Last night I downloaded the 2010 map update and tried to install it on my Nuvi 260. Part of the way through, it failed. I wasn't using the computer at the time, but I think it got at least halfway through the update. But now when I try to update it again, it says, "There is not enough free space available on your GPS for the map region you have selected, please select a different map region." It does this for all the available regions.

To free up space, Garmin's knowledge base says to delete any voice files you aren't using. So I did that, and now I have 32 MB available on the GPS unit, 1.18GB used, 1.21 GB capacity. It still won't update.

If I try to use the GPS now, it says "No detailed maps found that support routing. The nuvi cannot be used without them." If I dismiss that message and go to "Tools - Settings - Map", the "Map Info" button is grayed out.

I tried calling Garmin this morning, but the announcement said the wait was going to be at least half an hour. I tried the online e-mail support system, but when I try to submit the web form, it gives an error, something about "can't open this page".

So I've just paid $120 to brick my navigation unit, Garmin's web site doesn't work, and the telephone wait time is atrocious.

Update 2009-04-14: I gave them a call this morning. After waiting on hold for half an hour, a technician had me copy two different copies of gmmapprom.uml to the nuvi, which didn't help. So he transferred me to the software help line. After another 20 minutes on hold, the technician, upon discovering that I'm on a Mac, had to transfer me to the Mac queue (the first technician neglected to ask what operating system I was using), another 20 minute wait away. After a few minutes on hold, I decided I needed to be at work, so I hung up. Total time on the phone: 79 minutes. I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm wondering if the map update somehow corrupted the file system on my nuvi and it's now underreporting the amount of memory it has? We'll see.

Update 2009-04-16: Yesterday an e-mail arrived in response to my online e-mail support submission, so I guess that works after all, despite the DNS errors. The e-mail basically said my nuvi is probably corrupted, and give Garmin support a call. I'll do that tomorrow when I have a day off anyway. I can look forward to 30 minutes on hold waiting to ask for someone to transfer me to the Mac queue which will take another 20 minutes on hold to reach. Joy...

Update 2009-04-17: I gave Garmin a call, waited on hold 30 minutes, asked for the Mac queue, waited another 50 minutes, and the technician had me try the map update again. It didn't give the "not enough free space" error this time. It does a little "checking for updates" thing each time I run this, so maybe they fixed something on their side. Or maybe copying the .uml file triggered something that allowed the update to proceed. In any case, the technician had me plug the unit directly into the computer, bypassing the hub, just in case. This is going to take an hour or two while it updates, so I'll let it go. Also, I've disabled all the energy saving features on this computer, just in case, because last time the error occurred when the display had gone to sleep.

Update, 11:14am: Success!

Tags: complaints, reviews

No, not the television series.

I just noticed that I like sitting on my seiza bench so much that I will often sit here at the computer just for the sake of sitting here, and easily run out of things to do on the computer. Is that bad?

Also, if my monitor weren't so deep (it's a 17" CRT), and perhaps a little taller, I might not need the keyboard tray at all. If I were to adjust the lowest shelf high enough so my knees wouldn't hit it, perhaps a foot off the ground, I could sit closer to the shelving unit.

Tags: furniture

Until recently, my desk was a banquet table for my monitor, printer, and computer; a box on which sat my keyboard; and a zabuton on which sat me. But this wasn't very ergonomic--the monitor was too high, the keyboard too low, and even on a zabuton I can only kneel for so long before my ankles ache and my feet fall asleep. I wanted something better, but still simple, inexpensive, and easy to pack up and move.

My solution: a Metro-compatible shelving unit with a Metro keyboard tray as a desk, and a seiza bench on top of the zabuton for a chair. This setup has much more storage than the banquet table did and the shelving unit is not as deep, so it takes up less floor space. I've adjusted the shelves that holds the keyboard tray and monitor to their optimum heights for ergonomics.

For the most part, this is working out pretty well. I like how my neck balances on my head effortlessly, and the fact that my back is straight without support. It's a lot like sitting on a kneeling chair. At the moment, the muscles that stabilize my back are weak, so I can feel them getting a workout.

It isn't perfect. After an hour or so, my butt starts to fall asleep. I may just be sitting wrong on the seiza bench. And I may go back and get the cushion for it.

Or, I might configure the desk to use the computer while standing a là Ernest Hemingway. In which case I wouldn't need the keyboard tray, at least after I've replaced the deep 17" CRT monitor with an LCD monitor.

Tags: furniture

I filled up my Bokashi bucket and started on my second. For the second bucket, I decided to go the cheap route with a pair of nested 5-gallon buckets with some drain holes drilled in the bottom of the inner bucket and a lid on top.

Now I'm feeding the contents of the first bucket to the worms. They seem to be loving it. The food I put into the bokashi bucket still looks like what I put in, but the orange peels for example now have a mushy consistency, so it appears that the bokashi process breaks down the tough fibers. I don't know yet how well it works on wood.

I still have a little of the original bokashi bran left from the first batch. To replace it, I think I'll try this stuff, because it has enough for two 5-gallon containers instead of one, and the packing itself is compostable.

I've had my electric bike for 13 months now. I've taken it 3,300 miles and charged it over 300 times. (Click the "bicycle" tag at the bottom for more details.) At this point, the battery no longer wants to accept a full charge. Sometimes it will charge completely the first try, other times it quits after a few seconds and I have to retry a few times before it will take a full charge.

I posted a thread here and the reply was that I'm going to need to analyze and condition the battery cells individually, replacing the permanently bad ones with good ones. It will take some time to test them all, so I think I'll order a new battery pack and keep the old one around for parts. When the new battery develops the same problem, I'll pick the best battery cells from the two and create a frankenbattery.

A new battery pack is $400. This equates to about 12 cents per mile. Once I've salvaged the good cells into a frankenbattery, this may drop to 8 cents per mile. Considering that the 2009 IRS mileage reimbursement rate is currently 55 cents per mile, I feel like I've saved some money.

More importantly, I've gotten into shape. I can now bike through the hills without dry heaving after only a mile and my thighs have some nice muscle tone. My cholesterol is excellent, but my weight hasn't changed--instead, I've dropped from 19.2% body fat down to 11.7%, according to my inexpensive Accu-Measure body fat caliper. I only wish my blood pressure had improved. It's still in the prehypertension range.

Tags: bicycle, reviews

Here are the totals, based on the odometer on my bike computer and in my car. My goal was to bike more than I drove.

Bicycle: 2,762.5 miles
Car: 2,892 miles

I didn't start biking to work until the middle of February, so I had a late start. Weather was also a factor. I'm thinking of getting a rain cape and helmet cover so I can bike in the rain without being too uncomfortable.

Tags: bicycle

Dear Governor Brewer,

I read that Arizona abolished its weight-mile tax on truckers in 1993. As a result of this, truckers aren't paying for the damage they do to Arizona's roads, which is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars every year. One semi truck causes as much damage as 9,600 cars. The market distortion caused by subsidizing the trucking industry prevents freight from being moved by less damaging means such as rail. As a result, Arizona businesses and residents are paying more in taxes than they should have to.

Please reinstitute the weight-mile tax to save Arizona businesses and residents money and help balance the budget.

A week ago, I had the opportunity to try the California Shuttle Bus (via the Chinatown bus reservation system at GotoBus.com) from Los Angeles to San Francisco. CAShuttleBus picks up a route that MegaBus dropped when they left California.

I purchased my ticket the night before departure. The cost was $45, which is about the same as a Greyhound ticket. If you reserve earlier in advance, you can get a better deal.

The bus stop in Los Angeles is located at the Denny's across the street from Los Angeles Union Station. There is no sign at the stop like MegaBus had. The bus arrived on time, but it was painted with the name of America Bus Lines.

A couple of stops later, an assistant checked our tickets, and then we were on our way to San Francisco. The bus was about 1/3 or 1/2 full, so there were plenty of available seats. Like Megabus, the clientele of CAShuttleBus is much less scary than the Greyhound.

We made a rest stop at a Burger King halfway to San Francisco. The bus driver said we had 30 minutes and that there would be a change of bus drivers. After we reboarded, the new driver counted the passengers, and we ended up leaving 5 minutes early (25 minutes after we stopped instead of 30).

25 miles from Burger King, we turned around. Apparently we had left a couple of passengers behind. Somehow there had been two miscommunications: the new bus driver thought that it was supposed to be only a 20 minute rest stop, and that there were two fewer passengers than there really were. Those two passengers were understandably pissed.

So we ended up pulling into San Francisco over an hour late. Since the only connection I needed to make was a Caltrain ride, this wasn't a problem for me.

Unfortunately, because the bus leaves so late from San Francisco and I need to make some connections to get home to San Diego from Los Angeles, I couldn't take the bus home. I'm told there are overnight bus rides, but I can't figure out from either GotoBus.com or CAShuttleBus.com how to find out when they run.

Overall, I feel that it was worth $45 to avoid the shady clientele of Greyhound and travel more fuel efficiently than by air, but I'd like to see CAShuttleBus do a better job with communication between bus drivers.

Edit 2009-02-20: Last weekend, I took the California Shuttle Bus again. Again, Caltrain was the last stop on the peninsula instead of the first. (I e-mailed GotoBus.com about this, and they said they will change the arrival times.) This time it was a different, newer bus marked "Charter". I had an opportunity to try the bathroom on the bus. The door wouldn't lock and there was no toilet paper or wet naps, so bring your own.

Tags: reviews

I have an expired evaluation installation of VMWare Fusion that I'm trying to purchase with their current 25% discount promotion. Since I don't know my VMWare password (if I ever had one), I used the Forgot Password? utility to have it mailed to me. Then I copied and pasted the password from the e-mail into the Login section of the billing page, but it says: Invalid E-mail Address or Password

So I e-mailed customer service last Wednesday about the problem. (Today is Sunday.) So far they haven't responded.

I tried it again today. Mysteriously, I received a different password than the one I received last Wednesday, but today's password didn't work, either.

Also, there's a "Feedback" link at the bottom of every page, but that doesn't do anything in Firefox 3.0.5 on a Mac.

How can a company so good at virtualization be so incompetent at maintaining their own web site?

Maybe I should be buying Parallels Desktop anyway. It's the same price as VMWare Fusion's regular price, and it does OpenGL (see the comparison), but it has less support for Linux, and VMWare is supposed to be faster overall, and I already have it installed and running. Neither supports Firewire.

How can I do my part to support the economy if companies refuse my money?

Update 2008-12-22: After sending an e-mail to fusionsales@vmware.com, they squared me away. Apparently there's a bug that required them to clear out my account profile.

Tags: complaints, reviews, software

So my leather belt finally bit the dust. I purchased it in late 1992 or early 1993, so it's held out for 16 years. Since it's organic (made of cow), it should break down.

The metal parts are easily removed. Composting is supposed to break down any hazardous chromium compounds found in leather into safe compounds.

I expect the leather to take a while to compost. It may take a through trips through the compost bin to break it all down.

Tags: composting