Wayne’s Rules of Riding 101

With the weather great outside this week, I’ve passed a few riders on the road who were obviously either newbies, or people who’ve returned to riding after several years to save gas. Thinking about Motorcycle safety, I am the first to say to anyone that motorcycling isn’t for everyone, so I thought I’d offer my “wish-they-were-patented” “Wules of Widing 101″ to no one in particular.

First things first, riding requires both respect, fear, confidence, and a little bit of talent and sheer blind luck.

Rule #1, Unless you have been blessed by St. Christopher himself, everyone goes down at some point.

Before you ever get on a bike, you need to fully understand and accept that. Because of many factors, the worst of which are other drivers, motorcycling is by far a more dangerous mode of travel than a car, or even a convertible. Riding is FAR more liberating and fun, but never forget the simple fact that you COULD die. You could also die in the shower, or fetching the mail, or wolfing a cheeseburger.

Accept rule #1, and you can move towards riding. If you can’t, forget about riding. Please.

In short: Motorcycling is not about taking risks, it’s about constantly weighing, and accepting the associated risks while working to minimize them at every single moment.

Rule #2, you are NEVER a master of a motorcycle

Evil Knievel taught us that 35% of the time he jumped. If he can’t be perfect, who can?

Rule #3, a little bit of fear is a good thing. Be respectful of what you’re doing.

When you’re climbing on a motorcycle, whether a 75cc moped, a GSXR1100, or an 1800cc GoldWing touring motorcycle, you are putting your faith in yourself that you have the ability — if not the training — to handle everything the road can throw at you.

That sometimes includes “flying” turkeys trying to get across the road quickly.

Motorcycles are not the place for you if your mind is on where you want to go rather than watching where you are (and everyone else is) going.

Too much fear on the other hand doubles your risks at any given moment. Everyone has scary moments on bikes. If you have a quick scare, pull over, figure out what happened, ask yourself if you could have done anything better, calm down and breathe, then start again.

Rule #4, confidence.

Bikes are psychic to their riders. If you look / think left, you’ll go left. If you look / think right, you’ll go right. If you think you’re going to crash, guess what? YOU will find some way to do it.

While you need to pay attention to what you’re doing, it’s not you that you need to worry about, it’s all the other idiots around you who are literally driving blind and deaf to motorcycles.

I always tell people it’s not my job to ride the bike, it’s my job to make sure all the other idiots out there see me.

Rule #5, if you’re in a hurry, don’t ride.

When you leave the house 15 minutes late for work, you’re never going to make up that 15 minutes in the 15 miles to work.

“Hurry” kills.

Either accept that you’re late, then take your time getting to work (even if that makes you 30 minutes late) or take another vehicle.

Anyway, these are my top 5 rules. I’d love to hear yours.

.. where was I?

Oh, Hi.

Sorry for fading out there. Dealing with the results of the former post as well as digging in deep to rebuild a couple of different Web sites recently. Taking it one day at a time, which sometimes means time moves at a relative snail’s pace, until you look back at the day and wonder where it went.

Thinking of diabetes as an “involuntary Atkin’s diet” because of the limitations I now face towards not only sugars but carbs in general.

I never read labels. I always listened to my dad who said “if it’s good for you, I don’t want it“. It now surprises me to read most labels, what kind of crap is in most food, but I’ve learned to adapt. Even to Mexican food. Yesterday for example, went to lunch and had a Taco salad. The only difference is I didn’t eat an entire bag of chips as an appetizer, or eat the crispy bowl that held it. Meat.. zero carbs. Lettuce, zero carbs, cheese.. zero carbs. Salsa… well, who knows.. maybe a little since it’s home made, but that’s why they call it compromise.

So far, I’m actually hoping more than anything that the scales in my doctor’s office and the scales in the gym at work sync up. If they do, I’ve lost 14 pounds in 3 weeks through walking, lifting weights, and lots of yard work on 95 degree days. If not, I’m going to be an extremely depressed puppy..

If you’re still reading this, try to stay awake. I know this all bores you to death, but I have to say that I now feel collectively better than I have in years, thought it’s not a problem free existence. As expected, as I lose weight, the “fat” (for lack of better words) which was cushioning my knee and ankle joints appears to be the first to go, meaning I’m constantly on Aleve for what I now imagine is arthritis. A small price to pay I suppose.

Doctor’s appointment in a couple of weeks to follow up, and we’ll know more then.

Interestingly, in logging my results every time I have to do the test, I’m running a solid 109, which is normal. If I can stay that way and lower my A1C and lose weight at the same time, I’m ok with that.

Ok, it’s official, I’m Diabetic. Now what?

For about a month or so now, I’ve been feeling like general crap. Sore, weak, constantly tired, etc. About 2 weeks ago now, I finally went to the doctor and participated in the “great blood draw lotto” where the lab ran 17 tests on blood samples. A week later, and I’m back in the lab for a couple more which were needed, based on the results of the initials.

Fade in, scene yesterday. Doctor’s office for the official “reading of the riot act” that every man eventually gets when doesn’t take care of himself.

Turns out, based on a “hemoglobin A1C test”, I’m officially now a “type 2 diabetic” which — and I count my blessings — is the pills and exercise rather than the shots kind. I don’t know yet what this all means, other than changing my lifestyle (salmon rather than a burger sort of thing) and getting off my butt for as much exercise as I can stand…

One thing I don’t get is that apparently even great insurance (Blue Cross) doesn’t cover diabetic testing supplies. As a result, like it or not, I may be out a hundred bucks or so every month out of pocket. Seems that the glucose meter is $10.00, but the little test strips that go with it are roughly a buck each, and the average diabetic could go through anywhere between 3 and 6 per day.

Not that I know. There’s so little information that I have to go by right now that I can’t tell what’s going to happen, or really even what I need to do. All I do know with any certainty is that there have been better days…

XBR update..

Much to my pleasant surprise, I called Circuit City’s extended service warranty line today, relayed the problem of the dead bulb in the Sony XBR1 and they are “sending one out, [I] should have it within 7 to 10 business days”… Yay…

I may still seek out a local bulb because a Wayne without his Sony is a sad and potentially hazardous puppy. Might actually *shudder* clean the house out of sheer boredom, and we wouldn’t want that..

My Sony XBR1 just bit the dust…

As if life wasn’t already difficult, the $250 bulb in my Sony XBR1 50″ TV just blew. Memorial Day night, while everyone’s closed, and no one in town could provide an instantly gratifying replacement.

It was purchased late June 2006 from Circuit City with the 3 year service plan, but given Circuit City’s own financial issues, I am hopeful, but not holding my breath for a resolution through their extended service plans department. Otherwise, I’m on the search for the cheapest (but most reputable) place to buy a XL-5100 replacement bulb (including the housing).

Being a holiday week, it will probably be, oh, I dunno, Monday or so before the house is alight with the sound of mind-numbing video noise again. Until then, Hulu and the video store, here I come.

Da Interwebs makes U dummer.

I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life reading on the Web and running several Web sites and always taken pride in my posts being readable, even if snobbish in their correct English.

This morning, while posting to Facebook, I noted that I had mixed up “their” for “there” in my sentence. This is something I would NEVER have done a few years ago. Then I started going through other posts by different friends and note that almost ALL of them consistently screw up “there”, “they’re”, and “their”. Most screw up its and it’s as well, so I begin to ponder whether the screwing up is contagious.

One can only wonder if I graduated 20+ years ago and see this issue, what must the public school system (which is now being continuously considered more as a babysitting service than teaching these days) be like?

How long before the movie “Idiocracy” becomes real, the
Presidency is ruled by a guy named “Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho”, law degrees come from CostCo, and we can all “Enjoy our Big Ass Fries!, copyright Carl’s Jr“??

Star Trek (2009) : An “exit poll” review

I am a Trek fan. There, I said it. It’s out there. Grew up on it, learned it, lived it, love it. Trek fan, somewhere between “Trekkie” and “Trekker” I guess, if you want to put it on the Boy Scout merit badge scale.

That being said, when the idea of this “re-imagining” movie came out, all I could think was “OMG… Why don’t the people in Hollywood ever come up with new ideas?” and “Great.. here comes another Battlestar Galactica style reboot, replete with sex-changed characters I’ll bet”.

Clearing that out of my head, and being the fanboy that I am, a friend and I went to see an afternoon matinee today, and I thought I’d share my quick thoughts on immediately leaving the theater, rather than letting it sink in and depress me that they can’t make “real” Star Trek movies any more.

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Storyline
———-
As other critics have said, “meh…” The storyline in “Star Trek” was your typical “pissed off Romulan going back into the past to exact revenge and change the future” thing. It’s sad that they couldn’t use another type of storyline, but it works out ok. ESPECIALLY when they’re trying to intertwine all these legendary characters that we’ve known and loved for decades… Just don’t expect too many Oscars.

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Special Effects / Sets
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The special effects team did a good job, better than I might have expected, but the problems I had are as follows;

- When there was an action scene, it was often TOO much happening on the screen at once to really get a feel for what was happening.

- This is supposed to be more of a remake of the 60’s era Trek, right? So why did all the ships and sets look like something out of, oh, I dunno, Deep Space 9″?

- The ICONIC bridge of the Enterprise now looks like the bastard stepchild of an 80’s discoteque and an Apple store.

——————-
Actors / Characters
——————-
Bruce Greenwood … Capt. Christopher Pike
A *perfect* choice to play Christopher Pike, and a GREAT way to give us the back story on the history between Pike and Kirk.. Excellent.

Zachary Quinto … Spock
Rumored to be Nimoy’s own choice, Quinto did a 100% phenomenal job at portraying a younger, half-Vulcan, half-Human Spock. I cannot imagine anyone outside of inventing a time machine and kidnapping Leonard Nimoy who could have done a better job at this role.

Karl Urban … Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy
When I first heard Karl Urban in association with this film, my mind immediately went to the near-straight-to-video “Doom” starring Dwight “The Rock” Johnson. ‘Nuff said about that… Of all the “old characters” portrayed by “new actors” in the movie, I have to admit that Urban absolutely 100% NAILED IT and it was a pleasure to watch his portrayal of a younger Dr. McCoy

Zoe Saldana … Nyota Uhura
Unfortunately, not surprised here. According to the IMDB profile, she didn’t even bother to watch the original series before taking on the role. Despite her naivety as an actress, making a character your own is one thing, but ignoring the history of a virtually household name character… that’s simply something you do NOT do. She did ok, but again zero insight into Uhura’s character didn’t help.

Chris Pine … James T. Kirk
Imagine an ego like Shatner’s Kirk growing up without a father figure and subject to a more turbulent childhood, and you get the cocky, arrogant, want-to-kick-his-ass-yourself James T Kirk that Chris Pine portrayed. Accepting the context in this new “re-imagining” that James T Kirk’s past was change, I can accept his portrayal of a bar-brawling Kirk. Decent. Not much else.

Eric Bana … Nero
Seriously, Eric Bana was in this movie? Where? (haha). Good job playing the bad guy, but — aside from being totally unrecognizable throughout the film — I can’t say much else, as the story really didn’t seem to actually go anywhere with his character.

Simon Pegg … Scotty
I am a fan of Simon Pegg. I’ve seen almost every movie he’s done, and own almost every one I’ve ever seen. That being said, I think it’s more a matter of writing that the role of “Scotty” in this film was turned into far more of a comic relief role. I’m sad to report that while Simon got a lot of laughs out of me as “Scotty”, I think Paul McGillion (the doctor on Stargate: Atlantis) would have done a more respectable job at playing the whimsical mechanical genius that is Montgomery Scott.

Leonard Nimoy … Spock Prime
Always an honor to see the master himself. Truly high points in the movie were his sheer presence on screen. Nimoy is literally what pulled the movie together for me, and for that, I say “thank you”.

John Cho .. Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin … Pavel Chekov
Both excellent choices for their respective roles, and I honestly want to see more of them. Sorry to be so short, but you’re getting tired of reading, and we’re almost at the end.

Ben Cross … Sarek
Winona Rider … Amanda Grayson
Spock’s parents. Again, excellent choices, though I somehow feel old watching Winona play the role of Amanda. I’m shutting up now before I spoil it.

————————————————-
Summary — aka, Thank God he’s finished talking.
————————————————-
Like the eternal Spock, I am a divided soul on this movie.

On one hand, I openly and weepingly mourn the past that no longer exists. This is not the Trek that we know and love. On the other hand, I sincerely cannot fault Abrams and his team because I think they did a fantastic job with the almost Herculean task of revamping what has always been a legendary TV series.

Yes, I have my misgivings and a few issues with the film (such as the idea that a Fiberglass 1960’s Corvette could survive 200 years) but overall, the only real question I could ask of them is this:

– Did they *really* have to go “where no man’s gone before”?

Then again, as Lee would point out, I actually liked the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series… So there… (pfffft…!)

Spontaneous trip to Shiloh

About three weeks ago, I attended one of those management luncheons — you know the type — where one of the speakers addressing the crowd talked about the Battle of Shiloh and more importantly, how the leadership there can be directly correlated to the present and business management principles. I’m not very much into the whole pro networking really, but I found this speech fascinating.

To that end, last Sunday afternoon I ended up at lunch with a friend, who asked “what are you going to do with the rest of your day?”. After a bit of thought, I said “50/50 shot. If the camera is on the Goldwing, I’m going to ride to Shiloh. If not, I’ll go home and go back to sleep.”

2.5 hours later (4pm), I pulled in to the Shiloh National Battleground Park lot, camera loaded and ready to stretch my legs.

Now at 4pm, with another 2.5 hour ride ahead of me, I’m battling the clock for daylight. I’m also — for some incomprehensible reason — battling the park’s trinket shop which doesn’t fathom the need to carry AA batteries for when tourist’s cameras run dry.

As such, I was only able to spend time walking the National Cemetary at Shiloh (which is impressive) and taking about 50 or so pics before the camera died. I didn’t get to tour the battleground itself, but plan to go back with multiple sets of batteries and a full day to walk around.

I did however get to tour the museum on the grounds with all the civil war artifacts. While that’s always neat stuff to see, I walked away thinking only two things:

1) Every piece of clothing I saw leads me to believe that I — at 6′4″ and 320# would have been an absolute giant to these people.

2) Based on the photos on the wall, Kevin Kline did a FANTASTIC job impersonating Grant in that Wild Wild West “reimagining”. Looks EXACTLY like Grant in the movie…

So. Another 2.5 hours later, and I’m at the house, ready, or I should say “ok with” the concept of Monday. Weird thing is, and as a rider, I don’t object, the Garmin GPS took me in 100% completely different directions coming and going, meaning I saw 2x as much on the ride as I would have normally.

All this has to do me, because it’s been raining ever since, and will probably continue to do so until this upcoming Friday (the 8th)

Pepsi “Throwback”…

While I can claim to be a soda glutton and relative aficionado of all things carbonated, I don’t tend to consider myself an expert on the chemistry behind your average soda pop.

One thing I do know and recall in my 42 years is the very controversial swap from cane (aka real) sugar to corn syrup in the 80’s when corn syrup became a cheaper commodity than cane sugar. This crappy time in history is what caused “Coca-Cola” to become “New Coke”, which failed and in a panic, the Coca Cola company gave us “Coca-cola Classic” (which is now just called Coke for all intents and purposes).

The problem is, Coca-Cola Classic is not, nor has it EVER been nearly as good as the original cane sugar Coca-Cola that we all grew up with. This I recalled vividly during a trip to Mexico about 10 years ago now where they never changed the formula from the original. You can still buy “Mexican Coca Cola” in specialty soda shops if you’d care to try.

PepsiCo, while not stupid enough to foist “New Pepsi” on the public, was similarly affected by the great sweetener migration in the eighties. Pepsi in a can is not the same today as it was 25 years ago, mostly due to the corn syrup sweetener.

Enter “Pepsi Throwback”.

A new trial product from PepsiCo, intended (I presume) to test the waters for bringing back real sugar to the brand. In a nearly identical blue can, it’s easy to overlook at the grocery store, but curious, I bought a 12 pack the other day just to see whether sugar vs syrup made as big a difference as I remember.

Let me just say “wow” and get it over with. I don’t know whether or not this is the original formula Pepsi, but the difference between the two is both subtle, and striking. Sort of like the difference I suppose in Sweet Tea, and tea sweetened with Splenda. Try this. Take two cans, one Pepsi, one Throwback. Chill them identically, then try them side by side and let me know what you think.

All I can say is that I hope Coca-Cola realizes that Cane sugar is now cheaper than syrup and brings back the 80’s formula Coke.

Thank you Miss California…

Miss California, Carrie Prejean answers honestly, with villain Perez holding the microphone

I was sitting here paging through the news on the BBC RSS feed this morning as I’m prone to do, when I read about the politically correct “uproar” at the Miss USA Pageant.

BBC News here

Personally, the subject of gay marriage doesn’t bother me one way, or another.  I really don’t care what other people do, but I’m incredibly impressed with the answer given by Carrie Prejean (Miss California) in front of a liberal audience

Quote:

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“I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody there. But that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be,”

—

To this, the raging nutbag idiot Perez Hilton, stirred the proverbial pot by blogging about how Carrie is a “dumb B***H”, while Keith Lewis, co-director the Miss California competition, which Prejean won to make it into the Miss USA pageant ran out to grab his 15 minutes to express how “saddened” he was at her “offensive answer”.

This is just insane to me.  Carrie Prejean was verbally ambushed by the ever-offensive Hilton with a question that could not be answered without offending SOMEONE out there.  His intent, regardless of the outcome, was to stir the pot and gain publicity for himself.

Had she answered in favor of gay marriage, she would have both angered the majority of Americans (losing the pageant), but most of all, she would have betrayed her own conscience.

To that end, I would submit that Perez Hilton is the villain here, while I applaud Carrie for her willingness to stand up against the liberal political correctness and have conviction in her own beliefs.

I guess, in all that I just feel the need to say “Kudos and well done Carrie“.  While I may, or may not agree with what you said, I thank you for reminding us that there are people still out there who are unafraid of saying what they mean, regardless of the consequences..

Strangely, I have the feeling she’ll be quickly snapped up and employed somewhere in the journalism field, and I really wish her all the best.