all good things...

a friend of mine got me hooked on a mainstream anti-xanga blog, so i've decided to stop posting to this blog. well, at least for now.

also, this blog documented my trials and tribulations when i was in my final year-and-a-half in the military... i am now elsewhere and maybe it's time to move on.

my new site is at: http://www.myspace.com/blaquemasque

please stop by and be my friend.

Currently Reading In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar, Volume 1) By Harry Turtledove see related

getting back to normal?

to date, i've put close to 500 miles on the 999. at 600 miles, warranty requires basic service to be done to the superbike in order to insure it is broken in properly. i made an appointment with the dealer but i can't take the superbike in until the middle of the month. the dealer is very busy with all the other bikes that need servicing. in the meantime, i'll have to restrict my trips to work-commutes only.

i picked up a brand new shifter for the monster since the macgyvered one was too annoying to use. it also looked like crap--didn't help i beat the darn thing into submission with a hammer in order to "unbend" it. i also got a new battery since the old one seemed to have lost too much water. i tried adding some distilled h20 but it kept on dripping out of the vent tube even though the indicator said the level was below the minimum. i did a voltage check with a meter and the battery was reading higher than the normal voltage, too. oh well. at least i won't be totally bikeless if the superbike has to take a mileage holiday.

long week...

i am so tired from this past week. it all started on

monday

when i was running an errand on my lunch break. i had already been staying up later and later to do homework for my online master's program, so i wasn't feeling that great (which may partially explain what happened next). i needed to fax a copy of my financial aid papers to the university; originally, when i received the paperwork i just blew it off without looking on the crafty backside of the document which had the instructions. after faxing the paperwork from a local office supply store i was leaving the parking lot--did i mention i was riding my monster?--when i saw a car cutting across parking spaces and lanes to get to a closer space. i was surprised and from what i could remember, i had braked hard and i guess failed to keep the handlebars straight... i ended up dropping the bike on its left side way before where i thought the violating car was going to be. total damage: bent shifter, scratched windshield, broken front left blinker, and miscellaneous scratches on the left side.

i was able to get the bike upright and while i was looking it over for damage, an older gentlemen from one of the nearby stores checked to see if me and bike were okay. frankly, i was pissed and i wanted some kind of recourse against that cage driver who tried creeping into my lane. that driver, or at least who i believed to be the driver of the car, had asked if i was okay right after i picked myself and fortissimo off the asphalt... all i could mutter was a "yes." he walked away afterwards and given how everything turned out, i'm glad i didn't try "having words" with the driver about possibly causing an accident... conspiracy theory time: when the guy from the store checked on me, he took the broken blinker lens and bulb to throw away--maybe he was in cohoots with the guy who cut me off, trying to cover up evidence...

the irony is that had i paid more attention the previous week when i received the paperwork, i could've got it accomplished then instead of monday. if so, who knows what may have happened?

anyway, i was able to ride home to pick up the car and get back to work. the rest of the day, i was sore on the lower part of my left palm as well as in my lower left back. very hard to concentrate. and after work, i still had to pick up a motorcycle trailer.

tuesday

my original plan was to ride my monster out of town to the dealership where my new bike was waiting. the dealership had said it would be ready on tuesday, so i wanted to exchange the monster (which was overdue for service anyway) for the 999. now, that i had dropped the monster, i was considering trailering it anyhow. who knows what else might have broke when i dropped the bike?

when i got up tuesday morning, i was pleasantly surprised. most of the soreness disappeared, especially in the back. weird. but that didn't allay any fears i had as a first-timer to towing motorcycles. i had tiedowns but i read that the front wheel should be chocked in place (and i forgot to get a chock when i got the tiedowns). at the time, i thought only motorcycle dealers sold chocks for bikes so if i wanted one, i'd have to wait until the shop opened. i planned on picking up the 999 and getting back for at least a few hours of work, so waiting didn't seem feasible. i thought about my options and decided to leave the monster home. i would replace the shifter and blinker on my own and ride or trailer the beast to the shop for service later on.

once i got to the shop one-hundred miles away, i found out that the bike wasn't ready yet. there was miscommunication between the service department and the person who called me (the saleman who sold me the bike). so i waited at the shop for practically the whole day. i had finally parked my car and trailer (reversing a trailer sucks) in the perfect getaway position and just didn't want to leave for lunch and have to deal with backing the trailer into the dealer parking lot. towards the end of the work day, the 999 was ready. unfortunately, i spent another half hour waiting for one of the service department fellas to secure the bike. by then, i was in no hurry. i had lost 8 hours worth of wages; another 30 or so minutes making sure my expensive bike wouldn't jump off the trailer at the slightest agitation wouldn't kill me.

i drove home going 60-65 mph even though the warning sticker on the trailer said 45 mph. it seemed i was constantly looking in the rearview mirror to see if the bike was still there. more so whenever i hit rough interstate road (and there was a lot of that between there and home). when i finally got home, i spent several minutes babying the bike out of the trailer. then i dropped, uh, returned the trailer before the uhaul place closed and finally ate my lunch-turned-dinner.

wednesday through friday

the remaining of the week, i was stressing over my homework. every week, i have to submit thoughtful posts to a online discussion board and since my day job is writing, i have been finding it harder and harder to keep on writing after once i get home.

saturday

i think the highlight of the week had to be saturday morning. most of the work week, the weather was good for riding a motorcycle. however, after dropping the monster, i was getting fearful of riding my 999... periodically after work, i would pretend to ride it in my closed garage so no one could see what a paranoid freak i had become! meanwhile, i was having problems trying to remove the bent shifter off the monster--and i just didn't want to deal with going to a hardware store to look for an impact driver or something... so, the weather was nice, and i took my car to work all week long. when saturday rolled around, everything hit critical mass. i got up earlier than most do on a weekend and fired up the 999. i rode it around the street i live on and then went for broke. wow. all the troubles of the week seemed to be a modest price to pay to ride such a fine machine. i put about 60 miles riding around the area, trying to carefully break in the bike. i even replaced the blinker on the monster and rode that for comparison (bent shifter and all). the monster seems to have a lot more torque but that's an unfair comparison because the 999 hasn't been broken in yet. one thing i didn't like about the 999: its racing engine gets incredibly hot and the underseat exhaust reminds me constantly of that fact--ouch. to top off my "victory ride" i was able to hammer the monster's shifter back into a more user-friendly position, but i haven't tried riding it since the fix.

today (sunday)

i spent several hours writing a three-page paper for my online class. it's done, but i still have to post messages on the board and preview this week's assignments. but i really wanted to write in my blog after such a crazy week.

i just hope i have enough stamina to continue like this.

Currently Reading Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics By Henry Hazlitt see related

cinco de seis

after a month, i think i have a routine going that's pretty close to normal:

if the weather is good, i ride fortissimo to work. otherwise, i opt for kurokawa. either way, the distance from home to work is ridiculously negligible -- although, from a mechanical standpoint, really bad for any motor vehicle. i don't even think my bike or car have a chance to really warm up when i arrive.

at work, i try to spend an hour or so reading one of the recommended books for all employees. the company philosophy emphasizes self-determination and self-responsibility. this is reflected in the books which focus on free market principles and other ideas that remind me of the rhetoric the founding fathers had espoused back in 1776. anyway, the rest of my day is spent trying to finalize one thing or another -- interactive scripts, a training development process, or corporate correspondence.

after work, if the weather is good, and if i haven't done so the day before, i go running on a gravel trail. not sure what the distance is, but my estimates (based on my pace) indicate the trail is three-quarters to one-mile one way. i run four laps usually in thirty minutes.

once at home, i spend some time everyday studying for my online master's degree in instructional design. while it's only been a week since starting and i'm taking an introductory class and non-credit lab, i feel i won't have too much difficulty once my specialized/core classes begin. if i'm not studying, it's the usual: reading, watching television or dvds, running errands, or riding the bike.

speaking of bikes, i just bought another one. the newest addition to the clan is a ducati 999, a definite step up performance-wise from the monster. the newbie (still to be named) will be become my get-away-from-it-all, find-me-a-twisty-road-and-leave-me-be bike; fortissimo will relinquish the multi-role of both getaway and workhorse bike and transition into the around-town two-wheel solution. of course, i'll occasionally take forti on longer trips so it won't grow old from neglect.

it looks like normalcy has returned to my life. 

Currently Reading Moving Through Life Transitions with Power and Purpose (2nd Edition) By Cara DiMarco see related

a fortress of solitude

today, i rode south in search of motorcycles.

my credit union offered me a good deal on a loan and i've been meaning to buy a sportbike... i consider myself loyal to my brand of bike, and the nearest one happened to be across the border... so, earlier this morning, i was on the road fighting the wind on the interstate. hours later, i was talking to a salesperson and asking him basically, "how much is the bike in the window?" the shop would have to call me back since the real bike mover was not working today. no big deal; i still had to call the insurance company to see how much money it would cost to add a top-of-the-line italian sportbike to my policy. if it would cost too much to insure, that would pretty much break the deal.

while i was down south, my brother had called --  he wondered if i wanted any of the food in his fridge... him and his wife were supposed to be moving out of their home today and heading further south, into a much bigger city. they've been waiting to see if the company would relocate them to an area larger than the sleepy hollow they were in, the same one that i'm in now. i missed the call because i was already on the road by then. his message also said that they would be leaving town later that morning.

of course, by the time i returned home, he was gone.