Tag: motorcycle

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Entombed Raider

I got up and out a little bit early today for no particular reason. I didn’t really get to anything I wanted to do though, because of meetings and an overwhelming need to decipher the latest draft of the proposed salary schedule. I actually spent all day crunching numbers on a combined spreadsheet, and it was a nice bit of self-confirmation that I could do that job, and probably better than those tasked with it.

Not long into the morning, several from central office came over for some training. I’m not sure why they didn’t do it in their own conference room, for for whatever reason they did it outside of my office, so I was made to lock myself in and stay quiet in the dark.

I snuck out for lunch with Gary and Greg, and we went to Taco John’s for the first time in ages. My Boss Burrito was mostly beans and rice, but the Potato Olés were on point, and I even let the girl upsell the nacho cheese.

We had a video call with an Apple guy in the afternoon so Brody could ask some questions, but it really just turned into Gary learning things and then assigning work to Greg and me. I guess that’s the job, so I can’t complain too much.

Eaddie had walked to my house and gone out for a bike ride, so I went home after work and then met her at the high school with the Grom. The helmet communicator worked pretty great, and I coached her through some laps around the parking lot as the sun set. We rode back home and then went to their house with some ribs I needed to grill.

Summer eventually made it home from the gym, and we ate while she had a video call of her own. The girls were still doing laundry for most of the evening, so there wasn’t much for me to do besides put some more work into my spreadsheet with some updated numbers from Judy, and then research home Dolby Atmos configurations. If you can have 11.2.8 at home, I can’t think of a single reason that you shouldn’t have 11.2.8 at home.

But what number do they use for the seat shakers?

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Ride About, Now

Summer made breakfast this morning, but Autumn and her visitor chose to continue stuffing their faces with junk food instead. Eaddie didn’t want to get out of bed, and I didn’t get home to clean up until the afternoon.

Autumn had wrestling practice in the evening, so eventually Summer brought Eaddie over and we went to the high school so she could practice driving. She didn’t drive around in the car for very long before she was tired of that and wanted to try riding the Grom. We never got out of first gear, but she only killed the engine a couple times. I had the benefit of knowing how to drive a manual transmission when I learned to ride, so I could understand her hesitation.

We didn’t stay for very long, and went to my parents’ house for some phở. Then we stopped by Brody’s house to try and drop off a tripod, but they weren’t home. Summer dropped me off at my house, and I tried to do a little more organizing before bed. It’ll be a short week, and I’m both excited and dreading it.

The funk soul sister.

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WOOWOO

You just haven’t lived until you’ve been wooped by a big black guy riding a bicycle as you zip past on your Grom. He may have been making fun, but I chose to interpret it as encouraging excitement for how much fun I was having. The weather was much more mellow today, so aside from some time in a mask in the afternoon, it felt pretty good out.

I worked on some stuff at the shop until a group of us went to La Chiquita for lunch. The carnitas were smaller than I remembered, but I was still stuffed. It was nowhere near as much as Gary’s giant prime rib burrito.

After lunch, I went straight to Oakland for a while to close out, or at least investigate as much as I could for closing on the next trip. A large part of that time was spent in the library shuffling through damaged or failing Chromebooks. As the end of the school day approached, I was run off again, and I returned to the shop for the remainder of the day.

When I left work, I stopped by Casey’s for a free drink, then went by the shop to try and see Summer again. She had been in the pit all day, so all I could see at lunch was the top of her head when I stopped by. They were still busy, so I went on home to change.

I took the Grom back out to go see Mom for a bit. She was insistent that I pick up some potato salad that we left when we cooked out for Labor Day. Julie called while I was there, and we chatted for a little bit. Then I eventually made it back home for the evening.

Uno Uno Uno!

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Overtaken by My Own Shadow

It was a quiet, brainy day at work today. I made some progress, but it was slower than I would have liked. I didn’t get distracted much, but I did get frustrated a couple times with others pulling my attention, which I’m sure is why Gary is so grumpy most of the time.

Brody wanted to go to Fat Daddy’s in London, but they were evidently closed due to staffing issues. The same went for Zaxby’s. Slim Chickens was a solid win today with the salad I got, and then we dropped off some strips for Summer, who was stuck in the pit all day.

I left near quitting time today and went by the shop to order some new tires for the Murano before going up to Summer’s to heat up her lasagna. I made it about halfway to her house before I realized I didn’t have keys to get in because I was on the Shadow, so I ran back home to change and get the keys.

As I came back outside, I hopped on the bike and started to pull away, only barely remembering to get the keys. I stood up to get off and immediately lost all balance due to the low, heavy nature of the bike. I had forgotten that I already lifted the kickstand, so the bike tumbled over on top of me and threw me to the ground. I avoided any major damage, but the handlebar controls and mirrors got a bit out of whack. The handlebars themselves were still bent from before I got the bike, so the only new “damage” was to the rear, left turn signal that now rattles from something being broken off inside it.

I finally made it up to Summer’s with bruised palms, and heated up the lasagna and baked some garlic bread. She and Autumn both made it home from work and we ate. Then Summer had to tend to some work business as we waited for the scattered showers to wane enough for me to make it back home for the evening.

I tried to pick up a little, and ended up on a trip down Memory Lane when I found a bunch of folders from my time at NEW. Then I went to bed as hastily as I could, since someone decided that working at 6am tomorrow will be fun when moving some old laptops around at the junior high. At least by then it will have reached the day’s low of 74º.

More like PowerHell.

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Ride it Out

Today was much less tense than yesterday. I rode in to work, and everyone was friendly again. It was like all the tensions from the crazy start of the week had just melted away. I didn’t get into any big projects, but got plenty done all the same. We had a lockdown drill upstairs, and I got to walk around with Zach just to see what that was like. It was even more dull than I expected, as none of the adults really practiced anything.

Most of us went to Stoby’s for lunch, and the chicken taco salad I had was pretty great. Then the afternoon was more of the same. Doge just steadily dropped all day, and I kept watching the bounces as an indication that I should stay in, but it just kept going all day long.

After work, I got Eaddie and we went by the shop to set up a projector for Summer. Then I got Eaddie a kid’s meal from Dairy Queen before taking her out on a motorcycle ride all around town. It was just a little cool out for the shorts I had changed into, so I grabbed pants and a light hoodie to take her home. Autumn had a band concert that her father picked her up from, so I was out of any other kid duty for the night.

When I got back home for the evening, I successfully turned the diving Dogecoin around by selling a larger quantity of it. I still have quite a bit, but the needle moves much slower at this volume. I just keep failing to get back in at a lower rate. I guess I should either take the money and run, or hold forever.

I’m ready for my luck to turn around again.

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Bike Day

Eaddie and I got up this morning and rode the Shadow to the Ridgewood Brothers for lunch. I called Dad and had him meet us there too, and Grant was so excited to see all of us. I finally got to try the cheddar jalapeño sausage, and it was fantastic. I had the bronco sandwich, which had a link on it, and got an extra one to go as well. Felix was feeling some attitude today, but overall came through in taking care of us.

After we ate, we ran by the shop to share some banana pudding with Summer. Then Eaddie and I took a long motorcycle ride around town. We went around the marina, peeping at houses along the way. Then we took a slow cruise through the park before continuing up the mountain and back down to Old Post. She wanted to get off and play around in the park a bit, so we goofed around a bit and had some swing time. Sheri spotted me and came by to ask if I would be applying for Ben’s job. I appreciated that she at least said I would be good at it.

Once Eaddie got tired of the park, we went back up the mountain and finished the Skyline loop before making it back home. We watched a couple episodes of House, and then she took off on her bicycle while I poked around the garage some more. It was just the smallest amount of organizational progress, but at least it was something. Eventually I needed a break and took the R1 across town to deliver the CPL sticker I had forgotten to bring Grant earlier in the morning. We chatted for a little while more before I headed home.

Eaddie met me there, and we drove back up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn was feeling moody, I suppose, and secluded herself as usual. Eaddie convinced Summer to watch a couple episodes of Glee, which finally got us started on the final season. At this point I’m just ready to be done with the show. It’s so far beyond everything that I used to love about it, so I’m ready to move on to the next thing.

Riding around town was more fun than the long highway ride to the rally, and the barbecue was leagues better too.

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I Was Shorai Did It Right!

Today was supposed to be a bit rainy, but the rain never came. I drove to work anyway, since I had to pick up my life vests I had loaned to the theater. Daniel had to come help me work on Chrissy’s Mac, and three out of my four Adobe packages worked after manually shutting a bunch of apps down. Any sane person would think a restart would clear that, but no, not in Apple’s world.

The morning went by a little slowly, but I made it through to lunch. Jeff from Belkin called and confirmed what I already knew – that my brand new WeMo light switch had a firmware problem and needed to be replaced. I wanted to try installing my other one too, just to see if it had the same problem, but that would have to wait for after work.

I went by the shop after lunch and gave Ben the Internet Yellow Pages book I found in the garage, and then helped him haul a smashed Newline touch panel into a dumpster out by the bus barn. I’m not looking forward to walking the SMART E75 models down there, but I think that’s happening this week.

The afternoon was slow as well, as I walked across campus again, then spent a little time outside working at the picnic tables. When I got home from work, I started right away on replacing my WeMo switch, and discovered that it was working as intended, so I only have the one that needs to be replaced. My MotoMummy package came in as well, and they hooked me up with my requested drawing and a stack of decals, so I spent the rest of the evening replacing the battery in the Shadow. I finished with just enough time to ride over and surprise Summer and Eaddie after karate. I gave Eaddie a ride home, then made it back to my house in the cold evening air.

My phlegmy cough had me pretty ragged last night, but I figured that’s all it was. I slept pretty horribly and felt absolutely exhausted when I got home from work. It wasn’t until later in the evening that I started to feel a little feverish, so it was an early night to bed, hopefully without the COVID.

100.7, The Edge!

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Life is the Bubbles!

Today was supposed to be a bit stormy, but like yesterday, I never saw any rain. I went to work in the morning to whittle down my work order count, and spent a pretty big chunk of time helping a kid from EAST troubleshoot why a whole row of their computers weren’t connecting to the network. What we ended up discovering is that they don’t have their own switch in the lab, and since we maintain that piece of equipment, they had triggered port security when they moved some computers around.

I left for a late lunch and got stuck by a train for about half an hour. Then I dropped in to Burger King to get some food for the girls and myself. Bác Vân had intercepted a package for me, so I retrieved that and set up a new security camera in the house. Then I rode the Shadow back in to work.

I had to get a wireless access point from the shop, so while I was there I showed Gary the bike and let him ride around the block. It gave him the itch to fix up his own, so hopefully we’ll get that going for real this year. Ben showed back up while we were outside, and we all chatted for a bit until school let out. Then I went back to the high school to finish up.

After work, I went home to see the girls off to karate. Summer went home afterward, so I took the new bike back out where I properly met my neighbor, David. Then I headed to Allen’s for show-and-tell and he, in turn, showed me where he went off the road on the interstate after blowing one of his rear tires. Whatever he picked up must have gotten both of his driver side tires, because his front was completely flat as well.

When I left, I took the bike to the car wash and gave it a proper soap bath. It looked way better without the stickers and weather grime everywhere. I’ll need to do some polishing to the gas tank, and I’d like to fix up the handlebars so they’re not crooked, but otherwise I think it’ll do just fine.

From there, I got the girls from karate and headed up to Summer’s where we threw together some dinner. The cat must have missed me, because she kept coming around to lay on top of me until I finally went to bed myself.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta slow down and smell the roses.

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A Heavy Shadow

We all got up this morning and headed to my parents’ house to meet up with Uncle Giao, Aunt Teresa, Erica, and Nova. They were already there and hanging around the driveway because they thought my parents might not be up yet. I told them Mom probably never went to bed because she had so much cooking to do, and we went on in.

I fired up the grill to get the pork chops cooking, then went to investigate the motorcycle that Uncle Giao brought me. I was a little confused by some paperwork for a 2007 model, but the VIN checked out to be a 2009 Honda VT750C Shadow Aero. I took it out for a ride to the bank for some cash that he ultimately wouldn’t accept, and then to PDQ for some air in the tires. By the time I got back, it was time to cook.

Bâc Ván and Doug eventually showed up, and we all ate an assortment of egg roll salads, pork chops, or phở. At some point the politics started rolling, but Julie hadn’t showed up yet to stoke the fire. When she did finally arrive, the conversations with emotions really took off. I definitely feel like the majority of people are misinformed, on both sides, and I’m starting to think the only way out is for this civilization to fall. I did just recently watch Batman Begins, though.

After a while, everyone headed out and we took the girls back to the house so Summer and I could rearrange the garage. We finally got my giant Kobalt cabinet moved to its rightful home after a quick trip to the shop to borrow the furniture dollies. Then the girls went home to do chores while I started the same.

First, I rode by Allen’s house only to find that nobody was home. Then I got the fire pit cleaned up and prepped for another fire before covering it all up. I took care of some laundry, took a quick shower, and spent some time removing the saddlebags, windshield, and stickers from the Shadow. There’s one enormous one that turns to dust every time I try to peel it off, so I think I’ll have to use a razer blade tomorrow. It could use some TLC, but she’s a smooth ride.

What are you, the mob?

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Trump Town

I got a bit sidetracked today, but that’s not out of the ordinary. I still felt alright about what I accomplished, but it also kind of feels like there’s never any way out. Summer took the girls to work with her, but none of them would respond to me all morning, so I took a late lunch and went home to eat a burrito by myself.

After lunch, I discovered that Summer had lost her phone. I was mostly concerned that someone had stolen it, and tracked it down to a specific house just south of Scottsville. It took me a while to get an answer out of anyone, but Summer realized she dropped it in a customer’s car and just didn’t feel the urgency of getting it back.

When I left work, I dropped by the shop to see them, then rode on up through Dover to retrieve it. It was a really nice ride, apart from all the bugs. Trump flags were out in full force, and someone had placed a hay bale on top of another and painted it to look like old Donnie. It was actually kind of cute. The “neighborhood” was actually really cute, and I was surprised at how many houses were out there along that road. Luckily I found an old lady outside, and I guess it was her family across the street that had the phone.

With that relief, I headed back to town and delivered Summer’s phone to her at Planet Fitness. Then I met them all at my parents’ house after the girls finished karate. Mom made chow mein, and we even got Autumn to eat some. We didn’t stick around too long since Summer was exhausted from her chaotic week. At least she managed to get her stitches out today. Next week has got to be better.

That’s 2020 for you.