my neighbors make no sense.
I was glad I took the bike to work today. See, I have these two neighbors
who are obviously lacking in the courtesy department. The driveway into the
parking area of my apartment building is about 2 1/2 car widths wide. One
of my neighbors has this big "Silicon Valley Plumbing" pickup truck, which,
for some reason, he's utterly incapable of parking in the street like a
normal person (everyone here is alloted one parking space; you're on your
own if you've got +1 vehicles). So, he parks it alongside his apartment,
which happens to be along the driveway. Bam. The driveway is now 1 1/2 car
widths wide. Now, there's neighbor #2, who has 2 minivans and about 15
thousand children (hence the 2 minivans). He parks minivan #2 in the street
like a decent human being, EXCEPT when he needs to load his progeny into it.
Then he parks it in the driveway. And leaves it there while he gathers up
the shorties, makes sure they've all their belongings, and have all used the
potty, and everything else. Bam. The driveway is now 1/2 car widths wide.
I'm glad I took the bike today, or else I'd still be outside in the middle
of the street mentally slashing the pickup truck's tires and pushing the
minivan out of the way.
today was a pretty good riding day.
I rode to work today with no problems whatsoever (well, I did stall the
engine once at a stop light, but it was easy enough to restart and there was
no one behind me). I parked the bike in the 2-hour lot behind my
office, so that it'd be outside when Peter came by for lunch and to take
pictures. :) Take pictures we did, and they look pretty nice. They're
still on Peter's camera, so I'll post them as soon as he uploads them for
me (most likely later tonight or tomorrow). It was fun to show off my baby
(Peter'd only seen it in the showroom, and for about 5 minutes in the dark
at Apple last night). My coworker's husband was loitering around as well,
and so I showed it off to him too. I feel like I should be handing out
cigars to everyone I show the bike to. ;) In the mid-afternoon, I took
a break with a few other coworkers, and we ended up walking by the parking
lot, so they all got to see the bike as well. I was somewhat surprised that
every single non-rider that saw the SVS asked about the brake fluid
container (which, I suppose, *is* featured pretty prominantly, and is clear
instead of the usual black with a window). I guess it's just one of those
things that I take for granted there on my right-hand handlebar. :)
Riding home tonight was sort of weird, though; I spent the entire time feeling like I was in the wrong gear. The bike would feel like it was about to stall, like it was losing power, but of course it never did. I suppose I should have downshifted when I felt that, but I was already right around the break-in limit of 5000rpms, so downshifting would have raised the rpms over the mark. Bleargh. It's such a pain in the ass to keep the rpms low and remember to shift. Oh well, only 450 miles to go. But anyways, it was really weird. Even after I'd come to a complete stop and knew I was starting over from 1st gear, I just felt like I was off. I suppose less-informed people might attribute it to getting to know the bike and all, but *I* know it's the alien rays.
Bleah. I don't really feel like writing right now; I think I'll go play Sims for a while. Maybe I'll finish this entry later.
Hrm. OK. Now it's later, and I still don't have much to add. I'm being all retarded -- I have this super cool new sexy bike that's totally different and totally crazy, and for whatever reason I'm just not writing about it. Dunno why that is. I'll try to organize my thoughts on it a little bit better and try again this weekend. :)
book stuff.
I'm close to finishing Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels,
which I consider a pretty good achievement. It's a really great book; I
really recommend it. My problem is that I try to read a section at a time
before going to bed, but it's so good that I want to keep reading, but then
I get tired and start skimming, and then I miss details and have to go back
and reread. So it's taken me like 6 months to actually read this book. :)
I bought Riding High today too, so I won't be short on
Ted Simon lovin'. Apparently, he's out on a new adventure right now, too.
That's pretty cool, considering Jupiter's Travels took place in the 1970's.
There are updates on his current travels at motorcyclereport.com. The first announcement is
here (1/18/01), and the most recent update is here (2/5/01).
I added a couple more reviews to the book section too, in case anyone cares. :)