Got the wheel from Gravy today. It weighs 6.25 pounds (2.8 kg). (!)

Went to see Bernie today, and the frame looks good. The lugs are nice and pointed, the brazing is clean, the frame is straight and the couplers are in. The matching fork with its single lugged crown and double eyelets is a piece of work. As soon as Bernie gets the Rohloff hub, he can position the disc brake mount and torque braze-ons.

Lugged steel is a thing of beauty. Bernie added an inch or so of extension brazed onto the top of the headtube lug to raise the handlebars a bit without having to resort to too many spacers (not that that scares him, anyway…some of his bikes have steerer tubes half again as long as the fork blades). Soon all the parts will come together (frame, racks, hubs, brakes, cables) and the puzzle of fitting it all together.

bizdeviant: what is the current iteration of franken rig?

For a long time I’ve wanted a touring bike. Not just any touring bike, but something interesting. It had to be bomb-proof, but at the same time worthy of a conversation or two, i.e. containing some bull-headed unique little feature that makes it different from every other bike out there. Just to be difficult.

I decided a while ago that my perfect touring bicycle would use a Rohloff internal gear hub. It has 14 linearly-spaced speeds, works with a QR, and can be hit with a nuclear missle etc. and still function. It weighs a ton, costs more than the components it replaces, and most importantly lets me ride with a single chainring, one cog, and no derailleurs. Despite the plethora of cables, the bicycle will at least have the same clean appearance as a single-speed.

On June 6-12 2004 I’m riding in the AIDS LifeCycle ride from SF to LA for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. 7 days, 585 miles on a bicycle.

The SFAF is a nonprofit organization that provides treatment and other services to men and women infected with HIV/AIDS, both locally in San Francisco and globally via Pangea Global AIDS Foundation. My goal is to raise at least $5000 for the SFAF by June. If you’d like to be a sponsor, click here to donate. No contribution is too small.

Anyway, if you’ve ever used my textures or Q3Map2 (or whatever) and wanted to give something back (or just buy me a pint), donate here.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on December 11, 2003.

Two years ago today, I released the first version of what eventually became Q3Map2. It’s been a long, fun trip. Thanks to everyone who used it, contributed to it, debugged and beta tested it, complained about it, and made working on it worthwhile.

Here’s to another 2 years, uh, doing…something.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on December 3, 2003.

Acquired first road bike today. Managed to cram it into my room in the new house in Potrero Hill. Hopefully will be the first of many…it made the climb actually pleasureable this evening.

Also new Q3Map2 for her mapping pleasure.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on October 3, 2003.

Skipped Burning Man again and instead spent some QT with a few kids from Ritual, showing them a bit of the San Francisco flavor (and not-so-flavorful).

So, natch, I got up bright and early and hungover and released a new Q3Map2 (2.5.7), with Jedi Academy support and a host of long-stewing fixes/updates.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on August 31, 2003.

For all you Friendster haters out there.

Another day, another Q3Map2, this time fixing a Really Stupid Bug with _minlight and lightstyle interaction. Thanks PJW!

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on August1, 2003.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on July 29, 2003.

Another year, another news item.

Lots of new stuff around here. Notable is Q3Map2 support for lots more games, including Tenebrae, Soldier of Fortune 2, Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, Star Trek: Elite Force, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which I was lucky to work on). The latest version as of this writing is Q3Map 2.5.5-test-12, which has tons of new features and bugfixes, including lightstyles, decal projectors and full Enemy Territory support. Note: Q3Map2 now requires GTK+ 2.0 or two small DLLs to be installed. Details here.

Also new are two new open-source applications: MD3Fix, a small drag & drop (or commandline) program to clean up malformed MD3 models, and QuickGamma, a tiny Win32 tray application that lets you quickly set your monitor gamma, not unlike the various QuickRes programs out there.

Finally got around to releasing a map.

This is a demo map (no bot support, arena file, etc) for mappers looking to add lightmapped terrain support and need a little pick-me-up. It pretends to be a little slice out of Halo, but hey, aren’t all pseudo-northern California levels? Created using a fly new version of EasyGen.

Shots: One Two

To get your fix, simply direct your browser to the Q3Map2 samples area and stab away.

Originally posted to shaderlab.com on September4, 2002.