM never told me was that it’s ‘normal’ to get blurring if you go off centre on the high-index glasses. Oh, and you get this really freakish colour shifting going on.. They’ve been telling me for a couple of weeks that it’s just my eyes have to become accustomed to the higher index glass, and i’ll get used to it..
Finally went back today to tell them to just re-make the prescription in normal-index glass, and the lady I got this time told me that it’s not that my eyes would get used to it, and not be blurry anymore – it’s that I would get used to it being blurry.. Would probably be ok if i didn’t need my peripheral vision.. – but there’s the whole riding a motorcycle and ALWAYS using peripheral vision (mirrors, headchecks, etc), plus the three-monitors-on-my-desk thing that also makes heavy use of pheripheral vision.
So they’re re-making the prescription, only problem is, with the thicker glass, the sunglasses attachment for the new glasses (a schmick pair of raybans) won’t actually attach anymore – so they’re going to do the lenses up as the ones that go really dark when exposed to UV. But the combination of that and the anti-glare coating you need on high value prescriptions means they have to be custom-made rather than being a standard blank, so it’s going to be FOUR WEEKS before I have my glasses back.
So now i’m back in my dorky old frames with their not-strong-enough-anymore prescription, and man are the migraines annoying from the change back to the old prescription..
sigh, thanks OPSM. If they’d been truthful with me from the start and told me I WOULD have problems with the high-index lenses, rather than not telling me a thing, I would have chosen cheaper frames (Seriously, $500 for new glasses is a little steep if you’re not gonna get what you wanted anyway..), and gone normal glass.
Oh, and did I mention I had to buy a new helmet, cause the new frames were too wide for my existing frames?
So I’m now $1100 down and i’m STILL wearing my old glasses!

Went into the bike shop yesterday asking about new clutch plates, and was talking to the fellow there about how the clutch doesn’t fully release when you pull it in, and doesn’t fully grip when you let it out, and how the gears are really tricky, and he suggested i might be using the wrong type of oil in the engine.

When I mentioned I was running the Shell Helix that I used to use in the car, he pointed out that apparently you’re supposed to use a special oil in bike engines, because they share the oil between the engine, gearbox, and (in the case of my bike with a ‘wet’ clutch) the clutch..

So i did a full oil+filter change last night with this new Shell Advance motorcycle oil. As I was pouring the stuff in, I knew it was different – it was sticky, like honey, rather than being ‘just oil’ that the Helix stuff is..

Took he bike for a spin afterwards, and all I can say is HOLY CRAP! I can rev the bike out to the redline without a drop in power, there’s a LOT more compression there, and the gearbox is a lot smoother (much ‘tighter’ to change, but it doesn’t do its annoying kick-back thing as you try to change gear, just slides right in).

Yes, definitely a success.. – Arrived at work this morning with a huge grin on my face – there’s something extremely satisfying about passing cars while screaming along at 8500 rpm 😉

Today was supposed to be my day off! Popped into the office to do a bit of pottering, and heard this strange bang noise.. went to investigate and found the whole server room offline.. – turns out our UPS exploded!
Ended up running power cables all over the office to get things back up – Piller weren’t answering the phone (what use is a support contract if they’re not open outside of work hour?), so I’ll have to hassle them out tomorrow to get the thing fixed..

Had a BBQ over at Josh’s place last night.. – Raz, Saf, and some other bloke came down from sydney, Josh’s brother was up from Wodonga, and kel and some other fellow from canberra rocked up, along with Josh’s neighbour.. – Had a damned good time, though i obviously need to take more notice of music, as most of the conversation for the night revolved around whether x metal band was better than y metal band..
Made my exit when everyone headed up the road to a pub.. Sounded like too many people for me, but all up it was a great night 🙂

Ok well that was a mammoth effort! In the office till 7 oclock both nights, but got it all cleaned up quite nicely 🙂