Wild Hogs

Dang, it's been a whole week since I've posted! And I haven't been on Live since Tuesday, and that was just long enough to complete our Rock Band tourney songs for the week. I finished our tax return, so hopefully things will cool down a bit and I can get online. Although, I'll be going out of town Thursday and Friday. Traveling to Baltimore to visit a vendor there.

Glenda and I went shopping for accessories this weekend. She bought this jacket, which looks good on her, some boots, and two helmets. One half helmet and one 3/4 with a face shield. I haven't bought myself a modular helmet or a jacket yet. There is a guy close to us that owns a shop. He is going to try and get the helmet in that I want and he is trying to get me this jacket. He's a real nice guy and has reasonable prices. I did buy these boots today, though. :)

My father-in-law came over Saturday and helped me work on the Mustang. We got a lot done, but we could never get it to turn over. Some nagging electrical problem somewhere. I don't think it's the solenoid though, because it's fairly new. The solenoid has gotten hot enough to melt some wire insulation though, so it could be bad. Someone that works with my brother in law came by to look at it Saturday afternoon, but I don't know if he is wanting to spend what I'm asking.

Mom, Dad, Stacey (my sister), and Bekah (my niece) are supposed to drive up from Mobile county to visit with us this weekend. I don't think they've been up here since we first moved into this house, about a year ago. Dad helped me put down the laminate flooring in the living room before we moved in.

Also, this past week I made a trip to CompUSA which is going out of business. I bought this Sirius Sportster Replay Satellite Radio with car kit, Windows Vista Home Premium for the server I built, and 3 - 360 games; The Darkness, Dead Rising, and Two Worlds. Everything was 40-60% off! Woohoo!

Stir it up

Well, I got home Saturday afternoon with the bike. The pictures don't do it justice. The paint has a bit of metallic to it that is apparent as the sun hits it. It's awesome! My neighbors were outside when I got home, so I backed it off the trailer and just scooted it over there. I didn't realize that both my neighbor on the right and the one across the street had both been itching for one and that at least one already has the ok to buy because his wife really wants one too. So now I've stirred both of them up. :) Which is good so we'll have no shortage of people to ride with.

Man this bike is big! It's twice the size of any I've ridden before. One thing that caught me off guard was the initial insecurity I felt with such a heavy bike. Riding a smaller one, I never was worried about leaning it over too far because I never felt that I wouldn't be able to right it again. The first corner I came too, I was kinda intimidated and afraid to lean too far thinking its weight would carry it on over. It just took a bit of getting used to.

I used to live in the neighborhood that is right across the road from the one we are in now. When Glenda and I got married, we sold both homes and bought another. We moved back out this way when I changed jobs so that I wouldn't have a 1 and a half hour commute. So today we rode the back over there to visit one of my former neighbors. We got to his place just in time to see Ryan Newman win the Daytona 500. We had been to the grocery store, and I'd forgotten all about watching the race!

We've been riding Annie, the Poodle-American around on the bike, too. I think she needs one of these. :)

RE: The Bike

In regards to the bike, I decided on getting the Vulcan Classic. The classic cruiser look and the extra cubes appeal to me more. I'm using some club member points (the only good thing about traveling a lot for work is that we get to keep all airline, rental car and hotel club points) to stay at a Holiday Inn close to the seller's house tonight. I'm going to leave work a bit early, go by U-Haul and pick up the trailer ($14.95 per 24 hours, not a bad deal at all) and drive over this afternoon/tonight. I'll get up and drive the last 60 miles to his place in the morning and get the bike, assuming nothing is wrong with it when I get there, which I don't expect.

LOST was pretty good last night. I'm amazed at how they can pump out yet another 1 hour show, introducing a few new mysteries (Sayid an assassin working for Ben?), and not answering any previous questions. Who are the rescuers? They haven't even made it back to the boat yet. The show was over and I looked at the clock thinking they only made it 30 minutes. It flew by!

General Chang asked me if I wanted to go to the NASCAR races at Bristol this year. They have extra suite tickets available on the web. They are kinda pricey at $2000/person, even if it is for 6 races. I've been to Bristol, and it is hella fun! I'd love to go to the night race sometime. I had awesome seats to the daytime race several years ago, but had to give them up when I was going through a rough financial mess. I think I'm going to pass on these. I'm spending 7 G's on a bike after all, and I think $2000 per year, even for a suite, is more than I want to swing.

I guess that is all for now. I may post again tonight if I get bored at the hotel. Assuming I get there at a decent hour. Maybe I can get in one of the topical posts I've been wanting to get to. I'm kinda slacking off at work right now posting this, but hey, I've put in the hours already this week.

Torn

Well, my neighbor called to let me know that someone he works with is selling a bike. I don't know yet if he'll be able to get a hold of the guy to bring it (he works close to my house) tomorrow afternoon. I'm planning on leaving Friday to go get the other bike. The only thing is, the local bike is a 1300cc. I kinda had my mind set on a 1500 or bigger. But, the 1300 probably has as much power as the Vulcan 1600 because it'll be lighter. And it's 1100 bux cheaper and 6 hours closer. I think it'll really come down to physical size of the bike and how I feel on it. Don't want to look like the King in Big Bumpin' like Sparkstalker suggested. LOL. Both have a lot of extras. I don't know if the other bike ('04 Honda VTX 1300) has highway bars or if the saddlebags are as nice.

Here is a comparison with what I know right now about both bikes.

'04 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic - White (pics in post below)

• 5900 miles
  
• 1600cc
• Windshield
• Light bar
• Highway bars
• Driver and passenger footboards
• 3 nice studded saddlebags
• Studded leather belt buckle guard
• Sissy bar
  
• Vance & Hines pipes

'04 Honda VTX - Black

• 800 miles
• 1300cc
• Windshield
• Saddlebags (don't know the type)
• Sissy bar
• Lots of chrome (?) That's all my neighbor knew.
  

I can haz engineering?

I had a PE (Professional Engineer) Exam review class last night, so I didn't get in until late. So, I decided that I would create a post this morning. It's truly depressing to realize how much you've forgotten since college. It's been 12 years now, and even the basics of some things have left me. I applied for the PE Exam years ago, but the combination of my first wife dying and the lack of available preparation courses kept me from taking it yet. I believe I'm past the 5 year cutoff for my application, so I'll have to re-apply to take it.

I got my "NACE Coating Inspector Level 1 - Certified" certification in the mail yesterday. Along with the AWS "Certified Welding Inspector" I received early last year just goes to prove that my Mom and Dad were always right... I'm certifiable. :)

As a Harley owner, Sal made a comment (all in good fun, of course) about my Japanese bike. I'll refrain from making any Sportster comments. :) I would love to have a Fat Boy or Heritage Softail, but I just couldn't justify it when there are other bikes that are just as nice for 1/2 the price. I kinda wanted to go with a Victory to stay in the American made market, but there aren't as many used ones around. I found two in town that were very nice, but both were overpriced (From dealers) at $10k and $12k. (I can't have a toy that is worth more than my truck, ya know.) Plus, I don't care for the look of the V-Twin as much on the Victory. It needs a little something more.

I think I found the helmet that I want. I'm going to go to a local dealer and see if I can find one to try on. Looks like it'll be the best of both worlds for what I like. The seller is also including a couple of helmets since I agreed to drive the full distance to his place. I don't know what he has, but I hope that it is something different so that I'll have choices when I ride without spending a lot of extra cash.

I'm bummed because I received my Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller replacement from EA yesterday, and it didn't work right out of the box. The strum bar and the D-pad would not register any up/down movement. So now I have to get a second replacement. We started our Geezer Gamer Rock Band tournament last night, and I really wanted the Rock Band Guitar controller because I can't use the Guitar Hero II controller as well. A lot of the guys that I play with like the GHII controller better. I have three main problems with it. One is that it just doesn't fit my frame as well. The RB one is slightly larger and my arm is not at as much of an angle. Secondly, the fret buttons take up all of the fret "area" on the RB guitar. The GHII guitar has dead space around the buttons which I usually end up fretting instead of the button. Lastly, the RB guitar has positive stops (granted they are small, but they are there) on either side of the fret buttons (above the green and below the orange). This is extremely useful in finding my hand position if I get out of place and I have become a little reliant on them.

New Ride

Well, I haven't had the time to sit down and create a topical blog every night, or every other, like I wanted. So, I'm going to try a daily update format like my buddies Sal and Casey, with a topical post scattered about. I've enjoyed reading their updates.

So, I somehow convinced Glenda to let me get a bike. We are probably going to start trying to have a baby soon, and I wanted to go ahead and buy that big toy first, or it'd probably never happen. I've found a good deal on our inter-company classified ads. The only problem is that the seller works at one of our plant sites about 7 hrs away. He's agreed to meet me partway. I'm still trying to work out the logistics of getting it home if the weather is bad. I hope to meet him this weekend. The bike is a 2004 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic, 1600cc. It has several extras, including nice saddlebags, a windshield, and Vance & Hines pipes. It only has 5900 miles on it.

Glenda seems interested in riding. I hope it is something that she enjoys so that we can ride together occasionally.

This'll be the biggest bike I've ever driven. 800cc is the biggest I've ridden before.

The plan now is to sell my Mustang (1970 Mach 1, 351 Cleveland). I'll need to change the oil, clean the carburetor and get it ready when spring rolls around. I paid 6k for it, and I've put about $2500 into it. I rebuilt the engine, had the block bored .010 and bought new pistons, new cam, rebuilt the automatic transmission, put on a stall converter and put an edelbrock 850 carb on it. It still needs a little work and TLC (very little) to have a nice Sunday driver. The electrical system needs replacing. It has a serious ground that drains the battery real quick. The timing really needs to be tweaked because it is a bitch to start. The power steering valve has a bad leak also. It needs to be replaced. I just don't have the time, or the drive, to work on it anymore. That is part of the reason for the bike. It is something I can go out and ride and enjoy without spending all of my spare time on maintenance.