Things Blogging

1,000 Miles on the Rebel 500

March 24, 2018 rebel500

Sometime mid-commute Friday afternoon I turned over 1,000 miles on the Rebel 500. It's been a pretty fun 1,000 miles, a few hundred of which have gone to weekend backroad rides out to the Mt. Hood area or down to Estacada; the rest to my daily commute... Read »

A Few Notes on the Google Pixelbook

November 26, 2017 pixelbook

I've got a history with Chromebooks: I wrote a tutorial about getting Crouton set up on a Chromebook during my bad sabbatical, and explained how to turn a Chromebook into a standard Linux machine (with a lot of musing about ChromeOS in general). ... Read »

A Few Thoughts on the Genuine Hooligan 170i

October 10, 2017 hooligan

It’s a Genuine Hooligan 170i. The model name will help fellow Culture enthusiasts understand why I couldn’t help but name it the LOU Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli. “Lou” for short. A post shared by Mike Hall (@pdxmph) on Sep 30, 2017 at 2:01pm... Read »

Some Notes on My Fujifilm Lens Collection

June 10, 2017 fujifilm

A Few Words on Fujifilm X-Mount Lenses I promised an email to a friend about my Fujifilm X-mount lenses, but figured I might as well blog about them and include a few samples. Prior to buying an X-T2, I usually had a general-purpose zoom of some kind... Read »

New Review: Fujifilm X-T2

April 27, 2017 xt2

It's been a while, but I just posted a new review of the Fujifilm X-T2. I never got around to writing one for the Fujifilm X100S, which I loved, and I've since replaced it with an X-T2. It's a pretty basic review with a digression into digital workflows... Read »

The Quicksilver at 18 Months

June 25, 2016 quicksilver

For a number of years, before Ben came along, when Al & I wanted to go camping we'd just toss the sleeping bags and tent in the car and go. We started camping with Ben when he was a baby, and dealt with the logistical challenges he posed by getting... Read »

The Felt Sporte at 1,200 Miles

June 21, 2016 felt_sporte

This morning marked an interesting sort of milestone. With the Bike More Challenge out of the way for the year, I don't really have any reason to record my rides: I ride to work every day. I travel the same distance every time. I complete... Read »

A Few More Notes on the Felt Sporte

April 24, 2016 felt_sporte

Looks like I've put about 350 miles on my Felt Sporte since I brought it home a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few more things I can say about it: It wasn't a cheap purchase, which Alison and I acknowledged going in, and about which she said, "well... Read »

Giving My Commute Some (Electrical) Help

April 11, 2016 felt_sporte

When I first learned about electric bikes, I was skeptical and didn't really approve. I'd been buzzed by people riding them, which was nervewracking, and I didn't understand how they worked. I was also trying to make a go of regular bike commuting... Read »

Dynamo Hub and Lighting Update

December 13, 2015 dynamo

I've had my dynamo hub and lights installed for a couple of weeks now, and I've had a number of rides home in the dark. I don't miss my rechargeable lights at all. Being able to hop on and off the bike and not have to think about the lights at all... Read »

60-Day WASD Keyboard Update

December 13, 2015 wasdv2

In my review, I wrote of the WASD v2 mechanical keyboard: If I ever end up back in an office environment, I'll order one for there and make sure to have the o-ring dampeners installed at the factory to spare me the hassle. Well, I did end up... Read »

Dynamo Hub & Lighting

November 26, 2015 dynamo_lighting

I just added a thing to the database in the form of a dynamo bicycle hub and accompanying lighting. I made my last big investment in my bike commute just over a year ago, when I bought clipless pedals and some new rain gear. The pedals paid off when... Read »

New Review: Progressive Lenses in the Information Age

November 15, 2015 progressives

I just posted a new review for the progressive lenses I got last week. They're taking some getting used to but so far so good. Outside the review, I'm going to pause for a moment to admire whatever software LensCrafters uses to interrogate insurance... Read »

A Word on Folding Bike Reviews

November 5, 2015 loop

I just updated the Schwinn Loop review with some 30-day impressions. Bottom line, it's still "fine," but the radius in which I'm interested in using it is shrinking now that I've been out on the CrossRip a few times, too. In the process of adding... Read »

Changelogs for Reviews

November 2, 2015 meta

I added a changelog for reviews today. I'd meant to get around to this at some point in the future, when I revisited a review for an update at six months or a year, but someone reminded me of a thing I left out of the WASD review so I made the update... Read »

New Review: WASDv2 Mechanical Keyboard

November 1, 2015 wasdv2 reviews

When I built this site I roughed in some things I wanted to review right away, including the new keyboard. I wasn't going to do the writeup just yet, but I had to troubleshoot the RSS/IFTTT setup and decided I might as well knock out the review and... Read »

New reviews: Headset, 12" Retina MacBook

October 31, 2015 reviews macbook_12 plantronics_c310

Ed asked me if I'd ever get around to adding an RSS feed, so I did. I hooked it up to IFTTT, so if you're a Twitter type you can just look there for automated updates. If you're one of those people who still uses an RSS reader, well, there ya go. ... Read »

Minimum Viable Review Site

October 28, 2015 meta middleman