Day from hell

Sorry blogosphere. It's been way to long since my last post. And I know that you missed me. But I figured what a way to get back going again that to update while in the 17th hour of working on a bustificated server. Somehow Windows got corrupted and the server now randomly reboots. Could be 2 minutes after booting or 2 hours. All the hardware troubleshooting and device driver updating didn't do squat. Virus scan are a negatory. Of course last nights backups failed because the problem must have started sometime around the time they take off. So we have a USB hard drive that I am copying data onto from safe mode. Of course it's slooooowwww. It took and hour and a half to copy 6 gigs of data from the internal HDD to the USB one. Looking at probably more than 24 hours at the office here.

On a better note, that weather has started to become spring-like and I've been out riding in the warmth. I rode through the winter but not much. We're also buying a new house. The link probably won't last much longer but what the hey. Very excited about it. But what to do with the current house? Right now I think we are going to rent until the market improves. But I haven't ruled out selling to a house flipper. Hell, I take getting what I owe to get it off my hands. But my mood on it switches day to day. One day I wanna rent, the next sell. Who knows what will happen.

Finally

I bought my new motorcycle on July 22. Just today my backrest finally came in. I was close to calling and cancelling the order because it had been to long and I can get an aftermarket backrest off the web. Anyway, it's here now. w00t!

I would put it on this weekend but, of course, it's supposed to rain the whole weekend. Figures. Last weekend was gorgeous but we were in Marlblehead, Ohio on Lake Erie for a wedding. It was an awesome time but it would of been better if we rode up. As it is, I haven't been able to ride but once in about the last 2-3 weeks due to weather, other commitments on the weekend, or Darcy's work schedule. Starting to get irked about it. I do have light plans for a ride with my buddy Dave on Saturday but who knows if we'll get it in. *sigh*

Working for the weekend

Man, am I glad it is Friday afternoon. The last week has been rough and I have had a hard time shaking a week long funk. Death is all around, and it has been rainy and cloudy all week. My Grandma died on Friday August 27. 3 hours after I got that call, we found out the my brother-in-law Tony's dad died the same day. Then for the last 2 1/2 weeks the news has been dominated by the disappearance and death of poor little Marcus Fiesel. Such a sad, tragic story and life for a baby. It is no wonder that I have felt a little depressed all week. And there is no end in sight for the cloudy days. At for least over the weekend. I need a drink and intend to wash away these sorrows for the evening anyway. Hopefully I will get on the motorcycle for a ride this weekend. If it stays dry enough. I got more news on the MC front but will save that for a different post, when I am in a happier mood.

Saturday, Saturday

Darcy has taken to riding the GS650 to get a bit of practice recently. I do really think a different bike is in order for her. She can reach the ground OK and a slight shaving of the seat would give her the ability to completely flat foot it. The downer is it is a heavy bike. She felt uncomfortable with all that weight under her. It wasn't easy to control. It looks like it will have to go back on the market and the search for something smaller and light will begin. I think a Suzuki S40 (formerly the Suzuki Savage) would be perfect. Finding a used one when we have the cash to afford it is the challenge. And while inexpensive new, it will be a long time coming to get that cash saved and I really don't want to finance a second bike.

First maintenance

Saturday I did the 600 mile maintenance on the Vulcan 900. Well, actually I should say my riding pal Zootech did it. He is a great wrench. I really appreciate having a friend that is willing to take time out of his day to help me figure this stuff out. We met up at our other riding buddies house to do it. It is about half way between him and I. Scan and Loonette are most gracious host.

After we changed the oil and filter and checked all the stuff listed under the first service in the manual, we had a bit of lunch courtesy of Loonette, and hit the road for some riding. What a perfect day Saturday was for a ride. Scan, Zootech and I made the trip. Loonette had to stay behind with the kids because babysitting fell through. We made our way down to a stealership, Clinton County Motorsports I think, that was having a midnight madness sale. They were offering up some test rides on some Yamaha cruisers. Scan and Zootech took test rides and I elected to just hang out. We had lunch there, free food!, and hung out for a couple hours. About four we started winding our way back south because I had to be home by six cause Darcy had to work at seven. We rode some nice roads down. Across the Ceasar Creek State Park dam, along the Little Miami river for a bit. Hit a few twisty roads, then pretty much straight down 42 from Lebanon.

When we got to my place, it turns out Darcy was put on mandatory overstaff and didn't have to go into until 11. Nice. She had a new tattoo that she was showing off to us. I must say it is a very pretty piece. We ended up grilling and my brother in law and sister in law came over too. Zootech and I did some more maintenance on my bike attempting to chase away a funny sound coming from the drive train. We managed to reduce the sound and change its pitch. :) I am gonna have to did around the net to see if this is normal for the bike. If not, it looks like it is gonna be warranty time. Darcy got a call that she didn't have to come in at all. So, after eating and seeing off Scan and Zootech, we went to some other friends house and had a fire and watched a movie. Then got home late.

Sunday Loonette made her way down to Cincy and we managed to get a couple hours of riding in late in the afternoon. Darcy and Lincoln went to "session" and I had a couple hours free. It was cool to ride with her. It was the first time we had managed to get out. I always end up riding with Scan. We just jaunted around the city a bit. Riding out through the rich suburbs and hitting a quick bit of the countryside before coming back.

All and all a good weekend.

Easy like Sunday morning

This last week has been busy. Sunday here is the first time I've had a chance to jump on and update the ol' blog.

We got Darcy signed up for her MSF class late, late Friday night. Her classes are in early October. I haven't got to do any riding this weekend. Kinda bummed about it but such is life. I am taking the Suzuki out for a spin to keep it in running shape. I haven't ridden since a couple days before getting the new bike. I need to get her out again.

I'm also missing the Brickyard 400 again this year. Watching on TV just isn't the same as sitting in the stands. This is 2 years in a row we've missed making the trip to Indy. My brother Dan is coming over to watch with me then we are going to my brother Tim's house to celebrate the birthday of our, I guess I will call her my neice, she is Tim's girlfriends daughter, so that makes her close enough to be called a neice.

Well off to tune in to the Brickyard.

The funk

Egads. I think I caught some stomach funk from my brothers house. He and his kids were down with it last week. I slept on his couch after a night of drinking and ever since have had the stomach from hell. I'll spare the juicy details (hahaha).

Darcy is going to get her temps for her motorcycle license this week. I am excited for her. She's been wanting to do it for a long time but put it off until after she graduated. Then she said she was going to do it next spring. I think me getting the new motorcycle has inspired her. She picked up the motorcycle packet from the BMV last week and has been studying the booklets. She will take the written test sometime this week.

I haven't sold the GS650L because we were gonna save it for her to ride. Great plan but the problem is the bike is a bit too tall for her. The options are: shaving the seat and buying platform boots for her to wear. Prolly the easiest and cheapest. If that doesn't lower it enough, then trying to chase down lowering blocks for a 25 year old bike. Bleagh. Thirdly, sell it and try to find something cheap and lower. This kinda sucks. I already had it sold but decided to back out because we figured lowering it wouldn't be so tough. But now it's starting to look like it might be a bit troublesome if it goes beyond seat modification. I also feel bad for backing out of the deal with the kid I had to sold to. He was jazzed about getting his first bike and really liked my old one. Though that deal had problems with location. He is in South Carolina and I am here, in Ohio. A meet in Knoxville was agreed to but it would've still been very difficult for me to make arrangements to get there. Darcy couldn't have taken me due to her work schedule and I couldn't think of anyone else willing to drive 5 hours to Knoxville to drop off a bike and then turn around and drive back home.

So anywho, soon Darcy will have her temps and taking the MSF basic rider course. I look forward to us riding together soon.