Playing Catch-Up

So, it's been a while. I'm working on a list of topics that will be written about. Topics might overlap, topics might lead into other topics......I have almost a month and a half to catch up on....bear with me

Getting Settled
So, we've been working on getting settled into our new place. We are "settled" except for the garage, which may never get fully setup the way I want. I guess until I have a reason to set it up, it will continue to evolve as it goes. I've got a big set of shelves built that holds tons of stuff and makes life easier and I've got my tool box setup with a wooden top that I can use as a work bench. It works, like I said, until I have a big project to do, then, maybe I'll build a work bench...we'll see.

Anyway, my office is in a walk-in closet, and it works way too well. There is plenty of room in that place for me to sit down and pay bills, however, I just don't use it much other than that. It works pretty good for storage of some of my stuff that shouldn't be out in the garage.

We bought a new queen sized bed for the guest room. Don't get too excited, we don't have a frame for it, so it sits on the floor for now. But...there's more room! Our guest room has been getting plenty of exercise since we moved (more later).

My Parents
My parents came up for a few days after we moved up. They had both been up here before so we didn't have to do the Space Needle. We did Pike's Market, and some downtown shopping on one of the days, and on the other day we went and watched one of my cousin's soccer games and then went up to Granite Falls to have dinner with them. It was a really good visit. Too short though...

Oh, and lesson learned: double check flight times before rearranging your schedule! Also, AM and PM are different. For some reason I saw 7am and read 7pm....no problem, I'll just run down after work... Oooooooops. Yeah, before work. Oh well. You gotta book flights when you can get them!

But, we found out when I was making this first video that my mom doesn't know how to use a video camera (second video)





Corders
Jessica's parents have come to visit as well. Jessica's mom came and spent some time just before she had to go back to school. Jessica's parents both came during the 4th of July break from school and spent the week.

Jessica and them spent some time playing on beaches and playing around in town during the week, and then yesterday we did more of the same. It was a bunch of fun. Plus, we went to the Crab Pot and did their big 1 pot dinner of crab, mussels, and potatoes and stuff. Man is that good stuff.

Their big news is that they have a new car. Laura has been saying she wanted a red convertible for a long time now, and so Nathan planned out a surprise to get one for her for graduation. So, he ordered it, but wasn't able to have them hold it until graduation, so they had to pick it up early. We've all been in on this for a while, knowing she'll be getting this car for graduation, and she had no idea at all. The ploy was that they had to go pickup a seized evidence car and she was pissed that she had to waste her time to do this. They get to the dealership and she still didn't get it. Once she finally understood, she was speechless. So, they drove over in their brand new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible in red. It was a fun car to drive around in.

New Bike
So, I got a new motorbike. 2008 Suzuki SV650. I am pushing close to 900 miles now and I've had it for just over a month. It's a great bike, and I'm glad I finally broke down and bought one. I ride it to and from work so that I can take advantage of the HOV lane and I ride it around trying to learn to actually ride, which is going pretty well. I'm getting better. I've done a couple rides with some friends and some rides alone. I'm also going out tomorrow for a good long ride...longest ride I've ever done...we'll see how that goes....

Track Day
So, part of learning to ride was to break down and run on the track. This was *NOT* a race. This was a track day where they teach you how to ride on the track. Some people have goals of eventually racing, some people are just out there having fun, and some people are out there to learn to ride, which was me. I learned so much out there. Most of what I learned was to learn to trust the bike.

I almost didn't get to ride because I arranged rental leathers and their biggest didn't fit me. Luckily one of the control riders had an extra set that kinda fit so I was able to squeeze into those and ride for the day.

I had a couple people pass me a little close, but not too close, just closer than I was used to. Most of the passes were totally good passes. Having a slow bike on the track means you get passed a lot, and being a total noob on the track means that you get passed even more. No problem, the rule was you can't pass when the bike is leaned over in a turn, and this is to keep people safe in the beginner class.

It worked out great until a control rider (one of the guys out there to keep people safe) was evaluating someone for the intermediate group and basically forgot what group he was in... I was crusing comfortably around the corner...WHOOOOOOSH...pause...WHOOOSH..... They blew past me and took off around the track. My only thought was "hey, that's against the rules..." and on with life....Whatever, I thought it was 2 control riders. Knowing that they are experienced riders, no big deal.

Well, as we got close to the end of the session, they caught back up to me and the control rider waved at me to follow him so I follow him off track and head back to the pits. He was so worried he had scared me that he felt like he needed to apologize and all I could do was laugh about it. Apparently they were going a "good intermediate" pace...which is FAST, especially compared to me. Yeah, so apparently I can keep my cool while being blown past on the track, which is good.

But, it was 100 degrees on the pavement, in the shade, and so I was drinking water all day in an attempt to stay hydrated...and it worked for most of the day. I sat out the last session because I was just done. It was a total blast, and I'm totally going to do it again one day, but not this summer.

July 4th
So, I asked my good buddy Dane where to go to watch the fireworks in Lynnwood. He suggested that we sit on the top of the Alderwood Mall parking garage overlooking the highschool parking lot across the street where they would be launching the fireworks from. This is quite possibly the best place to watch from ever.

We decided it would be crowded later and so we loaded the lawn chairs into the pickup and drove it to the mall, up to the top of the parking garage and backed into a spot over looking the highschool and left it for the day.

Then, we took off for Picnic Point, a park just on the sound a few miles away from my house. It was a beautiful beach park and we were catching the low end of a rising tide...we were walking on a strip of beach between a retaining wall that the tide half buries and the rising tide. We walked out a while, and then looked at the water level. Oh, crap. We turned around and booked it. We were watching the waves go up, almost to this rock, then pull back, 1 person walks around the rock, another wave, back and forth, with someone going around the rock between the waves. We turned back a couple minutes later and that rock was in 6 inches of water.

Then, we went home and had halibut for dinner! WHOO HOO!

Then, we went to the mall to watch the fireworks and we were able to drive up to right next to the pickup (wasn't crowded yet) and played cards in the bed of the pickup while we waited for dark. We were 1 of 3 pickups backed up to this one section of wall. Tons of people swarmed around us, and we were sitting in lawn chairs in the bed of the pickup. They had to stand...we were comfy, wrapped in blankets just chillin.

Here's a video I took at Picnic Point:


Fishing
So, I suck at saltwater fishing... I tried hard. I bought 2 good saltwater rods and reels and all the stuff I needed. We went out and fished for hours. Nothing. No bites, no nothing. No one else was catching anything either, so I don't feel bad. I'm hoping to get out and try it again. But, before we do, we gotta figure out the salmon runs, or at least find someone to show us where/how to fish. But, it was a blast anyway. Fishing is always fun, no matter how bad the catching sucks

Mariners
The Seattle Mariners had lost the last 8 games they had played...and we had tickets to watch the 9th game, so you know it's going to be an empty stadium. Ok, so we went and watched. It was a total blast. They won too! My mom and Jessica and I had a total blast. The hotdogs were....stadium hot dogs....the beer was great, and the game was pretty good too. We got the tickets from my mom's newspaper convention that was in downtown Seattle, so we went with a bunch of newspaper people. I totally recommend going to a pro baseball game with friends or family even if you don't really like to watch baseball on TV. It was more fun than I expected, since I'm not a big sports fan.

And that mostly catches up the blog with the big events of the last month and a half...it's been a crazy time, and hopefully it calms down soon....not too calm though!

City life is different...but it's a good different.

1 week in the hood

After a week, we are settling in.

We bought a GPS unit, and some lamps.

I went bike shopping today....yeah....it was nice....didn't get to ride the SV, but did ride the ninja....gave it a decent parking-lot sized workout....eh....nice......don't like the seat

oh well

no bike :(

that carpool lane is tempting....

my stuff

it's here

at our (new) home

we've been watching shows from nbc.com and chillin on the air bed for a day and a half

we also did some other stuff....like go play in downtown seattle

but, we are pretty tired, and our stuff comes tomorrow around 1, so we'll be finally able to really move in and unpack. YAY!


-out

have no stuff....last day of work

So, I have no stuff. The movers came and stole it all on tuesday, so, we've been camping in our house. A blow up bed and suitcases and stuff they wouldn't take...chemicals, ammo, liquids, stuff like that....

Today is also my last day at BEI. I am excited to move on, but sad that I have to leave. It's kinda crazy. Cleaning up my desk, grabbing my stuff, and rolling out this afternoon when I leave will be strange.

Tomorrow, I drive to Lynnwood and get my keys to my new place. WHEEEEEEEEE!

we tore down all the curtains

not only the curtains, but all the stuff that was attached to a wall.

stuff has been arranged, rearranged, gone through, and set aside for movers

we took out the trash

we cleaned out the freezer and cupboards

we have all the stuff we'll need, and some of the stuff we won't, set aside to take in the car and pickup over with us

today is our last day of packing up

tomorrow, the movers come, bright and early

wednesday is our last bike night

thursday is my last day at work

friday, we leave.....


as it gets closer, the more excited I get about it.

I'm still sad to leave my friends, but I'm excited to get over to the wetside and start making new ones!

In exactly 1 week

In exactly 1 week, I will be sitting in my house in Moscow for the last night. Most of our stuff will be packed up and somewhere between Moscow and Seattle.

In exactly 1 week, we will be cleaning up, and getting the place ready to leave.

In exactly 1 week, we will be setting up so we can go, turn in our keys, and drive away from Moscow for the last time when we get up in the morning.

In exactly 1 week, I will have eaten my last dinner in Moscow, as a Moscow resident.

In exactly 1 week, I will be done with my current job, and about 5 days away from starting my new job.

In exactly 1 week, my home won't feel like home....

R6's, Friends, and Good Byes

So, my friends are the best. I hate the thought of leaving them, but I know I'll make some more. It might take a while. Thanks to Chad, Wade, Dan, Sherry and my dad for letting me ride their bikes. Thanks to everyone who has ever offered their bike that I turned down. Thanks to everyone who would let me ride their bikes if I had asked. You guys know how to put a huge grin on my face.

People I know, people I kinda know, and people I have only recently met saying good bye to Moscow, and the Palouse in general, very hard. I'm not looking forward to it. I'll probably shed a couple tears as I say good bye.

You guys are my family and have made Moscow my home.





Dan, whom I only kinda know, offered me his r6 and as payment, he would only accept my inputs to the local motorcycle community, and maybe him giving me some left over beer from his last party (which I turned down so he wouldn't have to buy it for his next party).

I mostly wanted to ride a supersport to prove to myself that I didn't want it. So, I got on it, and knew exactly that I really didn't want it, but I'd sat on them before, and I knew that already. So, I backed it out of the garage and down the hill, turned it around and thumbed the starter...crank...nothing....more....crank crank crank fire....ok...there we go.....a slight twist of the throttle....yeah....uneventful. Which I expected.

Knowing I'd have to actually put it in gear before it got any fun, I dropped it into first and let go of the brake, down the hill, a touch of gas, let the clutch out. ok...less....umm....jerky than a twin, but also less pull. Granted, I haven't ridden a vtwin smaller than 1000cc's and this only has 600, but still, not really what I like.

It pulled ok in whatever gear I was in, but never really got really low in the rpm's either. too low and it didn't pull half what the twins do. Get it up in the revs a bit and that's where it comes alive, but because it wasn't my bike, and I don't like to rev bikes way up, I never got the bike to where it would really shine.

What appeals to me most about a twin is being able to go in whatever gear I am in, no shifting to find power, and I felt like I'd have to do that.

But, it had plenty of power, lots more power than I'm used to, which was really nice, and some decent wind protection too. I also felt really stable on it. I think I honestly was going as fast as I ever have on a bike and I was feeling really good about it. Unlike a cruiser, there's no "herding" as Jim would say of the bike....you just go around the corner...the bike understands and goes.

I'd love to have one as a track bike, 20 minutes a session, and not much else. It just wasn't comfortable on the straights.

Controls were great though.....probably the most refined of everything I've ridden. Brakes didn't BITE, but they bit plenty. Steering was stable.

Overall, great bike, not really happy with power delivery due to the fact that I like low end power, and not happy with the riding position. Other than those 2 things, it is a great bike!


......rather have the duc though.....

My Face Hurts....

....from smiling.....

I drove over to Chad's house and hopped on his CM400 while he hopped on his buell. We drove over and met Johnny and Wade at the Chevron and took off for Lewiston.

It was a beautiful day for a ride. We rode down to Shumate, the local Harley shop and perused while we talked to Kevin, a guy I met down at Mac's one day, a friend of some of the people I ride with. So, we talked a bit and then headed over to Mac's for a quick perusal of their bikes as well.

Kevin had just traded in a Triumph Thruxton that he bought down in Boise, rode it up to Lewiston and apparently hadn't ridden it since....340 miles.....hole eeee crap it was nice. Show room condition. That man keeps his bikes nice.

So, anyway, back up Spiral and stopped at the top. Wade says to me "Do you want to ride mine....that is...if Chad doesn't mind me riding the old Honda?"

"Really, are you serious?"

"Yeah"

"Fine by me, we'll swap in Colton" Chad piped in.

So, I jumped on Wade's sportster with the forward controls (which I detest) and headed to Colton. The bike isn't very comfortable to ride but it is fast. You say go, and it goes. No shit, just torque.

In Colton, I jumped on Chad's Buell, and all it did was cement the fact in my head that I need a naked twin. Again, no shit from this bike either, just torque. Looking at the throttle makes it go faster, and the vtwin engine smooths out like glass once you get it going.

Thanks again guys!

Anyway, so, buells have jumped a spot on the list. And so have bigger bikes.....still need to ride an SV....not sure how I'm going to swing that......but I will....mark my words....I will....

A fond farewell and some "stimulating" news

Tomorrow is most likely the last time I'll drive from Moscow to Lewiston before I move. I'm going to ride a CM400 (Thanks Chad!) and head on down there with him and Johnny to eat some free hot dogs and look at Harley's.

The last time I'll be able to ride down there, for sure.

Down Spiral...maybe I can talk them into going out farther....weather depending....

Anyway, so, we got economically stimulated this morning. Feels good. The bad part is that instead of being able to stimulate the economy, I have to save it because we will need plenty of cash fluidity while moving....just in case....you know....because moving suuuuuucks.

But, anyway, so I'm headed *back* to Seattle this weekend. Sunday night, we fly over, Monday night we fly back.... I'm getting sick of traveling that distance. At least we are flying and not driving.

Our new guy is going with us. 4 BEI guys over and back.....crazy.....

Moving sucks....I wish it was over....

2 weeks from today, we drive over. 2 weeks from yesterday is my last day. 2 weeks from this coming Monday is my first day at my new job.

well, I don't really have much to say except a few key updates (you already read them)

2 quick things

I hit a grouse this morning in my truck

and:

Stolen bike, downtown Seattle...

At least, that's the way it should read....

I rode a Ducati Monster today....1000cc's of v-twin AWESOME today.

I accidentally took the wrong turn, and ended up a looooooong ways away...

called my wife, she didn't answer (she was at the shop waiting...)

called the shop (dial 411 yay!) and say "So, I'm an idiot"

.......(silence).......

(here's me understanding what he's freaked out about)

"no no no, the bike is fine...I'm lost...."

finally got back....



HELL of a bike

Almost stood it up (on both ends!) on 1 wheel a couple of times on accident...then I understood the clutch, throttle and brake, and it was AWESOME.

Shit, 1000cc's of raw Ducati awesome-ness!


....it's on the short list.....


no riding of the 848, it's not really my style anyway.

low end, v-twin power makes me happy

also, I would describe the riding position as aggressive upright...mostly upright, but aggressive enough to deal with the grunt of making that vtwin scream......


:)

live from west washington

here I sit in my hotel room in Redmond


hotel tv is always better than normal tv....even if it's the same shows!

looking for a place to live tomorrow and Friday, and hopefully go sit on some fine italians on Friday too!

fried chicken!

Kitties

I don't know about you, but I sure do like kitties.

Not nearly as much as I like puppies.

Our kitty is a tard through and through, but he's one hell'uv'a cute tard.

When we move, he's going to have a tough time adjusting to everything, which is why we are going to move him all in one swell foop and take all of this things with us when we do. I'm not looking forward to having to keep him inside for a week or so, so he doesn't try to take off on us though...

taxes

I know I have already gotten and (responsibly this time!) spent my tax return. Which means I've already filed and such....

but....I'm kinda stressed about taxes......

strange....


BTW

GET THEM DONE IF YOU HAVEN'T!

Heck'uv'a Day

Ok, starting with Moto GP at Zeppoz.....

yeah, the waitress....she's not ok

the food was typical zeppoz food

the 250 race was a decent race. Not that great, but not very eventful. Even the wrecks weren't eventful.


*********************SPOILER ALERT*****************************

Ok, Lorenzo is tied for first place in the MotoGP standings with Pedrosa. Ok, it's early in the season, so this may not last forever, but he's podiumed in every race, he's taken a 2nd, a 3rd, and now, today in Estoril, he won. Beating out Pedrosa and Rossi.

Whoopty-shit, right? Ok, so the man's fast. Well, this is his first year in this class. Last year he was running the 250 bikes.

He's gonna be one to watch!

******************END SPOILER************************************

So, after the races ended, I came home and grabbed my camera, filled my (new) camel-back, and jumped on my bike and went for a spin. By, the way, I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt. There were scantily clad females running all over campus, so the scenery was good, but I worked up a good sweat.

Man, the weather was nice today.

My camera mount holds the camera really rock steady (considering what is happening), but slowly slides forward. And when I come down hard on it, it goes. I need to find a way to stabilize it, or need to find another mounting method for my aggressive style.

*not that I'm all aggro all the time...I huff and puff after a few seconds....but on the downhill spurts, the cam ends up recording a downward shot instead of the up-coming trail.

Beautiful Day!

I'm soooo going riding tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I have no motorcycle, so I'll be riding very slowly, hopefully down a hill so I can go a bit faster.

I think I'm gonna go tear up campus...there's too much snow anywhere outside of town. It's crazy.

I was going to go fishing this weekend, but Spring Valley is still iced over. I went out on Friday to check it out (glad I did while it was on my way home, and not make a special trip out there) and there were people in short sleeve shirts ice fishing. It was crazy. I wish I had my camera.

I don't know where I'm going to go tomorrow, but it should be fun! Maybe I'll play with some onboard footage if I find a good trail.

Anyway, I cleaned my office today, and I am glad I did. It was baaaaaad. Really bad. Oh well.

I had cut a top for my rolling section of the tool box, but hadn't put it on, or set it all up. So, I did that, put all my tools away and such and organized everything. What really sucks is that now that I put everything away, I'm going to have it all moved away to a new place.

Finding a new place has been quite the adventure too. I hate looking for new places to live. It's one of the most annoying processes EVAR.

I really miss having a bike on days like this....

Anyway, enough rambling.

no house buying

we'll do some house renting instead at first

just not in the cards right now


So, anyway.....


This weekend is supposed to have some awesome weather....and I miss riding. Maybe I'll talk Jessica into going fishing....


I made fried chicken wings, and a video about making fried chicken wings. I have the video edited all up, and I just need to do the voice-over, and then add some music and all will be well.
Should be a pretty cool video when I'm done.


WHEEEEEEEE!

Well, we did it

We started the process to see if we can buy a house....

Honestly, I'm nervous as hell about whether we will get qualified for enough, or if we will even qualify at all. But also, what we are going to do if we are actually qualified to buy a house.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say that.

The "list"

This is the list of bikes that are on my list for "next"

Suzuki
SV650 - naked sport standard
SV650S - sport
GSX650F - sport standard
DRZ400S - dual sport
DRZ400SM - super-motard
V-Strom - standard/dual sport

Kawasaki
Ninja 650 - sport standard
Versys - standard
Z1000 - sport standard
KLX250S - dual sport
KLR650 - dual sport

Yamaha
FZ6 - sport standard
FZ1 - sport standard
V-Max - sporty cruiser

Honda
919 - sport standard
Interceptor - sport touring

hmm...big list....
looks like a dual sport or sport standard.....hmm....we'll see

shipped off some vfr parts today, think I sold some more!

yay!

Happy Friday!

Yeah, it's Friday.

This task at work is kicking my butt. Not terribly, but it's kicking my butt. Biggest thing I've done in a while and I'm speeding up on it, so it's not too bad, but damn, this thing is not exactly trivial. Compared to what I thought it was when I started the task, it's easy, but I've got it saving data, now I just need to get it loading.

Then, I'm about 1/6 done. Load and Save from a list. Then, I have Auto Save, Fixed Save, and Auto Save from a List. After that, I have to make it load and save a list of files. Once I do that, I have to do all the error checking. Some of these pieces will be easier than others, and some will be hard (error checking....the details are what get you!).

Also, this weekend I am riding. Yes. On 2 wheels. Chad (chipper) is bringing 2 bikes, one to sell, and one to ride, and has offered to let me ride them both at various times. One is a dirt bike and he's mostly getting that so that I can ride a dirt bike to see if I like riding in the dirt. The other is a old Honda 400. Even if I don't end up riding Chad's bikes, I'll be riding my bicycle.

Saturday, I'm riding on downtown to get my bike licensed (thanks Moscow....$5 to ride a bike....) and get a new reflector holder. The old reflector holder got sacrificed into a camera mount tha works WAAAAY too well and so I'll maybe be taking some video as I ride on downtown on Saturday.

This weekend, the weather is supposed to be AWESOME, so I'm stoked about getting out and playing outside.

So, is it a Southern Rock Friday? Is it a Jimmy Buffet Friday? Is it a country music Friday? Well, I think it's a Mike Oldfield Friday....some good Mike Oldfield should get me moving right to get lots done today.

viffer parts that are gone

tail piece
right rear set
right clip on
gauges
coils and most of the ignition system
slip on exhaust

Things to do...

I need something I can do to stay active in the motorcycle community.

I want to make and sell something, but the problem is that most things I could build and sell requires special tools that I don't have (let alone know how to use properly). One thing I was thinking was doing some LED lighting projects or possibly fiberglass and body work.

The problem with LED lighting is that you can't find just empty light lenses and such, so I'd need to have the lights to work with. Fiberglass I would either need molds to use *or* I would need some plastics to learn on. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I've got the VFR plastics......hmm......just wish I either had a garage or good weather!

Actually, I'm going to take the tail piece and see if I can bring it back up to snuff. The thing has been repaired poorly too many times, so it's basically worthless unless I can fix it all up and make it a good piece again. Sounds like a challenge to me!

hmm....

anyway...

the motogp race was pretty good. the 250 race was better than the big bikes, but shit happens. I was glad I went and watched. Good times, and a great burger. :)

zipper visit, plane rides

So, I took a plane ride.

It was supposed to leave from Pullman, go to Lewiston, and then on to Sea-Tac.

Pullman was too snowy, I got a call to go to Lewiston instead.

WHEEEEE

Meetings all day on Thursday and half of Friday

My new start date at Zipper is May 19

Plane ride back to Lewiston, delayed. Supposed to go to Pullman and then Lewiston.

Pullman is again too snowy, and the wind is too windy.

Down to Lewiston.

Drive on home.

I'm tired.

Goodnight.

Man's Greatest Tragedy

As we get better at killing, we realize that killing is not the answer.

Suddenly, we understand that by killing certain things, we are destroying a part of the earth that we rely on.

Everything is interconnected, and we cannot rely on the fact that just because we are directly negatively affected by something doesn't mean we don't need something else that relies on that thing.

One minor example: spiders and snakes. Killing them means an increase in insects and rodents.

Wolves, killing wolves means an increase in coyotes.

....philosophy...I wish I was good at it....

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter doods!


So, it's been a year since my wreck last Easter. I've learned a lot since then, racked up another 7 000 miles, and no other wrecks. But, now I've sold the rebel to another new rider. I bought another motorcycle with the intention of fixing it up, but I've given up on that now, and I've come to terms with the fact that I will have to wait for a while before I can justify buying another bike. I'm fairly melancholy recently about motorcycles, but I have hope. I have made a lot of friends and will continue to make friends in the motorcycle community. Instead of riding on the track, I'll be working corners or hanging out in the pits instead.

I'll be back. You can bet on that. I'll be back on 2 wheels soon enough.

Until then, I've got my bicycle and my pickup, and some fishing that needs done.

Unlike last year, the weather isn't beautiful. It looks like rain, and it's chilly outside.

Sherry, I was looking forward to leading some good spring rides this year too. I was hoping that we'd be able to get out and get going. What does your ninjette need? I've got a brand new battery that I dumped into the viffer, and we could get Johnny and I over to poke at it with sticks for a while! Just give me a call, and we'll find some time to come over at it.



So, my next project:
I don't like my tool box. HHAHHA, yes I do, but I want to make it more useful. Instead of a 3 tier system, I want a 2 tier, separate-able system. I've got a roller table that is the right height for a work surface, but needs a wooden top. The smaller tool box can sit on the work surface when it's put away. The middle tier is just a cheap little thing that once correctly tightened would be sturdy for sitting still, but for rolling around is not that sturdy. So, it's going away, and I'm going to make it 2 separate pieces, and make it a work center and a tool box instead of a big standing tool chest. I think it will be better that way. Now, I just need to get some wood for it!

I've had it

I can't keep working on the VFR.

It's not in me to keep throwing money at a toy that I cannot use.

I can't ride it.

First, it was just put levers on, a few small parts, and change the fluids.

Then, the fork seals. Easy enough job, once I figured it out, but that was most of a weekend.

After that, getting levers that worked right was such a pain in the ass, and then making the clutch side fit took much more than it should have.

Then, the starter clutch. After the starter clutch, I found out it had no coolant.

The coolant seems to have gone away because of the leaky head gasket.

I haven't fixed the head gasket. I could do it. It's about $30 for the gasket, and I could do it in a few hours, and I've got friends who might even come and help me. Wouldn't be a big deal.

But, the carbs need to be sync'ed.

The clutch seems to be slipping.

The rear brake isn't working properly.

I need new springs in the front, because when I hit the front brakes, it bottoms out under even moderate braking.

I need new tires soon.

It just isn't worth my time or money anymore.

So, I'm parting it out. I'm going to lose money on it. I think I can lose less if I part it out. But most importantly, if I part it out, I don't have to deal with the moral burden of setting someone else on this project.

Yes, this means I'll be bikeless, as I just sold the rebel as well. It sucks. But, you live, and you learn, and then you don't buy shitty bikes anymore.

It's not all lost money. I have learned a LOT about motorcycles, wrenching, and myself. Thanks to this project, I now feel comfortable tearing into most projects. I learned about suspensions, starters, controls, and I've accumulated a good set of riding gear (boots are supposed to arrive on Monday), tools (some that I've been needing for a while), and confidence in myself.

However, I've also lost some confidence in myself. I've lost some money, not a whole lot, especially considering that the time spent at most other activities would have cost considerable money as well.

The VFR has become an extension of myself, and not being able to fix it seems as though I can't fix myself. I've seperated myself from it over the past few days, and I am finally able to say it was a mistake, and that I'm getting rid of it.

I've posted it in a few places for parting out, and I'll sell what I can, and then dump the rest on someone for parts or something.


...strangely....I want to pull the tail section and learn to do fiberglass and body work...is that strange?


Anyway, I'm also selling my boat. It's been fun, but I won't have room for it in Redmond, so it goes away. Luckily, selling the boat won't be a loss, as I got it for much less than it was worth :).


So, I'm kinda feeling down today...kinda sad. Oh well. In the end, I will be happier.




Oh, and my pickup is now paid off, and I got the title. I sold the rebel for what I owe, and I put the money in the bank, and setup the auto-payer so it will pay itself off this month! The payments I'm getting rid of (together) are less than a bike payment would be, so I *could* afford a new bike, but I'm not ready to take on another payment yet. I've got a goal that I've been meaning to meet, and at that point, I'll be able to buy a bike. Hopefully either this fall or next spring (maybe sooner if I'm good).

haven't blogged in a looooong time

spring has come and gone.

there's a lot that i have to say, but the only thing I'm going to say right now is this:

Construction!

Ok, so, I've had this problem with the VFR for a while now. Basically, a tab broke off the frame. I didn't do it, the previous owner did (problem has been around since I owned it). Here's a really badly drawn version of what it looked like:















Now, I didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to pay someone to do it, so I decided that I knew a welder. FastFoodFred. So, I emailed him and asked his price. His pri


ce was to watch his bike a few months ago, and he wouldn't accept anything else. He also said he'd re-weld my rear-stand for me (which....well...broke....more on that later).

So, I borrowed a ramp and some muscles from JohnnyM and we loaded the VFR into the pickup. Now, this trip had triple duty: welding, Spokane Moto Show, and possibly selling the Rebel. So, we loaded the Rebel up in the pickup too. Both bikes made my pickup sit kinda low, but I was ok with it...hopefully coming back lighter.....(no dice....came back with the rebel....oh well).

Both bikes, Jessica, and I rode up to Spokane in the pickup and I dropped Jessica off at the mall. I called Fred and said I was about to his shop and he said he'd meet me there. I showed up, he wasn't there (yet...still on his way) and the guys at A2Zen came out with a ramp and helped me unload the VFR, and pointed me towards Fred's bay that he's renting from them, and then I waited. About 2 minutes later, Fred showed up and we had to make a run to his other shop (and I don't even have one!) to get a piece of aluminum and some tools. A quick run back and Fred started in on my rear stand.

This is a rearstand I made over Christmas with my father-in-law. He provided the building knowledge and I provided the bad welding and the design. The first time I used it, one of the arms broke off, almost causing a disaster. Fred re-welded that leg back on and then very politely told me that my welding sucks...not in those words...more like "you aren't going to be offended if I go over some of the other welds?" So, I'm pretty sure he went over all of them again, and if not, he might as well have. But, we did put it to the test...using it to hold the VFR up a bit and straighter while he was welding the tab on. Once we got the tab on, he cleaned it up, drilled a hole, tapped it, and made it work. I need to get a more proper bolt for it, but the one I have now will work for now.















Thanks for your help Fred!

So, we loaded the VFR back into the pickup and I headed off to the Spokane Moto Show, with a quick detour to pick up Jessica. I decided that since we were going to be buying a new laptop, we might as well just go do it. I hate Best Buy, but I knew they'd have what I wanted. We walked out about 15 minutes later with a new laptop and none of that other bullshit they try to sell you for more than the cost of the fucking computer...."Have you heard about our 'Geek Squad'"..."yeah....ME"...."How about our security suite"...."I've got better FREE ones"..."they aren't as good"...."you sell computers, I program them....I know".....that shut the fuckers up. Have I mentioned how much I hate Best Buy? Anyway, so, we have new laptop too.

Ok, back to the moto show. The show was pretty good. There were a few bikes there. Ok...quite a few...but this isn't about the Moto Show.... But, I guess it should get equal billing as Best Buy...Ok, I sat on just about every bike I wanted to except for the Ninja 250 (which has been selling too fast for anyone to have one in stock for this show). Lots of stuff there, lots of bikes, lots of gear. Pretty cool. Anyway....back on topic.

So, I had this problem today.














I decided that I needed a ramp TODAY. I could call people with ramps, but eventually, I'd need one anyway. I was saving the project for when I was in Redmond, and Jessica was still in Moscow, but that doesn't look like it will happen that way, so I just decided to build one.

2 8 ft 2x8, 1 3 ft piece of inch and a half steel strap, 24 bolts, 24 washers, 24 nuts, a sawzall blade for metal, and a BFH....uhh...a big hammer... It cost me $30 for materials.

So, I cut the metal strap into 8 inch lengths, drilled 2 holes in one half, and then bent them at an angle using the BFH. Simple enough.

I cut the 2x8's into 6 foot lengths, and used the other pieces as straps to hold them together.

I bolted the whole thing together, bolted the straps together, and I have a 14" wide ramp (because a 2x8 is really closer to 1 1/2 x 7-ish) that could be split in half to accomodate a 4 wheeler if needed!

So, here it is:

Got my rear set!

I got a rearset that is only slightly bent, but should be able to be bent back, and if not, I should be able to use it until I can find a replacement.

I also have both bikes loaded up and ready to take to Spokane! Yay!

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a good day, both in the selling and the welding department. Yeah, I'm getting some welding done on my rear stand and my VFR so that I can actually attach my new rear set.

Also, tomorrow is the Spokane Motorcycle Show which I'm going to in order to drool and sit on all the new 2008 model bikes, and some of the non-new bikes too ;).

Tomorrow is going to be a motorcycle day, I guess.

But, we are also stopping at Best Buy to look at video cameras and laptops. So, yeah, it should be fun!

hey, new helmet pics!

A couple weeks....

So, I'm just sitting down to blog for the first time in...well....a while.

A lot has happened since then.

Not like normal "a lot", but like a lot a lot.

Well, for 1, I got told that Zipper might want to hire me.
Also, we dealt with 2 feet of snow.
I drove to Seattle.
I finally got a new helmet.
I met a lot of westsiders (from the PNWRiders forum).
I hung out with the Banditos (well...kinda).
I got a new job.
I drove back to Moscow.
I went for a ride.




Well, for 1, I got told that Zipper might want to hire me.
well, my boss told me that Zipper might want to hire me, and wanted to know my "long term plans." So, I figured them out, and emailed boss man over at Zipper. I spent Friday (2/1) in Redmond for a meeting. I met with boss man, and we agreed that I should come over and spend some time working there so we could feel each other out and see how me working for them would work out.

Also, we dealt with 2 feet of snow.
2 feet. Yeah, 2 feet. It wasn't the most snow I've seen this year, but 2 feet in Moscow sucked. I'm glad that once it was all there, I was going to be spending the next 2 weeks in Redmond. Anyway, on the way to Redmond, there was too much snow, I had to redirect to another road. The passes were roads with solid walls of snow on both sides, both sides well over the top of the cab of my pickup.
The snow here in Moscow is almost gone. The snow in Redmond never existed, but the snow between here and there is in various stages of melting.
Just to give you an idea of how much snow there is, they closed the ski resorts, not because the roads to them were closed, but because there was too much snow to ski. Seriously. Too much snow to ski.

I drove to Seattle.
The drive there was a bit hairy. Not too bad, but I was glad the road wasn't much longer than it was. I had to redirect to open roads from Ellensburg to be able to press on. I made it. It wasn't fun, but it was pretty!

I finally got a new helmet.
I went to RMC "Renton MotorCycles" while I was bumming around over on the We(s)tside. HJC. And it doesn't fog up! Oh, and it has some cool designs on it! Black and red and white. Kinda cool.


shit...this is gonna have to wait....I just got a call I've been needing to hear for a while.

It will let me finish my rear stand that I started over xmas.





I met a lot of westsiders (from the PNWRiders forum).
I met quite a few of the people from the Seattle area. Not nearly a big percentage of them, but quite a few anyway. It was good times. We went to a bar one night, Red Robin for a bike night another night, and then to an Irish pub another night. It was good times all around! I can't wait to get to know some of them even more.

I hung out with the Banditos (well...kinda).
One night while I was there (at the bar) about 50 Banditos (a biker gang) showed up. It was...interesting....a couple got tossed out, and things got scary for a minute when that happened. After that, we kinda made our way to the door.

I got a new job.
Yes, Zipper did offer me a position, and I accepted. So, I'll be headed that way around the middle to the end of March, and I'll be working there! Crazy, eh?

I drove back to Moscow.
...rather uneventful, except for the cops who didn't pull me over....that maybe should have. A very long drive home.....

I went for a ride.
Today, I went down to Spiral and back. It was a good ride, but damn were my fingers cold by the time I hit the top of Spiral. I stopped to warm them up and then went on. By the time I got home, it had warmed up enough to not make my fingers numb anymore.


So, I finished my rear stand. The call I got was a guy who has a drill press and let me come and use it to drill the holes I needed to finish it. I was all excited, so I put the bolts into the holes, and lifted the rebel on up. Worked perfect. And fairly easy to use. So, on to the VFR. Yeah, that didn't go so well. I lifted and it gave way. One of the arms came off. Looking at the welds, it didn't penetrate nearly enough (if at all) and looks like I just soldered it with the rod. So, I need to go back and either do a better job, or have it done for me. I need to have the other one reworked as well, just to make sure those are done. As for the rest of it, I think it's fine, but those were my first welds, so I think (hope) that was the problem.

GRR

might be moving and a love poem

So, I got news that Zipper wants to talk to me about moving to work there.

This, of course, is good news. That means they don't hate me.

However, basically, what I have right now is a foot in the door, and that's about it. It's not a job. I'm hoping it turns out to be a job. I've got my fingers crossed. Please cross yours too!
















A love poem by Jeff Holbrook
It's been a while I miss you.
You and I, and just I and you.
Remember those times we spent together?
It seemed like it would last forever.
We'll be back together soon.
Dry pavement, ZOOM!








.....yes, I wrote a love poem to dry pavement...... get over it....

southern rock friday, revisited

http://allsouthernrock.com/


it's back!

The past little while

Well, I've been working on another model in my spare time. I picked up a model of the Jeff Gordan 24 NASCAR race car, which is proving to be more of a test of my painting skills than the NSR was, but also less of a test of my assembly skills.

It's easier to put together, but there isn't anything that can be left unpainted. The bike had many parts in a greyish, almost metallic, plastic that allowed for just putting them together, but this one is all white parts except the windows and tires, and 3 rubber parts.

I'm still enjoying it, but it appears there's only one other level 3 model in Michaels, and only a couple in the hobby store downtown, which means that I'm probably going to need a new hobby soon.

Anyway, I'm happy with the way this is turning out so far, we'll just see how it turns out in the end.


Things in North Idaho are not conducive to motorcycle ANYTHING right now except wishing, so I am hella jealous of my dad, who has no ice (on the roads) to contend with, a dual-sport for if there was ice, and above freezing (for the most part) temperatures. You can read about his adventures here if you are so inclined:
http://67.61.114.241/blog/index.php?d=19&m=01&y=08&category=7

It sounds like he had a lot of fun on his first actual dual sport experience, and it sounds like he'll be writing them up when he goes, which should make some good reading!

My VFR is getting closer to complete. But when I say complete, I mean completely having all the parts for when it gets warm enough to put them on! I picked up some new grips. These feel like "gel" grips, so they should be easy on the hands, but they also feel firm, which should help me maintain a good feel for how the bike is going. I also received the part to my front brake, which I broke because I'm an idiot. Oh, and I got the petcock lever too!

Oh, and I got my adjustable clutch lever finally put on! I knew it wasn't fitting because it was too big in this one area, and I knew just how to fix it! I took the non-adjustable lever off and double checked that the adjustable one wouldn't fit, took a good look at it in the light (last time, was dark, this was day, with lots of reflective snow). Didn't fit, of course, but I could see where it was rubbing, and took the dremel to it. A little grinding here, a little griding there, and wha'la, it fits! But, it still rubbed, so I took it off, colored the part that I knew was rubbing with a sharpie, put it back on and gave it a squeeze. This trick is often used for making stuff fit better. The sharpie rubs off where it rubs, and stays on where it doesn't. A little more grinding and it was like butter. I put the lever back on, with all the attachment parts, and was good to go!

So, rear brake, footpeg, the frame tab, and turn signals, and put the parts that I have on the bike, and I should be good to ride for a while once it warms up!

Once I get it running, I have some body work that needs done. If the tail piece turns out the way I want it, I'm going to do the whole body work, which will mean riding around with half-done body-work for a while, but should make the bike a better bike overall, if only cosmetically.


I got a haircut today. Shortest it's been in years...just thought people should know...


And, I leave you today with some memories. When I was a little-bitty kid (hard to imagine, I know) we use to go spend some holidays at "Leo and Leona's". We didn't see them that often, but I remember them being some of the nicest people around. They were like the grandparents that you don't see very often because they live far away, even though they weren't that far away. The truth is, they aren't my grandparents. They are my dad's cousins' "other" grandparents. We spent lots of time in their backyard. I remember there being huge snow drifts one time, and building a fort in one of them with Scott, A.J. and Steven.

Well, Leo passed away today, peacefully, at 2pm.

Rest In Peace.

wish me luck

I go into the dentist for the first time in about 6 years tomorrow at 7:45.

I'm just hoping my teeth aren't all rotted out.

Then, after that, I get to figure out why I suck at lightmapping! Yay!

Sounds like a great day ahead of me.

But, it's bike night...which always cheers me up.


short and sweet tonight.

peace

water...

Somethings you take for granted, things that maybe you shouldn't.

We got our water shut off last night.

It was either that, or have a puddle in our hallway. We chose to have no water this morning.

The plummer is on his way, should be here "before noon" which means that I'm glad they were able to get a key from the property agency. I'm not going to be here....


Jessica was doing laundry last night and saw a whole bunch of water on the floor in the laundry closet. As soon as she was done taking the laundry out, I had a look. The cold water to the washer was leaking. No big deal, I'll just turn it off....except that it was leaking on the other side of the valve. Turning it off would have just let it keep going.

So, I found the number to our property agency, called, and got their emergency numbers. I called the first emergency number and got an answer. The guy was all dressed up, and I felt really sorry for that, but still didn't want to ruin the carpet or sub-floor.

He looked for a local shutoff in the area, but couldn't figure out how to shut off most of the house, and leave us some, so he had to go outside and shut off the water at the main valve.

So, we have no water to shower this morning. Yay!

Luckily, I didn't do a whole lot yesterday to build up a stink except for scrape the driveway, but that didn't take very long.


Oh, and I bought water...which I hate doing, but I bought enough water to last us a day or so of drinking, cooking, and such.


anyway....yeah...

Hey, I did a model!

It's a 1999 Honda NSR 500 race bike. The paint job started out to match the Repsol Honda that the model was based off, but it ended a bit differently.

I was looking for something to occupy my time this winter, and this took a weekend and a couple nights. Next time, I need something either bigger or more complicated.

I honestly want to get some fiberglass-ing materials and attempt a repair of my tail piece on the VFR, but I'm scared that I'll screw it up so bad that it won't fit back on the bike.

Anyway, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a pretty good movie. I give it a B. Great movie, well done, but I just feel like I saw it before in the other National Treasure movie and The Davinci Code. Anyway, good movie, and I didn't pay to see it.

Umm....

It's snowing, big, fat, wet snow flakes and I really wish I had something to do other than blog about how I'm bored.

Maybe I'll go pick up another model to work on.....

I hurt my leg

by standing on the brake pedal.

Yeah.

Really. That much pressure. Enough to hurt my leg.



Ok. I was driving home, and was minding my own business. Here comes some cars towards me. Not a big deal. It's a 2 way street. High beams down, and carry on....right?

.....the next section takes place in the time of about a second......

No. There's something weird going on. One of the head lights on the front car. Then it comes back on. Now it's flashing at me. Now it's on. Now it's off. Flashing. WTF?

I move my foot from the gas pedal to the brake (which is the smart thing to do when you don't know what is going on in the road, and your head lights SUCK.

Then, I saw it. A head.

At first, I thought it was a horse. I think "Swerve!" but no, he's on the right side, and on the left is a car. Then, I realize it's a moose. No. It's not a moose. It's 2 moose (mooses? meese? whatever, species: moose, count: 2). Yeah.

I stood on my brake pedal. To no avail. I knew I couldn't stop in time. One moose on each side. Swerving right means I hit a moose full on and then land in the ditch. Swerving left means I hit a moose, and then plow into a car. I figured I could at least stay on the road once I hit the moose if I stayed straight. The one to the right went right. The one to the left went left. I swear there was no way to *not* hit at least one of them, but I missed. I stopped just past what would have been the impact location, took a deep breath, and drove home.

No harm, no foul.

But I hurt the tendons in my leg by standing on the brake pedal. Not bad. It doesn't still hurt, but it hurt while I drove home. It was crazy.



Ok, now an update on the VFR.

I, much to the dismay of my wife, and confusion of my cat, brought the bike inside the house last night. I brought it just far enough into the house to shut the door, and I laid down my motorcycle cover as a tarp to keep the floor from getting dirty.

The theory being that the starter clutch wouldn't work because it was too cold to work. The theory also states that if you warm the bike up, it should start. This theory is based on the fact that a few people on the vfr forum (vfrworld.com) had problems similar to mine in the winter, but come spring it magically went away.

Well, the theory is correct. Once I rolled the bike out this morning, I hit the starter button. Same results as when it was cold, but a different sound. Another push on the button, and the bike ROARED to life, and quickly died. Choke was wrong. Adjust the choke and it ran like the champ I know it to be. A quick blip of the throttle, and it died...

Fuggin choke. No more choke, let it warm up a bit. It still stutters a bit when cold and you blip the throttle, but once it warmed up, the throttle response was what I expected AND it revved up really good. Yay!

I've got it in better shape than I bought it, for the first time since I bought it. The only thing keeping it from working was the not starting issue...and it starts, I'm good.

I've got better levers, and they work. Neither lever is bent or broken. When I bought it, one was bent, the other was broken.
The battery was dead. Now it's charged, and holding a charge.
The forks leaked, and had little fork oil. They now have an appropriate fork oil level, and don't leak.
The chain was loose and dirty. The chain is now cleaner (not good enough yet..) and correctly tight.
Turn signals, foot peg, brake stuff (pads front and rear and the bracket) and an oil change and I'll be ready to ride.
New tires, and I'll be ready for the track!

a myspace quiz....here

Welcome to the End of 2007*

As 2007 comes to an end.........

1) Where did you begin 2007?
Nampa, at my parents house. My wife and I spent most of the holidays there

2) What was your status on Valentine's Day?
Hitched!

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope. I'm done.

4) How did you earn your money?
Making video games! yay!

5) Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope, maybe should have, but didn't.

6) Did you have any encounters with the police?
maybe, nothing memorable, or costly!

7) Where did you go on vacation?
Sun River, OR, and southern Idaho, and Cali

8) Did you buy anything over $1000?
Nope

9) Did you know anybody who got married?
yup, cousin Dan

10) Did you know anybody who passed away?
can't think of anyone

12) Did you move anywhere?
nope

14) What concerts/shows did you go to?
I don't think I saw any concerts...

15) Are you registered to vote?
Nope, been considering it though

16) Who did you want to win Big Brother?
Big Brother? F that.

17) Where do you live now?
Moscow, Idaho.

18) Describe your birthday?
It was a Saturday....and I don't remember what we did...must not have been that special...which I'm sure was what I wanted!

19) What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2007?
Crash my bike...

20) What has been your favorite moment(s)?
Riding and garnet hunting

21) What's something you learned about yourself?
I can still weld!

22) Any new additions to your family?
We got a cat!

23.) What was your worst month?
don't know...don't care....I had some great times this year!

24.) What music will you remember 2007 by?
Crunk!

25) Who has been your best drinking buddy?
Ken

26) Made new friends?
Yes, finally!

27) New best friend?
no

28) Favorite Night?
None really stand out, but there were plenty!

29.) Did you have a child this year?
again...we got a cat...

30.) What's your favorite color?
This changes from day to day, and topic to topic

31.) How many childen do you have?
none

32.) Are you and your mother close?
not really close, but closer than I am to most people.

33.) What are your nicknames?
Jeff, Koorbloh, and "that guy on the rebel"

34.) Where did you wake up at on christmas?
Wife's parent's house

35.)What are you wearing?
clothes

36.)Did your parents get you anything for Christmas?
Sockets! Nice SAE sockets and nice metric allen head sockets! I love them! YAY!

37.) How old are you?
24

38.) Are you having a baby in less than 6 months?
Gawd I hope not....

39.) Do you have a friend you miss?
plenty

40.)How many bedroom do you have in your house?
3

41.) How many bathrooms?
2

42.) Who did you last kiss?
wifey

43.) Last hug?
wifey

44.) Last 5 text message from?
someone for christmas

45.) Last 3 missed calls from?
I haven't the foggiest (and I ain't looking)

46.) Last person you talked to on the phone?
mom

47.) Who's your favorite football team?
Well, the only one that I really follow used to be Carroll College, but my brother doesn't play there anymore...so....prolly the '49ers...for family reasons.

48.)Last NFL football game you went to?
I don't care about NFL

49.)Are you close with your brother/sister?
Not really

50.) Are you close with your inlaws?
not really

51.) What are you looking forward to in the next 2 months?
riding....getting the damn VFR put back together and running like a champ, and riding that too!

52.) next 15 days?
duck hunting!

53.)Where were you on Father's Day?
maybe riding...maybe at home with my wife

54.) Last person to come over unannounced?
people selling stuff

55.) Who car did you last ride in other than your own?
if you don't count my wife's car, then her parent's blazer

56.) Favorite restaurant in 2007?
the onion

57.)Best thing about today?
relaxing

58.) Plans for today?
was going to do something productive...but it's 3....I don't think I am

59.)last thing you drank?
Water

60.) How was 2007?
Good times.

Christmas break and New Year's Plan

So, we left to celebrate Christmas a week ago Saturday. It was nice to leave, and frankly, nicer to be home now.

It was a great visit. The first night we spent with my parents in Nampa. We celebrated Christmas with my brother and parents and then had a nice dinner, and took off for Twin Falls.

Christmas in Twin Falls was really nice, and we all had a good time, although I forgot to take anything to do, and almost went crazy from boredom on Christmas Day because we just sat around and watched movies. I'm not making that mistake next year, I'm taking something.

New Years brings a time of reflection and thought about the upcoming year. I've set some good goals for myself. Since college, I started brushing my teeth in the morning only, which is a terrible habit, and I am stopping that NOW. I also don't have much in the way of savings for retirement. Yes, I'm not even 25, but I'm planning for retirement. I started last summer, and I'm going to put about half my raise this year (assuming I get one) into savings, hoping to save at least $4k for the future. The more I save now, the more that money will be able to work for me to create more money for when I retire. So, that leaves me with the last of my 3 resolutions. This one is another health issue. I'd like to lose 20 pounds to put me at 220 (yeah, still huge, but I'm a big dude, 220 is a good weight).

My new years resolution is to better myself through those 3 things. If I can do those 3 things, I'll feel much better about myself, and hopefully with the weight I lose (by doing some exercising) I'll feel better physically too!


Oh, and we've got 8 inches of snow. I know I told my parents it was a foot, but 8 inches is closer to accurate. It's still plenty of snow, and there's TONS of frozen water laying all around this area.


Hello, 2008. Welcome.

Antlers, on the wall

After a couple weeks of sitting on my back deck, they are finally on the wall. Wasn't as scary as I thought it would be to do.

Lessons learned:
1) skin the head, and clean the outside of the skull before you cut into it. It would have been much easier to clean the skullcap with more skull to work with.
2) leave less skull on the antlers so the little cover that comes with the mounting kit will fit better
3) have a beer--every project is better with a beer!

I went pheasant hunting this morning and saw a whole lot of birds, but no pheasants. No game birds at all. Just lots of hawks and a couple magpies.

Access Yes for the win, by the way.

Access Yes is a program in the state of Idaho that lets landowners get something in return for opening their land to hunters. Basically, it's the same as letting people hunt there if they ask, but you post it up on the internet saying that it's ok to hunt there. The state lets you choose what months are ok to hunt there, what kind of game is ok to hunt there, vehicle use, all sorts of things, and the all-important: "Land-owner contact (not) required." If you have land, they help you out with it, with improvements and such, in exchange for it being open to hunters.

I don't know how much they actually do for land owners, but it's a great program for hunters. If I had land, I'd open mine up.



My brother played his last football game, evar, and won (which seems to be a habit with this team). 17-9, with a nearly scoreless first half.

He got mentioned on national tv AND got shown a LOT. It was really cool to see him out there kicking ass in the mud-puddle they called a field.

Rain was the best player for both team's defense, as no one could hold onto the ball.

Good game though!

Oh, and mom, you looked great on TV too!


Another day, another dolla.
Back to work on Monday, 5 days until a week and 2 days off.


I found springs for my bike cheaper than I thought.....not sure how much, but should be cheaper than buying new! A buddy of mine has them and has offered them to me at an undisclosed price (even to me!). Didn't even know if they would fit, so there was no talk about buying them.

Only 3 and a half more months until March....14 weeks.... So close, yet so far away. Why can't it be warm yet?

Stream of consciousness over for now...

snow

we got some...the drive to work was slow...

the drive home was worse...I had to stop and scrape my window...freezing fog sucks


I thought I wanted to blog...but I guess not...

Drifting on the Rebel

Not as scary as you'd think.

I took a left hand corner today on the Rebel, yes I went out riding, and as I took it, I slid out.

It wasn't a bad slide, I didn't even realize I slid until it was over. I just kept turning, and working the bike to make it go, but the back end slid out, then straightened out, and I kept on goign down the road.

yay!



My home brew cider is like drinking watered down apple juice, until you stand up. It's strong in alcohol, but you can't taste it, and there's not much apple flavor. The yeast flavor/smell is much less than my previous beers, and I attribute that to the secondary fermentation.


And it snowed today. It started snowing as I was filling up the last engine with oil. I changed the oil in 3 engines today, and it felt good to get out and work.

That damn tool box is just too perfect. I have all my shop towels, jackstands and jacks stored in the thing, so I roll it out, and work on the car, and put everything away, and roll it all back in.

It takes less time, I have quick access to all my tools, and everything stays organized because it's less work to carry it all back in that way.

crazy...when things work right, you just can't find fault with it. For the situation I'm in right now, this tool box setup is PERFECTO!



Next weekend, my brother's last game, evar, for sure happens. I'll be watching from the warmth (from the heaters and beer!) of Zeppos in Pullman. Anyone who wants to join me, let me know, and I'll tell you exactly when. (I'll prolly post up between then and now too).


I've ordered the final parts to make the VFR run again, I think, but the starter issue is making me angry...hopefully I can push start it... I'll need some other things to make it a good bike to ride again, but it will run once I get all my parts together.


My toe is doing much better now that it's had a couple days to relax and breathe. My new shoes are helping to keep it from going bad again. Oh, and I got new boots too! Timberland hiking boots, all leather, and really nice boots. A discontinued style for $60. yay!

yah, that's an update into Jeff's world.

wow

South Park last night was hilarious, but it brought up a really good point.

The episode was about the game "guitar hero" and Stan and Kyle were working really hard to get a huge amount of points (100,000) in co-op mode. They achieved this, and all their friends went crazy. Then, some guy offered them a contract to play guitar hero, took them to coke and sex parties, and treated them like rock stars.

yaddy yadda yadda, one friend betrays the other, and starts playing with someone better, one ends up playing in a bowling alley arcade, they get back together, and eventually get one million points together. Once they did, the game said "Congrats, you've played enough to get one million points, YOU ARE FAGS!"

No one can argue with that. Come on people, guitar hero is a great game, and is wildly popular, but there comes a point in everyone's life where they should put down the controller, and pick up a real guitar.

Stan's mom said it best: "If they put half the energy into (something real) as they do on that video game, they could (go places)."


As a gamer, and a game programmer, I can honestly say that I have played games more than maybe I should at certain points in my life. I have even played certain games way too much. But one thing I can say is that never, never, never has status in a game taken precedence over real life stuff.

I know people who have missed classes (and tests) to play games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, and such. They miss work to go on raids. It's silly. It's not real. Go do something real. Use games for when the weather is too bad to go outside and play, or use games for when you are waiting on parts on a project. Or use games for that 15 minutes longer that someone takes to get ready to go somewhere with you.

Some people play too many games... It's really too bad.

So, what I'm saying is, instead your free time consisting of playing games, make your free time consist of playing games, hiking, reading, hunting, fishing, or getting together with your friends. Let the games sit, they'll wait.

my toe

yeah, it aches a little bit.

the doctor was really nice, and I didn't feel anything other than the numbing shots.

Well, that isn't true...I did feel somethings. Like I felt him resting his hand on my foot to hold my toes apart, so he could work on the toe he was working on.

It sucked.

I've "self-medicated" a bit tonight...a couple beers and the pain went away. The buzz is wearing off, and the pain isn't coming back. I just needed to give it some time to subside a bit.

Hopefully, in the morning it feels like a toe again.....


What a crazy procedure. Last time, it was a cut, and a pull, and a wrap. This time it was a cut, and a pull (which I didn't even know we got there yet) and some stuff to kill my nail down at the root.

This is supposedly the more extreme procedure, but I felt less....must be because the guy was a podiatrist, not a general doc.

Nice guy, he likes cross country skiing, and he's not a computer power user. His wife has shot a deer, and he never has. I learned these things while he was knifing my toe.

It was a very interesting time.



Well, you know....



out

toe + knife = teh suck

Tomorrow, at 4:30, I go "under the knife" to get my toe cut up...yet again....

this time, for good....hopefully



I bought 3 new pairs of shoes today, as my xmas bonus came in today...




so....boo and yay!

A happy improvement to myspace!

So, I used to listen to music on youtube and myspace. I pretty much stopped using myspace, even though it's easier to tell more about the artist there, because I discovered youtube playlists. They are really nice, you set up a play list, and it will play. Very nice.

Well, so, I stopped using myspace for a while. Well, I went back the other day, and I found out that they now play all the songs that are available, instead of just one. This is awesome because now I can start it and go back to what I was doing, and I've got a few songs before it requires more interaction.



just so everyone knows...I use myspace music to listen to rap music mostly....


yeah, I listen to rap....

get over it

I HIT A DEER

SERIOUSLY I HIT A DEER

Luckily, my pickup drove away, and the deer ran away.

The deer jumped right out in front of me when I was driving home. Luckily, I was going slow (icy roads) and we just bumped, and slid, and then it was over for everyone.

No dents for my pickup, I hope nothing serious for the deer.

Oh, and I'm on a hacker hunt! YAY!

Since we last talked

Ok, this might not be the longest post I've ever done, but it's going to cover quite a bit of the time since I last posted up.

So, lets talk about:
1) bikes
2) football
3) hunting
4) my cat
5) my homebrew
6) my office and tool box
7) my ingrown toenail

1) bikes
The rebel is running like a champ, but I don't ride much right now, because well, it's gotten too cold since deer season started. It's still my main bike, and will remain that way for a while.

The viffer is having some issues. Parts and labor are the main problems. Parts are hard to come by unless I do labor to get the money for parts, and then do the labor to put those parts on. I did, however get the choke cable replaced today, which wasn't a big deal. Actually, it was nice to work on it (see office and tool box). I had everything I needed, and it was a pretty simple task. But, I think the starter clutch is kaput. I'll know more once I get a chance to inspect the starting system. I'm hoping it's the starter and it can be repaired. The starter clutch is harder to replace, and can't be repaired.

I'll get the viffer all running good, and then I'll learn to ride it pretty well, and then....and then...I want to make some good times flogging the crap out of it.

2) football
my brother is playing the football still, it's his last season, and any game now could be his last game. It's his senior year, and he's graduating in December (less than a month!). It's been quite a run, he's played a lot of ball, and he's had good and bad times. But, it will be the end of an era when it's all done. It's been something he's done since 5th grade, and now, his 5th year in college is going to be, most likely, his last game ever. He's got at most 2 games left this season. The semi-finals, and the national championship. If they lose, it will be sad, no doubt, but if they win, it will still be sad. The last time that he'll be a Saint, strapping on the helmet and preparing to go forth and play for and with these friends and brothers.

....kinda makes me wish I had stayed with football....just wasn't my thing....

3) hunting
I've been out for grouse a few times, and it's been fun, but once deer season opened, I've been hunting all the time since then. If you look, my last post was 8 days before deer season opened, and since then, there hasn't been anything posted.

I passed up a couple does because I was holding out for a buck. I spent a day out in Elk River, and didn't see very many deer. I see more deer in Troy and Deary than I saw in Elk River. Oh well, I learned, and didn't go back. I went through many stages of deer hunting, such as having fun, at peace, hating every second of it, and being depressed for being a crappy hunter. But, I was determined not to let a bad mood make me shoot a tiny, suit-case, deer again. I even was lined up, safety off, and ready to shoot this one doe, but realized that I just didn't want to gut and skin a deer that night.

Well, along the way, I carried my shotgun in my truck anyway, and ended up getting a pheasant and a Hungarian partridge. I've been keeping my pheasant tails, and I put them up on the wall, as a trophy. I'm up to 2. Actually I keep them for my friend who ties flies, but I like to look at them until I have a reason to get rid of them.

So, anyway, back to the main event, deer season. The middle of the season came and went, and I didn't even get a shot off at any deer. I shot at 2 bucks one day, but since I hadn't shot my rifle in months, I missed really bad.

I went to shoot my rifle, and setup a paper target on a post, and got back to see what was going on. I accidentally left my safety on, and pulled the trigger. I flinched BAD. So bad, in fact, that the scope was aimed about 2 feet high and a foot to the right, with no shot fired. This was bad. So, I sat solid, and put 3 shots dead center on the target. I realized that I couldn't possibly have hit anything the way I jerked, so I felt more sure that I had missed those deer I shot at.

I looked at the calendar, and realized that I had 2 weeks left in an almost 2 month season to get a deer. I was determined to shoot the next legal deer I saw, no matter how small it was.

I went out the weekend before Thanksgiving, and saw a couple that weren't shoot-able. One was because of distance, and the other was because I didn't see it long enough. This, of course, discouraged me even more.

When I found out that my parents were coming up here for Thanksgiving, and weren't coming up until Thanksgiving Day, and I had taken the day before Thanksgiving off to possibly travel, I realized it would be a good chance to go out for a morning hunt before I had to buckle down and help clean up for my parents coming. I took off just around dawn (I always get out late for hunting for some reason) and headed out to my favorite spot that isn't trafficked hardly at all by hunters. Well, I was about 2 miles away when I saw 2 deer on the road. Of course, because it wasn't night, they took off, but stopped just off the road. I saw that one was a doe, and the other....the other....had antlers that stuck out past his ears....

my mouth went dry and I started to salivate at the same time...

I slammed on the brakes, threw it into park, and inserted the clip into my rifle as I popped the door and did a quick check for fences between me and him, fences he could jump over, and the all important "NO HUNTING" signs.

There was no reason not to shoot at him. I jumped off the road and shot. He jumped and took off. I whistled, and he stopped (THIS REALLY WORKS). I jacked another shell in, and took more careful aim. I squeezed the trigger, and I didn't hear the shot, but I felt it rock my shoulder. I knew it went off, and I knew it placed right where I was aimed (next time, aim lower, and more forward).

He stumbled, and rocked sideways with the impact, then jumped off. Knowing this deer was hit, I jacked my third, and last shell in, knowing I HAD to make this last shot, as my other shells were still in the pickup, and if he took off, there was no way to keep up with him and I didn't know how long he'd be able to go. I watched as he took another couple steps, and fell down and started kicking. 5 seconds later, it was over.

I ran back to my pickup, parked it, grabbed my pistol, rope, knife, and the tag, and headed off to get my deer. The knife was to attach the tag and gut him out. The pistol was in case he saw me and wasn't quite dead. One .380 caliber bullet to the head would put him out of his misery quick. The rope was to drag him out. When I got there, he was plenty dead, and so I tagged him, gutted him, and drug him up to my pickup.

I lifted his head up, set it in the pickup, tried to hold it there with my leg, and grab the front half, and the head fell. I was tired from dragging this deer's fat ass up the hill, through caterpiller-caused ruts, and over logs. Just then, the cavalry showed up. 2 guys pulled up in a silver Toyota. I gave them the puppy-dog face, and they got out and congratulated me on my deer and helped me load him up.

I took him to my boss's house and skinned him up and I'll bring him home to cut up and freeze tomorrow after work.

That's my deer hunting story!

I was going to go bird hunting today, but I ended up working on my bike today instead....oh well...it was fun! I'll get out next weekend after some pheasants, and maybe I'll find a place to let me hunt chukar.....gotta find a place to hunt chukar....

4) my cat
Elliot is an asshole, you all knew this. He's actually a great cat, and him and I seem to bond more all the time. He sits in my lap a lot of the time when I'm on the computer. He sleeps on my pillow, and he's really becoming a good cat now that he's getting to be almost an adult.

We've been letting him outside for periods of time, and he's figured out that if he scratches at the door, we'll hear him and let him back in.

Last night, he gave Jessica quite a good scare. It was cold, and he was outside for a long time. I was kinda worried, just because he'd been gone a long time, but Jessica was really worried about him. Well, he came back, predictably.

Anyway, he's an asshole, but I love him.

5) my homebrew
Ok, I've been working on this homebrew cider for a looong time. I started it before school started, which means that I started it in August. I was hoping to have it ready to drink in September. I let it ferment a couple of days, and when it slowed down a bit, I transferred it to a secondary fermentation bucket, hoping that it would take it off the dead yeast cells, reducing the yeast-y flavors and textures. Well, I've been meaning to bottle it for quite a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. I wasn't really worried about it, because (I told myself) that the longer it sat in the fermenter was like aging in the cask, only going to make it better.

Well, I bottled it finally. It was 12 22ounce bottles, and 5 or 6 16 ounce bottles. This was smaller than my usual batch, but I knew that when I only bought 3 gallons of cider to start with. My usual batch is over 5 gallons!

Well, part of bottling is checking final specific gravity. To do this, you take a little bit off and this creates a bit of "waste." Well, not wanting to waste it, and to check the quality...I tasted it. Before I tell you what it tasted like, I'll tell you this. When it started, it had the potential alcohol by volume of around 9%. When I checked the final potential alcohol by volume, it was an even 0. This means the yeast has eaten up all the sugars in the cider. I took this to be a bad sign. Plus, there was a slight vinegary smell when I first opened the bucket. I also took this to be a bad sign.

There was no reason for any worry. The smell must have been imaginary, because once I tasted it, it was sweet (not sure how) and not harsh at all. There was no vinegary smell. The strange thing was the lack of alcohol taste too. This was the smoothest drink I think I've ever had. The secondary fermentation took about 90% of the yeasty flavors out of the drink, and it was like drinking apple juice, but with a slight warming sensation. I use a 10mL graduated cylinder for my testing, and that 15mL (I had to dispose of some when I accidentally overfilled a couple bottles) gave me half a buzz. At around 9% alcohol by volume, it's twice as strong as a light beer.

I put some sugar in the mix before I bottled it. Hopefully there's enough yeast to eat those sugars up and carbonate the bottles up and make it sparkling cider, if not, no big loss, it will be like apple wine.

6) my office and tool box
I spent $75 and bought a Craftsman tool box on Black Friday. But, it's not just a tool box. It's a 3 drawer tool box, on top of a riser that creates storage below the riser, on top of a 2 drawer and 1 big doored storage area roller. It stands about 5 feet tall, and is perfect for working on everything. I put all my hand tools into it, and organized my whole office yesterday.

Today, when I went outside to work on my bike, I rolled my whole tool set outside, worked on my bike, put my tools back in, rolled the whole unit back inside, and washed my hands, and it was all put away! It was PERFECT.

7) my ingrown toenail
Ok, this spring I had an ingrown toenail cut out. There are 2 speeds to that surgery. The low speed is a numbing of the toe, a cutting of the toenail, and then a pulling of the toenail. This type of operation takes about 5 minutes, then they bandage you up, and send you along your way.

Well, the toenail grew back, and quickly got infected again. I went back to the doctor and they told me I needed the higher speed of the surgery. This is where they cut out the toenail, but go into your toe, and stop your toenail from growing back. They don't remove the whole toenail, just part of it, and the scrape away the "root" of the nail, so it won't grow back into your toe.

I'm not looking forward to the operation, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I'm just looking forward to having my toes be normal again.

For a long time, I thought that by cleaning under my toenails, it was doing myself a service. The gunk under my toenails was causing stink, and it wasn't pleasant. So, I'd take it out, but I was aggressive when I did so. This caused the toenail to become detached from the part where it should be attached. This lets you cut it shorter, or lets it tear easier. Well, if you cut it too short, or it tears, then it causes pain when it grows back. I found that by cutting it back, I could make the pain go away. About a year ago, I found out that I was causing the pain by cutting out the nail, and that until my toenails all grew back out, correctly, and I cut them correctly (straight across), I would never be free of toe pain.

Well, all 3 grew in normally, except for the inside edge of my left "great" toe.

And that's why I have to go get my toe cut up on Dec 4th.


Lessons learned recently:
1) patience pays off, both deer hunting and cat ownership can be greatly rewarding
2) take care of your toes
3) things that become part of your life sometimes end...example, football
4) hard work pays off eventually, procrastination pays off now (and in the case of homebrew cider, it pays off later too!)
5) a clean office and organized tools make my office less stressful to look at, and it makes working on stuff nice and easy!
6) the longer I don't blog, the longer my posts become :)

Ok, I've been blogging for a lllllooooonnnnnggggg time now, and I think it's time that I quit and see how much I've actually written...

So, you guys have fun.

viffer parts and stuff

I've got the front brake pads, need rear

I've got the brake lever on the bike

Clutch lever and clutch lever holder-bolt should be in this week (need the pusher...cut a bolt...cheeep)

Choke cable is in the mail

next priorities:
rear brake pads
foot peg bracket tab
foot peg bracket
foot peg tab
front brake bracket (oops!)
change all fluids

bought a bike...

here's what needs done to it (just took some notes, prices are mostly bike bandit prices, haven't looked for "good" prices yet)

change both fork seals, use thicker oil (because I'm a fatty) but not by much (because I'm not that fat) kit: ~$25 oil: ~$10/quart
clutch lever, bolt for clutch lever, brake lever (~$12 for levers, bolt...might be cheap..might need special)
left foot peg, or set of rear pegs (no clue what this will cost....probably big cost
some flat steel stock, and some angle stock for bending and making brackets, and a way to cut it (dremel?) ~$20
grips ~$15
choke cable ~$20
brake pads ~$50-60
tires ~$250


priority:
levers/bolt (one lever on bike already, other paid for...need bolt)
fork seals
choke cable
grips/foot peg
brake pads
tires