Mick Ross

I've heard people refer to the front or rear derailleur as front or rear "mech?" Where does this come from? Is this a Euro thing or something?

I can't believe these things go for $13 on ebay for a piece of plastic and a pair of zipties. It's ridiculous.

Also, has anyone found a decent way to jury rig the edge 305 into a wrist watch format? I'd like to use it as a HRM at the gym.

I live in arizona, it's about 110 degrees outside so I need to get an indoor bike trainer. I had a fluid one a year ago that had a ginormous heat sink and would produce a ridiculous amount of heat. Are wind bike trainers any better? I know they are loud, but I am somehow reasoning that spinning a fan really fast should cool a room down rather than heating it up. This is probably naive logic, but is there anyone out there who has used one to comment?

I am purchasing a foreclosed house for $220k, which was immediately appraised at $260k. Therefore I'm paying approximately 80% of the appraised price. I don't have 20% down payment so I'm financing through FHA, but I don't want to pay PMI for the next five years, as required by FHA regardless of loan-to-value. What can I do to take advantage of the higher appraised value to avoid PMI? With a conventional loan, you can refinance if your house appreciates to 80% loan to value. At the time of purchase, the FHA lender will only take the purchase price into account, not the appraised price. In a year can I refinance into a conventional loan and drop the PMI requirement? Can I do it through my current lender or do I have to create a completely new loan and pay off the previous one? If I do so, does my upfront PMI get refunded? Any details are appreciated.

I don't understand they are the wild cats, not the bear cats, so why is the slogan "Bear down?" It makes no sense to me. They aren't really really bears either.

I'm looking to build a cheap low-power HTPC using an atom 330 system. Does it have the processing power to play 1080p HD content smoothly? I do NOT want to use an ATI or nVidia video card to offload the processing, as it is not always compatible with all files.

I'm building a new wheelset for a new bike, and I need to transport it to and from the bike co-op where I am building it up, but I need to be able to carry it with my current bike. I don't have panniers, and I don't have a bag large enough to carry them. Is there some sort of trick I can use to attach them to my back?