Fine Art Restoration is a subject near and dear to my heart since I’m a fan of the arts and specifically fine art. There are differences between fine art restoration, art conservation and art repair. A good example might be a torn canvas or water damage but some say this is part of the restoration process. Art conservation is the process used to keep paintings from aging incorrectly and curbing the damage caused by UV rays, moisture, temperature, pollutants and many other things.
Be careful when selecting a fine art restoration firm. Always check (3) references and ask to see sample photos of their work, both before and after. If they are out of state and the painting requires shipping, be sure to use a crate and proper packing materials and always buy insurance.
Just grabbed a perfect 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom the other day. While I realize it’s not a 71 or other older model that might be a bit more desirable, it plays just like them and looks exactly the same with the exception of the “Twentieth Anniversary” inlay as shown in the photo. Extra Fat, beefy sound, lots of sustain and no back breaking weight either. This one has a slimline 60′s style neck and all original hardware. Plays like butter and it’s nice and dinged up which is just the way I like it.
I’ve been on the lookout for one of these for a long time. Not because Jerry Garcia with the Grateful Dead played one just like it because, frankly I never really cared for them. Not because Greg Brown the guitar player for Cake played one either and I do like Cake very much. I just love the look, feel and nostalgia that comes with a guitar like this.
This beauty has a single single sharp cutaway like the Gibson Les Paul and it has two pickups. This one has a sweet cherry finish with bound top and back. Looks like an original Bigsby tailpiece (AKA Whammy Bar or Tremolo) along with a metal bridge to round things off.
Born in 1965 and probably prettier today than it was on it’s birthday. I know very few people who can say that. Sure hope I find the right one but this one would do nicely.
You could ask 100 people what cloud computing is and I’m pretty sure you would get 100 different answers. You have to admit that it’s a loaded question. Ask 100 people what TV is and unless you have a couple of aborigines sprinkled into your focus group, you would likely get 100 very similar answers. Point is that cloud computing by definition is still up for grabs. The 800 pound gorillas can’t even agree but regardless of all the bickering surrounding the definition and semantics, the march continues.
My definition of cloud computing is quite simple… It’s groups of servers working in tandem to provide a redundant, scalable and elastic platform which you can use to offer services via a web browser. There are plenty of people who would disagree with my definition but I don’t care because I’m one of those 100 people that I mentioned earlier. Now let me break it down in a bit more detail.
We’ll start with “groups of servers working together in tandem”… When I say groups I don’t mean two, but rather cabinets full of servers. Lets say for example we have (1) cabinet with (36) dual proc, quad core Dell PowerEdge servers with 32Gb of ram each. Let’s also say that we have a SAN w/16 TB of disk space. Since the current cloud hosting standard (and I use the term standard loosely) is based on how many instances you can squeeze out of a single server, let’s assume that number is (16), although it could be considerably higher or lower depending on client requirements. I’ve arrived at that number by taking the (2) processors that I have on a single server, multiplying that by the (4) cores per processor and then multiplying that times (2) which gives me (16). BTW I’m using very rough numbers and I’m leaving lots of things out because this is intended to give you an example of how it works. So, we are left with (16) instances that can run on a single server. Based on that math if we multiply (16) instances by the (36) servers that we have in the cabinet and you have the capacity to provide (576) instances. Since all clients are different and some require greater resources than others, you can rest assured that you will not have (576) identical instances running on this cloud. It’s more likely that you will have (100) clients using the equivalent of (2) instances. Maybe (50) clients using the equivalent of (4) instances. Probably even some single clients using all of the resources of a single server and then of course at the bottom of the revenue-generating totem pole you have the clients who only want the least expensive option and they will get the tiniest slivers available. Anyway you’d never want to sell all (576) instances on the server because then you would leave no room for clients to burst for additional CPU or memory requirements. I’m not going into the software and operating system side of this but let’s make the assumption that your server instances can be either Linux or Windows based. Now that we have the technical details out of the way, let’s move on to the basic concepts of server instances and how they’re created, moved around, backeded up and restored.
On to the “redundant” part of my definition that I mentioned earlier…
The coolest thing for me about cloud computing is that everything is virtualized. The hardest thing for most people to get past when they try to grapple with the concept of cloud computing is the fact that your server instance doesn’t physically exist, yet it looks feels and acts exactly like a physical server. When you reboot it you can access the BIOS just like a physical server. You can slam off the power to it just like a physical server. It can get hacked into oblivion just like a physical server. It can be backed up and restored just like a physical server (but that process can be way better in the cloud).
Another great thing about this is the ease and speed of deployment. If you need (50) servers in (5) minutes, you can have them. If you want to configure (1) server perfectly and launch another similarly configured server, you can convert your server into a template and then spin up another instance based on that template. Another option is to use local storage. When I say local storage I am referring to the physical hard drives that typically live within the physical server that your particular instance happens to live on. The reason it’s best to not do that is that you lose redundancy across the cloud. If you have an attached storage device and all of your server instances live on that device, physical servers simply connect to that storage device, grab the instances that they need and spin those puppies up. What this means for the average user is that if your instances are running on a particular server and that server happens to fail, your data is still intact because it lives elsewhere. And if the cloud is configured properly, available servers that have adequate amounts of free resources will be notified automatically that a physical server failed and it will redirect other physical servers to lend a hand and spin up any instances that need a new home. This is the auto healing feature of cloud computing has so many people sitting at the edge of their seat. Also if you have all of your data stored in one location it’s much easier to back that up and again if the cloud was built properly, you would have redundant storage devices or at least a storage device with lots of redundancy built into the chassis.
Now that we’ve learned how instances spin up and how they can be moved around, now let’s talk for a moment about how they are backed up and restored…
Unlike traditional backup systems that connect to your server, analyze the data that has to be moved and then they download the data either on a file by file basis or a block by block basis, cloud computing typically uses what is referred to as snapshots. Snapshots are essentially the equivalent of a photograph of your instance and its state at the moment that snapshot was taken. Snapshots are instantaneous, easy to archive and are fully functioning replicas of your server instances. The key thing to remember about that is the “fully functioning” part. What that means is that they don’t have to be restored, they just have to be booted up. There are people out there who would say “yeah that might be true but they have to be moved from the storage array back to the.. wait a minute, you said everything lives on the storage server, never mind”. In a nutshell this essentially eliminates the need for time-consuming and often problematic server restores from backup devices. If your cloud is configured properly, you should be able to set snapshots to occur on a recurring monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly basis if needed. You can then select the number of instances that you want to retain and you just created a vast library of backups that you can access if needed. Another great thing about snapshots is that they are (1) ginormous file which makes them easy to move around and securely upload to an off-site location or even to your corporate headquarters for extra safe keeping. Of course, they should be encrypted because they could contain sensitive data.
Now let’s talk about the “scalable” & “elastic” part of my definition…
Scalability is quite easy with cloud computing because it’s typically something that you can do on-the-fly and from a web-based control panel. Unlike expanding the disk space on a dedicated server which requires taking the server down, transferring the data, swapping the drive, etc. Cloud Computing allows you to resize the drive from within the control panel in real-time. Depending on how the cloud is configured it might require a reboot but I would take that any day to double my disk space. Same thing with memory (RAM) because that is something that can be adjusted at the user level through a control panel and you can typically expand up to the available resources on the particular server node where your instances happen to live. But let’s take it a step further and make an assumption that for some reason you feel you need 24GB of RAM for your environment. It’s very unlikely that the physical server your instances would be living on would have 24 GB of available memory for you to utilize. However with a few clicks of a mouse on the control panel your instances could be transferred to a server node that has no other clients on it and just happens to have 32 GB of RAM. So yes it is very possible for a single server instance to have 24 or more GB of RAM. The only limitation that I’m aware of is the amount of physical RAM installed on the server node that your instance happens to live on in that particular moment. But again since all of your data lives on a separate storage device, it’s easy enough for the controllers to instruct a server node that has 32 gigs of RAM to spin up your instances thus providing you with this ridiculous amount of memory that you might need. CPU scaling works the same way so there’s no need for me to go into the gory details again. Bandwidth is a non-issue because most respectable providers have an over abundance of available bandwidth to provide to you.
I could literally go on all day about cloud computing because I am completely fascinated by the possibilities. Clients love it for the ease-of-use and power that it gives them over their environments. Providers love it because of the economies of scale and centralized management. As the clouds of the world mature, I believe that power users will begin to let their guard down and start dropping dedicated servers in droves to hop on the cloud. As long as you don’t take a significant performance hit by moving your application to cloud, the benefits of being on a properly configured cloud are astronomically lopsided when compared to a typical dedicated server environment.
Cloud computing has evolved past bleeding edge and some would say even passed cutting edge but like any emerging technology, there will be pain aplenty. You can mitigate your exposure by easing into it and testing the waters rather than taking your website that earns $1 million per month and yanking it from your perfectly stable dedicated servers and tossing it on the cloud. Rather I would recommend that you incrementally migrate your environment or better yet, build out a virtual development environment that mimics your current production environment. Since cloud instances can be purchased by the hour or by the month, the cost to do this is relatively low. Point is you can build a full-blown development environment that would cost you thousands and take potentially weeks to deploy, probably within a couple of hours while you sip on a latte in your home office. You could stress test this environment until you develop a level of confidence that would allow you to migrate into the cloud without sacrificing your peace of mind.
Thanks for reading this and I really do hope it was helpful.
After spending close to $3,000 on new BF Goodrich R1 tires and D-Force LTW wheels, it seemed documenting the purchase, installation and following track days was the right thing to do. It took me no less than (10) solid hours of searching the web, reading articles, speaking with professional drivers, instructors and track junkies to make up my mind. But I’m pretty sure I did the right thing and my first track days with the new tires and wheels confirmed it.
My car is a 2008 M3 E93 (hard top convertible) and it has about 420+HP but weights close to 4,000lbs. While this car is clearly not track ready out of the box, it only takes a few thousand dollars to get you to the promise land, as I’ve learned. My ongoing dilemma has been that all I did was use racing brake fluid (Motul 600 or 660) and pop on racing pads before each event. The stock tires are Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 265/35/19 rear and 245/35/19 front, which are great tires but at 6,000 mi I’ve shredded the fronts and the rears have less traction than the reunion tour of New Kids on the Block. My goal is to be safe, go fast, finish track days without mechanical issues and save money without tearing up my street tires or my wallet. This all led me to the purchase and now I’ll outline a few reasons why I decided to do this.
Speed
Slicks provide better grip which allows me to go faster. Also I dropped close to 20lb of unsprung weight going from stock 19″ wheels to these super light 18′s which makes the car easier to stop, keeps the brakes cooler and lightens the load. 20lbs might not seem like much but it’s huge when unsprung.
Brake Preservation
Dropping the weight on the wheels really does allow them to run cooler which will positively affect the entire braking system and will hopefully allow me to get through events without significant brake fade.
Tire Preservation
Since my stock tires are staggered (larger in rear, smaller in front) and the new ones are 275/35/18 square (same size all the way around) I can rotate the tires front to back, sided to side, corner to corner, flip them or whatever I need to do to extended the rubber life.
Money Preservation
While I had to drop $3,000 to buy everything, I can sell the wheels, spacers and lugs for pretty close to what I paid for them and I can even resell the tires if need be. So my actual cost when it’s all said and done will be far less than $3,000.
One issue is that since I am still relativity new to tracking my car, I’m learning in leaps and bounds as opposed to tiny increments. The events I frequent use different “run groups” which separate drivers by skill. Everyone starts in green, then blue, then yellow and after that you go red. After red you can probably be an instructor if you want to but I’m still trying to figure out why anyone would want to do that aside from the free track time in the instructor group. We are running at Texas World Speedway this weekend and I will be starting in the yellow group which is a step up for me but I have earned it by consistently driving fast in my run groups and by being safe, no spins and never had I gotten more than 90 degrees sideways. Which brings me to my next point that these tires are not very “audible”. In other words they are pretty quiet on the track so if you start to slide you don’t really get a warning, it just happens all of the sudden. The PS2′s scream like Richard Simmons at a George Michael concert. They let you know what’s going on and you can use that sound to make corrections. Slicks are not that friendly so when they let go (as I’ve heard) they just let go really quickly. So I’m a bit apprehensive as they also require a couple more laps for warm up. In fact I run (2) laps briskly and midway through the 3rd lap, lower the boom. At Eagles Canyon I got to run this new setup for a couple sessions and got sideways in a turn only to later lose all (4) wheels in another. Luckily I was able to reel it in quickly on both slides. Texas World Speedway is much faster so I will have less time to react but it also flows better so I’m not running 140mph to a hairpin turn and wailing on the brakes. On to the purchase and installation..
Tire Purchase:
BF Goodrich R1 275/35/18
Two words.. Tire Rack. They kick ass, heat cycled them for me, had them in stock and I got tire totes so I can transport them in the car without messing up the interior.
$1,048.00 – (4) tires
$ 30.00 – Competition heat cycle all (4) tires
$ 39.90 – (4) tire totes which are great BTW and highly recommended if you don’t have a trailer. $ 82.64 – Shipping to Dallas TX
$ 1,230.54 – Grand Total
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Wheel Purchase:
D-Force LTW5 Lightweight Forged Alloy Race Wheel 18×9
Bought these at Turner MotorSports which is a great place but they did muff the shipping. They quoted me an extra $100 for 2nd day and when they realized they under quoted me, rather than calling me to ask what I would like to do, they shipped them regular ground. This could have caused me to miss my Sat track day because if they didn’t arrive on Friday, I would have been out of luck. We were lucky and they arrived at 1PM on Friday so I had time to get them balanced, installed, spacers tested and then uninstalled and put in the tire totes. They sent me a sweat shirt as a “sorry about that” gesture and I appreciated that. Decided to go with flat black since they looked nasty and I like it like that.
$1,159.80 – (4) wheels
$ 89.95 – pair of 12.5mm spacers (front)
$ 96.95 – pair of 18mm spacers (rear)
$ 69.60 – (10) 75mm studs (12 x 1.5)
$ 69.60 – (10) 90mm studs (12 x 1.5)
$ 45.00 – (20) 17mm (12 x 1.5) open lugs
$ 0.00 – (2) loctite 262 thread lockers $ 204.32 – Shipping
$1,735.22 – Grand Total
Here are the tires delivered to my office and the wheels delivered to Autoscope with the spacers and lugs..
These things obviously look great and the weight savings combined with added grip means they should absolutely kick butt at the track.
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Fast forward a couple weeks after I did Texas World Speedway, Nov 2009
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Got to run the entire weekend (4 sessions per day) on these new tires and wheels and as expected they made a huge difference. Had one spin coming off the front straight which caused me to slide at least (75) yards off the track into the grass backwards. Don’t really blame that on the tires because I has just passed a good friend and was going way too fast into that corner. The spin was going to happen one way or the other simply because I was way carrying too much speed into the turn and I’m apparently not good enough to convert a rotten corner entry into a blazing exit. On the bright side, my lap times were cut by about (13) seconds which for me is HUGE. I also ran more consistently and on (3) complete sessions, all of my laps were within a few seconds of one another. Best time for me around Texas World Speedway clockwise was 2:04 and my goal there next time is to get under 2:00 by a few seconds.
Here is the spin:
In closing, for anyone trying to figure out which tires, wheels and spacers to buy for an E92 or E93 M3, I can honestly say that I feel as though I made the right choice. It was cost effective, everything is very high quality, the tires are awesome, the wheels are light like you would not believe and the results are in the (13) seconds I shaved off my lap times.
Side note:
I switched to Castrol SRF brake fluid for this last track day at Texas World Speedway and completed the entire weekend without any brake issues. Highly recommended over motul (which is still great stuff).
The Problem: Crappy Single Piston Calipers & Crappy Stock Pads
Sure the rotors are huge but what good does that do when you have crappy pads and sub standard calipers. It’s not my style to bash but I own one so I have paid for that right. Eagles Canyon and 100+ degree heat doesn’t help but I had brand new front rotors (warped my other front rotors near 2,500mi at Texas World Speedway) and on the 2nd day, 1st session and Eagles Canyon I got huge fade coming off that straight at 130mph and that is not a pleasant feeling. Especially since there is a practically hairpin turn at the end of the straight. The on-site techs bled the brakes but I missed the rest of that session and the entire 4th session while I wanted for them to finish. Yes I admit that the track heat was a factor but come on, I should at least get 4 – 20min sessions out of them?
The Solution: Over $800 Worth of Stuff
After dropping $850 on racing pads and fluid over at Autoscope came the moment of truth
The Result: Continued Brake Fade
I expected to get a least a full weekend out of the car but I guess it was too hot, the car is too heavy, my driving style too aggressive and the brakes are simply not good enough. Got fade right away and I was done for the weekend. The event is a 2 day, 4 session per day event and I got the first 2 sessions of day 1 and was finished.
The Conspiracy: I was Not Alone
Also invited a friend who warped his rotors and he has an 08 BMW M3 E92 so I’m starting to see a pattern forming. Oh yea, another friend with an 08, M3 E92 blew out his front rotors too. Now you can call me crazy for taking that car to the track on such a hot day or say that maybe I’m a poor driver (which I’m not) OR maybe this car is simply not ready for the track right off the assembly line.
This is a stripped down version of the 2008-2009 M3 sales brochure (I removed pages that made no reference to the track to reduce the file size although almost every photo in the brochure was of the car on a race track) and it makes reference after steamy reference to the track capabilities of this car. If they are going to entice you with this stuff then they need to back it up by not balking when your rotors warp after only 40 minutes of track time. In all fairness they did replace my front rotors and pads a month ago after Texas World Speedway but it felt like a favor rather than an obligation. So this time I went ahead and made some minor upgrades to prolong the life of the brakes and save BMW from having to replace my brakes every 3 months. It was NOT worth it and I’m not comfortable driving this car on the track now unless it’s much cooler out.
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Update #1: Got my stock pads put back on today and all of the brake pad sensors were melted (sigh)
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Update #2: I already forgot my rule about no whining without coughing up 3 solutions to the problem, so here goes.
1. Cooling ducts for the brakes (front and rear)
Those massive ducts you see on the front bumper do nothing for the brakes. Drivers side goes to air intake, center is for radiator and the passenger side has a small finned radiator but I can’t tell for what. What I can tell you is that there are no direct or indirect cooling ducts moving air to the brakes (front or rear) and all four wheel wells are blanked off.
2. 4-piston calipers
Porsche has 4 piston, Corvette has 6 piston front and rear, even the Nissan Z has 4 piston calipers so shame on you BMW. Your literature touts track this and track that, but the car comes up short. (but I still love it)
3. Provide some factory options for better performance and durability
This would be tough but how cool would it be to get track worthy brakes, maybe a few other options to reduce weight and increase performance from the factory. This is tough because BMW would essentially be endorsing aggressive driving but it would sure be nice to roll some of that stuff into payment rather than having to spend thousands out of pocket for mods (that might void warranty) just to make it track ready.
4. Bonus Solution
Stop blitching (bitching via my blog) and start spending more money on a better brake kit. Already bought new BF Goodrich R1 tires (racing slicks, 275/35/18 all the way around) and D-Force 18″ forged wheels (17.8 lbs each) so I am running faster already and really need a brake upgrade to keep getting better. (See below)
All this stuff having been said I still love the car, it handles like a dream, good weight balance and the low end torque is stunning. My complaint is the brakes, lack of cooling ducts and (with the exception of the rotors) lack of heavy duty stopping hardware.
Since the only name I knew in MMA/UFC was that scary black dude (Kimbo Slice) from YouTube, I figured UFC was just another flash in the pan like American Gladiator or the Contender Series. But after watching Dan Henderson separate Michael Bisping from his senses on Saturday night, I must admin that fight was as entertaining as any boxing match I’d ever seen (except maybe Gatti vs Ward 1, Bowe vs Holyfield, Hagler vs Hearns, Tyson vs Holyfield 1, Hamed vs Barrera, Morales vs Barrera, Coralles vs Castillo 1, Tua vs Ibeabuchi). Ok, so maybe UFC has some catching up to do and yes I am a hard core boxing fan but it was still a great fight. Since it capped off the USA vs UK feud from the Ultimate Fighter TV program (UK dominated), I especially appreciated the way that Bisping was so easily flattened. Team USA revenge was both brutal and sweetly poetic delivered via an overhand right followed by a full body, in the air, diving towards the target, jaw smashing right hand on an already unconscious Bisping (I’m smiling right now).
Yes I have a point and it is simply that I’m an official UFC fan now. The heavyweight bout was entertaining as well between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir and this was the first time I’ve dolled out $55 for a PPV UFC event. DirecTV loves me because I buy all the boxing PPV events and now they love me even more. My initial thoughts on UFC were the same as John McCain that it was one step above street thugs and was way too wild, brutal and a near death experience for anyone willing to step into the octagon. But after watching the Ultimate Fighter program this season and learning about the sport, it was apparent to me these are not guys they round up off the street (with the execption of Kimbo Slice) who struggle to even spell UFC. They train hard, the techniques are very complex and the sport itself is totally legit. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as an Olympic sport one day.
So congratulations Dana White, you earned another fan! Boxing can be so unpredictable, so many fights turn out to be stinkers, judging is crooked as ever and the match making is often times just plain bad. UFC is more exciting, more dynamic, more explosive and frankly more fun to watch. I’m still a devoted boxing fan and will take Pacquiao vs Mayweather over the Lesnar vs Mir rubber match any day. But look out boxing, you have some real competition now and the time has come to make better match ups, get rid of crooked judges and earn my respect again.
This past weekend I went with and met a few friends at Texas World Speedway June 6-7 to participate in a Drivers Edge track event. This was my first experience with this group and I have to say I was very impressed with the organization, attention to safety and overall production value of the event. The track was not bad either at 2.9mi and running clockwise. This was my 4th track event and while I still consider myself a complete novice I did very well and was not passed the entire weekend. In fact nobody even came up behind me and I felt in compete control over the car and the track.
There was an interesting moment when a Corvette dumped fluid all over the track onto the braking zone which is the area right before the turn where you are supposed to finish all of your braking (in a straight line) prior to entering the turn. My car was first on the grid and while we waited for (20) minutes as they mopped up the mess I got a little nervous when it became apparent to me that I would be the first car through the oil slick. My instructor said to “go right through it like it’s not there” so I would know what I was dealing with on the next lap. Great advice and as expected I took that braking zone a bit slower than normal. My car has been hitting about 110mph on the short straight into that braking zone but I started braking sooner and slowed it down a bit more and when I came upon that area I just saw what appeared to be baby power all over the track. As I entered the slick all I could see was a HUGE white cloud in all three mirrors and then I was in the turn, car stuck like glue and all was well. It was funny speaking later to the guy (Mark) who was right behind me as he recalled watching my car disappear into a white cloud having no idea what was on the other side. Better him than me I suppose.
My instructor was Steve Amos and he gave me high grades for control, aggression, speed, awareness and that I was the fastest car/driver in my run group. On the last day I had an issue with my brakes that forced me out for the rest of the day and required new rotors and pads on the front. Thank goodness for my bumper to bumper warranty and that the dealer I bought from understands that my car was made for the track and actually appreciates that I drop the hammer from time to time. Plans are to use racing fluid and racing pads for any future events and hone my braking skills to prolong my brakes.
The next event is July 11-12 and Eagles Canyon and I’m pumped about this one as I already know the track pretty well. My 2nd and 3rd track days took place here and my goal is to get solo status with Drivers Edge so I can do the Texas Motor Speedway night driving event on August 8th. (2) of my (4) tracks days have been solo so I hope and expect to get cleared for this and future events as a solo driver soon.
Here is my buddy Karl tearing it up in his Supercharged Cobra (my wife says it sounds like a mosquito)
There are a bazillion reasons but here are my top 3.
1. Instant stress release
Just imagine, you’re about to go postal and the office dog walks in with a huge smile, doesn’t judge you and even better, doesn’t have anything stupid say. All they want is a quick pat on the head and to be acknowledged.
2. An excuse to get outside for a few minutes
It’s therapeutic to take a good dog for a walk. I’m talking about the kind of good dog that doesn’t pull your arm out of the socket or bark at everything that moves. It’s good to clear the mind and people rarely “go for a walk” anyway so this will at least break the monotony.
3. No strings attached
You don’t have to commit to grab a beer later or act like your interested in what they have to say because they have nothing to say. It’s a mutual relationship with no strings attached and if it happens to be someone else’s dog, that might even be better for you because it’s truly a relationship of convenience. You both get what you want and you’re on your way. Rest assured that dog will not show up at your house one evening with a dozen roses in it’s paw.
