Rob's posterous

The myth of the simple business plan

The status quo is accepted, regardless how complex, but we demand the new thing be simple.

Here's a business plan for a textbook manufacturer ca. 1955:

Hire a professor, pay them to spend years making a textbook. Hire a lot of salespeople, have them visit other professors and their committees, selling them a book they won't ultimately buy, but will merely force others to buy. Then build an infrastructure to make sure the bookstores have the book that the students are instructed to buy against their will. Then add meaningless updates to the book regularly so the used textbook market doesn't impinge on new book sales.

If someone pitched you that business model a century ago, you'd laugh.

Most giant industries have similarly convuluted plans. For some reason, we require new business models to be far more elegant...

The secret to classic industries is that each step in the plan must be simple. So simple that it's easy to explain and scale. But those simple steps can certainly add up to a complex web.

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simplicity is the key - if you can't keep it simple, how are you going to translate something something into reality? Remember the devil is always going to be in the detail - not in the elevator pitch

Work on the Harley

I have been planning to do some work on the Harley for some time now. The main things that I wanted to scheduled to do was; fix my rear indicator lights (I did not put them on correctly when I fitted them last year), fit my new leather seat and fit a new headlight I recently ordered.

Since my ride to Alice Spring for Riding4aCause.org is only 2 weeks away, it was time to knuckle down and do some work.

First the seat, which should be a 10 minute job; 8 minutes to remove the old one, and 2 minutes to fit the new one. But someone neglected to tell me about the 13 hours required to relocate all the electronics that no longer fit under the new seat!!!! grrrrrr

That was when the fun began. Check this out, this is when I had all the electronics pulled apart ready to do the work.

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And a close up of all the electronics hanging around on the fuel tank;
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That's the Power Commander V Computer with Auto Tune units. My neat install from last year had to be relocated. You can't see very well in the above shot, but I had to remove the bracket that held the fusebox, Harley factory Computer, alarm and connectors for the PCV. I remounted them all on some rubber matting that I bought to hold it all in place.

While I had everything apart, I admired some of the work I did last year on my Arnott's Air Shocks. Check out the compressor mounting :-)

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Now if only I can make everything else look as neat as this!!!

Once I got all the wiring done, I fitted the new headlight. So here is the photo of the old headlight....

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I kind of like the look of the cowling on the headlight, and I keep changing my mind every day about it, but its probably the one thing that makes this look least like a Harley. Since its an easy swap, and I can always swap back. I bought a V-ROD R headlight in black to try that on for a bit. And this is with it installed;

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What do you think?

Last job, fix the indicators. This was actually a lot of work, basically have to pull the shocks off to do this job. Most people wouldn't even know the difference, but I do, so I had to do it. Here are the finished lights;

And the final result.........

Here it is (mind you, and after I gave the room a bit of a clean too).

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Nice profile shot of the new seat.

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(download)

Progress on the Fixie - Dissassembly

I have finished pulling apart the old road bike, and now its in a dozen pieces ready to be cleaned. Probably should have only taken me an hour to pull it apart, but I did it over a few nights to make sure I did it right and I inspected each piece to make sure it was in working order, or whether I needed to replace it.

Here is a photo of all the pieces that I pulled off there. Obviously, some of them won't be needed like the rear brake and the derailleurs, but I'll probably just clean them for good measure. I bought a new fizik seat from eBay which should be getting here in the next few days, and I also found a cheap set of bullhorn handelbars on eBay. I like the idea of bullhorms so we'll see how we go with that. But I will need to reuse the Cinelli stem off the old one. The chain is a toss out, and I need to do some work on the drive side of the crankshaft and get rid of the smaller cog. 

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I even managed to remove the forks, and they look like they probably have not been removed since they were first put on!!! Grease was black as! They'll come up nice after a wash.

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Here is the bare frame! It was surprisingly light for a bike frame that was built probably 30 years ago....

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The one thing that did concern me, was when I pulled the bottom bracket off, is the amount of rust particles that fell out! Probably enough to fill the bottom of a cup. Here is a photo of what I am talking about.... 

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Anyway, last night I bathed everything in a detergent bath, and this morning I'll pull everything out and dry it to give it a good clean with a citrus cleaner and degreaser tonight. Get everything ready for my wheels that should be coming today (eBay is your friend)!!! And then the assembly begins!!!

My Fixie Project!

I have been thinking about getting a fixie (fixed gear push bike) for a while now, and then the other day it dawned upon me!! I have an old bike from when I was 19 years old that I could convert. Now when I say old, it doesn't mean its crap. In fact for its time, it was  kick arse!!!

Bike frame is Columbus SLX built by Jim Bundy. Jim Bundy built great bikes in the 80's & 90's, he is a real character and now works with his son Peter Bundy who has a bike store in Riverwood (Sydney). It has Mavic Rims, Campagnolo crankset, front derailer, shifters, headset and brakes. Rear derailer is an old Shimano one, and the stem, handlebars and seat post is Cinelli. Some good parts on there!!!

I decided to take some photos of the bike before I tear it down. 

Here is the dirty bike :-) Its been sitting under my parents house for 20 years. I stopped riding it after I had an accident on it when I was 19!!!
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Campy crankset - that is vintage stuff!!

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Old Mavic rims & Shimano rear derailer. And this thing needs a good clean!
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Columbus SLX frame, Build by Jim Bundy. An Aussie legend :-)
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Front forks with the Campy brakes
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Cinelli Bar and stem
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That's the last you'll see of that!! Tomorrow, time to strip it down and a bucket of parts!

Making Virgin Mobile Broadband to work on Mac

After much frustration, I finally got my Virgin Mobile Huawai E160e modem to work on my MacBook Pro!!! And although it shouldn't be that difficult, there is one quirk that I needed to do to make it work.

UPDATE: I have now used this solution on 2 different Macbook Pros; a 15" 3.06 Core 2 Duo and now my new 15" 2.6GHz i7.

Firstly, you don't need the Virgin Connect application that comes with the modem, in fact I recommend you DON'T use it as its slower. Its a Java application, and Desktop Java applications are not known for their startup speed.

You will need the drivers, and the latest drivers can be found here. This link is actually from the Virgin Mobile Help Ticket on this topic. And although it is worthwhile following these instructions to install what you need, it is really the drivers that you are after.....

Once you have done that, plug in your modem and your MBP will discover the Modem and add it to your list of Network interfaces. Open System Preferences > Network, and select the HUAWAI Mobile Interface and give it the following settings;

Telephone Number: *99#
Account Name : VirginBroadband
Password : VirginBroadband

Click on Advanced and Make the following changes;
Vendor: Generic
Model: GPRS (GSM/3G)
APN: VirginBroadband
CID : 1

The important setting is that the APN is set to "VirginBroadband" (notice the Capitals V & B)

On other forums and blogs I am hearing that the Account name and Password is important. Although I am not 100% certain, I think the Account Name should be the same as the APN but the password can be absolutely anything.....

Here is the Trick!

So after doing all the above and spending a couple of hours to try and get it to work, it kept failing Authentication and no matter what I tried, it kept failing at that point. So my modem is recognised, it is actually connecting but not authenticating. After a little more searching, I came across the issue....

Basically, the default method of Authentication on the MacBook Pro is to use CHAP whereas Virgin Broadband expects PAP, and there is no where to change this setting. So this is what you need to do;

Open up a terminal and type in the following;
sudo nano /etc/ppp/options

If you have no idea what this means, you are just opening a file up to edit text; sudo tells the terminal that you want to edit it under the administrator account, nano is the text edit tool and /etc/ppp/options is the location and filename. if you prefer you can use vi or some other text editor instead of nano. Because you are asking to do this as an administrator (sudo), you will be asked to enter you system password.

Once in there, paste the following text in;
refuse-chap
refuse-mschap
refuse-mschap-v2

And save the file. You are done!!

This is the trick where you are telling the PPP connection script to not use chap so it will instead use PAP. Now connect and you should be sweet!!!

NOTE: The Virgin Desktop Application has an option to use PAP instead of CHAP but for me this made no difference

Gone Fishing! And Caught Something!

Boys have been begging me to take them fishing for some time now. We have gone a few times with no success, and they were pretty determined to catch something. So, yesterday was the day, weather was warm, and we were ready to fish. First stop, bait shop and $8 worth of blood worms. The theory being that if we catch nothing, at least they can poke the worms around a bit :-)

After going through almost nearly all the worms and not even a bite, it was looking dismal, and we had 2 worms left. Maybe its time to reconsider this idea and fishing as a potential father/sons bonding session, when suddenly..... we got one!!!

And in the excitement, we quickly cast again with our last worm and got another one!!! 2 worms...... 2 fish!! And 2 perfect little boy giggles and smiles.

Here they are, the 2 catches of the day, a Sand Whiting and a Trumpeter in our catch bucket.

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Christian holding the bad boy that he called "My fish", a Sand Whiting!

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And Marcus holding the one that Christian passionately called "Your fish!!!"

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Side by side, trumpeter and sand whiting!

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Cleaned, descaled, gutted, dusted in flour and salted and here we are frying them up!

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And plated!

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Finally, enjoying our catch. At least Christian and I were, as Marcus finally realised they were both Christian's fish. But let me tell you, that was some sweet tasting fish!!

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Perdomo Cigars

Cigarteese
About 10 years ago, a good friend of mine introduced me to cigar smoking. I have never been a cigarette smoker, but I always enjoyed the smell of cigars. There was an aroma to them that is quite pure, exotic and distant. To smoke a cigar usually meant great company, great conversation and a great location. For a time, I could tell you about some of the events that occurred around certain cigars (That has obviously changed with too many smokes now to remember). Each cigar has a journey, its journey is in the moment. The moment that you spend with that cigar. And not every cigar is a pleasant moment. I have had cigars to celebrate, commiserate, jubilate and even procrastinate. But I don't think I have ever had a cigar regretfully.
 
A few months back, I went on a trip to Brisbane to see an old acquaintance, Cameron Reilly. We reconnected through twitter, after both tweeting about our enjoyment of Malts and Cigars. And then the moment struck me; here is a fellow aficionado (as we say), and we are 1,000 kms away. So I made the offer; I'll fly up for a cigar night; you supply the cigars and I'll supply the whisky. And there was born, a 'moment', and the birth of my love for Perdomo cigars.
 
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So with my flight booked, Ardbeg limited edition 25 Year Old under arm, I trek to spend the night with Cameron and my new friend Jason Nelson. Mexican was the theme of the night and to break the ice, Jason offered me a Perdomo 2, based on my preference of mild cigars. There are many qualities to judge a good cigar; even burn, consistency in smoke, easy to light, and most importantly a consistent pleasant flavour; tip to tip. But for me, I think one of the most important aspects of a cigar is its freshness. You can have enjoyable smoke from an average cigar if it is not dry and brittle. Not many people appreciate this, but most of the flavours and aromas from a cigar are actually from the oils in the tobacco, which is unlike a cigarette. And the cigar itself is reasonably moist. Testing the moistness is usually accomplished by rolling the cigar in your hand and it shouldn't crack or be brittle. My Perdomo felt brilliant! 
 
Lighting it was a breeze and one of my pet hates in cigars is one that is poorly rolled. Poorly rolled cigars usually have knots in the leaf (where the leaf is rolled in such a way that it blocks the flow of air as you smoke). There was no such issue in this smoke, it was as light as breathing through a straw. And the flavour was mild, but full, without being too overcoming. I love the smell of deep, strong cigars, but I usually find them overbearing and can't get through a whole one.
 
Afterwards, Jason was telling me about the cigar that he was smoking, a Perdomo Habano Gordo Corojo. And I had a try of this one too. This was a much deeper and fuller cigar, with a heavier smoke. I quite liked this as well. I think this may have been a little too heavy for me and may have struggled to get through a whole cigar. But once again, what I really noticed was the freshness.
 
Finally, I had a 1991 ESV Presidente Natural, which I believe was one of Cameron's favourites. This was an intermediate smoke, a little heavier and deeper than the Perdomo 2 that I initially had, but with a deeper flavour and richer aroma. The Presidente had a beautiful sweet flavour, almost chocolaty. I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar as well.
 
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, flavour and crispness of all the Perdomo cigars I smoked. To the point that now, 3 months later, I can honestly say that the Perdomo 2 is my favourite cigars ever. Big call right!? Well I find myself coming back to this cigar every couple of weeks now and have been consistently pleased. I did have one Perdomo 2 a few weeks ago that tasted a little strange at first. The first quarter of it had a bite to it that I had not had from a cigar before. It settled down after I got half way through, but it was bizarre sting in my mouth like I was smoking something acidic. But this was the exception and every other one has been very pleasant (may have just been an inconsistent leaf).
 
I have now given a number of Perdomos to cigar smoking friends, and It brings a smile to my face when I see their genuine surprise and appreciation of what they consider t be a great smoke. But I also appreciate how the Perdomo's and cigars in general have reconnected me to Cameron and I have made a new friend in Jason. A new cigar love affair has begun!