Results matching “10”

Some (ok, none) of you may have noticed that the website has been down for a few weeks.

The combination of WordPress and Gallery2 have been really slowing down the server in ways that affect other server users.

So I shut down the site to give them some breathing room and am redoing it as a MovableType powered site.  A lot of things just aren't working right now, so please bear with us.  I'll soon have the Gallery site back up as well.

Also, please update your bookmarks -- this site is now known as www.hogenmiller.net.  Later, Robin will be hosting her pictures and posting to here as well.

I am hoping to change myself from a pack-rat hoarding junk to someone who only keeps what he uses.   I am starting by going through the stuff in the basement.  I found stuff that I had when I was in head start!  There are a number of things that I will keep for sentimental reasons, but I want to trim that down as well. One thing I plan to do is convert any photos and paper mementos to a digital format.   Physical objects of no function will bear intense scrutiny.

The main thing I found when inventorying my basement (I am simply making a list of everything down there and not organizing anything yet) is that there are only a small number of things I want to keep.  Everything should either be freecycled, pitched, or sold.  So I am putting the entire list online.  I also have some photographs as well that will eventually make their way to the webs.

If you see something on this list that you could use, please let me know.  There's a high probability it will be for free.

One more note.  When I started to scroll down the list, I saw I had "blue" spelled "bleu".  I typed this list in a haphazard fashion and spelling/typos are sure to abound.

Basement Inventory

• B1
  • B1.A
    • blue chevy g20 van seat
    • 1 full sheet 1/2" foamboard insulation [may use in van]
    • 1 half sheet 1/2" foamboard insulation [may use in van]
    • 5 formica countertops 6-8' each
    • 2 old desktop pc cases
    • evil john's battery charger/maintainer [reserved]
    • 1 deep cycle battery (swaps out weekly)
    • window: 1 propane cylinder
    • window: 1 Y utility hose (used in laundry rooms)
    • window: 2 garden hose spray nozzles
    • 8 panes 26" x 4" frosted glass (louvers)
    • 1 iron table stand
    • 1 green box asst tools
    • 2 24" x 77" solid wood closet doors
    • 1 Giant bicycle
    • 1 plastic shower side with attachments/shelves
    • 1 roll 3' x 4' linoleum flooring
    • 1 black shopvac hose
    • banquet table (folded up)
  • B1.B
    • 3 spools of Bob's 6-gauge wire
    • Black&Decker collapsible workbench
    • flourescent light fixture
    • flourescent light plastic shield
    • former part of desk - 2x4/penelling scraps
    • 3 sections of galvanized pipe
    • 2 sections of 1" copper pipe approx 5'total
    • 1 chest freezer (in use)
  • B1.C
    • 4 window screens
    • 15 storm glass windows (1 broken)
    • flakboard 8' x 31.5"
    • solid wood door 75" x 32"
    • EJ's candy stand
    • dirty water heater
    • 2 aluminum storm window/screen holder
    • 0.5 aluminum storm window/screen holder
    • 35' blue 1" pex pipe
    • 110' red 1" pex pipe
    • 50' 1/2" red pex pipe
    • lighted open sign
    • asst chrome vanity pipes
    • former shower valve, pex pipe, shut off valve (pic)
    • 4 15" crt vga monitors
    • 3 10" composite monitors (apple)
    • 2 wadsworth circuit panels with many circuits
    • wall hanging soap dispenser with soap
    • 1 30A wadsworth new breaker (double pole)
    • 1 50A wadsworth new breaker (double pole)
    • 1 10A squareD breaker
    • 1 20A squareD breaker
    • 2 circuit panel grounding bars
    • 1 sqare d sub panel front
    • 1 square d sub panel (no breakers
    • 1 chrome wall-mount soap dish (screw in)
    • 2 old tower pcs (pre winxp)
  • B1.D
    • 2 15" crt vga monitors
    • 3 pre-xp towers
    • table
      • 2 fax machines
      • 3 keyboards
      • network cable tester
      • 1 hp inkjet printer
      • 1 half used helium tank
      • 1 green duck plush toy
      • 1 roll black marble contact paper
      • 1 lacie dvd rw box
      • 2 6' wireframe shelves
      • 1 2' wireframe shelve
      • 1 tre 650 cracked screen in box
      • 1 box floppy disks old software
      • cisco catalyst 1700 switch
      • 1 '84 macintosh
      • box b001
        • cleaning supplies
        • duct tape
        • serial port pci card
      • box b002 (envelope box)
        • sheet protectors
        • colored paper
        • cash box coin/cash tray
      • set of brass chive set (Iraq)
      • collection of MCI books
    • citadel 386 touch screen
    • iron table stand
    • compaq desktop (pre xp)
    • box b003
      • paintball equipment
    • box b004
      • knife
      • multimeter
      • mug
      • canteen cup
      • private property signs
      • vhs tape
    • back backpack
      • random old papers
    • green flight bag
      • boots
      • hot plate
      • laundry bag
      • dress uniform cap
      • cooking pan
      • hot plate
      • hangers
    • plastic tough case (military) (empty)
    • bin b005
      • hp inkjet printer
      • keyboards
    • bin b006
      • car fluids
      • socket set
      • license plate
      • bbq brush (metal)
      • paint and sanding stuff
    • 4 plastic lids for bins (like b005 and b006)
    • b1.d.shelf1
      • box b007
        • 8" disks in new box
        • dvd cases
        • robert jordan audio books
        • ps/2 wedge scanner
        • photos/photo cds
        • blank christmas cards
        • model airplane kit
        • label maker
        • pci usb card
        • stacks of data cds (maybe EJ's game is on one?)
        • old class photos
      • box b008
        • lots of cds
        • cd/dvd cases
        • terrorist playing cards
        • irish spoon
      • box b024
        • reference books
        • logbooks
        • military AO maps
        • clipboards
        • ireland postcard
        • letters from everyone to me in Iraq
      • transmission filter kit for Ford Aerostar (forget year)
      • 2 PA/intercom speakers
      • circle flourescent light in celing fixture
      • 7 boxes small paper clips
      • red bin w/laundry tags & business cards
    • b1.d.shelf2
      • • reebok shoe box w/ iraq letters
        • box cobalt b009
          • 2 micro casette voice recorders
          • leather bag tiny rocks (bland's park)
          • RCA lyra music player w/64MB CF card
          • bag of pennies (1/year since birth... kinda)
          • capacitors
          • a/v cables
          • cd to casette adapter
        • box b011
          • duracell charger w/ 3 AA batteries
          • combs
          • CF usb reader
          • business cards
          • caribiner
          • yt papers?
        • box b010
          • tissues
          • blistex
          • sunscreen
          • visine
          • goldbond powder
          • mechanical pencils
        • box b012 w/ yourtech maps
        • box b013
          • scrapbooks
          • comic books
          • magazines
          • newspaper clippings
          • some photos
        • black bin b025
          • brinks lock box (evidence sticker)
          • citadel touch screen
          • marine papers
          • automatic transmission books (Forrest)
          • glass jar porch light
          • mre
          • q-tips
          • power cables & network cords
          • console cable adapter (db-9)
          • old m& bank statements
    • b1.d.shelf3
      • lexmark toner cartridge (seems open, could be bad)
      • citizen propane stove (no cylinder)
      • plastic bin w/
        • agenda vr3 serial dock
        • power cords
        • ps/2 mickey mouse
        • shakira cd in blank case
        • tetrimania (belongs to Mom?)
        • mahjoongg magic (mom's?)
        • wrist protector/rollerblading gear
        • index cards
        • elementary & headstart souvenoirs
      • metal bin w/
        • casio spanish/english dictionary
        • decorative blades w/ sheeth (one broken)
        • "My Book" from headstart
        • soccer pictures
        • votech notebook
      • b015
        • white clock (EJ's?)
        • plastic cup holder
        • extension cord
        • legal pad
        • 4-pack light bulbs
    • b1.d.shelf4
      • box b016
        • transistor intercom
        • mini photo cds
        • pennswoods cds
        • hp driver cds and manuals
        • business card holder and cards
        • binder clips
        • paper towels
        • mini wd-40
        • pennswoods floppies
        • novelty toilet paper holder
        • hawking usb print server
        • a few old invoices for clients
        • hsource deposit slips
        • paper clips
      • box b017 w/ hp printer
      • box bo18 w/ hp printer
    • b1.d.shelf5
      • sony sound system
      • box b019 w/ surround speakers
      • box b020
        • nintendo games
        • nintendo controlers
        • a/v cords
        • nintendo light gun
        • pc power cords
      • canon printer/fax (old)
      • box b021
        • ms windows 1.0 (set of 5 disks 5.25")
        • pc weasel (video over serial) pci card
        • APC usb serial cable
      • laundry tags
    • b1.d.shel6
      • metal bin
        • compaq internet machine (7" touchscreen)
        • compaq i-machine keyboard
        • 3com audrey ergo w/keyboard
        • cisco 800 router
        • pc leash notebook lock
        • laundry bag of bootcamp letters
        • vhs tapes
        • solderless breadboard/project board
        • prince of egypt movie pack
        • debian floppy
        • pascal floppy
        • small hammer
      • box b023
        • smartpad
        • pennswoods banner
        • kodak cx6330 bo
        • x
        • headliner adhesive
        • window seal kit
        • sheet protectors
        • iraqi dinar
        • white whool socks (military)
        • colored paper
        • cash drawer
        • old yourtech flyers
        • paper towels
      • box b022
        • white box w/
          • software/driver cds
          • sim games
          • rca lyra software
          • mini cd to big cd adapter (sony disks)
        • 2 license plates
        • plastic folder & PW notes
        • conspiracy notebool
        • other white box w/ cat 5 wall mounts
        • white toaster
        • 6" white battery powered tv
        • metal cooking bowls
        • best data external v.92 modem
        • yellow plastic rope
        • icom battery
        • leather packet of redemption playing cards
      • let it snow mug
    • shingles
    • portable dc fridge
    • stainless steel box
    • plastic bin w/ road salt
    • charcoal grill
    • box b026
      • military gear
      • kevlar
      • elbow pads
      • leather gloves
      • green gloves
      • kevlar covers (green & brown)
      • rifle sling
      • pc cables
      • locking doorknob (no key)
      • empty grey watch box
      • bzo book
      • red socket screwdriver set
    • stack of 6" floor tiles
    • set of skis and ski poles (raidal carbon)
    • extenda duster
    • runner sled
• B2
  • B2.A
    • lots of palletized scrap wood
  • B2.B
    • table
      • 2 ceiling fans (1 has broken globe)
      • drop ceiling pieces
      • small pieces of scrap wood
      • 2 sections of pex pipe
    • 1 4' x 3'11" framed plexiglass divider
    • 1 8' x 3'11" framed plexiglass divider
    • 1 14' copper pipe 1/2"
    • 2 5' copper pipe 1/2"
      • 4 elbows
      • 1 shut off valve attached
  • B2.C
    • expandable ladder (17' max)
    • old boiler furnace
    • motor for old furnace
    • production boiler
  • B2.D
    • 19" wide x 18" deep wall-mount ceramic vanity w/
      • faucet
      • drain & feed lines
    • 19" wide x 17" deep ceramic vanity w/
      • faucet
      • drain & feed lines
      • white cabinet base
    • 25" wide x 19" deep ceramic vanity only
    • 8.5" x 28" frosted glass window (goes above door)
    • 75" x 28" door with frosted glass insert and metal door knob
      • skeletal key lock
      • glass insert is 35" x 19"
    • 80" doorjamb pieces (2 side pieces)
      • matching 29" wide top piece
    • 2 "assembled" doorjambs 80" x 24" for closet doors

Videos and photos from the honeymoon are up.

If you are very diligent, feel free to check out the additional "raw" photos (these are the 148 extra photos that I didn't think made the cut).

Additionally, I have a collection of videos from the resort.  Most of them are from a show the Entertainment Team put on:

Enjoy!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="On our way"]
[/caption]

I have a large collection of photos taken by family members during the wedding, reception and other times.  I did my best to arrange them in some chronological order, but since we're pulling from several cameras, it's not quite exact.  When all is said and done, there would be 1040 photos, but as of this writing, 300 have yet to upload.

Feel free to view the photos, make comments, etc.  Eventually I'll import these into Facebook, but in the mean time, just direct people to johnhogenmiller.com so they can see the wedding pictures.  Once we get the professional photos in place, they will show up on here as well.

No, I'm not saying I'm a fan of floor (though they are pretty nifty and useful), but rather that putting a fan in a floor is a nifty idea.

I have this room that I call the "server room", mainly because it is a room that contains servers.  I have been experimenting with different ways to keep it cool without running the air conditioner.  With the door and windows closed, it can heat up to 80+F in the room, even in the middle of winter.  During the winter, I had no actual windows in the room and one air conditioner in the wall.  This meant that with -7F outside, I had to run the air conditoner to keep the room cool.  No, at those temperatures, what really happened is that the A/C unit simply acted as a fan and probably never ran the compressor.  However, as fans go, the one in the A/C unit is fairly inneficient.

At that time, I cut another hole in the wall and installed a dual-window fan.  One fan was set to suck air into the room.  I angled that one to blow towards the wall.  The other fan is angled to blow to the center of the room and works as an exhaust fan.  Between them, they kept the room around 50F throughout the winter.  Up until this week, the room has been staying around 65F (On a side note, this room is somewhat insulated from the rest of the house).

Starting yesterday, the room started mirroring the outside world: 80F outside = 80F inside.  I tried switching completely to exhaust with no change.  Therefore, the A/C has been on again, at least during the day. Today however, I have implemented my new plan.

This room sits directly over the basement, which stays relatively cool year-round.   So step one was to pick up a floor-vent, cutting a matching hole and dropping it into place.  Step two was to create a wooden box big enough to hold an 11" x 11" box fan.  I then screwed the box fan into this box and attached it flush to the floor underneath the vent.  The final step was stapling an air-conditioner filter to the underside of the box, keeping basement dust out.  There were a few minor details -- I had to remove the louvers on the vent so that the fan would fit up close to the grill, as well as cutting a hole for the plug in the box.  Since the server room is trafficed only by me, I decided to run the plug up into the server room, across 1.5' of floor and plug it into the server room wall.  Otherwise, I would have plugged it in under the floor.  I also moved the server rack in position between the floor fan and the exhaust fans in the window.  My goal is to have cold air from the basement being blown up into the server room and then pulled through the server rack by the window fans.

Immediately, cold air started flowing up into the server room.  In the last half hour, the room temperature has come down from 83F to 79F, which is a nice 4 degree drop. According to my thermometer in the basement, it's currently 70F down there, which kind of surprised me.  It feels much cooler.  So, it's still to early to tell, but one would like to see the server room drop down to under 75F.  Most people like to keep these rooms around 65, but my servers are operating in acceptable ranges:


Sensor Location Temp Threshold
------ -------- ---- ---------
#1 PROCESSOR_ZONE 38C/100F 62C/143F
#2 CPU#1 37C/98F 73C/163F
#3 I/O_ZONE 48C/118F 68C/154F
#4 CPU#2 37C/98F 73C/163F
#5 POWER_SUPPLY_BAY 31C/87F 53C/127F

While it's still too early to tell, I could see putting these in a couple other rooms.  Of course, these would have to be plugged in in the basement, but with the option to flip an on/off switch from upstairs.  I sniffed around the air coming into the server room and I'm not getting any sort of wet basement smell.  We'll have to check again after a good rain.  I could see two of these in the front room (pool table room), one in my office, and one in the work shop area.  The living room just got new carpet, and I don't want to cut it up anytime soon.

The cost?

(1) 10" fan -- about $12  at most dept stores (I had a used one)
(1) 1x6 wood, about 5' long ($3 at YBC)
(8) 1.25" screws dug out of a screw jar (< $1) - these are used to build box
(4) .75" screws dug out of a screw jar (<$1) - these screwed the fan to the box
(1) 4 angle braces + screws, sold complete for $6 at Zimmermans
(1) air conditoner filter - $1 at most dept stores
(36) staples to staple the filter to the box.  $0.10?

Not counting the fasteners, you're looking around $22 in parts.  If you have a cool basement, this provides a cheap source of cold air. You know.. to offset the carbon footprint of running behemoth servers 24x7.

I am in a position where I have 3 or 4 days each week with an incredible amount of downtime.  I also have a number of activities I'd like to complete.  Now these activities are of a more academic nature.  There are things I want to learn such as investing, system administration, and programming.  I also want to write about the things I've learned.  I've noticed (and people have pointed) out that I have a talent for technical writing.  In my communications with other people, I tend to write many paragraphs of text in a very methodical manner.

So, I have these things I want myself to learn and do, and I have the time to do it.  But what happens?  I find myself reading websites like reddit and commenting on people's facebook profiles.  I watch movies to while away the time.  Sometimes I will start reading up on a certain stock or an investment strategy, but after a while I veer off and go on to something else.  Other times, I will start looking at some pages about getting started in Python, but again I will veer off.  The end result is that I can go weeks without accomplishing anything new.

If I make a todo list, I will work on that todo list for that day.  However, I can't list everything on the todo list because once the list goes beyond something you can reasonably accomplish in one time period, it becomes a long-term plan.  Once it becomes a long-term plan, it falls to the wayside.  So, I've been thinking on this issue, and I've come up with a piece of the puzzle.  My focus is just too scattered to accomplish any of my goals.  Instead of making a todo list every once in a while when things pile up, I need to take my known downtime and make a schedule.   Assuming I have 10 hours available each of the 3 days, I can allocate a certain amount of time to each area I want to pursue.  The amount of time I allocated to each area can change over time, as long as I can maintain a habbit of allocating time each and every day (of downtime) to these pursuits.

My initial schedule contains two activities my friends know of, but I can't reveal to the world at large (client confidentiality and such).  I call these my "secret projects".

• 1hr = finance/investing research


• 1hr = studying for RHCE


• 2hr = studying and documenting certain aspects of system administration


• 1hr = working on secret project #1 (which also deals with system administration)   -- this is an ongoing project with no immediate end in site that I can see.


• 1hr = documenting secret project #2 -- this I hope to finish up within a few weeks of actually working on it.  Once this is complete, I hope to fill this slot with a programming concept I have in mind.

That would take care of 6 hours of my supposed 10 hours of downtime.  Downtime is also important to a well-balanced lifestyle.  I can take breaks between each task, or consolidate my breaks into watching a movie.  If I get really involved with any one task and run out of time for the others, that will still be more productive than spending 6 hours filling my time with 72 "5-minute activities".

Today I took my first forray into the world of micro-lending.  Otherwise known as peer-to-peer lending, micro-lending is the act of lending small amounts of money to an individual.  These micro-loans are combined together into one larger pool of money which is lent out. I am using lendingclub.com.  The way this works is that someone seeking money puts in a loan request.  They list how much they need and what they need it for.  Lendingclub pulls their credit history and assigns them their interest rate and repayment terms.  If the borrower accepts, the loan is placed on lendingclub.com for funding.  People like me search through the various loans until we find one we like and then we buy into it (we buy "notes).  Once the loan is funded, the money is sent to the borrower, and the game is in motion. Lendingclub processes payments from the borrower, subtracts 1%, and credits the noteholders (like me) based on how much they bought in.

The first loan, I put $50 into.  The total loan is for $16,500 to pay off a Prius loan, plus consolidate some other loans.  Repayments are for 3 years at 9.32%.  Assuming they pay it off, I should earn just over 8.32% on that $50.  The borrower has a credit score of between 714-749, no delinquencies and they claim that they are moving into an apartment that will save them $800/month.  Overall, this loan seems fairly solid.  The other loans are still solid, but in one, the borrower has a delinquency in the last 2 years.  The third loan has no delinquencies, but the borrower is using 94% of their credit line (which could be attributed to their mortgage).  On these loans, interest is over 13%.  I put $25 into each of them.

All of the loans are over 95% funded and I believe that they will be fully funded in the next 24 hours.  If they don't get funded, the borrower can either lower their requested amount or cancel the loan.  If they cancel, that money gets returned to us.  Once the loan becomes active though, that money is "gone".  Altogether, I have $100 spread between3 loans, averaging over 10% (after lendingclub fees).

The downside is that one has to wait about 3 years to truly see if the investment will pay off.  In that regard, it's like a CD but without the bank guarantee.  Working through lendingclub seems to be a safer bet than dealing with stocks over a three year period, the drawback being that you can't pull your money out like you can with stocks.  So, this will most likely be a very small part of my investing practice, but I can always be surprised.

I've decided to go ahead and take the One Hundred Pushups AND the Two Hundred Situps challenge.  The idea behind each is that in 6 weeks, you will build up to 100 pushups and 200 situps, respectively.  What I like about these two exercises is that they can be done just about anywhere, at any time, without equipment.  Running requires either a nice outdoor area or a treadmill.  However, I do hope to get myself back into running/cardio with a hope of getting below 21-minutes for the 3-mile run.  I think if I did that run today, it would be 27 minutes or more.

Now, for me, I have a few advantages.  I'm out of shape now, but I've been close to these levels before, thanks to my time in the Marines.  One tricky thing is getting used to "civilian counting".  In the Marines, one pushup is counted as "down up, down up".  In civilian counting, this is two pushups.  So in reality, I am taking the Fifty Pushup challenge.  Situps are counted the same way.  One advantage of the situp section is that I don't have to time it, I just go till I stop.

Today I did my initial test.  I did 22 "military count" pushups or 44 "civilian count" pushups.    On both excercises, this puts me slightly ahead, meaning I can start on week 3, 3rd column for each excercise.

I've only heard of lentils in passing.  Before yesterday, I don't think I've ever actually noticed them sitting on a grocery shelf.  Once in a great while I'll see someone mention them, usually something like "when I was in college, I lived on lentil soup" and I believed that they were a type of noodle, similar to ramen.  Despite the occasional off-hand comment, I never put much stock in anyone ever eating these voluntarily.  However, I was doing some grocery shopping in the Dollar General (or the "DG" as we call it around here) and saw a bag of them next to the dried beans - $1/lb.  I figured "why not" and picked up a bag.  They are not noodles of course, but look more like dried peas.  Like rice, these things take a 2:1 (water:product) ratio (or higher) and will swell up to aroundt 3 times their size.  So a 1lb bag should come out to around 3-4 lbs cooked.

The bag had instructions on making some monster soup including 40 different vegetables and seasonings, but I wanted to try something much simpler that didn't involve a trip out again.  Searching the Internet, I discovered that these things were incredibly bland and you used them as a base for some other kind of soup.  I finally found a recipe on about.com that stayed fairly basic.  I did 2 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils and boiled away.  I added some salt-free garlic+herb, as well as some Italian seasoning, some salt, and some ground peppercorn.  After cooking about 10 minutes, it became apparent that I needed to add another cup of water, so in this case it was 3:1.  Unlike rice, you can apparently open the lid and stir these as you cook.  With rice, if you mess up your water:rice ratio or open the lid, your rice is ruined.

After 20 minutes, they were much more tender, but even with my seasoning, very bland.  I added some tuna fish which did just about nothing for the flavor.  Finally, I added a can of diced tomatoes and simmered them for another 5 minutes or so.  This plus some more peppercorn did the trick.  I had probably 2+ lbs of something that tasted incredibly good.  I figure the tomatoes were $1/can and I used just under half a bag of lentils (1 cup), so add $0.50 and I have several meals here.  The tuna did nothing either way,  so I'll leave that out next time.  I'll just guestimate and say I used $0.10 in seasoning (though it probably works out to much less if I buy in bulk).  I believe this 2-3 day supply of food could be had for < $2.

John Tomatoe Lentil Soup Recipe #1

• 1 cup washed lentils (wash in cold water)


• 3 cups water


• 1 can (1.5 cups) petite diced tomatoes or similar


• Ground peppercorn and other seasonings as desired

1. Boil lentils and water together


2. Reduce heat, add some seasoning - this will get the seasoning into the lentils


3. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender -- feel free to taste test as needed


4. Add tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes


5. Add more seasoning as needed

The Internet recommends adding salt in towards the end as salt will harden the lentils, causing them to take longer to cook.

Dried lentils can apparently be stored indefinitely in an airtight container in a dry environment, as can canned tomatoes.  If you are preparing for some sort of post apacolyptic scenario, you wouldn't be too bad off to store this stuff in bulk, assuming you can find a way to boil water in your underground bunker.

As I push more into biking during the winter, I need to test more often to see what works.  I replaced some break pads on my bike as well as got all the lights mounted again.  I did a quick ride around town around 10pm in 31F weather to get a feel for how I'm setup.

The Bell-brand light that I have for the handlebars is definietely insufficient for the task.    The head-lamp I have does a much better job of lighting the way.   It would be nice to have a handlebar-mounted light that really shines.  From what I read I need 20 watts in city driving (as the other light washes out my light).

Biking gloves are still somewhat of an issue.  My older leather-shell thinsulate gloves don't overlap correctly with my jacket sleeve, causing a gap.  I tried out a pair of fleece "pop-top" gloves (half fingerless glove/half mitten) -- these let you fee the breeze through the fleece (and that's without wind).  My newest pair of thinsulate gloves I have generally work -- they keep the hands warm and overlap properly.  The only issue with those is dexterity.    I might have to hunt down some bike pogies.   These mount on the bike and create a nice protection from the elements, allowing you to wear a thinner, less wind-resistant glove (like the fleece pop-tops).

The windbreaker pants over top of jeans works great, at least in dry weather.  They seem like they'll do a decent job in rainy weather as well.  For anyone else looking for a multi-layer pants solution, windbreaker pants go over anything.

As for the bike, I'll need to find a decent mirror.  I picked one up that was supposed to hook on the side of the hand-grips, but in my case, the hand-grip is also the shifter and therefore too big for the mirror to fit onto.