09/30/2005
Sex Up Your Living Room:
An editor for a lifestyle magazine out in California contacted me a while back, asking if I did custom illustrations, which I do. The magazine he represented wanted to get some custom work done for an article they were going to be publishing in a future issue called: Sex Up Your Living Room. Well, I responded yes, I do, and inquired for details. I was supplied a photo to use as a model, and given some basic information but not the article as requested. I gave my hourly rate, and an estimate of what amount of time I thought it would take based on the limited information.

Based on the photo I built a similar scene, using custom furniture I had designed previously, special lamps built just for the project, a coffee and sofa table of my own design, and a bunch of custom models. I then lit the scene, textured everything, and kicked out a test render for the magazine. It took me around five hours to kick out the image you see to the left.

I sent the test render, and asked if this was what they were wanting. I was told yes, talked with the editor on the phone briefly, and told I would get some more images. They were concerned about the price, as the article had cost alot to have written. It sounded like they didn't want to spend much on the illustrations, and were trying to do it on the cheap.

Anyway, I said I'd work with them on the price and to send on some of the other illustrations they would like. Turns out I NEVER heard back, despite a follow-up message a couple of days ago. I checked the website for the magazine, and they've published the article using stock photography, including the image they supplied for me as an example of what they were wanting.

As such, I'm publishing my image here, as it's quite nice and I would rather share it than let it sit around. Click the image for a larger resolution version for use as a desktop. This image is still copyrighted by me, and can only be used for personal use. It's 30 minutes past midnight, I've got to go to bed.

09/25/2005
Goodbye Kawi:
Well, we sold the Kawi last week. Maru and I loaded it up and hauled it to Hot Springs to a lady who bought it for her grandson. It was pretty sad to see it go, but Maru decided she didn't need two bikes after hemming and hawing about keeping it or selling it. I'm sad to see it go myself, it was a sweet ride, got great gas mileage, had a quite and smooth running engine and looked very good. The performance was far above anything any other 250cc bike on the market can crank out. It far outpaced Rebel 250's, Virago 250's, and any of the 250 cruisers you can get. It was also the only entry level sportbike on the market that she was interested in at the time.

Our ramp worked really good for loading it in, and it stayed secure the whole way thanks to the tie downs I have. I've now hauled five motorcycles starting with the Buell in the truck. My Blast took it's ride home in the truck as I was a complete newbie to motorcycling at the time. The ramps I had were less than ideal at the time. They're more suited for tractors, and are pretty narrow. The Honda Rebel got loaded with those ramps, and so did the Suzuki parts bike. When we brought home the Firebolt from Oklahoma though, it got loaded with their bike lift and unloaded with the new tri-fold aluminum ramp. This is the same ramp that the Kawi was loaded and unloaded with.

Firebolt:
Maru got burned on the header pipe the other day. Turns out she didn't listen to our MSF instructor very well last year when he said NOT to put your gloves on the bike. She did, and one slid off. She reached down to pick it up. Luckily she didn't drop the bike like alot of riders do. She retrieved the glove, but on bringing her arm back up she contacted the header pipe (WHY was her jacket off? She was parking the bike). She said it made a sizzling sound as her bike cooked her arm.

Now I am not without guilt, I've burned my arm on the Buell Blast's header pipe. However, it was a SMALL burn, and I only contacted it for maybe 1/2 a second. So it disappeared in one day. Hers is looking worse as the skin is healing and peeling. I was trying to wipe some smut off the frame of the bike and was actually off the bike at the time. It looks worse than in the picture now.

I changed the oil and transmission fluid in Maru's Firebolt on Saturday. The deluxe Buell accessory toolkit is a must have for any Buell owner, along with a couple of good torque wrenches. Checking the tension on her drive chain was a breeze due to the inspection cover, I wish the Blast had one of these on it. The engine case looks identical to the Blast.. I really don't see why Buell didn't do something similar for Blast owners. I torqued the drain bolts to the proper foot pound ratings using my foot-pound clicker wrench I bought months ago from Harbor Freight for around $17.00.

The Firebolt took a full quart of Sport Trans fluid, and about 2.5 quarts of oil for the change. The chin fairing had to be removed to fit the new oil filter, which got a Engine Sentry dropped into the filter and pushed all the way to the bottom. The drain bolts for the transmission fluid and oil both were magnetic, and both had small deposits of metal from the engine break-in. Maru's taking the bike to our local HD dealer to have only one thing done, the TPS Reset (throttle position sensor) and adjustment as per the 1000 mile service. It's either that, or spend $250.00 on a kit so we can do it ourselves. Since the TPS only has to be reset at the 10,000 mile service, or if you put on performance parts then that's a bit of a stretch.

Gear Review Follow-up:
I am really enjoying my Biker Bandolier and Body Backpack. I've used both in the last week several times. In the morning when I get into work I tend to remove my jacket, gloves, and other gear, all but my boots. I shove the gloves, do-wrap, and small items into my helmet, and carry the jacket and helmet in to work. I then change into some slip on dress shoes after hanging up my jacket, gloves, etc... In the summer I've made it a point to pull it all off, and switch shoes before hanging anything up so I can cool off quicker. Well, I got some new leather boots for winter riding. They're about 12 inches tall, and lace up the front, and zip up the sides. They're pretty extreme, Chris at work says they look VERY GERMAN. :-) Anyway, I tuck my pants into them to keep them from flapping. I won't do this much, but will this winter when it's chilly. My nylon and leather boots are great for winter riding, but they leak air a bit which means as they have worn more and become more comfortable they let more air in. This is great in spring, summer, and fall, but in winter it wouldn't be good. Last winter they were still pretty new, but the leather one's will be better for this winter.

Anyway, got sidetracked. At the end of the workday, I usually gear up. So when I come in during the mornings I look like a guy who is carrying biker gear.. But when I leave I look like a biker geared up to ride with everything but my helmet and gloves on. My boss calls me: Easy Rider. Recently I got a do-wrap which has a checkerboard pattern on it. So now when I have been leaving, I've had that, and the rest of my stuff on. The biker bandolier though gives me a bit more aggressive look. It reminds me of a military style bandolier or medieval piece of clothing. The pouches are positioned great. I've got a pouch for my wallet, pouches for mail to drop off, etc.. This is a quality piece of biker gear. When I have my helmet on I think I look like some sort of Alien Astronaut of Invader (TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER). If I had a decent MP3 player I'd secure it to the bandolier, in fact there is a pocket which is perfect for an iPod Nano in size but I'm holding off on the iPod Nano as I have seen nothing but bad reviews of how much the thing gets scratched up by something as soft as tissue paper. The backpack has been the same, I love how the waist strap secures it from flopping around. The cellphone pouch is great, and there is a clear pouch which I can shove my work ID card into so I can just walk in with it on.

PC:
I built a PC for myself 3 or 4 years ago. It's decided to get a bit wonky in the last 6 months or so. Video cuts out, BSOD's with Memory Dumps, etc... The hard drives check out and seem fine, the videocard checks out. I've got no clue. It's been getting about time for a new PC anyway. So I ordered some parts, and will be rebuilding my machine again. I'm getting a 3.2 gigahertz processor to replace my 1.53 gigahertz processor. My current machine is an Athlon, the new one will be a Pentium 4. While I prefer Athlon, the price seems to be going up on them and despite Pricewatch, Compgeeks, and Tigerdirect I found a great deal on a P4. This will be the first machine I've had with an Intel processor since I had a Pentium II-300 years and years ago. I'm stepping up to 1 gig of RAM. I have been used to machines with 512 meg, but I've been running out of memory when trying to do 3D functions recently. I'd like to go up to 2 gigs, but 1 gig should be fine. I'm keeping my existing hard drives (have plenty of storage), case, and DVD-Rom/CD Writer, and DVD-Writer... Plus my Firewire card and Videocard as they are all good. Keeping my existing case is tough. It's a full tower, which was saved years ago from the junk heap. It's pretty quiet as PC's go (much quieter than modern machines). It's an ATX case, and has a good ATX power supply.. Though I have an extra ATX power supply. The last time I used it to build a machine, it was the one I have now. I had to paint it, because the case had yellowed from beige to a nasty shade. I ended up painting it red, white, and silver. It turned out good, but this is a new PC.. So I am going to paint it again. I'll strip the faceplate again, and take off the base, and steel sleeve. I've decided to use leftover spray paint from projects. I've got orange, yellow, and a reddish orange, along with black and silver. I've put a 3D mockup of what I am hoping to achieve. We'll see, if it looks decent it may actually end up on my desk rather than under it. With my LCD monitor it's actually possible for it to fit on the desk where in the past there wasn't any room.

Rita:
We got ALOT of rain, our rain barrels filled up. I've got to check our roof, but I think we didn't lose any shingles to the wind (knock on wood). Two neighbors who have sheds with roll roofing will need to make repairs. The people behind us are renters, and I doubt they even know half the roof is off their toolshed. I hope they fix it. The rain barrels hit the overflow for the first time, the hose wasn't enough though as the rain was so heavy. I had to open the cap on one barrel to allow overflow. As such I am going to have to add a better overflow from PVC at some point to the top barrel, and close off the lower barrel where the overflow is now. That should fix the problem. I'll probably pick up parts next time I am at the hardware store to do it, though I doubt we'll need the barrels much in about a month as the temperature drops and fall sets in. I'll have to drain the barrels and turn them on their sides for winter. I may put a tarp over them for the winter and just leave them upright as long as they are drained.

09/20/2005
Gear Review:
Motorcycles don't offer much in the way of carrying things unless you add saddlebags, tail bags, or other luggage to a bike. Some of these such as the Biker's Friend can add a large amount of height to a bike and make the rider feel like a gymnast when mounting their bike. Initially when I got my Buell, and was trying to settle on saddlebags for it I resorted to wearing a backpack. It was a cheap nylon backpack, which would run anywhere from $10.00 to $12.00 and it worked. I quickly moved to find some suitable saddlebags though after using my Buell to pick up 20 pounds of birdseed, and after loading the backpack and riding home feeling 20 pounds heavier.

A backpack is still useful however, especially when you have your bags off your bike and can't be bothered to put them back on. My Buell has been missing it's saddlebags now for maybe 4 months since I yanked them while cleaning the bike, and then after retouching the frame where they had rubbed the paint (despite a rubber mat intended to stop this). Currently I'm pondering making some saddlebag brackets for the Buell to hold them away from the frame, which is why they haven't returned to the bike yet.

As such, I have been eyeballing the $10.00 backpack my wife got from Bennett's Military Surplus in downtown Little Rock with envy. The backpack may have been cheap to buy, but it is HIGH quality. Padded front and back, it holds it's shape at all times, has comfortable straps, and is the antithesis of my backpack. With that in mind we went to Bennett's to buy another, and found they no longer had any in stock. While going through the stock of medic bags, ammo bags, etc.. on the wall, I came across a bag appropriately called by Bennett's on their inventory tag: The Body Bag.

CompackTeam Body Backpack:
The bag is made by a company called: The CompackTeam. It looks like a sling bag, or messenger sling bag. Has a small pocket on the back, a huge main compartment, and a cellphone pocket and small map pocket on the strap which hangs across your chest. This strap is adjustable for fit, and there is a waist strap which secures the bag from flopping around (very important with a sling bag as there is only one shoulder strap. It also has an audio port so you can put your MP3 player or CD player in the main compartment and listen to tunes while riding. The bag cost.. $15.00 with taxes. According to the MSRP on it, the bag retails for $45.00 normally. NICE DEAL there. This is a perfect example of why Army Surplus stores can hold great deals for motorcyclists and everyone in general. The CompackTeam refers to the bag as the Body Backpack.

Something different:
While having saddlebags is great, there is still a need to carry items which need to be accessed easily and quickly on you. While jackets have pockets, (each of my Joe Rocket jackets have 3, two zip up for your hands and stuff, and one inside for a wallet.) They typically are light on the amount of them, and when you get done stuffing your pockets you have weird and unsightly bulges in your sleek or cool motorcycle jacket. I've done the backpack thing, but it seems excessive for my wallet, keys, cellphone, and a few other items.

Recently I came across an ad for the Biker Bandolier in a magazine, made a mental note, and then forgot about it. Well, I sometimes carry a small ammo pouch, which looks alot like a purse. It's olive drab, and covered with biker patches, and pins in an attempt to make it look like a BIKER BAG rather than a man-purse. I think though that the patches and pins may be counter to that, since now it is colorful and glittery where before it just looked like I was carrying a satchel charge or something. I usually hang it over my shoulder with the bag to the back so it looks like a SMALL sling sack. I worry though that somehow, some way, something is going to make it's way out of the bag no matter how I secure it. So typically I have resorted to just carrying lunch in it and keeping my pockets bulging or dropping my stuff into my saddlebags and then carrying it in my hands into work.

Well, a little bit ago I remembered the Biker Bandolier, but didn't want to search through 150 motorcycle magazines (no I am not exaggerating) from the last 8 months to see if I could find it. So a Google search turned it up pretty quick luckily.

Biker Bandolier:
The Biker Bandolier is from CueroMoto. Unlike the backpack from CompackTeam, it's a bit more pricey. It ran $119.95 with shipping and handling. It seemed like it would fit the bill, 8 pockets, d-rings, and could hold everything I'd need to keep on me and be able to walk into work with it on my shoulder looking more like Rambo than a guy with a man-purse. I sent 2 e-mail's in two days to CueroMoto as they only take credit card orders on the phone. They do not have an online ordering process. I'd almost forgotten about it, when a day or two after the second e-mail I got a call from Desiree at CueroMoto to assist me with my order. She was very nice, verified the measurements (you have to measure from your shoulder to the middle of where your belt is), prescribed an XL for me, and then took my information and Credit Card info.

A week later, my Biker Bandolier arrived in a HUGE bubblewrap envelope. Inside that was a nice muslin drawstring bag with their logo on it and information about the Biker Bandolier. Inside the bag (yeah, yeah, layers) was the Biker Bandolier. The first thing I noticed when pulling it out was how soft and supple it is. The cowhide they use is of lovely quality. The stitching, is top notch. There is a mesh fabric on the inside to facilitate a layer of airflow while riding and to keep your cool while wearing it. The 8 pockets are great. The snaps are tight, and secure. The size is a little big on me, but the size I gave Desiree was with my riding jacket on. If you plan to ride without a jacket, measure with whatever you normally wear for a tighter fit. With the jacket on, it's PERFECT. The inside loop which secures to your belt secures to my jacket's fitment strap perfectly. It looks very nice, and is a premium piece of biker apparel. I just wish my leather vest was black now to match. :-)

Recommendations:
Both the CompackTeam Body Backpack and Biker Bandolier are different products for different needs. They overlap a little in the fact that the Body Backpack has strap storage like the Bandolier. Depending on what kind of bike you ride, one or the other might suit your style. I don't adhere to the Outlaw Biker gear image, nor do I adhere to the Sportbiker image. I wear a mix of both. My Joe Rocket jackets both have leather on them, my helmet is a full face, but white for visibility, and I wear combat boots and jeans typically (though when riding to work I have on slacks). In the winter where most riders put on chaps, or don't ride.. I have on skibib pants and skimobile gloves at 25 degrees and am riding to work if it's not snowing, icy, or wet.

I plan on wearing both the backpack (probably on my Buell mainly until I get the bags back on) and the Bandolier. It's always good to have a nice backpack for different uses... and the Bandolier is the Biker-purse I was needing to carry around all of the items I need. The only thing I need to think about is.. Do I want to put pins on my biker Bandolier.. It's WAY too beautiful to punch holes in.. and maybe I don't want it to glitter as that would take away from the Rambo look I was looking for.

I'd recommend both of these pieces of gear. They're both great quality, and both a good value for two different price ranges. Either one of these is suitable for riding, and depending on your budget you might opt for the backpack, the bandolier, or both. One other little thing, I wish the Biker Bandolier came in a yellow leather because if it did, I'd buy one for my wife in a heartbeat.

09/18/2005
CZ explanation for Jeff : Jeff, I tried responding to your e-mail inquiring about the CZ decal on my bike three times, but your e-mail provider keeps bouncing the messages with the error: User is unknown or not found. As such, I am responding here:

The CZ sticker is an updated version of a typical country designation sticker used in Europe and other parts of the world to designate the origin of a vehicle. Tourists tend to pick them up when in Europe and other places and stick them on their vehicle as a memento of their trip. My wife is originally from Europe, and as such we travel periodically to visit family. The last time we were over I picked up a bunch of these Blue and Chrome CZ stickers to replace the Black and White CZ stickers on our vehicles as needed. When I got my Vulcan I had put a B&W CZ sticker on it, and my wife reminded me of the stack of these that I had so I pulled the B&W sticker off and put this one on. I'm not terribly into putting stickers on my bike or anything, but this is the one exception. :-)

While in Europe I've been to a Ducati dealership (they weren't open yet, and it was in the middle of winter), and a used motorcycle shop which had bikes on the second floor. They had a special bike lift which ran on tracks up the normal staircase so they could put the bikes upstairs. If you wanted to check out their selection you had to go upstairs. There were some really cool bikes that aren't available here, and they had a selection running back to the 80's up to today so I got a look at motorcycles in Europe from alot of the last 20 years.

Motorcyclists seem to face more dangerous streets in Europe than we do. Cities which have cobblestone streets (teeth jarring even in a car), hard winters which can chew roads up, and they drive alot more aggressively than we do here. To counteract that the motorcyclists seem even more aggressive than here. Lane splitting is allowed, but it's somewhat disconcerting to see a bunch of bikes coming up between cars in parallel lanes doing 45 or 50 to get to the head of the queue. In the time I have been in Europe I have only seen ONE Harley-Davidson, and it was black with tan suede saddlebags which had fringe. I saw it several times on different days. It wasn't in my opinion very pretty to have those colors mixed, but to each his own. While in Italy I picked up some toy bikes for my desk at work. I have a Ducati sportbike (yellow), and a Moto-Guzzi California (hah). Unfortunately the boxes with all the Italian writing recently got wet when I overwatered my plant and I had to take them out of the boxes.

09/17/2005
Buell Blast Update: Well, my $135.00 torque wrench, plus two sets of crowsfeet and I set out today to tension the Buell's primary drive chain. It took roughly 20 minutes, because I had to read about how to use the tool. I removed the aluminum spacer that our local dealer neglected to remove when they serviced my bike and didn't properly tension the chain. I followed the instructions in the service manual, and tensioned the chain. The new wrench is BEAUTIFUL. Anyway, after I was done I started the bike up and let it warm up. WHAT A DIFFERENCE it made tensioning the drive chain. The bike runs much smoother, and there is less shake on the handlebars. The bike also runs much quieter. I took it for a ride in the driveway and it seems to be running alright.

BTW. A friend at work told me the local Harley Dealer didn't do a good job on a fellow rider's bike. Apparently they did a poor job, and weren't lubricating or servicing parts of the bike as per Harley-Davidson. Things like servicing and oiling the air filter. As such the guy had to have some serious work done on the bike by the merchanics over at Rodney's Cycle House. Pretty sad. Spend that much on a bike, and have the authorized service center do a lousy job. Rodney's is a great place BTW. They won the Biker Buildoff locally with a custom they built from scratch. It's simply the MOST beautiful bike I've ever seen. They were up against our local HD dealer, and Hard Rider in NLR. Our local dealer did a theme bike for Evan Williams in the style of an OCC chopper. Hard Rider took a production chopper similar to an Ironhorse, and did a bunch of bolt on accessories and changes.

The bike from Rodney's was truly custom, and when I walked in to pick up some license plate brackets I was floored. It's beautiful, and functional. It looks like you could ride it for 1000 miles and be relatively comfortable versus a chopper.. and the paint with scalloped frames and gold leaf is very classy. If Harley-Davidson made one like this, I would actually have to break down and buy it because it's the most beautiful bike I have ever seen in my life. If you make it into Little Rock, I recommend going by Rodney's to check it out.. Here's a link to the gallery over at Rodneys about the bike, I recommend the outdoor photos.. Artificial lighting from the shop photos just doesn't do this bike justice.. It looks much better in person as well. I wish they'd get some professional photos taken as I'd love to have an autographed 8x10 framed for my cube at the office: http://www.rodneyscyclehouse.com/blackattack/gallery/

09/17/2005
ENTERGY Arkansas sent us our bill for last month. $120.00. Now I know, you're saying. Gee, that's not bad. The bad thing is that we're on levelized billing, and our bill is normally $50.00 to $60.00 each month. It has steadily been going down because several years back we had attic insulation blown into our attic, last year we had energy efficient doublepane windows with Low-E glass/Argon gas installed to replace the old singlepane aluminum windows in our house, we have compact flourescents and flourescent lighting throughout the house, keep the A/C at 79 degrees in the summer, turn off the lights when we go into another room, etc... We do everything we can to cut our energy bill. Heck, we've got LCD monitors which use ALOT less electricity than our old CRT's. At one point Entergy started getting suspicious of how our usage was going down, so they replaced our meter and our bills went back up to the regular levelized rate. That really ticked me off, you do everything you can to cut your usage, and the bill starts going down and they come out to "fix it" so they still get the same amount of money. Anyway, it was on the news last night that Entergy wanted to raise customers bills by $5.00 each month to pay for the extra energy usage but has to get approval from the State Legislature.

All I know is if this is my new LEVELIZED bill, and we use as little energy as we do.. then people who use their A/C more, people who leave their lights on, have bad windows, etc.. are going to pay more. In turn, they're going to do what we've been doing.. We go out less, plan our trips to the store, and basically put less into the economy than we would if we didn't have to spend so much on utilities. I don't know about the average American, but I know that my wage increases yearly haven't been keeping up with inflation and that the inflation rate has exceeded them two years in a row. This just isn't right. I've already written my state's attorney general about the change in my utility bill. I am hoping it's just a mistake because Entergy has their headquarters in New Orleans. If not, this smacks of price gouging by a utility company in much the way many gas stations jack their rates up in an emergency.

09/16/2005
This is mostly a photo update: I installed the tank bib with Conchos and Studs for my Vulcan 750 which I got from JC Whitney. We also put up the Corona Patio Umbrellas we got from Corona.com. These are $44.00 each right now on sale, but they aren't much more expensive normally. Some sites out there though are charging from $100.00 to $200.00 for the EXACT same umbrellas which is a rip off. They're REALLY nice quality, heavy vinyl, beautiful umbrellas... I cleaned the Vulcan today since I was installing the Tank Bib. I used Honda Gloss, it comes in a spray can and so far is the best product I've found yet for cleaning the bike. When I've washed it with water and soap, I still usually wipe the surfaces down with Honda Gloss because it leaves a great anti-static protective coating which is superior to waxing. Today though, I just used the Honda Gloss, which you can do. Washing your bike with water too frequently can wash away grease and coating prematurely from what I am told. It's not so bad if you do it with a gentle spray, but high pressure nozzles can cause water to get where it shouldn't and knock those coatings off. Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed. Enjoy the photos.

This is a closeup of the retaining clips which fit on the posts of LeatherLyke Saddlebags. You'll have to excuse the contents of the bag, which include a Kickstand Critter, some velcro (from mounting the tank bib), first aid kit, bike lock, etc...	Rear view of my Vulcan 750 with the LeatherLyke Bags, one with the lid open, and where the turn signals end up being relocated when you install the bags mounting posts, and then relocate the turn signals with the included kit.	Tank Bib, lousy photo since it was parked indoors and I guess the wife took it with the flash on the camera.
Corona Umbrellas in the Cafe. :-) These umbrellas are TALL. Really nice though, restaurant quality (well, restaurants actually buy them from Corona.. so these are the same) with Chrome Posts, and tilt tops. Really heavy duty vinyl umbrellas.	The umbrellas with their tops tilted to show off how that works. These are really nice umbrellas

09/11/2005
No pictures with this update.. Sorry.

This is a LONG update, as it's been a week or so since I wrote.

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VN750 Forum/Vulcan 750 Update:
I got a message from another member of the VN750 forum, Brian... I'm posting it here, in case anyone finds the information in my reply useful.

My Reply:
I promised Brian some pictures BTW.. but the Camera was with the wife, so I couldn't take them.
Will try to remember to do it tomorrow and e-mail them to him, and post them here for anyone else interested in LeatherLyke bags.

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Buell Update:
Well, I had been planning to buy a Torque Wrench so I could torque the Buell primary chain to 24 inch pounds as specified in the manual as part of normal maintenance. The wrench though is $135.00, for a Dial Type wrench which goes from 0 to 75 inch pounds in 1 pound increments. That took my breath away, the price is HIGH for a tool.. but it is a precision tool. Well, I was checking my Buell out the other day, and noticed that our local HD dealer DID NOT tension the chain when they did the initial 1000 mile service, and just appears to have turned the factory spacer around where it isn't so obvious.

THIS motivated me to go ahead and order the wrench from Toolsource.com, and then go and order two sets of Crowsfeet from JC Whitney. I also ordered a tank bib with studs and a concho for the Vulcan, and some more small items to bring the total up where I could get free shipping. I was comparing prices in the JC Whitney catalog, and noticed that some of the items I was ordering were between a dollar to 50 cents cheaper than online.. and if I entered the catalog code I got them for the cheaper price versus the online price. So I tried something, I deleted the Alpha character prefix from the Web versions, and replaced it with the print catalog Alpha prefix of AGU... Lo and behold, items which weren't in my print catalog dropped in price a little. I took the time as such to redo my shopping card and saved about $6.00 on my total purchase.

When these items get in, it'll be time to tension the Buell's drive chain. I'm looking forward to getting the performance exhaust, and jet kit installed at some point, along with the performance air filter.. Though I'd probably be happy getting a Vance and Hines set of pipes and a K&N filter. I realize the airbox on the Blast is BIG and plastic looking, but the Buell performance filter leaves the bikes looking HOLLOW as you can see from one side to the next.

I'll have to replace the rear tire in about a month, and will get another Dunlop tire this time.. and when I have to replace the front tire at the next rear tire replacement I am going to switch to another brand. Not quite sure what yet. I've heard Pirelli's are good tires, and there is another brand made for the Blast which is great. I'll have to ask my friend Rodney what he has on his Vulcan 750 because they are the same brand but I can't remember it at the moment.

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Kawasaki Ninja 250:
Maru has decided to sell her 250 again. She has it listed in the paper for $2500.00, which is an EXCELLENT deal as the bike includes an extended warranty which is good until October of 2009, the factory service manuals, owners manual, transfer papers for the warranty and warranty information, an MSF safety booklet (came with the bike), the tank mask, two NAPA Gold oil filters specifically for her bike, a can of spray chain lube, a cargo box I made for the bike. It's a great deal, I wish I could have found her bike for this price last year. It's a shame to see it go, but she says she doesn't need two bikes. I know she'll miss it. I hope if we sell it that it goes to someone who will take care of it like we have. We've treated it very well, and it looks like a new bike. Two people looked at it today, a guy who was 19 and looking for his first bike (called to say he changed his mind because of his wife), and another guy who came by with his wife. They were all impressed with it. The lady and husband said they had looked at 5 bikes so far today, and NONE had looked like this. They thought it was brand new. It essentially is, it has a little over 2900 miles on it.

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Pub/Cafe:
Maru has decided Corona is another favorite beer of hers. She likes Michelob, and Corona Light with Lime now. A friend from work (Sravan) had a party to introduce his co-workers to his wife and newborn baby recently at a local Mexican Restaurant. She tried Corona with lime there, so now we have limes in the fridge, and bought a couple of cases of Corona at our local bottle shop (we've got a NICE one near our house.. It looks like it's not nice on the outside, but when you get inside the staff is super friendly and cool, and they have this HUGE room with wine in the back, and several wine fridges where you walk in for the good stuff. We had Corona last weekend when some friends came over and we barbequed some hotdogs and burgers, and ate outside with the party lights handing up on the clothesline (those plastic lantern types, I am into cheesy stuff, what can I say.). Well, Corona.com has Corona Light pub umbrellas for sale right now due to summer almost being over. These same umbrellas sell for $100.00 to $200.00 at other sites for some reason. Yet you can get them directly from Corona for $44.00 right now, so we ordered two for our tables. Should make for a good pub atmosphere when my sister-in-law comes to visit with her husband and Maru's uncle in about a month. :-) We'll be able to sit out late and drink beer and socialize.. Have dinner at Cafe Two-Wheels. :-)

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Rain Barrels:
Been watering the Bamboo that Fred gave me a couple weeks back every other day, Maru's fig tree, and some of the plants which are suffering from the drought. The neighbor had her yard mowed today, which seemed dumb since the yard was DEAD. The water barrels today hit the point where they aren't equalizing level-wise as the water level in each is below the equalizing overflow. There's probably 15 gallons left in each barrel. Enough to water the bamboo plants and fig tree twice this coming week if I am careful. We need some more rain, but it hasn't rained since Katrina sent a bunch of rain our way a couple of weeks ago.

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Biker Bandolier
Until I can make some brackets for my Stealth Saddlebags for the Buell I am not putting them back on. Since I alternate between the Buell (well, I did, will again once I get the drive chain torqued) and the Vulcan most days this means I have easy carrying for my wallet, ID card for work, Phone, keys, etc.. when I am on the Vulcan, but end up stuffing my jacket pockets with this stuff when I am on the Buell. I hate wearing a backpack with my jacket, it's a pain.. and I am always thinking I forgot to zip it up. I tend to pack light when on the Buell, and use the Vulcan for shopping and things like that. I need a solution for carrying things, and a while back I came across the Biker Bandolier in a magazine. It stuck in my head. As such I have written them about it, and will likely end up ordering one this week. If you don't know what the Biker Bandolier is, I suggest you visit their site. It's very cool, custom made, and the price is not bad at all for something with that much storage and ease of use... plus unlike the bag I carry normally (Army S urplus Ammo bag) for my stuff it doesn't look as much like a purse (Hah). If I get one, I'll post a review at some point after I've used it a bit.

That's about it for this update. I'm going to bed.

09/03/2005
Riding to work started out as a way to enjoy our motorcycles in a practical way in addition to taking motorcycle trips on weekends. With gas prices skyrocketing, and talk of gas shortages in the news and being reported in places like Georgia in the wake of Hurrican Katrina it is now on the verge of becoming more practical than just practical fun.

I put up flyers at work for Ride to Work, with information on MSF and Rider's Edge classes. They include basic information on gas mileage for scooters, and small to medium size motorcycles. Alot of my co-workers have heard me extolling the virtues of being a motorcyclist for over a year now. Some of them are beginning to ask me questions about scooters, and motorcycles. One said he test rode a friends new scooter the other day. I think that there are going to be alot of new two-wheelers on the road as gas prices continue to go up.

We've been planning our trips to the store more carefully over the last couple of months, and now the Vulcan is being pressed into grocery duty since it has big saddlebags. On the way home from work on Friday I stopped at the grocery store and bought supplies for barbeque this labor day weekend. I picked up three packs of hotdogs, a 3 pound bag of shredded cheese, a ten pound bag of charcoal, and some other things. When I got out to the bike I dropped the smaller stuff into one saddlebag, and the ten pound bag of charcoal fit in the other saddlebag with about 3 to 4 inches of space on top of it left. I was shocked, as I'd figured I'd have to strap it to the passenger seat because it's not a small bag. I knew I could fit the contents of 2 grocery bags (paper) into 1 and a half saddlebags because I regularly stock up on rice cakes for work and usually fill the bags 3/4 of the way up with two grocery bags worth. I highly recommend the LeatherLyke saddlebags, they're turning out to be one of the best accessories I've bought for a motorcycle. It's like having a trunk on a car rather than having saddlebags. Hardbags are the only way to go.

Related to the weekend, I cut down the second wire spool I have by 3 inches on one end just like the other one so they resemble cafe tables. I then stained it with some of the oops stain I bought at Home Depot about two months ago. I also cut spacers out of paneling for umbrellas for each table and tacked them down with 2 brass nails each and stained them to match the tables. We went to the store, and bought some plastic chairs on clearance, six of them seems to be enough as 2 people can sit on the retaining wall at each table. The stain is pretty good, as when it rained last the water just beaded up on the table that was finished at the time and evaporated when the sun came out. It looks nice, almost like a little cafe what with the barbeque grill off to the side for cooking.

We've never really had many friends over since we moved in for barbeque or beers outside as we've never had a good place to entertain or any tables and chairs to do so. This will change that hopefully. We're going to barbeque some hotdogs this weekend, and that's probably it. We were going to go riding, but have decided against it as we want to conserve fuel.. even in our bikes where gas mileage is much better than our cars. Pictures of the cafe tables and chairs are in this entry. Click the pictures for larger images. We only have one umbrella, it's a beach umbrella. Maybe when clearance sales come this fall with umbrellas on sale we can pick up a couple that match. Until then, the beach umbrella will work in our little cafe.