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July 31 fade to blackas you can see, my use of this site has pretty much dropped to zero. it was fun while it lasted, but if you want to follow my current hijinks and escapades find me on Facebook or Twitter.
ta ta! December 25 Merry Christmas to all, from my log to yoursWishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza and happy and healthy New Year in 2009. The one thing I always look forward to (honestly) on this one day is the complementary Yule Log broadcast on Fox TV. So much so I added the my touch, with dualing yule logs. The epitomy of silly - the tv yule over the gas fired yule. I think I'll light a fire outside in the pit to sit around a real fire for a little while. Happy Happy everyone.
December 07 Remembering the greatest generationMy Dad wasn't at Pearl harbor when it happened, but he enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school the following summer and fought through the end of the war in both oceans. thanks Dad.
December 06 Calendar Cover ImageThe image I captured of my bike from fall of 2007 made the cover of our club calendar. Yea! I'm so proud of my bike.
 December 03 another test upload of images from writer
here I am in front of the NH Int’l Speedway in Laconia, NH November 24 are you sure you miss the Sonics?I'm not really a huge sports fan, but I do still love my Boston teams although I've been in the Seattle area nearly 19 years now. I was reading the sports section of MSNBC this morning and noticed our former Sonics - now the Oklahoma Thunder - are 1 and 13 and just fired their coach PJ Carlesimo. Do we really miss this team? Are Seattlites just gluttons for punishment? I mean really, it's like severing an infected limb. No doc, please don't cut it off, I've had it since I was a little kid! It's getting better, as it turns from green to black and attrifies to skin and bone. I think we were in denial last year trying to save this long dieing team. But now that it's gone all you notice is an absence now and then vs a deep rooted pain that's always there. Honestly, look at the sports scene around here. While the Seahawks have the best record in town at 2 and 9, the Huskies are winless at 0-11, worst in Pac10 history. At least we have the WNBA Storm to look forward to next spring. In the meantime, we can look south to Portland for NBA excitement, at least their over .500 so far. While I don't understand the lack of a hockey base in this region, we also have the WHL Thunderbirds locally and of course the Canucks up in Vancouver. I think I know how my neighbors in Conneticut and Rhode Island felt during the hey days in Boston with playoff bound and championship teams in all sports while they reside in a teamless state. Thank goodness for the internet these days, where any team can be your home team. November 05 As Bono says... "It's a Beautiful Day"As I awake this morning, though I'm very tired, I have an optimism about tomorrow I haven't had for a very long time. Change has come and we can finally look forward. No matter where you are in America, it's a beautiful day.
November 03 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!I know, I know. it's Nov 3rd for goodness sakes! But really, the election of our lifetime is finally here, I feel like after I go to bed tonight I'll wake to a huge decorated tree with one giant present under it. The question is, will it be a true gift or another lump of coal like the last 8 years. Never in my life have I been this excited about an election. Is it because anything has to be better then what we have now? Is it because history is happening before our eyes? I was a staunch Hillary supporter since before she announced - she's seasoned, scarred and smart - seemingly the perfect choice to lead us out of the darkest period in modern times. Where on earth did Barack Obama come from? He was a joke for the first few months of his candidacy. He made a guest appearance as himself on SNL during the Halloween show a year ago at Hillary's costume party. Hillary was seemingly the anointed one and everyone else who was running was there for window dressing until the convention and eventual election. Then it was show time. Iowa shocked everyone. Then New Hampshire a week later and the Yes We Can speech. Obama's speech was pivotal. It was one of those moments where the tv was on for background noise and I was working on the computer. Then he starts his speech. The voice, the words, the message. I had to stop what I was doing to see who's talking. What just happened? I was confused, which isn't very hard to do by the way. A message of hope, a message of change, a message of our time is now. Who is this guy???
He starts winning more and more, he's getting endorsements from some of the brightest, most respected and senior political figures of our time. The Kennedy endorsement was phenomenal. The torch is being passed to the next generation. The pureness of this is remarkable. The Powell endorsement seals the deal. Obama is steady, he's calm, he's consistent, and he's overwhelmingly positive no matter how low, how dirty and how nasty his opponents are.
Anyway, this is getting long and rambling. Needless to say I've been inspired. I believe there are alternatives to the old ways. There have to be other paths to get us back on the right track 'cause right now we're going down the toilet and falling further and further behind the rest of the world. Pretty soon we'll be the tech support line for the high tech companies on the other side of the world. Where's my utopia we dreamed of 20 years ago? The economy's nearly collapsed twice in the last 8 years. We're in a war we can't win, we're spending money hand over foot to save the world when we can't or won't take care of our own. Something's wrong, something's very, very wrong with the leaders, their priorities and principles that are entrusted with our country, our lives and our future.
The old ways simply aren't working anymore. It's time to go off in radically new directions. We need to not be afraid to fall down, because without failure there is no learning how to succeed. We need to question the status quo, not believe everything we're told, need to not fall victim to the scare tactics and history extolled by the herd without clear thought or reason. We need to not follow the herd but be informed, think for ourselves and make our own decisions based on common sense and not the common good.
I'm sick and tired of hearing what can't be done, tell me what CAN be done, and lets do that and do it well.
Here's hoping for a bright and shiny future under tomorrow's Christmas tree, and not another lump of coal.
October 31 Happy HalloweenTrick or Treat! Here's our boys from a few years back, I think this is the year they hid in the bushes and scared the crap out of the neighbor kids coming to the door. That's my boys!
October 08 Summer's endAs is typical here in the northwest, summer ends like a light switch going off. the rains and winds have arrived, the days are so much shorter and temps are getting colder. It's dark when I get up and getting dark pretty close to when I get home. The passes are getting snow and it won't be long before those roads marked "closed in winter" will be closed again. Where has summer gone? And how is it I missed so much of it this year? I can also tell the seasons have turned as my riding routine now includes the winter boots, full 'stich suit, heated gear and insulated gloves. I've actually driven my truck to work a few times, funny it had cobwebs on it just the other day. I wish we had another month of summer, or at least autumn. I'm just not ready for winter yet ... October 02 It Matters! Get off your ass and vote!I'm so sick and tired of hearing people pissed off about the state of our country then declaring they're not voting. How can you change the status quo if you don't get off your ass and vote?! It's really not that hard, nor inconvenient when using absentee voting. All you do is check the box and mail it in. Of course before you can vote you need to register. You knew that, right? Go register now http://www.vote411.org/registertovote.php
So get off your ass and help save your country - otherwise shut the hell up about out current state of affairs.
September 30 Back from the tripI'll have more to write once I get a good night's sleep and take some advil for my sore muscles, but I'm home safe and sound now from a very interesting trip. LOTS of back woods forest service roads, incredible weather and beautiful scenery. I'm working on the pictures now so they'll be coming up soon. 1453 total miles, total ride time 28:35, moving ave speed of 50 mph, ave economy of 40 mpg, top speed of 115 mph. Here's a couple of samples from the images that are here. Next to the Deschutes River on Hwy 216 Typical forest service road... with half our group missing  Crater Lake - pics don't do it justice September 25 Off to Crater LakeI'm leaving early tomorrow morning for a 4 day ride through Oregon with the goal of circling Crater Lake Sunday and returning home Monday. The ST3s is all packed and ready to go, all my clothes are in just one sidebag! This will be the first long distance test for ST3s, my new Sargent seat arrived today a day early so I'm very excited about the added comfort that should provide, and my new lenses came in today as well so I can see clearly again. No more scratched lenses, Yea!
I'm not taking a laptop on this trip so I wont be journelling or updating this space until I return, crazy, I know, maybe next time. But I wanted to pack super light and enjoy the ride. My camera crapoped out so I'm borring Mike's for this trip. It should work out well, but a new one will be on my xmas list for sure. I will have the Spot tracker and I'll be uploading to my SmugMug site via SmugShot on the iPhone. I'll try to remember to geotag each image so you can see where they're at.
Off to bed now, I have an early start tomorrow. September 14 North Cascades LoopI finally rode the North Cascades Loop today. I’ve been talking about doing this since I got back into riding a few years ago and now I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner. What a great day. The weather was just perfect. Sunny, clear and warm once the morning fog burned off around 9:00. I rode The ST3s solo today and it couldn't have gone better, mostly pretty fast, no tickets, light traffic. There were periods when I had the road totally to myself and others where I was stuck behind the usual campers and old farts driving 5 under the speed limit. It was some great to be able to ride at MY speed and not try to keep up with others or holding others back behind me. A few pics from the ride are here. Overall stats from the ZUMO, 10:47 total time, 8:14 riding time, 431.4 miles, max speed – well, never mind September 13 Finally got the ST3s back from the shopThe ST3s had an unexpectedly extended stay at the suspension shop the last 3-1/2 weeks followed by nearly a week at DucSea for a performance exhaust and tune upgrade. I finally got her back late today, man I've missed this bike. It growls like a Ducati should now and the powerband is much smoother with the new Ducati Performance programmable ECU. I've yet to take this bike on long ride - tomorrow that changes. September 12 crap, I'm addicted to Heroes againWhile fooling around with the new iTunes I went into the tv shows section of the iTunes store and found both Heroes seasons 1 & 2. The opening episode to season 2 is free, so I downloaded it and watched it tonight. Damnit, now I'll have to pay for the rest of the season so I can watch the rest before Season 3 starts in 9 days. September 08 Some days I miss being a Dadboth my kids are grown or gone and Michelle and I have been living the empty nest life the last year or so. some days I really miss being needed by the little ones, either through little league or soccer or rides to the park or the mall or homework or even calls from the principle's office for my ideal students. labor day was last weekend so the kids are now lining up for the school buses again (the little monsters ;-) , youth sports are in full swing now, and will soon be culminating in the perpetual tournements in the rain and the cold as October pushes into November and we plan for family get togethers for Thanksgiving and the inevitable deluge of Christmas ads starting any day now. for all the headaches, all the stress, all the hassle and occasionally all the glory of being the guy who hauled everyone around - at least I knew what my role was in life.
Mike and I still have good conversations occasionally about work, motorcycles and sometimes life, but he's a young man now and living his own life. Of course I'm still his father, but it's rare I feel like a Dad, the guy who's needed by his kids. I feel like I'm in the middle verse of Harry Chapin's Cats in the Cradle. And of course today is a dark day remembering my little Pete who will never get past the first verse of that song. Times like these I really miss my little Petey.......
......what would Petey say now? September 04 Back to Windows LiveWell I left Windows Live only two short months ago to go work in the Zune Mobile group. But as a result of a Lemony Snicket series of unfortunate events, I ended up as a free agent again. After a few conversations with my former director and evaluating other available options, I’ve chosen to return home so to speak to the product space I’ve spent so much time in and really love. Starting Monday I’m officially back in Windows Live, this time in the Social Networking team who is responsible for Spaces, Writer and a few other cool things you will all find out about later this year. |
let’s just say the ST3s has no trouble passing. 
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