Surf's up

Went snowboarding yesterday. I don't think I did so bad for my first time ever, however I spent most of my time lying down on my back or on my face. I'm pretty durned sore today. I can't say I remember having so many body parts feel this way at the same time...


Also, the High Rollers Scooter Rally was a blast. I took a bunch of photos, posted here. The rides were fun, and I wasn't always last of the pack. I got to re-meet and ride with some Vegas folks I met last year. All in all, it was good fun with (relative) speed and fumes.

Where's the 'any' key?

The weather is getting a little colder here, so I'll probably pick up some warmer motorcycle gloves at a sale. I'll soon put up a review of a shield defogger I found recently, called Cat Crap. I'm anticipating today's trip after work to Fry's to pick a Weller WTCPT soldering station for my mad plans. It appears to not be in much demand, as they are only getting one, and I called in to reserve it. Fry's had the best price I could find so far, which is highly unusual.

I will probably also stop by the boot store. To look at boots. Red Wing boots.

I am also eagerly awaiting the upcoming Las Vegas Scooter Rally which I missed last year due to a newly broken thumb in a splint.

Also also, I'm awaiting the paperback version of Terry Pratchett's latest novel. I'm still waiting for a decent and affordable ebook reader, and reasonable ebook prices, but until then I will hold out for paperbacks.

He's got crazy flipper fingers

One habit I'm picking up lately is regular visits to the Pinball Hall of Fame out here in Las Vegas. I'm felling pretty stoked because a recent episode of John C. Dvorak's CrankyGeeks has him visiting the same place on his visit to Las Vegas for CES 2008. One of the games he plays is my favorite in the place, Orbitor 1:


After a great day of scootering around with friends and taking photos, we ended up at the pinball arcade, and once again enjoyed the splendor of rare, old, odd, and awesome amusements.



I give thanks to the dedicated Mr. Tim Arnold, whom you can meet anytime in the arcade. He's that dude you'll see there with his head under a machine panel with a continuity tester and a soldering iron.

halloweeneeneeneen...

Just thought I'd show you a pic of a paint job I did on my spare tire cover lately. I was just going for low-gloss black with a splash of something a little more visible in the dark, but it came out all kinds of Halloween. Fair enough.

Signal Sourcery

So I bought this device recently from J.C. Whitney (THE place we used to buy parts for VW beetles) called the Signal Sorcerer. It is supposed to be a little device that helps small vehicles to be sensed by electro-magnetically triggered traffic light stops.

It is essentially a small powerful magnet that you mount to the underside of your motorcycle, scooter, ATV, or bicycle. The instructions dictate that you should mount it to a flat surface, parallel to the road, and in-line with the direction of travel. I mounted mine to this part just in front of the kickstand. It is just about the closest part to the ground, save for the exhaust.


As you can see, it's basically a small magnet bar on a foam strip with 2-sided glue. It comes in a small tube, although I've seen differing models that look like little red boxes. After I attached it for 24 hours, you can see that the magnet has pulled itself to one side of the glue strip to make love with the bike chassis. I'm not sure if I want to correct this, but I do know that with it touching the metal, the magnet will discharge faster.

I bought it to try it out on a particular light that never triggers for me until a vehicle comes up behind me. When I tried it out recently, it did not work. I am holding out hope though, because there were no scores in the road that are evidence of the sensor. There are some marked sensors in this town that do not trigger for me either, and I will be testing how they work now.

Ikari Scooterists

Here's a photo I've been trying to get for a while. Every now and then I pass by the Konami building here. Konami is known for some great games like Frogger, Castlevania, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution, Metal Gear, and a lot more. I imagine that inside it's like Willy Wonka's factory but the Oompa Loompas are coding sprite loops.

You can tell that's my scooter in the shot because of the battle-damage. This also happens to be one of our rare rainy days. We've had about three this year so far.

Hunt for Red Stella

Lately, on my route home, if the timing is just right I will catch a glimpse of an elusive rare Atomic Fireball Stella commuting the opposite direction. This is the same scooter model I ride, but dipped in a custom Ferrara Pan paint job.

try to ride to live

Have I mentioned how much I hate traffic in the mornings? On my way back home this morning, after having breakfast/dinner with some friends, I encountered some construction work which was bringing 3 lanes down to 1. A few folks were turning around, and I decided to follow suit. I waited for a window from the yellow turn lane, and just as I was giving a bit of throttle to make my U-turn, a sedan came speeding around my left side crossing into the empty opposing traffic lane, and I squeezed the brakes as they came less than inches from my front fender. If I had decided to go any sooner, I could have been in one painful pickle. I didn't see or sense anything until it was right in front of me.

So here's a note. Look in as many directions as possible, even the ones you don't expect need to be looked into. The only truly patient humans are in the morgue.

ride to live, live to ride

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy the early morning ride home from work? It's a relatively calm, cool ride that still poses some traffic challenges. The road gets my heart pumping and the scenery keeps my awe enough to make the same route in a car pale in comparison. It's no woodsy lane, but it's a little bit of country and a little bit of rock n' roll.

zoom

As I was on my way home from work this morning, battling some strong wind, I was coming down a particular home stretch and found myself passing a semi-truck on the right. I had some traffic behind me and noticed a car that had been trying to accelerate to pass me before I got next to the semi-truck.

This car apparently had some place important to be because it cut through the turn/yellow lane on the left of the truck, in a particularly dangerous area. What's funny, is that this person lived in the same area I do and we got home at the same time. If I was in a car, I'd be going the same speed but I can imagine it's frustrating to be stuck behind a semi and a slow-looking scooter.

Work to Ride

I know I'm just a lowly scooter rider, but I'd like to remind all two-wheel jockeys out there that this Wednesday July 18th is Ride To Work day. If you can ride then show your pride.

Heatwave!

Looks like this heatwave claimed a victim right outside my house. When I got back into town from my trip to GA, I noticed that there was trouble with switching on low-beams and fog lights on my car.

I took this time to inspect all fuses and clean and check the engine compartment. As my troubleshooting procedure led into the cabin, I noticed that the high/low lever did not click right, so I used my trusty Haynes repair manual to research a little, and disassembled the casings around the steering column to pull out the modular switch. I swung by the only AutoZone in town that had the part and picked it up and tested it. Luckily, this fixed the issue. I had visions of having to have the wiring harness replaced, which would cost quite a chunk.

This replacement part was affordable. Thank you Ford, the car designers, and the fine people of Mexico for making a car that's easy to work on. I can only assume the part failed because of heat damage since the temperature here had reached at least 110F, and the car was fine before I left for the trip. Wonder what else might be melted ...

....RIP Another car part....

(I like to think that the shadow is his ghost escaping to the great junkyard in the sky. Via con Dios little buddy...*sniff*)

It's lovely having an alternate means of transportation. I use my scooter more than my car, so it was not a big deal at all. Replaced my spark plug while I was out and about too... Vroom Vroom!

Night Moves

Well, I've been working the night shift for a couple of weeks, and trying to get my body used to the hours. Working 12 hours a day doesn't leave time for much else, but I'm tired enough when I get home that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to keep the same schedule when I'm not working because moving sleep schedules around can mess you up a bit. I've never been much in-tune with my body. I can only tell when I'm hungry or exhausted, but then I can always push beyond both if necessary.

I'm always hearing about jet-lag, but I never seemed to care that much about it when flying abroad or across the country. A good friend of mine who travels to Europe a lot suggests that you just stay up as long as you can when you are given more daylight, and you'll slip right onto schedule by the next day. Also, booze helps.

On my off days, I seem to be able to take care of many of my interests, since I wasn't really going outside much for fun lately anyway. Getting together with friends, of course, is a bit more challenging. A lunch date around 12pm is smack in the middle of sleep-time. I am getting to read, study, and game more. This is a 24 hour town, so other than keeping your eyes sharp at night, it's not very difficult to get things done. I'm also actually able to get in a little exercise every day.

The commute traffic hasn't changed much. I take surface roads and still travel during most everyone else's commute time, only with opposite intentions.

Au-to-baaaaannnn

Took a trip up to Boulder City for a stop by Mel's Diner, perusing the shops, and a root beer float down at the A&W (keeper mug!). Was fun, windy, and fun.

Getting my butt on the grindstone lately. Hopefully I can make my fiscal goals by the end of the year, so that my stockholders (hi Mom!) won't panic the market.

hands up

Just though I'd post a more recent image of my current cast and scooter damage. The cast is due to come off April 5th.


Not much damage to the scooter. A bit more to my hand. Something's a'brewin in there. Cant' wait to take a gander.

breaking news

It appears that on President's day, I fell off of my scooter and broke my right thumb. The fracture was in a hard to set place, at 42 degrees off of the norm, so I had to wait a week and a half and just had the surgery to insert 3 pins so that it can heal correctly. I was lucky in that there has been no pain other when trying to use the thumb before the splint was strapped on. I've been told that it will take about 6 weeks to heal. I just got back from the clinic and am doing fine...waiting to see what the swelling and pain might be like.






The accident itself was minor. The speeds and impact were that of falling off of a bicycle. I slid no more than 15 feet off onto dirt, had never hit my head, and stood up. Several factors came into play in laying down my ride, most of which could have been avoided. First, there was a little sprinkle coming down; Not enough to be significant in a place like Georgia, but perhaps the little that fell made it oily enough out here to contribute. The corner was very tight and the road gravelly. I was always careful going around this corner before, but this time I was leaning a little more to come around (rolling on the throttle, but in too high a gear in my opinion). Which brings us to a final factor, Don't Look Down. I think I can recall, just before falling to the left and sliding across the ground on my belly, arms out (leather saves skin!), that the last thing I was looking at was the ground in front of the bike. Unfortunately my MSF instructor was not riding on the bike with me to smack me, so I had to learn the hard way and smack myself.

The thing that blew the most is that I specifically came back to Vegas at this time to participate in the annual Las Vegas scooter rally. I made most of the events, but I missed out on the rides.

The damage to the big bad motorscooter was minimal, I rode it home (no more than 500 feet) before driving myself to ER with a funny looking hand. The lessons learned important, and the memories will last a lifetime.

Everything happens for a reason. At the least this will keep me indoors so that I don't distract myself from study time.




Plus, I look like Mega-Man (Rockman)!






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