I caught up on cycling news this weekend (again against my better judgement). Not much has changed on the doping front. People get caught and then say, “oh yeah, it’s easy to beat the system.” A blast from the past re-appeared, Simeoni.
I really like this guy. Simeoni could possibly be a tool, he could be a jerk, he could be a drama queen. But he gave the Italian National Champion’s Jersey back! Was he supposed to kiss Armstrong’s ring to be allowed in the Giro? That is one helluva refusal. Panache, that’s what this guy has.
If you are looking for history on the Armstrong/Simeoni feud, here’s a little bit from the Village Voice, and a bit from the archives here.
Given the current state of pro cycling, Simeoni looks like a bright spot.
Tony Ortega of the Village Voice asked a question about this year’s Giro and Le Tour:
Am I the only one who wonders what the hell this comeback was about if Armstrong isn’t going to try winning (sic) any of the big races?
Could it be the scrutiny being applied and his “full access” having been shown to be a bit farcical? Bundle that up with Kohl’s admission of how easy it is to dope, and maybe the chance of getting caught red-handed is the answer.
So, Simeoni, I’m glad to see you are still around, still not taking shit from anyone, and doing it in a grandiose manner. My suggestion still stands, write that book! I still like my idea for a title: No, Really, It’s About the Bike.
I went down to the REI at Confluence today to pick up some odds and ends for the summer. Everything was going pretty well, I got my stuff and headed home.
I drove up Colfax and traffic was snarled. It took a few minutes before I saw why it was snarled. There was a woman lying in the street. She’d been hit by a car, a pickup truck, I think. Her bags were scattered all over the place and it didn’t look good at all. I pulled off on Emerson or Williams or one of those streets to get out and help. The ambulance showed up as I pulled over. None of my training covered auto accidents, and with much better help present, I moved on.
It’s been on my mind all day, I can’t shake the image of the scene. There is no mention of it on the local news sites so I’m not sure if she was OK or not. If you happen to know, email me at cjones at this URL minus the blog.
Awesome. The creator of Trogdor has a video podcast. Now I don’t have to remember to go to the website to check for Strong Bad’s latest emails!
It’s taken a while to put together a package of equipment that I feel comfortable using to make podcasts. Surprisingly, some of the cheaper equipment works better than some of the more expensive.
At first, I tried the condensor mic built into my Powerbook. Too much background noise made it in. Next, I picked up a Shure 8900 mic ($49.99). Plugging it directly into the line-in was also unsatisfactory, I couldn’t get it up to line without distorting it badly in editing. The mic is a bit pedestrian, but works pretty well.
Next was trying to get input up to line level. The first device I tried was the Fasttrack from MAudio ($129.00 at the time). It still wouldn’t make it up to a usable level, almost, but not quite. On the iBook, it picked up quite a bit of noise. The Powerbook wasn’t as bad, but it was still there. So, over a hundred bucks for a not quite satisfactory solution. Also, it’s limited to one input, so only one mic. Not a great solution for interviews.
Enter Behringer’s Eurorack UB802. At $49.99, it was a steal. Two mic inputs, and can power the mics as well. Combined with the Shure and the Powerbook, it brings in crisp sound with room to manuever at the top end. And it’s very portable. While it doesn’t satisfy all needs, it makes recording at remote spots much, much easier. We’ll still be using Roger’s bigger, better board for local stuff.
Last, two Proline Desk Boom mic stands. The base of each weighs more than the Powerbook, but they’re solid and very configurable. I hate to spend money on stuff like this ($29.99 each), but it does make a difference.
So, to summarize.
- Fasttrack from MAudio ($129.99) – Waste of money.
- Shure 8900 ($49.99) – Pedestrian, but functional.
- Behringer Eurorack UB802 ($49.99) – Nice!
- Proline mic stands ($29.99) – Heavy, but worth it.
- Powerbook – Last release before the Intel switch ($1999.99). Works like a charm.
So, you can have a completely portable interview rig for just $2209.94 (plus two gigs of ram).
