Update

A few weeks back I started riding to work again. I joined an adult kickball team, the Repeat Offenders, part of the Little Rock Kickball Association. I've gained about twenty pounds since I injured my back, some of it has been poor eating and the other limited mobility. My back had been feeling pretty good, and I was looking forward to Kickball, being able to ride my bike again, and all of that and then I injured my ankle. So over this weekend I've had it with a compression bandage on it, and the swelling is finally gone for the moment. It swelled up pretty bad yesterday when I mowed, and edged the yard but it's better today. I went grocery shopping, and will be planning my meals out now and working to drop the weight. If I am diligent, it'll take me 2 or 3 months to drop it, less if I can motivate myself to do some paddling at Lake Willastein. I want to get back to riding my bike, and riding my motorcycles. I think this week my ankle will be back up to the motorcycles. My dad is doing somewhat better, he's lost a lot of water on his legs thanks to the prescriptions the doctors have him on... and hopefully he'll continue to improve.

Tired, but can't sleep.

Haven't posted in a while. Quick summary of random thoughts:

• New patio furniture (on clearance!)
• Patio storage box (on clearance!) for the patio furniture cushions.
• Bought dogfood/Dog bones. Gotta submit this great photo for the Milkbones Model Dog contest I have!
• Had an excellent weekend.
• Miss our intern at work who was so awesome (Good luck Rebecca, you're gonna go places!).
• Dad got his A/C fixed, and they upped his meds dosage again.
• Need to clean the house (seriously).
• Need to mow (we had over 3 inches of rain last week).
• Been riding the bikes. Vulcan is fixed.
• Lastly... Going to bed.

Hot Weather

The Vulcan is still in the shop. I have been riding the Buell this week. I rode for 5 or 6 hours last Sunday, just getting back in the groove of riding. I rode to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's HOT! I did lunchtime rides each day despite the heat. I filled the bike up twice to the tune of $6.00.

I've been thinking about having a place to garden, things like Tomatos, Peppers, etc... so I decided I'd build some raised beds. I was going to use either railroad ties, or landscape timbers. I thought of building a traditional landscape timber bed, with rebar, having to drill holes, etc... but I cam across a gardening blog where they used pressure treated 2 x 6's and landscape timbers with lag bolts to build 6" raised beds. I did an assessment of how much pressure treated 2 x 6's I had. I had two 10' long boards, and a bunch of 24" pieces. So I got 16 landscape timbers, lagged them into two 5' x 8' beds, and then made two 2' x 8' beds which I sat on top of the larger beds.

The photo is photoshopped to show what they'll look like filled with soil. I am gonna have to go get a trailer load of free compost from the city trash collection area and fill them next. I think they turned out pretty nice though. I left plenty of space to mow in between and all around them.

Vulcan 750

Here's a photo of my Vulcan before she went off to the dealership, she looks naked without her saddlebags. I yanked them since they gotta yank the back wheel to replace the seal on the splines, and regrease the splines. New drive shaft fluid, full 4000 mile oil change is coming. Some mods you might notice (all cosmetic), accessories like the tank bib, tool bag, and the sheepskin seat cover. The tank decals/badges have been yanked, and the turn signals relocated for the saddlebags. She looks like such a small bike when I look at her in these photos.

I tinted the truck windows, and I like it. But I am gonna have them redone by a professional next month if I can afford it.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I gotta go to bed, but I've been staying busy with friends, and tonight was the first night I've been able to actually clean house in a week it seems.

• The Vulcan goes to the dealership for servicing and to have that seal replaced. They said it might be two to three weeks before I get it back since it's the busy season.
• Dad goes to the hospital tomorrow, there is the real possibility they may hospitalize him. Thanks for all your prayers, I appreciate it.
• I tried tinting my own windows, hah. You warned me Rob that I should get extra tinting material, and I figured it out that I should have bought two rolls. Nevermind, the one I bought wasn't dark enough for my taste. So I'll be buying another couple rolls on the way home tomorrow and hopefully installing it tomorrow night!
• Got my truck serviced by a friend of my dad's, they did a great job. Oil and filter, and Lucas Oil engine treatment. (I provided the materials, normally do that myself), transmission fluid change (with Lucas Oil Transmission treatment added), checked the brake pads, belts, hoses, installed an anti-theft bracket on my tailgate I had bought (sweet), new fuel filter, and the truck drives really good. No hard shifts, etc... There were no metal shavings or anything in the transmission pan. We're thinking it may have shifted rough due to the fuel filter needing replacing. I'll be tracking the mileage to see if it improves.

Technology = Fail!

I might as well rant some more about technology issues.

• Thingamablog freaked out on me, I spent 10 minutes trying to publish a blog entry. Had to reboot my PC to get it to work today.
• Bulleting in Thingamablog is also acting wonky tonight!
• A friend's home PC blew up, and I had to walk them through on the phone how to fix their bios settings for it to work.
• Cell phone issues (already covered) - I have to point out though, that from my past knowledge of the cell industry Text Messaging is unreliable. A call is better really. Why? They use excess bandwidth and capacity to deliver text messages (cell providers). If the network is full, or there is a bottleneck the voice calls typically get routed and text messaging gets the short end of the stick.
• Pidgin, it's an Open Source IM client. Well, looks like Yahoo changed something, because it doesn't work with Yahoo IM anymore. I updated it, but no luck. So I downloaded YIM, and it was a good thing I did the expert install because it planned to SPAM my machine something fierce. Replace Google as my search choice, add toolbars to my browsers, that kind of stuff. I hope the Pidgin development team releases a patch soon.
• The Vulcan has some sort of SLOW leak at the rear drive shaft. So I gotta take it in and have it serviced I think, and have that fixed.
• The truck is due for a oil, V-belt, and transmission fluid change.
• Oh a bright note, I noticed my Chickens and Hens are actually spreading through their flowerbed. But then again, they don't run on electricity or gasoline do they?

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Buell Blast

I got an e-mail the other day from Calvin in Texarkana.

He's been trying to locate a 2008 Buell Blast, but hadn't been able to find a dealer with any in stock. I checked CycleTrader.com and found one at Old Fort Harley Davidson in Fort Smith, AR. It's a bit of a haul, but they're great bikes.

Blasts are wonderful commuter bikes, averaging 70 miles per gallon. I've had my '03 model since I bought it new in '04 and still enjoy it.

Some of the accessories that are worth getting are a locking gas cap (same gas cap as a Buell Cyclone, uses an unkeyed barrel key, got mine from Suburban Harley Davidson in Thiensville, Wisconsin.), the front and rear axel trim covers (I think they're discontinued), and a Buell factory windshield. Saddlebags are a good thing to have as well, I'm partial to the Chase Harper stealth saddlebags. I highly recommend a Corbin seat. I wish I hadn't waited almost 3 years to buy one.

Good sources for these are Motorcycle Accessories Warehouse, and Suburban Harley for the Buell parts. I also have added bar ends, and replaced my stock mirrors.

Calvin's blog is located at: calschurchschool.blogspot.com

Weekend Retrospective

  Yesterday I mowed the backyard, used my string trimmer to trim around the house, fence, backyard, trailers, shed and plants. I also trimmed behind the privets, and mowed behind the fence. I took a photo as the hibiscuses/Rose of Sharon hedges are starting to bloom.

This morning I had intended to ride my motorcycle to Church, and meet a friend for coffee. Well, I was late getting ready because I'm having major back pain today and I wanted to wear contacts. Try putting your contacts in while your back is killing you! Augh. I rode over to Church, but I was fifteen minutes late, so I rode over to the new park on the river that is in Maumelle. I took a photo with my camera phone. It's really pretty. Then my coffee date got cancelled. The new helmet is vented better than any helmet I've ever seen. I had great airflow. I wore sunglasses with my contacts and the helmet. I ate lunch at Taco Bueno (hah), some families came in and every one of the kids was pointing at my bike (I rode the Buell).

Because of the back pain I went to Walmart later in the day and got my prescriptions filled. While waiting for them to be filled I bought some extra combs so I can keep one in the truck, and each of the bikes.. picked out a few t-shirts and some button up shirts for summer wear. I also got some stick on heat pads for back pain (wearing one now as I write this, the heat from it is VERY intense. I like!).

I checked out the automotive section. They have these beanie motorcycle helmets from Bell. They're called the Bandito. Wal-mart is selling a bunch of motorcycle stuff, including tire wet for motorcycles. It says it won't cause slip, etc... but then it cautions not to get on the tread, use on grips or seats. This is probably just the same stuff for a car, but packaged for a motorcycle. Not a good idea. They also had mothers motorcycle polish, and a bunch of accessories for bikes and ATV's.

Incredible Hulk and the New Lid

 Well, my new lid came in. It's an HJC CL-SP. It was $129.00 with free shipping and handling. I had wanted to buy it from Metric Bikes, but their prices weren't as competitive as they used to be I'm afraid. I went with a regular full face and this one got an excellent review on Web Bike World. It was rated as very quiet, decent weight, and good comfort. I tried it on yesterday when it came in, and the vents are much better than those on my Symax.

There are more of them, and the helmet got good venting marks as well. I like that there is a switch to lock the visor down as well. I'll have to remove my glasses to put it on and take it off, but I like it. My only wish is that it came in Pearl White besides plain white. I've got two Bell motorcycle helmets (Size Small and Size Medium), plus the Shoei Medium (which fits like a large) in case I ever need to carry a passenger. It would be nice if the lids matched (if the passenger was a cute female). :-)

I saw the Incredible Hulk last Friday, it was very good. I've got to mow the yard again soon (it was Friday when I mowed it last, but the heat and rain is causing the grass to grow like mad). That reminds me, I need to turn off the drip hose in the front flower bed! :-)

My back is slowly feeling better and healing. It's gonna be a few more weeks before I feel 100%, but hopefully I will be able to do some riding soon with the new lid.

Plants & Gas Prices

I have six Hibiscus/Rose of Sharon hedges. All of them survived their first summer last year. Two on the side of the house appear to be doing well, but one in the backyard has gone nuts. It's four or five times the size of the others, and is growing like crazy. I watered them all tonight with water from my rain barrels. I can't put more than a 1/4 of a bucket of water in a 5 gallon bucket because of my back, so it took a while to water them and the fruit trees. I mailed off my mailing label and a request for a new apple tree, new nectarine, and replacements for the other plants which have died. We'll see if eBurgess.com makes good on their warranty in 3 or 4 weeks.

Gas prices have stabilized at around $3.91 a gallon for regular. I haven't paid more than $3.69 for gas in several weeks but my back injury and having to drive the truck instead of riding will run through the last 5 gallons of fuel I have from the gas being below that price this week. I hope my back and the weather will allow me to ride the bikes soon. My new helmet should be on the way already, so maybe this will all coincide.

Disappointment, Back Pain and the Economy

Disappointment

I had a date last Saturday, which went well but unfortunately things went South during this week and I won't be seeing her again. It was a bit of a disappointment, she seemed like a really nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. The whole dating scene is fairly discouraging, I've met women who say they're drama free and find out the opposite sometimes. Every time I have thought about giving it up, someone new shows up. I realize you've got to meet a lot of people in life, before you meet the right one.

Back Pain

My back pain on Monday led me to go to see the Doctor the same day. I was prescribed muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Combined with the shot the doctor gave me I felt good enough to go back to work the same day. I've been doing exercises prescribed by my doctor, and staying mobile seems to make it hurt less. I've got to switch desk chairs at work though, the one I like so much seems to pinch my back pretty bad and when I walk in and feel almost fine in the morning and then sit down for 30 minutes I have to pull myself out of my chair. This may sound weird, but the harder the chair the better it seems. I'm not a fan of the muscle relaxers. They leave me feeling groggy, and at some point I just sort of drift off. I am going to take them through the weekend, but try to lay off on Sunday and see if I still need them. I can tell my back is getting better. Have you ever noticed when you're ill that life doesn't seem right? Reality seems disconnected, and nothing is really as you perceive it because your perceptions are clouded by your injury, cold, fever, or whatever illness you're going through.

Economy

I came home today after a work outing, and went to bed. When I woke up it was slightly after six o'clock so I turned on the TV in the bedroom (it's an old 19", but a good television). Alltel was in the news today as they're being sold to Verizon, and I wanted to see if there was anything about it on the local news. It seems very strange to me to see the nightly news (I haven't watched it in years) and see commercials for the Smart Car, for Hyundai cars with the slogan - "I want my MPG", commercials from the oil industry touting how much oil we have here in this country alone, commercials about alternative fuels, solar, etc... Things I remember people talking about in the late 70's when I was a little kid and we were experiencing the oil crisis. There is a lot of Deja Vu for me there.

The last time I filled one of the bikes up, it cost me $4.22. I used premium in the bikes, and I use regular in the truck. With a 10 cent discount per gallon at Kroger, gas is still 1 penny higher than when I filled up my gas cans before the Memorial Day weekend. I've been using some of that gas in the truck as needed but with my back like it is I don't want to handle the cans at the moment so it cost me $53.22 to fill the truck up this week. I hope I'll be fit to ride next week.

The economy seems to be more and more the focus of the news. From food prices soaring, and expected to soar more... to gas prices going up... to companies being bought and sold... The subprime mortgage mess is really starting to seem like the perfect storm, when you combine it with all the other items. It makes me think that if someone were to attack our country, be it terrorists or another foreign power that we'd be in a heck of a mess. I know past generations have survived economic collapse, I bet they felt much like people today are feeling. In those times there were businessmen, statesmen, and leaders who had a vision and they persevered and our nation and the world came through those downturns, those conflicts. I just hope that God will give us similar great men and women with such vision and wisdom to lead us through the tough times ahead.

I apologize if my writing is suffering, I don't feel all there with these meds. It's like when you come out of a fever almost, at least that's how I feel right now.

Weekend

I'm suffering from MAJOR lower back pain. I must have thrown my back out yesterday during the day. I went to a race in Texarkana for work, we shot video and photos for a story. It was a go-cart race down in Texarkana. The weather was wonderful, hot but with plenty of breezes. I think handling the tripod is how I tweaked my lower back enough to cause me to be in pain later in the day. It didn't start hurting until midnight, which coincidentally was around the time I needed to meet someone who was getting off a late shift for dinner at the Waffle House. (Dinner was awesome, but it was the company not the food btw!).

I got home about 2:30 am, took 2 extra-strength Tylenol and went to bed. I got up at 8:30 a.m. and took care of my morning chores, had a banana and some cottage cheese for breakfast and got ready for Church. I knew I was in pain when I swung my leg over the Buell to back it out of the garage. I rode it to church, and wore the Shoei helmet my neighbor gave me as a gift (with the HJC broken, I was glad to have it). The Shoei has some of the BEST venting I've ever seen. Now I wish I'd just opted to buy a Shoei full face, and deal with removing my glasses each time I take it on and off. :-) It's also got a viewport which I can't see the edges of the helmet when I look left or right with my eyes or in my peripheral vision. VERY NICE. If it were only white! The Yellow, Silver, and Black stars pattern just isn't for me.

After church I rode out and had lunch with my dad. My back has been tweaking on and off ever since. I have used an electric back massager on it. That seems to work, along with copious amounts of Tylenol. I need to seal the grout in the bathroom one more time so I can get that master bathroom back in order and clean the shower and the counter tomorrow night... and to take the trash out today. I'm gonna wait a bit and see if after an hour I feel up to snuff enough to do those two things. I also need to vacuum the living room, and fold my laundry... Augh.

Anyway, I made it home about 30 minutes before the Thunderstorm hit Maumelle. I paid $4.22 for a little over a gallon of gas to fill the Buell up. I'll be riding now as much as I can to work, provided my back allows me to. The vibration from the Buell actually feels good though for my back.

HJC Symax

Four years I've been wearing the same helmet, I replaced the helmet liner once, it's been a good helmet. The strap started fraying on the end, and it shows signs of wear. It's an HJC Symax. Well, I met my friend Phil for dinner on the way home... and the helmet opened fine when I got off the bike to meet him. But when it came time to leave, it was locked and wouldn't open. I had to take my glasses off and wear it like a regular full face. Putting my glasses on with the visor open. When I got home, I finally got it open... but one of the latch pins had locked permanently and broken. I guess that's not bad for four years of wear. However, this leaves me with only one helmet, a Shoei full face a friend gifted me. I don't trust the HJC to work right with only one side latched, so I had to break down and get a new one. Almost $200.00 for one in Pearl White like my old one. The HJC Symax II is out, but it's almost $300.00, has silver colored vents. The Symax has had improvements over the one I had, but doesn't have the Symax II internal sun visor but I've read it adds a lot of weight and the visor has to roll up into the shell which makes me wonder if it would mess with the foam in the helmet. So I went and got the same model as before, but it has the new super vent. My semi-new helmet liner will work in the new one when I need it, and my visor, and smaller parts will work as spares on the new helmet. The old one will be confined to it's bag on a shelf in the garage for when I need spare parts.

Hedges, Clouds, Chores

I had the day off, so I am putting in a few blog entries.

I'm still waiting for my Royal Empresses to do anything. Four of my six fruit trees have leaves, and I am waiting for two to leaf out. My hedges in the flowerbed have gone nuts along with the festuca grass (which is going to seed) and I am gonna need to trim them this weekend! We're having tornado warnings and t-storms all day today so I am sure the plants will love the rain.

I am waiting to get out and go to the store to pick up some toiletries, a case of diet coke, some yogurt, and basic groceries. It'll be this evening most likely since I am waiting for my new hats to show up.

I took my original hat boxes, and put my fall/winter fedoras away. I scrubbed and washed the trash cans and waste baskets from around the house, and vacuumed. Now it's time to go fold and put away the laundry!

Oh, gasoline, it's $3.45 a gallon right now. I rode my bike once this week, and am going to be watching the weather from now on because I need to ride it as it costs me $1.00 to $1.50 roundtrip depending on whether it's the Buell or the Vulcan... and to drive it's $3.45 now for the trip roundtrip in the truck.

Highway Robbery. Oil Cartels, and Ethanol

$3.39 a gallon for regular gas, and the label on the gas pump warns: May contain 10% ethanol.

• The nightly news says that oil refiners are idling their plants, and producing less and less gasoline since the price per barrel of oil is climbing.
• OPEC refuses to up production, saying supply is fine and the world economy shows no signs of slowing.
• Economists say that the US economy is hitting staflation, and we have already entered the beginning of a recession.
• The world economy follows the US economy, a recession here will lead to a worldwide recession and possibly a depression.
• Food shortages are being reported in third world countries since the US is redirecting corn and wheat into the production of ethanol.

Some things to think about.

• Ethanol lowers gas mileage, it's basically filler, like when they used to add alcohol to gasoline to screw customers in the late 70's and early 80's.
• Ethanol damages some kinds of rubber seals, gunks up fuel injectors, and is bad for your engine.
• If you ride a motorcycle, your bike won't like Ethanol, so you better buy premium fuel.

Some thoughts being offered up on forums on the web

• OPEC is saying they won't up production, but the truth is (according to some) that they CAN'T, they've maxed out on their supply. They have hit Hubbert's Peak and are trying to hide the fact that the world is running out of oil.

Some things I've noticed:

• In an experiment last week, I drove 55 mph on the highway (1970's and 80's speeds) to see if it would increase gas mileage. I also drove 5 mph under street speed limits except for ones below 30 mph. I averaged 22 miles per gallon. This is the MAX gas mileage on the window sticker my truck came with back in 2002 (it's a six cylinder Ford Ranger).
• When I drove above the speed limit by 5 miles per hour the week before, my gas mileage averaged 18.75 miles per gallon.
• My gas mileage this week, after hauling around a trailer for several days and splurging by doing the speed limit on Sunday to get somewhere in the afternoon was 20 miles per gallon.

Conclusion:

• It's time to start watching the weather, and riding to work. I need to get back into that habit, 70 miles per gallon on the Buell and 60 miles per gallon on the Vulcan would go a long way towards stretching my paycheck more with the current gas prices.
• The oil companies need to be hauled across hot coals, I am betting they're going to report record profits again.

New Lid

One of my neighbors was out mowing his yard and saw me. His name is Mark. He yelled at me to come over, and he gifted me with a Shoei full face helmet. Turns out he used to ride, but since he and his wife moved back from Japan and have a daughter they've decided not to ride anymore. He gave me the helmet. It's a Japanese Shoei. He used to wear it when he rode in Japan, and he also wore it in New Zealand when they took a motorcycling trip there. He owned a 750 in Japan. It's a size medium, and in great condition. Has some normal wear on the finish but the interior is fresh and looks new. That means I've got 4 lids now. I bought 2 - Bell full face helmets in Pearl White on clearance at Tuesday Morning a while back after the divorce. A small and a medium, in case I ever have a girlfriend who will go riding with me. They're pearl white, and match my HJC Symax that I wear pretty well. The Shoei is a yellow racing pattern, but it's a nice helmet.

Sunny Day Ride

Lovely sunny day today, I took Buellie out and started the bike up, checked the tires, and geared up. I took the old Conway highway North, and stopped in Mayflower at the onramp to the highway and gassed the bike up with premium (Buell says to use regular, but I have found in the last two years that it runs much smoother with premium and I actually get higher gas mileage from it). I put a half gallon in, the tank was pretty close to full when I left the house. I headed east over the overpass and rode past Lake Conway. The lake is UP, the rains from last week have really raised the water level of the lake. Some docks were almost submerged. I rode on for a while, then took a right onto 107 and then when I hit the next intersection I headed right to Vilonia and stopped in and visited my friend Fred. I thought about going on to El Paso and seeing if the bikers event up that way was at M&M Stop and Shop but I decided to head home, so I drove back to Conway. On the way I was passing a slow car (sitting in the left lane) and encountered an aluminum can in the road. No issue, I missed it. Then I took the highway from Conway home and on the way I had a road gator show up out from under a U-Haul. Dodged that. I stopped at the gas station and filled the tank up. A little over a gallon is what it took. When I got home I used some Honda Spray Cleaner and Polish and a microfiber cloth to clean the bike.

Taxes and Gas

I just got my personal property assessment... and the taxes they want me to pay.

$270.00

Why so high, my truck, and two bikes aren't worth that much.

So I check the assessor's site, and, well, Marie didn't delete the Sable and her wrecked XB9R from the assessment and have them assessed to her like she was gonna do in December. AND, her XB12R, which she bought after we were divorced is showing on my assessment. What the heck?

I went online and deleted the XB12R, XB9R, and Sable... but I have to go to the Treasurer's office and assessor's office on Monday and get them to back date it so I don't have to pay the taxes on those vehicles. My dad is friends with the Treasurer, and I just made a new friend who works there, so hopefully I can get this corrected.

It seems like everything is going wrong Friday! (It was Friday's mail I picked up today, and yesterday was no picnic).

:-(

Oh, and Gas is $3.18 a gallon now at the Valero.

Vulcan

83 miles on the Vulcan today, Highway 10 to 9 to Kanis loop and home.

Filled up $4.44 for 1.28 gallons of Premium. Rounded up is 65 miles per gallon.

Gas has climbed to $3.15 a gallon for regular the local Valero.