So with the confluence of Facebook, Twitter, this blog, et al, it seems as there is a lot of redundancy.

The tweets were posted in my blog so I’d be able to download them along with the blog to save on the hard drive, but now with Tabbloid, I can just get a pdf of my tweets and my blog together, so I’ve taken my tweets off the blog. As facebook updates and tweeting becoming to similar for some, with there even being web applications for updating both at the same time, I’ve grown to wonder at the use of twitter. . .but to me twitter is the one that is for the constant updating of how ever often you want, and facebook updating is the once or twice a day thing. . .I think of twitter as more a stream of consciousness and facebook as giving your friends a shoutout of what you’re up to that day.  Twitter being more random, a place to put miscellaneous thoughts before the fly away and facebook as a place to share things you think are cool / interesting with you closest 50+ friends. Heh.

That being said, I’ve taken my blog postings off my facebook “wall” – the blog here is open to the public so to speak, and the url is listed in my facebook profile, if they’re interested enough to read it, the know where to find it.

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I’ve been doing some “motivational” posters with  a Cerebus theme to them. A couple of my favorites thus far:

Ahh, fun stuff.

• hands. . .touching hands. . .reaching out. . .touching me. . .touching you. . .ba.ba.bam. . . ::so good! so good!:: I loves me some Neil D. #

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• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/2811207622/ #
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/3754226629/ #
• motorcycle is all ready. fedex package from Dave. Sunshine and warm temps. Now if Neve would just call, this day would be perfect. #
• got the motorcycle, and she has zip again, time to go out for a ride. also got a bunch of prelim sketches from Dave, down to issue #97! w00t #
• A taste of some of the Cerebus goodies I got recently: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/3756141854/ #

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So a couple weeks ago my motorcycle started running like crap. It had almost zero accelation from a stop, it would backfire when I would deaccelerate and it just basically had no pep. I thought it was a fuel system problem. I ran it until the gas tank was near empty (it still had the reserve section though), and then put some fuel system cleaner in it, then filled the rest of the way up with gasoline.

I rode the motorcycle for another 50+ miles, but it didn’t make a lick of difference. So I brought it into the dealer for service – I figure let them be the ones to clean out the carbs and the fuel system, I’ve done it before on my Kawasaki and it wasn’t particularly that fun. When I take it in I tell the guy what has been going on with it, and he says they’ll take a look at it. When I talk to him the next day: yuppers, fuel system needs cleaning: 4 hours of labor.

Now I’m starting to wonder why the fuel system needs cleaning. The bike started right up after the winter and didn’t give me any major issues until it started acting up. So when I went in to the shop today to pick it up, the guy at the service desk stated it had to do with the ethanol fuel system. He asked me how often I ride.

Hahahahaha!

Every chance I get and even some times when I shouldn’t. He didn’t explain the chemical reactions, but just stated that the ethanol will turn into a white powder similar to the corrosion on aluminum. He stated that when it gets into the carbs it is more difficult to remove then just “bad gas” fouling. The best thing to do is to keep the fuel level up in the bike, ride it consistently, use low octane gas and put some fuel stabilizer in it if the bike will be sitting for more then a week.

Searching about the internets for more information, there wasn’t anything that technical about what the ethanol actual does to the fuel and to any water in the fuel. I saw one report that stated the ethanol will react with the water, making the gasoline slightly acidic. I’ve seen reports that state older bikes might have compatibility issues with fuel system components and the new ethanol blend – but my bike is an 2003, so that shouldn’t be an issue.  Other reports claim that since ethanol is slightly basic that it will attract water, which could cause other corrosion problems in the fuel system. No definitive studies, and it would appear that there isn’t one root cause to why ethanol is a problem for my motorcycle engine, but a combination of factors that caused the problem.

But the bike is running great now, with the pep and vigor it had before.

See this NY Times article for a bit more info on 10% ethanol / 90% gasoline blend.

• teevee in hotel room means I get to watch the Rachel Maddow show, super cool! #
• http://cerebusprogression.blogspot.com/ #
• Last day in Minnesota – head back after final wrap up meeting. #
• At the twin cities airport, just paid my $7.95 for wifi, which keeps logging off due to a low signal strength. bitches. #
• just when I think the cerebus yahoo!group is slow, it turns out the usual suspects are posting off topic stuff. #
• I’ve got a few on topic things, but hard to post them from my netbook at the airport: Dave has sent me some tracing paper prelims to do with #
• what I want, I have some questions to be posting, and other reread items. . .it’ll have to wait ’till this weekend when I’m home #
• this crapy wifi makes me think I’m with aol dialup again #
• finally back home. cat & plants are alive. Cerebus stuffed doll was desecrated by a heathen with things unmentionable. . .all is okay now. #

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• sitting in my office . . .well, the “travel office” enjoying the view outside my window. . .of corn and other buildings. umm. #
• am I waking up early ’cause of a different bed takes getting used to or because my body thinks it is an hour ahead of the local time? oy. #

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• finally made it to Minnesota. . .oh the excitement! #
• hey yahoo mail! perhaps you new mail look would work with my netbook’s screen resolution if you got rid of the ads? & thanks for being slow #
• hotel coffee, a teevee, free wifi, extra pillows (in dresser drawers), breakfast with boss and boss’s boss’s boss this morning – eep! #

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• @stanleylieber high school senior glamour shot circa 1989? #
• at tfgreen airport waiting for my flight. security line was actually quick! and with pre-paid boarding, super quick. #

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• back from Vermont. not going to try and catch up with all the twitter feeds. yoinks! #
• “gang of three” #
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerebusfangirl/3737109308/ #

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• oh really? #
• the bike is in the shop so of course it is 85 deg F and sunny out. #
• dear windows: I’ve downloaded your updates, installed them, but if I don’t want to restart my computer, then don’t ask me every 5 minutes. #
• @Romalik just timed it: 10 minutes. it seems so much sooner then that. . .I must be in a time warp :D #
• “I’m about to regale myself with many memorable recollections reserved for the darkness of such rivers and the judgement of such skies.” Sim #

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