I was up at 7 at Dad’s house with one mission for the day–Bike shopping. So, Joey, Dad, and I piled into his 2008 GMC truck and headed for Gateway Cycles in Mt. Sterling.
As I’d learned earlier in the week, Dealers just don’t give Test rides. Well, pish-tosh–Gateway DOES. Worked with Robert and he set me up with three very interesting cycles that I tooled around the parking lot for the better part of an hour.
…or “What does it look like to lose about $2000 per second?”
Alfred P. Sloan is rolling in his grave somewhere. GM has the financial equivalent of flesh-eating bacteria, cannibalizing its own funds to stay afloat, mortgaging its own brands and capital to operate.
The estimates I saw yesterday were in the $7 Billion to $9 Billion range. Wow.
We need some moniker besides “The Perfect Storm” for this automotive maelstrom…this is more like that 200 ft Tsunami at the end of Deep Impact
Finally cowboy’d-up and headed to a dealership to sit on some bikes.
Went with Joey to Bell’s Honda here in Georgetown, and it was a pretty decent experience.
I didn’t have salesmen climbing all over me or pressuring me. I did find out that they do NOT give test-rides until they’re sure you’re capable of buying the bike, and in fact that if you wreck the bike on the test-ride, you’ve bought it automatically.
Jeff Roberts - Jul 4, 2008
I don’t know of a really good used bike place in town, either. Huntsville, AL was better for that - there were several good sources.
Yeah, Jeff Kees pointed me at Recycles LLC in Danville. They seem to have a pretty good selection of old and new stuff.
Kawasaki Versys:
Suzuki SV650:
Like both of these because they’re ‘Naked’ and seem like capable all-around bikes–more comfortable than a sport bike, more sporty than a cruiser, can carry a passenger if desired.
They’re both pricey (relative to what I’d like to spend) and they’re > 600cc’s so that probably means higher insurance rates. Yay.
Whitney - Jul 3, 2008
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We’re one sold car away from Disn… HarryC - Jul 3, 2008
Meh ;-)
We’re one sold car away from Disneyworld AND a used motorcycle for daddy.
It’s just a matter of manning-up and doing that rather painful (E30) or rather stupid (Camry) step.
Heard a wonderful sermon from Warren French, our missionary-in-residence at Northside on Sunday. It was about how to deal with the relationship you have (or don’t have) with God–this was a sermon aimed at “comfortable” Christians, who’ve let Satan come against them without realizing it.
Full Disclosure: I believe in divine (and infernal) intervention–that God and Satan are in a tug-of-war for people’s soul, and that it’s a battle that continues all one’s life. I understand little of the ‘why’; I just know what I’ve seen with my own eyes.
Somewhere among the repetition, self-deprecation, and muscle-memory, I “got” slow speed handling yesterday. We started the day doing the dreaded “U-turn” excercise, where you have to take the bike into a box that’s 10 feet x 20 feet (roughly) and do a U-turn left AND a U turn right, exiting at the opposite corner. Maintaining momentum and engine RPM while remaining in the clutch friction zone was the key.
Of course, on the bike, that cold academic paragraph requires a coordination of head, body, hands and feet that requires every part of your neuro-muscular system. In other words, “IT’S HARD”
Home, home on the range…
Where the Viragos and Nighthawks play.
Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word.
And you practice FINE-C all day.
Well, not all day, just before and after EACH of the 9 exercises we went through in the 6 hours of July heat. I got a Honda Nighthawk 250cc, pretty much like this:
Black-on-black, with 5000 miles showing on the odo, and a darling sweetheart of a clutch. So, fact #1–I look like a clown on a Nighthawk. I know because Whitney and Maria arrived at 6pm to spectate, and confirmed it.
Jeff Roberts - Jul 0, 2008
You’re bringing back memories. Sadly those 2nd gear skills are necessary for the last few moments of the ride when you’re working your way through the parking lot, and that’s when you have to have some concentration left for people who are backing into you :-)
Well, this is the week.
I’m taking my MSF training course this Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’m excited and a little scared–my total experience on motorcycle is < 1 hour, and I’ve never operated a hand clutch or anything like that.
I’ve read over the manual and tried to absorb what I can, learning many interesting things:
Seventy percent of the braking on a motorcycle is done by the front wheel, but you should use both front and rear brakes all the time so you’re ready for a “maximum braking” situation.
Jeff Roberts - Jul 1, 2008
Woohoo! I’m in driving-around-in-a-loaner limbo while my car’s being serviced, but I guess that’s a good excuse not to ride on a hot day. Looks like the latter part of the week will be a bit cooler.
Ah, money. The thing to be talking about when the economy’s receding, the stock market lost 20% of its value, and inflation’s through the roof.
Many find themselves in another sort of double-whammy: The taxable stock mutual fund. I was in one of these turds back when the tech bubble popped, and it taught me some tough lessons.
First, I sunk thousands of dollars into an American Funds portfolio (yeah, I got sold a bunch of Class-B, back-load shares!). Then I watched that money tank over the next 3 years. Each year, come ~February I got a lovely 1099 form from Ye Olde Mutual Funde for capital gains distributions.
Man, I had a good time last night. Yesterday as a whole, actually.
I enjoyed some Hawaiian pizza and frosty beverages at Lexington’s Mellow Mushroom with Todd, Serge, Varma, Vinnie, Narron, Ildy, and Patrick.
Good times, good times.
Then I came home and Bella wanted to watch the Whedon masterpiece, Once More, With Feeling.
Hehe
How to glorify the self and acquire power…
Though ugly, it’s good to read these in a Defence Against the Dark Arts fashion, just to know when they’re in use against you.
I will absolutely agree with Law 39, having been on the wrong end of it so many times. I allow myself to get so worked-up and emotional, ceding control to my opposition.
As for the rest…IMHO, most make me want to vomit, and they’re quite possibly a one way ticket to Hell. Practices such as these are lifehacks against the fabric of society–using base human frailty to one’s advantage. Demagogues, Caesars, and Courtiers may practice them, but their power is only for a season. The true way is one of authenticity, truth, virtue, altruism, and love.
This would be awesome…give me a chance to catch-up on my reading to and from work, while paying < 1/2 tank of fuel per month for a bus pass.
The tradeoff, of course, would be time: Probably 2 hours on a bus each day, compared to ~40 minutes now. Still…interesting that this is being considered.
Jeff Roberts - Jul 2, 2008
We have one on Sunday :-D
Yeah, I know, and I know I’m being… HarryC - Jul 2, 2008
:-P~
Yeah, I know, and I know I’m being ridiculous considering riding a bus for a 22-mile commute.
I’d have to walk/bike/hitch a ride to the center of G’town, then hop on the bus down US25, likely, then get from the transit center back up to LXK. Then each evening, reverse the process.
Friday night, Whitney and I went on a date. Honest-to-goodness, dinner-and-a-movie evening together. We ate at Friday’s and went to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. We even went to a theater that didn’t smell like urine this time!
I loved the film. Loved it…it was relentlessly funny, beautiful, and fun.
As the film opens, we watch a younger Hellboy watching Howdy Doodie with his father, who reads the overeager Hellboy a bedtime story about The Golden Army, a warrior race of 4900 indestructible Goblin-forged machines, commanded by the elf-king in his war against mankind. Though the Golden Army triumphs, the Pyrrhic victory fills the king with remorse: He has become the destroyer himself. To atone, he locks the Golden Army away and separates the crown that controls them into three pieces, one of which he gives to man.
:-) Well, we’ll see if like my foray into autocross (lifelong passion) or my obsession with SCUBA diving when I was 12 (yikes…bad memories…)
I’ve signed up for the July 23rd, 26th, and 27th Motorcycle Safety Foundation course through Balance Dynamics. If I pass everything, I can go get my motorcycle license using their endorsement w/o taking the state test. :-)
At least this way, if I ride Stu’s scooter, I won’t get arrested. Should be fun, and maybe a nice new hobby.
Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine
Richard Feynman was an intellectual giant that prided himself on solving problems, getting at the heart of things, and making everyone smarter. He was right up there with the giants–Von Neumann, Einstein, Oppenheimer–but he never lost the common touch.
