Riding

After riding back from Fresno, wet, wet, rain, wind, dust storms, traffic and cold (fun), I washed the bike and for no other reason rather than difference I have left the luggage off and have set them in the garage. I also lessened the pressure on the ye olde shock one notch and now, perhaps I'm just making it up in my head, but I think the bike feels differently in a good, more poised way.

If it is an imaginary notion it comes from this last weekend when I was following a 900 Monster into Silverflake. The rider was having fun by swinging a touch wide into easy thoroughfare corners and then ducking back behind the slow cars. From my viewpoint the Ducati's rear suspension seemed to compress a bit as he swung wide and pivoted, like the bike was planting, bending its knees in a crouch and then springing back to the middle of the road. It looked like fun, and got me thinking that my shock, what is left of it, was tightened down too much, too stiff; thus the loosening.

Then again, the shock is old, could be toast and in my mind.

More Mencken

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

- H.L. Mencken

Everyday a little more

I remember the halcyon days of the Euro hovering just around $1US. Then I snap awake.

The mind wanders

The YMCA here near work has satellite radio and it is typically tuned to a classic rock station. While the sat-radio plays b-sides and lesser heard rock (thankfully) it also covers the bases of the well-known, and so today I heard "Smoke on the Water", what my friend Peter described as Deep Purple's detailed recounting of their trip to Switzerland.

Last night I started reading "Lolita". As part of the author bio I learned that Nabakov made enough money from the sales of this book that he was able to quit his translating and teaching at top-notch schools and "retire" to, of all places, Montreux.

A two-second Google search didn't reveal any info, so I still wonder, since Vladimir lived near the water and the sky, did he perhaps witness the smoke and the fire?


Meanwhile, Ritchie Blackmore is pursuing his love of the days gone by.

Just Overheard (a continuing series)

"...and this is in the Underworld."
"Where is the Underworld?"
"Well, it's, it's under the earth."
"Oh."

You know I am no stranger / I know rules are a bore / But just to keep you from danger, I am the law

The buckskin covered hand of the law has reached around into my neighborhood for the last month or so. It was apparent immediately when tickets where suddenly seen being handed out on a fairly busy through road that has one or two stop signs that are not always strictly heeded.

This morn, a black Saab pulled out 50 yards in front of me on this road. As we headed down to the first of the main intersections, this one a three-way, I thought "Watch out for the fuzz."
Sure enough, a motorcycle patrolman (kawasaki) was poised a few cars up the side street. I didn't touch my feet to the ground, just came to an extremely slow, rear-braking near-stop before proceeding on. I then heard the tell-tale sound of the Kwak coming up behind me and my heart sunk. As I even processed that the police office was behind me, he blew past me and pulled over the Saab.

It wasn't a classic looking Saab, meaning interesting. It was one of the newer style sedans, the one whose styling does not leave much of a mark.

15 minutes later I took the exit ramp off of the freeway into Burbank and saw that a highway patrol car had pulled over a black Mercedes sedan - again, one of the middle of the road models - where the owner has enough money to avoid the base, but not to buy the whole hog.

Lastly, after parking the bike and while standing on the corner across from the studio, I saw a rider on what might have been an older model japanese cruiser (virago?), something that I am not familiar with, that had the standard milkcrate strapped to the passenger seat with a small-medium sized dog in it.

I am unable to avoid sound whether it is the chatter of the workplace, the cellphone convos at the gym or the ubiquitous piped in radio.

Noise.

Unlock

Called T-Mobile today to get the phone unlocked for our trip overseas. Stazz mentioned, when he returned from a vacation to France that "the way to go" is to get tri-banded phone "unlocked" and then, when in England or France, buy a prepaid phone card and enjoy a lower local rate. This procedure is spelled out by this guy. Wheels in motion.

Also: Sagor and Swing. I have been listening to "Allt Hänger Samman" for most of the day. Lovely.

The Moose

The Moose is bemused and befuddled. I'm sure these recent events make perfect sense to our friends in the hinterlands:

...the Moose submits this query because the rule of law appears to be in jeopardy in the House of Representatives. Of course, the Moose is referring to the House G.O.P. changing its rules to protect the Chief Exterminator, Mr. DeLay from the long arm of the law. Years back, the bold elephant implemented a rule requiring a Member who is indicted to step down from his leadership position. Then, the Republican posse was on the tail of Democrat Dan Rostenkowski. Now that a Texas prosecutor may be closing in on the Bug Man, the rule has been changed - it is no longer an automatic dismissal, but rather the accused will be judged by a jury of his cronies in the leadership.

Yea, the raging hypocrisy overwhelms the Moose. He only takes refuge in the notion that hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.

A few Reps still own their own balls enough to state where they stood on the vote, others are dancing as fast as they can. Cronies.

The spark of life

GREAT WHAHOOLAZOOMA it sparks!

I apologize for the lack of moto-futxing news - time has slipped away from me in regards to the XT and a few other projects for the last couple of weeks - its been raining off and on, suddenly it got all dark earlier and the second job has been on the front burner, but just tonight, the unthinkable happened; the bike has spark.

We last left our hero after having removed the generator cover. Tonight I left the evening freelance web job for a few hours and went out to the garage to survey what had previously been a well organized, if unsuccessful project. I could barely remember where I had left off.

The left side cover was still off and the generator cover was on the ground. Parts were strewn everywhere as were bits and pieces of the bike. The garage is very, very small, so nothing had gone too far, but it all seemed so unfamilar.

Not really knowing how to begin I just cleaned this and that, followed wires here and there, checked the gap in the points (.35 mm), tightened any and all connections I could find and scotchbrighted a few rotten looking surfaces. I had the generator cover back on as nothing underneath it looked broken or disconnected (at least not obviously) when the girlfriend came out. It was hobby night IN the house as well and she was showing off some sewing when she noticed I looked a bit lost. I explained what was supposed to happen (spark) and that I was a bit confused and frustrated as to why it wasn't but was just going to try it again.

"Here" I said, "would you mind holding the spark plug while I stomp on this thing?"
She's super game and into messing with this old bike so the answer was "Of course not!"
"Hold the edge of the plug against the cylinder head please."

Sure enough - a lil' white spark appeared. As if by magic. What did I do? I'll be damned if I know. Which in the long run may not be the best thing.

Now that it appears that the spark of life is available my guess is the next stop is the head. Have I ever dealt with valves and springs and who knows what else is in there? Nope.

Beautifully baked map

A gun carrying Kentuckian speaks out on the recent passing of the "no fag marriage" amendment to the state constituion.

And remind everyone that voted YES for the amendment that their trappings of Christian goodness and charity are doing a poor job of hiding the hatred, pettiness and uncharitable greed that they harbor in their hearts and that if there is evil in the world, it is walking the earth in their very own shoes and that they should be woefully ashamed of what they have done, for they are lowest and most scorned apostate in God's Kingdom and they should beg his forgiveness.

eph six hundred and fifty see ess

The BMW has been down at Irv Seavers since Saturday. I had taken it in for its yearly checkup and consumables change while at the same time had arranged to have a new center-stand, and strong non-breaking centerstand put on to replace the one that died on me. There was also an issue about where the hell all that oil was going.

One small replacement part was not available in-house and so I have had the pleasure to tear around town on an loaner-bikeF650 cs. It is a variation on the standard F650 GS in that it is slightly more street oriented - smaller wheels, a built-in tankbag, single sided swingarm and lower seat - while it has the same engine and probably lots of other similar running parts. It is also related to the Aprilia Pegaso as all these bikes use the single-cylinder engine made by Rotax.

While the styling is ok and it is kinda pricey and it does not have much power this bike, the cs, is a real blow-through-traffic weapon. It is like riding a mountain bike and your are always flying downhill. It is light, seemingly weighing nothing and has plenty of pickup to thump from one street corner to the next. Fools were all in a jam on the 5 heading home this eve and I barely batted an eye as I lane-SHARED past one car after another.
Windy, being naked means there is a bit of the blast, actually a real good blast of wind up around 80 mph. Would be a long day riding up to San Francisco, but so is the heavyweight cruiser K100RS. The difference being the big boy could take me, the girl and a large pack full of camping supplies.

The contemporary mix would be something like the Ducati Multistrada. I've spent some time riding L's and like it very, very much.

A buck 30

Just in time for our holiday trip abroad:

The dollar fell yesterday to within a fraction of a cent of its all-time low against the euro of $1.2930 , trading as low as $1.2898 before rallying slightly to close at $1.2867. It fell modestly against the Japanese yen, and continued a sharp slide against the Canadian dollar, which rose to 83 U.S. cents yesterday for the first time in 12 years.


It was the second straight day that the dollar has fallen despite a surge in the stock market, continuing a trend that began in early October when it started slipping against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. The decline rekindled the fears of some analysts that the dollar could be headed for a severe sell-off unless the White House and Congress make a major effort to shrink the budget gap.

H.L.

"Democracy is the theory that the people know what they want and deserve to get it - good and hard" - reminded to me by U.Offerings.