The Naked and Famous @ Paradiso

-The Naked and Famous - caught the show @ Paradiso in Amsterdam last week on the 6th, with my cousin Hadewijch

-a lively beat, a lively crowd - the band were quite lively, with a good stage presence, and put on a show that got people moving

-sweet performance - all in all, twas a good show, and I highly recommend you check out The Naked and Famous of New Zealand

-fate? - searching for a parking spot at the concert, I noticed this black Fuji that was also sporting the same brand tires as my Montague

Umeå

-Umeå pre landing - the view of the city just moments before landing at Umeå airport.

So, in a bit of prep for starting my masters of Advanced Product Design at the Umeå Institue of Design in northern Sweden, I made a quick trip up north to check out the grad show at the start of the month.  First time ever travelling that far north (north of Iqaluit, south of Reykjavik).  Had a great time, and came back with a really good impression of the school, and feeling well assured that this masters is indeed something I want to tackle.

My Ride #5 - No belt drive

-Chaincase in the spray booth - a nice RAL 7022 Umbra grey

After much consideration to the possibilities of converting the bike to belt drive, as well as checking out the prices of the drive, and also considering the time line I'm on, I ended up deciding not to go for a belt drive, but keep with the much more price friendly chain drive.  As for how to cover the chain, I decided against the minimalist Hebie Chainglider that they use on the Joep bikes, as they are only available in Black and Silver, and also as they don't make a solid mount to anything, but rather 'float' on the chain and sprockets.  Also, with they Joep bikes, they paint the Chainglider, which is a soft, (I think Polypropylene) plastic, which doesn't take too well to painting.  I decided that the chaincase that was on the bike to begin with, was actually not that bad, fairly classic and simple in design, and mounts to the frame of the bike.  Also, considering it's a hard plastic (I think ABS), it's much easier to paint properly, and have the paint stick and stay better.
The frame is currently at the powdercoater, and should be ready for pickup on Tuesday (fingers cross), leaving me possibly able to finish building the bike up on Wednesday after work, just one week before my last day of work.

My Ride #5 - Custom Branding

Things are still progressing, albeit slowly on the bike.

Did however receive the new head-badge I sent away for prototyping (using a voucher coupon that covered the cost), by Shapeways.   It's the Gazelle logo, but not the way it's presented on the head-badges on their bikes.  So this way, it's kinda my own custom version of the design, to go with what will be my custom Gazelle bike.

-The head-badge out of the packaging - has a nice patina to it, but I'm gonna polish it up to see how sharp I can make it look.

-Head-badge on the head-tube - Just to get an idea of proportion, and what it should look like when done.

Life without a computer

My laptop, (not) arguably past its prime - almost 6 - died on me about 2 weeks ago.  The computer shop guys said the motherboard was done.  Not worth getting a new one on a laptop that old.  With a little over a month left to go in the Netherlands, and electronics prices considerably cheaper in Canada, I think I'm going to hold out with just work computer and the iPhone until Canada.



-LaCie Rikiki 1TB - all that remains of what was once my computer, in a 75 x 109.7 x 13.4 mm Aluminium box.

My Ride #5 (a work in progress)

I  ordered a Joep bike back around September/October last year (see the My Ride #4 post back in July '10), but they've since had some issues with the company that was building the frames for them.  Think part of the issue may be the company started to build very similar bicycles themselves shortly after, and then there came a conflict of interest (or so I've interpreted and extrapolated thus far).  Very unfortunate for Joep, and his Joep/Arie bicycles here in Utrecht, as that leaves him with a waiting list of people wanting his bicycles, and he's trying to find a solution asap, with no guarantees on delivery dates for the next batch of bikes.  Since I'm leaving back to Canada sometime in the next 2 months, and then at the end of the summer off to Sweden for 2-3 years, I asked him last week about it, since I really still want a bike, but am now on a timeline, and he can't guarantee delivery, whether I might not be better off to buy an older bike and fix it up to about the level of a Joep bike.

So, this past weekend, I picked up a Gazelle Primeur Special, from I'm not sure when, but it had the frame geometry I was looking for, which was surprisingly difficult.  2 days work so far (not full days, just spare time on the weekend) disassembling the bike.

-Gazelle Primeur Special - as bought, in the shop at work

-already more Puur - surprising the difference it makes visually by removing the luggage rack and skirt guards

-raggedy saddle be gone!

-an exercise in minimalism?

-close to just the frame

-removing that lock was a bit of a trick, figuring out how it was mounted on there, and then removing it without destroying it or the frame

-just the frame - but it's still got the headtube cups, and bottom bracket (either we don't have the tools to remove those at work, or I just couldn't find them or not sure what they look like)

-rear wheel dropouts - ok, so part of my plan, to tailor the bike even more to what I envision to be the ideal bicycle, is to also convert it from chain drive to belt drive.  To do so will require making a split in the rear seat stay, or rear dropouts somewhere to allow the belt to slip through, and then figuring out a mechanical fastening system to mount in there to make it solid

Schindelhauer has a nice and elegant solution.

I'm thinking I might look at making 2 aluminium (so they don't rust) plates that mount on either side of the dropouts, that will bolt together, sealing the deal.  Sketching is still in the preliminary stages on that one.  Hopefully it's do-able (which I'm not sure of yet either).

Laser Sol Lumen

So starting on the 20th of March, and running till the 26th, to celebrate that the University of Utrecht was 375 years old, there was a laser light show, spanning about 3km from the University campus just outside and to the east of Utrecht, to the dom (cathedral) tower in the centre of utrecht.  The event/happening was called Laser Sol Lumen (or so I gather, I didn't read too much further into it all).

I randomly saw it one night, and it was interesting and kinda captivating in a way reminiscent of the aurora borealis.  Very cool.  And from my top floor studio apt, situated somewhere between the dom tower and the University campus, they were just about going overhead.

So it was one week of laser lights in the sky



-Bright lights, bigger city? - this is about as good a picture as the iPhone was able to take at night, from my apartment



-lights over Wilhelmina Park - the park just a few 100 meters down the street, and what it looked like from there (my iPhone didn't want to take any such photo, so this one isn't mine)



-lights a the dom - here you see kinda the scope of what it looked like (also not my photo)



-from East to the centre - the view of the University, at the source (again, not my photo)

RMR: Rick's Rant - Canada's Economic Action Plan

RMR: Rick's Rant - The Harper Government

Concert at 013 - Tilburg

Ok, so a bit behind on things again.
Went to a concert on the 27th of January at 013 in Tilburg.
On the bill was Neon Trees and Angels & Airwaves, as well as another band that was the first act which I forget as we didn't arrive on time to catch them.
I went with my cousin Hadewijch, who happened to have the evening free and an interest in seeing the show (last minute organized).  Went mainly to check out Neon Trees.

Neon Trees put on a really good (albeit relatively short) show.  They were scheduled to do about a half hour set, but I think about 15 minutes in, the kinda spastic (but really good) singer fell of the stage, after a brief pause -surprise - and silence, made it back on stage, and about 5 minutes later they finished.

-Neon Trees singer making a final picture at the end of their set "Bleed for what you love" being the caption he put on Twitter

-Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure (caution, lots of seizure inducing flashing lights)

Angels & Airwaves also put on a pretty good show, with their characteristic sound.  Didn't quite have the same energy as Neon Trees, and I'd say there was some sort of arrogance or something in their attitude or stage presence.