Sitting here… thinking about the Cycle World lying before me… I queued up all of my music into a single play list. I have been in a bit of a musical rut lately. So, why not dump everything I own into a single mega-sized play list? Hit random and I have tunes for the next couple of years. The track count is 10,015 after dumping a first Kansas and Barbara Streisand tracks. I am sure there is plenty of worthless material I will have to filter through, but that’s the fun part hearing new songs, old songs, long forgotten songs.
Now if I could just figure out this SQL query, I would be a happy camper… as Machine Head blasts thought my speakers. I didn’t know I had that?! It must be off a soundtrack.
And in closing, it is still raining.
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It has been an odd 24hrs. I stayed up all night last night, minus about 45 minutes just before dawn. I had promised to drive Laura back into the city first thing in the morning…
It is a long story, but she locked herself out of her apartment. I have a guest bed and I wasn’t about to leave her sitting on the floor with a pint of melting Haagen Dazs. We ended up cooking dinner together at my place, watching Dust to Glory and fiddling around with my guitars. All dreadfully out of tune. She crashed out around midnight, which is when I sat down to work. Around 05:30, I started getting really tired. Alas the alarm brought me back to the land of the living at 06:15. Yup. I slept less than 45 minutes. After short run back into the city, where she recovered her keys from the office, I dropped her off at her place and returned home. I ended up staying up until a bit after 09:00. Sleep was short and lacking when I awoke again around 13:30. A few more tasks and I was back in bed. Only this time I couldn’t sleep. I read, finishing up Breaking the Limit by Karen Larson. It was a pretty good book. I was reminded of the roads I have traveled, from Destruction Bay in the Yukon to crossing Lake St Croix on I-94.
So many miles…
I watched a little TV, then a movie. Sleep wouldn’t come. Finally I got up, took a shower and here I am. Tired and restless. Even a Red Bull has failed to jump start my synaptic nerves. Ugh. Yawn.
Somehow staring at my monitors isn’t exactly doing it for me today. Retreat to bed, sleep for a bit and return later? Sounds like a reasonable plan.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. It is raining again… There are flood warnings throughout the Willamette Valley. After a couple dry years, we really need the rain. Slow, steady, rain to recharge the aquifer and reinvigorate the trees and fields. The Jackson Bottom Wetland, just south of town, has a higher water level than I have noticed in at least three years and it isn’t even January yet. Cool. If this is the cost of having a rain-free summer, then I will gladly pay today so that I can ride tomorrow.
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Another day, another day of rain. The joys of winter in the Pacific Northwest. Still, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else right now.
Saturday was a nice day. I rode over to Tony’s to pick up a few things and ended up talking with Christine for a while. In the end she was shaking her head in hands, commenting that I am a hopeless idiot when it comes to relationships. Well Duh!!! You don’t get TWO ex-wives before 35, including a 10 year marriage, by being good at relationships. Do you?
Off to the shop. Tony bought a sidecar, his latest obsession. Back to his house to work on my DL (raised the suspension back to stock & added 1 amp resistor to my grips [perfect!]), his Z1000 (LOF), and install shocks on his new/used Mazda B2000 truck , dinner out, then home.
X-Mas eve survived…
Christmas. Survived. Again. Enough said.
OK. You didn’t look me up to read, Enough said.
The power went out during the night. I woke up looking at the clock thinking I had over slept. I called my mom and told her that I was going to be late. Her response was amusing, “But it’s only 09:00 and I just put the turkey in.” Ugh. I rolled over and slept until noon (as usual). Drove, ate, watched Star Wars II, drove, ate, watched Road Warrior, drove, watched The Presido, slept and it was Monday.
Enough said?
Over 7700 miles on my DL. 
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The winter solstice, the longest night of year, is upon us. Officially, it occurs at Dec 21st, 2005 @ 13:35 EST. This can only mean one thing. Spring is coming. I find that idea very appealing. By way of comparison, it is raining and 41° in Portland right now. On the upside, it isn’t snowing. 
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I got a last-minute invite to the U2 concert tonight. It was very entertaining. I had forgotten just how many songs they had written… It brought back some good memories and some not so good memories. Funny, how life has a sound track. For instance, Wild Horses reminded me of an old friend and his problems with his girlfriend. That song became his soundtrack for that time. Hearing it years later, I still remember his suffering. Sunday Bloody Sunday has new meaning. Pride still echos, unfortunately. When will we move beyond fear and hate? It was good show with a couple bonus Beatles/Lennon tracks at the end of the set and two encores.
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Today was the day.
I got up with the intention of completing my YZF winter prep work. The air was cold with overcast skies. Snow was moving in within an hour or two, so I needed to be efficient with my time. I knew this would be my last opportunity for a long while to get fuel and prep the tank for the winter. All things considered, I would have rather stayed home where is was warm and dry.
I rode the 4 miles up to North Plains, added my stabilizer and filled up my bike. Gas is down to $2.179 for Premium. The genius at the gas station asked me if I was cold then proceeded to tell me how crazy I am for riding in this weather. Thanks for the tip, Obi Wan.
While I was riding back home, the snow started to fall. Such fun. I managed to stay in the tracks of the cars proceeding me all of the way to my street. After a very slow right turn with both feet in outrigger mode, I made it into my driveway and garage. The YZF is now parked and prep’d. With the occasional battery charge, everything should be good until the crocus burst through in a few months. Until then, I will keep riding my DL as often as possible.
Now, if I could just figure out what I am going to do about that damaged pipe on the YZF…
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Yup. I did it again.
This time I did a high-side at low speed while leaving the shop. I have a few pictures of the bike and I am still trying to figure out exactly what happened. I remember hearing the motor spinning up. I remember the rear-end kicking out. Then I remember thinking, “Why am I looking at my headlight?” as we spun in lazy circles down the roadway. I was in front of the bike with the headlight between my legs and my right leg under the fairing. I was aiming for a side street that was at a 45° angle from Sandy when I launched. So, that is where I ended up. My knee is bruised and I have small blister on my hand. My leathers are damaged. I trashed a pair of gloves and glove liners.
YZF Crashed Read more…
My work allows me to keep an odd schedule. Today, I was awoken by my cell phone ringing. It’s 10:14. “Don’t people know I’m sleeping?!?” It is one of my clients. I ignore the ringing and head for the shower. I’ll call back after my synapses are firing in some semblance of order and reason.
A DVD burner is jammed and will not open. I try to talk my client through the manual eject procedure. She doesn’t trust computers, so it is an uphill battle in the best of situations. No luck by voice alone. I will swing by this afternoon.
The next question is, “Can I ride today?†Mostly cloudy, 37°, wind chill 34° night time low 21° . Nope. I could but I’m not that stubborn. The winters are short and relatively warm, but it still sucks. If it would only warm up so that the roads don’t freeze at night, then I would ride. I never know how long I am going to be out and darkness falls before 17:00, so the night time temps are a real concern. Instead, I wait, brood, wrench and fidget until the Crocus start to bloom. How long will it be until those first blades of green poke through the soil?
BTW: The forecast in Hyder: 41° / 35°, in Prince George: 27° / 16°.
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My latest BMG shipment arrived over the weekend…
- W.A.S.P. – The Neon God: Part I – The Rise
- W.A.S.P. – The Neon God: Part II – The Demise
- John Mellencamp – John Mellencamp
- John Mellencamp – Cutting Heads
- John Mellencamp – Words & Music
- The Darkness – Permission to Land
- Soundgarden – A Sides
- Orgy – Candyass
Mildly diverse. Not quite as diverse as my last Tower run, but close. I haven’t really listened to very much except the Orgy and a few Mellencamp tracks. Laura got me turned on to ‘Your Life is Now’ from Mellencamp’s self titled album. So, I have been listening to that and a full run through the hits collection, Words and Music. I used to have the Soundgarden album, but it disappeared somewhere along the way. I am saving the WASP for when I have time to listen to both albums straight through. Probably tomorrow or really late tonight.
My first task was to rip everything. I now have over 51 Gbs of mp3s, over 10,000 tracks from 247 different artists. Well, not exactly 247. I have several compilation albums which count a one artist in my totals, but there are tracks from multiple artist on each disc. You know what I mean.
So. I have a rhetorical question for you. Read more…
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From the Oregonian on Saturday, December 10, 2005
As motorcycles surged in popularity in recent years, many motorcycle shops became trendy boutiques. Not so Dr. Brown’s Motorcycles, a modest two-story wooden house in Northeast Portland so overrun with parts and accessories that Gene Brown eventually had to move out.
Brown bought the place in 1968, raced motorcycles and ran a shop out of his home. Over time, he says, “the shop engulfed everything.” He stopped living there in 1988, and it has been exclusively a store ever since.
It’s the kind of store that caters to no-nonsense riders who buy rain gear and heated vests because they refuse to stop riding in the winter. The kind of riders who save money on a new helmet with 1- or 2-year-old graphics because it protects the head just as well as the latest style.
New bikers, drawn by fashion and the cool factor, might never notice the small shop just north of Burnside on 16th Avenue. And that suits Brown, who has been cultivating his clientele for nearly four decades, just fine.
– Photo and text by Fredrick D. Joe
On OregonLive.com
Portland to Hyder… Riding Directions from Portland, OR to Hyder, AK ala MapQuest
Laura and I have been talking about going to Hyder, AK this coming summer. I can’t express how passionate I am about this trip. I really want to go, right NOW. Alas, mid-summer is target date.
Logistically, I would like to get a set of Givis cases so that I can carry a bit more while keeping everything dry. New tires are already on my list. I would like to change out my heated grips to something a bit more tolerable. The new Milepost will be published in March. I should buy a little gas can for those long stretches with unknown services and score some more camping fuel. Then of course the saving of cash to go… That’s about it.
For those of you that don’t know me that well. I lived in Fairbanks for a short time attending UAF back in the early ’90s and my parents moved back to Texas from Delta Junction, AK a few months before I was born. I missed being an Alaskan by about 60 or 70 days. Instead I am a native Texan with the Alaskan distain for authority. A wonderful combination. LOL.
Links for Hyder, AK & Stewart, BC
Misc. Alaska & British Columbia Links
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I’m having one of ‘those’ days. Nothing specific and, honestly, it is probably self-imposed. I haven’t eaten anything since around 10:30 this morning except a handful of pretzels. A single Pepsi in the same timeframe isn’t helping either. The joys of caffeine addiction.
Work was work. More coding on a multiphase Web site rebuild. Nothing too serious, just debugging code I wrote yesterday and playing with layout issues. That’s what I do some days: write code, play with pixels, push electrons, ponder the nature of digital cognition or something like.
Read more…
I made a few changes to the site tonight. I added an image randomizer to the header. The obvious follow up was to create a few backgrounds… 59 images later. I also played with the style sheet and background images. A little tweak here and a little tweak there. Give it a few days to stablize, then I’ll see how things look. Time for some sleep…
PS: The Crue DVD was a lot of fun and makes me want to thrash on my kit.
PPS: The Morissette disk was very enjoyable. Yes, it is a big shift in musical style, BPM, and attitude. What can I say? I’m a complex guy.
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